Rebecca’s World

by Terry Nation

  She was feeling rather frightened as well, but didn’t want the others to know it. She tried to calm herself.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you,” she apologised. “Perhaps we’ll all feel better if we have a little rest.”

  She pointed to a spot where there was a deep, cool, dark pool in a basin of rock. They sat beside it. Rebecca cupped her hand and gulped down some water. As the ripples settled, she caught sight of a reflection. “Oh dear,” she said softly.

  It was not the sight of her own reflection that caused her to speak. There was another image in the mirrored surface of the pool.

  She spun around quickly and stared up at the top of the high cliff behind her. Standing at the very edge was a tall, strange figure. It wore a ragged robe that trailed down to the ground. Over its head was a hood that hid its face. Rebecca felt grateful for that. She was certain that if she could see the face, she would be even more frightened.

  The creature raised its arms. Its robes spread out like the wings of a bat. Then it gave a cry that was one of the most terrifying sounds Rebecca had ever heard. A cry that was a mixture of a scream and a hideous, cackling laugh.

  It was obvious that Captain ‘K’ heard the sound too, because he almost toppled into the pool. Kovak, who had just put a very large set of false teeth into his mouth, also heard it. As he turned and looked at the creature, the teeth chattered with terror, leaped right out of his mouth and, still chattering, ran across the ground and hid beneath a rock.

  Grisby tore his gaze from the figure and turned to look at the cliff top behind them. Unable to speak, he nudged Rebecca and pointed. There were twenty more of the creatures on that side of the canyon. As one, they all started to make the scream-laugh sound. The shrieks echoed off the cliff walls and seemed to magnify until the air was filled with their hideous cacophony.

  Rebecca put her hands over her ears, but could not keep the awful noise out of her head. “What are they?” she shouted.

  Captain ‘K’ tried to speak, but no sound came. He tried again. “Scarepeople,” he croaked.

  More Scarepeople were appearing. They lined the cliff tops on both sides of the canyon, their arms flapping their black robes menacingly.

  “I have a plan,” said Rebecca. They all looked at her gratefully.

  “What is it?” asked Grisby.

  “Run!” said Rebecca.

  She turned and started to run still deeper into the canyon. Her friends followed.

  On the clifftops, the Scarepeople seemed to become very angry. They had failed to frighten the strangers out of the valley. They waved their arms wildly until their robes flapped like wings. The scream-laughs became louder and more horrible.

  Then, one of them took a step right to the edge of the cliff and dived forward into space. Rebecca saw his jump from the corner of her eye and was certain that he would crash onto the rocks far below. Instead, he spread out his robes and floated down in a wide circle. Other Scarepeople followed him, and in a moment the air seemed filled with great, swooping, black shapes. One of them soared past Rebecca, its shrieking scream-laugh driving into her head like a violent pain.

  She glanced behind her. Many of the Scarepeople had landed now and were sweeping along the floor of the canyon like a huge, black wave.

  Captain ‘K’ looked around desperately. Without slowing down for even an instant, he pointed to one side of the canyon. “That way,” he yelled, and changed direction.

  They all followed him towards the narrow mouth of a cave in the cliffside. The opening was high but extremely thin, and Rebecca wasn’t certain they would be able to squeeze through it.

  Grisby was the first to get there. He tried to push into the gap, but his bulky fur coats made him wider than the opening. He pressed forward harder, grunting and gasping, and managed another inch or two.

  “Come on, come on,” wailed Kovak, glancing over his shoulder at the advancing Scarepeople.

  “Give him a shove,” said Rebecca.

  Kovak put his shoulder against Grisby’s back as if he was pushing a car. Rebecca and Captain ‘K’ added their weight and Grisby was squeezed a little further into the gap. Then he stuck fast.

  “Climb over his head and pull from the other side,” Rebecca ordered Kovak.

  Kovak nodded and started to scramble up onto Grisby’s back. There was just enough room above his head to clamber through into the cave. He reached Grisby’s shoulders and stood on his head. Then both feet slipped, scraping against Grisby’s ears.

  “Y​y​y​y​y​y​y​y​y​y​y​y​y​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​r​r​r​r​r​r​r​r​r​r​r​r​r​r​r​r​o​o​o​o​o​o​o​o​o​o​o​w​w​w​w​w​w​w​w​w​w​w​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​g​g​g​g​g​g​g​h​h​h​h​h​h.”

  Grisby’s cry of pain was so loud and violent that, for a moment, even the Scarepeople were frightened.

  “That’s all I needed,” moaned Grisby in agony. “It’s not enough to have the most painful feet in the universe. Now I’ve got the most painful ears.”

  Kovak wriggled and struggled and finally was able to lower himself into the cave. He took a firm grasp on the front of Grisby’s fur coat and looked for something else to grip with his other hand. Grisby’s nose was the only thing handy. Kovak grabbed it firmly.

  “Right. Push,” he yelled.

  In the same instant, he began to pull. Grisby gave a series of moans and groans like a man with a terrible cold in the nose.

  On the other side, Rebecca and Captain ‘K’ took a few paces back, then charged at Grisby as though they were trying to break down a door.

  The combined effort of pushing and pulling succeeded. Grisby shot forward with a loud ‘POP’.

  Kovak fell backwards, winded, as the famous feet galloped over him into the cave. He sat up, shaking his head groggily.

  Meanwhile, at the cave mouth, Rebecca and the Captain were desperately pulling loose stones from the wall in an attempt to block the entrance. Two of the Scarepeople rushed at the opening. Captain ‘K’ hurled a rock at them. Of course he missed completely, but it was enough to make the Scarepeople more cautious. Rebecca tugged at a particularly big stone. It scraped and grated and moved a fraction. Captain ‘K’ prised at it with his GHOST stick as the Scarepeople attacked again.

  The stone stuck for a moment longer and then came free, landing neatly on Captain ‘K’s’ big toe. Rebecca saw the tears well up in his eyes and his mouth opened as though to howl. But if he did howl nobody heard him, because suddenly there was a deep, groaning rumble and the roof and walls started to collapse.

  Rebecca grabbed the Captain’s hand and dragged him deeper into the cave, just in time to avoid the landslide of rubble and stone that completely blocked the entrance. Almost blinded by the dust, they staggered back down the tunnel.

  It took the adventurers a little while to pull themselves together after their ordeal. But eventually they got on the move again, following the cave through the mountains until they saw a gleam of light. A minute later they stepped into the open.

  Rebecca blinked several times at the view that met their eyes. They were at the edge of a small, circular valley. At its very centre was a great, towering rock. Like some gigantic pencil stuck upright in the sand, it soared into the sky. Its tip was hidden for a moment in a passing cloud.

  Just below the topmost point was a narrow, jagged hole that went right through the rock. It made them all dizzy just looking up at it.

  “It looks like something out of a giant’s sewing box,” said Grisby.

  Rebecca gave a yelp of excitement that startled everyone.

  “That’s it!” she gabbled. “Grisby, you’re a genius.”

  “Yes, I suppose I am,” he said. Then, his face puzzled, he added, “But if I’m a genius, why don’t I know what I’m talking about?”

  “You’ve solved the first clue,” Rebecca said. “Remember? ‘Go to the nest of the Splinter Bi
rd, climb to its eyrie on high, look through the Eye of the Needle’…The Needle…” She pointed at the rock. “That’s the Needle! You gave me the idea when you said ‘giant’s sewing box’.”

  They all stared up.

  “Now we’re really getting somewhere,” Rebecca said. “All we have to do is climb to the top.”

  She heard a dull thump and turned to look. All three of them had fainted.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Lurk reported back to Mister Glister, telling him about the Scarepeople’s attack on Rebecca. He explained that Cringer was trying to clear an opening into the cave through which the fugitives had disappeared.

  “We’ll go to help him at once,” said Mister Glister decisively.

  “It’s a long, hard trail, Sir,” said Lurk, hoping Mister Glister would allow him a few minutes rest. “Difficult, rough ground. Very exhausting.”

  “Yes,” said Mister Glister. “A journey like that must be very tiring.”

  Lurk nodded agreement and was about to sit down and relax, when Mister Glister added, “So you’d better carry me.”

  He jumped lithely onto Lurk’s back, jabbed him with his heels, and they trotted away up the canyon.

  * * *

  The climb up the towering needle of rock had been less difficult than Rebecca had expected. There were plenty of wide ledges and good handholds.

  Rebecca scrambled up onto a roomy rock shelf and reached down to help her friends. She calculated they must have climbed to the half-way point. The ground looked a long way off. She tilted her head back to look up at the peak, but it was lost from sight in a swirl of darkening clouds.

  “Have you noticed the little holes in the rock all the way up?” asked Grisby. “They’re full of dry grass and moss. I think Splinter Birds used to nest in them.”

  “That’s even more proof we’re on the right track,” said Rebecca. “The riddle said, ‘Go to the nest of the Splinter Bird’.”

  She turned to look at the rockface. One of the holes was just above her head. She reached up and put her hand inside. The nest was soft and warm.

  Rebecca’s fingers touched something in the moss at the bottom of the nest. Two smooth, round objects. Carefully, she lifted them out and held them in the palm of her hand.

  “Splinter Bird eggs,” said Kovak.

  They were a lovely, golden green colour that glistened and glowed like the eyes of a cat.

  “They’re beautiful,” whispered Rebecca.

  “Sad,” said Grisby. “Just left in the nest all those years ago.”

  “Would it be alright if I kept them?” Rebecca asked.

  “Don’t see why not,” replied Captain ‘K’. “They’ll never hatch out now.”

  Rebecca took some of the moss from the nest and wrapped it around the eggs, then she put them carefully in her pocket.

  A large drop of water appeared on the tip of Kovak’s nose. It had started to rain. The dark clouds seemed to be crawling down the great pinnacle towards them. The wind, which had grown stronger, was tugging at their clothes. The sky had become very black, blotting out the suns.

  “We’d better start climbing again,” said Rebecca. “If we hurry, we’ll be able to shelter in the big hole at the top. The Eye of the Needle.”

  They climbed swiftly, with Rebecca leading, seeking out handholds and toe-grips. Hard driven by the wind, the rain beat against them, soaking into their clothes. The rockface became more slippery and dangerous. There was now hail amongst the rain, peppering them like pellets from an airgun.

  A sudden blazing white flash of lightning seared the sky, followed by a roar of thunder that made the rock vibrate. Rebecca hung on so tightly that her knuckles showed white. Again the lightning flashed, and in its brief glare she saw that the rock ahead of her was worn as smooth as glass. The only foothold it offered was a tiny jutting ledge two or three inches wide.

  She edged onto it, keeping her body pressed close against the smooth wall. Her toes groped for a firm footing as she inched along. The hail and rain was a lashing whip around her. Her right foot cautiously felt out the next step. She put her weight on it.

  The rock crumbled and Rebecca lurched forward. In a panic her fingers scratched to find a handhold, but there was none. She felt her stomach knot with terror as she slowly tilted outward. Falling. Backwards.

  There was nothing she could do to save herself. Through her mind flashed a vision of the terrible jagged rocks far below.

  An arm locked around her shoulders, halting her fall. Then very slowly it pulled her back against the rockface. The arm was Grisby’s. His fur coats soaked with rain, he looked like a very bedraggled Spaniel.

  “It’s alright,” he shouted, against the roar of the wind and rain. “You’re safe now. Just put your foot out and find another toe-hold.”

  Rebecca stretched her foot beyond the broken section of the ledge. It settled on something solid. Grisby steadied her, and with one swift movement she stepped across the gap.

  A few yards further along, the ledge began to widen and the going became easier. The last part of the climb took about an hour, but finally Rebecca crawled into the shelter of the great hole. The others quickly followed her, and soon all four of them were huddled together in the Eye of the Needle.

  * * *

  From the shelter of the cave at the foot of Needle Rock, Mister Glister watched through his binoculars as Rebecca and her friends made their perilous climb. He was very disappointed that none of them fell.

  “Never mind, Sir,” said Cringer, hoping to cheer him up. “We’ve got them trapped now. They can’t stay up there forever. All we’ve got to do is sit here and wait.”

  “Precisely,” said Mister Glister, rubbing his hands. “There is no possible way they can escape.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Slowly the storm began to abate. The clouds drifted away and the four suns appeared again to warm the wet and weary travellers.

  Grisby was difficult to see: he was enveloped in a small cloud of steam as his coats dried out. Kovak had produced several sheets of blotting paper from his never ending pockets and was mopping himself dry. And Captain ‘K’ was doing his best to wring out his tights without actually taking them off.

  Rebecca tried to remember the words of the riddle. “What was it again? ‘Look through the Eye of the Needle, find the Feather Well hidden close by’.”

  She stood up and looked around. The mountains and countryside spread out below were a splendid sight. From this towering viewpoint she could see for miles and miles, but nowhere was there a Feather Well. And what was a Feather Well anyway?

  Rebecca turned and crossed to the other side of the opening. She was so intent on looking at the view, she didn’t see a wide hole right in the middle of the needle’s eye.

  She tripped and pitched forward. Her arms flapped wildly. She gave a cry, then toppled helplessly into the deep, dark hole.

  She was falling. Head over heels and heels over head. Down, down, down through the hollow centre of the great Needle Rock. Rebecca braced herself for the crash she knew must come. But it didn’t.

  Instead she seemed to dive headlong into something soft. Something that was slowing her down.

  She opened her eyes. She was falling through feathers. Beautiful, downy, soft, purple feathers.

  “Of course,” thought Rebecca. “The Feather Well.” She’d found it.

  There was a gentle bump and the falling feeling ended. She had landed.

  Rebecca put her hands in front of her and ‘swam’ through the feathers. After only a few strokes, she stepped out into a vast underground cavern.

  It was enormous. Bigger than the inside of a cathedral. The walls and distant ceiling were covered with what looked like vast, flowing sheets of gleaming, white silk. There were great curtains of it, draped and swagged, pleated and tucked. The floor was carpeted with the material.

  It was as though a hundred dress makers had unrolled a thousand bales, ready to make a million bridal gowns, and then just
left them lying carelessly on the ground.

  Rebecca gazed in wonder. She reached out a hand and touched the nearest drape, then pulled it back quickly. It was sticky. A few fine strands of the silk clung to her fingers. She swiftly rubbed them off.

  The cavern was lit by what appeared to be millions of tiny, blue lights set in the high ceiling. On the far side, across the silken sea, was a door.

  Suddenly Rebecca heard a sound behind her. It came from the opening to the Feather Well. The sound was a long way off, but coming closer.

  “O​O​O​O​O​O​O​o​o​o​o​o​o​o​o​o​o​o​o​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​a​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​h​h.”

  It ended sharply with a thump.

  An instant later there was a second thump. And then a third.

  The feathers in the opening swirled into a blizzard, and out of them reeled Grisby, Kovak and Captain ‘K’. They didn’t seem in the least surprised to see Rebecca.

  After they had exchanged greetings and brushed off the feathers, Kovak suggested it was time to look at the map again. They spread it out on the ground and knelt beside it. Rebecca traced her finger across the route.

  “We’ve been to the Eye of the Needle…come down the Feather Well…now the next bit is here.” She read the clue:

  “CROSS THE CAVE OF THE SILKIES, IT TAKES COURAGE FOR THIS AS YOU’LL SEE.

  SEEK OUT THE TONGUE TWISTER MONSTER, PASS HIM AND YOU’RE NEARER THE TREE.”

  “Well, this must be the cave of the Silkies,” said Rebecca, pointing across the cavern. “But I can’t see why it takes courage to cross it.”

  “Looks safe enough,” admitted Captain ‘K’.

  “Bet it will hurt my feet,” Grisby said.

  “Why?” asked Kovak.

  “Everything does,” he said philosophically.

  They moved forward onto the silky carpet. The sticky strands of silk clung to their shoes and ankles, and with every step it became harder to lift their legs.