Hokum

A Goat Named Jed

1

‘Oh no…’ Amber stopped in her tracks half way across the road from the tavern to her house. She lifted one hand to the side to stop Jack going any further as well.

Jack had already stopped, though, when she had. And saw the same thing she had seen, the thing that made her stop.

‘Oh no…’ he agreed, but added, ‘what does this mean?’

To their right, also standing in the middle of the road, was Torn. He had his arms folded, brutish face actually looking thoughtful with just a sliver of furrowing across his brow. He had obviously been lured away from the work at his shop to take a better look at what all three of them were now gawking at. A Chilli.

‘No sudden moves,’ whispered Amber to Jack, ‘just calm and easy, natural movements.’

‘Okay….’ He relied. ‘But why is it here?’

She told him, ‘That is actually the bigger problem.’

A Goat Named Jed

Part 5

A Dragon

A Goat Named Jed

12

After an uncomfortably long period of Theolan receiving no answer to his question, he decided to persist with further enquiries. Directing his first to Jack.

‘Soon after I left you by the side of the road, I did hear a rather large blast-like sound. It did come from roughly your location. At first I thought it was a call of a Huntstan, perhaps, though it did not take me long to think better of it. Although it has happened before, it is ever doubtful a Huntstan should be wondering these part. May I ask what the sound was, do you know, Mr. Jack?’

Jack appeared a little bored, a result of his mild disdain for the man. He slightly shrugged one shoulder and replied. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Very well.’ Said Theolan, turning his prying glare toward Amber. ‘And how about you, my dear lady? Did you hear the sound I speak of?’

Amber had heard it, yes, while taking a bath earlier. But she somehow didn’t feel right in that moment telling Theolan about it. More than anything, like Jack, she just wasn’t appreciating his self-important presence.

She said, ‘I didn’t hear anything, either.’

‘Intriguing,’ said Theolan, ‘because as it happens I have already taken the liberty of asking a few others in town if they had heard the noise, all of whom had indeed heard it. Seems odd that neither of you did.’

‘Intriguing, sure.’ Jack said, voice flat, a note of mockery.

‘Were the two of you acquainted before today?’ Asked Theolan, looking to Jack, then to Amber. ‘Previously friended? Lovers, perhaps?’

Amber snorted.

Jack chuckled.

‘Excuse me?’ said Amber, ‘I don’t see how that is any of your business, stranger.’

Jack’s body continued to jiggle a little, quietly chuckling.

‘I mean no disrespect, naturally.’ Theolan sipped his drink. ‘Despite Jack’s obvious need for attention and his general lack of attractive qualities, I did not find it too farfetched to consider the prospect of intercourse with the opposite sex. Possibly.’ He paused to look Amber up and down, slowly, undressing her with his eyes. ‘Love making, after all, is perfectly natural. Is it not?‘ He smiled something wet and unpleasant and sleazy, and then introduced himself to her, apparently still in love with the sound of his own name. ‘My name is Theolan, Sir Mallicone Starlip Theolan. And you might be, pretty lady?’

That was it for Amber. She was already put off by Theolan inviting himself to their table. Rude still was the unneeded insult to Jack. And now Theolan was quickly turning into a pompous sleaze. She stood from her chair without answering his question, and gave Jack a soft jerk of her head to suggest they should leave.

‘We were just about to leave,’ she told Theolan, ‘enjoy your trip to wherever it is you’re going.’

Jack smiled, still a little humoured by the whole event – not insulted by Theolan’s remark - and raised from his seat as well. He took the bag from the table and slung it over his shoulder. He followed Amber out the door.

Theolan watched them leave, saying no more.

A Goat Named Jed

11

Before Theolan arrived, the bag was zipped closed with gun hidden inside. Jack and Amber sat back in their seats, casually pretending nothing was a matter. Theolan stood by the table, looking down his nose at them both, apparently awaiting an invitation to join them.

‘Welcome to Greenfalls.’ Said Amber.

Theolan nodded his greeting, looked at Jack.

‘Can we help you?’ Jack asked.

Theolan raised one brow conceitedly. ‘Hardly,’ he said, ‘was simply wondering if you wished to share in a drink.’ He looked at one of the vacant chairs at the table. He looked at Jack, at Amber, wondering when they were going to do the courteous thing and invite him to sit. After a little while the look on his face suggested he was starting to feel embarrassed for standing there so long without invitation. ‘I see you made it to town safely, then.’ He said to Jack.

‘Yeah, you noticed,’ Jack replied, looking down at himself before regarded Theolan with an exasperated look, ‘And for the love of god, just sit down if you want to sit down so badly.’

Theolan pretended returned courtesy with a nod and took a seat. His skinny butt wriggled as he settled in the chair. He pulled a drink from his cup, then set it on the table. He regarded them both, then regarded the duffle back, which was still on the table.

‘So….’ Theolan requested in an assuming tone, ‘…what may be the topic of conversation?’

Jack and Amber looked at each other. Amused grins.

A Goat Named Jed

10

Amber, less apprehensive than she was letting on, decided to stay and see what Jack had to show her. She couldn’t very well not give in to her curiosities, after all.

His duffel bag was taken from the floor, now placed on the table between them. Amber possibly displayed more intrigue for the zip function of the duffel bag than she would for its actual contents. Bag open, Jack tapped his finger on the handgun sitting on top of the other items inside.

She shrugged. ‘What is it?’

He stayed quiet a beat, thinking he didn’t know why he was expecting more of a reaction from her.

‘It’s a futuristic weapon.’ He told her.

‘What’s it called?’

‘It’s a gun.’

‘It is well crafted steel, I’ll say that much,’ She squinted and looked the weapon over like she were analysing a peculiar species of rodent. ‘Never seen that sort of design before. Somebody knew what they were doing. But that doesn’t mean it’s from the future. Torn could maybe craft something like that if given enough time.’

‘You make it sound easier than it actually would be -’ said Jack, ‘it isn’t actually steel, to start with. This particular weapon is crafted largely of a special advanced material we call polymer. But I can see how you might think it is some type of unique steel. And it isn't just fancy workmanship, either. Everything has to be of exacting measurements, not the slightest bit out.’

She considered this.

‘Okay, I’ll entertain you,’ she said, ‘Why are you showing me?’

‘Because this is why I came to see you. I want you to make a holster for me. It’s like a sheath for a knife or sword, only to hold a gun.’

She queered at him thoughtfully and then reached in the bag for the gun, wanting a better look. As her hand grabbed the gun he quickly grabbed her wrist again to stop her. His eyes darted to the bar where Theolan had taken a break from drinking to look over his shoulder at the pair. His own curiosity was peaking. He had been glancing over at them and attempting to listen in on their conversation since Amber arrived. The pompous man now looked like curiosity was going to get the better of him. And it did. As Amber looked over at Theolan to see why Jack had stopped her, she saw Theolan rise from his stool, drink in hand, and started walking towards their table.

A Goat Named Jed

9

Jack answered, ‘Space.’

She queered at him. ‘Space?’ She looked around as if to analyse the air surrounding them. ‘Is that some sort of clever remark about the air surrounding us all? Or… is space actually the name of the place you are from?’

Jack considered this for a moment before replying. ‘I see “space” holds an entirely different connotation for you than it does for me.’ He reconsidered his answer, and said, ‘I was born and raised in a place called Bundaberg.’

‘And where is Bundaberg?’ She narrowed her eyes.

‘On another world. In a future Era.’

Amber played with this thought for a while, eyes jittered left and right as if speed reading an invisible scroll. Jack stared flatly at her, observing, watching the subtle expressions of her face change with the progress of her thought process. In the end her eyes widened, partly quizzical, partly angry.

‘And what might this other world be called?’ She asked him. Her tone was impatient, irritated, patronising, like she were addressing a child with an overactive imagination and couldn’t shut up about it.

‘Earth.’ He said, continuing to stare at her soberly.

The legs of Amber's chair scraped across the ground as she pushed away from the table to stand up and leave.

‘So you did know I was lying.’ She concluded with a shake of her head. ‘Why didn’t you just say so?’ She thought a little more about it. ‘You know what, I’ve suddenly got a bad feeling about you, and I really don’t see why telling me where you are from is such a big problem for you. What could it hurt? Looks like we can’t trust each other then, huh? You eccentric type are all the same.’

She started to push up from her seat to leave. He reached quickly across the table and grabbed her by the wrist.

‘No,’ he said, glaring at her with all seriousness, ‘let me show you I’m telling the truth. He paused to release her wrist, and added, ‘I need someone here to know who and what I am. I trust you….’

A Goat Named Jed

8

‘If by Chilli you mean a vicious little winged vermin that rips your skin off with its fucking razor sharp claws while screaming like a demon and breathing ice… then yeah, I did indeed encounter one of those.’

Amber snorted, body jiggling and twisting a little as she tried to refrain from laughing hard.

She said, ‘You say that like you’ve never seen one before.’

‘I haven’t,’ Jack told her straight, ‘similar things, maybe, actually some pretty crazy shit, but never one of these.’

‘Well at least you survived, that’s a bonus, right? Most people aren’t lucky enough to actually interact with one, most they can hope for is seeing one pass by or something. Count yourself luck.’

He lowered his brow, finding her words peculiar.

She thought for a moment before saying, ‘You act like you have never even heard of one before.’

‘I haven’t.’

‘Wait…’ said Amber, body twisting now out of strong curiosity instead of amusement, ‘How could you have never heard of one before?’

He stared quietly at her.

‘That’s weird,’ she said, ‘everyone knows about Chilli’s. They’ve been around for... for, since before people have. Some of the most famous literature was written about them. Never hearing of a Chilli before is like not knowing what an Aminje is.’

‘A what?’ He asked her.

She pushed back in her seat again, this time with a screwing up of her nose, as if picking up on a foul scent she wanted to distance herself from.

‘Are you teasing me?’ She asked.

‘No.’ Jack replied. He pushed his mug aside as though readying himself for a serious conversation. He coupled his hands together on the table.

‘Where are you from, Jack?’

‘A very long way away from h –‘

‘No!’ She cut him off. ‘You said that already. Give me a name. I want you to tell me where you’re from.’ She paused. ‘Please.’

A Goat Named Jed

7

‘Not much else to say,’ she told him.

Jack remembered what Theolan had told him when he found Jack on the side of the road that morning, that "It is not safe to be sleeping on the side of this particular road. You should know this, unless you are not from around these parts.” Apparently Theolan was referring to the dangers Amber was now talking about.

‘If it’s so dangerous around here,’ Jack wondered, ‘then why do people still take this rout? I mean, there had to be other ways to get to the western cities before this road was laid, right?’

‘Good question,’ she laughed lightly, took a second sip of her beverage, ‘and it has a good answer. This rout really does cut a lot of time out of ones journey if they are in a rush. Plus, a lot of people tend to be attracted to the dangers around here, for whatever reason they might have. So if people aren’t in a hurry, or they don’t care much for the sense of peril that this land has to offer, they take the old routs. Simple as that.’

‘I see…’ Jack was tuning the information over in his head.

‘Yeah…’

Candice started to eyeball the bandage on Jack’s left hand. When she first arrived he had that hand on his lap out of sight under the table. Now that she was looking harder at it, she could see a trace of blood coming through the fabric of the bandage. The bandage itself was also of a material similar, but certainly not the same as the material normally used on wounds. She also noticed that on top of his shoulder there was a tear in the leather of his jacket, and another drop of blood could be seen in the hole of that tear.

‘So what happened to you?’ She eventually asked, and gave a nod to the bandage on his hand, a glance to his torn jacket. It was then that she did for the first time also take note of a trace of light-blue power around the rear sides of his neck. Before he answered, right after she asked the question, the residue of powder had already answered her. She giggled at the realisation, and asked, 'Did you encounter a Chilli?'

A Goat Named Jed

6

‘Ghosts and things,’ said amber with a twist of her face, as though it should have been self-explanatory.

‘Okay…’ he said, glancing down at his mug with a grimace, as he realised he had just taken a drink from it unintentionally.

‘This area is home to an ancient burial site. Underground tombs. It’s quite a vast structure made of hundreds of crypts that go on for miles. People say it is the ghosts from those crypts that haunt the land. This town, actually…,’ she paused a moment to consciously take her voice down an octave or two, ‘was actually built on one of the entrances to the crypts. The Blacksmith, Torn, I understand by the daggers on your belt that you have met him?’

Jack nodded, listening.

‘Torn’s father was a renowned adventurer type.’ She continued. ‘He discovered the entrance and built a house on it. Apparently he was wanting to study the tombs without people knowing about it, so the house was built to hide the entrance from anyone who might wander by. Something like that. Other wanderers did come along eventually. Of course, as Torn’s father had hoped, they didn’t catch wind of what he was hiding, but unfortunately it did backfire on him. Some of the other wanderers decided that he had picked a really nice spot to build his house. So they went ahead and built their own homes. A few years later a small town was here. A road was built into town. Greenfalls became a stop-by town on a new shortcut rout to the Western cities. Naturally, it was only after Greenfalls became established that people realised it was actually built on an ancient burial site. Which also did a lot to explain why a lot strange things had been happening.’

‘Strange things?’ Jack asked.

‘Yeah, strange things, like apparitions at night in the woods, sometimes in town as well. Objects moving on their own. People dying from unknown causes. And a lot of travellers passing through the area also went missing, still do.’

Amber paused when Jarlin finally arrived at their table and paced a cup in front of her, gave her a friendly nod, told her it was her usual. She thanked him kindly and he walked back to the bar.

She sipped her drink while staring at Jack, who was waiting for her to continue.

A Goat Named Jed

5

Amber instantly felt bad that through her lie she had invoked such troubled in Jack. He must have had a good heart, if nothing else, despite his eccentric tendencies. At the same time, she couldn’t now tell him the truth. She wanted to, but she just couldn’t. She felt like if she did tell him now he would be become angry and never trust her again. And besides, in some weird way, she was enjoying the sympathy.

‘No, it’s fine,’ said Amber, ‘I hardly think about it anymore. Really. It’s fine.’

Jack obviously didn’t agree. The swelling anger inside him was become vividly clear in the reddening of his face and the grinding of his teeth, while the grip on his mug was starting to turn his fingers white.

She was starting to feel concerned, that maybe she should actually tell him the truth before he exploded and killed someone – but just before she opened her mouth to do so, he opening his instead, changing the subject as it were, by asking: ‘You said this land was haunted, Amber. What did you mean by that?’

She relaxed, resting forward with elbows on the table. ‘I think I’ll have that drink after all’ she said and gave Jarlin a little wave to call him to the table. Settling her eyes back on Jack, she faintly smile. ‘Yeah, so, um. Yeah. The forest around Greenfalls, the land itself actually, is said to be haunted. Most people believe it.’

‘Haunted how?’ He asked, ‘By what?’