The Wood Cows Expelled
On that day so fateful for Helga’s story, just before sunrise Messenger Jays set out from their post atop the Desperate Ridges. Each carried a proclamation scroll to be delivered to Keepers of the Light in the far-flung hamlets and villages of the Hedgelands. Bad Bone watched them scattering to the different directions as he prepared to return home. His preparations included exhorting the group of dispirited Worthies he had discovered behind the Llanhogger Inn. He had decided to lead them away from the Jay settlement. The rag-tag collection of creatures gathered around him, chattering excitedly. At last they were leaving the Jays.
As the cries of the departing Messenger Jays—“Ya! Ya! Ya!”—died away, Bad Bone gave one last look at the Jay settlement and, taking a deep breath, climbed over the ledge and began his descent. Calling instructions to those following him, within half an hour he guided the rest of his band over the edge as well.
Speeding swiftly to all corners of the Hedgelands, the Messenger Jays delivered the High One’s decree. In each and every Hedgie hamlet and village, the High One’s original proclamation was destroyed and replaced with the new message.
When Clear Water’s Day arrived, the High Seat in every hamlet and village crackled with an unusual, anxious energy. Each Hedgie had heard the rumors about the High One’s annual proclamation. In the light of the unprecedented rebellion, what would His Highness say?
A deep hush fell over Hedgies as the royal proclamation was read:
Greetings to thee, all!
The Hedge stands fast upon the dangers of beyond;
it opens not to the West; it opens not to the East;
it opens not to the South; it opens not to the North,
it opens not to any who would enter our land.
The Hedge opens only at the command
of the First One and the Last One;
it opens for him the foul-smelling Wood Cow;
it opens for her the lazy Wood Cow;
it opens for the Wood Cows who defy the High One,
who speaks for the First One and the Last One.
The High One, by whose wisdom
the good live and the unworthy die,
provides three First Touch Days
for the Wood Cows to leave our lands.
By the First One and the Last One,
who alone is without equal, I decree this shall be
a means of purifying our lands and people.
Death to anyone who aids the Wood Cows as they flee!
The Forever End was to be opened! The Wood Cows were expelled from the Hedgelands!
So far as anyone knew, no creature—except for the High One’s own favored traders—had been beyond the Hedge in over a thousand years. Even the rivers that flowed through the Hedgelands passed through gates that barred entry by any creature. Now there would be an opening made in the Hedge!
Helga and Breister, with the other Wood Cows, listened to the reading of the proclamation from a dark and dusty cellar of the High Seat where they sat on the floor. Symbolic of their place at the absolute bottom of the Hedgeland order, Wood Cows were not permitted to sit with the other Hedgies. Being confined to the cellar, however, with sound filtering down faintly through vents, had the benefit of allowing them to comment on the ridiculous things they heard.
“‘Death to anyone who aids the Wood Cows as they flee!’ the High One says,” Helga snorted. “Wood Cows would never run away from such a tyrant as the High One! We’re not cowards! We’ll obey this decree, as unjust and foolish as it is. But we obey without any idea of scurrying away in panic!”
“Aye, that’s our way,” her father agreed. “If we leave, we go peacefully with the will to make a new life in a new land. We go toward a new day. Let the High One and his ignorant kind hold to the old day, as they will. We go forward with our heads held high!”