Rory (Hengist-People of the Horse Book 2)

by Jacky Gray

  So far the plan was working out better than Archer dared hope. Peter’s slight resistance to Jack’s superiority could be the start of his return to being the half-decent human being Archer was sure lay beneath the nastiness.

  It was not to be. Peter was too used to being dominated by Jack and too afraid of the consequences. Archer watched with a sinking heart as Jack checked to make sure Kyle was just behind his shoulder. He squared up to Peter, growing several inches taller as he held out his hand for the bow. ‘I’m not going to ask you again. Give me the bow or I’ll use it to tear you a new hole.’

  Peter looked uncertainly in Archer’s direction, then dropped his head slightly as he unslung the bow from where it had been resting on his shoulder, looking defeated as he held it out to Jack.

  With a triumphant ‘Ha,’ Jack reached out, only to be thwarted as Peter snatched it back at the last instant.

  ‘Who put you in charge anyway? I bet you couldn’t even fire an arrow, let alone hit the target. I say the one who shoots closest to the bull, gets to do it. You’d like a go Kyle, wouldn’t you? It’s not fair that Jack always gets to have all the fun while we just have to watch.’

  ‘It can’t be that hard, we watched you doing it. Yeah, I’d like a go.’

  Archer watched in amazement as Peter took control, pacing out the fifteen yards and placing the quiver there. Jack was no fool; he knew he would learn more by watching the others’ mistakes, so he let Kyle go first. The arrow just did a nose dive, so Peter made a couple of corrections, showing him how to slot the bowstring into the nock and straightening his left arm. Kyle’s second arrow passed close to the target and the third was just inside the outer ring. Peter casually picked up the first arrow and straightened one of the feathers. ‘I think he should get another go with this, it was a mistake.’

  ‘If you think it will do any good, go ahead.’ Jack still must have thought he was going to do better.

  Kyle’s last arrow was a little closer to the centre, but still outside the second circle. Peter insisted on putting a K next to the hole in the paper, in case of disputes.

  Jack’s short attention span was kicking in and he insisted on going next. His first arrow went way low, glancing off the side of the plastic bin, so he aimed higher the next time and it went way above the target. ‘This is rubbish. I’m going to do those two again.’ He picked them up, kicking the quiver a foot or so closer as he did. No-one commented, Jack was showing himself up so badly they didn’t need to say anything to humiliate him further. He took a little more care with the third arrow and it actually clipped the edge of the paper.

  Archer watched Peter open his mouth as though to offer advice, but he closed it without saying a word. With a grin, he covered his face with his hand as though about to sneeze or cough. The next arrow was just outside the outer ring and his last one was just inside it.

  Peter marked it with a J, then collected the three arrows and the bow. After kicking the quiver further from the target by a couple of feet, he stood behind it. Taking his time to settle down, he positioned his feet as Archer had shown him. He again nocked the first arrow with the cock feather on the inside, but it still found the second ring. The second shaft went inside the third ring and Kyle looked impressed.

  ‘Well that’s not fair, he’s had more practise than us.’ Jack was determined not to lose.

  Peter lowered his arm. ‘That was my fifth arrow and it did better than your fifth arrow, so I’ve won anyway.’

  ‘How do we know you didn’t do more before we got here? You could have had loads of goes.’

  ‘For God’s sake, Jack, stop being a sore loser. He’s beaten you fair and square. If he says that was his fifth arrow, I believe him.’ Kyle’s face showed disgust tinged with fear, it was probably the first time he had dared to cross Jack.

  ‘It’s not about what you believe. I’m in charge here and I say we can’t count Peter’s last arrow.’

  ‘Yeah, but even his fourth one was much closer than your fifth one. Face it, Jack, you’ve lost.’ As Kyle spoke, Jack made a grab for the bow, but Peter must have guessed what was coming and raised the arrow level with Jack’s head, slowly drawing back the string.

  ‘No Pete, stop.’ Archer’s shout had no effect; Peter had that same crazed look on his face as when they were racing back to the farm.

  ‘Do you know what Jack? I’m sick of you bullying everyone. Just because you’re bigger and stronger than other kids, you think you can make their lives a misery. I know you had it rough, but I’ve had enough of you turning my home into a battleground.’ He took a breath and continued, keeping the arrow pointed at Jack’s head at all time. ‘Archer’s ten times the boy you’ll ever be. He’s never so much as lifted a finger against you even though he could beat you to a pulp if he wanted to. He’s trained in all sorts of fighting, but does he use it to pick on people weaker than him? No. He’s kind and thoughtful. Everything you’ll never be.’

  ‘Including a master of escape.’ Archer had freed himself while Peter ranted and was right behind him. ‘Thanks for the compliments Pete, but if you let that go it would do some serious damage and you’d be in big trouble with your folks. Just lower your left arm and slowly release the tension in your right arm.’

  Peter looked at him and blinked as though something released within him. ‘Archer. I didn’t know anything about this, honestly.’

  ‘I know. Please Pete, it’s not good for the bow to be under tension for that long.’

  ‘What? Oh, yes.’ He released it as Archer had instructed. Jack started to sidle off.

  ‘Just a minute, where do you think you’re going?’ Archer saw a chance to change his attitude.

  ‘Upstairs. I can’t be bothered with this poncey stuff.’

  ‘You only call it poncey because you couldn’t do it. With proper instruction I’m sure you can get all three in the bull in no time.’

  ‘Would you show us Archer? That would be well cool.’

  ‘Sure, Kyle. But Pete still has one shaft to fire. I think you might do it this time, but first I should tell you a bit more about aiming. We didn’t get that far.’

  After the briefest of tuition on how to aim, Peter’s sixth arrow landed on the thick black line of the inner circle – a bullseye. They spent another hour in the garden with Archer as tutor and by the end of it, all three boys were getting all three arrows within the second circle. Jack even managed to get one in the bull, and he high-fived everyone with both hands.

  That day marked a complete shift in every aspect of Archer’s life and changed every member of the household. Julie couldn’t believe the difference; she never had to wash up after a meal again. Despite the fact that it was the summer holidays, she would often find the four of them studying hard. Archer had a good grasp of the complex mathematics involved in many sporting activities and was able to teach them things about angles and measures that none of the teachers at school ever could. In return, they brought him up-to-date with many differences in the language, giving him a broad exposure to the many slang expressions he might be likely to encounter. Kyle had a talent for English and drama that the other two weren’t aware of and he was able to help in the study of poems and stories. The very best thing, was that Dave was so impressed with the change in them, he replaced the broken monitor. So began Archer’s biggest love affair – with computers.

  15 A Trio of Scoundrels

  ‘Come on Archer, let me have a go, you’ve been on there for two hours.’

  ‘Eighty minutes. I still have ten to go.’

  ‘What are you doing anyway? It’s not a game.’

  ‘Why would I waste my time playing something to test my reflexes or knowledge of strategy, when I can do it for real? If you want to play games, go on the Game Boy or the Mega Drive.’

  ‘Peter’s on one and Kyle’s on the other.’

  ‘Jack. Come back in ten minutes. If you ask me one more question I shall make it fifteen.’

  Archer clicked a button and the page of st
range-looking text turned into a familiar internet page, but with boxes splitting the page up into sections.

  ‘Oh my God. You’ve made your own internet page. There’s Pete and me an’ Kyle. How did you do that?’

  ‘Hang on one minute.’ He switched back to the source, changed a one to a zero, then clicked again and all the boxes disappeared, but the pictures stayed where they were. ‘That’s useful. You can switch the border on or off. Neat. Ok, all yours.’

  ‘But how did you do that? Where did you get those pictures?’

  ‘Julie had them on the computer, she said I could use them.’

  ‘Can you make me a page? Is it hard?’

  ‘You have to use a smart language called HTML. It’s quite straightforward once you know what the rules are.’

  ‘Blooty hill Archer, is there anything you can’t do?’

  ‘I don’t think so. There’s lots of things I haven’t done yet, but I’m fairly sure I could if I wanted to.’

  ‘Smug get.’

  ‘Not really. Confident maybe, but what’s the point in being any other way? If you go in thinking you can’t do something, you’ve lost before you start. Better to believe you can. I’m not saying I could do everything well, but at least I could have a dashed good go at it first.’

  ‘Here endeth the lesson for today.’

  ‘Ballcocks.’ Jack grinned at Archer’s extended emphasis of the word. They had delighted in teaching him several swear words, hoping he would use them in front of Dave or Julie. After getting caught out once, he was wise to them, asking for an explanation for each new word. If in doubt, he would wait ’til dinner and ask Julie if he had understood the word correctly. On the second time this happened, Dave got angry about “that kind of language” being used in his house. They gave it up as a bad job. Archer came up with the idea of using similar sounding words when they felt the need to get rid of intense emotion. The times when only a swear word would do. Their repertoire extended to include such gems as “bells” or “walls,” “muck” or “buck” and “plastard.” Ballcocks was the firm favourite, it used two rude words and if challenged, they could claim they had just remembered what was needed to fix the toilet.

  Unfortunately, the teachers at the school didn’t appreciate the joke and Archer was sent to the head for “inappropriate language” on his first day at the new school. The head was a stern-looking man with grey hair.

  ‘So, Mr Archer. A poor start. My first impression of you is not a good one. Inappropriate language indeed. I don’t know what your last school was like, but we will not tolerate it here.’ He glared at him over the top of his glasses as though expecting Archer to say something.

  Archer wasn’t sure what, so he said nothing.

  ‘Do you have nothing to say for yourself, boy?’

  ‘I was just trying to answer her question, sir. The teacher asked us to give an example of something that was extremely likely and I said walking in cow shit on Glastonbury Tor. The tower’s full of it you see …’

  ‘That’s quite enough. Who was your teacher?’

  ‘Miss Lowry, sir.’

  ‘This was in a maths lesson?’

  ‘Yes, sir. She was telling us about probability and about eighty percent of the floor was …’

  ‘All right, I understand. What I was really expecting was an apology, not a string of excuses for your bad behaviour.’

  ‘I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t realise telling the truth was bad behaviour.’

  ‘How dare you? I shall be speaking to you parents …’

  ‘They’re dead, sir. At least my mother is. My father disappeared shortly after.’ This was delivered in a voice devoid of emotion; Archer was just regurgitating facts, none of it meant anything to him. Instead of showing compassion, however, it seemed to infuriate the man even more.

  ‘Well somebody must be responsible for you. Where are your records? Well. That explains it. David and Julie Reid. Parents of Peter Reid and foster parents of Kyle French and Jack Minton.’ He closed the file with a snap and sat back in his chair. ‘Say no more. A bigger trio of scoundrels you’ll never meet. I don’t know what goes on in that household, but I can’t imagine it’s a very stable place to send an impressionable young boy. I think a call to social services is required. Off you go. Try to behave yourself for the rest of the day.’

  Archer stood, watching the man adding notes to a half-filled sheet of paper. He couldn’t allow good people to get into trouble because of his ignorance. But if he said anything, it might make matters worse. He looked at the man, trying to work out a strategy that would pierce his air of self-important intolerance. There didn’t seem to be too many options open to him.

  ‘Are you still here boy? I thought I told you to go.’

  ‘You did, sir, but I’m afraid that if you make that call to these social services, there will be a grave injustice. Dave and Julie Reid are working very hard to provide a decent foster home for some very wilful boys.’

  ‘I cannot believe what I’m …’

  ‘Please hear me out, sir. I honestly did not mean to offend anyone with my language or manners. Things are different where I come from. But I don’t think it fair they should be punished for my ignorance.’ Archer fancied he could detect a slight unbending in the man’s face and made his plea. ‘Please give them a chance to show how they have mended their ways; just one week is all I ask. If you do not see an improvement, then go ahead and make your call.’

  There was a long minute of silence while the man looked at him and Archer held his gaze, hoping he would be swayed by simple honesty and sincerity. But it was apparently the wrong thing to do. The head added another word to the note: impertinent. ‘I don’t know what this world is coming to when sixteen-year-old boys think they can tell an experienced head teacher how to run his school. I believe I told you to go several minutes ago.’

  Archer had no choice but to return to his class. He made a point of seeking out the others at break.

  ‘So I hear you had your first run in with old Bar-stard.’

  ‘Not a bad day’s work. You’ve beaten the record by a mile. Peter took a year, I was a month and we thought Jack was doing well at one week.’

  ‘But you didn’t even get through an hour, let alone a day. Way to go, champ.’ Jack held his hand for a high five, but Archer didn’t meet it.

  ‘I wasn’t trying to be rude, I just thought shit was your word for what we call dung.’

  ‘I reckon that pays you back for your little tactic up on the Tor. I don’t mind telling you, I was shit scared.’ Peter clapped him on the back and the others demanded to know what he was talking about, so he told them. They were suitably impressed that Archer had climbed the tower so easily.

  ‘Look guys, there is something you can do for me. Do you like staying at Dave and Julie’s?’

  ‘Yeah it’s ok, why?’

  ‘I’ve been in worse. Far worse.’

  ‘Because if Mr Barston has his way, they won’t be allowed to foster any more. He’s ringing up social services to complain.’

  ‘That’s not fair. What have they done?’

  ‘Well he’s saying it’s what they haven’t done. Sorry Peter, but he’s really got a problem with the three of you. Called you a trio of scoundrels.’

  ‘What’s that when it’s at home?’

  ‘Someone who behaves badly and causes trouble at school. Like you lot.’

  ‘Yo bros.’ They were so caught up with congratulating themselves, they didn’t hear the bell.

  ‘Look, promise me you’ll try to stay out of trouble until I can explain. Unless you’d prefer to be split up and sent off to other foster homes.’ That finally got through to them and they were subdued as they went off to their classes.

  When they got back together at lunch time, Archer explained how he’d asked the head to hold off the phone call for a week to assess their improved behaviour.

  ‘What good will that do?’

  ‘Because if he’s saying Dave and Julie don�
�t know how to bring you up properly and he’s got a stack of yellow slips to back him up, they’ll believe him.’

  ‘But if we can act like goody-goodies for a few days then they won’t have any yellow slips to back him up.’

  ‘You could even get some blue slips.’ Peter sounded doubtful.

  ‘What are they for?’

  ‘Good behaviour. I had quite a few in year seven.’

  ‘Do they still give them out in year eleven?’ Kyle looked like he didn’t believe they would carry on with childish stuff like reward slips.

  ‘If you ask for them. That’s what Harry did in maths when he finished the work.’

  ‘That’s it then. We each try and get a blue slip every lesson ’til the end of the week.’ Peter looked hopeful.

  Archer was more realistic. ‘Maybe just one a day. But you should try to keep it up for at least a month.’

  ‘As if.’ Jack snorted his derision.

  ‘OK, if you want to be split up or sent back to young offenders …’

  ‘All right.’

  ‘Sorted.’

  ‘Seal the deal guys.’ Peter put up his hand and everyone high-fived it.

  16 Back Home

  ‘Come on, Archer, tell us what it’s like in this new place, is it better than here?’

  ‘Pretty much the same really.’ He hated lying to Finn and Fletch, but Malduc, the council leader, had been completely strict on that point. Archer was only allowed to see his friends if he told them nothing about the differences in his new world.