Kayleb stared down at the pigs and then up into Cornwall’s frightened face and then sighed in defeat.
‘OK ... but you’ve got to keep them quiet; they might blow our cover.’
Rowan stared unbelievingly at Kayleb; things were hard enough without two deranged pigs in tow.
‘Are you mad? Do you honestly think that we are going to get out of this valley with those things? They’ve got to go!’
‘Look, I don’t like it much either. You were the one that wanted Cornwall to come with us.’
Cornwall led the way. She knew the safest route out of the valley and close on her heels her pigs, Rupert and Willow, followed, their huge feet trotting in unison. The track was narrow and Rowan found himself bringing up the rear. He felt cross. Somehow he had let Kayleb walk all over him again.
The sky was an inkpot blue and the North Star seemed extra bright that night. It made Kayleb feel uplifted. There was hope in his heart now and as they left the valley he thought that perhaps Cornwall would turn out to be all right after all; she was obviously just in need of some psychiatric treatment.
Rupert and Willow were becoming used to Kayleb and Rowan and only occasionally looked over their shoulders with scathing suspicion. The pigs stopped now and again and cocked their heads to one side and then continued on their way.
Kayleb thought that it might be the water in the bucket he was carrying, slopping over the edges when he stumbled, that caught the pigs’ attention.
In the distance somebody shouted and this was followed by a howl from an animal. The wasters’ settlement was behind them but was not that far away. Perhaps the wasters had discovered that Cornwall had gone, thought Kayleb. Perhaps they were now in hot pursuit and soon they would be captured. Kayleb picked up the pace and told Cornwall to walk faster. Kayleb’s ears strained hard, trying to listen to every sound in the night. A dog barked, but it seemed a long way off. He remembered the dogs he had seen chasing the tigeagle.
‘Do your people use dogs for tracking?’ Kayleb asked Cornwall, trying to sound calm. He instinctively knew what the answer would be.
‘Of course, silly! How else do you catch animals or taskers! They are trained to round up animals and bring the prey to the men to kill,’ she said, looking at Kayleb inquisitively.
‘Oh!’ said Kayleb. His heart was now in his boots and he had the distinct feeling that they were being pursued. ‘Would they use the dogs to chase you, Cornwall, do you think?’ Kayleb’s voice was now showing signs of quavering.
‘I don’t think so. I’m not prey, am I?’ Slowly Cornwall realised what Kayleb was trying to tell her. She stopped and the pigs grunted with disapproval. ‘What is it, Kayleb, do you know something? You don’t think they’d do that ... use the dogs on me?’
A dog howled into the night and the fear on Cornwall’s face showed that she knew what was about to happen. Rowan kicked the ground with frustration and swore and then glared at Kayleb.
‘It’s all your fault. Those dogs can probably smell those pigs a mile off. You and your humanitarian attitude have done us up like a seagull. How on earth are we going to escape tracker dogs? Speak to them diplomatically perhaps?’
Kayleb’s mind was racing.
‘We need water to hide our tracks. Is there a stream nearby, Cornwall? That will stop them,’ he said, looking hopefully at her.
Cornwall looked sadly down at the floor, the starlight lighting up her hair like a halo. She was thinking deeply and then looked excitedly up at the boys. ‘There are caves nearby and the dogs won’t go in them. I’ve seen animals flee into the caves to escape the dogs and no matter what the men do to the dogs, they won’t go in. We’ll hide in them! They’ll think the dogs are messing them about again. That’s it ... Come on!’
Cornwall tore off to the left and everybody followed, hoping that they would see the caves soon, as the dogs were now much closer. Rowan was about to object, as he wondered what might be in the caves to stop the dogs entering but an especially loud howl sent him racing towards the caves too.
Fortunately, the caves Cornwall had spoken about were not far off and they were a welcome sight. The entrances were only big enough to crawl through, but the cave opening they chose quickly opened up as they went inside. Kayleb and Cornwall crawled through easily. Kayleb still had the bucket of water but he had lost most of it running and now it was only half full. Rowan had some difficulty getting into the cave, as his shoulders were quite broad. Rupert and Willow did not fit through the cave entrance and squealed when they found they couldn’t follow Cornwall.
‘I can’t leave them; they’ll be killed!’ cried Cornwall, frantically scraping at the earth. The earth was soft and scooped away easily but her hands were so tiny, that she hardly made any progress.
‘Here, let me try,’ said Rowan.
Cornwall crawled aside and Rowan, his hands working like shovels, soon made the cave entrance large enough for Rupert and Willow to enter. They barged in sending Rowan flying. The pigs were extremely frightened, as the dogs had arrived and were barking madly at the cave entrance. They didn’t enter though, just as Cornwall had predicted. The men of the village could be heard cursing the dogs for bringing them to the caves.
As they listened from inside the cave, it also transpired that the wasters hadn’t been chasing Cornwall after all. A tasker named Indigo had escaped from the stud pen and it had been discovered just as the sun had gone down when the festivities were about to start. He was probably long gone but the dogs had been on edge and the head waster was curious to see where they would take him. He was furious that the dogs had led him on a wild-goose chase. Their obsession with the caves had gone too far and the head waster hit out at a rather scruffy wolfhound. The dog escaped the beating and skulked back down the track to the settlement with the other dogs.
Inside the cave everyone tried not to breathe too loudly until the men had gone. Fortunately Willow and Rupert had been quiet, too; the shock of narrowly escaping the jaws of the dogs had stunned them into silence.
There was a fracture in the ceiling of the cave which let in some moonlight. The cave was quite large and luckily there were no wild beasts lurking in the corners. There was a strange smell which, Kayleb thought, might have put the dogs off from entering the cave. It was a smell of sulphur and was really not that pleasant. The ground was quite soft and the cave felt like a safe haven, and so sleep came swiftly to all.
6
Kayleb was the first to awake the next morning and he felt rested. He had slept well. Daylight poured into the cave from above and Kayleb was able to see clearly.
Rowan lay with his arm around one of the pigs and the sight made Kayleb smile; he looked so undignified! The other pig was lying flat, in the far corner of the cave. Cornwall, however, was nowhere to be seen. Kayleb rubbed his eyes. Maybe it was a trick of the light. He was about to raise the alarm when Cornwall looked down through the roof, making Kayleb jump.
‘So you’re awake at long last,’ she called out brightly. ‘I’ve been up since first light. You’ve missed a beautiful sunrise. I’ve got us some breakfast.’
Kayleb heard her scuttle down the side of the cave and then watched her crawl in through the narrow entrance.
‘I collected some firewood also. See here?’ She pointed to a small pile of wood directly under the hole in the roof. ‘All the smoke will go straight up there,’ she stated, triumphantly pointing upwards to the outlet above. Cornwall’s skirt was scooped up in front of her and in it was an enormous mound of mushrooms and fungi. She laid the food next to the firewood and promptly set to work to light the fire with a small stick. Cornwall rolled the stick furiously between her hands on top of some dried grass and another piece of bark. Amazingly, the grass began to smoulder and after she had blown on the grass a small flame appeared. The dry grass caught alight easily. Cornwall blew on the fire gently as she laid little sticks around the blaze.
Kayleb watched on, astounded. He felt like a caveman discovering fire for the first ti
me. It was such a wondrous sight! He could never have imagined that he would feel so grateful for something so simple. Cornwall actually knew how to survive in this horrendous place and he was so thankful to have her with them.
The fire was soon burning strongly and Cornwall held several mushrooms on sticks over the fire. Rowan had woken with a start and was disgusted to find himself in such close proximity to Rupert. Rowan had to push Rupert away and reluctantly the pig wrestled to his feet and ambled over to Willow. Rupert and Willow were not impressed with the fire and sat together in the furthest corner of the cave, all heads looking on, with cantankerous expressions.
‘I thought I was holding a log on the rapids. That’s what I did on my first ICE,’ Rowan said at length, nodding at Rupert and then at Kayleb and Cornwall. He hoped that Kayleb had not realised that he couldn’t have had an ICE experience yet, as he had only turned sixteen yesterday. Cornwall smiled back at him.
When the mushrooms were toasted, Rowan nibbled cautiously on one. ‘Are you sure these are safe to eat? Only my mentors say that some mushrooms can kill you.’
‘I think Cornwall knows what she’s doing. You should have seen her light this fire. She’s awesome!’
‘There! All cooked. You must eat if you want to stay alive. Look, if the pigs won’t eat them then nor will I.’ Cornwall threw some mushrooms to Rupert and Willow.
Rowan stopped eating and held a piece of mushroom in his cheek waiting for the pigs to make up their minds. He could feel poison coursing through his veins as he waited.
Rupert and Willow immediately set upon the mushrooms like starving animals.
‘There, see, no problem,’ Cornwall said, laughing at Rowan. Rowan had the distinct feeling that he was an object of ridicule now and it felt strange being on the outside looking in. He was going to have to take charge and come up with their next plan of action. He thought hard but to no avail. Brainwaves were taking a back seat at that moment.
Cornwall began to throw dust on the fire to put it out.
‘We’ll be noticed eventually, if we let the fire burn. The Leaders won’t be up early this morning; they’ll be hung over. Last night a new batch of nettle wine was going to be opened when the stud ritual was performed.’
‘Didn’t the tasker get away?’ Rowan asked, helping to put dirt on the fire.
‘Yes but there are other taskers in the pen. The Leaders will still drink the wine. They like to drink,’ replied Cornwall sadly.
Rowan wasn’t quite sure why she looked so sad. Did she like to drink or was there something more menacing about the Leaders all drinking?
Cornwall looked up at Rowan’s face. ‘They get out of hand, like mad dogs and if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you get hurt. It’s ... hard for me to explain.’
‘It’s all right, I understand,’ said Rowan. He felt better now. Cornwall had allowed him to be her confidant. She had told him and not Kayleb.
‘Who was the tasker that escaped last night? We might know him. How many are being held at your settlement?’
‘Didn’t you hear the Leaders talking about him last night?’ Cornwall asked. ‘He’s called Indigo. We’ve had him for about three seasons now. He wasn’t much good though. He was a fighter, not easy to hypno and was certainly not willing to cooperate. I’m glad that he escaped. He was very unhappy; he said he missed someone called Robin and was worried that Robin would be fretting as Indigo had disappeared without saying where he was going.’
‘Robin! Have you ever heard of men liking men?’ asked Kayleb.
‘He must have been born naturally; he couldn’t be a tasker.’ Cornwall nodded. ‘How old do you think Indigo is, Cornwall?’ Kayleb asked.
‘About your age, a bit older perhaps. He comes from London too but he said he’s a time traveller and not a tasker. He said he was a university student studying science and quantum theory. He tried a time-travelling experiment and ended up in our village. I think he was a little mad. Nobody has ever time-travelled, have they?’ asked Cornwall.
Kayleb shook his head and laughed. ‘No, that’s just a fiction, but you never know: someone might find a way one day.’ It suddenly occurred to Kayleb that Cornwall was probably unable to read and wouldn’t have a clue what fiction was.
Cornwall didn’t seem that puzzled though. ‘We don’t get many taskers from Paris,’ she went on. ‘A few get caught; some have no idea of direction. At the moment there are five taskers in the stud pen. Four are from London and one is from Paris. These taskers are quite happy to stay. Taskers are well fed to keep their strength up. One is quite old now. He has escaped the AIDS II virus. I don’t know how but he’s quite well. It sounds barbaric your lifestyle, all that interference with your eggs. I’m surprised you haven’t created monsters!’
‘That’s like the pot calling the kettle black, Cornwall!’ Rowan almost shouted. Cornwall was starting to get on his nerves now.
‘The pot, the kettle? What is this kettle?’ Cornwall had lost the thread of the conversation.
You used it to boil water in. What do you use? A skull!’ asked
Rowan sarcastically.
‘No, I’ve heard of it, but you don’t need to be so annoying. We just use a pot, although some of those that came from London talk of a cup microwave that heats itself up for hot drinks. Am I right?’
Kayleb was feeling restless and did not really care for any kind of antagonism, so he got to his feet briskly and collected up his rope and bucket.
‘Come on, we’d better start walking,’ he said brightly. ‘If we’re lucky, we might bump into Indigo and, who knows, he might be able to warp us home.’
Something moved overhead and a small rock tumbled down into the ashes of the fire making them jump. There was something on the roof of the cave. Everyone froze.
‘I might just do that,’ said a man, his head appearing in the gap in the roof. ‘I’m game if you are!’
7
At first Kayleb and Rowan thought that the man staring down at them might be a waster but immediately Cornwall reassured them both and introduced them to Indigo. When Indigo entered the cave, he explained that he had been sheltering in the cave above theirs and had overheard their conversations, which had led him to believe that they might be taskers trying to get to London. At first, he had had wondered why Cornwall was with them but soon realised that she was helping them.
Indigo asked if he could join them as he too wanted to get back to London so he could find his university and a museum. When he had first arrived at the wasters’ village he had been distraught, as he had thought that he had travelled back in time and was stranded. Much to his relief, after talking to the stud pen taskers, he realised that he had been wrong and that he was indeed in the future and that there was hope of going back in time, if he could get into a city and find the time travel department in a museum. The stud pen taskers had initially laughed at Indigo and told him that several people through history had tried to time-travel but they were just eccentrics.
Any ideas of travelling quietly or inconspicuously were now out of the question. Indigo Moselly was larger than life and his attire was, it had to be said, flamboyant. His hair was a mass of yellow ringlets, which were swept back off his face and came down to his shoulders. Over a purple shirt, he wore a waistcoat completely covered with silver sequins. If the sunlight caught the shiny discs, then they would light up and rainbows danced this way and that. Indigo’s trousers were created out of patchwork and apparently came from a market in Calais. He was surprised that nobody had been to a French market and made a great deal of effort to describe a market to them all – the colours, the smells and the extraordinary bustling atmosphere. His efforts were wasted, as he received not even a flicker of recognition. Kayleb, Rowan and Cornwall looked awkwardly at each other.
Rowan and Kayleb couldn’t help but like Indigo; he was so full of life and entertaining. This made the miles they were walking bearable. Between them, they had worked out that they were somewhere north of Paris. North
was a difficult direction to travel, the ground undulated and at times they had to climb steep banks or slip down almost vertical drops. Their journey was hard-going and extremely tiring. Indigo couldn’t understand where the roads had gone. He did find some tarmac but it had crumbled and was overgrown with weeds and he was amazed to discover that only the authorities were allowed to drive vehicles in London.
Rupert and Willow were difficult to manoeuvre and Cornwall had her work cut out trying to help the pigs. They were inclined to go off and hunt for truffles or they would flatly refuse to go the same way as everybody else. The pigs did not like Indigo and would charge at him if he got too close to Cornwall. Despite all this, they were actually brilliant at detecting the approach of wasters or beasts and would stop dead and would make a high-pitched squeal when they heard anything dangerous approach, giving everybody plenty of time to hide until the hazard had passed. It was agreed that travelling by daylight was safe enough with Rupert and Willow as lookouts.
Indigo was always fascinated when an ex-lab beast wandered across their path. Fortunately, most were harmless as they were farm animals and had been bred for maximum meat. The animals that couldn’t be used for London consumption, due to stringent regulations, were cast out into the wilderness as an act of kindness, in the hope that they would be hunted by the wasters. Kayleb, though, decided that this was probably a way of keeping the waster population down by entering genetically damaged food into their food chain.
Most of the beasts had either two heads or were half one animal and half another. Indigo’s favourite animals were the cows crossed with elephants. They had the heads of elephants and the bodies of cows and came in a variety of colours. The ‘cowphants’, as he dubbed them, were especially docile and Indigo thought that they might be able to ride them so that they could travel more quickly. Indigo tried to get on a cowphant’s back but it did not cooperate and Indigo ended up falling off. The cowphant charged off and disturbed a flock of grazing gulls. The gulls spiralled upwards crying out in distress.
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