Heart of Danger (8 page)

Don’t think about it. Stay in the present. Stay with Hera and with Grif
.

Sleep, child
.

Huh! Like that was going to happen. But I shut my eyes and settled myself more comfortably on the floor. And I did sleep, because when I opened my eyes again the wind had dropped and I couldn’t hear rain on the roof. I could also make out the contours of my sleeping place. I sat up.

Ivor doesn’t love me
. For a moment the knowledge overwhelmed me and I yearned simply to lie down again and howl my eyes out. Stupid. What I yearned for more than anything was to have Hera safe.

Ivor and his betrayal could wait. I stood up. I would go on without him. It would be better that way, easier to keep my mind tuned to following the feeling about where my sister was. Ivor could take his doubts and his fake feelings and drown in a ditch on the way home.

Don’t think about him.

I didn’t want to have an argument with him either. I crept towards where outlines of light showed through the dark, staying close to the walls to avoid making the floorboards squeal. I reached a door at the end of the corridor. It was slightly ajar and I eased it open further. The hinges didn’t want to give way but I only needed them to move a little more and then I’d be through. Inch by inch, I pushed the door open enough to slide through. I paused for a moment, listening. Had I woken Ivor? I heard no sound of him stirring.

I peered around, trying to work out where I was. It was still too dark to see clearly, but I knew morning couldn’t be far away. It was time to leave. I would go and I would leave Ivor behind. I rummaged for the torch, switched it on and aimed it at the ground in front of me. It was lucky I did, because I had come out onto a veranda that barely had a solid board left in the floor.

I picked my way to the edge, jumped down and started along the track back to the road. It was harder going without Aussie clearing a way through the wet vegetation, and the night-time rain had made the ground heavy. Before long, I was drenched. I shone the torch ahead, hoping to see the roadway we’d followed the day before, but the bush was too high. Was this the right way? There was nothing familiar to guide me. I was on the point of turning back when I saw a hoofprint. A few steps further there were ferns trampled into the mud. After that the ground sloped down and I glimpsed the clearer roadway at the bottom.

The going was easier once I got to the road, and I went more quickly, jogging when the surface was clear enough. All the time I expected to hear Aussie clopping along behind me – and more than half hoped I would hear Ivor call out to wait up, that he was sorry and of course he loved me and would go on loving me forever. But the day lightened to grey and I was still by myself.

Ivor should have come after me. He shouldn’t have left me by myself
.

The other voice in my head answered.
You did it yourself. You’re the one who left
.

Oh shut up
, snapped the first voice.
Keep your mind on finding Hera
.

Yes. The thinking and the rage and the fear – they weren’t helping. How could I get them all out of my head?

Walk
. The answer came from somewhere.
Just keep walking
. So that’s what I did, my thoughts on the road in front of me, on how I could pick the quickest path through the obstacles, on the speed I was travelling at. I walked without thinking, following where the direction felt right. I felt as if my dead were at my shoulder, pointing out the path to take.

It must have been around mid-morning when I reached the sea. I stopped for a drink and made myself eat some of the food. My thoughts flicked back to Ivor. He hadn’t followed me. It was true: he didn’t love me. How could I have got it so wrong? Mother too. Though not Danyat. And maybe not Oban or Ginevra.

This time when I started out again, it was easier to shove him out of my mind, mostly because the sense of danger sharpened the moment I started scrambling down to where the waves rushed up the beach. I paused. It was more than danger – there was urgency too, like a force at my back pushing me onwards.

They meant Hera to die on Sunday. Sunday would come with the dawn of the next day.

A faint track led down to the sea. The ground was slippery with some sort of clay made slick by the rain, and there was a stream to cross before I could start the journey along the beach. I stood still, looking down at the waves that rushed into it then back with a sucking noise. I could get across when they ebbed, but I’d have to make sure they didn’t swamp me as they roared in again.

I shaded my eyes, looking north. The waves seethed out in the ocean. They hissed up the beach in a mess of foam right to the base of the cliffs. There wasn’t even a sliver of sand to walk along. I sank to my knees. I should have gone over the hills. Now I’d have to go back, and lose all that time. I crouched, my hands over my eyes, striving for calm, for a sense of what best to do.

Nothing came to me, except that the desperate need to hurry pounded me as surely as the waves pounded the beach. I took my hands away and stood up, taking one last look along the base of the cliffs. For ages, I stood there, staring and wanting to believe what I thought I was seeing. The tide was going out. I watched for more precious minutes. And then made myself wait still longer, watching, judging when it would be safe enough to leave.

Now. I must go now and hope I’d be safe.

I watched the stream, choosing the moment when the water was shallowest between the ebb and the flow of the waves. I ran through without wasting time to take off my boots.

The sea looked more menacing here, the strip of beach narrower. The feeling in my mind pulled me onwards.

I
stumbled towards the base of the cliffs. An incoming wave caught me, thumped at my knees and nearly knocked me flat. I was still struggling to get my balance when the water sucked back, threatening to take me with it. I fell forward, bending double to dig in with fingers as well as feet until it fell away. Then I was upright and racing along the stretch of clear sand. The next wave swelled, gathering to hurl itself up the beach. This time I got out of the way before it grabbed me.

It was like evading a savage beast that I could run from only when it turned its back. The beach wasn’t all clear sand either. There were falls of rock to scramble over, huge boulders to dodge, and patches of small stones and pebbles.

But the tide was going out, and further along it became easier to go more quickly. I ran past caves, disturbed sea birds that rose above me, shrieking. I wished I had wings.

Hera! I’m coming.

Once, a rock fell from the cliff to crash on the sand ahead of me. The waves thundered and clawed at the beach. They were still high on the sand when I saw the way ahead blocked by a wide river mouth. Was this as far as the beach route went? How long had it taken me to come this far? I checked the sky. Judging by the sun, it was still some time before midday.

I’d seen no sign of a tunnel. It had to be somewhere close. I shut down on the panic, cleared my mind and began walking back the way I’d come. My steps veered up towards the base of the cliffs and away from the sea. I didn’t try to think, to reason or to question, just kept going where my mind led me until I saw in front of me a darkly gaping hole in the cliff. I stepped inside. The floor sloped steeply upwards. It probably wasn’t safe – large chunks of rock had fallen from the walls and ceiling. But I clambered over them. I could see the other end. I would get there.

The track that led away from the tunnel was choked with bushes. I couldn’t see where it led, or even whether I’d be able to find a way through it. Thorns tore at my clothes and skin as I pushed through the heavy undergrowth.

Before long, though, the path became clearer, allowing me to move at a jog. I thought about the river that had blocked the way along the beach. Was it the Mokau? If it wasn’t, then I’d have to cross it, and quickly.

I followed the path, catching glimpses now and again of the river to my left. I felt utterly alone. If animals had made the track I was on, I hoped they were sheep rather than wild pigs or cattle. Rounding a bend, I spotted the remains of an old settlement. The houses were wooden and the weather had stripped them of paint. The track looked to go right through the middle of them.

It would be like walking with ghosts. I shook my head. More foolishness.

I began to run. I passed the first few houses, keeping my eyes on the way ahead. Even so I noticed the gardens, cultivated in careful rows the way we’d done on Taris. If the people who lived here were Hera’s kidnappers, then I’d walked freely into the middle of them.

I jogged on, driven by the pressure to find her in time. I still couldn’t see anyone – there was no smoke from the chimneys, nothing to show that people lived here. Except for the gardens.

The last few houses were just skeletons – had most likely been plundered for materials to mend the others. I stopped for a moment to have a drink from the bottle Ginevra had packed.

Was this the place where Hera was? I stilled my mind, searching for answers. I had to go further.

I set out again, hoping that there would be a bridge sturdy enough for me to cross. The path I was on wound upwards and I wished the scrub wasn’t so thick. I couldn’t tell if I was on an old road that would lead me north, or if this was just a random pathway. I pushed on.

I came round a corner into an open space only to stop dead, horror nailing me to the spot. I’d found the villagers. There was a crowd of them all carrying branches or logs to a pile of wood in the middle of the clearing. They grouped together, staring at me. They looked feral, hair untrimmed and clothing bunched around wiry bodies. Several of the women dropped the wood they’d been carrying, but three of the men changed their grip so that the branches they held became weapons.

I spun around and tore back the way I’d come, knowing they’d seen me – hoping they’d let me go. Panic swamped my feeble attempt to reach up for help – they were preparing a fire, and fire could mean sacrifice. If I could get away, escape, then I might be able to sense if they were holding my sister.

‘Hey! You! Stop!’ It was a man’s voice, deep and rough.

I didn’t want to stop, was too terrified to stop, but they’d seen me and I knew now they’d chase me.

I stopped and turned to face them. I couldn’t make my legs move towards them, but since the whole group was advancing on me that hardly mattered.

They walked to within a couple of metres, then halted. Their expressions were puzzled or curious, although a couple of the people looked wary. I felt no hostility.

One of the men spoke. He was solidly tall and I recognised his as the voice that had yelled at me. ‘I apologise for scaring you, young lady, but it’s not often we get visitors.’

His voice cut through my panic. There was no menace here. I shut my eyes for a second. Calm, I must be calm.

The man didn’t ask who I was, and I doubted he would have heard the story of Taris. None of his people looked as if they’d even visited a city where news of our arrival circulated quickly. But I sensed that though they weren’t welcoming, they weren’t evil either. I’d have to risk asking them for help, have to gamble that if they wouldn’t help me they’d at least let me go.

‘My name is Juno. I’m looking for my sister. She’s been kidnapped.’

Their faces closed in. Despair shot through me. They wouldn’t help. They knew things, but they weren’t the sort to talk to strangers.

‘Please!’ I whispered the word, then forced strength into my voice so that they all could hear. ‘Please. Can you help me? Do you know of a group around here who might have taken her?’ It wasn’t this group. I was sure of that by now.

A woman pushed to the front. ‘Maybe it’s us. Maybe we’re the ones who’ve got her.’

I shook my head. ‘No. She’s not here. And you’re not evil. Please, they’re going to kill her. They’re going to sacrifice her. Tomorrow.’

They said nothing, just stood there regarding me, weighing up what to do. I couldn’t work out who their leader was. Maybe they didn’t have one. ‘Please. Just tell me what you know. And how to find them.’

It seemed like eons before the oldest-looking member of the group – a woman with long white hair – took the lead. ‘If you go up there, lassie, you’ll not come back. They’re a wicked lot and we keep well clear of them.’ She stopped and I could feel them waiting.

But I had no choice. With her words came the knowledge that Hera was held by the people she spoke of. ‘I’ve got to try. Please. Just tell me how to find them.’

The big man drew in a breath. ‘You’ll be going to your death. We can’t have that on our conscience.’

I stared at him, at all of them. ‘I will try to find them on my own if you don’t help me. But by the time I do, it’s likely to be too late to save my sister’s life.’

‘You’re determined?’ the man asked.

I nodded – the strength of my purpose rock hard. Grif would help me. Others too, whose names I didn’t know.

‘Very well.’ It was the old woman speaking. ‘Jasper will take you as far as is safe. He’ll set your feet on the road and we’ll remember you in our prayers tonight.’

‘Thank you.’ I saw the worry in their eyes, the certainty that I would die.

The big man nodded once, then set off down the road, running with a long stride that ate the distance. I wondered if I was meant to follow, but he’d gone back the way I’d come through the settlement. A younger woman smiled at me. ‘He’s gone for a horse. He’ll only be a moment.’

‘Do you want food?’ a man asked.

I shook my head. I wasn’t hungry. I would have gagged if I’d tried to eat.

Jasper came back riding a horse even bigger than Aussie. He leaned down and hauled me up behind him. Every bruise and sore muscle from the ride the day before fired into pain. It would be better to concentrate on that, rather than on what was before me, but I needed to find out all I could.

‘Jasper, can you tell me what you know of the people? Please?’

I felt his ribs move in a sigh. ‘I don’t feel good about this. You’re just a kid. I’d best come with you.’

‘You are generous,’ I said, choking back tears. ‘And brave. But I think I’ll be safer by myself. I’m just a girl and perhaps they won’t see me as a threat.’ Whereas he was strong and I suspected he could be very threatening if he so chose.

He still didn’t want to speak of them. Instead he asked, ‘Where have you come from? New Plymouth? All by yourself?’

No, with Ivor. With the boy I thought loved me
. ‘A friend was with me. We had a horse. Then we had a fight and I came on by myself.’

He fell silent, but maybe that was because we’d reached a bridge. It was hugely long, the decking pitted with holes and patches. The horse stepped onto it without faltering, and Jasper guided him across with barely a word or gesture. Only when we’d reached the other side did he speak to me.

‘Very well,’ he said. ‘This group. We don’t know a lot about them. The fact that they’re a bunch of mad fanatics is enough to know.’

‘How many are there?’

He shrugged. ‘Hard to say. They come and go a fair bit. We see their boat – goes down the coast around once a month at least. Sometimes there are more people aboard when it comes back, sometimes not as many.’

‘Did you see it yesterday? Or today?’ I held my breath, not sure whether it would be good if they had or they hadn’t.

He nodded. ‘Yesterday. About sundown. Late in the day to be crossing the bar. I didn’t see anything unusual, though. I’m sorry, lassie.’

I hoped he’d say more, but he stayed silent, guiding the horse away from a well-worn path onto one that was faint and overgrown with scrubby bushes. I waited until the horse seemed settled before I asked, ‘How do you know they’re mad fanatics?’

Jasper snorted. ‘They arrived about ten summers ago now. We went up to say hello, be neighbourly. It’s good to have neighbours to call on if there’s a need. We thought they’d be pleased to have us living not so far away.’ He was shaking his head as if he still couldn’t understand it. ‘But they greeted us with shotguns. The head honcho told us if we knew what was good for us we’d get out of his territory and never come back.’

His territory. Not his land or his property.

Almost as if he’d heard me, Jasper said, ‘His territory he called it. Like he was king. He was an old geezer too, but the others with him were young and fit.’

‘Do you know any more?’ I asked. ‘Please, if you do, will you tell me? I need to know all I can.’

But he shook his head. ‘They keep to themselves and we’ve never tried to go back.’

He must have had questions about me, about how I knew they had kidnapped Hera, but he didn’t ask and he didn’t say anything more. I was grateful. We were going in the right direction. The sense of rightness was strong, but so too was the clamour of danger and of urgency. I frowned, shaking my head in an attempt to discover all I could. The knowledge that came next was chilling. I saw darkness threaded through with power misused and with cruelty.

I sagged against Jasper’s solid back. How could I hope to prevail against such forces? I wanted to change my mind, to say to him
Yes, please come with me. Please help me
. But the message I’d sensed from Grif filled my mind: I was the only one who could save Hera. It was a task for me, and me alone.

‘All right back there?’ Jasper asked. His voice was kind.

‘Yes. Thank you. How much further?’

‘It’s a good step away yet,’ he said.

I fell into a sort of trance, swaying to accommodate the movement of the horse. We made a couple of stops to let him drink, and Jasper pulled food from a saddlebag. He handed me a fritter. ‘Eat. Even if you feel you can’t. You’ll need your strength.’

I obeyed, seeing the wisdom of it even though I didn’t feel I could get anything down. The food was tasty though, which helped. ‘Fish mixed with potato and herbs,’ he said before I could ask.

We set out again and I kept my mind focused on Hera. Sometimes sorrow and hurt about Ivor sneaked in, other times it was concern for my family and their worry for me and Hera, and when I needed comfort I thought of my stratum doing their best to help me. I sent Marba a message:
Nearly there
.

A short while later, a reply thumped at me:
Police coming
. Good. That was good.

Jasper pulled the horse to a halt. ‘This is as far as it’s safe, Juno.’ He swivelled around to look at me. ‘Their buildings are on the far side of the river. Go down the hill, follow the old road along the flat, cross the bridge and keep going along the road. You’ll soon see their place.’ He helped me slide down to the ground. ‘Are you sure about this?’

I gave the horse a pat of thanks. ‘Yes. And thank you. With all my heart, I thank you.’

He looked even more unhappy. I put my hand on his knee. ‘I think the police are on their way. They were searching down south, but they didn’t find her, so I think they’ll come this way.’

He put a hand over mine and gave it a brief squeeze. ‘We’ll look out for them. Help them if they’ll let us.’

He turned the horse and trotted back the way we had come.

I was alone.