Friday in Summer

I didn’t like McKenzie for all sorts of reasons, but I wouldn’t have thrown him into a river like a trussed kitten. I didn’t think anybody else would either. This is the only excuse I can give for the fact that Janice and I stood with the rest of the villagers at the edge of the deep pool the next morning.

McKenzie and the head woman stood apart from us, right at the edge of the bank that led to the pool. His arms were bound tightly by his sides. She lifted her hands, faced upstream and sang in a loud piercing voice: I am Ina. I am of this place. I bring the thief to be judged. I started to force my way past the men in front of me as she pushed him into the water. He yelled indistinctly as he fell.

The men gave back as Janice and I in disbelief rushed to Ina’s side, both of us voicing a long ‘No!’ Our captor from the day before grabbed Janice before she jumped into the water. The voice of the Valley was quiet in my head as Ina grabbed me in the act of diving into the water. I could see through the crystal clear water Hamish McKenzie fighting to free himself from the bonds. He had sunk so quickly, I wondered if they had put rocks in his pockets, but he was naked. He had no pockets. ‘Why did you do that? Why? What sort of people are you? Let me save him.’

It is the judgment. We will wait. As she spoke I saw Hamish cease struggling. His unmoving shape sank to the bottom of the pool. Janice beside me continued to cry and struggle desperately. I wondered for the first time if I really wanted to help save these people. We waited as time passed. Ina seemed to be growing uncomfortable and said, as if reassuring herself: It is the way.

‘It is not our way. He will die.’ The response from the gathered villagers worried me. They laughed. I wondered if they had misunderstood.

Janice reinforced what I had said: ‘Don’t you understand? You’ve killed him. You have his blood on your hands.’ This amused them further.

Perhaps my father had been wrong. A people who could laugh hard-heartedly at murder could not be worth saving, surely. I felt dizzy as all the certainties I had believed about this place and my role quaked. Jasper wound himself around my legs and barked softly. Look closely. Reason.

Behind me, Janice still paying close attention to the body of Hamish, gasped. ‘Dodge, he’s moving.’ I knew this stage. She would have seen the current moving his limbs, and be in denial of his real death.

I was not prepared for the sight of Hamish, unbound and swimming for the rocks below where we stood.

Ina sighed with relief. In a loud voice she proclaimed to the world: The River has spoken. The thief has heard his judgement. Quietly to Janice and me as others helped a wet and naked Hamish out of the water, she said: There is no death here. Not for those who have a right to be here. The thief, although still a thief, has the right of life here.

I was relieved. For a moment I was blind with relief. My world righted itself again.

It took me a while then to realise that Hamish had been wrapped in a bathrobe, and was standing in front of the assembled crowd, sobbing. ‘It’s not true. It’s not true.’

Ina was now standing in front of him. His back was still to the water. She had regained her boss-lady voice: The River does not lie. You heard truth, thief. What is your task? What has the river set you to do?

He continued to sob uncontrollably. Janice moved towards him. I put my hand on her shoulder to discourage her from going forward. She looked at me. ‘This is McKenzie’s business, Janice.’

Ina spoke again. Pull yourself together or I will deliver my own judgement. What is your task?

He turned his reddened eyes to me and Janice. Not such a pretty boy right now.

He spoke to us: ‘She said my father was a thief. She said I had to return what he had stolen. But that’s not true. We have the news clipping. He came back see. He came back from Australia and had it out with Rhodes. It says. How else could we get into the Valley?’

Ina stepped into his sight between us: This is clear to us already, but what task did she set for you, thief.

Hamish turned to her, tears still sparkling on his eyelashes, but no longer being shed. ‘I have to take them to the Source.’ He indicated Janice, Jasper and me. This caused consternation. ‘She said she wants us four at the Source.’

I felt eyes on me. The villagers were looking at us with new interest. I hadn’t realised before how much Janice and I had been under the radar. Jasper barked: It is as it should be,