Doctor Who_ Cats Cradle_ Witch Mark - Andrew Hunt [5]
Before long the house was filled with the silence characteristic of sleeping people. Bathsheba pulled her rough woollen blanket up over her head and drifted into a dream-filled sleep.
She was walking along the lane that led up to the farm, between two rough stone walls that towered above her. David held her hand tightly so that she wouldn't stumble and as he walked he told her jokes and made her laugh. Suddenly his expression changed and he turned round. Helpless in his grip she was swept around with him and bearing down on them she saw the herd of cows. She remembered that they were being chased by a wild wolf. David began to drag her down the lane but soon realized that he could not outrun them and so he turned to the wall, picked her up and threw her over it. As she sailed slowly through the air she looked back and saw David starting to climb over the wall. One of the cows barrelled into him and he was knocked to the ground. She could hear his cries as the cows' feet struck down at him and then all she could hear was the thunder of hooves in the lane. And then . . .
. . . she woke and heard hoofbeats outside the farm. She crept out from her bed and, treading carefully so as not to disturb the others, she went to the kitchen door and looked out into the yard. She gave a gasp of joy at the three Ceffyl standing there. One was a stallion, its body a pool of darkness. It stood tall and proud above the two silvery-grey mares.
A hand fell upon her shoulder.
‘What are you doing out here, Bathsheba?' Father asked her.
‘It’s Rush and her stallion,' she told him. 'Can I talk to her?'
‘All right, and I'll see what the stallion wants.'
She walked out into the yard and the smaller of the two mares walked slowly towards her. The mare dipped its head down to Bathsheba so that she could run her fingers along the narrow shaft of horn that protruded from the hair of its forelock. Immediately a voice sounded inside her head
'Hello, Bats, I trust you are well. '
'Hello, Rush, I haven't seen you for a long time,' Bathsheba answered. She was dimly aware of Father leading the other mare into the barn. 'Why have you come here?'
'Do I have to have a reason to come to see you?'
'No, but I thought ... '
'You wonder why my stallion brought Swift to your father?'
Bathsheba nodded.
'Swift is overdue. She needs some help bringing her foal into the world before it grows too big for her. ' Rush snickered softly and threw her head back a couple of times. 'I accompanied them so that I could see you and because I am running with my stallion.' Rush dropped her head closer to Bathsheba's in a movement that in a. human would have indicated confidentiality. I have not told him yet but I missed my last cycle. '
Suddenly Bathsheba heard another voice impinging on Rush's words. She looked around to find its source but the voice was quiet and unclear.
'What's that?' she asked.
'My foal,' Rush answered. 'Her thoughts are muddled but she is letting me know that she is all right. I shall name her Bat, after you. '
Bathsheba smiled at this compliment and hugged Rush's nose.
‘Would you like a run on my back?' Rush asked.
Bathsheba eagerly nodded her head and moved round to Rush's side. She reached up to the mane hanging down to the left of the mare's neck and twisted a handful of it around her wrist. Rush strained round her head and boosted Bathsheba up on to her back. She weakly took a few pieces of hair from the withers in her right hand and gripped Rush's flanks with her knees as best she could.
She needn't have worried, for when Rush started to move it was with an easy gait, and besides she knew that Rush would not allow her to fall.