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<h1>26</h1>

<p>We got back to the cottage without incident and Donald lit a fire, piling on logs until there was a good-going blaze. We stripped off the muddy clothes and hung them up near the heat to dry them off.</p>

<p>The four of us sat round the table, drinking tea. Donald found some biscuits and we scoffed the lot. He and I did most of the talking, while Paddy listened, cocking her head between us like an umpire. Colin sat to the side, his face creased with concentration and consternation. I didn't know what kind of battle was going on in his head just then, and I was too busy to find out.</p>

<p>I knew he would do what he was told. Paddy had told me, while we were getting cleaned up, about the bull, and I had seen him in action with the killer boar. He may have been deficient in some areas, but he was big and strong, and no matter how scared he was of people, he obviously lacked nothing in sheer guts. Despite the fact that I knew I would have to take care of him most of the time, I was glad he was with us.</p>

<p>The major and I went to look at the jeep. It was dug deep into the hedge and the nearside tyre was flat on its rim. That had been the spare.</p>

<p>
    'We'll have to walk,' Donald said.</p>

<p>
    'Driving's not much good anyway,' I said. I explained what had happened on the back roads when we tried to find a way out.</p>

<p>He looked at me sceptically, then shrugged.</p>

<p>'Sounds like some sort of illusion. But I've seen enough in the past day or so to tell me anything's possible. Arden's joined the Book of Revelation as far as I can see. From where I stand the apocalypse is just round the corner. Maybe we can get out on foot.'</p>

<p>'Maybe. But I wouldn't bet on it. And we'd better go careful. It's not just people we have to watch out for. The whole place seems to be against us.'</p>

<p>
    'What's doing it, I'd like to know.'</p>

<p>'You wouldn't believe me if I told you.'</p>

<p>'Try me. I've seen and heard some things in my time.'</p>

<p>So I went ahead and told him all about Kitty Macbeth and her story of Cu Saeng and the old curse that had brought bad times to Arden since the old days. I told him about Jimmy Allison's history and the periods of disaster, the same stuff Monsignor Cronin had spoken of. I described Andy Gillon under the tree and Edward Henson's mangled hands. I didn't have to remind him about the gannets attacking the man in the boat, but I told him about the bloodied bird hanging from the branches above Barbara's crashed car. And about the killer swarm of bees.</p>

<p>I told him about the night of the big storm when the Cassandra had rolled over and the lifeboat with its full crew had gone missing.</p>

<p>Even as I sold it, I realised what a disturbing catalogue it really was. I had gone well beyond the stage of believing Arden was just suffering a summer of bad luck, but frankly, getting it all off my chest was like drawing in fresh air.</p>

<p>Donald was a good listener. He didn't interrupt for most of my story. At the end of it, I asked what he thought.</p>

<p>'Well, I wouldn't be writing this up in the newspaper,' he said. 'But it's got the beat of me. I've been in too many places to believe in ghosts and goblins, but now, today, I don't know what to think. That day on the shore, I saw nature turned inside out and I know that what happened just doesn't happen. But it
    <em>did.</em>'</p>

<p>He stopped, thinking for a moment, then turned. 'Tell me. If it is this Cu-Saeng thing, or whatever, what are you planning to do about it?'</p>

<p>I shrugged. 'I have no fucking idea, Donald. Maybe we should try to get out and let the rest of the world know. If the Cu Saeng does exist, and I have to believe that it really does, I don't know how to send it back to wherever it came from.</p>

<p>'Kitty Macbeth was going to tell me more. She says there is a way. Some old prophecy on the stone down at the point. But she didn't get the chance to tell me. I wouldn't even know where to begin without her.'</p>

<p>'Well, we won't be going far on your wheels,' he said.</p>

<p>'If we have to walk, I'll get my stick.' I opened the door and reached in for the old blackthorn cromach, beside it lay the water-can in its canvas holder, I grabbed that as well and we walked back to the cottage.</p>

<p>Colin and Paddy looked at me expectantly when we went into the front room.</p>

<p>
    'We're going to go now,' I told them, 'and when we do, we have to be very careful.'</p>

<p>Paddy nodded and Colin just stared attentively.</p>

<p>
    'We'll keep to the fields, close to the hedges and if you see anybody, don't shout out. Paddy, you stay right by me all the time, and Colin, you stick with the major. Just try to be quiet and I'm sure we'll be fine.'</p>

<p>We all went out, me with my stick and the water-bottle slung from its strap, the major with his big gun, and Colin with a frown of concentration. He hadn't said a word yet. It looked like the battle was still going on inside his head.</p>

<p>We followed the wall to where Billy Ruine had shot his brother. The body was still slumped at the side, but there was no sign of the others. One of them, at least, must have survived Father Gerry's attack, and that one had a shotgun. I remember wishing I had something with better firepower than my grandfather's walking stick.</p>

<p>There was an odd silence from the row of houses where Paddy and I had run from Ruine's gang. It was as if they had been evacuated. No faces at the windows, no smoke from chimneys. Not even a dog barked and no birds sang. Yet despite the silence, I could feel eyes watching us from the shadows.</p>

<p>There was a strange tension all around, in the air and in the ground, as if everything was wound up on a tight spring.</p>

<p>We reached the fence on the slope leading down to the belt of trees that lines Strowan's Well. There were no animals, no bulls, cattle or pigs. Rain dripped heavily from tall beeches. There was no wind between the trunks as we headed down the slope towards the stream.</p>

<p>There was another reason for the silence, we discovered when we followed the single track. I had been in these woods a number of times since I came back, and hundreds of times as a youngster. They had always been filled with the steady murmur of running water. On a day like this, after heavy rain, we should have heard the rumble of the stream in spate.</p>

<p>But when we reached the bank, there was no water. Just a muddy trickle of run-off from the valley sides that filled the deeper pools with cloudy water.</p>

<p>Colin stopped abruptly. He stared at the trickle of water and his brow creased.</p>

<p>'Come on, lad,' Donald said. 'Let's keep moving.'</p>

<p>Colin seemed not to have heard. He was concentrating hard.</p>

<p>
    'What's up Colin? Are you okay?'</p>

<p>
    'It's...it's <em>wrong</em>,' he said.</p>

<p>'What is?' Donald said, keen to be moving on.</p>

<p>'I don't know,' Colin shook his head, like a man rousing from slumber. 'I can't remember. There's something wrong, but I don't know what I
    <em>need</em> to know.'</p>

<p>
    'There's a whole long that's wrong,' Donald said lightly. 'And if we don't get going, they could get a whole lot worse. Come on, let's get across.'</p>

<p>I stepped on to one of the boulders, making sure Paddy was on sure footing beside me. She kept a tight grip of my hand.</p>

<p>I was half-way across. Colin came behind us. He stepped on one mossy stone and slipped, lost his balance and began to topple. Paddy and I reached instinctively and out hands caught Colin's, pulling him upright. As soon as out hands joined together, I felt such a jolt I was almost physically sick. It was as if I'd been turned inside out. It hit me with such force that I almost fell flat.</p>

<p>Suddenly there were things in my head that I
    <em>knew.</em> In that wrenching moment, something had unlocked in my brain to let a light shine on memories that had stayed in the dark for a long, long time.
</p>

<p>I pivoted, still holding their hands, and got a look at Colin's face.</p>

<p>It was white with fear and shock and revulsion. The muscles in his cheeks bunched out and his eyes rolled right up. A strangled moan came out, as if he was choking back a scream and his hair was standing on end. I could tell he was going through that same inside out sensation, only his was worse. Much worse. It looked as if it was tearing him apart.</p>

<p>I looked at Paddy, and her eyes were closed, but there was a look of such serenity on her face that she could have been sleeping. Then her eyes snapped open and for an instant I saw Barbara just as she was on that summer day way back then.</p>

<p>The moment passed and Paddy was herself again, but something had happened which made her more than that.</p>

<p>But I can tell you that in that gut-wrenching jolt, something had happened to Colin Blackwood.</p>

<p>When our hands joined over the trickle of water that was all that was left of Strowan's Well, Colin awoke, and his awakening had all the pain of a bad birth.</p>

<p>His face was drained of blood and his eyes had rolled back down again. He threw back his head and let out such a scream of agony that it just about made
    <em>my</em> hair stand on end and caused Paddy to slip off the stone.</p>

<p>Colin jerked his hand free and I grabbed Paddy to me. We watched as his jaw gaped with the force of the scream. His fists went up and pressed against his temples as if he was trying to squeeze the hurt out of his head. The hoarse yell echoed through the trees and Colin bent forward, both feet now in the water, slowly crouching until his face almost touched the surface, like a big foetus.</p>

<p>Then all of a sudden his cry stopped dead, as if his windpipe had been cut. I knew it wasn't, because the silence was followed by a huge swoop of breath, and slowly he unwound until he stood upright. He raised his head and looked at both of us and that frown of bewildered concentration was gone.</p>

<p>The blank look that Colin had shown the world for more than twenty years had simply vanished.</p>

<p>And for the first time since that long-gone age when Colin and Barbara and me were the one-and-onlies, I saw the real Colin Blackwood.</p>

<p>His eyes were clear. Whatever doors had been slammed and padlocked inside his brain for two decades had been thrown wide with such a force the pain almost killed him right there on the stepping stones.</p>

<p>I was to discover that there were more doors for him to open, one at a time.</p>

<p>But right there and then, I could see that something strange and wonderful and
    <em>right</em> had overtaken the village dullard. His eyes told their own story.</p>

<p>Donald broke the spell.</p>

<p>'What in God's name is going on?' he demanded. He looked up and down stream, to see if the ruction had been heard. 'We have to be quiet. What's wrong with the big fellow?'</p>

<p>I motioned him to be quiet and stepped forward and took Colin's hand. I drew him to the far bank, hauling Paddy with us.</p>

<p>We didn't stop until we reached a flat part where the rain couldn't get through the thick leaves and the three of us sat down. Donald hunkered beside us. He knew something had happened, but he didn't know what. Neither did I.</p>

<p>'All right, Colin. You tell us.' He stared at the ground and I could see the two white lines in his hair, from brow to crown. He sat silent for a moment, then stared at me. His eyes were dark and alert, and seemed full of energy that had been stored for years.</p>

<p>
    'It's happened again,' he said, quietly but succinctly.</p>

<p>
    'What's happened?' Donald wanted to know.</p>

<p>
    'Don't you know, Nicky? Don't you remember?'</p>

<p>'Remember what?'</p>

<p>'The time before. Before I was like...before I was <em>different.</em>'</p>

<p>In my mind, a picture was trying, but failing, to get through. I had the sure feeling that, if I could catch the tail of it, I could get at something I should have known, but it slipped out of reach.</p>

<p>'I'm not sure Colin. You'll have to tell me.'</p>

<p>'Something happened. Then. Long ago. Something bad, and we were there. It's coming back to me, but I can't remember yet. It's too soon.'</p>

<p>Colin frowned again, but not like before, when he seemed to be walking in a fog. He was peering into newly awakened memories for an answer.</p>

<p>
    'It's the stream,' he said, suddenly too loud. Donald looked around with soldier's caution.</p>

<p>
    'That's what was wrong. There's no water in the stream. Like before! Don't you remember?'</p>

<p>Suddenly the mist parted and I saw Strowan's Well again.</p>

<p>Summer, 1991</p>

<p>Colin crashed after me through the thick bushes that covered the west side of the gully and he almost knocked me into the stream. Barbara stood at the far side, looking into the bushes.</p>

<p>
    'Hurry,' she hissed. 'Come quickly.'</p>

<p>Behind us we could hear the crackling of branches as the others bulled their way through. Colin grabbed my hand and pulled me across the dry stream bed.</p>

<p>
    'Stream's gone,' he said, just as if we were out on one of our usual jaunts. Behind us came a harsh shout and I didn't give a damn whether the stream had dried up or gone to hell.</p>

<p>The bushes parted when we were halfway up the far slope. Frazer Beaton came out into the clear.</p>

<p>'They're here,' he bawled. 'Come on. We've got them.'</p>

<p>My heart was hammering. Barbara was panting.</p>

<p>'That way,' Colin said quickly, pointing downstream. 'Follow me.'</p>

<p>He was up and running and we ran with him, scooting along the track, darting between the trunks, while behind us we could hear the yells of the big boys who hunted us.</p>

<p>The valley took a dog leg to the left and when we rounded the bend, running alongside the fence Colin darted suddenly and leapt behind a bush. I was going so fast I almost ran past him, but he snatched at my wrist and spun me round.</p>

<p>'This way. They won't know where we've gone,' he hissed. He scaled the fence and I boosted Barbara over, quickly following. In the sheep pasture, Colin turned to double back, running at a crouch to stay low. We cut across the field and got back into the trees, well up from where we'd started. Behind us the shouting and sounds of pursuit began to fade.</p>

<p>We stopped, straining to hear and ready to bolt at the first sign of danger.</p>

<p>'They fell for it,' Colin said. He grinned widely. My heart was still doing boop-de-boop under my tee shirt.</p>

<p>'Why are they doing this?' Barbara asked. She had a muddy smudge on her cheek.</p>

<p>'I don't know any more,' Colin said.</p>

<p>'Nor me,' I said. 'There's something funny going on here.' Colin nodded.</p>

<p>'You bet. They're crazy. I mean, they've always been mean, but they've gone crazy today.'</p>

<p>'I though Beaton was going to kill you with that stick.'</p>

<p>'If you hadn't knocked him down, he would have,' Colin said. He stuck out his hand and we shook.</p>

<p>'But why?' Barbara asked. 'We never did them any harm.'</p>

<p>'I don't know why, but there's something weird happening. Everybody seems <em>different.</em>'</p>

<p>'Those loonies are, for sure.'</p>

<p>'Well, they've gone now.'</p>

<p>'What if they come back?'</p>

<p>Colin laughed. 'They're too stupid. They'll be across the road by now.' He paused, thinking. 'Remember those cows yesterday? They broke down the fence and went charging along the road. They were chasing people. I've never seen that before.'</p>

<p>'And Mrs Henson.' Barbara said.</p>

<p>'And those two kids that drowned down at the bay.
    <em>And</em> the fire in the church. Definitely there's something funny going on.'</p>

<p>
    'Who's laughing?' I said, and Colin actually did laugh.</p>

<p>'What do we do now,' Barbara wanted to know. Colin pointed upstream.</p>

<p>'We go that way,' he said. 'As far away from those nutters. And I don't fancy going back to town again. It's got a bad feeling.'</p>

<p>'I felt it too. My dad said I had to stay inside,' Barbara said. 'If he finds out I'm not there, he'll be mad.'</p>

<p>'So will my mum,' Colin admitted.</p>

<p>'And mine.'</p>

<p>
    'They're all afraid,' Colin said. 'I wonder why.'</p>

<p>None of us knew. We started moving together, following the line of trees.</p>

<p>'Did you see the stream?' Colin asked.</p>

<p>'You nearly knocked me into it.'</p>

<p>'Well you wouldn't have made much of a splash. There's no water.'</p>

<p>'I didn't notice,' Barbara said.</p>

<p>'Always got your nose in the air,' Colin shot back, giving me a wink. Barbara made a face.</p>

<p>'Probably dried up,' I ventured. 'It hasn't rained in ages.'</p>

<p>'But it's never been like that before.'</p>

<p>'Never been this hot before.'</p>

<p>And it
    <em>was</em> hot. The summer had been dragging along in a sweltering heat-wave. Even now, sweat was trickling down my back.
</p>

<p>We walked on, in single file, me taking up the rear. Beyond the line of trees, the valley gave on to an undulating moorland pasture dotted here and there by clumps of gorse. We pushed through and down the slope towards the valley floor.</p>

<p>Colin had been right. The stream was dry. There were a few patches of slick water that hatched clouds of midges and clegs when we passed.</p>

<p>'Must be blocked upstream,' Colin suggested. 'Let's have a look.'</p>

<p>No matter how my backside would suffer when I got home, the prospect of heading downstream and meeting up with Frazer Beaton and the bigger boys, with their sticks and stones and that funny look in their eyes was not on my agenda just then.</p>

<p>'Why not?' We both turned to Barbara. She shrugged, so we just continued on up.</p>

<p>Half a mile further, we found the block, a natural dam in the narrow valley. A big tree had fallen over and caused a landslip that formed a natural dam.</p>

<p>Colin scrambled up the mound of stone and shale.</p>

<p>'Hey, look at this,' he shouted down. We clambered up and stood shoulder to shoulder on the lip.</p>

<p>
    'Wow!' Strowan's Well had backed up as far as the eye could see, forming a meandering lake. The water looked cool and clear, deep and inviting. Because of the long, hot summer, there hadn't been enough of a flow to breach the natural barrier, but even as we stood there, a slight tremor under our feet showed it would just be a matter of time.</p>

<p>'Hey, I know what,' Colin said. 'Let's bust it.'</p>

<p>
    'It's worth a try,' I said. 'All the fish are going to die unless they get water.'</p>

<p>'How can we do it?' Barbara asked.</p>

<p>Colin tapped the big trunk. 'If we can do this, the water will do the rest.'</p>

<p>
    'It's too heavy.'</p>

<p>
    'We'll just have to work at it.'</p>

<p>He climbed on the trunk and began to jump up and down while Barbara and I levered away with a thick branch. After twenty minutes, there was a lurch that almost flicked Colin off onto the rocks below.</p>

<p>Our little effort just completed what the pressure of the water had been doing. It would have taken a few more days, maybe a week, for the water to break through. We just speeded things up a bit, and as turned out, this was the turning point that would change our young lives forever. Nothing was ever going to be the same again, and we wouldn't realise that for another twenty years.</p>

<p>The lurch was followed by a grinding rumble. Colin yelped and leapt off the trunk and down the scree to where we stood, holding the branch that was jammed under the tree and was now quivering violently in our hands.</p>

<p>
    'She's going to go,' Colin cried, triumphant. 'She's really going to <em>blow</em>!'</p>

<p>Just as he said that, a jet of water shot out from near the base, like a high pressure hose. Then came another and another, until the fine spray made a dazzling display of little rainbows in the afternoon sun.</p>

<p>There was another rumble and the whole wall seemed to shift, bowing out towards us.</p>

<p>'Get out of here,' I bawled, grabbing Barbara's hand and shoving Colin up the slope. If we hadn't moved then, that would have been the end of the story, before it even started. We made about thirty feet, scrambling up that slope like squirrels, while behind us a truly thunderous roar ripped up and down the valley.</p>

<p>We all turned and watched as the dam wall split wide open with a thunder that almost shook us back down the slope and a great curve of white water exploded out, snatching up the oak tree like a matchstick and hurling it on the crest of its wave as it tore its way down the valley.</p>

<p>It was the most amazing sight I had ever seen.</p>

<p>From our vantage point, we had a perfect view of the bow-wave that burst out and bored down the defile, lashing against the bends and sending white clouds of spume high above the froth. The earth trembled and the juddering was multiplied by rocks that were picked up and smashed against the banks.</p>

<p>
    'Kee-rist!' Colin's voice was filled with wonder. 'Did you ever see anything like that, ever?' I shook my head, unable to draw my eyes away from the magnificent violence.</p>

<p>'We did it!' he said. 'We flamin' well did it. We bust the flippin' dam.'</p>

<p>From downstream the roar of the wave-front came echoing back as the waters whipped the trees and saplings.</p>

<p>Below us, the damn was gone. At the first bend, the turf that grew above the bank had been scoured away.</p>

<p>'I hope it catches those crazy nutters down there. I hope they followed us and get smacked right in the face by that lot. I hope it drowns the lot of them, because they're a bunch of crazy
    <em>bastards!</em>'</p>

<p>Barbara shot him a look of disapproval, although she probably agreed with the sentiment.</p>

<p>'Well, that's what they are,' Colin said. 'They would have killed us if they got the chance. I hope they got what they deserve.'</p>

<p>I didn't say it aloud, but I hoped they did too.</p>

<p>It couldn't have taken more than ten spectacular minutes for the water to subside and the crazy flow to slacken.</p>

<p>By that time, Strowan's Well was flowing again, forking at the neck of Ardmhor peninsula and down into the firth.</p>

<p>Although I didn't know it at the time, the wall of water was rebuilt.</p>

<p>What happened next was instantaneous and ferocious.</p>

<p>Barbara saw it first.</p>

<p>A great black cloud was roiling upwards. It seemed to originate from Ardmhor Rock itself, as if something wild and terrible was overheating the air down there.</p>

<p>In seconds, the cloud swept high and dark above us, flickering inside with caged lightning that sparked and flared and forked down to the ground with vast crashes of thunder.</p>

<p>We raced along the valley lip as if our lives depended on it, with lightning spearing down all around, causing the earth to shiver.</p>

<p>It felt as though something blind and terribly angry was stabbing for us in the dark.</p>

<p>Just as we reached the trees, the hailstones started, first marble-sized, then pebbles of ice that smacked down on our heads like thrown stones.</p>

<p>Colin, Barbara and I skitted through the trees, scared witless and stunned by the hail, until we got to the cleft that formed the entrance to our gang-hut.</p>

<p>We threw ourselves inside and sat in the gloom, shivering with cold and fright, waiting for the storm to be over.</p>

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