Ahead was a rocky outcropping which he skirted. From there he could just about make out the mouth of the cave and had enough shelter to not be seen himself. The travellers were still a good distance from the cave so he sat back to watch their approach. The capes were actually full length ponchos made of what looked like toughened leather. From this he learnt two things, firstly how they had been able to protect themselves from the burning wind, and secondly, they had always intended to travel through here. This lead to the inevitable question; why?
They neared the mouth of the cave and he pressed himself tightly against the rocks. At the cave's entrance they paused and the girl looked back towards the hut, she also looked directly at where he was hiding. He thought he was well hidden, but even so, a coldness stole over him. He was too old and too slow to attempt moving further away, so he hunkered down further and prayed he hadn't been seen. The girl relayed a few instructions to the male, but they were too far away for him to make out what was said. They entered the cave and moments later he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end as if the air was full of electricity. There was an audible 'pop' and then all was silent.
He sat hidden behind the rocky outcropping for an excruciating ten minutes. Since the burst of electricity and the popping sound, there had been no signs from the travellers. The sun was getting lower in the sky and he guessed in less than two hours it would be dark. He was now faced with a deadly dilemma; remaining hiding and face the horror of the wind, or make a dash for the hut in the hope of staying out of sight from the newcomers. Having already learned the hard way from the burning winds, he opted for the latter. This would, however, mean momentarily making himself visible from the mouth of the cave. With precious time running out, he made his move and headed down the slope towards the plain.
In the end, he needn't have been so concerned with being seen. As he set off, he stole a quick glance towards the cave. From his slightly elevated angle he could see directly into its mouth and one thing was abundantly clear. The travelling newcomers were nowhere to be seen. He stopped his descent and made for the cave. It took him longer on the return journey to navigate the scree as he could feel his feet giving way beneath him. He finally managed to scramble back to the cave and apart from a few scuffed boot prints on the cave's floor, the travellers were gone.
2
The first thing that struck Andrew was the heat. As he and Karen stepped through, they were struck by a stifling wall so hot they immediately started sweating profusely. It was clear and sunny back where they had come from, but nothing like this. Andrew guessed it was thirty five degrees and that was a conservative estimate; especially considering they came through into the shade of a cave.
Oddly, the floor of the cave was lower than the room and they both stumbled as they stepped through; like missing the last step of a staircase. He had expected to see something similar to the mirror once they were through, but it would seem the device was only needed in one location. All there was to be seen was a liquid shimmering within the rock's surface. He gave a thumbs up and after a short delay, George returned the gesture. Evidently time between the two 'where's' ran a little differently.
Andrew shouted 'Ten minutes!' and indicated to where a watch would have been on his wrist. George held one cupped hand to his ear as if to say he couldn't hear, but nodded his understanding regardless.
Karen was examining the floor of the cave. 'There's two sets of prints here,' she said, 'But neither seem to be Peter's.'
Andrew moved to where she was looking. The tracks were overlapping and going in different directions, but it was still possible to make out the prints. One had a tread similar to the one they had been following, but a lot smaller, possibly female. The other was again big but lacked any print. Something like a slipper or a moccasin.
'Could he have changed shoes?' he asked, but the look he got from Karen told him all he needed to know, 'I guess not.'
Now they had time to acclimatise to their surroundings, Andrew thought it was less of a cave and more of a crevice. The entrance to the crevice was roughly one hundred feet up a shallow incline and from their elevated position, they looked out over a hard packed barren landscape. What was most disconcerting, was, apart from the scuff marks on the ground, there was no sign of their quarry.
'I don't like this,' he said.
Karen nodded. 'What do you want to do?'
Andrew stood at the mouth of the crevice looking out over the baked earth. The sun was getting lower in the sky and he had to shield his eyes from the glare. In the very distance there was a dark object that stood in contrast to the flats.
'What do you think that is?' he said.
Karen was at his side, squinting. 'Looks like a building. A hut maybe?'
'I'm glad you said that ,' he said. 'Because I thought that too. Worth checking out?'
'I don't fancy the walk in this heat, but we've got nothing else to go on.'
He looked back at where the portal should have been and was slightly alarmed to see just a craggy rock face. 'Agreed,' he said, 'I just hope that doorway doesn't start playing up.'
'We can't worry about that for now, and anyway there is an upside.'
'Oh?'
'We're going to get a lovely tan!' she gave a smile and headed off down the slope. Andrew stole another nervous glance at the rock face, and followed.
Out in the open air it was literally baking. Andrew was glad he’d gone with the short combo, but was in dire need of a hat to cover his head. Already the heat and glare were giving him one doozy of a headache. Karen, it seemed, was faring no better. She was obviously desperate to maintain an air of professionalism, but her police uniform was becoming incredibly cumbersome. They reached the flats at the bottom of the slope and she stopped to remove her flak jacket; stripping down to just her standard issue white shirt which was already soaked with sweat.
'How far to that hut do you reckon?' he said.
She wiped her brow with a sleeve. 'Couple of miles? Shouldn't take us long to get there.'
'Good,' he said, 'In this heat and without water, we're going to be suffering pretty soon.'
'Agreed. We check out that hut and head straight back. Let's hope the journey is worth the trip and we actually get something.'
They set off across the hard packed earth at a steady pace. Despite the incessant heat, the sun was lower in the sky and Andrew reckoned it was about an hour from sunset, and hopefully a respite. A wind had started blowing up dusty eddies that stung their eyes and one thing was for certain, this was going to be an uncomfortable walk.
'This doesn't make a lot of sense,' said Karen through a mouthful of sand, 'The sun's going down, but if anything it seems to be getting hotter.'
Andrew had to agree. Instead of a nice early evening cooling breeze, the air seemed to burn his face. It got so bad, he had to walk with his arm across his mouth in order to breath. He looked back towards the slope and noted they had made about half the distance. 'What do you want to do?' he said, ' Head back?'
'No,' she said, 'We need to push on. It's not that far now.' Right on queue a particularly strong gust blew another hot blast in there faces.
'Ok, but I'm not sure how much more I can take of this.'
They pushed on, heads bent against the strengthening wind. They were so hell bent on protecting their faces that they failed to notice the figure running at them through the billowing dust until he was almost on top of them.
It was Andrew who saw him first.
They were stumbling like blind men against the gusts; Andrew behind Karen and taking what relief he could from her slipstream. He glanced up to see if they were still on track and a scrawny bearded man appeared through the dust holding up what first looked like a cape in front of him. He approached Karen and threw the cape over her, he then beckoned for Andrew to get under as well.
'You can't be out here,' he shouted against the wind, 'This place will kill you.' He was barefoot and wearing tatty brown slacks tied around his waist by
an equally tatty length of rope. His top was in no better shape. He wore a dusty grey tunic that at some point had been a shirt. It was open almost to the navel revealing a leathery torso stretched thin across his protruding ribs. His face was the same browned leathery colour as his body and framed with a straggle of white beard. To Andrew he was Man Friday personified, but this was by no means a Treasure Island.
Karen tried to speak, but the howling wind made it impossible to hear. The man motioned for them to follow and, huddled under the thick cape, they followed him through what was quickly becoming a full blown sandstorm.
The next ten minutes were a complete blur. Almost out of nowhere, the wind had whipped up to gale force. It blew up huge gusting clouds of sand and they had to keep their mouths tightly shut to avoid swallowing a mouthful. As bad as the sand was, it was nothing compared to the wind. Karen was right about it getting hotter, but the heat didn't come from the sun, it came from the wind itself. Andrew, now regretting his decision to wear shorts, had it the worst; each gust slapping his legs like a red hot whip. The old man didn't seem to be too bothered by either the sand or heat. He moved at a steady clip and for the majority of the walk they were only following a set of leathery brown legs.
Eventually and blissfully they reached the hut. The old man entered first and they both piled in after. Andrew helped the old man close the door, which, against the thunderous wind, needed their combined weight to fully latch. When they managed to finally get it closed, the silence was a more than welcome relief.
Karen and Andrew took a seat in a worn looking bench that had seemingly been carved from the huts walls. The hut appeared to be made of dried mud or clay. It had a low uneven ceiling and tiny windows filled with a thick misty glass. Andrew could make out just the two rooms, the one they were in was clearly the lounge and sleeping area and beyond that, a tiny kitchen. He couldn't see a toilet, but the state of the place and it's one inhabitant would indicate there probably wasn't one.
The man chose to ignore them and went about checking the windows against the wind. When he was done checking he turned to them. 'Lucky you two weren't killed,' he said. There was a faint tinge of an accent. Maybe West Country. Maybe Irish. Maybe a little of both. 'Ten minutes longer and that wind would have had the skin from your hide.'
Karen shook the sand from her hair. 'Thank you for finding us,' she said, 'I'm not sure what would have happened if you hadn't come along. We were incredibly lucky to run into you.'
'Lucky, pah!' he spat, 'Saw you two coming down the incline. What were you thinking being out there at this time of day? That wind is deadly after dark. See what it did to me.' He stepped towards them into the light. On one side of his face was a nasty burn scar that ran from his cheekbone to his hairline and beyond. What they had first mistaken for wispy hair was in fact an area of no hair at all.
'I've never heard of wind doing that,' said Andrew.
'Evidently. Or you wouldn't be out in it!' He shot Andrew a look that required no comeback, 'What were you two doing out there anyway?'
Andrew gave Karen an uncertain look, but she gestured for him to continue. 'It's a bit hard to explain,' he said, 'But we believe two women have been taken from our village and we think they may have come through here. Have you seen anyone.'
'Pah!' he spat again. A sound that was beginning to get on Andrews nerves. 'I don't know if you had a good look at this place or not, but it's not exactly a popular destination. Apart from you two and the couple that came through a week ago, I haven't seen a soul for years. Decades even. Just poor old G.G. Here on his own slowly roasting to a crisp.'
Karen's eyes widened. 'Are you saying someone came through here a week ago?'
'Oh, ar,' he said, coming off like a fake pirate, 'Much better prepared than you two as well. They had water skins and capes.'
'Capes?'
'Yar, to protect from the wind I 'spose. They didn't hang about. Went straight to the cave up the incline and then just...'
'Just what?' said Karen.
'Just weren't there anymore. Vanished.'
A look of understanding passed between Karen and Andrew. 'And my guess is these weren't two middle aged women dressed like we are?'
'One was a woman,' he said, 'But young. Even younger than you I'd say,' looking at Karen. 'The other was a man. Can't say what they were wearing 'cause of the capes, you see. But the girl, she was wearing shoes like yours,' this time to Andrew. 'The man had on proper shoes. Real shoes. Shoes made from an animal.'
Karen and Andrew looked at each other. 'Moccasins,' they both said.
'Yup,' he said, 'I suppose you'd call 'em that.'
'Did you speak to them?' asked Karen.
A look of shock crossed his face. 'Gods no!' he said.
'Why ever not?' said Karen, 'You say you haven't seen a soul for years and the first people that come through here you, what? Hide?'
'That's exactly what I did missy,' he said, staring at her so hard she had to look away, 'And if you two run into 'em, I suggest you do the same. Unless you have no desire to see tomorrow, that is. If it was just the girl, then I would have rolled out the red carpet. But him? He's evil. Evil through and through. If he catches up with you, your days are numbered.'
Andrew looked at Karen and rolled his eyes. He'd had just about enough scary stories for one day. 'Look, G.G. Is it? Thanks for getting us out of the storm and all that, but we've got friends waiting for us back...back where we come from and they'll be getting worried by now.'
'You go out there. You die,' he said matter of factly.
'Jesus,' said Andrew, 'Why is everything so fucking dramatic. Our friends are waiting for us. We have to go.'
'Look sonny,' he said, giving Andrew the stare now, 'Every night at sundown these winds blow and they blow hot. You've only seen a snippet of what they can do. They blow all night long and only let up when the sun begins to rise. It's like clockwork. You go out there now and you'll never see your friends again and you'll never find these missing women. My guess is you have an interest in one of these women. Maybe your wife? Or your sister? You want to see them again, you stay put. I may be old and I'm quite clearly a few sandwiches short of a picnic, but I know one thing. Outside you die.'
Karen had been strangely quiet throughout the whole exchange. He turned to her for support, but rather than the look of concern he was expecting, she was staring at the old man; her face full of wonder. 'You're Godfrey,' she said.
'What did you call me?'
A smile pursed her lips. 'My god! You're Godfrey Meadowbank. It all makes sense.'
The old man looked as if the stuffing had been knocked out of him and slumped onto a weathered looking bed similar to the ones in the cave. 'I haven't heard that name in years,' he said.
Andrew was looking between Karen and the old man. His mind racing to catch up. 'That can't be,' he said, 'You've got to be a hundred years old! And you've lived here the whole time?'
The old man gave a tired smile. 'Well I suppose that answers one of my questions,' he said, 'But truth be told, I lost count a long time ago.'
Andrew still wasn't getting it. 'But how? And why?'
'The how young man, is easy,' he said, 'You just plod through the days. Once you get used to the rules of this place it's really quite simple. The why is another story and one I've been trying to fathom for a rather long time.'
'But you were only a boy!' exclaimed Karen, 'How did you end up here?'
He sat with his head bowed for some time. Karen was about to ask her question again when he spoke up. 'It's been a very long time and my memory isn't as sharp as it used to be. I came here with my father and grandfather. We were looking for my mother, I think and we got...separated. I've been here ever since.'
He broke eye contact with this last part and Andrew thought he wasn't quite telling the truth. 'Did you ever try to find them?'
'Of course!' he said, 'I spent weeks searching this place. I went as far as I could in between the storms. Too far at times.'
&n
bsp; He touched the scar on his face and Andrew understood. He had learnt the hard way and been caught outside when darkness fell. Wherever his father and grandfather had got to, it was beyond his reach. He was in effect, trapped. 'What is this place?' he said.
The old man brightened at this. 'This is Shael,' he said, 'A world between worlds. At least that's how my grandfather described it. You see, he could travel here. My father and I couldn't, that's why he built the gate so we could all come here and find my mother. Father didn't believe him at first. It took a little convincing. But I always believed what he told us, and I was right!'
There was a manic intensity to this that Andrew didn't much care for. 'You're saying we're in another world? I don't believe it.'
'Believe what you want sonny,' he said, 'But to coin a phrase, we're not in Kansas anymore!'
Karen moved next to him on the bed and took a hand. 'I think we came here the same way you did with your father and grandfather all those years ago. Through your gate. You can come back with us.'
A look of horror came over Godfrey's face. 'God no! I can't go back.'
'Why not?' said Karen. 'You've been missing for years. Don't you want to see the world again. The real world.'
'My dear girl,' he said, 'You are very sweet, but I rather think the world where you come from is a far different place from the one I came from. I'm not sure it's something my tired body could take. Besides, I've got used to a certain way of living, the shock will probably kill me.'
'But Godfrey...' she began, but he cut her off.
'But nothing,' he said, 'It's a kind offer. It really is. But it's not an option and I'll hear no more of it. Anyone for tea?'
Meadowbank: A dark fantasy thriller (The Shael Chronicles Book 2) Page 8
