“Stop that!” The guard turned over to glare at him. “I’m no dog that you can kick!”
The agent merely grunted and turned away to look in the direction the tracks led. How far away were the children – just a few hundred yards – or a couple of miles? Either way, he was anxious to get going.
He turned back to see the guard straighten to his full height and glare at him with angry eyes. For the first time, the agent wondered if he’d gone too far. He couldn’t have Claude quit now. He needed help getting the kids down the mountain. “Here,” he said and shoved a half-filled coconut shell toward Claude. “Are you still thirsty? Have a drink.”
The guard paused, his eyes locked on his boss’s, and then reached to take the peace offering. He drank the rest of the liquid, broke off some of the white meat inside, and popped it into his mouth. He glared at the agent as he chewed.
“Hey, look what I found in my pocket while you were sleeping,” the man said to him. He had to do something quick, before Claude decided to walk away. Reluctantly, he pulled out the last of his jerky and held it toward Claude. “You must be hungry.”
This time Claude seemed to accept his unspoken apology and grunted, “Thanks,” as he reached for the jerky.
“You ready?” asked the man, trying to keep the resentment out of his voice. That jerky was supposed to be his supper. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the machete.
“Yup,” said Claude, totally oblivious. “Let’s go.”
At first, the passageway was easy to walk. The walls were close but the floor was flat and the ceiling high. The interior was dry, and Giselle didn’t see any spiders skittering away from her meagre light. They walked for a few minutes in relative ease, and she was beginning to wonder what was so dangerous about the passageway, when she saw a dark shape on the floor ahead.
It’s a black rock, she thought. But then why doesn’t the light shine on it?
“Keep to the far right now,” instructed Maura. “The pit is deep.”
Giselle gasped. The blackness wasn’t a rock. It was an elongated hole covering the floor of the cave – and the only way past was a narrow ledge running along the side.
With precise movements, she followed Maura and Angelica onto the rocky shelf and slid along the cave wall. The ledge narrowed the farther she went, until the abyss was just inches from her toes. And to make matters worse, her torch was going out. Only Angelica’s stick seemed to glow with any strength.
For a moment, Giselle thought of throwing her dying torch into the pit, but then she changed her mind. She didn’t want to see how deep the pit was. If the torch fell out of sight, she might be too petrified to continue. She shuffled two more steps, and accidentally sent a pebble careening over the edge.
She froze. Seconds passed and there was no sound. She’d almost given up, thinking the pebble must’ve landed too quietly to hear, when she heard the ping from far below. The pit wasn’t bottomless but it might as well be. If she fell in, she wouldn’t be coming out again. Sweat beaded her forehead despite the coolness of the cave.
Her torch tip had faded to mere embers. With one swift motion, she flung it over the edge and pressed back into the rock. At least now she had two hands to hold on with. But she still had to make her feet move again. Even a few inches would be good.
Giselle shut her eyes, forced herself to imagine a wide path stretching along the chasm, and shuffled along the shelf. More stones rattled over the edge, this time from Angelica or Maura. There was a long, long silence, longer than the last time, Giselle was sure. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath until – ping ping ping – the pebbles struck the bottom.
Keep going, Giselle commanded herself. Just one more step. Just one more step. The chant in her brain seemed to work. Just one more step. One more step. One more step. One more. One more. One…
A warm hand touched her shoulder and her eyes sprung open. Maura stood beside her, the light from Angelica’s stick illuminating her amused face. Giselle didn’t care. She almost collapsed in relief when she saw she was past the chasm. Well past.
“You should go to the children first,” said Maura. “They might be frightened if they see a stranger.”
“Okay,” agreed Giselle, her voice shaking. Maura was right. The woman seemed a nice person, but after living on the mountain for so long, she looked wild. The last thing they needed to do was send the children scurrying out of the cave. “I’ll call you when it’s okay to come out,” she added with a little more composure.
Angelica gave her torch to Maura and walked with Giselle along the twisting passageway. Together they rounded the final corner to see the children sprawled across the floor with their eyes closed and mouths open, sound asleep. Even Paul, who looked like he might have tried to keep watch, was snoring against a boulder at the cave entrance.
“They’re exhausted,” Giselle explained, not wanting Angelica to think the children were simply careless.
“Yes, and they showed much fortitude in walking all last night,” replied Angelica. “I was impressed with their strength.”
“I wish we could let them sleep,” Giselle commented as she picked her way through the sleeping bodies.
“Me too.” Angelica bent to wake Amelie.
Giselle touched Paul’s shoulder. When he didn’t stir, she shook him. He opened his eyes, groggily, and then sat up straight. “I didn’t mean... I’m sorry... I... but...” he stammered.
“It’s okay,” said Giselle. “But we have to move on. The restavec agents are on our trail.”
“And we must be quiet,” added Angelica, joining them at the cave entrance. She gazed down the mountainside. “They are near.”
Giselle’s eyes searched the vegetation. She couldn’t see anything. How did Angelica know the men were there? Before she could ask the question aloud, Angelica spoke again. “Yet it is puzzling. They have passed by the caves and are moving farther from us in that direction.” She pointed.
“They’re following the false trail I left,” whispered Giselle, incredibly relieved she’d thought to waylay the men. “I tried to dead end it on a rock slide.”
“Maybe they’ll lose the trail,” suggested Paul, hopefully.
“Maybe,” said Angelica, but she sounded doubtful.
“Let’s hurry and wake the children, and then tell them about Maura and Thierry,” suggested Giselle. “The sooner we get going, the better.”
The trail was easy to follow until they hit the rockslide. When the man couldn’t find any tracks on the other side of the jumble of rocks, he sent Claude up the slope as he walked down. He didn’t go far before he realized the brats must’ve gone up. Though they might not leave any tracks on the rocks, their pony, with his hard little hooves, had to leave some sign.
Within moments of walking the upper slide, he saw scuffmarks on a stone. He smiled a grim smile. The sign was so obvious, and yet Claude hadn’t seen it.
But the agent’s smile didn’t last long. He was feeling far too vulnerable out in the open. And the mountain was starting to get to him, its big, brooding presence hovering over them, watching them. The quiet seemed tense, not peaceful. The occasional bird shriek was jarring. Every sound sent zaps of alarm down his spine.
His mood didn’t improve when after ten minutes the single scuffmark was still all he’d found. He watched Claude search along the top of the slide, and then climb down toward him. The guard shook his head when he reached him. He hadn’t found anything either.
The agent shuddered despite the blistering heat on the slide. It was as if the girl, the children, and the pony had all vanished into thin air. Even after everything that happened, was he still underestimating her strange powers?
Finally Giselle, Paul, and Angelica had the children on their feet. Giselle didn’t dare let them sit. Tiredness radiated from their eyes, and she knew that if she let them relax, even a bit, some would be asleep again within seconds.
“There’s someone I want you to meet,” she said when she finally h
ad their attention. “Angelica and I found someone to help us.” Quickly she told them of meeting Thierry and Maura and how the adults had promised to lead them through the caves and on through the mountains to the children’s village.
“But why would they want to help us?” asked Mark suspiciously. “No adults ever wanted to help us before.”
“They’re used to being misunderstood themselves,” Giselle answered. Then she quickly told the story of how the couple ended up in the mountains. “But he’s not a zombie now,” she concluded. “You’ll see he’s okay when you meet him.”
The children looked at her with horror-filled eyes.
“Meet him?” asked Tyla in disbelief.
“Thierry will not hurt you. I promise,” said Angelica, doing her part to reassure them.
“I don’t want to meet him,” Amelie said firmly.
“Me either. Zombies are...” Paris couldn’t finish her sentence. Apparently, she could find no word terrible enough to describe zombies.
“He isn’t a zombie anymore,” countered Giselle.
“I don’t want his help either,” said Paul. “What if he lied to you? What if he’s planning to kill us? It's better to be a restavec than dead.” There was a murmur of agreement among the children.
“He didn’t lie to me,” said Giselle. “He’s telling the truth. Angelica believes their story too.”
“But, Giselle...” Paul glanced at Angelica, and then looked back at Giselle. “She’s kind of different too. She seems nice, but maybe she’s really in on it with them. Maybe she saved us so she could lure us here.”
“Thierry’s not lying to me, and neither is Angelica. I swear,” said Giselle. She was getting frustrated. How was she going to convince them? Why were they being so stubborn?
“But you might be wrong,” stated Mark.
Giselle looked at her little brother, standing with the others. “What about you, Robert? Are you brave enough to go through the caves with Thierry and Maura? I’ll be with you too.” If only the little boy would say yes, maybe the other children would follow his example. But Robert merely ducked his head and put dirty hands over his eyes.
Giselle knelt in front of him and pulled his hands from his face. “Robert, listen to me. It’s okay to be scared. I am too. But you have to trust me.” Her eyes moved to the other children, to each face in turn. “You all have to trust me. There’s no way we can make it through the caves alone. It’s a labyrinth in there. There are openings everywhere, and cave spiders too, and worse, deep pits. Only Maura and Thierry know the way.”
“But he’s a zombie, Giselle,” said Paul, as if that was the final word.
Giselle stood. “Will you at least listen to Maura?” she pleaded. “Maybe if you talk to her, you’ll see she wouldn’t hurt a fly. And Thierry is just the same.”
Paul hesitated and looked around at the others. They were all staring at him, willing to trust his decision. “Okay, we’ll listen,” he said turning back to Giselle. “Because you believe her, we’ll listen.”
The agent directed the guard to walk in ever widening circles from the scuffmark on the stone, and he did the same. Individually, they searched every stone, every bit of dirt. The slide was growing hotter by the minute, and heat rose in shimmering waves around them. The sunlight felt like a sledgehammer beating against the agent’s brain. He straightened and wiped the sweat from his brow.
This was her fault! She was behind everything that had thwarted him. Not only had she escaped, but she’d tricked Claude and then stolen the children, hidden the cop from them, found a pony for the smallest kids to ride, fooled him with the golden thread, led them astray – and now this! He could almost hear her laughing at him.
His own laugh was like a sudden bark, and Claude looked at him sharply. “She thinks she’s got us now,” the agent said, feeling light headed in the heat. “But she’s not going to win. I don’t care what tricks she uses. It doesn’t matter if she erases their tracks with black magic. We’ll get her. We’ll get them all back.”
Claude mumbled something the man couldn’t hear.
“What? What’s that you said?”
The guard scuffed at a rock with his boot. “Nothing, Boss.”
“Tell me!” Suddenly he felt even hotter.
“It’s just, uh, you know. She’s just a girl. She ain’t no witch or anything. I know you think she’s got these powers, but…”
“You think she’s just a girl?” the agent screamed, his head instantly filled with the rush of his own heartbeat. “You’re an idiot! A stupid, thick-headed moron! You think she’s just an ordinary girl? You’re beyond stupid! How could she do all the things she’s done, if she was just a girl?” A wave of dizziness washed over him and he slumped to a large rock. “And how’d I ever end up with someone as senseless as you?” he continued to scream. “You’re nothing but a big ape! A big, lumbering, brainless ape!”
The guard glared at his boss, his entire body shaking with sudden rage. He silently clenched and unclenched his fists.
Clench. Unclench. Clench.
Then, without another word, Claude stalked off the slide, heading back the direction they’d come.
Giselle hurried toward the back of the cave. “Maura,” she called. “You can come out now.” When Maura came around the corner, Giselle quickly explained the children’s reluctance to trust her and Thierry. “You can convince them,” she concluded. “I know you can.”
“I’ll do my best,” said Maura and squeezed Giselle’s hand.
When Maura made her appearance, a murmur ran through the group of children. The woman immediately sat on a large stone at the back of the chamber and took a non-aggressive stance. She spoke in a soothing voice as she started to retell the story.
Behind the children, Giselle fidgeted. This was so frustrating! Maura was talking so patiently to them, so leisurely, as if they had all the time in the world. And they didn’t. They had to hurry.
What if she’d missed a hoof print at the edge of the slide and the men were walking toward them this very moment? What if they decided to check the caves, thinking the children might be resting there? It made sense for them to do that. The caves were the only cool place nearby to rest on a hot, hot day. The men might even climb up to rest themselves, surprising both the children and themselves. She’d feel much better when they decided to trust Maura and could leave.
But what if they decide to not trust her at all? The thought was unwelcome. What if the children use all our escape time listening to her, and then decide to not accept her help? Then what do I do? How do we get away?
We don’t, she realized abruptly, and dread swarmed over her. The little ones can’t run far enough or fast enough to escape without a head start. Maybe Paul will get away. Maybe even Mark or Kristine. They’re the oldest. But the rest will be recaptured.
And the worst thing is, it doesn’t have to happen. All they have to do is trust me, trust Maura and follow her into the caves. All they need to do is put aside what they’ve always believed about zombies.
Suddenly, Giselle didn’t feel so confident.
When Claude disappeared into the undergrowth, the agent knew he’d gone too far. Slowly, he climbed to his feet. He wished he hadn’t said the words, but it was too late. And he couldn’t go after Claude. His pride wouldn’t allow it.
But maybe there was no need. Something had caught his eye. He followed Claude to the edge of the slide. Two coarse, light gray hairs clung to a branch.
He looked down. There were no tracks. But the pony must have come this way. Could Claude be right? Could she be just an ordinary girl, though a very crafty one? If so, what would a very crafty girl do to hide her tracks? She’d sweep them away. And where would she go then?
His eyes rested on a grove of trees. She’d take the kids into the shade. They’d be as hot as he was on the slide.
A slight noise sent him spinning around. When he saw nothing there, he looked up at the mountain, the Mont des Enfants Perdus, the Mountain
of Lost Children – nicknamed the zombie mountain. It was so quiet, brooding, a vast heartless presence staring down at him. And now he was alone!
The man shivered and forced his gaze back to grove. The quicker he found the children, the quicker he could leave this horrible place.
Giselle noticed Angelica beckoning to her and moved silently to the entrance of the cave. Something was wading through the jungle of vegetation down below.
“Do you see?” whispered Angelica.
Giselle nodded. “What is it?” she whispered back
“One of the men. They have separated.”
“He’s going back to town.” Giselle whispered, elated.
“Yes.” But Angelica didn’t sound relieved.
Giselle looked at her sharply. “What is it?”
“I would feel much better if the other man gave up too. He must be very committed to your recapture.” She looked at Giselle with anxious eyes. “The children must decide soon.”
“I know. Maybe we can use this to make them hurry,” Giselle suggested and turned back to the group.
The situation didn’t look good. Maura had fallen silent and her face and bearing seemed defeated. The children weren’t asking questions, and their eyes seemed as suspicious as ever. Paul’s stance was still defiant. Paris’ face was still frightened. Robert was chewing on his fingernails, something Giselle knew he did only when he was nervous. With a sinking feeling in her heart, she realized that Maura had done her best to convince the children. And they hadn’t been convinced.
He was right. There were clear footprints in the dirt beneath the trees. And they all looked the same size – again. Had he fallen for the same trick a second time? Had she led him away while the children were heaven knows where? On the other side of the slide? Halfway up the mountain? How was he going to find them now?
Slave Child (Horse Guardian) Page 9