She can still remember the desperation in people’s eyes, and the sound of the panicked screams when a large part of the pit collapsed on top of the working men and children. The stones kept tumbling down over them, and one collapse led to another. The air was thick with dust and dirt and it was hard to find a way out of the chaos.
She remembers how she took her brother’s hand and tried to escape the sound of desperate screams, but they couldn’t run fast enough and were soon caught by the roaring stones. They were brutally swept away by the avalanche of gravel and dirt, and swirled around like small, lost swimmers in a raging river. But she never let go of her brother’s hand no matter how hard the forces of nature tried to separate them.
Finally the avalanche slowed down and they stopped moving. Their bodies were almost buried in dirt and she was struggling to breathe. The heavy dirt pressed down on her chest, and each breath felt like a struggle. Slowly she was slipping further and further down the gravel, and she could also see her brother being swallowed by the hungry ground.
She suddenly heard her father’s voice. He was calling for them and her hope returned with renewed strength. She remembers that he appeared through the wall of dust, running towards them. His face and clothes were covered in white dust and she could only recognize him by the way he moved. He was coming to save them, tearing them away from the choking embrace of the ground and into safety.
Then the ground started moving again, and now it was only a matter of time before the both of them would be swallowed by the mud. Desperately they both stretched their arms up towards their father, and Flo met his worried eyes as he moved towards them with his hands out. He looked at her and saw the fear in her face, she knows he did, but then he stopped. And turned away. He pulled his arms back and the look in his eyes changed. And then he turned away from her and towards her brother. Quickly he threw himself on his knees and reached for her brother. She remembers the despair in her father’s eyes when he couldn’t reach him, and she heard his desperate screams: “I’ll get you out of there, my boy!” But he didn’t make it. The underground suddenly grabbed their fixated bodies, pulling them under.
She can’t remember for how long she was thrown around in the dark and brutal deep of the underground. The stones tore her skin into tatters, like flower thorns tear your fingertips bloody.
And then, suddenly, she was free. Free to breathe untroubled again. Free to move and get up. The avalanche had spit her out of the merciless river of stones and gravel and now she was lying in the bottom of the pit. Alive! Her clothes were torn to shreds and her body was covered in blood and dust, but she was alive. Around her, wounded children and grown-ups sat among lifeless bodies. Some of them were still half-buried, and an arm or a leg was sticking out of the piles of stones and gravel.
Flo closes her eyes and leans her head back against the little tree she sits under. She’d rather not think about the moment when she saw her brother’s body. She still doesn’t understand how he could’ve ended up as far away from her as he did. How could they have become separated? He was right by her side, with his hand in hers. She knew right away that it was him when she saw two feet sticking out of a pile at the end of the avalanche. One shoe was still on a foot while the other one was naked and bloody.
It took forever before she’d removed all the rocks off his body, but by then it was too late. Much too late. His chest had been crushed by the mass of stones and dirt, and his face was almost unrecognizable. But she knew it was him. She sat by his side for a while, looking at him, but she couldn’t cry or feel anything. The only thing she could think about was how her father would react when he found out his son was dead. She was scared. Scared of returning alone.
With unknown powers she managed to free him from the pile and lifted him across her shoulder. She slowly walked in small steps towards the top of the pit. Several times she had to stop and rest, but relentlessly she kept going on and on. Right until she reached the top of the pit. Her father was standing with a group of men, and he soon saw her. He quickly ran to her, but stopped suddenly when he saw who the lifeless body across her shoulder was. His steps lost power, and his face turned to stone. She put her brother on the ground and collapsed from exhaustion.
Her father sat by her brother’s side and held his son’s hand as he looked over at her. The disappointment in his eyes, that it was her sitting alive next to him and not her brother, was clear and unambiguous, and the only thing she could say was, “I’m sorry.”
She quietly repeats the words in her head until they finally find their way out of her mouth.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry …”
A small hand touches her arm.
“Who are you talking to, Flo?”
Startled, she opens her eyes and sees Evi, who’s kneeling next to her. She didn’t hear her coming, but she’s happy to see her even though she wishes it was someone else sitting in front of her. A feeling of melancholy trickles through her, and for a moment she’s concentrating on holding her tears back.
“Aren’t you coming back in the hut? You shouldn’t sit out here in the rain all by yourself.”
Evi grabs her arm and helps her up, and Flo smiles back at her.
“Yes. I’m actually freezing a bit.”
They start walking back towards the door, and Flo takes a deep breath before entering the hut. Dagwood sits on the bed next to Skye and he holds her hand. Quietly she sneaks past him, not meeting his disappointed look and avoiding seeing his concern and care for Skye. Cold and frozen she sits by the fireplace, unnoticed.
CHAPTER 42
Puk wakes up with a shock. He has a feeling that someone’s in the room. Someone who’s standing in the door, watching them sleeping. But the room is pitch black and he can’t see anything. His eyes haven’t gotten used to the darkness yet, but he thinks he can see a figure sneaking around silently. He blinks a couple of times and concentrates on focusing on the dark shapes in the hut. Finally things around him start taking shape. The fireplace, the beds, the sleeping bodies, Twice, the dogs and the doorway. Everything seems quiet and normal. He can’t see anything strange, and he wonders whether his senses have played a trick on him. He thinks about waking Dagwood or Salomon up, but he decides not to and goes back to sleep.
Click, click, click. The monotonous and annoying clicking sound continues at an increasingly higher volume and it’s soon impossible to ignore. One by one they slowly wake up in the hut and turn towards the other tired faces. They all try to find the reason for the annoying sound that’s woken them up. Suddenly Dagwood gets up with a worried look and immediately everybody else seems to shake off their sleepy state of mind too.
“It’s coming from the outside ...”
It’s still early morning, earlier than they normally wake up, and the light outside seems to be hidden behind dark rain clouds. Dagwood hurries to the doorway only wearing pants. His large markings on his arms and chest seem more dramatic in the dim light. Salomon is right behind him. He has a knife in his hand and holds it up ready to fight a potential intruder. They both stand in the doorway looking into the grey morning haze, but they can’t see anything. Nothing’s moving and everything seems normal, with one exception – the constant clicking sound. Click, click, click. The sound doesn’t come from one place but surrounds the hut from all sides.
Dagwood shouts into the nothingness: “Who is it? Show yourself!”
No one answers. Dagwood and Salomon look nervously at each other. They both know that someone or something is out there. The others have gathered behind them but are all silent. Dagwood looks down at the muddy ground in front of the doorway. There are clear traces in the wet mud, and he bitterly regrets having removed the trip wires around the hut.
He points to the ground and whispers to Salomon: “Someone’s been by the hut tonight. But why haven’t they attacked us or stolen from us while we were sleeping? Why are they still here?
Something isn’t right … And it worries me.”
Suddenly the clicking sound stops. The forest is completely silent and they all begin to move uneasily from side to side. Their eyes rest on Dagwood as he hesitantly looks around the camp for something or someone. A loud whistle suddenly breaks the silence and they hear the sound of feet heading for the hut.
From the dim light a dark tall figure appears, and soon more follow. One after another they step out of the grey veil of the morning haze. They come from all sides, and soon the hut is surrounded by silent shadows. Another loud whistle sounds and all the dark figures stop moving. Dagwood looks around at the circle of people who’ve surrounded their camp.
They’re all boys. They’re thin and filthy, and his eyes are drawn towards the tallest of them all. He looks like a leader, and it appears the others are watching his signs and movements. Dagwood sees he has something in his hands, and when he looks around at the others again he sees that they’re holding something in their hands too. He takes a step forward and Salomon follows right behind him.
Immediately, the tall boy starts banging his hands together and the clicking sound starts again. Soon the other boys follow, in the same rhythm and in the same pace. Click, click, click.
“What do you want?”
Dagwood shouts at the boys and tries to rise above the noise. The tall boy whistles again and they all stop banging their hands together. He throws two large stones to the ground as he smiles.
“Finally we caught your attention. I was afraid that you were too busy having a good time in the hut.”
Dagwood takes another step forward. He tries not to get provoked by the boy’s mocking comment, but he finds it hard to conceal his anger.
“I asked you: What do you want from us?” The boy continues talking.
“Well, you see, you have something we want. If we get it, we’ll go away again, nice and easy.”
Dagwood bites his teeth and clenches his fists while he answers back angrily: “Or else …”
“Oh my, what a temper you have. It must be something that runs in the family.”
He turns around to the other boys who start laughing, but Dagwood doesn’t understand why.
The boy turns around again and goes on: “But before you get too excited … let’s make a deal. You give us what we want and we’ll leave you alone, so you can go on having a good time in your warm hut.”
Dagwood is provoked by the boy’s condescending manner, but he tries to harness his irritation.
“We don’t have food or other things of value, so I can’t imagine what you want from us.”
He looks at them inquisitively. They don’t look like a group that has a regular camp or base but more like wandering fortune hunters who haven’t got the skills or the discipline to build a hut or a camp themselves. But there’s no room for them here. They’re far too many, and too hostile.
The tall boy turns to the hut and answers with a smile.
“No? Well then, turn around …”
Dagwood frowns and then turns around to the doorway without understanding the hint. Between the watchful and half-hidden clan members, Skye has suddenly appeared and has stepped outside the hut. All color in her face has drained and the bandages around her head are soaked in blood. He’s about to signal to her that she should go back in when he realizes what the tall boys means. It’s Skye they want.
“NEVER! Are you crazy?”
Dagwood can hardly control his anger, and out of the corner of his eye, he sees Salomon running forward with his knife held high. He grabs him and manages to stop him before he does something stupid without thinking. Simultaneously all the boys throw away the stones, reach across their shoulders and take out the spears that are tied behind their backs. All of a sudden they’re no longer a group of shabby, thin boys with stones in their hands but well-equipped warriors ready to fight. The facial expression of the tall boy has changed. The mocking smile has disappeared from his face and he looks serious.
“We have a debt to settle with one of your girls. She has crippled one of our boys and we now need someone to take his place. We have a score to settle.”
Skye quickly steps forward and stands next to Dagwood. Angrily she starts speaking as she looks at Dagwood and the tall boy in turns.
“But he attacked me first! I was only defending myself against that … that disgusting and brutal … and …”
Dagwood gently puts a hand on Skye’s cheek and stops her talking. He sends her a compassionate smile and she soon calms down.
He looks at the boy and answers loudly: “Look at her. She’s hurt and bruised, and if anyone owes anyone something then you’re the ones indebted to us.”
His voice is clear and his demeanor is strong and confident. But the tall boy seems unaffected by Dagwood’s words and composure.
“Indebted to you?”
He laughs mockingly.
“All our boy wanted was a bit of company. A friend to share some intimacy with. That doesn’t justify the damage your ungrateful girl inflicted on him in return.”
Slowly everyone in the camp realizes what intentions Skye’s attacker had, and Salomon looks at her in despair. He feels like finding the guilty boy and penetrating his heart with a knife, but he tries to control his anger. Knox and Puk come out of the hut and walk over to Skye, putting their arms around her. Soon the others follow. Dagwood sees in their eyes that they’re frightened, but that their urge to protect her and their loyalty are stronger than their fear. They all look at the tall boy, who keeps talking.
“But we’re not completely unreasonable. We get your girl and you get our crippled creature in return. Fair is fair. We don’t have time to repair the damages he’s suffered, and that’s why we need to bring a fresh horse with us instead.”
The mocking smile returns and he looks unpleasantly confident. Dagwood frantically thinks about how he can turn the situation around to their advantage, but his thoughts have stranded in no-man’s-land. In the meantime the boy keeps negotiating.
“And we could all use a bit of female company. It quickly gets a little … well .. boring with so many boys together without a sweet girl to talk to.”
He kind of tastes each word as he speaks, and slowly measures Skye from top to bottom.
“You’re a filthy animal. Yuck!”
Puk shouts angrily into the air as he pulls Skye behind him. The others are moving nervously and Dagwood tries to calm them down. The situation is getting out of control. If he loses his calm now, the fight against the unknown boys will be lost already.
Salomon can no longer control his anger and starts running towards the tall boy. Dagwood shouts after him, but he doesn’t stop. Salomon knows deep inside that it’s stupid and risky, but the anger inside him is controlling his movements. He can tell by the boy’s eyes that he’s surprised by his fearlessness, but he doesn’t move. Calmly he remains standing, watching Salomon closing in with every step. He’s not far from him when the air is torn by a whistling sound ending in a hollow thump. Shortly after, a scream sounds. Salomon stops immediately and turns towards the hut. Terrified, he sees a lifeless body lying on the ground pierced by a long spear. But he can’t see who it is, and he can’t see Skye.
Chaos and panic break out between the others in the hut, and he hears Dagwood shouting that they should all go inside. In long strides he starts running back to the others, but he has trouble keeping his balance in the wet ground. Half way back he slips and lands on his side, down in the mud. At the same moment he sees a long thin shadow racing through the air and a spear lands on the ground right next to his head. In a panic he tries to get up on his feet, but he slides and falls to the ground again. He hears the others calling for him desperately, but their screams drown out all the noise from the hostile boys and he can’t hear whether there are more spears coming. Instinctively he covers his head with his arm, even though it can’t p
rotect him from getting his skull pierced by a spear.
All of a sudden he feels a hand under his arm pulling him up. It’s Dagwood, who’s run into the warzone to get him. He gets him to his feet, and together they run back to the hut. Another spear flashes through the air and Dagwood pushes Salomon away before he’s hit. The sharp spear grazes the backside of Dagwood’s thigh instead, and for a moment he falls to the ground, but he’s quickly back on his feet. More spears fall from the sky and land in the ground around them. In zigzag movements they jump from side to side so they don’t trip over them and avoid getting hit. Salomon sees that Dagwood’s hurt and has trouble moving, but he doesn’t slow down. The hut isn’t far now, but they’re still not out of danger.
Suddenly Salomon stops and turns around while Dagwood limps into safety. He runs back and grabs one of the spears from the ground. In a controlled motion he pulls his arm back and throws the spear against his assailants while he shouts out his anger. The spear races through the grey haze and hits the tall boy in the shoulder, and he falls to the ground screaming.
The next moment the sky opens its gates and the rain starts pouring down again, and for a little while it stops the fight between the two groups. They all feel large drops of rain on their faces while a quiet roaring in the distance grows louder and louder. It’s as if the sky and all the natural elements around them are starting a fight of their own. Thundering roars from above are only interrupted by flashes of lightning, and below them the ground seems to move. Dagwood feels that everything around them is against them.
They’re all inside, hiding from the rain and the hostile boys, but he’s not calm or relieved. In front of him on the floor, Knox lies with a spear through his chest. He’s dead. The others have pulled him out of the rain, but it’s much too late. His heart gave in already before the spear penetrated his body.
Salomon stands in the doorway looking at the lifeless body of Knox. He’s terrified and relieved at the same time. Knox has been killed, but Skye’s unharmed. She walks over to him and grabs his arm.
The Dawn of Skye (The Someday Children Book 1) Page 31