Entanglements

25th October 2021: almuce, n. A hood, cape, or similar garment made of or lined with grey fur and worn by a member of a religious order (esp. a canon).

26th October 2021: amrita, n. In Indian mythology: the food or drink of the gods; ambrosia.

27th October 2021: aloed, adj. Bitter; full of pain, sadness, or affliction. Also in literal use: mixed or flavoured with aloes.

28th October 2021: badman, n. Originally Jamaican. A man who is (or purports to be) dangerous or menacing to a degree that inspires respect or admiration; a tough, combative, or uncompromising man.

29th October 2021: nostalgist, n. A professedly or habitually nostalgic person; a person who attempts to recreate or sentimentally recollects the past.

30th October 2021: unmute, v. To cause (a musical instrument) not to be muted.

31st October 2021: hattock, n. Scottish. A little hat. Chiefly in ‘horse and hattock’: a cry said to be uttered by witches or fairies wishing to transport themselves to another place.

He rides in the pale moonlight. Swaddled in dark habit, almuce pulled low against the light and wind, he urges his horse onwards. His stomach is empty, craving the simplest meal. Even dark, hardened bread and a morsel of cheese would be a divine filling, ambrosaic amrita. Yet his tongue is aloed by the badman he both flees and seeks, that monster whose crimes have poisoned all that was good and pure about the village, crimes no nostalgist could withstand. He felt his tongue throbbing with venom and longed to unmute it against this beast in some spell, some horse and hattock to banish this scourge to a faraway place from where he could do no harm.