Icefall

by Hallowes, Guy

Tanya said, 'If it's alright we will spend the night here and leave with you early in the morning. It may take a week to get back home. And we have our own rations, so don't worry about that.'

  There were looks of relief from the Banksia folk.

  The group clattered off at first light. Tanya had persuaded Joseph and his wife Cath to accompany them. They had two spare horses for the God Botherers, who were initially suspicious, but soon persuaded it was in their best interests. Two men from the God Botherers accompanied the party, but they tried to keep to themselves during the journey.

  Tanya had become aware that Tom, one of the young men in her group, had started to take more than a passing interest in her personally. Stupid little shit. This is all I need.

  The night before the party was due to arrive at The Bandstand, camp was established in a place they had used on their outward journey. As was her now well-established habit, Tanya checked on the horses during the night and took the opportunity to relieve herself, hidden from the camp, behind some nearby bushes. As she returned, Tom unexpectedly appeared on the path. 'Hello Tom,' she said quietly as she tried to ease past him. He blocked the way. 'Tom, get out of the way, please, or you will get a lot more than you bargained for.'

  Tom made a pass at her, and said, 'I love you, I want to make love to you.'

  'Love, you stupid little bugger! Lust, more like. You are a good member of The Academy, but I have no other interest in you. I will count to three. If you don't let go of my arm you … '

  When Tom tightened his grip, he found himself upended, his head smashed hard into the ground.

  Momentarily stunned, Tom found Tanya's foot on his throat. 'Get up you silly little idiot and go back to bed. If I hear one more word of this nonsense you will be put on a formal charge.'

  Tom stumbled off. Being tall and good looking, Tanya supposed he wasn't used to being turned down.

  During the rest of the journey, Tanya gave Tom all the horrid little jobs that needed doing around the camp, such as collecting and burying rubbish and burying the fire. The women in the group somehow understood without a word being said and cooperated. Tom made no protest and tried to keep out of Tanya's way.

  Rachel said to her quietly, when they were alone, 'It looks as if you sorted Tom out. He has been making all sorts of inappropriate comments about you for weeks now. Some of the other girls have had similar problems.'

  The group arrived back at their home in the mountains a week after they had left Banksia, having spent a night at The Bandstand on the way through. Their guests were impressed by The Bandstand, even in its depleted state, but were completely overwhelmed by The Settlement. All were encouraged to stay a few days. The God Botherers soon found soul mates in Donald Weatherspoon and his church group, now an enthusiastic exponent of multi-faith activities, almost as if he had thought it up himself. Joseph and Cath spent their time at one of the dairies and with Graham and his furniture manufacture.

  When Tanya had recovered and caught up with Mark and the family, she met with David and gave him a detailed update.

  'Well, Caroline and I have now come to an agreement. The proposal is to formally merge The Settlement and The Bandstand. Caroline will have a seven and a half percent share of the merged company. The arrangement needs ratification by both our board and their management committee, but she doesn't see a problem as she is the owner there anyway. I will be moving to The Bandstand with hopefully fifty volunteers from here.'

  'Okay, that is reasonable. But we also need to think about these two new groups. They are both extremely vulnerable, making us vulnerable too. Banksia is only a week's ride from here. At least another fifty people from here need somewhere to go, plus the fifty we hope will move to The Bandstand. Maybe the arrangement with Caroline will give us a basis for coming to some sort of agreement with both the other groups.' She hesitated before adding, 'If possible, only the strongest people should move, otherwise they will fail and we'll be in a worse position.'

  'No need to rush. Absorbing The Bandstand is a big deal. Let's see how it goes and understand all the pitfalls first. If we encourage these other groups to visit, maybe they will come up with something we can work with, even if it's security related first.'

  'When are you actually moving?'

  'Soon, but I will be back at least monthly and I hope you will reciprocate. But, you wanted time to think … Are you comfortable with everything?'

  'I'm quite comfortable,' said Tanya, without expressing any of her doubts regarding Mark. 'Mark thinks his role should focus on the wider security issues, bearing in mind the absorption of The Bandstand and these other new groups. And Jonathan has told him we should try to secure the Port of Newcastle sooner rather than later.'

  'Newcastle's years away,' said David, waving his hand dismissively.

  'I think things will be much the same, with you and me providing the impetus like always,' Tanya continued, more calmly than she felt. 'We do need to think of the succession down the track. How long can you continue at your current energy levels?'

  'Dunno, that's why it's really important who accompanies me to The Bandstand.'

  David was focussed on moving to his new life and wasn't yet prepared to have a wider discussion about the future. So Tanya tried to engage Mark in a philosophical conversation about the geographic expansion of The Settlement, the capacity, and the reasons for actually doing it.

  'In order to secure ourselves, we need to somehow control the area from here to the coast,' she told him. 'Absorbing The Bandstand is a first step, but it needs to go beyond that.'

  While Mark could see the sense in it, he was still getting used to the idea that Tanya would now formally take over. He hadn't considered that initiative and wondered if she was merely trying to exert further control.

  Mark said, 'We need to make sense of the changes with The Bandstand, and possibly future associations with Banksia and the God Botherers. I think any kind of discussion beyond that is getting way ahead of ourselves.'

  'Doesn't it make sense to have some sort of plan?' she argued.

  'Too early,' he said.

  Tanya thought, I will find someone else to bounce ideas off.

  David openly discussed his plans to move to The Bandstand. He had recruited most of the settlers and was liked and well respected. Tanya, on the other hand, while well respected was seen as quite ruthless. They respected the times she had saved the community, but people still wished she could have handled things more gently. Many were still horrified by the death of the raiders.

  Tanya tried to avoid the talk, but if confronted she responded promptly. 'You weren't there. Would you have preferred to see our people hurt or killed? Join the rescue party next time. And I can assure you there'll be a next time.'

  Normally people scuttled off at that point, but many in the village wondered what life would be like without David's moderating influence. He had no difficulty in persuading twenty families, including some of the medical staff, to accompany him and move to The Bandstand permanently.

  Chapter Thirty

  Expansion, Continued

  When Caroline recovered, she and David quietly moved to The Bandstand.

  Tanya accepted David's advice to occupy his office.

  'I think it's really important as people need to see you as the boss. When I visit, I will take a small corner of Joe's office.'

  Mark unobtrusively moved into her old office.

  David was well acquainted with Bandstand affairs and left much of the daily business to Caroline. Initially, he focussed on aligning the rules of governance between the villages, including right of occupation for individual properties and settlement laws. All the individual business operations were sold off to the occupants in The Bandstand and "New Settlement Pty Ltd" was formed. David discussed every new proposal with Caroline before it was put to the board.

  While Caroline was strong and fair, and had nothing but the interests of New Settlement at heart, she did not have Tanya's legal background, her ruthlessness, and
her ability to think ahead. David missed Tanya's input so he arranged for Joe to rig up a solar-powered phone line between the two communities.

  'It's just a direct line between your office and Tanya's office,' Joe told David. 'I don't have the equipment to do anything more elaborate. We should have done this long ago.' Now there was ongoing daily contact as well as the monthly reciprocal visit.

  As a consequence of the raid, Caroline persuaded Mark to establish a branch of The Academy at The Bandstand. Many Bandstand people were already involved in The Academy, so the training and ethics were easily transferred.

  'I will take responsibility for the training,' Mark told Caroline. 'I need to get closer to Banksia and the God Botherers anyway, to see how we can help them and incorporate them into New Settlement somehow.'

  Mark and five Academy-trained people had helped return the stolen cattle to Banksia and the God Botherers. Joseph had seen the benefit of an association with New Settlement and had come to trust them, Mark in particular.

  During the ten day cattle drive back to Banksia, Joseph confided, 'Tanya asked me about nearby settlements and I told her most had been destroyed. However, there's a large establishment I didn't mention, another four or five days' ride from Banksia. They've made their base in Brisbane Waters National park, near Woy-Woy. I've been there once at their invitation. Their leader calls himself Thor and they run the place differently. Thor is an absolute dictator and his word is law. Any dissent is quickly quashed, either by execution or expulsion. If you're looking for stability in this area, you'll need to meet with him.'

  'What did he want from you?' asked Mark.

  'I don't know. Maybe to frighten me. He knew we were too small to threaten his place. Perhaps he wants to expand his influence and was testing the water. I don't think he has any idea how to achieve his ambitions, other than by brute force.'

  'Would we be safe and welcome if we tried to visit?'

  'Maybe. I'll get word to him and see what gives.'

  Mark spent the journey getting to know Joseph, trying to work out whether he could be trusted. He concluded Joseph was his own man and looked after his own interests. Neither Mark nor anyone else could rely on his cooperation unless loyalty was earned.

  When he discussed it with Tanya later, she added thoughtfully, 'How do we cement our relationship with him?'

  'If Joseph turns to Thor instead of us for support, it will diminish our standing. So the first priority is making sure Joseph sees us as his ally. And we'll need Thor's friendship too, or at least his neutrality. Any kind of conflict with him will undoubtedly harm us.'

  'Okay, what do you suggest? You spent quite a long time over there.'

  'We can offer immediate help with Banksia's security,' said Mark. 'Firstly, reducing access to their site from the East. It would make an attack from Thor more difficult. We might send Jason, and maybe Susan, to install solar on their houses too.'

  'Once all that is done what sort of hold will we have on them?'

  'Knowledge sharing—access to our stock breeding programs and Academy participation. We could encourage Thor's young people to join The Academy as well.'

  'Okay, we'll have to discuss costs and the payback with David.'

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Thor

  After several months, word came from Joseph that a small party from The Settlement would be welcome to visit Thor's place, renamed by Mark as, "The Vikings".

  Joseph also wrote, "Thor has asked to give him two weeks' notice of the visit."

  'We need to be really well-prepared,' she told the board, and with a straight face, 'otherwise, it'll be like standing bare arsed to the northern wind … '

  'Tanya!' said David, as they all laughed. 'Any suggestions?'

  'Mark and I are concerned that if we take the invitation at face value, we might be vulnerable, from what we've learned of Thor.'

  'What do you mean by that?' asked David.

  'Well, if a small group of five went to The Vikings, with no back up, we really would be putting ourselves at Thor's mercy. He could imprison or kill us.'

  'Why would he do that?'

  'He may see us a threat. We know he tolerates no opposition at all within his own organisation. People have been killed or expelled for displeasing him.'

  'Why communicate with him at all?' asked Patricia.

  'If we just ignore him, Banksia will form an alliance with The Vikings,' answered Mark. 'That could be very dangerous for us. Banksia is less than seven days' ride away. Sooner or later, we will have to deal with The Vikings.'

  'Okay, Tanya, please go on,' said David.

  'Five of us will go to Banksia and continue on … '

  She and Mark then spelt out in detail what they had in mind.

  'Is all this necessary?' asked David.

  'Yes,' interjected Mark. 'We cannot risk arriving there unprotected.'

  'Goodwill!' said an incredulous Chloe, having considered the proposal. 'It sounds more like an invasion.'

  'We will call it goodwill,' said Tanya smiling. 'By that time, Thor won't be able to do anything about it anyway.'

  The room was uncomfortably silent; unsure about the plan.

  'Do you think we should go at all?' asked Caroline.

  Not answering directly, Tanya said, 'The raid on The Bandstand tells us we must protect ourselves. The best way of doing that is expansion. As Mark has said, Banksia is really waiting for us to show our credentials. If we don't go to The Vikings, Banksia will be lost to us and absorbed into Thor's group. That is dangerous. At the moment, The Vikings are quite a long way from here, but Banksia is much closer.'

  'Why don't we use the helicopter?' asked Patricia.

  'Once we land we are dead meat,' answered Tanya. 'We may never be allowed to take off again if there's bad will on Thor's side.'

  The group gradually tried to absorb what they were being told by Tanya and Mark. Most wished they had never heard of Thor.

  'If we sit here and do nothing, we will end up defending ourselves in difficult circumstances,' said Mark. 'Thor may be full of goodwill, and then the plan is unnecessary, but we should be prepared. We'll never be in a position to absorb their establishment, but if we are strong, we will be able to maintain a cooperative relationship based on respect. Thor will value that over time. We will benefit in keeping The Vikings confined to their own patch for the time being at least.'

  'Who goes to The Vikings in the first instance?' asked David.

  Many suggestions were put forward and for one reason or another rejected.

  'We need to take some of our younger people,' insisted Tanya, once it had been agreed she and Mark would lead the group, 'to showcase our talent, so to speak.'

  'Who do you have in mind?'

  'Kim, Jason, and Rachel are the obvious ones,' answered Mark.

  'Both our children,' said a nervous Patricia.

  Tanya and Mark led a rapid ride to Banksia, taking just five days and bypassing the God Botherers' village. They had already sent a messenger to Joseph giving Thor the requested two weeks' notice.

  'Keep your eyes skinned,' Mark instructed on arrival. 'My guess is that within half an hour of our arrival, a messenger will be sent to Thor advising there are only five of us. Don't do anything, we just need to know.'

  The party was greeted warmly by Joseph and the Banksia residents. While Tanya and Mark were feted, the three younger members of the party tended the horses and set up camp, knowing there was no spare accommodation. All three had extensive experience in the bush and took it in turns to walk off unobtrusively into the surrounding areas to observe.

  As they were about to return to the main festivities, Rachel said to the other two, 'The horse tethered fifty metres down the track over there has now gone. I did a quick count of the greeting party, but I'm guessing there will be one less now.'

  Minutes after they had joined the main group, Rachel whispered to Kim, 'One missing, a young teenage boy. They must think we're really stupid.'

  'We
'd better tell Tanya.'

  'No hurry. She probably knows anyway; she will have kept her eyes open.'

  Later that night, Rachel quietly told Tanya what they'd observed. 'Teenage boy,' said Tanya contemptuously. 'I saw him creeping off. Totally predictable.'

  'Joseph has agreed to accompany us to The Vikings. He seems very nervous,' Mark told Tanya as they retired to their two man tent.

  'He may be playing a double game, or maybe Thor has found a way to force him into it. We are well enough prepared, I think.'

  Two days later, they set off for The Vikings, with Jason leading a packhorse with a solar power unit, sent to Banksia in advance. He would be able to install it in a day or so. It was intended as a gift of goodwill for Thor.

  Hours after Mark and Tanya and the group had left for The Vikings, much to the amazement of the remaining residents at Banksia, seventy-two, well-disciplined, well-armed Settlement troops clattered into the untidy village. As arranged, Roger, in charge of the whole operation, had instructed eight members of the group to bypass Banksia and cover all known exits.

  'There may be more than one messenger,' advised Roger.

  The group proceeded as planned, completely ignoring the local residents. Within half a day there was a loud explosion a short distance away.

  The second group returned a few hours later. 'The trees are all down so that access route is totally blocked now.' Roger had checked and was satisfied that two access routes had been blocked, just leaving the gorge route open.

  The group had a meal and it appeared to the bemused residents they were about to make camp and stay the night. However, Roger had separately instructed each ten person troop, 'Lead the horses on foot down the gorge route, be very careful in the dark and be quiet.'

  In the morning Cath, Joseph's wife, stood with the remaining members of the village in the area where she had expected to find Roger's troop and tried to understand what was going on.