Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #15 June 2015 | Page 69

“Is it true what they say about Him?” he asks.

they wore Green Salmon colours, they didn’t have the
feel of men coming home to relax.

“Not everything, but a great many things.” the Ferryman answers.

“Phelan!” Andarta cursed under her breath and slowly emerged from under the ferns. She wondered if
she could find him in time. Padraig would have been
devastated to know that she didn’t give him a thought,
only worried about his father. Andarta padded softly
in the trail of the men approaching the Holding with
weapons drawn.

The man in red shudders. “I’d best finish the story?”
He asks the boy sitting down. The boy nods eagerly.

***
The man in red stops and works a kink out of his back.
As he stands he sees that the castle has grown on the
horizon. He glances back at the Ferryman.
“What happened next?” the boy asks.
“In a minute, I just want to ask your father a question. Why don’t we swap places, I’d like to watch the
castle.”

***
I stretch and click my neck from side to side. My back
is sore, my knees stiff, I am a series of pops and cracks
as I move. It has become too much, I must look. I turn
and gaze at the castle, now close enough to make out
details. The flag flying at half-mast, the black bunting,
the rooks wheeling above the turrets, their calls echoing over the lake. I glance at the sun, a pale-white disc
behind the clouds. It will be dusk when we land I reckon. I take a dip of water, saying—I’d best continue.
To be Continued

The two swap places and the man in red, still stood
up, now closer to the Ferryman, pitches his voice low,
so only the ferryman can hear.

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