Chapter 3

THE CROOK OF THE MOUNTAIN KINGS ELBOW

3.

Now then. Arvey heard her song as loud as the thunder that brought the lady’s aria to an end. The song left the lake so sad. He couldn’t understand what she was saying, but could understand how lonely she was, how very very far from home she found herself and how helpless her situation had become. Arvey had only ever heard at most three instruments playing together in his whole life and her voice was a thousand strong, instruments that he had never heard before, all playing as one mighty swirling voice bringing down the night sky to kiss the ground. Plucked the stars like strings it did, making music of the heavens. During the song he had managed to peel open his eyes and had seen her curled about the rock, smacked to it she was, her glistening green tail wrapped around the wet stone, reflecting and illuminated by at first the cold, brittle broken bottle moonlight and then in the rude and sudden dashes of fantastic lightning that whipped the air about her. She was so dolefully pretty, so sadly charming that the world seemed unable to do anything but gaze transfixed . Every shining pebble on the lake shore stared, every thin blade of grass looked long, as though she were something that would only ever happen the once, like a month of Sundays, and then disappear forever. It was like being close up and comfy to a shooting star. By spectacular contrast he had now seen Jimmy for the first time. An enormous confused mass of muscle, gristle, arms, legs and belly, like a whole army had been beaten and moulded into one slab of a body, limb bingo, as ugly as the lake lady was beautiful. His mouth a wide bore hole in the middle of an enormous bald head, which came to a rude full stop in a squashed mushroom of a nose. His face, although large, seemed to take up far too little of his massive head. A heavy outcrop of village idiot brow protected two tiny beady eyes, furious black coal like nuggets, small as though they weren’t needed and furious at that very fact. Jimmy’s mouth had been wide open in something like shock while he listened to her song. His huge elephant ears slowly flapped, drinking in the swell of her voice, taken aback and bewitched he was. Stuck to the spot, helpless. His fists swung on the end of his long thick arms, digging into the earth in time to the spell she was weaving.  Arvey watched, knowing that if he moved,

if he moved......

 then Jimmy would see him and he would be dead within moments. The giant, for that’s what he was, looked as though he could stop an entire army with just one massive swish of one hand. Just his fists were as big as the cottage that Avrey’s grandmother had lived in before she died. The hymn rose and died within the fury thrown up by the mountain king. Jimmy, the spell broken, crashed back down the mountain furious like a spoilt child scolded.

She had won she had. Clung to the rumour of the sun’s rising.

 And the lake lady? She slipped slowly from the rock into the water accompanied by the first blue clue of the coming day.

Arvey lay, still covered in moss, as the bones in his body grew accustom to the life that had now began to blossom inside him. The pain which the awakening brought, like the arrival of an unpopular aunt, stabbed at every part of him. Hurt deep it did. The sun climbed into a blue sky, but unlike the fallen night previous the morning was cold. As the mountain was so high the warmth that Arvey had hoped would come, was replaced by a chill. Mr Bird fussed about him, pecking at the ground in front of his face. Arvey tentatively moved a finger, then his arm, groaning at the trouble that he was putting his body to. His head span between throbs. He pulled himself up onto his elbows and gasped, filling his lungs with fresh mountain air. Then she was there, looking at him from under the water as Arvey managed to slowly unfold himself into a sitting position. Arvey was still taken aback by her beauty, she moved so easily through the water as though she were dancing. A voice appeared in his head and told him not to worry as the giant had gone and would not trouble them. The day would keep him where ever he was. Arvey could not hear her voice. It was as though he were thinking. When she had spoken to him all he could hear with his ears was the lapping of the water and the squawking and chirruping of Mr Bird.

“How long have I been asleeping?” Arvey asked

“Thirty nights.” came the reply as a thought “You were enchanted. Even I could not break the spell. It must have been a fair pretty one at that, I am a fairly able witch and could not as much as budge it. How are you? Are you strong?”

“I am four leagues tired.” he replied

“I helped you” she said “I hid you from Grarth and fed you. Are you strong?”

“Why do you ask me if I am strong?”

“Because you have to leave. I cannot hide you if you can move, he will smell you and he will surely kill you, even I cannot help you then.”

“Is Grarth the giant?” Arvey asked

“Yes, he will kill you as sure as the tides. Look over your shoulder when the sun dies. You must needs be gone” she said.

Arvey looked at her he did. She had saved him from the giant after all, she had fed him and looked after him while he had slept, stopped his lazy bones from sinking dead into the soft brown earth forever. He owed her his life and she was a fine bit of fishy tirly whirly if ever there was one.

  “Who are you lady?” he asked “Why did you save me of all the boys that have crawled this far? What have I done to deserve your attention? I am only my father’s son on an errand to his highness the great mountain king. He as to who chooses to hold back the rain. There have been lads before me lady as have not returned. Why did you not save them?”

“I have seen none other, upon my word. A father’s son?” she asked of him” A father’s son great enough to have enemies I would say. That was a masterful spell that pinned you to your temporary grave day after day.” She looked about her and gestured towards the sheer green moss covered walls that ran up to the summit “Great mountain king?” she laughed”  How great is stone? I am the granddaughter of the Queen of the sea! None other! The mountain king holds me tightly here hostage. We are enemies. I was stolen brave young man...... And I am to stay here until my grandmother entreats the............him and pays homage. “ She raised her head and voice proudldy” And she never will. She is the mighty Queen of all the oceans is she not?” The lake lady shook her green hair a pace and then shouted up at the bluffs “Why then, why should she bow down to a bad tempered old rock who tries to rise above his station?”

Arvey had to interrupt as she had begun in the middle of a story that he didn’t know the beginning of “Lady. Lady. Why don’t you escape?”

“I cannot, the streams that flow from this lake are too small, the mountain knows this. That is why he keeps me here like a pet. I am here till I die. My grandmother..... “ with this the lake lady lowered her head and grew sad “does not know where I am. She may think I am dead.” she burst into tears, huge sobs seemed to come from the pit of her soul and burst like fireworks inside Arvey’s head. The lake lady swam away, out of Arvey’s sight. He looked down at the magpie at his side.

“Mr Bird, Mr Bird!” He said, his eyes on fire “This will not do my little friend.  We have to help this poor creature.“ Arvey bent down as though to whisper to the magpie. “ She may be a goddess!  Think on that. And pretty, so very pretty she is, like a....like as I don’t know nor never will.  It breaks my heart to hear her cry. She speaks inside my head you know! How about them eggs? I cannot hear her with my ears, but she speaks here...” he tapped his forehead with his finger” inside my head! Do you hear her Mr Bird? In your wonderful little bird brain? We have to help her I reckon, save her we do. We as ‘ave to cock our beavers and save the day I reckon.  Just imagine Mr Bird. Just imagine the riches that the Queen of the sea could give us. Me and you. All of the treasure from every sunken pirate ship that they tell of could be ours” Pearls as big as turnips and all the fishes we can eat! And, between you and me...this lake lady is the most beautiful thing , I swear, that I have ever seen. If we save her then.....” The magpie hopped from one foot to the other. “Playing your cards close to your black and white chest eh? Can’t say I blame you, but she saved me, just as you did my friend, saved me from that beast of a monster. Did you see him? He would have killed me soon as look at me! Shall we try to save her Mr Bird? You and me?  I think we shall! It’s the right thing to do!”

After a while the lady returned to the shore, urging Arvey to clear out of it, leave immediately. Arvey told her that he would like to carry a message to the Queen of the sea, telling her the whereabouts of her granddaughter. “You cannot, she will not hear you” the lake lady looked sad again “You are but a man. She is the Queen of the sea.”

“Why will she not hear me? I will tell her that you are trapped! By the mountain....” the lady interrupted

“She cannot hear you. You are too.....” she searched for a word” .too..small. That is why the mountain cannot see you. You are like a.....thing, a small animal, a spider. The mountain and the sea are too big to hear a voice as small as yours.  Now if you were a fish....but you are not. It’s hopeless. Run! Before Grarth returns and murders you where you sit!”

“But the mountain sees you he does, He threw lightning at you. I saw it”

“I take up more space in things than you do or understand, brave though you are. I am the........” she stopped herself, “..nevermind. It’s useless. Run, please run.”

“Why do you not send a fish with a message?”

“The fish here are too tiny and would forget before they even left the lake bless their little fishy scales, useless they are.  And the pike are too bitter and full of themselves, they think they are mighty kings. They are only interested in battles and killing. They would serve me, yes, but they would twist what I said to their own ends. Only good for one thing. Assasins they are, murderous and cold”

“There must be a way that I can take a message. Why I can walk to the sea’s edge. I have always wanted to visit the sea. You saved me. I have to help you. Think on it. I will try to walk and you think of a way that I can help and I will do so. I give you my word. I promise.”

“There is a way.” She said “I will have to sing again, and it will have to be at night so as not to arouse the suspicion of the mountain. He will think I am trying to charm Grarth. That is why he grew so angry before. I can capture the song in a shell and trap it. There is one shell in the lake that will hold a song, just one. If you played it in the sea then my grandmother would hear. But...it’s no good, you will not survive the night, you will die. He will see you and kill you. He did not see you before because to him you were dead, but he could still smell you, I could tell. With you awake he would know at once. It’s no good! Run. Save yourself if you can”

“There must as be a way lady. Think. You hid me before.”

“Perhaps there is. Kiss me.” Arvey leant forward eagerly like a boy at a spring dance and kissed the lady on the lips. She held his head against hers. Arvey felt his body overtaken by a great cold, as cold as a castles dungeon. A sop cold it was, all wet and misty, but not unpleasant. The lady held his head for a long time, the kiss went on and on, but there was no passion in her embrace, just the cold breath that filled him from toe to bonce. When as she broke away Arvey could not breath, he gasped, but no air would enter his lungs. She beckoned him into the water, he followed, his face turning blue. Then once he was in the lake up to his shoulders, she pulled him under the still water. Arvey found that he could breathe. She smiled at him. “ This is how I will hide you and when I sing the rock in the centre of the lake must be between you and Grarth. Do not move. It is still dangerous, but perhaps the water will mask your stench. I do not know how long the charm will work, but it is the only way. The bird will have to fend for itself as it has done these days passed.”

Arvey spent a few hours swimming under the surface of the lake with the lady. She told him stories of huge bright blue oceans that lay beyond the drop of the land, of great under sea palaces, of fish, as big as great halls, that can swallow ships whole. She told of her grandmother and of her mighty long dead grandfather who ruled the seas with fairness and love. They played in the depths like children, Arvey only moving slowly, all arms and clumsy legs, while she darted about him laughing and poking fun. Eventually the enchantment wore off and Arvey returned to the surface. He sat on the shore and ate raw golden fish that she caught him, fish so sweet that he asked for more. Mr bird hopped about and tugged at thick juicy worms that he pulled from the ground. Arvey told her of his village, and of the drought. He called back stories of things he had done as a boy, the yearly festivals and fairs, the visitors and players that brought things from over the seas, he told her of his father and of Elaine’s treachery. He grew sad when he realised that his father may well now think that Arvey was dead. He cried at the sadness his father must feel to be without him.

 The lady listened and watched the sky for the bruise of evening. And on it came. She readied herself, scrubbed herself up all lovely she did, teased her hair and shone the scales on her body and tail until she gleamed with beauty. Then, as the sun began to plop out of the heavens, it’s days work done, they kissed again, longer this time. To Arvey it seemed like hours, the darkness grew until the day had all but gone. They kissed as the stars appeared in the clear velvet purple sky.  She spoke in his head, told him to be brave, not to move, to listen to her song to take away the cold. And still they kissed unbroken, as the small animals tucked themselves up in their burrows, and the foxes cleaned themselves ready for the hunt. And as they kissed. Oh as they kissed, Arvey fell incurably in love with the lady whose name he did not yet know and lost his way in her cold magical breath that filled his body. Then just as Arvey began to think that their kiss would last forever ...

DOOMmmm!

There was a dull and distant thud somewhere down the mountain. It was night time, show time. The evening was dead as a doornail and Arvey from that day on would always mourn its passing. The day was done and Grarth was being drawn to the lakeside. The lady broke the spell of the kiss and pulled away.

“It begins”  she said

*

There it is I reckon. That’ll do you for now. Excitin’ aint it? I can see your peepers a widenin’. That’s  as the time to leave it for now. I’ll be going now if it pleases yer ‘ighness. My Mrs will be cookin’ up right enough, what with the fields a burgeonin’ an’ that. Plenty on the plate for your ‘umble servant there will be. An’ makes the most of it we ‘as to. ‘T aint like your goodness sire, we can’t as much as just call for vitals any time we likes all year round, such as yourself can. No, we ‘as to get nice and fat now, store up us bellys for the winter coming. Watch the mrs get all plump we do. She is a fair beautiful sight come the shortenin of days. Glows she does an’ all. A fine gigglin’ lovin’ mattress she is then, when the cider has whipped away her graces. God love her to pieces.

Now don’t be a lookin’ like that. It’s meant to leave you gaspin’ for more, that’s what a good tellin’ is all about aint it? Sire I ‘as to go, the evenin’s setting in and my godffers will be waiting for their story if you don’t mind. You need to be carefull as the story only lasts so long as the speakin’ and if you don’t leave me go it will be shorter in the long run if you follows.

 Oh be kind. You can’t attach me to your pit like the lake lady, I must needs be gone.

But the evenin’s be long about now, and the sun will be golden and last all night, I can sit outside my hovel with a smoke and think on the next bit of the story. Don’t ‘ave me a beggin Lord. It’s alright for you to lay there like a deadun, but me, I ‘as things as I must do. I have only so many hours in the day. It’s only fair that I gets to enjoy a little bit of it innit? Dont be a sour udderfull. I can’t be ‘anging about like a ghast all lolloping about like old wall hangings like your good self. After all that telling my throat has such a spark and I am hungry see. I don’t have an army of people who I can tell what is what, that night is day and that indoors is good as outside as you does. Get them to let me out. You can do it with a flick of your finger. Don’t be a badun, leave me go.

Till the next time then. Sleep well, dream of big women and leave yer ‘ands outside the bed clothes for fear of blindness.