Chapter 36
Kate was trying to get work at the docks when she heard a ripple through the crowd at the market. There was some news spreading fast through the stalls; here and there cheers went up, and a lot of people began to leave the area through the alleys at Temple Bar. Kate rushed to the vegetable stall to see what was happening.
“They’ve caught the Dolocher!” the seller said; she seemed like she was itching to leave her stall and go and see for herself.
“Really this time?” Kate asked, hoping for a yes.
“Seems so. A man who was up there said there is a giant boar up there at the Black Dog that has massive tusks like saws and is way bigger than any normal pig he’s ever seen.”
Without saying anything else, Kate walked as fast as she could towards the prison to see for herself. She was trembling as she neared Cornmarket, and she could see the large crowd from a long way off. Some were cheering, and there was a general sense of relief that was palpable in the air. As she got to the back of the crowd, she could hear people talking of the size of the beast and how vicious it looked.
As she tried to push into the crowd, many of whom were leaving, having seen the monster and become tired with being crushed in the crowd, she noticed Mary emerging from the group. She looked pale and in shock, and Kate called out to her, but Mary made no indication that she heard her but kept on walking in the direction of where they lived.
Kate was torn as to whether to go after her or to look at the boar. She called out one last time to Mary and got no response. Then she felt herself push into the crowd as she made her way towards the gate of the prison. She couldn’t see where she was going, as everyone around her was so much taller than she, and she bumped against peoples’ backs and ducked under outstretched arms until finally and without warning she stumbled into a tiny clearing, fell against the side of a wooden cart, and found herself face to face with the monster.
She screamed in fright and pulled back from it as people turned to see what had happened. A hush fell over the crowd. Kate ignored the eyes on her and looked at the face of the boar. It was huge and muscular and dark, as she had expected. She looked at the long tusks and was afraid again as she thought of what they could have done to her that night had the ground at the market not been so slippy. She began to cry, and her hands were shaking uncontrollably, and she felt some friendly hands on her back lead her away from the sight of the killing creature and towards the back of the crowd and out where she could breathe properly again.
When she was feeling better, she thanked the two women who had taken her out, and she began to make her way home, where she assumed that Mary had gone. Kate wanted to make sure that she was alright because, after all, Mary had had a much worse encounter with the Dolocher than she’d had and was probably in a bad state right now, even though the thing was lying dead on the cart for all to see.
When she got home, Mary was sitting in front of a small fire that she had just gotten going, and there was a look of terrible sadness in her eyes.
“You saw it?” Kate asked.
“I saw the boar, yes,” Mary said softly.
“Are you feeling ok?”
“Did you see it?” Mary asked without answering.
“Yes, it was horrible.”
“It wasn’t the Dolocher,” Mary said.
“What?” Kate couldn’t understand why Mary would say this.
“I got up beside it, and I opened its eyes. They are not the eyes that I saw the night I was attacked.”
“But it has to be, Mary. The eyes might be different when the thing dies.”
“Did you see it when it attacked you?”
“Yes, but only glimpses. I was doing my best to get away and was afraid to look back at it.”
“Did it look like that thing they are parading around out there?”
Kate thought for a moment, but she had found for a long time that what she could remember of the night she was attacked often became confused with the hallucinations she’d had the night they drank the absinthe. Now, as images of the attack came to her, she thought she remembered this new shape and size of the boar.
“I don’t know. It’s very confusing,” Kate finally admitted.
“You saw the eyes, though, as well. Didn't you?”
Kate thought for a moment, and then on this point she was sure. “Yes, I definitely saw the eyes.”
Mary nodded and looked back at the fire. “If you go back up and look at the eyes on that boar, you will see that it is not what attacked you.”
Kate sat down and put her arms around Mary and squeezed her. “Well, it was a nice few minutes believing it was dead,” she said, smiling.
“I’m sorry,” Mary said.
“It’s not your fault.”
Outside, they could hear people going about the streets, telling those who hadn’t heard yet. The descriptions of the monster wafted up and in through the thin walls of the building. They were all going to be very disappointed, and for the second time, that the Dolocher had not been captured. Kate looked at Mary, and she felt pride at how brave this young girl was, and she squeezed her again, only a little tighter this time.
The Dolocher Page 36
