Tregarthur's Promise

by Alex Mellanby

  Hugs over, I looked at the surrounding group. These were the cavemen we’d seen chasing the mammoth. Taller and more upright than the Trog Zach had killed. They had long straggly ginger hair and beards, each one had some covering made of skin. Parts of their bodies were painted in blue and red colours. Some had necklaces made of bone.

  The Stinkers, the name Sam gave to our new friends, waved and pushed us towards their huts. We stepped into a flattened mud circle surrounded by flimsy looking buildings made of reeds and branches. As we did the first few drops of rain started to fall and within seconds, torrents of water poured from the dark sky. The wind howled. The Stinkers ran around joining in the howling. Their leader, with the animal cloak, pushed us into a slightly larger hut.

  Inside the hut Demelza sat cross legged, holding a stone and grinding some kind of grain against a piece of wood. She looked a mess. Her hair, previously long, dark and glossy from using the most expensive products, now stuck to her head with dirt and yellow grease. She wore a skin, which covered only some of her and its half rotten state produced an overpowering stench. Her necklace was one of her only recognisable features. She seemed to take no interest in us.

  ‘Demelza?’ I squatted in front of her trying not to breathe in her smell. She looked up at me with blank eyes. After a few seconds she looked away and returned to pounding with her stone. The leader crouched beside her and lifted part of the deer skin to reveal an angry looking wound on her right thigh. Demelza tugged the skin back over her leg.

  Then the caveman stood, stabbed at his chest with a finger and howled: ‘Cro...oo...ow.’

  It sounded a bit like ‘Crow’ and we decided that must be his name.

  He pointed at me and said, ‘Haarfer.’

  ‘Actually ...’ I felt Sam grab me by the arm.

  ‘Just agree with him. I think ‘Haarfer’ or whatever he calls you is important.’

  ‘Haarfer!’ Crow repeated. He beamed and banged me on the shoulder.

  I pointed to the others saying, ‘Ivy and Sam’.

  Crow couldn’t say the names and soon gave up trying. But he gave Ivy a wide grin. I tried again to talk to Demelza but before I could say anything Crow grunted something like, ‘Ass.’ That sounded like a perfect name for Demelza and she appeared to recognise ‘Ass’ because she stopped pounding and gave Crow a brief glare.

  Crow pointed at the beast’s skin over his shoulder, slipped off the cloak and brought the head up towards Demelza. She gave a scream which pierced the air, pierced the storm and brought other Stinkers to stare at us. Crow waved them away. Demelza dropped her stone and cowered against the side of the hut with her hands over her head, sobbing. Crow gave a sort of laugh, put the cloak back on and strode out of the hut, leaving us staring at Demelza.

  ‘I think we’ve found the sniffing thing,’ Ivy said.

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Sam.

  ‘I guess Crow is wearing the remains of it. They must have killed Ryan’s sniffer. That’s how she escaped.’ Ivy knelt down in front of Demelza.

  ‘After it killed Zach and the other two,’ I said. ‘That’s what must have happened in the cave. Killing the beast made all those marks in the sand. It makes sense. Demelza probably watched the beast attacking them and that’s when she injured her leg.’ I looked down at her and said, ‘Hard to imagine – being at school together.’

  ‘You weren’t, much,’ Ivy said.

  Demelza went back to pounding grain, taking no notice of us. Crow returned carrying an animal skin bag that slopped with liquid. It opened at the neck and was bound with twine. Crow offered it to me, I retched at the smell. Crow laughed and banged me on the arm.

  ‘Got to do it.’ Sam pointed at the skin bag. Sam had always learnt to give in rather than resist but this time I thought it was the right decision.

  I took a swig, looked away and passed it to Sam without saying anything. My throat burnt and my eyes started streaming. Crow gave another howling laugh. I dodged another slap. Crow just grunted and grinned to show his broken yellow teeth. He made us drink again. It wasn’t offered to Demelza or Ivy.

  The storm, which had hit so suddenly, disappeared with the same speed. We left the hut and watched the Stinkers repairing damage. Crow’s hut had survived mostly intact. The circle of bare earth had become a muddy bog and the Stinkers were covered with the mud.

  One hut sat further away from the circle. Two Stinkers were standing outside, looking as though they were guarding something or someone.

  Sam seemed to be feeling the effects of the drink. He swayed and collapsed on the ground giggling. Having mended the huts, the Stinker men whooped and grunted, drinking more and tearing at an animal they’d caught, the raw meat dripping blood into their beards as they ate. Crow threw some to us.

  ‘What is it?’ Ivy sniffed the meat.

  ‘Sss ... some ... sss ... sort of deer ... I guess,’ Sam slurred his words, but was still trying to be the animal expert.

  ‘Who cares? I’m hungry,’ I said ripping off chunks and sticking them into my mouth. It tasted better than smoked meat. Sam and Ivy took a few small bites.

  The women had returned to pounding grain, as Demelza had been doing. They mixed the pounded grain with water, moulded it into balls, and placed them on leaves to dry in the sun which became hot after the storm.

  The rest of the day was a blur. We slept off the effects of their drink. On waking, the eating and drinking started again. One of the women brought us some more meat and some of the grain balls.

  ‘Do we sleep in Crow’s hut?’ I looked down at Sam already lying on the ground.

  ‘Dunno ... don’t care,’ Sam groaned. It might be his head that hurt but at least he had mostly recovered from the hornet stings.

  Crow appeared and waved us into his hut. Animal skins had been left for us to sleep on. Demelza, already asleep, twitched violently in a dream as we entered.

  Ivy hadn’t been given the drink and had wandered around the camp. Now, she joined us making the hut crowded. Crow snored loudly in the night.

  Next day, I woke through a haze of drink and sniffed. What’s that ... stink? I sniffed again and screwed up my nose. I jolted, Crow’s animal cloak was right up against my face with the eyes of the dead beast staring at me.

  Crow must have left earlier and Ivy wasn’t there either, but Demelza and Sam slept on. I left them sleeping and went looking for water. A group of male Stinkers sat in the mud circle and watched me come out of the hut. One of them handed me another skin bag, I’d expected it to contain more of their strong drink, but it was only water. I saw Ivy sitting with the women at the other side of the hut circle. I took a step towards her but she held up her hand and shook her head, it seemed to be an all woman group.

  Even though the Stinkers were very smelly, that was nothing compared to the whiff I smelt walking out of the hut circle for a pee. Crow and several of the others were cutting up the remains of the mammoth with sharp stones. The tusks had been removed and set on one side. The belly of the huge beast had been cut open and its insides slopped like jelly on the grass. Flies gathered in swarms. I retched; Crow and the others grunted, almost laughed, at me before going back to their work.

  The Stinkers were working away beside a small stream. I could see it ran off away down the side of the hill. A little distance away the hill dipped into a deep ravine and I could make out a bridge made of creepers. I walked over and looked down and saw a river at the bottom. Another group of Stinkers sat near to the bridge. They stood up as I walked towards them. I thought they might stop me if I went towards the bridge and I didn’t think this was the right time to find out.

  I went back and found Sam squatting on the ground trying to talk to Demelza. He had little effect. He kept calling her ‘Demelza’, but she didn’t respond, so he gave up and ‘Ass’ became her name. When she did react, she would lo
ok at him for a few seconds and then look away. Nothing in her eyes suggested that she recognised any of us.

  ‘I think she’s in some sort of trance,’ Sam said looking up.

  ‘Probably something in the cave, watching what happened to Zach and the others.’ I imagined the sights she might have seen. ‘Maybe she saw them being eaten.’

  Ivy appeared at the entrance to the hut. ‘Perhaps we shouldn’t talk about that for a while, at least not in front of her.’

  ‘Do you think we’re prisoners?’ Sam asked.

  ‘No idea,’ I replied although I thought we might be. ‘I’d like to know what’s in that other hut.’

  ‘I tried to walk towards it but the women stopped me,’ said Ivy. ‘They were quite worried and kept grunting something.’

  ‘Well I guess the only way to find out is just to go for it, come on.’ It seemed to me that we had to do something, waiting to find out might be a bad idea.

  ‘But what if ...’ stammered Sam.

  ‘We’ll find out. Won’t we.’ I set off. I heard a shout from behind and saw the two Stinkers by our hut jump up holding their clubs. I walked faster with Ivy and Sam lagging behind.

  There was another shout. This time from Crow and the two guarding the hut moved aside. I peered in and at first saw nothing in the dark.

  As my eyes adjusted to the dim light in the hut I saw someone sitting on the floor. I thought he was another one of the Stinkers – he looked and smelt like one.

  I jumped when he looked up and in a croaky voice said: ‘Hello. So she did come back. Thank heavens, now I can go.’

  He looked the same sort of age as my dad and I thought he looked like someone dad did business with. Maybe it was the way he spoke but I didn’t trust him.

  ‘You’ll like it here,’ he said trying to hide a sneer.

  Crow arrived at the entrance along with a crowd of the Stinkers. They pushed Sam and Ivy aside. Crow grunted some more words at the man who nodded and then the Stinkers disappeared leaving the four of us.

  ‘Help me up.’ The man held out his hand. ‘My leg’s not so good.’

  I did as he asked, grasped his hand and pulled him to his feet. He grimaced as he put weight on his left leg which was bent and deformed. I stared at it.

  ‘Broke it. Slipped.’ He didn’t seem to want to explain.

  ‘Who are you?’ asked Ivy.

  ‘You don’t know?’ He gave me a worried look. ‘Let me get out into the sun.’ And he started forward.

  ‘Wait.’ I held my hand up. He might be older than me but I wanted some answers. ‘We’re not going anywhere until you tell me who you are.’

  ‘Is that right? Brave boy are you – think you can tell me what to do?’ He looked as though he might hit me.

  He definitely sounded like someone dad might have known but I’d learnt some things from my family and I wasn’t going to let him frighten me. ‘Tell me.’

  ‘What does it matter who I am?’

  ‘I think I can guess who you are, but I need to know,’ I said.

  ‘He even looks a bit similar,’ added Ivy although with all the dirt I thought it hard to tell.

  ‘Eh?’ said Sam who appeared to have no idea what we were talking about.

  ‘So?’ the man said, tightly holding my arm. ‘So, I’m David. Not that it matters. Who are you?’

  ‘That would be David Tregarthur? You’re Alice’s brother.’ Ivy didn’t answer his question.

  Ivy’s words seemed to hit him. His head dropped and he slumped back to the floor. ‘That’s right. Where is she? She promised to come back for me along with ...’ He stopped suddenly as though he had said too much.

  ‘The full story,’ I demanded, feeling stronger.

  ‘Yeah, yeah. But I want to get out of this hut before I tell you.’

  I helped him up again and we made our way out into the sun. David led us to a tree, slid down the trunk and rested his back against it. I thought he was deciding what to tell us. I really didn’t trust him. Neither apparently did the Stinkers who had spread out around the camp and looked ready to stop any escape.

  ‘What do you want to know?’ David said eventually.

  ‘Everything,’ said Ivy firmly and I was glad she backed me up.

  ‘And that means everything.’ I tried to growl – like dad would have done. ‘And not some made up story you’ve just invented.’

  ‘You can’t frighten me. School kids,’ David replied. ‘Don’t even think that you can. Not with that lot around. They’ll be all over you.’ And he waved at the Stinkers. ‘We’re all friends here.’

  ‘Just tell it,’ Ivy said and placed her hand on my arm.

  ‘First you have to tell me, is my sister here? They’ve found someone. Is that Alice?’

  That didn’t sound to me like the Stinkers were his friends.

  Ivy started to say something but I stopped her. ‘We’re not saying anything until you tell us what happened.’

  ‘That means it’s not her.’ David looked down at the ground. ‘It’s just you three useless kids. There’s no hope for any of us now.’

  He stopped and closed his eyes. I leant forward. I was close to hitting him. Maybe I’d learnt too much from my family, but I didn’t care. Just because he was older didn’t mean he could get away with lies.

  The sun must have caught me when David looked up. There was some mixture of horror and sudden shock on his face. ‘You’re Theresa’s boy aren’t you?’

  ‘What?’ I stepped back.

  ‘Same eyes. You must be Alvin.’

  ‘What?’ I said again, not getting my mind to work. The teacher’s words, her hanging around my house, her screams in the earthquake, my mother’s face – it all whirled in my brain. ‘What’s Mum got to do with any of this? Is she here?’

  I could see by the look on his face that she wasn’t, but there was something more, something worse. ‘Tell me. NOW.’

  ‘Easy boy.’ David shuffled his weight against the tree. ‘It’s far too long a story to tell you all of it now. My father has been coming here for ages, studying this lot.’ He pointed towards Crow. ‘Alice has been helping him. This time I came along too.’

  ‘So you can get back. How?’ interrupted Ivy.

  I gave Ivy a nasty look. I needed to know about Mum.

  ‘The tunnel, of course.’ David looked puzzled.

  ‘It’s blocked, no way through, there was some sort of earthquake,’ Ivy said.

  David gave a forced laugh. ‘Well that’s sorted it, sorted it properly, we’ve all had it.’

  ‘MUM?’ I yelled.

  ‘Bad news, really bad news.’ The way David said it made me sure he wasn’t going to tell the whole truth.

  ‘Go on,’ I said.

  ‘You need to know about this from the beginning.’ David wasn’t looking at me as he spoke. ‘Alice wanted to show me what they’d found here. It had been their secret for years. Anyway we came.’

  ‘And ... Mum ... Theresa?’ I wanted to know but I was scared of what he might say.

  ‘I’d met her a while before. We were together.’ He gave me a half guilty look. ‘Living together. We came here together.’

  ‘You’re the bloke she ran off with?’ I was angry but my voice broke. ‘Ran off and left me.’

  ‘No choice.’

  ‘No choice!’ I screamed. ‘Dumping me. They’re going to throw me out.’

  My shout seemed to make the Stinkers restless.

  David looked at me as though what he was saying was obvious. ‘Like I said, no choice. You know what your crazy family would have done if we’d hung around.’

  ‘But dad’s in jail,’ I choked on the words. I might not like what dad did but he was my dad. ‘How could he do anything?’

 
‘He’d have paid someone to do it. We had to run. Couldn’t get much further away than here.’ He tried to smile.

  That made sense. My dad’s so called business meant he had a lot of contacts. Even in jail it wouldn’t have been difficult to pay someone to go looking for my mum and her bloke. But I wasn’t going to tell David that he was right.

  ‘Your mother was too scared,’ David added as though that made it better.

  ‘Where is she?’ I said trying to keep my voice down. I didn’t want the Stinkers to stop us talking. ‘Is she dead or is that part of some lie you’re making up?’

  David didn’t give a straight answer but he went on: ‘We’d been here for a while. The plan was to use this tribe, show them to the world. It would make us famous. Alice was really taken with the idea. I couldn’t see how it would work, neither could Theresa, we wanted to go back. Then the tribe got all funny about us leaving.’ David stopped and I could hear sounds of the Stinkers closing in.

  ‘Go on, quick.’

  ‘Alice and my father escaped. Alice promised she’d get some help and come back to rescue me. That’s about it. They’ve held me sort of captive ever since. I hurt my leg trying to escape.’

  I could see that this was just a small part of it and David was hiding the rest. I had too many questions. Why hadn’t he escaped with Alice? Why was Alice trying to escape anyway? And most of all, what about Mum? I wasn’t convinced that anything he said was true. But at that moment Crow arrived with several of the Stinkers, grabbed David and marched him back to his hut.

  ‘But Mum?’ I shouted after him.

  There was nothing I could do. Crow came back with a big grin and the Stinkers started grunting away to each other.

  ‘The Stinkers do use some sort of words,’ Ivy said. ‘I think David Tregarthur understands them.’

  ‘And he’s lying about everything.’ I tried to push against Crow but he wouldn’t let me past. ‘He’s never going to tell me what happened to Mum.’ I felt defeated.