The Cloven Land Trilogy

by Simon Kewin

  A sickening series of collisions followed as cars, coaches and lorries smashed into the blockage. The destruction radiated down the road with alarming speed as more vehicles piled in from behind.

  “No!” was all she could say. “Oh no, no, no!”

  Too busy watching the unfolding catastrophe, they didn't pay attention to the riders. Something banged against the railing near Danny's hand. He glanced at it absent-mindedly, not realising what was happening.

  “They're shooting at us!” she shouted. “Come on, we have to go back!”

  Down on the hard shoulder, ignoring the destruction they'd caused, the three riders calmly stopped their bikes and climbed up the motorway verge to avoid the wreckage and colliding cars. They stood with guns in hand, taking careful aim at her and Danny. Trying to duck below the level of the railing, she sprinted off the bridge, Danny close behind her. She heard more shots ping through the air behind her. They stopped when they reached the safety of the houses, out of sight of the motorway. The metallic crump of further collisions filled the air, along with the wail of alarms.

  “They tried to kill us,” said Danny, amazement rather than shock in his voice.

  “They were only aiming at you,” said Cait.

  “Huh?”

  “Didn't you notice? They fired at you, not me. It was the same in the Library; that thing wouldn't attack me, either. Why not? What's going on?”

  “You'd prefer it if they did shoot at you?”

  “No, but … look, Danny, I think you should go home. Go and see if your parents are OK.”

  “What?”

  “This is all insane; it's way too dangerous. Go home and I'll take the book. I can find the factory from here. I could, I don't know, just call a taxi or something.”

  “No way. You think they've got something pleasant lined up for you if they catch you? It's probably something, I don't know, worse than being killed.”

  “Still, I should do this,” she said. “It's sweet of you to help but I don't want you to get hurt because of me.”

  Danny shook his head and actually grinned. “It's either this or back to my homework. There's no contest.”

  “I'm serious Danny!”

  “So am I! I'm not going to leave you here with armed lunatics chasing you about on motorbikes.”

  “You don't have to be a hero to impress me, Danny. This isn't some movie. I'd understand.”

  “I'm not leaving, Cait. Now stop trying to get rid of me and let's go. They know where we are and they'll be coming to find us.”

  It was a huge relief. The thought of doing this on her own filled her with dread. At the same time, she felt a burden of responsibility for Danny. If anything happened to him because of this …

  “OK,” she said. “Are there any other bridges we could use?”

  “Only where the roads cross. But they're a long way round and they're bound to be watched.”

  “So, maybe we could hitch a ride. Get away from here and try from a different direction.”

  “Maybe.”

  “We should move anyway. Even if we don't know where we're going, we shouldn't stay here.”

  “OK.”

  They set off into the housing estate that bordered the motorway behind high wooden fences. Without needing to discuss it, they moved in the direction that led from the crash scene. A small residential road ran parallel to the carriageway for a distance before curving away. When it did so, Danny cut down a path between two more houses onto an open area of grass between the estate and the motorway. The grass sloped into a valley here, too steep for houses. The carriageway went along an embankment, its walls running high above the little valley. Deepening shadows made it hard to see anything at the bottom of the slope.

  “I used to cycle around here,” said Danny. “There's a tunnel under the motorway … Hey! Of course!”

  “A tunnel?”

  “Yeah! There was this old footpath to the woods and they had to build a tunnel for it when they built the motorway. It's not too far; we could be there in five minutes.”

  “It sounds dangerous. If we get trapped down there we've had it. No one will hear us.”

  “True, but it's dark and quiet. If they don't know about it we could be through and away while they're still looking for us over here.”

  She hesitated, trying to think of a better plan, trying to think clearly. The most important thing was to keep moving.

  “OK, let's go. I guess.”

  They broke into a half-run, loping down the slope. She heard the wails of emergency vehicles, growing louder.

  The marshy ground at the bottom slowed their progress. They leapt between tussocks of grass in an attempt to avoid muddy pools but, inevitably, both soon had wet feet. The icy water felt unpleasant as it squelched around in her shoes. Occasionally they had to climb over fences or battle through clumps of tough, whippy bushes that slapped her more than once. A particularly vicious one caught her across the face, cutting her cheek. Danny kept assuring her they were nearly there. Long after five minutes was up, they still hadn't reached the tunnel.

  “Perhaps they sealed it up?” she said.

  “Nah. It's here somewhere.”

  They almost missed it, hidden behind a large, ragged bush that grew out of the concrete foundations of the embankment. Only a large, evil-looking puddle at the entranceway revealed it to Danny.

  “It's always like this,” he said. “We're not far from the Mersey.”

  “I never liked these trainers much anyway.”

  The puddle was far too wide to jump. They edged around it, against the embankment wall, and even then they were paddling in shallow, cold water. The traffic on the motorway rumbled through her shoulders as she worked her way along.

  They soon reached the entrance to the tunnel. It had straight sides and a rounded roof, like a miniature railway tunnel, just high enough for them to walk through without stooping. From the dim illumination of distant streetlights the floor seemed to be more mud, in which feet and bicycle tyres had worn a deep groove. Most of the path was lost in darkness but an arch-shaped patch of grey shone dimly at the other end. It seemed farther away than it should be. No one waited in the darkness for them, it seemed. She glanced up the cliff of the motorway embankment. Nobody in sight. If they were lucky, they could get through and be away without the riders knowing.

  “Come on,” she said, rubbing her stinging cheek. “It gets cold as soon as you stop moving.”

  It was black inside the tunnel. She held out her arms like a movie zombie to stop herself from walking into anything. The sound of the traffic came to them as muffled booms through the stone, like great drums being struck. Traffic still moved down one carriageway at least. They continued to hear emergency vehicles racing to the crash. How many people had been hurt? Killed? The whole thing was terrible, just terrible.

  They'd nearly reached the far end of the tunnel when a figure appeared, silhouetted in the archway. It stood, unmoving, waiting for them. She stopped and Danny, walking behind her, put his hand on her shoulder.

  She glanced the way they'd come. No one there at least. She was about to speak, suggest they run back, when the figure lit a torch, shining it in their eyes. The person laughed and strode toward them.

  “Two little children out past their bedtimes. Shouldn't be down here, should you? Could be dangerous. All sorts of nutters around.”

  It didn't sound like the man from the Library. Danny's grip tightened on her shoulder. She was about to speak when he pushed past her, screamed and charged at the figure, blindly into the light. What the hell was he doing? Cait lunged after him, also shouting. She saw the glint of a knife, slashing from side to side in the beam of the torch. Then a scream as Danny crashed into the man, sending them both reeling to the ground. The torch fell also, to illuminate a small patch of grey stone wall while the two grunted and fought in the shadows. Danny screamed again, in pain this time.

  Cait snatched up the torch and shone it on the scene. Danny and the man, a
tall lad dressed in scruffy denim, grappled on the ground. Danny tried to grab the lad's knife, but blood on his hand from a cut made his grip slippery. She watched as Danny let go and the knife flew toward his chest.

  “No!” she called. Anger rose in her again. And something else, too. A sense of power within her. Clear, calm knowledge of what she should do.

  She thrust out her hands as if to knock someone over. Without touching him, she sent the man flying through the air, backward and head-first down the tunnel like a bullet from the barrel of a gun. He landed with a muffled thud just outside the entrance.

  The sharp pain jarring through her shoulders made her gasp. She felt like something heavy had struck her. She ignored it and ran to Danny, who was lying on his back. She scrabbled up the torch and shone it over him, terrified of seeing a wound, a patch of blood. But there was nothing.

  “I'm fine, don't worry. I just cut my hand.”

  “What the hell did you think you were doing?” She was angry at him, her voice booming in the enclosed space.

  “Seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  “It was incredibly stupid. I thought he'd stabbed you!”

  “He nearly did.” Danny held up the book, cradled close to his chest. “He hit this instead. How about that, this thing saved my life.”

  She helped him to his feet, hoisting him up by the shoulder. “Yeah, everyone should carry around a book of evil magic in case they get jumped.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “We'd better go see.”

  They made their way out of the tunnel. In the grey half-light their attacker lay unmoving. He looked younger now, sixteen maybe. His shaved head and his height had made him look more fearsome. Cait kneeled down to study him, afraid of what she'd done. It looked like he'd struck the back of his head on some stones strewn on the ground. She couldn't see any blood and he breathed peacefully, like he'd just lain down to sleep.

  “What did you do?” asked Danny. “I didn't know you had secret ninja powers.”

  “Oh, you know. We're not supposed to let on.”

  “Seriously.”

  “Seriously, I don't know what I did, do I? It felt like the right thing to do. So I did it.”

  “Cool.”

  “I might have hurt him, Danny!”

  “This guy who just attacked us with a knife.”

  “Even so.” She stood, trying to decide what to do. Shouldn't they phone an ambulance or something? But if they did they'd be giving themselves away.

  “It's strange,” she said. “It made my shoulder hurt even though I didn't touch him.”

  “Is it OK now?”

  “Fine. What about you? Your hand?”

  “It stings a bit. It'll stop bleeding soon.”

  Cait held out a paper handkerchief. It was the best she could do. “Wrap this around it.”

  She looked back down at their attacker. He didn't look like one of them. He was just some idiot. She switched off the torch and left it next to his hand.

  “We might need that,” said Danny.

  She shrugged, then winced at the sharp jolt of pain in her shoulder. “We'll manage. Come on, let's get away from here.”

  They stood in a small open space surrounded by a wood that stretched all along this side of the embankment. An unnatural orange light from the road above illuminated the scene, leeching it of all colour. It was difficult to judge how big the wood was. Underneath the canopy of leaves, darkness gathered.

  Five different paths led from the tunnel. One in each direction along the embankment and three through the trees.

  “Any idea which way?” asked Cait.

  “Not really.” Danny looked about for a moment, then pointed at the middle path. “I guess that one's more or less the right direction.”

  In the darkness it became tricky to follow the path as it twisted and turned through the trees. Several times they stumbled into patches of brambles or nettles. Cait's ankles were soon badly scratched and stung.

  “If only we had, I don't know, a torch of some sort,” muttered Danny, picking himself up after tripping over a tree-root.

  She ignored him and pressed on. It was only the sound of the vehicles on the motorway which told her which way to walk. Soon even that was gone and it became impossible to tell if they were walking in a straight line or round in circles.

  Their progress slowed as they took care not to lose the path. After a few minutes of silence, she stopped. “Are we lost?”

  “These woods aren't that big.”

  “I'll take that as a yes.”

  The rattle of a helicopter came to them, hovering somewhere above the pile-up. It didn't sound very far, the noise becoming louder and quieter as the machine circled. Its searchlights flashed through the branches, then moved on.

  “At least they won't be able to see us from up there,” said Cait.

  “Don't be so sure. They have infrared don't they? They could probably spot us.”

  “Let's keep going.”

  She was about to set off when she glimpsed another light, low behind them. It twinkled through the trees, impossible to tell how far away. A car on a road somewhere? Someone with a torch following them?

  The light passed in front of a tree, a clear flash of silver bark. Whatever it might be, it was in the woods and coming closer.

  “Danny.” She put her hand on his shoulder to direct him. “Look.”

  She readied herself to fight as the light crept nearer. The odd thing was she couldn't hear footsteps, had no sense of anyone else in the woods with them. The smudge of silvery light, she saw now, was very close. It must be small, an insect or something. It wandered right up to them, bobbing as if carried by an invisible hand. It was small and round yet it flickered like a candle flame. It stopped briefly when it reached them, taking a look at them, then carried on through the trees.

  “What is it?” whispered Danny.

  As much as anything, it was the fact that it was so small and weak, such a feeble flame compared to the powerful lights of the motorcycles and the helicopter, that persuaded her.

  “I think it's trying to guide us,” said Cait. “I think we should follow it.”

  “This is another of your new superpowers is it? The ability to tell if strange, moving lights are friendly or not?”

  “It's just obvious. If the riders knew where we were they wouldn't mess around with a light would they? They'd just come and get us. This must be someone trying to help us.”

  “Or some sort of elaborate trap.”

  “Maybe. But I think we should take the risk. We need all the help we can get.” She looked at directly at him, although she couldn't see his face. “Are you coming?”

  He sighed in an exaggerated way. “Yes. I'm coming.”

  The light moved at a quick walking pace. They had to hurry to stay near as it disappeared behind the boughs of trees ahead.

  It soon led them out of the woods. They stood at the edge of an empty stretch of land, the ground ahead a great expanse of darkness. Some way off, civilisation started again, street-lights and houses twinkling in the twilight. Tower-blocks and factories, too, all lit up so they resembled patchworks of square lights rather than anything solid.

  The werelight bobbed on without stopping, cutting across the waste ground, heading for the buildings.

  “That's about the way we want to go,” conceded Danny. “But it still could be a trap.”

  “It would have led us back through the woods to the motorway,” said Cait.

  “Ah, but we wouldn't have followed it then. Perhaps it's clever.”

  “I'm sure it's trying to help us.”

  “OK. But take it slowly. Let's make sure we're not so busy following the light that we walk straight into the Mersey.”

  The light turned abruptly ahead of them. They followed and found they were being led along the path beside the river. It wasn't like the canal; this water flowed strongly. It was too dark to see, but Cait heard it chopping and chortling close at h
and. It sucked all the remaining warmth out of her. She shivered and clutched the book like a hot-water bottle as she strode along.

  Fatigue and fear weighed her down. Her face stung and her shoulder throbbed. Her soaked trainers had warmed up a little, but they still felt horrible to walk in. She could feel the blisters forming. She was heading to the factory where her dad had died, pursued by crazy people with guns and worse. And there was nothing she could do but carry on. How had this all happened? She had gone to see her gran at the library, everything normal, and then suddenly all this. The whole thing was insane.

  They came to a footbridge and, still led by the will o' the wisp, crossed over the river. Their footsteps clumped loudly on the bridge's wooden slats. On the other side, the light moved purposefully into the darkness, away from the river, always toward the buildings.

  They went in silence. The path cut through a field of rough, hummocky grass. She couldn't see Danny any more, nor hear him on the soft ground.

  “Danny?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I'm sorry about this. About all of this.”

  She heard the grin in his voice as he replied.

  “It's fine. Really.”

  The helicopter's engine clattered in the clear air, circling towards them. Its searchlights pointed at the ground, as if they were the machine's spindly legs. It seemed to survey a wider and wider area, away from the distant ring-road.

  “Is it looking for us do you think?” asked Danny without stopping.

  “I think it might be, yeah.”

  “Who are these people?”

  “Don't know. Don't want to know. Come on, let's hurry.”

  They broke into a jog, drawing level with the will o' the wisp and then overtaking it. It seemed to be aware of them. It sped up, too, moving a little way ahead of them.

  The helicopter continued to circle in the dark sky. It turned toward the river, then shot back toward them, its blades making a loud clumping sound. It flew low to the ground. The downdraught buffeted her as the machine roared overhead. Her hair lashed around. She had to resist the urge to duck. Leaves and dust whipped into her face and eyes. The helicopter's lights raked across the ground nearby, two patches of daylight in the black. One flashed over them. She caught a glimpse of Danny's back.