Hokum

A Goat Named Jed

Part 7

A Fugitive

A Goat Named Jed

4

Jack shuttered when his eyes connected with those of the Chilli. Their stares were locked. For reasons unknown Jack couldn’t look away. His body was still, his thoughts transfixed. His minds eyes seemed to be falling though a vortex into the darkness that lay beyond the Chilli’s cold gaze. Moments later Jack was sharing its emotions. Its feelings. The notion of its thoughts. He was one with the beast.

He felt anger, a primal rage. He felt alone, so alone and desperate. He felt things he couldn’t understand, unidentified, unorganized, so many sensations surging through his being - through both of them united as one - overwhelming Jack as his legs became weak and gave out beneath him and he crumbled to the floor. Everything went black.

A Goat Named Jed

3

The horse and carriage were nowhere in sight. The children and the two men from up the road could not be seen either.

A little ways up the road from the bridge, standing tall and sturdy next to his hearth, Torn was serving as a human shield; his wife had her hands gripping to his thick arm as she looked out from behind him.

Across the road at the Inn, one eye peeking out from behind the almost closed door, was Theolan.

Then there was the guard. He was dead. His sword was in many pieced, the steel of which had been shattered like glass, each shard steaming like chunks of dry ice and sprawled across the dirt and cobble road. The handle of the sword, however, was still held in both hands with a white-knuckle grip. But his hands were no longer attached to his arms, they were over near the bottom step of the Inn, while his arms were in two different locations, one down near the bridge, one on the landing of Amber's porch. The rest of his body; both legs, his torso and head, were still one piece, laid on its back several feet from Amber's porch. It, like the rest of its detached members, were pale and frozen like the shards of his sword, steaming like chunks dry ice. Not surprising, in a way, there was practically no blood, since the man had been frozen before being dismembered. Broken apart, not torn.

Far as Jack could see, the Chilli was unharmed. She was on Amber's front porch railing like she had never left her perch. She ruffled her feathers as if dispelling a cool breeze. The scales on her belly seemed to shimmer from shade to shade of fluorescent blues. She turned her face and heavy gaze to Jack.

A Goat Named Jed

2

On Amber’s short journey to the window, more sounds of commotion were heard outside: A man called out, maybe the same man as before, only this time in tremendous pain. A woman screamed again, maybe the Blacksmith's wife. There was a clutter of other voices heard, calling urgently for help, and their voices were moving away, fast, indicating that they were running for their lives as they yelled. But another sound was heard among the rest. It was a screech like that of an angry eagle, or hawk - or even a demon hungry and calling for blood - a sound that Jack was all too familiar with. Then, following all these sounds was a noise like that of a strong burst of wind howling, and then the man’s screams of pain were cut off as a dull, thunderous boom was heard, causing the floor and walls of amber’s shop to suddenly shutter, as if an angry giant had stomped its foot into the earth nearby.

It was then - as the sound of commotion ended with the thunderous thud and shaking of the house - that Amber arrived at the window and pulled the shutter open to look outside. Jack had also sought to witness what the hell was taking place outside. He had pulled his Glock from his bag, dropped the bag to the floor, and while Amber gaped with horror out the window, he swung open the door.

He stood in the threshold, gun raised to his shoulder in one hand, barrel pointed up. His lips parted, too stunned to breathe for the moment, eyes staring wide with curious wonder at what he saw.

A Goat Named Jed

1

Jack liked Amber, or at least what he knew of her so far. Plus she was a blonde, green eyes, fair skinned, all the physical attributes he normally admired in a woman. Naturally, all that superficial crap was a bonus. So of course he was glad she came to see him at the Inn to apologize for the way she had previously treated him, which also meant that he could now get the leather work done that he wanted to get done. Well, that is if a little dragon didn’t stop things from running smoothly.

When they entered in Amber’s shop and the door had closed behind them, Jack watched as Amber let out a massive sigh of relieve and turned to him with a wide smile, as if she were welcoming a family member home after not seeing them for a long time. He found the whole situation very strange.

‘Are they really that dangerous?’ He had to know. ‘I mean….’ He glanced back at the door as if to wonder if the small creature was about to break down the door at any moment. ‘…it isn’t any bigger than a small cat.’

Amber screwed up her face, wondering. ‘What’s a cat?’

‘Uh.. Never mind. Point is, the thing is small.’

Amber considered this, narrowing her eyes as she looked him up and down searchingly. ‘They think danger is relative to size where you come from?’

‘Well, no.’ Jack sighed, ‘But it makes a difference in many cases, sure. I mean look at the thing out there, how much damage could it possibly do?’

‘It attacked you,’ Amber pointed out as a matter of reference, ‘you should know.’

‘Yeah, that’s the point as well. It did attack me, and even though it was pretty damn savage, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that an entire town freezing in terror is justified.’

‘Hm…’ amber considered this too. ‘Interesting. Sounds like she went easy on you th– ‘

Amber was cut off by a short burst of commotion from outside. The sound of a woman screaming. A mans panicked cry. A horse riled up - the sound of its hooves stomping and the rumble of carriage wheels being dragged in its wake, passed Amber's house at a hasty pace.

Jack swivelled, turned back towards the entrance of the shop. Amber froze for a moment, then rushed to the window beside the door to take a look.

A Goat Named Jed

Part 6

A Death

A Goat Named Jed

5

All those remaining outside stayed where they were. They all kept their eyes on the Dragon, all except the horse who continued to think that looking away from the little beast was a better idea.

One of the two young men that had been walking down from the end of town, shrugged at Torn, as though he had no idea what to do. Torn pulled a face in response to suggest that he didn’t have an answer. He wasn’t an expert on Chilli behaviour. No one was, really. Everyone stayed where they were. They regarded the Chilli, they regarded each other. They were all too afraid to move.

The Chilli, however, didn’t seem to care. Once Amber and Jack had retreated indoors, it lost interest in everything else but itself. It started to nibble at an itchy spot beneath its wing. Maybe a flea.

‘Hm.’ Torn noticed this behaviour, and looked back over his shoulder at his wife standing on the porch. ‘Go back inside.’ He told her, keeping his voice at its standard tempo. Believing in her husband, she gave a nod, turned slowly, and went back inside their house.

The Chilli continued to groom itself, paying no mind to what Torn said, or the fact that his wife had gone back inside.

Everyone else watched Torn, to see what he would do next.

But he didn’t do anything next. Instead, the guard made the next move, and accordingly, everyone’s attention went to him. Somehow, for whatever reason, the guard - previously too scared to get closer than 30 feet from the chilli - had now decided it was his lawful duty to do something about this situation. The hefty man was walking up the road as if walking a tightrope, one foot carefully in front of the other, and his sword held at the ready in front of him, as if to help him keep balance. He stopped beside Torn, lowered his sword just a little.

‘Go back home,’ said the guard, ‘I will deal with this.’ He then looked around at everyone else, all of them still standing and staring apprehensively at him. ‘Everyone go home!’ He demanded. ‘I’ll take care of this. Nothing to see here.’

The Chilli didn’t seem to mind that the guard was getting closer, didn’t seem to mind that the guard had raised his voice to tell everyone to go home, either, the little creature continued to groom itself, now licking contently at a particular spot beneath one raised wing.

Nobody moved, though. They didn’t give a shit what the guard had told them. They all just looked at him as though he was an idiot.

‘Are you sure that’s wise?’ Torn asked the guard. ‘You are one man. Best that we all just walk away, one by one, including you.’

‘Nay….’ The guard narrowed his stare on the dragon as he replied to Torn, ‘It is my duty to protect Greenfalls. The threat must be removed.’

‘This is not a good time to play hero.’ Torn told him. ‘Turn around. Go back to your post. The creature only appears to care about the visitor, Jack. We should be safe enough for now. No reason to test fate.’

The guard ignored this and lifted his sword again as he continued to slowly approach the Chilli.

‘Are you joking?’ Torn said, looking at the guard as if he had lost his mind. He then turned to the children and told them to run along home. The kids complied without question or hesitation. He then glanced around at everyone else, and told them to leave as well. Everyone listened to Torn, retreating the way they had come. Even Theolan stepped backwards through the doors of the Inn, but not fully. He remained in the threshold, doors open, wanting to watch the show.

‘Have it your way,’ Torn said to the guard, and turned to walk away as well.

A Goat Named Jed

4

Torn had raised one finger to his mouth to ensure the kids remained quiet and didn’t move. The obeyed.

Everyone was still again.

The guard, at the bridge entrance to town, caught wind of current events and decided, after all, that there was finally a reason to draw his sword; now holding the weapon in both hands, but coming no closer than a very cautious 30 feet or so from the miniature dragon. Torn’s wife had appeared, on the Blacksmith shop porch, also now watching on from a distance, her hands clasped nervously in front of her. Theolan had also stepped out from the Inn about the same time Torn’s wife made her appearance. He just stood there too, blocking the doorway to the Inn, his jaw angled strenuously to one side, eyes wide with careful discernment - He went to say something, but then thought better of it. Meanwhile, two more townsfolk who had been making their way down from the end of town - be them two young men - had also caught wind of the situation. They stopped still to watch on eagerly about 20 feet from Amber, Jack and the Chilli. There was also the horse-drawn carriage, parked along the road several feet from the end of Amber's property, the black-and-white horse of which was acting rather nervous with its head down, eyes turned away from the Chilli’s direction, its front left hoof toeing the dirt in a timid manner.

Now that the kids had been stilled, and the growing number of silent spectators had accumulated, the Chilli - very slowly - shifted its attention back to Jack and Amber, but mostly Jack.

In order to relieve a little stress, Jack cussed a few words under his breath as Amber proceeded up the next step to her porch. At this point, their casual manner had been completely dispelled. Both of them were moving rigidly. Nothing cool or smooth about their behaviour at all.

They managed to reach the landing of the porch, though, where Amber finally remembered to breathe. She took two more steps towards the door, opened it, and slipped inside the shop. Jack turned his head, giving the Chilly a small speculative glance before following in after Amber.

The Chilli’s feathers ruffled, her scales stood on end, as she watched the pair disappear into the house.

A Goat Named Jed

3

Jack and Amber stayed close, while walking slow and as casual as they could pretend, across the remaining distance of the road towards Amber’s porch. Torn watched on, his one eye squinting pensively, arms still folded.

Jack was feeling a little silly. Seemed odd to be so cautious over such a small animal. After all, how much damage could it do, really? When the Chilli attacked him earlier Jack had been given a serious run for his money, but still. Relativity had some say in this. Physical size did mean something, he was sure.

The first step of Amber’s porch creaked under her weight. It creaked even louder under Jack. The Chilli, now less than two meters from their position, remaining perched on the porch railing, straightened its body some, attentive, cocked its head, eyes opening a little to peer at them inquisitively. The little beast paid special attention to Jack.

‘Just keep going…’ Amber whispered gently.

‘I know,’ said Jack.

It was then that the two children Jack had met earlier came running around the corner next to Amber’s house. Laughing and hollering about the new game they were playing. The two kids were quickly stopped when they saw Torn standing in their way. The man’s mountainous presence certainly commanded attention, and it was obviously unusual to see him standing seemingly idle on the road away from his shop at this time of day. It took the kids all of a few seconds for them to notice what had gripped his attention.

The young boy went pale at the sight of the Chilly.

The girl let out a sharp squeal-like gasp.

The sudden commotion caused Jack and Amber to freeze.

The Chilli shifted on it perch – sharply turning its head toward the kids.

A Goat Named Jed

2

‘Looks like you’ve made a friend.’ Said Torn, though it sounded like he may have been half joking, turning his one eye to peer at Jack.

‘Looks that way…’ Jack agreed, though he still didn’t know why.

The Chilli, which looked identical to the one Jack had encountered earlier in the woods, was perched on the railing on Amber’s front porch. It appeared to be rather comfortable, body crumpled down like an accordion, feathers and scales puffed, eyes heavy like it was about to drift off to sleep at any moment.

‘What did you do to her?’ Amber asked.

‘What do you mean what did I do to it?’

Torn chuckled softly.

‘I mean,’ said Amber, ‘a Chilli following a human is so rare it is almost a myth. And the only time they are said to do so is because the human has done something that the Chilli must think is worth becoming submissive to.’

Amber and Torn were keeping their voices low, Jack figured he better do the same. He said;

‘But why are you so certain it is following me. It looks like it’s just stopped to have a sleep.’

‘She is waiting for you,’ Amber said, ‘at a place where your scent probably lingers the freshest.’

‘She, then,' said Jack, 'but how do you know she's here because she is following me?’

Torn said, ‘Because she is here.’

‘That’s right.’ Amber agreed.

‘What?’ Jack was a tad confused.

‘Chilli’s next to never come near human civilisation,’ Amber explained, ‘the fact that she is here at all speaks volumes. This is… it’s a momentous occasion. Unbelievable, actually. I never thought I’d see this.’

‘Agreed,’ said Torn.

‘So what do we do then?’ Jack had to ask, ‘What does she want? What will she do?’

‘We don’t react surprised.’ Amber said. ‘We keep calm. We carry on as if she isn’t there. We go into my shop. We walk casually, like nothing is wrong. And we see what she does.’

‘Good plan,’ Torn approved, with a stern nod of his head, and remained standing on the road to watch pensively. 'May the divine ones grant you luck with that.'