Witch Crag (25 page)

“Oh, slow
down
, tree rat!” called Arc. “What's your hurry?”

She turned and faced him, heart pounding. He looked beautiful, standing there under the trees, with his grey eyes and dirty hair.

“So you're going back with them, are you?” he asked. “Back to Witch Crag?”

She shrugged, shook her head, shrugged again, and couldn't speak.

“You're one of them now,” he went on. “Top witch.”

“There's no top witch, Arc. No hierarchy.”

“Whatever. They're all agog to find out how you unleashed that power.”

“Well, I'm afraid they'll be disappointed,” she muttered. “What happened at the end of the battle – it might never happen again. It wasn't like I
decided
to do it.”

“Oh, your witch rage was the channel for something massive. They want to investigate it all. You could end up with that freak Geegaw studying you!”

Kita grimaced. “That's a very big reason not to go back to the crag.”

There was a pause, then Arc said, “Well, you could always come home. Back to the hill fort.”

“After I went through hell and high water to escape it?”

“But everything's different now.”

“I know it is.”

“Kita – do you support this new union of the tribes?”

“Of course I do. You know I do.”

“Do you support it going forward and bringing about deep change?”

“Of course. We need to share our skills. And not be threatened by our differences – let ourselves be enriched by them, instead.”

“Well put. But easier said than done. It's a tough task ahead, leading the sheepmen into the future.”

Kita smiled, shaking her head slightly. “I know. But you're going to make a brilliant headman. Who would've thought –”

“– that a thug like me could change?”

“Something like that.”

“What happened turned everything inside out for me. Cracked my mind open to the witches, and what they have to teach us. And the women at the fort—”

“Oh, they're ready for the future. In fact if you don't get back soon you might find the matron's taken over.”

Arc laughed, then he took a step closer to Kita, and stared at her, wide eyed. “Kita, come back to the fort with us. Come back and help me. I want you beside me. You can teach, you can accelerate this change. Who better? You're the bridge between us and the witches. You can still spend time on the crag with them, let them study you, work with you. But
we
need you too. Look how you inspired your archers with their blackbows. And. . .” He trailed off.

Kita looked at him closer. “What, Arc? What is it? Your face has gone all muzzy.”

“That's because I'm a liar. Talking about accelerating change.”

“
What?
” She stepped back, aghast.

“No –
no
– I don't mean I'm lying about it. I want it, it's the future. And you'd be brilliant, helping bring it about. I don't think I can do it without you. But it's not the real reason I want you to come home. Oh,
Kita
. I just
want
you. Only you. For ever.”

There was a huge, momentous silence. Thrumming and potent. She couldn't look at him. She felt as if she'd started floating – as if every cell in her body was floating and expanding with joy.

“There, I've said it,” he groaned. “Kita,
I love you
. I can't think of life without you. Please don't go to Witch Crag.
Please
come home and give me a chance with you.”

“All right,” she whispered.

“
All right?
”

“I'll come back to the fort. It's true, my work is there, not on the crag. That's my purpose. I've known it for a while now. And Vild knows it too, I could see it in her face. . .”

“
And—?
”

She looked at him again. He was in agony. He was beautiful. “I want you too,” she whispered, fiercely. “I don't want to live without you. It wouldn't be living. I—”

She broke off then, because Arc had let out a kind of indignant, joyful, shuddering cry, and then he'd seized hold of her, and was hugging her, kissing her face, her neck, lifting her up, overwhelming her, nearly smothering her. “You made me go through all that,” he breathed, “that . . .
begging
. . . and all the time. . .”

“I needed to know how you felt!” she cried.

“Oh, Kita.
How I felt?
Ever since you said you'd go to the huts with me, I've wanted you, I've
only
wanted you – no, before that. I used to watch you, I was infatuated. It broke me up when you ran away. I told myself I bloody hated you then, but I didn't,
I adore you
. You amaze me.
Tree rat
. You always have.”

They kissed for the second time in their lives, and it was far more powerful now all restraint and suspicion had gone. They stood there in the trees, arms around each other, and kissed and held on to each other.

“Ever since the witches put you in a cage, and then broke you out of it,” murmured Kita, “we've been growing closer, haven't we?”

“Yes. So I suppose it was a good thing. And that time you held me? When you showed me your ledge up on the rock? I'd replay that to myself every night before I went to sleep.”

She took in a breath. “My witch rage . . . you caused it. Seeing you about to get killed caused it.”

He let out a blissful groan, muttering, “Tell me more later. I want to hear
everything
, later. I can't take any more now, I'll break into pieces. Like I'll probably do when we make love at last.
Witch
.”

Kita laughed and they kissed again, standing there in the shushing trees.

It was Arc who, very gently, hugely reluctantly, pulled away first. “I've no idea how long we've been standing here,” he murmured. “We ought to get back.”

“Oh, lord. What will they all think?”

“I don't care what they think. I'm the new headman. What will the
witches
think? About your decision?”

“They'll understand. They . . . know already. Arc, you
ought
to care what your people think.”

“You're right. And I do care. When we get back home we'll move into the old headman's hut. We'll be together, the model of the new way, Kita. No more animal mating. Equality and free choice for all.”

“And the children will be free and happy and stay with their parents – no more cages. Not now I know how to keep the crows away.”

“Yes,
witch
. And we'll visit the horsemen, and they'll visit us, so we can all progress.”

“I'd love to see Lilly again,” said Kita. “Flay will be going to her.”

“And we'll visit Pitch and the farmers. . .”

“. . .trade mutton for vegetables. . .”

“. . .and we'll spend time with the witches, too.”

“
Lots
of time, Arc. There's so much to learn from them. They'll help me understand that power that came through me. They'll work with us to bring about this great transformation, for everyone. And we'll see Raff and Quainy and dear darling Nada
. . .
and eat mushrooms, and dance.”

“
Yes
. Oh Kita, you terrify me. How much I love you terrifies me.”

“I feel the same about you,” she said, “but it's going to be fine. It's all one, Arc. What we feel about each other, the great task ahead of us, all the tribes, all the people, it's all one.”

Then she took his hand, and led him back to everyone else.

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First published in the UK by Scholastic Ltd, 2012

This electronic edition published by Scholastic Ltd, 2013

 

Text copyright © Kate Cann, 2012

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eISBN 978 1407 13631 8

 

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