I still didn’t think I’d do it as we walked down to the bothy beach the following afternoon. It was sunny, the tide was right out and I had a tennis ball in my pocket. We could have a game after the meeting. We could have a brilliant time and then go home for tea, all talking to each other.
Duncan and the others were sitting on the grass outside the bothy. Milo did his solemn duty of opening the door for everyone, but Duncan told me to wait outside and then he shut the door on me himself. I just got a glimpse of the candles on the floor, the fish-box seats and the driftwood table.
I thought he was making a point, and in a few minutes he would send his Page to open the door and let me in. But he didn’t, and I was left sitting there on my own, wondering what they could possibly be doing inside that was taking so long.
I couldn’t go down the beach and skip stones in case they called me in, but I didn’t want to sit around outside not doing anything for ages either. I was actually feeling quite tetchy by the time Milo opened the door.
He closed the door again behind me, shutting the darkness in.
‘Don’t sit down,’ Duncan said.
I stood behind my fish-box seat and they all looked up at me, their faces yellow in the candlelight.
‘Pretender, do you accept the rules of the Binding and do you accept me as your Lawmaker? Are you ready to give up the name Pretender and become the Joker again?’
I don’t know! I need time! Don’t push me!
Tressa gave me her best for-goodness-sake-get-on-with-it-and-stop-messing-around look. Milo and Hamish, on either side of Duncan, were trying to stare me down like him. Elspeth didn’t meet my eye. She looked so small and sad.
‘No.’
There was a stunned silence. ‘Don’t cross him,’ Fin had said. Elspeth’s granny said all his colours were dark. I thought, What have I done?
Duncan had a face like thunder, and when he spoke his voice came out much louder than usual.
‘You will go away from here and not return. In the next few days, I will offer you a challenge, as we agreed. If you win, I will keep my word and close the Binding—but if you lose, the Binding will continue, and therefore you must agree to protect it in the meantime by honouring the rule of secrecy.’
He nodded to Milo, who jumped up and opened the door. As I walked out, I suddenly realised that whatever happened, I would never go back there again. Even if the Binding continued, I was excluded forever.
One little word, that was all I had said, and now it was over.
Chapter 5
Running in the mist
Obviously, Tressa really did stop talking to me after that. She was furious. But as luck would have it, we had a new family project to take our minds off things. We were learning to dance.
Every summer, there was a ceilidh in the hall which was the big event of the year. Everyone went, young and old, and people who had once lived on Morna came back to visit for the ceilidh weekend. Jean from next door went if she was on the island, along with several other bird-watchers from England and the Scottish mainland who had houses there. All the hotel guests were invited too.
Mum said that if we were going to the ceilidh we had to at least know some of the dances, and she could teach us one or two such as the Gay Gordons that she’d learnt a thousand years ago when she was at school. We found some Scottish dance music on the laptop, so we were set.
By the evening of the ceilidh we knew three dances, but we soon discovered that dancing in a hall full of people who know what they’re doing is nothing like pushing back the furniture and plodding through the steps at home.
They stamped and marched, leapt and skipped; they spun each other round so fast that if you weren’t careful you got trampled on, even in the dances you could more or less keep up in. When it came to the reels, which none of us knew how to do at all, we got swept up and carried along by smiling strangers, steering us round and shouting instructions above the noise of the fiddles and the squeezebox.
It was hot and sweaty in the crowded little hall and no-one sat out except three really old ladies and a baby asleep in its carry-cot. There was just time between dances to grab a glass of lemonade from the drinks table near the door if you were thirsty, and that’s what I was doing when Duncan came up beside me and put a scrap of paper in my hand.
‘Bothy, 9 o’clock,’ I read, before pushing it down into my pocket.
I thought it would be some kind of meeting and everyone would all know. They’d probably arranged it the last time they were at the bothy. So I planned to wait until the others left the ceilidh and follow them down. But it got nearer and nearer to nine o’clock, and they all still seemed to be there.
Except, I suddenly noticed, Duncan. He must have slipped out on his own when no-one was looking. Tressa was busy trying to explain about stripping the willow to Milo by telling him it was like cars weaving in and out on the motorway, but he still wasn’t getting it. Hamish was dancing with one of his aunties and Elspeth was helping Meggie with her shoelaces.
None of them were meeting each other’s eyes or looking out for a chance to slip away, and none of them were watching for me leaving. I realised it wasn’t going to be a meeting of the Binding at nine o’clock—it was just Duncan and me.
Of all the times he could have chosen, why now? I was enjoying the ceilidh and I didn’t want to miss any of it. Oh, I get it, I thought. That’s why it has to be now.
I thought, I’m not going. But then, if I didn’t, I might not have another chance. Duncan’s challenge could be a one-time only offer. So I went to the drinks table and pretended I was looking for a clean glass. From there to the door was only a few steps, and nobody noticed me leave.
It was darker than it should have been at that time in the evening because a thick mist had come in during the afternoon, completely blocking out the sky. No sunset, no moonrise, no stars, just this soft eerie fog soaking up the lights from the hall like a sponge. Outside that halo of yellow light, I couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of me, so it was lucky I knew the way to the bothy like the back of my hand.
I made my way up the track, with sometimes a house suddenly looming up, or a barn or a garden wall. I had to keep telling myself that, as Mum and Matt had said, there wasn’t any danger on a small island like this; it was safe to be out and about on your own.
I didn’t want to leave the track but I forced myself, following the fence down across the field to the shore, stumbling over dips and tussocks. By the time I got to the sea it was too late to turn back, and I picked my way along the coast to the bothy beach. So long as I stuck to the track, the fence, the shoreline, at least I couldn’t get lost.
The fog was rolling and swirling across the sand. I couldn’t see the water but I could hear the soft lapping of the waves. I was expecting to see flickering firelight or candlelight inside the bothy when I got close enough, but the windows were completely dark.
I was standing there wondering what to do next when a voice behind me said, ‘You’re late.’
He was standing further up the beach, a dark featureless figure in the fog, like a ghost. I stayed rooted to the spot, and he came crunching across the stones towards me.
‘Are you ready for the challenge?’
Now he was close by, I could see his face and that hard bright shine in his eyes that he always got when he was excited about something. I nodded in a way that I hoped looked calm and confident. I didn’t say anything because I was sure my voice would give me away. Besides, my teeth seemed to be locked together, like when you’re so cold you’re past the chattering stage.
I was cold, too. The mist had soaked my hair, slicking it down onto my head and falling in big droplets onto the neck and shoulders of my sweatshirt. I wanted to say, ‘Let’s forget about all this and go back to the dance.’
‘The challenge is a race,’ Duncan said, ‘from here to the next beach, along the bottom of the cliffs.’
A race? Suddenly, things were looking up. When you’re a footba
ller, you do a lot of training. Speed, stamina and agility, that’s the name of the game. Duncan hardly even knew how to play football and he’d definitely never done any training. He was stocky to the point of overweight, and he didn’t know how fit I was. He had chosen the wrong challenge. He had made a mistake!
‘All right,’ I said. ‘Just to be clear, it’s the beach with all the driftwood?’
He nodded. We’d explored all the way along this piece of coast so I knew exactly what it was like, mostly low grassy banks above a sloping platform of rock, with little pebbly inlets and gullies. As I remembered it, the next beach wasn’t very far.
‘Ready? Go!’
The rocks were wet and slippery, and we couldn’t see far in front of us in the mist. Down onto the first patch of pebbles we went, with me keeping slightly ahead, easily holding the lead. Carefully now, on the smooth wet rock, then more pebbles, and then rock again, with the sea slapping against the hard rock and swooshing amongst the pebbles, invisible in the mist.
I could hear him puffing and panting behind me, then a sudden gasp as he slipped and fell down. I turned to see if he was hurt, but he got straight up again and I thought, No, you’re not catching me up! I picked up my speed.
Rounding the headland, I was expecting to see the beach, but it was just more rocks and stones. It must be round the next one, I thought, not stopping, keeping it steady.
I couldn’t hear Duncan any more; he must be miles behind. This was so easy! Towards the next headland the rocky ledge was narrower and I could see the water lapping along the edge, higher than I had expected it to be. The tide must be coming in.
Instead of the beach, I came down onto another patch of pebbles, but I wasn’t tired. I pushed on. It was like when you go up a hill and you keep thinking you’re coming to the top, and when you get there, you see that the hill carries on.
Again and again, I thought I was going to see the beach round the next corner, only to find another stretch of rocks and stones. But then, all of a sudden, I was there! I ran down onto the sand, yelling in triumph.
This beach was steeper than the bothy beach, and narrower. It made a V shape into the cliffs, which were higher and steeper. Heaps of driftwood were piled up along the top of the beach at the foot of the cliffs.
I waited, listening hard. I couldn’t hear Duncan clambering over the rocks or trying to catch his breath, although the fog was full of sounds. I heard the waves slapping and sighing in and out on the sand, and the gulls further out, screaming to each other over the sea.
I sat on a railway sleeper that had been washed up long ago and was half-buried in sand. Before long, the waves were nearly up to my feet and I had to move.
Where was he?
I walked back towards the end of the beach, having to stay near the bottom of the cliff now because the tide was so far in. I peered into the mist, but I didn’t see Duncan. What I saw was the sea, washing over the rocks I had run over just a short time before.
I felt sick. I felt stupid too. There was a reason why the driftwood on this beach had never been collected by the islanders, and that was because the beach was difficult to get to. The cliffs were higher and there was no path down, and the only other way onto the beach was along the rocky shore, which was cut off at the high tide.
Where was Duncan?
A wave broke over my feet and I had to retreat back up to the very top of the beach. I looked up into the V of the cliffs, and there he was, looking down.
‘Say I’m the leader,’ he shouted. ‘Say you accept the laws of the Binding!’
Not a single soul knew where we were.
‘Say it!’ he shouted again.
Chapter 6
A really big secret
Duncan was holding something in his hand, shaking it at me. It was a coil of rope.
‘Say I’m the leader!’
The cliffs were steep but not sheer. They weren’t like a slab of solid stone, but rocky and rubbly, with patches of grass and earth. They were no higher than the climbing wall in the Mill Street gym and I might have been able to climb up if the weather had been dry, but the mist had made everything slippery.
‘Be confident.’ That’s what Dad had said the first time we went to the gym. ‘But if you can’t be confident, don’t climb.’
‘Throw down the rope!’ I yelled, suddenly finding my voice. ‘Stop being an idiot!’
‘I can wait,’ he said. ‘Shame you can’t.’
The sea was lifting the driftwood up from the sand and swilling it around. If it got closer to where I was standing, I was afraid a big wave might fling it at my legs and knock me over.
I reached up, testing for firm footholds and handholds but the first one I tried fell away.
‘I could leave you here!’ shouted Duncan.
There had to be a way. I walked along the bottom of the cliff as far as I could in both directions, while Duncan shouted down at me about how I wouldn’t win and I was nothing but a stupid outsider who didn’t understand anything.
‘If you think I wouldn’t leave you down there, think again!’
I made a few more attempts at climbing the cliff, but each time, either my foot slipped or the surface gave way, sending down a shower of rocks and earth. Even if I managed to get some of the way, the risk of falling was too great.
Then I heard something, very faintly, in the distance. It was Tressa’s voice, calling our names. Hamish joined in, then Elspeth, and then they all called our names together. Duncan and me both stood stock still, him at the top of the cliff and me on the beach below, listening. Minute by minute, they seemed to be getting closer.
I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted back. ‘Tressa! Elspeth! Hamish! Over here!’ I kept shouting, so they could hear where we were, even though they couldn’t see anything in the fog.
Duncan suddenly disappeared and then came back again. He threw the end of the rope down over the cliff and it dangled close to where I was standing.
‘It’s OK,’ he shouted. ‘I’ve tied it to a fence-post. It’ll hold your weight. Don’t worry!’ His voice sounded completely different, not mocking and threatening any more, but like a rescuing hero. It was slightly louder too, as if he was playing to an audience, and straight away, the audience shouted back.
‘Duncan! Jack!’
Elspeth, Tressa and Hamish sounded very close now. ‘Where are you?’
I got a grip on the rope and gave it a tug. It felt firm, but I didn’t trust Duncan. I wanted to wait until the others were there before I tried to climb up. I kept shouting their names.
‘It’s all right—I’ve tied it!’ Duncan yelled down at me. ‘What are you waiting for?’
Then I saw what I was waiting for. Tressa’s face peering down at me through the fog, with Elspeth and Hamish on either side.
‘How did you get down there?’ Tressa cried.
Before I could answer, Hamish yelled, ‘Watch out!’
A big wave was rolling towards me, covered in floating driftwood. I grabbed the rope and got my feet up off the sand just in time. Then hand over hand, using the rope to take my weight, I felt for toe-holds with my feet and worked my way slowly up, until I got near enough for Hamish and Duncan to reach down and haul me over the edge onto the soaking grass.
‘How could you be so stupid?’ Tressa said. ‘That was really dangerous.’
I was still on all fours, trying to catch my breath.
‘He tricked me,’ I managed to say, between gasps.
They all looked at Duncan.
‘It’s not my fault if he’s stupid,’ he said.
I struggled to my feet. ‘He said it was the challenge. It was supposed to be a race, but it was a trap.’
Hamish looked confused. He said to Duncan, ‘He could have drowned.’
‘I brought the rope, didn’t I?’ Duncan snapped back.
The fog was pouring up over the cliff on an updraft of air, swirling around us, drenching our hair and eyelashes, covering our clothes with tiny droplets o
f water. Hamish took a step away from Duncan, as if he wanted to get a better look at him, or as if he was seeing him for the first time.
Elspeth said, ‘This is what happened between you and Fin! Isn’t it?’
Duncan had his back to the cliff, with the four of us penning him in. He looked angry and mean, like a rat in a trap.
‘Answer me!’ Elspeth said, in a voice that wasn’t a whisper any more, but strong and clear above the wind.
‘Your precious Fin was stupid too.’ He spat the words at Elspeth but she didn’t flinch.
‘You drove him away,’ she said. ‘You made him feel glad he was leaving.’
Duncan turned to Hamish to back him up. ‘Fin was spoiling the Binding, right? He had to be stopped.’
But Hamish shook his head. ‘You don’t get it, do you? Someone could have got killed.’
‘My brother could have got killed!’ yelled Tressa, suddenly making a lunge for Duncan. I grabbed her and pulled her towards me, scared they might both go over the cliff. We could hear the sea crashing against the rocks below, though we couldn’t see it in the mist.
Duncan took his chance. He dived through the gap where Tressa had been, and ran off into the darkness. Nobody moved to go after him.
My legs went weak and I had to sit down, even though the grass was soaking wet.
‘How did you know where we were?’ I asked.
Crouching down beside me, Tressa said she’d noticed that I wasn’t at the dance when she got fed up with Milo trampling on her feet and started looking for someone to take over. She told Elspeth and Hamish, and they realised that none of them had seen Duncan for a while either.
‘We knew it must be the challenge, so we went down to the bothy,’ said Elspeth. ‘You weren’t there, but as we started coming back, Tressa said she heard something, so we stopped to listen.’
The Binding Page 11