Page 3 of Earth-Bound

“Yourtree?”

It seemed the witch and I were of a mind about this newcomer’s claim to my tree. Whoever he was, he practically growled, “Yeah, my tree. What’s the problem, Randall?”

So my new witch friend was called Randall. I felt that would be important and filed it away. Certainly, if he continued to unbind these spells, I would owe him a great debt of gratitude.

Randall and the newcomer continued to bicker until Randall’s voice changed. It went from irritation to intrigue. “You know,” he said, “that might actually work.”

“I’m a troll,” said the newcomer. I shuddered again. I had met a troll once. I had not enjoyed the experience. I was surprised that he was standing so close to me without hacking at me, if I were honest. Trolls hated living things. All living things. They were basically the opposite of earth spirits, who lived almost entirely on the feel of the teeming earth around them.

This meant that, when the troll’s voice drew nearer, I wanted to lean back, to get away from him, but I couldn’t move. I was as entombed as ever, and I couldn’t even make a sound.

They fussed around for a while – my sense of time had distorted so much in the past years that I had no concept of it now. Perhaps it was minutes, perhaps hours. It couldn’t have been days because my leaves were still turned up towards the sun, soaking up the light, and so it was still daytime.

Then I felt asnaparound me, all around the tree, and Randall said, “It’s gone.”

I took a breath. My chest moved, inhaling. The tree around me expanded, sagging with relief after being corseted for so long.

Outside my tree, Randall and Broadmire talked but their voices were just a low murmur to me. I was just breathing. Breathing in and out. Because I could.

I didn’t even notice them leave, but they did at some point. I stepped out of my tree and there was nobody around, not for nearly a mile. I could feel it. I could feel where my feet were standing upon the earth.

At first, I was so overwhelmed that I couldn’t do anything. I just stood there, outside of my tree, with my feet on solid ground for the first time in… however many years.

The ground was teeming with life. It always was. I stood there and absorbed the feeling, letting my body vibrate with it, overwhelmed by the sudden freedom. Beside me, my tree arched up and tilted its leaves towards the sun as it moved across the sky. We both revelled in our freedom.

I didn’t even get back inside my tree when darkness fell. The air turned crisp and cool but I had spent so long inside, I didn’t want to go back in just yet. I wanted to feel the air and the earth and watch the night-creatures as they wandered.

I think I was visited by every hedgehog, badger and fox within five miles. They all came up to me, standing beside my tree, and nosed around, their ears and noses twitching, aware that I was something important, judging whether I was a danger or not. I was not.

One elderly vixen stayed. She just curled up at my feet and went to sleep. I reached down through the earth with my senses and felt her comfort at being near me, and it had been so long since I’d felt that… I needed it. I needed the earth creatures to feel safe around me.

A bat flew over my head. Bats aren’t earth creatures but it had become aware of me and it fluttered around for a few minutes before flying away.

I stood there all night, just revelling in the feeling of the earth around me. But I was weak. I’d been detached from my element for so long and I couldn’t do any magic. Not yet.

As the sun rose again and my tree rustled with the excitement of feeling the heat on its leaves, I slipped back inside it. This time, it was warm and safe and I didn’t feel trapped at all. I was one with the tree and I could still feel the earth, the tree’s roots digging down, the vixen slipping away back to her den, the footsteps of early risers in the distant village, and—

A jolt.

This one was more powerful than any of the jolts before and it ran through me like electricity. Someone important was walking near me. Someone…

I couldn’t work out what was important about them. I couldn’t feel any magic coming from them and I knew they weren’t an earth spirit. They were human, as far as I could tell. Just human. So I sank down, too exhausted after my long day to go and check. I could do that soon. Now I was free.

Chapter 3: Joe

Iwaved at Randall and Broadmire as they walked across the field together. I had almost got used to Broadmire now. Almost.

Ok, I still wasn’t entirely certain that he wasn’t going to try and rip my limbs off – he just gave that impression all the time and I wasn’t sure whether to take it personally or not. Still, he spoke to me and maybe he watched just a little too closely when I talked to Randall but I was prepared to forgive that. Randall was hot and Broadmire knew I’d asked him out. It stood to reason that he was a bit anxious about competition. Not that he needed to be. I might have thought Randall was sexy but it was obvious toeveryonethat Randall only had eyes for his boyfriend.

I was actually pleased for them. They somehow fitted together really well, even though I’d never have pictured Broadmire when I tried to imagine the sort of man Randall might go for. It just went to show that there was more to people than met the eye. Randall had been a very uptight, suited man when I’d first met him but I’d liked his face and he’d been the only person on the whole Winters estate worth talking to. Of course I’d tried my luck.

And it had worked out well for me. He’d given me a heads-up that my employer would have a problem with my sexuality and I’d quit.

He’d done me a favour. Pointed me in the direction of Lower Dipton and Broadmire, and I’d got a new job I loved, working on this huge piece of land. For some reason, Broadmire had bought the land without knowing the first thing about taking care of it.

That made me think. I wanted to move those plants. It was just that I also didn’t want to talk to Broadmire much.

Debating, I watched the two of them walk further towards the house and the apple tree that stood outside it and I could just about make out the spray of green in the window of the master bedroom that was that poor fern and elephant’s ear struggling to survive.

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