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799 lines
39 KiB
HTML
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
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<head>
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<title>Mythlands - Chapter 7</title>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
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<h1>7</h1>
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<p>
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They were out beyond the shingle now and into thin mud that sucked at every step, to knee level and thigh level until they were out into deeper water on a
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sharply sloping bed. Kerry began to thrash and gasp as the water came up to his neck and then he had no footing at all.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Don't you let me drown!"
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack pushed at him, strength-sapped, but managed to get the backpack off. The waterproof canvas bobbed in the water and he forced Kerry's hands around it.
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</p>
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<p>
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Behind them came hoarse cries and thudding footsteps and that feral howling.
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</p>
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<p>
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Corriwen Redthorn was ahead of them, swimming freely now, through lily leaves an arm-span wide. Underwater roots snagged at their feet, but Jack kept
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going, dragging breath into burning lungs. It all seemed to happen with the clarity of slow motion in the moonlight.
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</p>
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<p>
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A big glistening frog with orange eyes noted their passing with a blank stare. Small slick things wriggled around their legs. A dragonfly buzzed over their
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heads in an iridescent flash of moonlight.
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</p>
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<p>
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A slow current carried them downstream as they fought against it, struggling to get distance behind them and the pursuit. Corriwen reached the shingle bank
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fifty yards out from where they'd floundered into the river and hauled out on hands and knees, gasping and shedding water in silvered droplets. She turned
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as she got to her feet, waded back into the flow and grasped Kerry's arm as he reached the shallows. Together she and Jack hauled him out onto the bank
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just as the pursuers and their beasts came crashing down the steep slope in a ferocious avalanche.
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</p>
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<p>
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Without stopping, the first of the Scree-people lumbered down the bank. Here a slick of duckweed and algae covered the surface and it must have seemed like
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solid ground, for the thing didn't stop. It ran straight towards them with a spiked club raised high.
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</p>
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<p>
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Then he simply disappeared under the surface without a sound.
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</p>
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<p>
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The rest of the harriers skidded to a stop, animals straining and gruntine at the end of their leashes. One massive boar swung its head and gouged the
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ground with its tusks. The Scree stood there in a tight group, black eyes fixed on the water where the first one had gone in. Some bubbles broke through
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the slick surface, but there was no sign of movement down there.
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</p>
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<p>
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"They <em>do</em> sink," Corriwen said, breathless. "The water can't bear them. We're safer here."
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</p>
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<p>
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The words were barely out of her mouth when the first arrow went singing past Jack's ear, so close it whined like an angry wasp. A second one snatched at
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the hem of his jerkin.
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</p>
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<p>
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"We're too close," Kerry blurted, ducking to his haunches. "We're sitting ducks here." A third arrow hit the shingle and shattered into shards. Jack pulled
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Corriwen down.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Over there," He pointed upstream where a tumble of boulders and dry big logs met the oncoming current. Together they scrambled, keeping low, while a
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flight of arrows whipped past them into the water or onto the pebbles. The rocks were only twenty yards away, but it felt like a mile, every step exposed
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to the barbs that came whistling in. They threw themselves down in the lee as the arrows thudded into the logs, making them bristle like the hog's back.
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Across at the far bank, the Scree bawled guttural cries of anger and frustration.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Great idea Jack man," Kerry said, stifling a laugh. "Into the river and nearly drown me and now the ugly bugs are trying to make an Irish kebab out of me.
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If you've any more bright ideas, now's the time."
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</p>
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<p>
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"You could have stayed there," Corriwen said. "Rather the water than the wolves and bristlebacks."
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</p>
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<p>
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Another arrow thunked into the log where Kerry crouched. Its point was thin stone and razor-sharp. Kerry grinned. It was pure bravado.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Only kiddin'," he said. "I could be heavin' greasy fish boxes instead of enjoying myself."
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack put a hand over his mouth to prevent a sudden laugh bursting out. It was too painful to laugh and he wasn't quite sure it wouldn't sound more like
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hysterics.
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</p>
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<p>
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Kerry fumbled with the zip on the backpack. Corriwen watched in puzzled amazement as it opened. He delved inside and brought out a clear polythene bag,
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pulled out the crumpled pack of cigarettes and lit one with a small plastic lighter. She looked on, completely fascinated. Kerry drew in hard and then blew
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out a blue plume.
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</p>
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<p>
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"It's just for my nerves," he said, coughing hoarsely. "I'll be giving up any day now, swear to God I will."
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</p>
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<p>
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Corriwen picked up the plastic bag and held it close to her face.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Is it a bladder?" she wondered. "Or fine skin?"
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</p>
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<p>
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"Neither one," Kerry said. "This is the wonder of shopping."
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</p>
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<p>
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She gave him such a puzzled look that Jack burst into a fit of the giggles that left him gasping and aching on the shingle behind the log.
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</p>
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<p>
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The pursuers on the bank fell silent, though the tethered animals grunted and snarled, still on the scent of quarry. The river flowed around the shingle
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island where they huddled, reflecting the moon on turbulent waters and on the arrowheads spiked into the logs.
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</p>
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<p>
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"We must get beyond bowshot," Corriwen said, just loud enough to hear over the flow. She pointed across the deeper water where a dark shadow loomed. "I
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think there is an island where we can shelter. The Scree can't follow us there."
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</p>
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<p>
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"They'll send those big mongrels," Kerry shot back. "The pug-uglies might sink, but there's no stopping those beasts."
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</p>
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<p>
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"They can send them here," she agreed. "We can fight the boats and wolfhounds, but not with their arrows keeping us low."
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</p>
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<p>
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"We're safe enough here," Kerry insisted.
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</p>
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<p>
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"No, were not," Jack said slowly. His chest was tightening, and the ache came with every beat of his heart. A cloud passed over the moon and everything
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went very dark. There was a pulse in his ears, a slow, muffled thud. Underneath it he could hear something else, a whispering sound that sent a shiver down
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his spine. "We have to get to the island."
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</p>
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<p>
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"I don't want to get back in the water," Kerry muttered.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack shook his head, trying to clear it, dampen down the odd sound. "You go out on fishing boats."
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</p>
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<p>
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"They've got bloody great engines," Kerry countered. "And lifejackets."
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</p>
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<p>
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Over on the bank, one of the animals howled.
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</p>
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<p>
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"You better hold my hand," Jack said softly. "Pull one of these logs to the edge and hang on."
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</p>
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<p>
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He didn't know if he had the strength to keep himself afloat, but he promised Kerry they'd get to the island. In the dark, they waded into the water. In
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three strides they were swimming against the flow, both of them holding Kerry up while he clung to the log and floundered.
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</p>
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<p>
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The crossing was only a hundred yards, but seemed to take hours and by the time they reached the cover of trees on the island, Jack was almost completely
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spent. He sprawled on the shale bank, heaving for air, and by sheer will alone, kept the darkness from sweeping over and through him. The whispering sound
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in his ears was louder now, like far off voices coming closer. There were no words, but he knew he had heard it before, in the freezing darkness that had
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flowed through Billy Robbins and into the Major's house.
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</p>
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<p>
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He wondered if that black touch had infected his mind.
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</p>
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<p>
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On the far bank, the troop of Scree had lit a fire, content to wait for light. The smell of something that could have been meat drifted on the night air.
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Kerry's mouth began to water.
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</p>
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<p>
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"One of us will have to stay awake," Corriwen said.
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</p>
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<p>
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"They know we're here," Kerry said, more cheerful now he was back on land. "So I'm lighting a fire."
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</p>
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<p>
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By the time the moon came out from behind the clouds, he had a good blaze going stripped down to his boxer shorts to let his clothes dry in the heat, and
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set about warming their last tin of beans. He helped Jack ease painfully out of his jerkin and hung the plaid up on a branch by the fire.
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</p>
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<p>
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"It'll smell like kippers in the morning," he said, "But you need to keep dry."
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</p>
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<p>
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Corriwen wolfed the small heap of beans, watched fascinated again as Kerry lit another cigarette and then she tried and failed to get the lighter to work.
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The moon went into hiding again and Kerry dozed off.
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</p>
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<p class='break'>* * *</p>
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<p>
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"Let me see your hurt," Corriwen whispered after a while. She eased Jack's shirt back and gasped.
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</p>
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<p>
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Black weals laced across his skin from the dark mass above his heart. In the faint light of the fire, they seemed to pulse and swell. She touched a finger
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to one of the inky tendrils. Jack moaned and she drew in another breath.
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</p>
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<p>
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"It's cold, but you're burning up." she said. "I think you have a poison. In the blood. What caused this?"
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</p>
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<p>
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"I don't know what it was," he confessed. "It was a dark thing. The Major called it the <em>banshee</em>. It..it..<em>touched </em>me<em>."</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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She placed a small hand on his brow, felt the clammy heat on it, so hot compared to the icy cold on the skin of his ribs. "I have heard of this. It's an
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evil thing."
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</p>
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<p>
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"It hurts like all hell," Jack grated, drawing a hard and tight breath as she softly touched the puckered skin.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Wait," she said, getting to her feet. Her hair was like copper in the firelight. Her eyes flashed green as she smiled at him, the first time she had
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smiled since they met, then disappeared into the shadows of the willows. He dozed off, feeling the darkness draw him down into its depths, with those
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distant voices whispering insistently inside his head. The next he knew she was gently shaking him.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Our mediciner would help," she said. "But he is dead, along with my brother and many good men. But I watched him tend the wounded and the spellbound."
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</p>
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<p>
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The hood of her cloak was bunched full of leaves and roots and when she brought them together he smelt green sap and bitterness mixed with the honey scent
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of alyssum. She rinsed the empty beans tin at the water's edge, examining it with brows raised, then used two river-smooth stones to mash all the herbs
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together into a paste. She heated them over the glowing embers then came on all fours to Jack, put her hands to his shoulders and made him lie back.
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</p>
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<p>
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"The Banshee bane," she said. "It has put the cold in you. I can feel it. I don't know of a cure for it, but this may help you for a while. You need time."
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</p>
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<p>
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"What is it. This bane?"
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</p>
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<p>
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"It's the dark cold, so they say. The dark of the dead lands beyond Tir Nan Og. Those the banshee touches take the dark into themselves."
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</p>
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<p>
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She began to lay the stuff on his chest and he hissed at the pressure, but in a few minutes, the deep hurt began to recede, just enough so he could get a
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hold of it. He lay back, blinking back the tears that smarted in his eyes.
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</p>
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<p>
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"You saved my life," he said when he found his voice. Kerry was snoring softly, curled in his rabbit-skin beside the fire.
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</p>
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<p>
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She bent in closely, green eyes searching his.
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</p>
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<p>
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"No," she said, almost whispering. "This will not save you. It just eases the pain." She touched him with gentle fingers. "I don't know what will save you.
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Maybe you will fight it off yourself."
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</p>
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<p>
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"No," Jack said. "Not this." The lessening of the pain was like a warm balm. It had waned to a size that he could get a hold and wrestle with and the
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buzzing whisper in his head diminished to a faint hiss. "Today in the forest, when those things came. You saved me."
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</p>
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<p>
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He closed his eyes and saw the scene again, when the Scree had swung the axe at him, but instead of replaying the scene where the other attacker had walked
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too close and toppled like a log when its leg came off clean below the knee, he saw the axe swing down in a whooshing curve towards his neck. He closed his
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eyes at the image.
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</p>
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<p>
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"It would have killed me, but you risked your life for me."
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</p>
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<p>
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She laughed for the first time. "The Redthorns were taught to fight. The Scree are vile, but they are slow thinkers."
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</p>
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<p>
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Corriwen paused and held his eyes with hers and his fingers in her hands.
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</p>
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<p>
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"But you have a good heart, Jack Flint. A heart worth saving. I saw it the first time I looked in your eyes. You wear your soul on your face. I think
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perhaps we were destined to meet. In the forest, or some other place and time, but I felt it. I feel it now."
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</p>
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<p>
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He didn't know what to say to that.
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</p>
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<p>
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Across the water the Scree troop's campfire flared and they started chanting in low, ragged voices. He couldn't make out any words. It sounded like stones
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sliding down a rocky slope. She turned to look over the wide river.
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</p>
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<p>
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"They have hunted me a long time," she said. "I'm tired of running and hiding."
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack had heard that before, on the night Billy Robbins had come at them in the lane, before the darkness flowed into him. It seemed like a long time ago
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rather than just a day and a night.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Why are they hunting you?"
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</p>
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<p>
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"Because I am the Redthorn. Mandrake's hordes have murdered my brother and all his men. The people are slaves under the Fomorian Scree. He fears that a
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Redthorn could unite them." She laughed again, softly, but he heard the bitterness in it. "But I am alone now, with no one to help me."
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</p>
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<p>
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"We will help you," Jack said. "If we can."
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</p>
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<p>
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She looked him up and down and he was very aware then that he was not quite sixteen years old.
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</p>
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<p>
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"We make a great army, the three of us, not full grown." She paused, her face sad. "Yet if I can find the Redthorn Sword, there would be some hope. It has
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led the Dalriada ever since we came here. It could free them and lead them again."
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</p>
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<p>
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The <em>Dalriada</em>. Jack had heard that name before. It was in the old legend books, the people of the West who lived before even the ancient Celts.
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</p>
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<p>
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"And this sword, where is it?"
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</p>
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<p>
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"Mandrake stole it when my father died. He took it and when he came back, he was rich." Her mouth turned down. "But he was mad. He was always a bad man,
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but when he came back, there was something else in him. I can't say what, it was as if he was possessed by something awful."
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</p>
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<p>
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"Sounds like a real bundle of laughs," Jack said. He was holding the pain at bay now.
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</p>
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<p>
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"He dabbled in old magic, and I think he searched for something and found it. I don't know what, but it's in him now. All the old scripts in Creggan Keep,
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he would pore over. My father trusted him, but my brother said Mandrake found something in the old scripts, something that turned him and poisoned him. Now
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he has brought his madness to Temair and I don't think anything can shake his grip."
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</p>
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<p>
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"It's all very hard for me to take this in," Jack admitted. She sat while he explained how they had got here, through the ring of standing stones and he
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was surprised when she took it all in without question. Compared to what she had told him, it didn't seem too fanciful now.
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</p>
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<p>
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"What I don't understand is that I have heard of the Dalriada before. And Temair. And the Fomorians. But where I come from, they are just legends. Things
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that happened long ago."
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</p>
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<p>
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"Who can explain that?" she asked with a simple shrug. "What exists <em>exists</em>. There's magic in standing stones. Everybody knows that. Maybe you were
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magicked here."
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</p>
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<p>
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"Well, we have to magic ourselves out again," Jack said. "Tomorrow we get off this island."
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</p>
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<p>
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"The far river side is no escape," she said. "The whole of Easter Dalria is Scree country now. And I don't know the lay of the land here in the east."
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack pointed back across the river where the troop were still chanting their tuneless dirge.
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</p>
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<p>
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"They can't swim," he said. "That's good for us. But there's plenty of wood here. We can build a raft and get downstream if we start before it gets light.
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What's down from here?"
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</p>
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<p>
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She shrugged. "I don't know. I have never been this far on the marches before. The river goes to the ocean, like all rivers do. Between here and the sea, I
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don't know what waits."
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</p>
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<p>
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"We're stuck here," Jack said. "These things can wait us out. Better the devil we don't know."
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</p>
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<p>
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She looked at him oddly. "I never heard that before, but it sounds fit. The Scree are devils sure enough. Like Kerree says, they hit every branch on the
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ugly tree."
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack managed a smile. Kerry continued snoring. He'd had a hard enough life, and he was used to spending his nights poaching on the Brander water. In sleep,
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he looked as if he didn't have a care in the world.
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</p>
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<p>
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"We can build a raft and let the current carry us down," Jack said, pleased that the hurt had receded enough to let him think clearly. "If we stay in the
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middle, they can't shoot us, and we can outrun them. After that, it's anybody's guess, but we can't stay here."
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</p>
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<p>
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Corriwen clasped his fingers tight, then let go. Jack laid back against the mossy bank and closed his eyes. Whatever she had pasted onto his hurt skin, it
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kept the pain far enough away to let him doze. He woke at dawn, and Kerry was grilling fish in the smoke from a fresh fire.
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</p>
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<p class='break'>* * *</p>
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<p>
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Jack started up, winced, groaned, lay down. It was already light but the pain was back with him again, and that sick feeling deep inside him. The sparkle
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of the rising sun on the tumbling water hurt his eyes and he blinked against it.
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</p>
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<p>
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"We're too late," he started to say. Kerry eased him down with a hand.
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</p>
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<p>
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"Take it easy Jackie-boy. They're gone."
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</p>
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<p>
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Across the river there was no sign of the Scree or their beasts.
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</p>
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<p>
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"But they'll be back," Corriwen said. They will get word back to Mandrake that they have us trapped."
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</p>
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<p>
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"That's what they think," Jack said.
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</p>
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<p>
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Kerry came across with big trout steaming on sticks. "This river's full of them. They're jumping out into your hands<em>.</em>"
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</p>
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<p>
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They ate quickly and Jack eased up on shaky legs, screwing his eyes up against the glare. He wanted to be in shadow, but he fought against it, trying to
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clear his mind.
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</p>
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<p>
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"We have to build a raft. We can use the rope."
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</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
They started hauling the dry boughs and logs that had washed onto the island's upstream edge and worked on the shingle, lashing the logs when something
|
|
caught Jack's attention. He shaded his eyes against the reflection from the water. Smoke was rising into the sky, black smoke in a column way upriver.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Is that a dam up there?" Kerry and Corriwen stood beside him, following the direction he was pointing.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
A broad shape, too even to be natural was almost hidden by morning mist, ten, maybe fifteen miles up the broad valley,
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It is a dam." Corriwen said. "Mandrake's Scree have the people working there, men women and children. Who knows what's in his mind, but he urges them on
|
|
with whips and clubs. He plans to raise the river. I watched from a distance and my heart broke, for there was nothing I could do. He has them digging a
|
|
channel from the high mountains of the Marches."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"What's the point of that?" Kerry asked. Corriwen shrugged.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Sounds like a real loony right enough," Kerry said. "Maybe it's for a generator or something."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
She looked at him, all questions. Kerry didn't explain.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Nobody knows," she said. "Mandrake has his own madness. He answers to himself. He has taken everything from us."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
It was almost noon when the raft was big enough to take their weight, lashed together with the rope they would have used to climb the wall into Cromwath
|
|
Blackwood, and Jack insisted they build a wicket of woven hazel wands on either side. Out on the water, it would give them some protection from bowshots.
|
|
Kerry cooked the last of the trout in big river leaves and they sat around the remains of the fire, stoking up for the journey.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jack opened the old satchel and drew out the book. He opened it at the first page and the image of the two standing stones stood out starkly enough to make
|
|
his eyes water.. He showed it to Corriwen.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"I have seen these stones," she said. "Not far from where my brother fell."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"That's the gateway," Jack said. "Can you read the words?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
She shook her head. "I don't know any gateway. Where is it from?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Scotland."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Corriwen looked blank. "Is it far away?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Further than you'd think," Kerry said, edging closer, sucking the last from a fish-bone. He took an edge of the book, turned the page over and just as he
|
|
did so an image began to condense slowly onto the page.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Corriwen drew in a breath. "You have magic?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"A couple of card tricks," Kerry said. "But this is the real McCoy."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The image became clearer, grey lines darkening until they could see it was a picture of the river. Below it, letter by letter, the script began to roll out
|
|
by itself. Kerry drew a finger along them, mouthing the words slowly.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>Flee the quake of rainless thunder</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>Flee a forest torn asunder</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>Flee the beast and fight the foe</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>Flee to east and river flow</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>Storm behind and storm before</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>Ever harried, hunted sore</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>Ware the eye of roak and raven</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
<em>Brave the thunder, find a haven.</em>
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"More gibberish," Kerry decided..
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"No," Jack said. "I don't understand it all, but I get some of it. The thunder. We thought it was thunder last night, but it was those animals running. And
|
|
they trampled half the forest."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Okay," Kerry said. "What's the good of a book that tells you where you've been? We want something to tell us where we're going."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"We'll work it out," Jack said, even though the same thought had crossed his mind.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
They loaded up the raft and punted out into the current which quickly caught them in its flow and began to carry them downstream, far out from the thickly
|
|
forested banks on either side.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"What's this river?" Kerry asked. "And where does it go?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"I think it's the Clydda," Corriwen said. "If so, it flows westwards, to the sea."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"That's good," Jack said, easing back on the logs. The pulse was behind his eyes, darkening his vision, and the whispering deep inside could be heard over
|
|
the flow of the river. "That's we're going. It says to follow the setting sun, so we head west."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
He turned to her. "Have you ever heard of the Homeward Gate?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
She shook her head.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
They were afloat for barely an hour when they spotted the first of the Scree, grouped on a bank of shingle that jutted out in to the river. Kerry saw them
|
|
first and roused Jack. He sat up slowly and shielded his eyes against the glare. His heart sank.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"They must have worked out that we'd float down.," he said wearily. The guttural cries and the grunting of animals could be heard clearly over the rippling
|
|
water. He knelt up, biting back against the pain, trying to gauge the distance between the middle current and the end of the bank.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"They can reach us from there," he said slowly.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"An' we can reach them," Kerry replied. He had piled some round stones, fist-size and smooth on the front of the raft. He untied the sling from round his
|
|
waist, slid his right hand through the loop and tightened it on his wrist. He fitted a good stone into the woven basket and braced his feet. In the rabbit
|
|
skin tunic, he could have been the boy David.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The arrows came flying thick before they even reached the shingle and Jack pulled him down behind the wicket. Barbs thunked into the hazel weave and came
|
|
right through, six inches and more, but their force was deadened by the barricade. The three of them huddled, letting the current take them past and Jack
|
|
prayed that the unguided raft wouldn't spin and expose them. Another volley came, six or seven arrows that hit altogether in a rip of sound and then Kerry
|
|
was on his feet. He swung the sling twice, like a hammer-thrower and sent the rock flying.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
It caught one of the reloading Scree on the temple and it fell like a sack.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Scotland one," Kerry bawled, "plug-uglies nil!" He ducked back down before the next volley came thudding into wood. Out on the shingle bank the Scree
|
|
roared as the river carried them past, and drew them out of range through the turbulence and into deeper water. Kerry raised his head over the wicket and
|
|
motioned to Jack to look for himself.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
One of the hunters unleashed a great shaggy animal, more wolf than dog, that hauled and gnashed against its chain. It howled when the choke came off and
|
|
leapt straight into the water. A hail of arrows flew over its head, but only one of them reached the speeding raft. The rest fell just yards shot. The
|
|
beast powered into the current and came in a diagonal towards them, gaining speed as the water carried it downstream.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Look at the teeth on that," Kerry said. They were sharp and yellow as it panted for breath and still came on fast. "Can you shoot it?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jack unshipped the bow and nocked an arrow, kneeling up in the stern. He raised it up, grunting against a sharp spike of pain, but when he tried to draw
|
|
the string, his arm had no strength. His fingers felt numb. The beast paddled straight towards them, head above the water, teeth like daggers.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Kerry slipped a stone into the sling and stood up, holding the barrier edge. He let his arm fall back and snapped it forward overhand and the stone went
|
|
whirring out. It cracked hard against the side of the dog's muzzle, close to the eye. A gout of blood spurted.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"What a shot," Kerry bawled. "I wish I'd had one of these before."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The animal snarled, took a mouthful of water. Blood blinded its eye and frothed in its nose. Kerry slung another stone that splashed only inches in front
|
|
of it, but didn't deter it in any way. He turned, gripped the handle of the sword he'd stabbed into one of the logs, raised it aloft.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Come <em>on</em> then," he bawled. The three of them watched the animal get closer and closer, its one good eye blazing with feral anger.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Something pale flickered under the surface. Jack only got a glimpse of a shape, wavering in the ripple-water and the beast stopped dead. Its big paws came
|
|
up from the surface, pedalled for purchase in the air. Under it the pale shape rolled and the dog howled, not in anger but in sudden panic. It arched its
|
|
back, tried to snap and its teeth came together like trap-jaws. The shape, two shapes now, rolled together under the water and the dog suddenly
|
|
disappeared. A froth of bubbles pocked the surface.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Did you see that?" Kerry stood with the sword in both hands, eyes wide and astonished. "You see those things? They just grabbed it down."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"I saw something," Jack said. It had been like looking through rippled glass. "I never got a proper look."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It was big enough to take a <em>wolf</em>," Kerry said. "And you wanted me to swim in this? You must be freakin' crazy." He spiked the sword into the wood
|
|
while Jack watched the river. Of the pale shapes and the big hound, there was no sign in the shadowy depths. When he drew his eyes back, Kerry had the
|
|
backpack open and was blowing into one of the plastic bags.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"What are you doing?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"I'm making water wings," Kerry told him. "Nothing's dragging me down into that."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The shingle bank was well behind them now as the current where the river narrowed speeded them past. Behind them, the Scree were bawling in their grating
|
|
bass voices, but they were too far away to be any danger for now. Jack leant back against the wicket and closed his eyes. His chest felt encased in ice and
|
|
under the skin, the muscle weak and useless. He opened his jacket just a little and breathed out slowly. The blackness had spread upwards towards his neck.
|
|
He could feel it sapping the heat from him, pulsing under the skin. He closed his eyes and when he opened them again, Corriwen was beside him. She had
|
|
saved the beans tin and again applied some of the mess she had made on the fire, fingers working gently, but no matter how light the touch, it sent daggers
|
|
of hurt the way through him. A cold sweat broke out on Jack's brow and the world wavered in and out, like the shapes under water.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
She talked softly to him, as he drifted away and the miles past while he slept. Dry lightning flickered in the sky and ahead of them clouds were piling up,
|
|
dark and brooding as Kerry steered the raft with the pole, scanning the water all the time in case any of the things that could drag a wolf under the water
|
|
reappeared.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class='break'>* * *</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The roaks came from the towering cloud, black wings spread wide to vector down from a glowering sky. They heard them first, a raucous croaking that rasped
|
|
on the ears. Kerry pointed upwards.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"That's the things we saw on the hill," he said. "They were eating the…." He stopped, turned and looked at Corriwen, face reddening.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Slaughter-pickers," she said softly. "They fed well."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The huge birds came spiralling down, the way Kerry had seen vultures on the nature programmes, until the black curved beaks were clearly visible. The raft
|
|
kept on down with the flow as the birds came lower, brushing the tops of the crowding trees, then levelling off to veer over the river towards them.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Watch them," Kerry told her. "They go for the eyes."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The lead bird swung ahead of them, turned in the air and came at them. Its beak darted at Kerry's head. He raised the pole and swatted at it, sending a few
|
|
black feathers tumbling on the air. Another one, much larger than the first, came beating in over the surface and Kerry jerked back. It had no eyes, just a
|
|
pair of dripping craters where eyes would have been, but it came in unerringly, straight for his face. Jack was slumped on the logs, too numb to move now.
|
|
Corriwen leapt up, hauled the sword and swing it in a tight arc. It missed the bird by a scant inch. It pulled back, croaking as deep as the Scree.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
In mere seconds they were surrounded by the great birds, all of them screeching, stabbing at them, going for eyes with lunges of scimitar beaks. Kerry
|
|
swung the pole and caught one in mid-flight and sent it splashing helpless in the water. The others wheeled away towards the bank and turned, like a flock
|
|
of monstrous starlings and came winging over the surface bunched together. Kerry shoved Corriwen down behind the barrier and got ready to take as many of
|
|
them as he could.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Something pale flicked from the water, so fast it was just a blur. The lead crow, big as a buzzard, simply disappeared. There was a splash of water and it
|
|
was gone without a sound. Something else flickered upwards and Kerry couldn't tell whether it was a tentacle or a fish. Another movement flicked in
|
|
peripheral vision. Two roaks vanished and a puff of feathers helicoptered down into the water.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Kerry stood open mouthed, unable to comprehend just what he'd seen.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The flock swerved away, trying to gain height, rasping their fear, and in another blink, three more of them were down. One fluttered on the surface for a
|
|
bare second and was gone. The rest of them whirled away back towards the trees, panicked.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"What <em>was</em> that?" Kerry finally said. Corriwen crouched beside him. "Did you see it?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
She nodded. "I don't know, but…."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
A flash of lightning cut off her words. It forked across the towering crowd and down towards the tall trees. Ozone came thick on the air and somewhere in
|
|
the forest on the far bank, something big crashed to the ground.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"I don't like the look of this," Kerry said. He hadn't like the looks of anything here since they'd stumbled between the standing stones. "I think we
|
|
should shelter."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"We don't know what's in the forest," she said. Jack tried to haul himself up, let out a gasp and slid back again.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Lightning flickered again and in a few seconds, a distant grumble of thunder came rolling up to them from downstream.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It's like the book said," Jack managed. "The Roaks and ravens. It said watch the thunder. We have to get off the river."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The rumble continued, louder than before.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It's the lightning that worries me," Kerry said. "We shouldn't be out in the middle."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Pull in," Jack told him. "See if you can work towards the trees." He wasn't sure if they'd be safer there than on the water. He tried to remember what was
|
|
best, but his mind was fuzzy and dull. At least there would be shelter under the branches.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The rumbling increased as Kerry poled in, fighting the current. The sound impinged on Jack's mind as he lay on the raft. It was getting louder all the
|
|
time, but he hadn't seen a flash of lightning for some time. The impending danger struck him like a blow.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
With a huge effort, he forced himself up, trying not to groan aloud.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Move," he managed to get out from a dry throat. "It's not thunder."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Kerry turned at the prow. "What?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"No lightning. It's not thunder. We have to get off."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Well what is it?" He had the pole out of the water. The raft lurched and almost threw him out. In a matter of seconds they had drifted down to where the
|
|
river narrowed between high rocky banks and the water was suddenly faster as they were whipped round a curve.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Ahead of them the rumbling became a roar. Boulders jutted out from the flow, water-smooth.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Not thunder," Jack said. "It's rapids".
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Oh <em>shit</em>!"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Kerry dug the pole in and tried to force them towards the bank, but already it was too late. The current had them now. White water splashed up from the
|
|
rocks and the raft spun in a lazy circle. Kerry grabbed the rucksack and the water-wings then cursed again when he saw the rip in the polythene bag which
|
|
fluttered uselessly in his hand.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The raft spun dizzily, tilted where the current went past a huge rock, almost flipping them out. The roaring ahead was now so loud they could hear nothing
|
|
else. Jack managed to his knees. Down there in the dark of the gorge, he could see a mist over the river.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Oh Kerry," he gasped. "It's not rapids at all."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Great," Kerry grinned. "You had me scared for a minute."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It's a <em>waterfall</em>."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"We can hold on," Kerry shot back.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"But look."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jack pointed ahead. The turbulent water rolled past huge boulders and crashed against the banks. But beyond that a misty cloud blocked the entire gorge.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"What is that?" Kerry asked. "Smoke?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The raft spun again and they hung on, and with every yard the thunder got louder until it filled the world. The canyon walls shivered and the vibration
|
|
loosened stones that tumbled and rolled to crash into the river.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jack grabbed Kerry's shoulder. He had to shout right into his ear to be heard.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It's spray."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Kerry looked back at him, not understanding. The spray climbed into the sky, rolling like steam.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It's not just a waterfall…."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The current flicked them round between two great rocks and they could see it. Ahead of them the river widened and the great falls came into view. Half a
|
|
mile downstream, the river simply disappeared into a vast emptiness, so deep that beyond the whitewater edge of it, they could see nothing at all.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
It was as if the very world ended here.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The blood drained out of Kerry's face and he swore a third time, with great and honest sincerity. He rummaged in the bag and got out the length of thick
|
|
line he used for poaching salmon. A big weight and a treble hook were whipped to one end. Very quickly he unravelled the line, looped one end around a log
|
|
and used all his strength to cast in out towards the nearest bank. The hook and weight sailed in an arc towards where the trees dipped gnarled roots down
|
|
the bank.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The weight jerked in mid-air as if it had hit a glass wall. The line was too short.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"I think we're in a bit of trouble," was all Kerry said, though his words were lost in the roar. He braced himself on the logs as the raft swung like a
|
|
pendulum in the roiling flow, both hands round the haft of the sword, knuckles tight and white.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Jack," he bawled. Jack could only see his lips move, but he recognised the words. "Don't you let me <em>drown</em>!"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Then the water had them and there was nothing they could do. The raft whirled like a dry leaf and suddenly the mist was all around them and the water
|
|
roared like real thunder, so loud the sound vibrated through them. The pounding of the falls seemed to shake the whole world. Jack saw Corriwen's face pale
|
|
under her red hair.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"I won't let you drown," he murmured uselessly, They were in the boil now, bouncing up on the flow and over great smooth rocks, twisting and turning
|
|
helplessly in the river's grip.
|
|
</p>
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<p>
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The edge came closer and closer. Jack tried to swallow, gripped Kerry by the shoulder. The sound was impossible. It was huge. It was apocalyptic.
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</p>
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<p>
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Then suddenly they were flying.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack saw a flash of sunlight stab the mist and a sparkling rainbow curved in front of him, so bright and clear it shone like jewels. The raft hit a rock.
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Something splintered and Jack was thrown upwards. He saw Corriwen catapult into the air, flex like a gymnast and straighten out, flying like a swallow
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through that rainbow in a slow arc. Kerry was tumbling head over heels. Jack was flipped behind him up and then there was a lurch in his stomach as he
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began to fall, down through the mist towards the waiting rocks.
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</p>
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</div>
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</div>
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</body>
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</html>
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