I have set this in the future when 'the people' are more established. I have borrowed from nordic saga and other oral traditions. As I write I am in a heat wave with a summer 'flu...ugh
I have made the assumption that they will be smi-tribal and that othe comunities will exist as well, some good, some bad.
Joshuas tale
Joshua was still standing by the remains of the fire and stared into the hole. It was as Jae had wanted, built as a Roman funeral pyre the layers of wood had burnt overnight and nothing was left except a few dry bones, possibly vertebrae, but Joshua was not inclined to look. There was just one last task to do, fill in the hole and plant the mulberry tree. The tree would grow and this would be an extension to laughing meadow. They it called laughing meadow because this was where the dead were buried and the children play in summer. They climbed the trees and remember the dead by talking to the trees. Its as good an ending you could wish for and a good beginning.
Justine came up behind Joshua, silent as ever, with a crystal wine glasses filled with red wine. The glasses had been one of Jaes prize possessions. They had a large store of red wine that Jae had found in a Tescos nearly quarter of a century before. They raised a glass in salute and drank. Justines youngest grandchild was hanging on to the hem of her tasselled jacket, which was covered in the family bead work pattern, pink triangles, purple stars on a winding serpent. It had been Jaes joke a reference to a prejudice from the past and a hope of the future. The little one tugged at Justines hem. Grandpa, grandpa, want grandpajae. Justine took the little one in her arms and gave her to Joshua. Grandpa Jaes gone to sleep youngling, let him rest awhile, a few summers from now he will send you a present. Oh, grandpajae sleepy head! Yes my little one, grandpa Jae sleepy head.
Justine put her arms around Joshua, it surprised him, she was a tall as him now. Had so much time passed that she had grown and he had shrunk? Or was it that he was .. then he heard the laughter in his head and Justine, their beloved daughter and mother of five and grandmother to nine said it out loud. Old and bent dad?! You got to admit dad, that dad always had a sense of humour, I heard him say it just now as well. Will you tell me about yours and his life dad, please. Joshua replied I know that whine child, it got you honey cakes and green apples and mammoth case of the farts when you were little. Yes I will tell the tale to all of you tonight and then thats it, you have to remember it and pass it on. It will be my time soon enough and you know what to do girl? Ah dad dont say that you got years left in you yet. You say that, but they go by fast at my age Justine, that they do. So tonight by the fire bring everyone and I will tell all and then no more.
Silently, by common accord, they picked up the two shovels and began to fill the hole. The little one was happy playing with grass stems, the future was oblivious to the past. As last benediction they whispered their love and loss, Josh poured the last of the wine around the roots of the now planted mulberry tree on the bare patch of a grave. I got a need on me Justine. I know that dad, I can tell since dads passing. I got a need to collect Emmas bones and bring them here, she was family and it would sit well on my heart to know she was safe at last. As you wish father, but will you take one of the lads with you? Ill think about it, but I would rather it was young Emma herself who came, she looks just like your aunt at that age. Dad you know thats just dreaming, I am not actually the fruit of your loins. Ha!, child, sometimes its not about what you are, its about who you are.
The traditional words were spoken that night by the fire, all who could attended became still and let the images fill their minds. Josh could spin a yarn, not as well as Jae his life partner, but still a fine tale. There were fewer of the old ones left to tell of the end and beginning. So to hear an old one in good voice was a fine treat.
That evening the speaker of the hearth came forward and related the family line and gave mood to the setting in the flickering shadows. He was dressed in a long cloak and hood covered in small black beads that caught the glitter of the fire light.
This is the telling of Joshua and Jae man and man, who became man and wife. They walked the dark time to the moot and brought with them skills and tales. Joshua the leather worker and Jae the clothes cutter, fine hunters both and good friends to all. Both father to Justine the Raven hair. Jae challenged all for the rite to be this Raven hairs father and mother, challenged all to the death. Joshua gave notice of blood feud should brave Jae fail and be lost to him. Let all men harken and fear for this challenge still stands! Yet it was not fulfilled, for the oldest and wisest placed his hand upon these two brothers and stood beside them. Thus none stood against them for the hand of the oldest is still with them as is that of his children and his childrens children. The line of Joshua and Jae still stands with its bold family emblem of pink triangle and purple star on a winding serpent. Know of this line if you see these symbols then shelter, food and friendship will be yours With a dramatic swirl the speaker pointed a finger at all Their blood is your blood, your blood is our blood. The speaker stalked off like an executioner with drama fit for a theatre.
Joshua knowing that this would be a show was wearing the white leather jacket and trousers that had been made for him by Jae. Embroidered in black, pink and purple, the black and pink were sea shells the purple were small plastic clippings from soft drinks bottles. His hair was held in a silver clasp beaten from 50p coins. In the top of his left boot he had his bushie or bush knife on his right hip he wore a totally useless stainless steel Rambo survival knife, the dam thing did not hold an edge but looked very impressive as it glittered in the leather sheath covered in small bits of steel mirror. Jae had called it his Glam Rock Glitter Get Up. The comment would be wasted on the moot, only a handful of people understood the joke now. It suddenly occurred to him that this must have been how the last dinosaur felt, he and the other surviving oldsters were aliens to this place and culture. We had played at bushcraft and survived, but the young were bushcraft born.
He began
My life in the dark time was not happy. It was a world of small rooms with no sky, sometimes you could pass a season without the feel of the wind in your face and the smell of soft earth. Such was my unhappiness that I resolved to take my own life. I had visited many doctors and wise men who listened to my heart and soul, but the things they gave and offered made me sadder and emptied my heart of what little happiness that remained. At night the cars and people never stopped and lights burned in the streets taking away the glory of the stars. It was said that some children born in the great cities never ever saw true darkness or the stars at night.
My resolve and the need in my heart took me. With my silver and paper coins I rode on a great steel car to one of the remaining forests. The resolve in my heart was strong, I would walk the paths and find a place and enter the last dream, I would stay as many have done before and let the earth take me. For three days I stayed in the forest at first it was a place of fear, then I realised the strangeness I felt, it was quiet. The quietness entered my head and I became restful, for the first time in many years I slept with a deepness known only to those who have worked and toiled hard. The quietness entered my head and I resolved that this would be my new life.
I returned to my home in the great city of London and looked for the silence in my head. Using something called the internet I found people who had the same desires and needs. Then I went and met The First. Tall he was, with red hair, broad of shoulder and easy to smile, slow to anger quick to laugh. He had a full calm face and a steady eye, Such was his way in the wilds that the animals would not flee. Broad was his knowledge of all things, true was his heart. Of his eyes I would say there were as a wolf, deep all seeing and knowing. He had known loss in his life yet bore it with dignity and pride, strong were his children with straight backs and true eyes. I hope his offspring still walk the land and tell of his line. It is said he still walks the paths and that sometimes when the path is not true and the darkness falls you will come across a quiet man with an easy smile, he will make you welcome and place a brew in your hand. He will listen to your story and know the truth of you, in the morning he will place you on the true path. Yet when you look behind you to thank him, he is gone.
You have heard of the dark time when the sickness came and bodies were left to rot where they fell. But the sickness did not strike all, some it passed and others it affected just a little. I had been at a gathering of the people and though many of us had the sickness many of us survived. I lay in my bed for ten days my body filled with pain and my chest as though a great weight had been placed upon it. Living on water and soup when I could. By the end of the ten days the fever was in London and it ravaged all. It took another ten days before i could walk as a man again , by this time the city was a sea of dead and dying and smelt of rotting flesh.
You could hear the crying and moans of the dieing as you passed houses, you could smell death in the air. Some people formed small tribes, killing all that came near them for fear of the disease, others opened storage houses and took to drugs and alcohol, they tried to die in ecstasy of indulgence. Some raped and others murdered, this was the dark time. I knew I needed food and water and a place free of the plague rats. At night the rats roamed the streets looking like the ripples on the surface of a grey lake. So strong and bold were the rats that once, by the moonlight, I saw them trap and devour alive a full grown tom cat. I took my rucksack and bushcraft gear and went to a manmade river called the Grand Union Canal. I broke into a boat called Merry Jane and set it adrift to the middle of the canal where I moored using stones and wire so the rats could not climb onboard. Here I lived for many weeks catching fish and eating it raw for fear of a fire bringing the Remnants to me. But alas, the level of water in this man made river began to fall and I needed to move again. Moving by night along the canal I came to a great building that was armoured and clad in steel, this was a super market called Sainsbury. The Remnants had tried to enter but steel shutters had kept them out and they had passed the store by. I returned to the canal and gathered as many ropes as I could find. I fitted a thin line to an arrow and shot the arrow across the corner of the roof. Five times I tried this before I managed to haul the rope up to the roof so that I could climb to the top. By the time I had finished nightfall came, so did the dogs and I was tired beyond imagining. Dogs of all sizes they were, hungry and lost, angry from hunger and willing to eat any living thing, rats, cats and people. In the morning I set up my basha and made camp on the steel roof. Working with the few tools I had I dug away the cement from the bricks and made a small entrance into the vast store. That was how I grew strong again, for three months I lived on the roof as the season changed, I dried smoked fish from plastic packets in the sun and wind. Made clothes and read many books. It was for me a time of fear and happiness. I lived on the best that the old time could provide and planned what I should do next. Once I awoke in the cold and my bivvi, basha and belongings were knee deep in snow, often jack frost would pinch my nose at night. The spring came and it was time to move, I decided to walk to the moot with a deep hope that others has survived and were there as well. But first I had to find my sister to see if she still lived.
Fair was my sister Emma, of copper hair and pale honey skin. Lean and man tall with a grace of limb. She was learned and worked with books, vast was her knowledge of the old world and old time. She was quick to laugh and had kindness in her heart for all. Swift she was and could run like the wind for an hour and a day, never tiring, strong was her running as many a man found when they ran with her. Her copper hair blazed like fire in the sun as she ran, often people thought she had hair like a burning brand. Her eyes were as green as a cat yet held laughter and steel in them. Strong and fair was Emma and her loss is still felt in my heart.
I said goodbye to my home on the steel roof, cleaning all around me, leaving all as I found it. I replaced the bricks in the wall and sealed them with mud.
I set out and travelled by dusk and dawn, slow and sure avoiding the rampaging Remnants. It took me three days to travel that which now takes a day. Still there were survivors who would rather dwell in damnation and self pity rather than be one with the land. I saw many sadnesses on my journey, the remains of families huddled in corners with dead children and loved ones clutched in the arms of the dead. I travelled little during the day, for I had to be wary of dogs, people and all manner of things. Once I came across a woman who had been tied to a tree and left to die, there was little I could do as her wounds were grievous and beyond help. I gave her the edge of my great knife and she thanked me as she died. I left her where she still stood by the tree and moved on for fear of those who did such things finding me.
It took me a month to reach Emmas home. Sometimes staying in the abandoned gardens of the dead, other times in the homes themselves. You could tell if the houses had dead in them, the windows would be covered with flies on the inside. When you walked through the house you would walk on a crust of dead flies which made a crunching noise like the sound of dry bracken underfoot. I looked at the windows of her home, there was joy in my heart, they were free of flies! But alas, when I entered I found that she too had been taken by the darkness. But such was her nature that not even the creatures that crawl would sully her fairness, not even the dark one cared to mar her beauty. I found her in her bed as though asleep, with her faithful dog still at her feet. Her hound ever true in life had chosen death rather than leave his beloved mistress. In death he guarded her as in life. By her hand there was a written letter, a skill not followed by many now, but still insisted on by the masters of craft, in the final hours of clarity she had left a message for me. It went as this.
Dearest Joshie, for this for this was the name she used for me as a child, I hope beyond all hope that you will find this letter, my time is short and I have much to say. I fear that the great adventure is upon me and I know I shall not see you again. I have love in my heart for you and sadness for world as it is and will be. All that is mine is yours and to this I swear. If you read this I have left a few books for you on herbs, plants, herbal medicine and tools. I hope they are not to heavy to carry. If the world becomes as I suspect they will help you a great deal. I dont think the library will worry much if they are not returned. If you can find others who survive and do not let the world sink into a barbarous place. Our world had much of value not all of it was bad. Teach the children to read and remember. Please take my dog Farscape with you, he is a good friend and can run like the wind. The letter said many other things but of them I cannot speak. I still carry the letter to this day and I shall take it with me on the final journey.
I stood in tears and wept by her bed for a day and a night. Finally I did as she instructed I collected her books and a few other family things and prepared to move on. By her hand I left a book to read on the great journey and a glass of the finest wine. For her faithful hound a pile of the best bones to gnaw on while he stood guard over her. Before I left I planted fire thorn around her house. I was sure in the knowledge that they would grow and allow none to sully or disturb her place of rest.
The books she left me were these and they are a joy for those who can still read: Food for free, Herbal healers, A Hedgerow cookbook, Home tanning leather and small fur skins, deer skins into buckskins, American Indian tools and ornaments, Building the Traditional Japanese house , The Dangerous book for boys. They taught us how to make tools from bone and to know the wild plants that grew around us and could be eaten. Many of the homes you live in which are warm and use no steel or iron come from her legacy. I hear murmurs of laughter from the young as to how we could not know this, but it is true, for we did not grow or pick in the old time rather we bartered with paper and silver coin with those who traded. This is why the name Emma is venerated in our clan, It was she, even though dying, understood the needs of the future. The People count her as a founder as her heart and foresight guided us in many ways.
For three days I rested and then I set off towards the moot. That night I saw two fire stars cross the night sky, one greater and one lesser. I knew this to be a sign of Emmas passing and had joy in my heart for they crossed the sky like a red flaming brands, and I knew that Emma was running the great journey with her faithful hound Farscape by her side. I was heading towards Oxford by following the great trade road. The trade road was a dangerous place then. It had many small bands who preyed upon passing travellers. Soon I discovered that if I walked from high ground to high ground and kept the great road in sight I could follow a general path without seeing many people. I was careful always to approach the tops on my hands and knees. This proved to be a wise caution, as once I found a band of Remnants upon the other side feasting upon their spoils. The Remnants were as demons from a distant hell. They had painted their faces and rent their clothes, many had coloured hair and body paint with evil words painted on their body. I could hear from the sounds that they had unwilling people among them and were subjecting them to cruelties beyond words for amusement. They screamed and ranted calling upon the devil and creatures from hell. Never did their lusts become satisfied for the terrors they could inflict.
I had been travelling many days and was weary needing a place to rest for a while when I came across a small track unused for many weeks. I headed down this track and came to a small farm. The doors were open and it was clear that It had been untouched for a long time. There was food in tins, which was a thing that was done then, and many things that we would regard as treasures now, boots, clothes and warm blankets. By now adversity was moulding me into a man of The People and I chose to sleep outside rather than be constricted by its hard walls.
end of part 1 all done
the theme and write my own bestseller and I'll invite you all the booklaunch!!)
