Alyla Franco's Arc

Chapter 4 of 5

Alyla rode north along the ditch for an hour. The trough did not thin. It ran straight as a plow line, black and cold, the far fields bright and untouched past it. She counted her arrows twice on the ride. Twelve. Enough for the beast, if she was lucky. None to burn a road across the dark. She reined in when she saw the old man. He was on her side of the trough, walking the edge with a spade, prodding the black as if it were a snake he meant to move. His plaid shirt hung loose. His boots were caked. He did not look up until the mare snorted. "You'll lose the spade," Alyla said. "Already lost two." He straightened. His eyes were red-rimmed, dry now. "My ground. That's my house across." He pointed with his chin at the small farmhouse and the red barn beyond. On the porch, a tabby cat washed one paw, slow and unbothered. "Cat won't come. Won't cross. Smart cat." "You're the farmer." "William Thatcher." He looked at her pink cloak, her bow, the wrapped stone at her belt. He did not ask. "You're the one the king sent." "I need to cross." "Can't. I've tried planks. Tried a ladder. Wood goes soft and drops." He wiped his mouth. "My boy volunteered for the king and was lost to the blight. My home, my land, it is all I have left. I need to get across. And I am not a man who waits well." Alyla dismounted. She unwrapped the stone and held it flat on her palm. "One stone thins a ring the size of my hand. I need a bridge." William looked at the stone. "I’ve seen a stone like that, it’s in the field around the scarecrows neck. My father use to say it keeps the field growing and protects it from darkness.” The old man led Alyla to middle of the wheat field. Around the neck of the scarecrow attached to a solid gold chain laid the pale white stone. Alyla reached up and took the necklace off and put it around her own neck. “Thank you, I believe this will do the trick” Alyla said with determination. They both walked back to the dark cold blight that covered the long trough. Approached a bridged covered in darkness. Alyla pressed the two stones together and they glowed giving off a warmth love coals long after a fire has settled. A path cleared around her like a giant ring and held. “It’s working” Alyla yelled. The old man grabbed the reins of the horse and they proceeded together across the bridge just beyond the barn. The walls of the barn were breathing in and out. In the pen behind the barn, the black-and-white horse screamed. The cat stopped licking its paw and stood with all its hair standing up straight. Something in the barn moved.