Rebel Heart by Moira Young Read Free Book Online Page B

a single word. Tommo cain’t git enough of Lugh’s yarns about what it’s like out west. In fact, he cain’t git enough of Lugh full stop.
    Tommo took Ike’s death hard. He’s still mournin an no wonder. Ike took him in, starved an half wild, after he found him hidin in the stables of The One-Eyed Man. He kept him, taught him an called him son fer goin on three year. Tommo won’t never ferget him.
    But the last little while, I noticed how close he watches Lugh. He’s started to copy Lugh’s ways. His walk, how he holds his reins an wears his hat.
    He used to do the same with Ike.
    Ike’s take on it went like this. Tommo’s own pa went off huntin one day an never come back. He told his boy – a young deaf boy, can you believe anybody’d do such a thing? Ike said, shakin his head – he told him not to leave their camp, not to budge from that spot, he’d be back soon. That was the last Tommo ever seen of him. Missin, presumed dead. Killed by the beast he was huntin or injured an couldn’t find his way back.
    Tommo never got over it, accordin to Ike. He said he’d always be lookin fer his dead pa. I never gave much credence to Ike’s notion, but now, seein how Tommo is with Lugh, I wonder if he might not of bin onto somethin.
    Our pa was with us. Till the Tonton killed him that day. But he might as well not of bin, fer all the good it did us. Lugh was me an Em’s brother, ma an pa all rolled up in one.
    Lugh spins his yarn into the night. The Big Water’s like somethin from a dream, he says. Think of the best dream you ever had in yer life an it’s a thousand times better’n that. A million times more wonderful. It’s a land so rich an green an beautiful that when you see it fer the first time, you’ll wish you could die right there an then.
    Lugh always starts his Big Water tales the same way, with the same words. I yawn. I close my eyes an settle back to listen. This is the Lugh we know. Tellin stories. Makin us smile. Holdin us together.
    Say about the rabbits, says Em. They’re Tommo’s favourite bit.
    Agin? All right, says Lugh. Well, there’s rabbits everywhere at the Big Water. As far as the eye can see, nuthin but rabbits. You cain’t move fer trippin over ’em. An you ain’t never seen ones like these fellas. They’re big. Fat an juicy an lazy from doin nuthin but nibble on sweet, green grass all day long. An they’re so tame an so dumb that when you wanna eat, all you do is set yer pot to boilin, yell out ‘Supper time!’ an them rabbits march right up to the pot, hop in an pull the lid over. An they whistle while they do it.
    Rabbits don’t whistle! says Emmi.
    Well, you say that, says Lugh, but I heard it from a man, an he heard it from another man who seen it fer hisself an. . .

    A flash of light. Epona stands alone. Darkness all around her.
    There’s only the sound of my heart. Beat, beat, beat.
    She looks over her shoulder. Like there’s somethin behind her. She turns back. Sees me. Nods. I look down at my hands. I’m holdin a bow. I ain’t seen it before, but I know that it’s mine. Pale wood, silvery white.
    I bring it up. Fit a arrow to the string. I nock. I aim. She starts to run towards me. Throws her arms wide open.
    I shoot.
    There’s a flash of light.
    An I’m standin over the body. Lookin down on it.
    But it ain’t Epona.
    It’s DeMalo.
    He opens his eyes.
    He smiles.

    I jolt awake, sit up, my heart poundin.
    He’s here. DeMalo’s here. I look around, frantic. Lugh an Tommo an Emmi. They lie in their sleep skellies. Fast to sleep each one. Nero on his branch. The horses slumberin.
    Okay. He ain’t here. Calm down. It was jest a dream. I clutch my blanket to my chest.
    DeMalo. Since I seen him last – at Pine Top Hill – I managed to keep him outta my mind. But he’s found his way to my dreams. His powerful body. His long dark hair. Broad cheekbones. Heavy-lidded eyes. Deep brown, almost black, glitterin in the torchlight of the cellblock at