The Second Wave by Michael Tod Read Free Book Online Page A

Council Meeting was summoned, but no new ideas were forthcoming.
    Tansy looked round at the despondent squirrels and thought of a Kernel taught to her by Old Burdock, the beloved and much respected elderly Tagger who had been such an inspiration to them on their journey to Ourland.  Burdock had been Sun-gone since the summer and was buried in the ground below the Council Tree where they were now sitting.
    The Kernel said –
     
    If you think you can
    Or if you think you cannot
    Either wayit’s true
     
    ‘I’ll go and get the real Woodstock,’ she told them, and before any could object or raise difficulties, or try to convince her it was impossible, she leapt from the Council Tree and set off through the treetops towards Pottery Point, the nearest place on the island to the Mainland.
    Watchful for the pine marten and surprised at her own boldness, Tansy jumped from tree to tree, wondering how she could ever cross the frightening stretch of water she could see ahead.
    In a pine tree above the shore she stopped, plagued by doubts.  The Sun had sent a door to carry them across to Ourland when they had been pursued by the Greys, and she had half expected to see that very door drifting in on the tide.  She stared out over the water, but could see nothing.  What a fool she had been.  Now she would have to go back and admit defeat.  No she wouldn’t!
    Old Burdock had taught them when to use the Needing Kernel, having emphasised that it was for needing and not just for wanting.
    Tansy looked up at the Sun and said the first part of the Kernel –
     
    ‘Oh Great Loving Sun
    What I need most at this time
    Is…..’
     
    Her mind went blank as the struggled to find four more word-sounds to express her wish to cross the water.
    A male sika deer, who had swum over to the island a moon before to service the hinds there, stepped out of the bushes and paused below the tree in which Tansy sat, exhaustion showing in his eyes and stance.
    A weary stag, she thought.  Sun-inspired, she said aloud, ‘Is a weary stag’, and dropped from the tree to cling to his left antler.  The stag shook his head in irritation, gently at first, then violently, but Tansy held tightly to the hard horn.  The stag waded into the sea and swam towards Furzey Island, tilting his head backwards and sideways as he swam, so the water washed over Tansy, who clung there, terrified, salt water washing into her eyes, nose and mouth.
    Just as she was thinking that she could hold on no longer, she felt the stag’s feet touch bottom and he waded ashore on Furzey Island.
     Refreshed by the cold water and now seemingly unaware of the tiny sodden animal still clinging to his antler, he trotted across Furzey, entered the sea again and swam to the Goathorn Peninsula of the Mainland.  As Tansy altered her grip, her foot touched the hair between his horns, and the stag tried to dislodge her by brushing his head against a bush.  Tansy leapt into the foliage.
    There is a way, she thought, if you think you can…. She climbed a tree and licked herself dry, gagging at the taste of salt.  Mentally and physically drained by her ordeal, she searched for and found an old magpies’ nest in which to spend the night, alone for the first time in her life and fearful of every sound from the night-life all about her.
    At dawn she set off through the plantation, keeping the sun behind her and heading in the direction that she hoped would lead to the Blue Pool, Marguerite and the Woodstock.
     
     
     

 
    CHAPTER TEN
     
    On the night after their visit to the Blue Pool the Portlanders slept in a disused drey on the north side of the pool, well behind the screen of pine trees.  The drey had been abandoned by grey squirrels when ‘Grades’ – the Grey Death – had swept through there, wiping the colony out to a squirrel.  The lingering scent of the Greys puzzled Crag.  It was similar to red squirrel-scent, though subtly different.  It was an unusual experience for him