In Chapter 4, as the troupe pass through the hills, they stumble across something that has a daunting effect on them all, but still manages to leave our heroine with a sense of hope.
”Everyone had come to a standstill.
Aidan stood still staring up at a tree that stood before them, its roots spread into two hills and it reached up cracking and snapping, there were splits in the bark and the branches were dead, drooping down as though they once held fresh leaves, but now it hung dead, the path had even stopped to honour the dead tree and carried on a few yards away.
Mimla took the decision to continue and not wanting to disturb the roots he rounded onto the bank of the right hand hill before finding the path again. Manny reassuringly tapped Aidan’s shoulder ushering him forward, Brom and Hurn followed as Armel and Tain carefully manoeuvred the horse around the roots taking care not to break or to disturb the tree.
They continued on their path all oddly touched by the tree, which stood in resting death within the hills.
Brom wanted to take the tree away and put it to rest, Hurn wanted to take it to the hilltops so it could be seen by people all around. Mimla wished he knew a way to make it grow back to life. Aidan and Armel felt the way they always did when they passed the tree, a heavy cloud would climb on them and force them to stop out of respect. Tain wanted to heal it and bathe it in the river, giving the tree a chance to breathe and be cleansed.
All wanted to help or immortalise the tree, save Manny who when they stopped before it had but one thought ‘No one should pass this way’ he wanted them to leave the tree alone where no one could stumble on it, so that the tree could rest in peace.
As the path rounded the corner Manny took one more glance back at the tree before it disappeared out of sight and for a while a melancholic mood fell over them even the horse seemed to slow and for a moment Tain rested her head on the horse’s neck as a mutual understanding of their sadness.
They had been walking for about three hours when they reached a trickle of a stream that crossed over the path; they all took their rest against the two hills either side. Tain set the horse down to drink then sat beside him taking off her boots and bathing her feet.
Manny sat on the other side of the stream mirroring Tain’s idea of bathing.
They rested a while and ate and drank finding their conversation again.
Manny lay back resting his arm over his eyes and Tain rested her chin on her knees.
“How you finding it?”
She turned to see Aidan stood above her, he sat down at her side.
“I suppose it’s slightly different to tending the river isn’t it?”
She smirked half-heartedly still not being able to get the image of the tree from her mind, Aidan spoke almost in answer to her thought.
“It’s hard to forget isn’t it?”
She looked at him as he continued “I always forget about it which is ironic given you can’t get it out of your head afterwards”
She thought for a moment then asked the inevitable,
“What happened to it?”
Aidan sighed,
“After Bonham and his army burnt the forest they spread out across Hadiran, as you know and in their cloud of destruction Bonham would send scouts back to the Mountains of Adonow, regularly and the last scout he sent was a softer-tempered giant named Donoh, he found a tree that was blossoming and he decided to rest there.
He heard a noise within the tree and without thought he took his axe and started swinging at the tree…” he hesitated before continuing.
“He hacked away at the branches and then he felt droplets of blood on his face…a child fell into Donoh’s arms, he’d come down from one of the hilltops to play. Donoh hacked him down and when he finished the tree began to crack, Donoh buried the child within the roots and from then on the tree ceased to grow”.
A gentle breeze blew around Tain and although she could sense the sadness in Aidan, she needed to know one more thing.
“This giant, Donoh. What happened to him?”
“He returned to Adonow, he’d killed many children under Bonham’s orders, but never as brutal. I think Donoh realised that it just wasn’t worth it anymore”
The thought of one giant going against his orders and returning home, no matter the consequences put Tain at ease, she admired Donoh, despite all those he had killed before, all that he had destroyed, he had chosen to follow his own path.”
