Peter Dickinson - Tulku

Normally when he came unexpectedly into the glade he would have coughed, or hummed a few lines of one of Mrs Jones’s songs. It was like knocking at a door. But this time he didn’t dare make even that amount of human noise, so he caught the lovers unprepared. Lung was lying on his back with his head in Mrs Jones’s lap. She had let her hair down and was bending over him, gently stroking his head with one hand. He held the other clasped against his chest.

Theodore paused in his approach. Despite the urgency and fear he found it hard to break the weightless bubble of their happiness. He saw for the first time how streaked with grey was Mrs Jones’s hair.

‘Pardon me,’ he whispered.

They looked up. Mrs Jones stared for a moment through the curtain of her hair, then tossed it back.

‘What’s up, Theo?’ she said in a low voice.

He crouched in front of her and in a straining whisper told what he had seen. She nodded, accepting without question that he was sure that he recognized one of the men.

‘That’s rough,’ she said. ‘The others can’t be far off, neither, or they’d have spent more time scouting. First thing, we got to get out into the open – up by this bridge of yours might be favourite, then if things go sour we can try and cross it and cut the rope behind us. Before it comes to that we’ll try and parley with them, buy them off for a blood-price. But we haven’t a hope if they catch us down among the trees . . . oh, it’s all my fault for saying we could hang on here for ever! Lung, my love, you better get up. I’m afraid our prettytimes are over.’

8

IT TOOK AN agonizing time to strike camp, far longer than when they had been on the march. During the days in the valley they had unpacked more, settled in, grown used to the notion of staying. The horses, too, were out of the habit, troublesome with idleness and perhaps infected with the sudden renewal of tension. Mrs Jones decided to give them an extra feed while they were being loaded.

‘Help keep ’em still,’ she said. ‘And there’s no telling when we’ll next get a chance for a halt. We’ll ride, soon as we’re on the path.’

‘The hoof-prints will show,’ said Theodore.

‘Yes, but if these blokes got any sense they’ll split up, send one lot on ahead and leave the other to hunt through the wood. Last thing we want is to get ourselves cut off while we’re making our way up by rabbit-tracks. Cut a couple of switches, Theo, case you want to make the ponies hurry. You better have the shot-gun, Lung. This is the safety catch, see . . .’

They were ready at last, and led the ponies sidelong up through the wood, striking the path a few hundred yards above the camp-site which the yak-drivers used. Theodore scrambled up on to Bessie’s rump, and she accepted him placidly, just as if he were another piece of baggage. He led the way. Next came Lung, sitting sideways behind Rollo’s pair of baskets, with the shot-gun slung across his back and looking every inch the soldier-poet; last of all Mrs Jones, riding Sir Nigel and leading Albert. They rode steadily down to the lake shore and started up the further slope. The sense of panic flight dwindled, though the urgency remained. Theodore began to make calculations. Say two hours to the bridge – that would be early afternoon. One person with a gun could hold the cliff path, at least while it was daylight, so there would be four hours to cross the bridge. They must start preparing to cross at once, because the path couldn’t be held in the dark, and Mrs Jones would have to be able to see across the gorge to protect Lung with the rifle while he crossed. He would have been holding the path with the shot-gun while she crossed . . . Crossing – you’d have to have a rope round your waist with a loop over the bridge rope . . .

A whooping cry rang through the trees. Theodore looked over his shoulder and saw Albert, loose, walking uncertainly up the path. Beyond him Sir Nigel stood still, with Mrs Jones twisted in the saddle, her gun raised and aiming. And beyond her was movement, barely fifty yards away, men, running. Her gun cracked twice. Albert gave a scream of terror and came bolting up the track, almost knocking Lung off Rollo’s back where the wide-hung baskets crashed against each other. Theodore tried to nudge Bessie across the path but only succeeded in making her pull to one side and open the way for Albert to come tearing through. The gun cracked again just as Theodore brought his switch down hard across Bessie’s haunches. She squealed, more with fright and the infection of Albert’s bolting than with pain. Another shot, louder and deeper, rang out, and something tore through the leafage overhead.

Theodore gave a gulp of fright – he had never thought that the attackers might have a gun – and lashed violently at Bessie’s haunches. There was no need, for by now she was bolting too, wallowing up the path in a bucketing canter, and his saddle – nothing more than a pad of blanket – was slithering away. He clutched at the basket-harness and dragged himself forward till he lay spread-eagled along the hollow of her back with his legs dangling behind the baskets and his arms in front, while Bessie steamed uncontrollably up through the wood. The breath was jolted from his lungs. Tree trunks flickered past. All ideas left his mind.

Slowly the slope took its toll. Bessie’s pace eased as her breath came in slower and louder snorts and he was able to raise his head and peer forward. There was no sign of Albert, but his hoof-prints showed that he had stuck to the path this far at least. Theodore stayed where he was until Bessie slowed to a gasping walk, then he slid to the ground and led her for a while. Another shot echoed through the wood, but far off now, at least half a mile, he thought. No point in waiting. The first thing was for him to get to the bridge and set about making arrangements to cross.

He found Albert about ten minutes later. He had evidently tried to leave the path at a point where its slope became much sharper but had almost at once caught his reins on a broken branch and been too stupid to back off and release them. He was half-exhausted with his fresh bout of panic at being thus trapped, and by the time Theodore had him back on the track he was apparently ready to do what he was told. Theodore tied Bessie’s reins to Albert’s basket-harness and led the pair of them on up the track.

His instinct was to run, but he schooled himself to a steady walk. The bridge filled his mind, so that he could feel in his imagination the weight of his own body trying to tear the rope from his tiring grip. It was no use getting to the bridge exhausted . . . he began to think about hauling the baggage over . . . a length of cord the full width of the gorge . . . no, twice that, so that it could be hauled back again to take the next load, otherwise he’d have to cross and re-cross every time . . . there wasn’t nearly enough. Not enough even for one width, perhaps. Reins, and tent ropes . . . And the tents could be cut into strips and tied . . . it would take hours!

Where the trees ended with the typical abruptness of mountain scenery, the path zigzagged up a couple of hundred feet and then eased to a far gentler angle as it slanted up towards the narrows of the gorge. Here he rode Bessie again, letting her pick her way along but keeping her moving at a fast walk. All three ponies had turned out to be sure-footed, and Albert’s temper even improved a little when he had a plummeting drop below him, so they crept with agonizing slowness across the great bare sweep. For a long while there was no sign or sound from the wood, and Theodore was almost two thirds of the way across when a figure emerged from the trees – Lung, still on horseback.

Theodore waved, waited for Lung’s answering gesture and decided that it was encouraging, so rode on. The last he saw as he dismounted for the final slope up to the cliff ledge was Lung halted about a hundred yards from the trees and Mrs Jones coming trotting out into the open. He sighed with relief and led the horses into the gorge.