Part Nine

Oggin noticed, with some trepidation, that the sun was getting much lower in the sky and he knew he would have to get a move on if he was to reach Greedle’s place before dark. The problem was that he couldn’t walk with longer strides because of the size of the sack barrow, it was too short, or he was too tall but in any event, when he took a long stride his foot caught the barrow and hurt like the devil. The only way to keep moving was to pull the barrow and take quite short steps but that was slow, pushing it allowed for longer steps but that was even slower, as the wheels kept getting bogged into the soft pathway. A nagging fear kept him plodding on, like most people, he’d heard tales of the ‘revenge’ that was meted out by Greedle, if you were stupid enough to cross her and Oggin had no intention of joining the ranks of the ‘missing hand club’. He put his head down and pushed on, the path took a sharp right hand turn and a low hedge came into view on the left, over it, Oggin could see the open fields of Farmer Janice, a former friend of the Wolf Woman. There had been an acrimonious parting of the ways, some four years ago and the two were now sworn enemies. The field was full of little pig huts but no pigs. Farmer Janice rented the huts to wandering groups of visitors or “Crampers” as they were known, they turned up throughout the year on some sort of pilgrimage, which they called a “holiday”. This paid so well that Farmer Janice gave up livestock of one kind, for another.

A bit further on he came to a gateway into the field and was perplexed to see a forlorn looking goat harnessed to a cart. The goat was munching on the sparse grass and to one side Oggin saw two dark figures, sitting on the ground with their backs against the gate. Both were dressed from head to foot in black, with long black coats, with high black collars and very large black hats, pulled low on their heads, covering their faces. They made no acknowledgement of Oggin as he walked by but he got the uneasy feeling they were watching. He continued on his way but could feel two pairs of eyes boring into his back like knives. He arrived at Greedle’s gate just as the sun reached the horizon and rang the bell, the hatch opened and a brown face appeared and then the hatch shut again. The bolts made their protest and the gate opened to allow one of the Greek lads out, he moved to grab the bale but suddenly stopped, threw himself to his knees and began crossing himself furiously and babbling in a his native tongue. Oggin was quite taken aback by this demonstration and took a pace back. The boy then started to point at the “charm” and babbled even louder. Oggin reached forward, took the offending item off the bale and then stood back a pace again. The lad stopped his noise and let out a loud sigh.

“That is a very strong talisman Mister Oggin, in my country such a thing would mean a horrible death to anyone found with it.....you should take great care with it....in case you come to harm...”

He then picked up the bale and hoisted it onto his shoulder, with an ease that annoyed Oggin, quite a bit actually. With the bale balanced on his shoulder he pulled a bag from his waist band and handed it to Oggin, who weighed it in his hand before slipping it into his trouser pocket. Payment was made and received. The gate closed, the bolts were thrown back and Oggin was left, standing next to the sack barrow, holding the “dangerous” charm behind his back and wondering if this was worth the trouble. Dragging the barrow by one handle he set off home, on the green, Evan the Sheep Worrier was rounding up his flock and as it was still early Oggin decided to surprise Kajoa, by bringing home some ‘supper’ and he stopped off at Patel’s Pie an’ Mash on the way.

It has often been said that an act of kindness should merit its own reward but the instigator of this homily of course had never heard of Kajoa the Tosk, otherwise they would have had second thoughts.