‘We can’t stay up here,’ Sam said again, trying unsuccessfully to dodge the rocks.
‘Just have to fight them,’ I started to get down, ready to fight. We couldn’t win but it would be better than being stoned to death.
But from near the base of the tree, in a bush covered hollow, came a growl. The small sabre-tooth tiger Sam chased had been a young animal, although I didn’t say that to Sam. In the bushes near the base of the tree were the rest of the family. It seemed that the Stinkers had become a noisy threat.
The Stinkers tried to run as two huge animals sprang out followed by several smaller tigers. Running seemed to make it worse. The tigers’ massive paws tore into the cavemen. The Stinkers didn’t make it far across the plain. One animal caught the new leader on the run – the cloak seemed to draw the animals on, as though they wanted revenge for their lost relative. We watched as another Stinker was ripped apart. The massacre moved further away.
‘Let’s go – quick.’ Ivy shuffled down the tree. We all followed. Even Demelza moved. She almost fell out of the tree in the hurry to escape.
I glanced down at the body of Crow. There was nothing we could do for him.
‘Come on,’ Sam called.
We ran, making for the track up the hill. I kept looking over my shoulder, but the animals had enough to do. Puffing and panting we scrambled up the track. I gave a vague thought wondering if this track had been made by the Stinkers or the animals.
No stopping and Demelza ran the fastest, the sight of the sabre-tooth tigers seemed to frighten her into action. We could still hear the screams below. Much later, we collapsed onto the grass, looking down on the plain. All was quiet now until a long howl pierced the silence, followed by an echoing answer.
‘We’ve got to keep going.’ I struggled to my feet and urged them on.
The path faded out when we reached the trees. On we went, slowing to a walk when we could run no further. Finally the trees parted.
‘That’s it.’ Sam slumped down beside a stream. ‘They can eat me if they want, I’m not going any further.’
I took one look back before I joined the others on the bank.
‘I guess that’s how evolution works,’ Ivy said rubbing her bruises.
‘Eh?’ Sam asked and I was glad it was Sam who asked because I didn’t know what Ivy meant either.
‘Survival of the fittest. The Stinkers are dying out, no children and now the sabre-tooth tigers have hurried up the process.’
‘That’s awful,’ Sam’s hushed voice hung in the air.
‘They’d have killed us,’ I said.
‘Killed you,’ said Ivy. ‘I think death might have been better than their plans for me and Demelza. I just don’t understand why they thought it would work.’
Neither Sam nor I seemed to want to ask more questions about that, so we waited.
‘Why could they think it was just the women’s fault that there weren’t any children.’ Ivy huffed at our bewildered faces. ‘It takes two to make a baby.’
‘Oh,’ was the best comment I could make. ‘Anyway I guess that’s the end of the promise.’
I looked around for somewhere to sleep. It wasn’t just the end of the promise but the end of any chance of finding out what had really happened to my mum. Or of finding out how to get out of here.
Burial
-16-
‘There’s something we have to do.’ Ivy stood in front of us.
I rubbed my eyes, only just awake. I’d slept an exhausted sleep. I looked around. Demelza had crawled off and almost lay in the stream.
Sam sat up. ‘Where are we?’
‘The path didn’t take us to the top of the hill,’ replied Ivy. ‘I’ve been looking around. We’re back –’
‘Oh no,’ interrupted Sam standing up. ‘We’re back below the cave, the sniffer cave ... the bones ...’ Sam groaned.
‘Like I said, there’s something we have to do.’ Ivy’s face set firm. ‘We’ve got to go back to the cave and bury the bones.’
‘But they’re only bones,’ Sam argued. ‘It’s ... that cave ...’
‘We should have done it before.’ Ivy turned to look up the hill.
‘Demelza will go wild if we try and take her to that cave.’ Sam pointed at her.
‘Making her remember might wake her up.’ I looked up the hill trying to see how far we needed to go.
‘It might kill her,’ Sam said.
‘That might be better than being like a zombie,’ I said and Ivy gave me a rather fierce look. ‘Let’s see how she is when we get there.’ I tried to sound a bit more caring.
We set off.
‘There may still be Stinkers about,’ said Sam looking over his shoulder.
‘I don’t think that tribe is going to come after us now.’ I didn’t look back and we saw no sign of the Stinkers or sniffers or anything else.
The four of us trudged along the stream. Demelza stopped cooperating. For most of the way, Sam had to hold Demelza’s hand and half drag her. She needed more dragging as we climbed. The sky clouded over and now, high up in the heavy damp air, the wind started to blow harder.
Sam turned to me. ‘We’re getting close to the cave and we’ll have to spend the night somewhere. I don’t think we can make Demelza sleep in there.’
But our chance to make any decision soon disappeared. A short distance from the cave the weather turned with a savage blast of wind. We were used to the sky suddenly turning black and drenching us with rain. We had to take cover fast and ran for the cave, even Demelza seeming to sense the urgency. The rain started. Then it started to hail; chunks of ice fell from the black sky whipped by gale force winds. We staggered into the dark silent cave.
Demelza’s wail broke the silence with a scream a thousand times worse than the noises she had made in the camp. Her cry could be heard against the storm, it made me shiver and she wouldn’t stop. I knew it was the cry of someone who had seen her companions eaten alive in the same cave.
I slapped her face. I’d heard that worked for people who got hysterical. It didn’t stop her screaming. She hit me back and kept on howling.
‘Stop!’ shouted Sam and dragged her out into the storm.
The hail and rain seemed to calm her. She sat on the sodden grass shivering with water running down her face and she either slept or passed out. Sam and Ivy carried her limp body back into the cave and tried to dry her.
‘At least the water has washed off some of the smell,’ I said rubbing the side of my face where Demelza had caught me with her punch.
Ivy gave me a malicious look. The worst of the storm passed.
‘Alright let’s get on with it,’ I said moving towards the back of the cave.
In the damp half-light, we gathered up all bones we thought were human.
‘Seems so few to make a person.’ I looked at the small pile, before we put them into the backpacks to carry. Leaving Sam with Demelza we left the cave.
‘Can we dig a grave?’ Ivy looked around the hillside. ‘If we don’t, then the bones are going to be found by other animals.’
‘The ground is too hard.’ I didn’t want to spend the night digging in the rain. ‘I think I saw a hole above the cave – can we use that?’
We carried the bones up the slope. Ivy tried to be gentle placing the remains into the hole but there were too many bone pieces and she gave up and just dropped them in, filling the top with stones and covering it over with soil and grass. On top of the grave I put the largest stone I could move. Ivy scratched their names on the rock using a piece of flint. Then we stood in the drizzling rain together, not knowing what to say. I was thinking about my mother and what might have really happened. Then we stumbled back down to the cave.
When we woke next day, Demelza was sitting on the grass. She
seemed much the same, although perhaps her eyes were a little brighter. Setting off Sam didn’t have to pull her arm so hard, even though she went at a slow pace.
Returning on the trail, with Demelza, took two more days. The route was less scary now we believed the sniffer had been killed but I felt relieved when I saw our waterfall and came to the river crossing point. The ledge had been blocked with branches and stones. It looked more secure than before, almost like the portcullis Stevie had suggested, but I thought Crow, or someone like him, would have been able to break through.
I blew several loud blasts on the whistle and waited.
Then we heard Matt’s voice, ‘Is that you Alvin?’
‘No, it’s the sniffer,’ I shouted.
‘Don’t believe him. It’s just us – we’re home,’ Sam said.
‘Home?’ I muttered the question quietly to myself.
Matt pulled on a creeper and the tangled mass of branches swung away leaving the ledge clear. We made our way across in silence. It hadn’t been that long since we had left but it felt like months.
Re-united
-17-
I stepped off the ledge, climbed down from the tree trunk, stood on the river bank and the questions started.
‘Where’s Zach? ...’ ‘Is he dead? ...’ ‘Where are the others? ...’
Gasps met Demelza as Sam helped her down. ‘What happened to her?’And when Demelza said nothing, ‘Can she speak?’
I looked at them. They seemed so different from the group that had set out on the coach for a school hike. Being away made me notice the changes. Jenna, slimmer, looked good if a little wild and weird, as they all did. Cutting hair with flint knives was impossible, so everyone had long lank locks, washed only in the river. Jenna’s hair, tied back, made her face much more noticeable and her eyes sparkled when I looked at her. Matt looked the wildest and had almost grown a full beard. Ryan, leaning against a tree, looked better but not recovered. Lisa held the hand of Zog, who seemed as shy as a human child. Mary and Jack sat on the river bank, looking pleased with themselves, probably wanting to show off their latest inventions.
Emma, Stevie and Sara stood at the back, slightly apart from Zoe who stared wide eyed at Demelza. Was she thinking it could have been her, if she’d gone with them on that night?
I saw the expectation in the eyes of the others as they waited for me to tell the story of our expedition. But I was leaving it to Ivy.
On the last night of the journey home, we stopped in the clearing next to the stream – the place Ivy had called the sniffer water-hole. We’d been living mostly off berries since our escape and I had gone looking to see if I could find anything else. I hadn’t, and slumped down by the stream.
‘What are we going to tell them?’ Ivy said after a few minutes’ silence.
‘Go on.’ I wasn’t sure what Ivy was leading up to and Sam didn’t say anything.
‘Do we tell them all about Alice Tregarthur’s promise?’ Ivy didn’t get a response, only puzzled looks. ‘I mean it’s a lot to take in, especially for the younger kids. Do you think they can take it?’
‘No idea.’ I picked up a stick and chucked it into the stream, watching it drift away. ‘I suppose it’s pretty dreadful, what that teacher had planned, but that’s over. I don’t think David survived so that’s pretty much an end to the promise, isn’t it?’
‘They might still come after us.’ Sam had looked back every few moments on the trek back. ‘Mightn’t they?’
‘Don’t think so.’ I threw another stick. ‘I don’t think many of the men were left. A lot crashed into the river and the sniffers got the rest.’
‘So do we have to tell them about the promise?’ Ivy stared at me. ‘Do we really want to tell them that they were going to be handed over to Crow’s lot? Do we really want to tell them what would have happened? What they were going to have to go through?’
I knew Ivy had wound herself up about this. It was very personal, what might have happened. I remembered how scared she had been about Tregarthur’s promise when she’d worked out what Crow’s lot were going to want. But that didn’t mean I knew what we should do, what we should say.
‘I don’t know Ivy,’ I replied. ‘I’d ask Jenna about it if I could. She’d be the best person to ask.’
‘So let’s just leave out the promise until we can talk to her and Mary. Don’t tell the younger kids.’
‘Do we tell them about David?’ Sam asked.
‘Couldn’t we just tell them about the escape? Leave David and the promise out for the time being.’
‘Fine. But you and Sam will have to do the talking,’ I said ending the conversation. I was still wondering about my mum, there wasn’t much I could tell anyone about what happened to her.
Not moving from the river bank, Ivy and Sam told our tale: of the sniffer cave, the Stinker huts, the hunting, the escape ...
‘So you saved the chief from the tiger?’ asked a wide-eyed Emma and Sam blushed.
‘Why did they chase you if you had saved their chief?’ Jenna looked to me rather than expecting a response from the other two. I turned so that only she could see my face and mouthed ‘later’. Jenna nodded.
Ivy had seen our looks and rapidly went back to talking. ‘And the drinking ...’
Sam tried to stop her, but Ivy insisted on describing the pit she’d found where the Stinkers made their brew and what else they used it for.
‘You never told us that,’ Sam objected.
They finished with the burial which produced a short silence before the questions started again.
‘You’re sure the other three are dead?’ Mary asked and as I had expected Mary looked to me for an answer.
‘Must be,’ I replied, wondering how much to say about the bones. ‘We found three skulls.’ And I saw the shivers of those listening.
I exchanged the briefest of glances with Ivy. That glance carried thoughts we had never shared. One of the skulls had been a bit different from the others. We said nothing.
Ivy picked up the story again, ‘We don’t know what really happened, and Demelza’s not talking, probably the Stinkers killed the beast and maybe saved her at the same time. We just found bones and a few bits of clothes and stuff, no other sign of the others.’
Sam looked at Ryan. ‘We found your lighter in the cave.’ Sam held it up as proof.
‘Tell us about the blood again,’ an excited Stevie asked, as he shuffled from foot to foot.
‘And the mammoth ... and the party ... and ... and.’
The questions went on until: ‘Hold it.’ Emma moved to the front and held up her hands. Everyone looked at her. ‘There’s something you’re not telling us.’ She stared hard at Ivy who didn’t say anything. ‘Alvin, I saw that look you gave Jenna. There’s something more and if I’m right then I guess it’s to do with us, the younger ones. Miss Tregarthur was our teacher. You’ve found out something – tell us.’
I saw Jenna smile and I remembered her telling me about Sara’s grave and how Emma had reacted. ‘Alright,’ I said. ‘But it’s pretty awful and ...’
‘Alvin, no,’ Ivy shouted.
‘If it’s that bad and you don’t want to tell us then I bet it has to be something to do with S-E-X,’ she spelled out the word. ‘But in case you forgot Mrs Wilks came to our school as well as yours.’
‘Yes and she said we were better informed than most of you lot,’ Sara added.
‘So just tell us the whole story,’ and Emma turned to me.
So I told them about the cave, about the notebook, the promise. I even put in the bit about my mum though I choked on that part of the story and Ivy helped me out. But I sort of skated over the reason why the tribe wanted more people.
‘Babies,’ Zoe called from the back of the group. ‘This was some sort of weird genetic exp
eriment wasn’t it? They didn’t just want us to be more children. If we were going to help them re-start their tribe then they were going to let us grow up and have their children. How could she do it? How could that teacher make this promise?’
‘But why didn’t they just bring older people? Why children?’ Emma looked around for an answer.
‘Easier to get us to do things, manipulate, make us like them I guess.’ Even Stevie wanted to add something to the discussion.
‘We’ll never know,’ Jenna added her piece. ‘It could have been anything. But we’ll never find out. But now we need to get back to the cave. Come on.’
We left the river bank, I still heard the muttering. I was relieved to see Jenna in charge. Jenna had been organising, including sorting out a sleeping area in the cave with separate piles of rushes covered with deer skins which made sleeping more comfortable.
As we arrived, Demelza seemed more confused than ever. Jenna pointed to one of the rush piles and Sam led her to it, passing close to Jenna who wrinkled her nose at the smell and whispered to me, ‘Should have dunked her in the river.’
‘She smelt worse when we found her.’ I watched Demelza lie down on the bed.
‘I wonder if she’ll ever recover,’ Sam said.
‘If she recovers then she might remember things,’ Jenna said. ‘Things she would like to forget for ever.’
‘She might have to remember how she got herself into the mess,’ I added.
‘Bit harsh,’ Jenna said and prodded me. I smiled remembering her prods and punches.
Mary and Jack wanted to tell me all the things they had done. ‘We’ve got much better at pottery.’ Mary showed off some of the bowls they had made.
Lisa had let go of Zog who padded around, curious about everything. Mary tried to move their pots out of Zog’s reach but Zog kept climbing up, grabbing for anything that looked interesting. Lisa led her away, distracting her with a few broken pieces of pot. Mothering Zog was a full time job.
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