3004

by Murray, Natasha

  Indigo looked with disbelief at Kayleb and Cornwall. Everyone had stopped by a tall standing stone to rest.

  ‘So you’re just going to leave him out there alone?’ Indigo said, pointing to the countryside around him. ‘No friends, no food, just let him walk into the hands of those evil wasters?’

  ‘Do we have much choice?’ asked Kayleb. ‘David needs us to help him get into London and if we stay with him then he can protect us. We don’t know where Rowan is. If we go looking for him, then we put ourselves in too much danger.’

  ‘We are meant to be his friends!’ said Indigo exasperated. ‘You don’t just desert a friend when they’re in trouble. That’s just so shallow!’

  Kayleb hadn’t really considered Rowan to be a friend. It was funny, really. All this time they had been together, he had considered Rowan as not much more than an inanimate object. But now he felt concerned about Rowan’s fate and realised that perhaps Rowan was a friend after all.

  ‘If we could help him, where would we look? Have you thought that he might not want to be found?’ suggested Kayleb, flicking a mosquito from his arm. ‘He has been dead set on going it alone for a while.’

  ‘If he is going back to London, then he is probably heading in the same direction as us. He does have a compass,’ added Cornwall.

  ‘We need a dog to track him and something that smells of Rowan. Has that rope you’ve been carrying been touched by Rowan?’ Cornwall asked Kayleb.

  Kayleb looked at the rope around him. ‘Yes, he did touch this rope. He climbed up it, but I did that too.’

  ‘That doesn’t matter. The dog will come to you first and then it will find another scent, Rowan’s scent, and then off we go!’ said Cornwall with an excited air.

  ‘Look, I don’t want to upset this grand plan. There is a bit of a problem. We don’t have a dog, do we?’ Indigo pointed out.

  ‘Oh,’ said Cornwall, ‘we need to get one then, don’t we? There are plenty of stray ones. I’ll know the right one when I see it.’

  Kayleb thought back to the times he had seen packs of dogs. The dogs, all mongrels, were usually in a pack of five or six and seemed vicious. The pigs had grunted when they approached and everyone had managed to climb trees until they had passed. The pigs did not like the dogs and would charge at them until they backed off. It seemed unlikely that Cornwall would be able to pick one out without getting her hand bitten off.

  ‘I don’t think a dog is a very good idea. We need to think of another way, something we can do now. What will the wasters do to Rowan if they get him?’

  Cornwall looked thoughtful. ‘I don’t think they will kill him. He is too valuable to them. He can be exchanged at a wasters’ village for scrap or food. The villages need taskers for the stud pens.’

  Indigo looked uneasy at the mention of stud pen. He shifted his weight and looked anxious.

  ‘What I don’t understand is why you need taskers to produce children when it is likely that the women bearing the children will probably have the AIDS virus anyway. Why do you want to increase the population when there is very little food out here or anything else for that matter?’ Indigo asked Cornwall.

  ‘I guess it’s because so many die of AIDS now. No matter who you are, you will always fear that your group will die out completely and you are compelled to do all you can to ensure it survives. It’s nature, I guess. A tasker is pure and does not carry AIDS, so there is a chance that his children will be AIDS-free,’ continued Cornwall.

  ‘So do you think if Rowan is caught he will be taken to a waster settlement for trade?’ Kayleb asked Cornwall.

  ‘Sure to be.’

  ‘Do you think he has been caught? He can run quite fast.’ Cornwall laughed. ‘He’s bound to get caught. He is always so wrapped up in himself you can bet he just walked straight into trouble,’ she said. ‘They won’t hurt him. They will take him to a settlement further north as the exchange rate is higher there. We will slip away tonight and find him. I’m sure Rowan isn’t that far away.’

  They gathered up their backpacks and untied their donkeys, as David had signalled that they should move on.

  The sun was beginning to set and Rowan felt cold and hungry. He had been thrown a portion of meat hewn from the carcass of the donkey. He couldn’t bring himself to eat it. The meat was charred on the outside and raw at the centre. Watery blood oozed from it. Every time he touched it, he had to push the meat away. He couldn’t remember being this miserable. He knew that he was going to die and he felt frustrated; he couldn’t think of a way to escape. There were only five wasters in this group and they had been sleeping for most part of the day but not all at once. There was always one keeping his beady eye on him. They had discovered that his hands were free and had tied him up again. It had been a long day and was going to be an even longer night; he wasn’t going to sleep that night. One of the wasters kept throwing stones at him, grinning wickedly and sending shivers down Rowan’s spine.

  Rowan was surprised when Volvo came over and untied his feet. He pulled him up and pushed him towards the track. The others followed. They had weapons with them and Rowan wondered if they were going to take him off to be executed. They walked for some time. It was dark when they reached the edge of a settlement. Clouds scuttled across the moon. Volvo pushed Rowan to the ground and the others lay on their bellies and watched the village silently. Rowan looked towards the village. He could just make out the silhouettes of wasters sitting around an enormous fire drinking and laughing. Smoke and tiny sparks like fire-flies flew up from the fire. Rowan shivered. He was freezing. The fire looked warm and inviting.

  Volvo rose and told the others to wait while he went to see Aerial. Rowan wasn’t sure what was going to happen to him but he sensed that it had something to do with Aerial. He might have a chance of escape here. The men in the village were quite drunk. If Volvo and his men joined in, they might be less vigilant and he might have a chance to run. Rowan found a sharp stone and held it tight in his hand. He was going to make it back to London alive, if it was the last thing he did.

  18

  Volvo had been away a long time and it was obvious from his countenance that things had not gone well. He had kicked Rowan in the side, causing him to cry out, and this outburst set the others cursing him for the noise he made. Aerial had not been in the village. Volvo had been told that he was due back in the village in the morning.

  ‘Aerial’s the only one worf talkin’ to,’ grumbled Volvo. ‘That scum down there won’t give me a fair price for the boy, so we’ll af to hang on to him till morning. Better hide though; that lot down there would have the shirt off yer back if you don’t watch out,’ he said, pointing towards the settlement. ‘Don’t fink we’re gonna feed yer, cos we’re not. You’re an ungrateful brat,’ he grunted at Rowan.

  Rowan felt euphoric for a moment. At least he wasn’t going to be killed but then he realised that he would become Aerial’s property and the thought of what he might be used for in the village worried him. The settlement was now shrouded in darkness. A bridge over the river had glowed vibrantly until the last moment of the day, its splendid arches sliding silently into the night.

  ‘Come on, you,’ Volvo said loudly, kicking Rowan in the side again. ‘We’ve gotta go to our hideout tonight. Come on, up you get, you lazy git!’

  Rowan got to his feet with difficulty. He was hungry and miserable. The ground was damp, his body felt stiff and his side ached where Volvo had kicked him. Rowan was ushered away to a roughly made shelter, hidden in the undergrowth. He walked slowly, as the waster that kept grinning at him had put rope shackles around his ankles again.

  There wasn’t much room inside the shack. There was a smell of mildew and the floor was covered with damp sacks filled with hay for beds. Rowan was told to go to the furthest corner and ordered to lie down. Volvo had grown impatient of Rowan walking so slowly and he dragged him to the bed; he then lay down on the bed next to Rowan’s. Three others lay down too and one sat watch at the entrance. Rowan
felt so helpless. If he was going to get away he would have to walk over everyone and then get by the man on watch, too. It was going to be tricky and probably impossible. He flung his head back with a loud sigh of impatience.

  ‘Shut up, you little runt,’ yelled Volvo, smacking him around the face.

  Rowan clenched his teeth together. He wasn’t going to cry and give Volvo any satisfaction.

  The night pushed on relentlessly and Rowan lay there listening to the others talking. A bottle of strong smelling liquid was passed around and was accepted by each member eagerly. The smell of the drink reminded Rowan of Christmas. Just the word Christmas brought a lump to his throat. This was one of the things he missed about being home. He thought about the last Christmas and how he had enjoyed it when he was small. Sarah and Dale, his mentors, always tried to make Christmas special and managed to decorate the house so well. Decorations were all homemade and were used to decorate a Christmas tree, which was a few pine tree branches in a jar. So much now was almost impossible to buy, as trade between other countries had stopped since the self-sufficiency laws had been introduced. Chocolate was like gold dust and anything made of plastic was unheard of. The thing that was most pleasant about Christmas was being at home with Byron, Dale and Sarah. Tears rolled down Rowan’s face. He had to get away. He would not let these disgusting people treat him like an animal any longer.

  Kayleb had been very reluctant to head off into the darkness with Indigo and Cornwall. The coming of night had made the task of finding Rowan seem all the more difficult, and crossing the river had been treacherous. Cornwall was convinced that if they followed the river they would come to a good-sized settlement and this is where a waster would bring a tasker to trade him.

  The moon was high in the sky and shone brightly. The clouds had cleared away, so they were able to see where they were going.

  ‘I know we’re doing the right thing,’ Cornwall whispered to Kayleb as they walked along. ‘I just know Rowan needs our help.’

  ‘I know you have an unhealthy fascination with him, I know that much,’ snapped Kayleb, hitting the grass angrily with a long stick that he had picked up earlier.

  ‘Even if we don’t find him,’ said Indigo merrily, ‘at least we’ll have done our best.’

  Kayleb breathed in the cold night air; he was irritated by Indigo’s mirth. Before when they had travelled together Kayleb had been scared but had been comforted by the feeling that home was just over the next hill, or he dreamed that they would be woken one morning and transferred back to London, as they had endured enough. The harsh reality now sat heavily on Kayleb’s shoulders. He was days away from the Channel and had to somehow get across it in one piece and then avoid the vicious criminals on the Isle of Wight. He wished now that he didn’t know all the facts; that way, the fear he felt inside would not be so intense.

  An hour passed and the silence was only occasionally broken by the eerie cry of a moorhen disturbed by their passing.

  Indigo, who was leading them, stopped and turned to Cornwall and Kayleb. ‘Can you smell it?’ he asked.

  ‘Smell what?’ asked Cornwall.

  ‘Smoke, a bonfire,’ replied Indigo. ‘I think we’re getting close.’ Indigo continued more eagerly but Cornwall caught his arm to slow him.

  ‘We must go more carefully,’ she whispered. ‘Remember the wasters have dogs. Luckily we are downwind and the smoke should cover our scent.’

  ‘So what are we going to do when we reach the village?’ asked Kayleb.

  ‘We are all wearing white,’ said Indigo. We are so conspicuous,’ continued Indigo, coming to a standstill.

  ‘I will slip into the village in the morning. I know their ways,’ said Cornwall confidently. ‘I know what to look for. I know what a stud pen looks like, don’t I?’

  Kayleb looked doubtfully at Cornwall. Her clothes were new and her skin was too clean.

  Cornwall patted her bag. ‘I have my old clothes here in my backpack. I couldn’t bear to leave them; they’re all I have. I’ll change into these and then when I go into the village, I’ll blend in.’

  Kayleb did not want any harm to come to Cornwall. He felt guilty that he was going to let her go into the village alone and a knot in his stomach tightened as he thought of what might happen to her.

  It took them longer than they thought to reach the edge of the settlement and the night was starting to wane. They lay in the tall grass near the river and watched the sunrise. They were surprised to see, next to the wasters’ settlement, an ancient city. The grey stone buildings stood tall, the spire on the cathedral cut into the pink sky and an arched bridge sprang from the river. The city itself was strangely deserted.

  Squalid dwellings spread along the edges of the city like a fungus and with the arrival of the morning the inhabitants had begun to stir. Ragged men and woman emerged from their shacks and began getting ready for the day.

  ‘I think the town is protected with a shield,’ suggested Indigo.

  ‘Like Ledbetter’s castle. It’s just as well really. If these wasters got into the city, they’d probably destroy it. I bet this village is rife with vermin and disease with all that rubbish lying around.’

  Cornwall looked indignantly towards Indigo. ‘Not all the wasters are as rough and uncivilised as these are. It is hard living without running water; they do the best they can.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Indigo. ‘I wasn’t thinking.’

  ‘No, you’re right,’ continued Cornwall. ‘These shanty towns are filthy. They disgust me.’

  It was decided that they would lie low and watch for a while until everyone was up and maybe then they might spot Rowan. The sun was warm and they felt sleep calling. It was too strong to resist and soon all three were fast asleep.

  Kayleb was the first to wake up. The sun was now really hot and the fierce rays beat down on his face. He touched his cheek and then his nose; they felt sore. Anxiously he looked down at the village to see if he could see Rowan. He was quite surprised to see how many people were out and about. It would be quite easy to look around without being noticed. A large burly man in a fur waistcoat was making his way across the village centre and Kayleb recognised him immediately. Kayleb woke the others and pointed to the man striding along.

  ‘Look, I’ve seen him.’

  ‘Who, Rowan?’ asked Cornwall with excitement.

  ‘No, not Rowan, Volvo! Look he’s stopped now and is standing by that well talking to the man in the blue coat.’

  Cornwall scanned the village, her heart beating loudly. She followed Kayleb’s gaze and saw Volvo. She wasn’t pleased to see him and looked apprehensive.

  ‘It’s going to be much harder to find Rowan now that Volvo is here. He is a wiry old fox and it will be difficult to dodge him,’ Cornwall said miserably.

  ‘So let me go! I’ll wear your clothes. He doesn’t know me. I will slip by Volvo easily,’ said Kayleb confidently.

  ‘So you are willing to wear girl’s clothes to help save Rowan? You are a good friend. It might just work,’ said Indigo, smiling.

  As Kayleb changed, Cornwall described to him what a stud pen would look like; the taskers were usually kept in a fortified shelter with a guard at the door. A group of girls took food twice a day to the hut and Cornwall’s plan was for Kayleb to join the girls as they went into the pen and see if he could spot Rowan among the hungry taskers. They would think of a plan to actually rescue Rowan from the stud pen later.

  Cornwall’s clothes did not fit Kayleb that well but the disguise was good enough, and with a bit of mud rubbed into his face and arms and his hair, which had grown quite long, it was hard to tell if Kayleb was male or female.

  19

  Kayleb approached the village cautiously. As he got nearer to the wasters he became self-conscious about the way he was walking. He wasn’t sure how a girl walked; he altered his gait several times but in the end gave up and decided the way he walked would have to do.

  The village centre seemed quite deserted now.
The fire was still smouldering, and charred bones were scattered amongst the ashes. He hoped that they were animal remains and that this village did not have cannibalistic tendencies. A shiver ran down Kayleb’s spine. He remembered the bones he had found at the bottom of the well; he did not want to get eaten. He looked down and tried not to look conspicuous. Kayleb’s attention was drawn to a small group of people gathered around some baskets; they seemed to be haggling over some fruit and vegetables. There wasn’t much choice and the fruit looked tired and shrivelled.

  Kayleb decided that he would slip into the lanes and not stand staring. He was just about to go when a small child of about three years old appeared in front of him. She was crying. Kayleb hesitated. The girl was looking at him to help her. Kayleb looked around for assistance. A large woman wearing a torn and tattered green velvet dress came towards the child with her arms out. She picked her up and tried to comfort her. Kayleb watched. He was surprised how friendly everyone was to each other, despite their humble conditions. The little girl continued to cry but her sobs began to subside as the woman comforted her.

  ‘She’s just lost her mum, this one,’ the woman said, smiling at Kayleb.

  ‘I’ll look after you. No need to cry! It’s a shame. I was only talking to her mum yesterday and now she’s dead,’ she continued.

  Kayleb was about to speak. He wanted to know why the girl’s mother had died and then he remembered that he was in disguise and he backed away.

  He remembered Helen hugging him when he was small, when Conrad had been at work, as he wouldn’t have approved, and he felt suddenly homesick. He just hoped and prayed that she would be there when he finally got to London. With a sense of urgency, he continued to search for Rowan.