Eric--Part Eighteen

Splog # 94

Eighteen

   Eric stood looking at the sword. His eyes strayed to the odd statue behind it. All the animals were facing in the same direction. The horse was standing in profile to Eric with his head toward the left. The sheep was in the same position as was the monkey on the sheep's back. The monkey was holding in his two hands, at shoulder height.,a fish. Eric wondered if there was any significance in the choice of the four animals or whether it was simply a sculptor's whim. From the fish, his eyes travelled to the monkey and then down to the sheep. His brow furrowed as he realized that, though the sheep's body was facing to the left, in tandem with the horse on which it was balanced, its head was turned towards him. In fact, its face seemed to be looking down into his. But hadn't all the animals' heads been turned in the same direction when he'd first looked at the statue? He would have noticed if one of the four had been faced differently from the others. It would have stood out and seemed strange. He raised his eyes to the monkey and the fish. It seemed somehow correct that they were pointed to the left, the same as the animals to which they were joined. Looking back at the sheep, he thought that it marred the symmetry of the statue. Granted the grouping was odd, but if they all faced in the same direction...

   And then the sheep's eyes started to glow.

   Eric turned away quickly. Of all the strange things he had experienced on this very strange night, somehow the bright golden light coming to life in the eyes of a sculpted sheep standing on the back of a sculpted horse in the middle of a fountain made him want to yell "No more!'" and wake up from this mad dream.

   Bev and Nol jumped down on either side of him. They stood looking at him without speaking. He looked at Bev for a moment and then turned to Nol. They both looked as though they wanted to reassure him but weren't quite sure how.

   "Did you see..."

   He stopped, took a deep breath and let it out, and then turned back to the fountain. The sword still floated on top of the water and the sheep was still looking at him with glowing eyes.

   Eric hung down his head and then turned again and sat down on the rim of the fountain. Nol and Bev looked at him for a moment and then sat down on the ground at his feet.

   Eric remained with his head bowed for a time. When he finally raised it, he looked as if he were concentrating very hard on puzzling something out.

   "All right," he said, looking straight ahead and not at either Nol or Bev. "I think you said that the sword is for me."

   There was a pause during which Nol looked at Bev, Bev closed her eyes and Eric stared straight ahead. He could see a little distance in the clearing by the light of the sword. He wondered irrelevantly if the glow of the sheep's eyes added any light to the radiance of the sword.

   Finally Bev opened her eyes and spoke up.

   "I did say the sword was for you, Eric. And I do think it is. But, you see, we were expecting to bring Cor here tonight to get it."

   Again a pause. This time Eric looked over at Bev who was looking up at him with an expression of concern, as if she didn't know how he would react to what she had told him.

   "So this sword is really for Cor?" he said, looking at Bev. She nodded.

   Eric seemed to come to a decision.

   "All right. So if I was Cor and this was my sword, what would I be expected to do with it? I don't think I'm ready for some big battle. I don't even think I'm ready for a sword fight with one other person. I don't know how to use a sword. I've only seen them in books and movies and museums."

   He turned around where he was sitting and reached for the hilt of the sword. His hand went around it and he brought it back towards himself. He was surprised by how easily it moved and how light it felt.