Read Online High The Vanes (The Change Book 2) by David Kearns - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: David Kearns
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consider it wrong. At first our conversations were stilted. We asked simple questions about each other’s lives. He told me he had been living in this place since he was a child. His parents had died, or so he presumed, for they had left the Room one morning and never returned, when he was about eleven years old. Since then he had lived alone, foraging for food when he felt hungry, learning to need very little. Gwenllian had appeared to him on only three occasions, once to inform him that she would soon be leaving to take a long journey, secondly to inform him that she had returned, and finally to inform him that he was now to consider himself her servant.
Our conversations grew more interesting as he relaxed while talking to me. He had no idea what it meant to be Gwenllian’s servant, as she had never told him what his duties were. Indeed, he had no real idea who Gwenllian was, apart from the fact that she was, as she had told us, the ‘High Servant of the Lady’. He had no idea why he was living in Uricon, only that his parents had moved there when he was still a baby. When I asked him why he had never thought of leaving, he simply shrugged and said, “Where would I go?”
One of the most curious things about him I discovered was that he had never been taught to read, yet he was perfectly capable of doing it. He had discovered the pile of books that must have belonged to his father when he was about six or seven, had opened one and proceeded to read it. He was not aware that this was a skill that normally needed to be taught. Most of his father’s books were dry discussions of what he called ‘science’ which meant nothing to him or me, but there were one or two ‘story books’, which he preferred. His favourites were the one that contained the songs of the old English people, a line from which he spoke to me when we were above ground, as I have told you.
The other was a story about a man called Macsen Wledig. I vaguely remembered Eluned telling me that she knew this story. According to Nefyn this man had been a king or a leader of the Romans who had dreamed about a beautiful young woman and then sent out his servants to find her. They did find her eventually, but she refused to go to him, so he had to come to Uricon to meet her. According to the story, they were married and their children eventually ruled the whole country. He liked the story best because it spoke of the old people, including the Votadini, of which he claimed to be the last survivor, as well as others, including the Ordovices, who he now knew were Eluned’s people.
In return, I must admit that I told him very little about my life. I mentioned Taid, telling him that I missed him enormously, and one day hoped to be able to see him again. I told him that I had lived in a great house which had been destroyed by some angry men. I did not know, at the time, how much he knew about ‘my world’, so I kept things deliberately vague. I briefly recounted my time with the Teacher, omitting the fact that I had been taught many skills. I also did not say anything about Y Gododdin, or Taid’s translation, as I could not see that he would be interested. Much later, when we discovered that the words ‘gododdin’ and ‘votadini’ were probably one and the same, with all that meant for us, I regretted that I had kept it from him. At the time it hardly seemed relevant.
As the days passed, I grew to like him. Although he had many odd ways, and often seemed frightened or despairing, the more he told me about his life, the more I thought I understood these feelings. I also, mistakenly, began to assume that he liked me. On reflection, his apparent ‘friendliness’ probably sprang from acute loneliness. The chance to talk to another person after years of absolute silence must have been a huge relief.
I thought in those early days that he might have become a real friend. While I appreciated my relationship with Eluned, I could never count her as a
Our conversations grew more interesting as he relaxed while talking to me. He had no idea what it meant to be Gwenllian’s servant, as she had never told him what his duties were. Indeed, he had no real idea who Gwenllian was, apart from the fact that she was, as she had told us, the ‘High Servant of the Lady’. He had no idea why he was living in Uricon, only that his parents had moved there when he was still a baby. When I asked him why he had never thought of leaving, he simply shrugged and said, “Where would I go?”
One of the most curious things about him I discovered was that he had never been taught to read, yet he was perfectly capable of doing it. He had discovered the pile of books that must have belonged to his father when he was about six or seven, had opened one and proceeded to read it. He was not aware that this was a skill that normally needed to be taught. Most of his father’s books were dry discussions of what he called ‘science’ which meant nothing to him or me, but there were one or two ‘story books’, which he preferred. His favourites were the one that contained the songs of the old English people, a line from which he spoke to me when we were above ground, as I have told you.
The other was a story about a man called Macsen Wledig. I vaguely remembered Eluned telling me that she knew this story. According to Nefyn this man had been a king or a leader of the Romans who had dreamed about a beautiful young woman and then sent out his servants to find her. They did find her eventually, but she refused to go to him, so he had to come to Uricon to meet her. According to the story, they were married and their children eventually ruled the whole country. He liked the story best because it spoke of the old people, including the Votadini, of which he claimed to be the last survivor, as well as others, including the Ordovices, who he now knew were Eluned’s people.
In return, I must admit that I told him very little about my life. I mentioned Taid, telling him that I missed him enormously, and one day hoped to be able to see him again. I told him that I had lived in a great house which had been destroyed by some angry men. I did not know, at the time, how much he knew about ‘my world’, so I kept things deliberately vague. I briefly recounted my time with the Teacher, omitting the fact that I had been taught many skills. I also did not say anything about Y Gododdin, or Taid’s translation, as I could not see that he would be interested. Much later, when we discovered that the words ‘gododdin’ and ‘votadini’ were probably one and the same, with all that meant for us, I regretted that I had kept it from him. At the time it hardly seemed relevant.
As the days passed, I grew to like him. Although he had many odd ways, and often seemed frightened or despairing, the more he told me about his life, the more I thought I understood these feelings. I also, mistakenly, began to assume that he liked me. On reflection, his apparent ‘friendliness’ probably sprang from acute loneliness. The chance to talk to another person after years of absolute silence must have been a huge relief.
I thought in those early days that he might have become a real friend. While I appreciated my relationship with Eluned, I could never count her as a
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