A Solitary Journey by Tony Shillitoe Read Free Book Online Page B

backwards into the river, two shafts jutting from his body, and then the raft exploded in flame. On the northern bank a man in blue robes was pointing at the raft.
    ‘Magic!’ a woman screamed.
    ‘Get to the bank!’ Blossom yelled. ‘Hurry!’ The two rowers turned the boat towards the southern bank and pulled furiously on the oars. A woman leapt into the water, followed by three children, and they started swimming to escape. The second raft was heading for the south bank as well, but already it was under the archers’ fire.
    ‘They’ll never make it!’ someone screamed.
    ‘As long as we do!’ Blossom yelled. ‘Row!’
    As the boat crunched into the muddy bank under a towering gum tree the passengers scrambled out of the boat and fell into the water. ‘Come on!’ Blossom yelled, ‘Run!’ and she wrenched Found’s arm, pushing her after the receding backs of the women and children. ‘Run!’
    Found ran from the cries of the dying men, women and children caught in the river. Her mad scramble into the bush dwindled into a trot and then quick walking, as she pushed through mallee and skirted banksias to climb a gentle slope. As she paused on the ridge to catch her breath a little dark-haired boy stopped beside her and grabbed her hand, an unexpected contact that sparked her memory. Jon, she thought. The name was very special.
    ‘Keep going,’ Blossom wheezed as she clambered up the slope with two more women in tow and two men trailing. ‘They mightn’t cross over, but we can’t risk it,’ she said as she reached the crest.
    ‘Come on,’ the little boy urged, tugging at Found’s hand. She looked down at the child’s upturned face and let him lead her down the slope, deeper into the bush.
    ‘The Whispering Forest will be our saviour,’ argued the man named Hoe as they crouched in the shade of awhite gum. ‘It’s dark and it’s vast. The barbarians won’t come in there and if they did we’d be too hard to find.’
    ‘Who’s been there?’ Blossom asked, looking around at the survivors. No one replied.
    ‘It’s the only place we’ve got,’ said the second man, Brace. ‘But it’s three days hard walking.’
    ‘What about the children?’ a thin-faced woman asked. Three children huddled at her feet. ‘They won’t be able to keep up.’
    ‘They’ll have to,’ Hoe replied. ‘It’s keep up or be taken by the barbarians.’
    ‘That’s if they’re chasing us,’ another woman interrupted.
    ‘You can be sure they’ll come after us, Cream,’ Blossom said. ‘If not straightaway, then soon.’
    ‘How do you know?’ Cream asked.
    ‘You’ve seen for yourself,’ Brace replied. ‘The kingdom is falling apart. Who’s going to stop them?’
    ‘The Queen,’ Cream stated.
    ‘If the Queen’s army was going to stop them, why are the barbarians already beyond Quick Crossing?’ Brace asked.
    Found listened to the conversation and the planning, but she was flicking through memories that were tracing her mind. She knew the Whispering Forest. She’d been there, a long time ago, although she hadn’t been inside of it. When? Why had she been there? Who is Jon? she wondered. The little boy leaning against her was named Magpie and he had adopted her.
    ‘His mother was on the first raft,’ Blossom explained, as they made camp. ‘We had to get out of Quick Crossing as quickly as we could. Magpie was separated from his mother and his sisters. When we were far enough along the river to swap passengers, he wanted to stay on our boat so he did. He’s seven, I think. He obviously likes you.’
    Why did he make Found think of that other name? She was distracted by a flock of chattering brown-and-gold honeyeaters in the trees, trilling their excitement at the sinking of the sun, and she watched them dance and flit between the branches. The sky was dissolving into lighter shades of blue and pink and amber. She instinctively touched her chest. I should know something about amber, she mused.
    ‘I