Kerri stood watching him for a moment, deep in thought.
‘Lulu is also needed here,’ she said finally, and then slowly walked on, her eyes on the river bank, following the rest of the clan members.
There was a shout of excitement ahead and the Clan ran to where someone was trying to dig out a rock the size of a man’s hand. When they tried to lift it, they found it enormously heavy. Of the deepest black, it looked as if it had been poured from an oven, misshapen and melted in places. Looking at the stone, a sense of immense joy came over him to see he was definitely looking at a stone that had fallen from the skies.
‘This is it,’ said Sonny laughing, ‘I’d never believe we could find one so quickly. Some people have spent years looking for these stones and have never found one.’
Sonny realised this was his opportunity to return home to his family, to his own people.
Casey arrived, running along the river bank. ‘Success?’ he asked.
‘I’m sure this is the stone we’re looking for,’ replied Sonny.
‘How long does a stone hold open an entry point to your land before it disintegrates?’
‘The stones give us four days before it collapses,’ said Sonny.
‘And how long is the journey to your town, to where the children are being kept?’ asked Casey.
‘It’s a two-day journey along the valley to the High Plains, where our town is. If the children are in the High Passes, it may take up to a week to return. It depends on the weather in the High Peaks,’ replied Sonny.
Everyone realised they needed to find another stone for a safe return.
At the end of a long day, they decided to head back to the Meeting Place and search again in the morning.
They approached the boat landing stage near the island, and saw the other half of the clan, who’d searched to the north, were waiting for them. The excited group accompanying Sonny ran to pass on the news that a stone had been found. Everyone inspected the stone that they believed could open a gateway to the northern land.
‘How about you, any success, Sam?’ asked Casey.
‘Well, we’ve some here that we’re hopeful for. Look at these, Sonny.’
Sam’s group turned out their baskets onto the ground, showing a multitude of stones of all shades of black, of different shapes and sizes.
Sonny looked at the stones but quickly dismissed them all.
‘I’m sorry, these are not the ones we need,’ he said.
Sam’s face lit up with a smile, ‘But you may be interested in this.’
He held out his palm and showed a small stone the size of his thumb. In the dying light of the day, it reflected nothing back. The shape showed it had been through a tortured journey. The ragged and splintered edges, partly burnt and melted, seemed to tell of great violence as it had passed through the skies.
Sonny stood dumbstruck. He reached out to hold it, and the enormous weight for its size told him this must be one they were looking for.
Now it was Sonny’s turn to smile, ‘I would never believe that you could find two in one day. The river must be littered with them,’ he said.
The evening was a time of great anticipation. The clan came together to talk about the coming journey. Sam sat listening to the discussion around him, lost in his own thoughts.
‘This is no time to be a loner.’ Salli playfully prodded him in the ribs to make room for her to sit with him.
He took her hand in this and took a deep breath.
‘Oh no!’ she said. ‘Such a big breath means there’s something big coming.’
He smiled at her attempts to make light of the situation.
‘I’ve been thinking ...’ said Sam
‘Never a good sign,’ interrupted Salli.
‘This is a journey I need to go on alone.’
It was his wife’s turn to take a deep breath.
‘Will you tell me why?’
‘I’ve a bad feeling about this, that it will be dangerous. I could never live with myself if anything happened to you.’
‘I’ve already lost my daughter, and now you’re saying I should stay here, in case I lose my husband?’
‘I would never ask you to come with me unless I was absolutely sure it was safe. I’m not sure, and I do have a very bad feeling about this journey, so I’m asking you to trust me, and to be here when Lu returns.’
She turned quickly to touch his face, to look in his eyes. ‘Do you trust him?’ she asked.
‘Sonny? I trust him to get me through the gateway and to find Lulu. But I’m not sure how he’ll react when I bring her home. He’s spoken to Kerri. He told her his people believe Lulu is special to them for some reason. He said his people had seen her, whatever that means. If she’s special to them, I’m not sure they’re going to give her up without a fight.’
She sat and thought for some time about what Sam was saying.
‘Sam, we are stronger together,’ she said. ‘My life is your life.’
‘Please, Salli, when the time comes, trust me, and support me. I’m going to have to speak against Grandfather.’
Salli put her arm through his and rested against his shoulder, feeling his warmth and his strength. She had never known him to make a wrong decision, it always seemed to be instinct with him, but could she let him leave alone, unprotected into a strange land, with terrible dangers?
‘I need to ask one other thing. I need you to speak with Kerri. Please ask her to sit with Sonny this evening. He mustn’t be there and he mustn’t hear what’s being decided.’
She nodded in agreement, feeling an enormous sense of loss rush over her. She now knew that this evening, he was going to stand against the clan’s decision, something that had never been done before, and she was not going to let him stand alone.
They came together after dark, with the fire burning bright to chase away the shadows of the Meeting Place. Grandfather stood, and after some thought said,
‘It’s been a good day, and with luck, tomorrow we’ll find the border. If we do, we should lose no time in finding our children. We should take supplies and prepare for a journey of two weeks.’
There was a general nodding of agreement from those around the fire.
Grandfather continued, ‘We should take five people with us. We’ll need one person to carry each of the children, if the need arises, a leader, and someone to cover our return. It’s also important that we have enough people here to protect us if there’s a return of those cats. They must be shown that we’ll not allow any more of our children to be taken. Now that we know what we’re dealing with, I believe our unity we will stop any more intruders.’
There was a chorus of agreement from those sitting.
‘Then we only need to decide who’ll go,’ said Harri Boatman. ‘I’d like to volunteer.’
Sam sat listening, squeezing his hands together, waiting for his time to speak as the discussion moved on.
‘I suggest Sam, Harri Boatman, and Ned Woodman. The fathers of the taken children need to be there, to protect them, and a …’
‘No,’ Sam said quietly, and all conversation stopped. ‘No!’ he said again, getting to his feet.
He was committed now, and he pushed on with his thoughts. There was a stirring of those around him, not sure if they had heard correctly.
‘This is a journey for only one man,’ he said. ‘For me.’
There was a deathly silence. Only the crackling of the logs on the fire broke the stillness of the air. People were confused as to what Sam was saying. The decision of the clan had been made.
‘There are events happening at this moment which are outside our understanding. There are people in a faraway land that believe they can see different worlds.
‘I don’t know if that’s possible, but they believe they can, and I believe that they trust these ‘sights’ to decide their way in life. They believe they’ve seen our children.
‘If we enter their land, enter their lives as five determined men, coming to take what�
��s ours, to bring back what they believe they need to survive, then that’s a conflict waiting to happen. If I go alone, with only Sonny as a guide, then two people can travel faster, can hide easier if need be, and there’ll be more likelihood that I’ll be heard, rather than if five of us arrive with demands.
‘We know nothing about the land where the children have been taken. We don’t know of the people or their strengths. We can’t judge them by the words and actions of a boy who fell and injured his pride.’
Sam stood looking at the uncertain clan around him. In the flickering light of the fire, he felt very alone in the heavy silence. He felt a touch on his hand, and knew his wife was next to him. He did not need to look to know that she was standing with him.
‘I trust Sam with my life,’ Salli said. ‘As I trust him with the life of my daughter. I ask you to do the same with the lives of your children and the life of your future queen. I know no one will rest until the children are safe, and I believe that the way to make that happen is to trust Sam.’
Previous evening at Duma’s house.
She’d sat at the table an hour already, refusing to eat or drink, refusing to discuss anything. She was very angry. The footsteps echoing down the hall alerted her to the next visitor.
Calm and dignified, she told herself.
‘Ah, my dear, it’s so nice to meet you at last. I’ve been looking forward to ...’
‘You are so for it once my father gets here,’ she said, her eyes smoldering when she looked at him.
Damn, there goes the dignity! Well, stay calm, at least, she thought.
‘We look forward to welcoming your father with open arms, my dear.’
‘Where’s Holly, and where’s Carter?’
‘Why, they’re completing their training, as far as I’m aware.’
‘What training?’
‘They have agreed to help us, in this difficult time. Well, not only help us, but help your father also. Help your people, in fact.’
‘What are you talking about? Holly and Carter would never help you.’
‘Oh, but you’re mistaken, my dear.’
‘I’m not ‘your dear,’ so stop calling me ‘my dear.’ My name is Lucinda Southerland, daughter of Prince Samuel Southerland, granddaughter of King Willard Southerland, and one day future Queen of the River Plains. You may call me Miss Southerland.
‘Really,’ he laughed.
That laugh was forced, he’s shaken, she thought.
‘Really,’ she confirmed.
‘Well, I was not aware that I had a princess visiting my humble town. In that case, forgive me, I’m forgetting my manners. Visiting royalty should always be presented with a gift. Now what do I have suitable for a princess? Ah, I know, maybe you’d like to see a little treasure box we found recently, it’s ...’
‘You may keep your gifts, and your trinkets, and your foul-smelling dinners, they have no value to me. I want to see Holly and Carter.’
The sides of his false smile are dropping, he’s losing confidence, she thought.
‘Ah, now that’s something we may discuss. They are at this moment in the High Passes, helping to stop marauding creatures from invading our land and yours.’
‘Stopping marauding creatures!’ she said with incredulity, ‘They’re only children.’
He’s not looking me in the eye anymore, what’s he hiding? she thought.
‘Look, my dear, err, Miss Southerland, I think we may have got off on the wrong foot, I think ...’
‘There is no right foot to get off on when I’ve just been abducted and forced against my will to suffer your company.’
BANG! His hand came crashing down on the table.
A slip, she smiled to herself. The mask has slipped. I’ve got him. It was having the total belief that her father would find a way to rescue her which gave her the confidence to stand up to him.
‘Is this the part where you play the bad man?’ she asked coolly, looking him in the eye.
‘No, my dear, this is the part where you listen to what you’re told. You will help us to protect the High Pass, as your friends have done willingly,’
‘I don’t believe you.’ she said
‘And if you don’t, not only will it be the end for your friends, but also for your father, your people, and your land.’
‘You’re lying, I can see it in your eyes.’
‘No, my dear, you are misguided. The only way you’ll save your friends is by doing as you’re told.’
‘I want to see Holly and Carter.’
‘All in good time, my dear. Now, why don’t you eat your dinner? You’ll need your strength where you’re going.’
The clan left for the Northern Plains the following morning. No one was really sure what they were looking for or if the border would be found. Travelling north, Kerri fell in beside Sonny. They walked in silence for some time, both lost in their own thoughts, neither wanting to intrude into the other’s inner world.
After a while Kerri asked, ‘When you’re a cat, do you think like a cat or do you still think like a man?’
They walked on together, Sonny took a few moments to form his thoughts into something he could express to her.
‘When I’m a Lion,’ he corrected her. ‘I still think that I’m a man, I’m still aware of who I am and what I’m trying to do, but I feel as a Lion may feel. I feel strong and powerful and feel I can do anything.’
‘Is that why you keep making such silly decisions?’ she asked.
Sonny stopped and stared at her. ‘What silly decisions?’
‘Oh, like trying to keep attacking Sam? We heard of your ‘struggle’ in the forest,’ she said.
Sonny saw her eyes shone playfully.
‘I would’ve thought that making a mistake once would be enough to learn a lesson,’ she continued.
Sonny was struggling to find words to explain. He realised now that he’d been arrogant, but before he could answer, Kerri change the conversation again.
‘Do you think Holly still thinks as a girl, or does she let her feelings as a hound rule her decisions, like you?’
‘When we explained to her why we’d brought her to our land, I was told Holly made her own decision to stay and help us. We explained that if the Snow Bears conquer our land, they’ll seek out yours. They’ve seen your people change to hounds, so they’ll know there’s more land over the border. It’s only a matter of time before her family, your whole clan, will no longer be safe from them. She’s done this thing to protect you all.’
‘We don’t need protection.’
‘Now I think it’s you who’s being arrogant. You don’t understand what’s happening in the High Passes.’
‘I’m not being arrogant, I know what we’re capable of. You took her to protect yourselves,’ Kerri replied.
Sonny felt ashamed that she saw so easily through the lies the elders had told them, but he had not, until now. They walked on in silence for some time.
‘Why is it that you change into a cat, but Holly changes into a hound?’ Kerri asked.
‘When we taught her to look for the strength inside her own heart, we didn’t know what she would find. We think it’s because of our cultures that we change differently. We’re very individual as people. We often work alone in the high mountains, each one his own leader, similar to the Mountain Lion. Your people have different qualities which are closer to hounds.’
‘Like always finding something to eat or fetching sticks to play with,’ she laughed.
Sonny thought there was nothing that she didn’t know, his insults to Sam coming back to embarrass him again, but this time he laughed along.
‘I was thinking more like working well together as a team in times of need, as being loyal and fearless guardians to each other,’ Sonny said.
She looked at him, recognising the compliment he gave.
‘When the time comes, don’t try to stop Sam,’ she said.
Sonny looked closely at her and realised he’d just been given a
warning.
‘I can feel the hound rising in me. I think I need to find something to eat, come on,’ said Kerri.
They stopped on the edge of the pine forest, sharing the food they’d brought. Sam called Sonny over to join them as they sat, and offered him some of the fish they were eating.
‘I don’t like fish,’ Sonny replied.
‘You should eat, it’ll give you strength. You’ll need it later,’ said Kerri.
‘You sound like you’re telling me my future.’
‘I’m pointing out the obvious,’ Kerri replied.
‘What do you eat?’ asked Sam.
‘Well, we eat a lot of chicken and goats,’ he said.
Once again there was shocked silence as they sat looking at each other in disbelief.
‘If you eat your goats, where do you get your milk?’ Casey asked finally.
‘I don’t drink milk,’ Sonny said seriously.
‘So where do you get your cream?’ asked Kerri. ‘All cats like cream.’
The afternoon was hot and clear when the clan reached the Northern Plains. The rolling grasslands stretched forever into the distance.
‘No one has ever been known to cross the plains,’ said Grandfather. ‘We don’t know how much of it there is. This is the area our great uncle was last seen in.’
‘It sounds like our Desert Plateau. That land stretches endlessly, always looking the same. We think it’s an illusion. It needs a gateway stone to show us the border.’
‘Do you know how to find it?’ asked Sam.
Sonny removed the stone from the sack he’d been carrying. The release of the weight from his shoulders was an enormous relief. Holding it in his hands, Sonny turned the stone in the sunlight, fascinated by the black emptiness of its colour; it seemed to be a hole in the sunlight around him.
‘I’m told that a stone will start to shimmer and to make a humming noise when it’s close to the border,’ Sonny told them. ‘‘When it touches the ground it should open a gateway for us to pass through, but only until the stone crumbles.’
‘We have two stones. If we split up and go in different directions, we’ll have more chance of finding the border.’ said Grandfather.
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