Bearmouth

by Liz Hyder

  Devlin looks at me. I reckons so too, he says.

  On the way back, Devlin is so full o thawts that he fayre bounces along the walls.

  Tomorro is back to work, I says.

  But back to work not as awkwud men, he says, not so far aways. When do we do the sine?

  I puts my finger to my lips.

  Ent no body here Newt, he larfs.

  Carnt be too cayreful, I says.

  So, he whispers. When?

  Soon, I says.

  Twill be dayngeruss, he whispers. What youre plannin?

  What we are plannin, I says. Not me.

  Twas your idea tho eh? he says.

  If you dunt want to help you dunt have to, I says.

  I do, he says. And I will and all. But we should stryke soon. If they are thinkin o closin Bearmouth, they will cayre even less about us. More axidents, more daynger. We need to act soon, he says.

  Thing is, I says. I been thinkin about it and I ent shore our plan will work see. If we do blasts a hole in the layke ryte, emptee it out whilst men are at pumps, tis a huge sine shore but what if they all see it as an axident? What if in its sted, all the waters are drayned and all that happens is that we ent got clene water? Twill mayke things wurse for us all. It ent the ryte idea, tis all.

  Devlin nods.

  Alryte, he says. So we think o somethin better, he says. Somethin bigger, somethin better.

  What? I says. Lyke what?

  He shrugs. Somethin bigger. Somethin better. Yule think o somethin. You always do.

  I carnt eat at mess. Jack beraytes me for it.

  Thomas wunt want you to fayde away eh Newt? Tis the Maykers way that he has gone. He has gone to a better playce now and so there ent no poynte mopin see, he says sloppin and shovellin the food into his open maw and talkin as he dos so.

  It dunt mayke no diffrence tho. Words dunt mayke you hungree. Words dunt mayke you forget.

  I keeps seein him in the dark. Thomas. When my eyes are closed. I blinks and I sees him. But not as he was, strong and tall and wyse, but as a crushd harf man weighed down by deep dark rocks.

  Devlin says this will chaynge. That twill fayde in time and I will remember him as he properlee was. As a learned man, as a kind man, as the farver I never had.

  The only thing that gives me comfort is those words o his, o Thomass. That he is forever in my heart. Sometimes I put my hands to my heart and hold em there. Thinkin o him see and hopin that he is there.

  Devlin says I must focus on the matter at hand but he dunt kno Thomas all his life see.

  For me I fear losin him is too grayte to bear.

  I am broke beyond repayre.

  I dream o him.

  I dream o clouds white and fluffee.

  I dream o blue skyes and sunshyne.

  I dream o clene water so bryte that your own reflekshun dos look lyke a shiny mirror.

  I dream o green fields full o cattal and sheep.

  I dream o a house, a small holdin lyke. A pond in the front wi ducks on it kwakk kwakkin and some hens peck peckin around the front door.

  Tis red brick this house. And grey smoke dos weeve its way out o the chimnee.

  I walks up the path towards the house, thinkin o the gingerbred house in Thomass storyes and when I get to the door he opens it. Thomas. Smylin and larfin he picks me up and holds me, whirlin me round and round.

  I thawt youd gone forever, I cryes and he wypes my tears away.

  Corse not, he says. Im always here see. And he taps my chest. Told you eh, always here.

  We sits down in the kitchen and there is a feest awaytin us. Chees and bred and meets roastd and sweete wi there own juces. Ripe crunchee apples and pears, bryte red cherrys all piled up in heeps. There is waterd beer too and we drinks and eats and larfs.

  Devlin lookin arfter you? he says and I larf.

  Dunt need nobody to look arfter me, I says wi a mouth full o food and Thomas grins.

  You lookin arfter Devlin then? he says and I nods.

  Corse, I says.

  Can I come and live here wi you? I says and he shaykes his head.

  Tis too early for you. You must get out o Bearmouth first eh.

  I looks around me at the walls o the cottage, the bricks and morta so real to me. The food I eat so real.

  I will always be wi you, he says.

  Help me Thomas, I says and the walls o the playce they start slip slidin away from me further and further.

  I reetch out my arms and Thomas is still there but I carnt quite hold him and he is standin there, gettin bigger and bigger til he dos tower above me. A giant in front o me and then lyte comes from his eyes and out his fingers and out o all o him. Shinin bryte, so bryte that tis fayre blindin.

  Tis a sine, I says. Tis a sine from the Mayker.

  And Thomas reetches down to me and offers me his hand but tis so massiv and so bryte I almost screem.

  I am always wi you, he says.

  And tho I carnt see beyond the bryteness, I kno he is smylin.

  I waykes up in a sweat. Tangld sheets and heat drippin.

  I lie still waytin for my breethin to get back to normal.

  Thank you, Thomas, I says to him in my head. Thank you.

  For he has givern me an idea.

  How well do you climb? I says to Devlin on the way to gruel on Munday and he looks at me funny.

  Trees you meen? he says.

  Genrally, I says.

  I ent bad I spose, he says. Why?

  Cos one o us will need to, I says. Myte be better that tis me but I thawt best to ask.

  At letters when we is shore none can overhear us, I tells him o my plan.

  His eyes wyden.

  Twill be a hard thing to pull off, he says and I nod.

  I kno, I says, but we got to try.

  When tho? he says. When do we do it?

  First part we do this time next week. Beer Munday, I says. You be the distrakshun and Ill do the rest.

  Shore? he says uncertain soundin. That ent no time at all to prepayre.

  Shore, I says. We sets it up on Beer Munday and sets it off on followin Maykers Day. Tis the only way to do it. Else we wayte anuvver whole month for the chance again.

  What if someone sees us eh? What if we get cawt?

  Tis a risk we are goin to have to run, I says. But if all goes to plan, the Mayker will give all o Bearmouth a sine to remember for the rest o there lyves.

  We are to do it then? he says and I nod.

  Thomas told me, I says, his last words. He told me to get out o here. Twas his way o blessin what we are to do and for that I am glad. Twas him in the dream that did give me the idea arfter all.

  Devlin grins as the whissul goes for brayke.

  We will go throo it all at letters tomorro, I says.

  And when we do get to mess, tis straynge but I do find my appertyte beginnin to come back.

  I hold Thomas in my thawts all mornin. The monthlees have long gone as he sed they wuld, ent nothin but piss comin out now and tis lyke they had never come. I dearly wish he were here to talk to bout all this and all the uvver things. So much I want to say to him, so much I want to ask him. Bout his sister, bout letters. And I realise there ent no more letters now. Not really. Tis just a word we use for meetin, tis all.

  Tobe gone. Thomas gone.

  And I must needs get out o Bearmouth fore I go the sayme way as them.

  All week at letters, Devlin and I run throo the plan whisper whisperin lyke mice. Cos what we are to do is both heethenish and full o daynger but we must do it. We must.

  On Maykers Day at gruel, I dos it. I arsks Jack if we can join him on Beer Munday in the mess. His fayce is lyke a picture.

  We shall, all o us, drink a toast to Thomas, I says. I kno us youngs dunt normally come but shore Devlin is old enuff and tis troo that I must needs be near old enuff now. So, I says, can we come?

  Jack looks at Skillen who tryes not to larf and Nicholson nods his head.

  Newts grown up enuff, he says. Thats for sho
re.

  Will and Joe nod too as they eat the last o their shuggard gruel.

  Jack sighs to hisself. Your days as a young is numberd Newt, he says. You wuld o corse be most welcome. Youre old enuff.

  I pretend to pick up a tankard and rayse it to him. Jack near dos mayke me fall over wi his slap slappin me on the back in joy.

  I ent shore I lykes the tayste o beer over much but tis somethin I must at leest show willin on. Devlin too. Our plan dos depend upon it.

  I dunt sing on Maykers Day but mouth the words whilst insted I absorb all I can see as best I can. How many steps before the entrance to the Hall. How far from wall to wall, how fast I can run, how high I must needs climb. How long it will all tayke. I am smaller and more nimball, just lyke the creetures that are my naymesake and so twill be me that climbs the Mayker we have agreed. I look up at the Maykers fayce and all I can think o is how long a fuse I will need as my maw opens and closes wi no sound comin out.

  I feels bad for those we are to lie to but, I thinks to myself, as I mouth the prayer, it ent no worse than how they has alreddy been deceevd by the Master.

  Tis time. Tis Beer Munday and today is the day we must put our plan into playce.

  Tis alryte, I thinks to myself. We can do this. We can.

  Arfter shifts, we heads to the layke and I spyes Devlin who smyles at me and nods. We must do this. We must. For Tobe, for Thomas, for all o us in Bearmouth.

  Tis the usual crackall o fire in the air arfter work on a Beer Munday. The men are ryte reddy for their drink, chompin their lips, slappin each uvver on the back.

  As the uvvers head to mess, I heads back to the dorm, cayreful to put the panel across the doorway so as none can see in. I lifts up Tobes mattress and cayrefullee pulls out two sticks o dynamyte. I feel them, cold and hevvy in my hand lyke canduls but not. I pushs em down into my boots and layces em back up. Tis only when I goes to leeve that I remembers the fuses.

  Stewpid Newt, I says in my head. Tis only two things you got to remember and you fayre forgot one o em. I goes back to the mattriss and pulls out a coil o fuse. Tis long so I rolls up the arm o my shirt and curls it ryte round and round, tuckin it in at the end so tis sayfe from pryin eyes.

  I am reddy, I thinks to myself as I heeves the panel back to the side.

  In the mess hall, as we eats our meet and tatties, the men all cheers and stomps their feet when the huge barrels o beer are rolled in. They chants beer beer beer and slaps the mess taybles hard enuff to mayke em shayke.

  Big pewter tankards are handed round so the men taykes a mug each. We arnt alloud to keep em tho, all must be returnd at the end o the nyte else all that eat there pay a fine. What they think we will do wi the mugs elsewyse, Mayker only knos.

  Jack stops the man handin out the tankards and taykes two xtra – one for me and one for Devlin.

  Tis a fact they are old enuff now, he says.

  The man looks at us, judgin us.

  On your head be it, he says fore shruggin and movin on.

  I have drunk waterd beer before but not lyke this. This stuff is strong. No wonder it dos turn the mens heads to mush and mayke them sick the next day. Men drinks and sings and larfs, they stands on the taybles and sings lyke fools. I sips at my beer, ekin it out fore I needs a cleer head for what I am to do.

  Devlin joins in some o the songs and I frowns at him. He looks lyke he is fayre enjoyin hisself too much and I worry that we carnt pull our plan off if he is not stone cold sober.

  Jack clambers up onto the tayble and joins in a rousin song and Devlin is hauld up besides him. I smyles and cheers and claps but I want to kick him so Mayker help me. I carnt do this on my own.

  Devlin knoks into Jack and spills a load o his beer on both me and the tayble and he larfs his head off before stumblin back down and onto me.

  Cheer up Newt, he whispers in my ear. Got to look lyke I really am drunk.

  I hiss at him, Well mayke shore you ent.

  The evenin wears on and I carryes on pretendin to tayke sips o my beer. The rowdiness gets louder tho some men do alreddy look lyke they have had more than enuff and sit slumpd up on the walls snorin and hiccuppin to thereselves wi foul burps.

  Devlin leans up gainst me, swayin slightly. I feels cross wi him. We will have to wayte anuvver whole month if we are to try again. A whole month waysted.

  He leans up and whispers in my ear. Is it convincin enuff? he says.

  I elbows him and he snorts wi a larf.

  Leanin back into me, he whispers in my ear. Reddy? he says.

  But he dunt wayte for a reply as he goes to stand and then harf falls over onto me.

  Hes had too much, I says to Jack. Ill tayke him back.

  I hoists Devlin up and lets him lean into me but I ent full shore if hes pretendin or if he actually is rollin drunk.

  As we staggers out o the mess, leavin our tankards behind, we treads past the pair o guards who stand on watch.

  Hes had too much, I mutters at them and they grins at us as we go past.

  No sooner are we around the corner than I shoves Devlin off.

  What you playin at? I says.

  He grins at me and I sees from his eyes that he is near enuff sober as me.

  Playin at bein sloshd, he says and mock punches me on the sholder.

  Lets go, I says.

  Arm in arm, I leads the way, listernin out quietly as we go. He knoks my leg at one poynte and we stop.

  Cayreful, I says to him, hissin, mindful o the dynamyte tucked in my boots.

  He nods.

  As we goes up the emptee tunnels we come across uvver drunks, some slumpd on the walls, uvvers curld up in baskets. I ent never seen the lyke before. All this just for a drink that tastes vile anyways.

  Tis a way o manidgin the men, I thinks to myself. Get em wantin somethin, get em to pay for it and restrict access to it so that when they gets it they wants more o it. Lyke all things down here. Tis about control.

  The guards ignore us. Two on each level at the start and end o each ramp upwards. They chats amongst themselves as I hefts Devlin up.

  Had too much eh? they says, chucklin to thereselves. Always the sayme on Beer Munday ent it?

  But I notiss that they got tankards themselves. Playin ryte into our hands they are.

  I crosses my fingers and hopes for luck. Im so in the habit o askin for the Maykers help that it dos seem straynge to not say it.

  Mayker protekt me, I says in my head. Mayker sayve us from harm.

  When we are out o syte o the guards, we walks normally, closely together just in cayse. The guards always have a candul see so we sees their lytes flickrin which gives us plenty o warnin afore we sees em and they sees us. And the drunkards that see us, well, I carnt think any o them will remember much about this eve by the time the morro comes.

  Bearmouth becomes more chill as we travel upwards but we move as quickly as we can knowin that tis only this nyte in the whole month that we have the chance to put the first part o our plan into action. I think o all the people workin workin away on each level. Evry floor filled wi men and boys slayvin their guts out for the Master.

  Two more levels and we are nearly there, Devlin hiccuppin and burpin past the guards at the bottom.

  I dunt kno your fayces, says one o the guards. Stop there.

  I drag Devlin to one side, heart in my mouth, hammerin away.

  Sorry Sir, I says, tis just that hes drunk and—

  Ah, leeve em, says the uvver guard. Hes drunker than John Marshall got that time, look at the stayte o him. What harm are two drunk youngs goin to do eh? Mayke shore you get yourself back to your dorm. Work tomorro dunt forget.

  No Sir, I says. Tis just that he wantd to see his bruvver from one o the higher levels and tis the only day he could do it bar Maykers Day.

  No gatherin, says the first guard. You kno the rules.

  Go on wi you, says the second guard. Dunt be such a miseree eh Quinn? Let em go. Go on.

  Devlin raises a maginary tankard towards them both.


  Cheers fellas, he says, I will drink to your health.

  It ent until we are out o view that I allow myself to breeth again.

  That was too close, I whispers.

  As we reetch the ryte level and head towards the Maykers Hall, all is quiet and I feel Devlin skweeze my hand in the dark. Nearly there. Then a lyte flickers and I hears voyces echoin in the Maykers Hall.

  Devlin pushs me to one side.

  Tis our chance, he whispers. Go. I will distrakt them.

  He staggers on ahead o me lookin as drunk as the men in the mess. He mutters to hisself, swayin to and fro.

  Two guards come into view and I hides behind the rocks at the entrance o the Hall as Devlin swaggers towards em.

  Ah frends, he cryes fore burstin into song.

  They larfs out loud when they sees him and he heads towards em wi arms outstretched.

  Fellas, join me in a song, he says burpin loudly at em.

  You carnt be goin to the Maykers Hall, one o em says. Tis not alloud this eve.

  Ah tis a shayme, says Devlin hiccuppin and swayin. Fore Id o lyked to thank him for inventin the most divine and delishuss drink o beer. Fellas, tis a shayme you ent got no beer here, you is missin out see.

  They larfs and sing songs together as Devlin steers em down the tunnel away from the Maykers Hall and I sneeks in. A candul burns either side o the entrance but inside tis dark.

  Mayker protekt me, I says as I go past the canduls and into the hall. I close my eyes and sydle in.

  Feelin the damp hard rock under my hands, I edges ryte round the hall. I must needs be quick workin in the dark. I bends down and pats the sticks o dynamyte in my boots and then tippy tose quiet as a spyder fast as I can over to the Mayker hisself.

  I shivers as I stand before him, feelin him lookin down at me and I tell myself over and over. He ent here. He ent here. I hold my hands tyte to my chest and think o Thomas. I must do this. I must. Not for me, not for Devlin but for all o us in Bearmouth. For Jack, for Skillen, for Nicholson, for the Davidsons. For evry single one o us.