Fire Bringer (52 page)

‘All right,’ she said, ‘no need to get excited. If you can talk so openly about the Sgorrla then you’re free to graze near us.’

Willow nodded.

‘Tell me,’ she said, ‘where does Sgorr rest these days?’

‘Still over by the great oak,’ said another hind.’Why?’

‘No reason. Except that one day I should like to tell him what I really think of him.’

‘And it would be your last day,’ said the hind, smiling, ‘if you could get anywhere near him.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You know they never let anyone through. He’s guarded day and night by at least twenty Sgorrla, even when he travels through the herd. They even have a guard around Eloin.’

Willow looked up.

‘Eloin?’ she said.

‘That’s right.’

‘Poor Eloin,’ said Willow. ‘They say her only friends are those four hinds that returned from the loch.’

‘Two, you mean,’ said the hind looking oddly at Willow.

‘What’s your name? I’ve never seen you around here before.’

‘Er, no. . .’ stammered Willow.’My sister and I. . . we only came in seven suns ago.’

‘Then how do you know of Eloin?’ asked the hind carefully.

‘Oh, the others are always talking of her and her friends.’

The hind looked over at Peppa and when she saw her she looked back at Willow and pawed the ground.

‘You’re twins,’ she said with surprise. ‘The spitting image.’

‘That’s right,’ said Willow.

‘It’s odd I haven’t seen you around before. You stand out enough.’

‘We like to keep ourselves to ourselves,’ said Willow quickly. ‘Not all the hinds feel as we do about Sgorr.’

Her words seemed to reassure the hind.

‘No, no indeed,’ she muttered in the dark, ‘and if I were you I wouldn’t talk so openly about it. But you’ll soon learn.’

‘Eloin’s friends,’ said Willow, ignoring the warning. ‘Now what are they called again?’

‘Shira and Canisp.’

‘That’s right,’ said Willow casually but feeling a sudden weakness in her legs. ’Shira and Canisp. I’d like to meet them one day.’

‘No chance of that.’

‘Why not?’

‘They always used to keep them separate, under constant guard. Then, this morning when they brought that prisoner in, they put them both with Eloin.’

Both Willow’s and Peppa’s heads had come up and they were listening intently.

‘Of course,’ said Willow, ‘the prisoner. Where are they keeping him?’

‘You do ask a lot of questions,’ said the hind, growing suspicious again. ‘Over there, by that sycamore.’

‘Ah yes,’ said Willow, her eyes glinting. ‘Well, we’d better be getting back.’

The hind shrugged but as Willow and Peppa set off in the direction of the sycamore, Willow suddenly turned and called to her.

‘But he didn’t die, you know.’

‘Who?’ said the startled hind.

‘The one with the fawn mark, the one who fled from the herd. He’s still alive. I’ve seen him myself.’

All the little group had heard it and as the twins vanished into the night, the hinds looked at each other in amazement.

‘That was close,’ whispered Peppa as they ran. ‘I thought for a moment we were lost.’

‘I know,’ said Willow. ‘But did you hear?’

‘Mother?’ said Peppa.

‘Yes, and Alyth. What can have happened to them?’

‘Perhaps they escaped when we did,’ said Peppa. ‘Alyth never really wanted to come back.’

‘No,’ agreed Willow, but her heart was deeply troubled. As the twins went on through the darkness, a breeze came up and they noticed that a mist was settling around the herd, drifting in wisps across the grass. It grew thicker as they neared a great sycamore tree, set apart from the edge of a wood, and they stopped as they spotted a group of Sgorrla guards through the fog. There were five of them, four ruminating in a semicircle near the tree, and one on his own, patrolling up and down. Nearby a stag was asleep in the grass.

Although they were still a good way off and it was quite dark, Peppa recognized him immediately and winced as she saw the cuts and bruises on his side and face.

‘Bankfoot,’ she gasped.

‘Hush, Peppa, they’ll hear us,’ said Willow. ‘We must try to think of something.’

Peppa looked hard at her sister.

‘But Willow, you know what Thistle said. We’ve found out where they’re keeping him and something of Sgorr too. Shouldn’t we—’

‘We’re here now,’ said Willow, smiling, ‘so it’s our duty to try and rescue him.’

Peppa’s eyes opened wider but she didn’t argue, for she was suddenly desperate for Bankfoot. So, in the darkness, the twins backed into the trees at the edge of the wood by a large clump of bushes and began to whisper together. After a while they had formed a sort of plan. It was a terrible risk and the hinds stared at each other fearfully when they hit on it.

‘We’ll have to trust to darkness and the fog to work it,’ said Willow, dropping her muzzle and scooping up some earth and dried bracken. When she lifted her head again she stepped closer and rubbed her nose across Peppa’s ear, obscuring the black fur.

‘That’s better,’ she said when she had finished. ‘Now not even Herne could tell us apart. If we get separated, we’ll meet by the rock.’

‘Right.’ Peppa nodded. ‘Who’ll go first?’

‘I will,’ said Willow.

‘No, sister,’ said Peppa suddenly.

Before Willow could argue, Peppa had turned and sprung off towards the Sgorrla. Willow waited nervously for a while and then followed her sister into the fog.

Peppa ran straight ahead through the mist, her muzzle raised and her tail twitching. When she was about a tree away she started to graze as she drifted closer and closer towards the lone guard patrolling, while the other guards talked quietly in the night. The guard didn’t see her at first but after a while he heard a sound and looked up, his eyes trying to pierce the deepening mist.

‘Who’s there?’ he said. Peppa didn’t answer.

At first the guard thought he must have been mistaken but then a gust of wind cleared the fog for an instant and he clearly saw Peppa standing there, staring back at him.

‘You there. Hind,’ he called gruffly. ‘What are you doing here?’

Again Peppa said nothing and waited as the swirling cloud closed around her once more. As soon as the fog came in again she leapt to the right, so when the breeze cleared the spot where she had been standing, she seemed to have vanished. The guard blinked and shook his head, for he was tired and his eyes were sore. But then another gust revealed Peppa again, still standing and watching him, but off to the right.

‘Hey, you,’ he said. ‘You know you’re not allowed around here.’

Peppa tilted her head quizzically and then whispered in a strange voice, ‘Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you.’

The guard was almost too startled to answer.

‘Hurt me?’ he said in amazement. ’A hind hurt a Sgorrla guard?’

‘Not just any hind,’ answered Peppa as gravely as she could.

‘What do you mean?’ said the guard. ‘Who are you? What do you want?’

‘Herne sent me,’ said Peppa, and just as she did so another bank of fog rolled in around her. This time she jumped to the left and skirted a little way around the guard.

‘Stand still,’ said the guard angrily. ‘You know it is forbidden to mention Herne.’

‘Forbidden?’ whispered Peppa through the mist. ‘Who could forbid it?’

‘Lord Sgorr,’ said the guard. ‘And when I—’

‘Peace,’ said Peppa. ‘Herne has a message for you. He wants you to know—’

‘Silence,’ said the guard even more furiously. ‘What nonsense are you talking?’

‘Don’t you believe in me?’ whispered Peppa. ’In Herne?’ Again the fog closed in on Peppa and she darted round the guard. This time she didn’t wait for him to address her before speaking.

‘Here I am,’ she whispered, ‘all around you.’

‘Stand still, I say,’ snorted the guard, swinging round.

‘Stop playing games.’

Peppa’s face was clearly visible again and she held the guard’s gaze coldly.

‘Games?’ she answered. ‘This is no game. The Sgorrla’s cruelty is no game. Why are you torturing me?’

The guard was about to lunge at Peppa when she backed into the fog.

‘Hey, come back,’ he said, but just as he spoke another voice came through the night, right behind him. When the guard turned he was amazed to see Peppa’s face, or what he thought was Peppa’s face, still gazing at him through the fog. It was impossible that the hind could have run round him so fast.

‘I am still here,’ said Willow, imitating Peppa’s voice as best she could.

‘But. . . how. . .’ stammered the guard, as Willow backed into the fog herself and vanished.

‘Because Herne is all around you,’ said Peppa from behind the guard, ‘in the mist, in the trees, in your dreams and worst nightmares.’

Again the guard turned and there was the hind, back in the spot where she had been speaking before. The guard could hardly believe his eyes. He stamped the ground and shook his head. He thought he was dreaming. The fog had once more swathed Peppa in mystery as she whispered through the night.

‘Fear me. . .’

‘. . . For I come when you least expect it,’ Willow went on, reappearing to the left of the guard. He was really shaken by now and kept swinging back and forth as the twins played their game of voices.

‘I need some sleep,’ muttered the guard to himself, and

Willow and Peppa fell silent.

‘Hey, Praal, what’s up,’ said another deer suddenly through the darkness. ‘I thought I heard voices.’

It was the guard’s commander, who had been ruminating by the Sycamore earlier and had brought another Sgorrla with him to check up on the patrol.

‘Nothing, sir,’ answered Praal, still bewildered by the twins’ trick.

‘What do you mean, nothing? You were talking to someone.’

The guard started to stammer.

‘There was a hind over there. . . or at least over there. . . but. . .’

‘What’s wrong with you, Praal?’ said the commander angrily. ‘Make sense.’

‘She said she was Herne,’ whispered the guard in a voice that was beginning to tremble, ‘and that she was everywhere.’ The commander peered into the fog but could see nothing.

Yet something about the night and the eerie cloud unsettled him, for they were all nervous with the coming trek and their own night’s work with Bankfoot had filled their hearts with darkness.

‘Rubbish,’ he barked. ‘There’s no one out there at all.’

‘She came from there,’ said the guard, ‘but in an instant she was behind me again.’

‘Praal, have you lost your wits?’ snapped the commander.

‘You’ll pay for this in the morning.’

‘You must not punish him for telling the truth,’ came a still, calm voice out of the fog. The commander looked up and now he caught sight of Peppa too.

‘Who are you?’ he cried as she backed away.

‘Herne,’ said Willow from the right, emerging from the fog for just a moment.

The commander looked at Praal in amazement.

‘Catch her,’ he shouted.

‘Which way, sir?’ said Praal.

‘Over here,’ cried Peppa.

‘No, here,’ shouted Willow.

The three stags hesitated, looking left and right, and then they leapt forward, towards the spot where Willow’s voice had come from. They plunged into the mist and as they did so they caught sight of the hind’s silhouette racing for the trees.

Willow ran as fast as she could and as soon as she entered the forest she ducked into the bushes where the twins had been talking earlier and froze, her breath hovering on the night air. The guards had been too startled by the sudden apparition to be thinking clearly and they ran on blindly in the darkness, blundering straight past Willow as they did so. The hind waited for just a few moments and then crept out and made for the sycamore.

‘Peppa, is that you?’ she whispered through the fog as she caught sight of a shape in front of her.

‘Yes.’

‘They’re falling for it,’ said Willow.

‘Thank Herne.’

The mist was thinning again now and the twins could see the two remaining guards by the tree and Bankfoot still sleeping on the ground. The guards had heard the commotion and were looking around warily.

‘But there’s no time,’ said Willow.’The others will give up soon enough.’

‘Then we must hurry,’ said Peppa, and she sprang forward. Willow gasped as her sister ran straight up to the guard on the right. He swung round as he saw her coming out of the mist and barked a warning at her but, quick as lighting, Peppa turned and gave him an angry kick before springing away again, back into the fog.

The guard paused in astonishment and then looked from Bankfoot, who was still sleeping, to his comrade.

‘Watch him,’ he grunted to the other guard and he leapt after the hind.

The last remaining guard was now close to Bankfoot, gazing around in confusion as Willow stepped out of the fog a good way away from where Peppa had vanished.

‘What the . . . ?’ said the guard in amazement.

‘Ghosts,’ cried Willow, loud enough to wake Bankfoot from his painful sleep. When he opened his eyes and caught sight of Willow, Bankfoot was almost as amazed as the guard, but he lost no time.

‘Stand there,’ cried the guard to Willow, dropping his antlers threateningly as she approached.

‘You can do nothing to a ghost,’ cried Willow as she walked up to him.

‘I’ll give you a gouging,’ said the guard.

He never noticed Bankfoot behind him. He felt it first in his back right-hand leg. The brow tine went straight into his haunch and the guard suddenly bellowed in pain. But as he swung round, Bankfoot struck again, this time at his hoofs, and he was knocked clean off balance. As he fell, Willow turned and lashed out furiously with her hind legs. The blow struck the Sgorrla straight in the face and he was thrown sideways.

‘Come on, Bankfoot,’ she cried.

The hind was already running and Bankfoot didn’t argue. Tired and injured as he was, he raced after her into the mist. The guard on the ground was too dazed and confused to even know what was happening.

They ran and ran, along the edge of the wood, and now night and the fog came to their rescue for none of the herd spotted them. After a while they rose up the hill and Willow caught sight of the rock where she had agreed to meet Peppa if they got separated.