Chris Beckett - Dark Eden

‘We’ll follow the Laws,’ I said, ‘because we need laws the same as you do. But we won’t come to your meetings and we won’t do what you tell us.’

‘We can’t have you newhairs doing as you like,’ murmured Candy Fishcreek in her soft voice. ‘Otherwise any time anyone is told off back in Family, they’ll just run over here to you, or run off somewhere else and set up another family on their own.’

‘Well, who cares . . .?’ Clare started to say, but I interrupted her.

‘No, Caroline,’ I said. ‘We’re with you on that. We don’t want things breaking up either.’

Caroline snorted.

‘Well, for goodness’ sake . . .’

‘So let’s make an agreement,’ I said, ‘an agreement between two families, just like we’d sometimes make an agreement between two groups back in Family, when there was a problem between them.’

Caroline glanced at her two group leaders, checking that she had their support.

‘An agreement, yes,’ she said, ‘but an agreement between rest of Family and Cold Path group.’

‘Harry’s dick!’ our Gela broke in. ‘You can’t expect to come to an agreement if . . .’

But again I interrupted.

‘You can call us what you like, Caroline,’ I said. ‘But it’s got to be in our agreement that we don’t come to Any Virsries or Strornries.’

Caroline looked at the others again. Candy Fishcreek shrugged. Tom nodded.

‘Okay,’ Caroline said, ‘but you mustn’t come near us then. Not past Lava Blob.’

‘That’s not . . .’ Tina began, but again I put my hand on hers to tell her to be quiet. I knew we needed to have some separation from Family, and them from us, if things were going to work out, so I agreed straight away.

‘Alright. We won’t come past Lava Blob, as long as your lot don’t come past it either from your side.’

Caroline glanced at the others. There was no disagreement. She nodded.

‘And you must stop taking our newhairs,’ Caroline said. ‘Stop asking them to come over to you, and send them back if . . .’

Eeeeeeek! Eeeeeek! Eeeeeek!

They all jumped. Caroline and Tom and Candy and Secret Ree and the three young London blokes, they all jumped together. It was the little buckling starting off on one again, behind us up on the hill. They were all fascinated, we could see, but they didn’t want to show it. The four of us couldn’t help smiling at each other.

‘This is that baby buck we’ve heard about, is it?’ Caroline asked stiffly.

One of our lot must have met someone from Family out in forest and told them about it.

‘You caught it alive, apparently. You’re keeping it in a cave behind a fence,’ Caroline said.

She wanted to look like she didn’t care but she couldn’t completely contain her curiosity.

‘ Why? ’ she asked, with a cold puzzled smile.

Well, she’d let her mask slip a little here, and I let mine slip too, because I felt angry angry with her for even having to ask the question.

‘Gela’s heart , Caroline! What’s the point of going on and on every Any Virsry about remembering the Earth Things if we don’t try and learn anything from them? We’re making a horse, like they did back on Earth. I should have thought that would be obvious obvious.’

She gave a contemptuous snort.

‘A horse! Gela’s sake, John, the animals on Earth weren’t like ours! Everyone knows that. They were more like people. Their eyes were . . .’

‘Well, we’ll see, won’t we? We thought it was worth a try. But anyway, you were saying you wanted us not to take any more newhairs?’

‘John, we can’t agree to that!’ Tina broke in.

I touched her again to show I knew what I was doing.

‘I’ll tell you what, Caroline,’ I said, ‘let’s say that for next five wakings, just five wakings, any newhairs that want to come over to us can come. That way you’ll get rid of the ones that will just make trouble for you if they stay. After that, okay, no more. We’ll send them back.’

I purposely didn’t look at Tina.

Caroline nodded.

‘Another thing,’ she said. ‘If you’re going to be doing all the hunting this side of Lava Blob, then we’ll miss out on bucks. You’ll have to give us some.’

‘You’ve got whole of the rest of forest!’ Gela objected. ‘We’ll miss out on bucks there.’

But I had my own idea.

‘Okay, Caroline, but there are things we need too. Let’s say we give you one skinned buck every period — we do have to keep the skins for ourselves — and you’ll have to give us something in exchange. Two fists of blackglass, or two buckskins.’

‘Oh that’s far too much!’ Caroline said.

But it was the deal we got in the end. One skinned buck to be handed over at Lava Blob each period, and skins or glass in exchange.

‘That’s until we leave you,’ I told her, ‘until we go over Snowy Dark and find our own forest.’

‘Go over Snowy Dark and freeze to death, you mean,’ Caroline said, with a grim chuckle.

Then she looked sharply at Gela, who was after all her own Brooklyn groupmate.

‘I’m surprised at you, though, Gela. I always thought you were a sensible girl. In fact, I had you down for Brooklyn group leader in twenty thirty wombs’ time. Are you and your sister and your brother really going to waste your lives up on Dark?’

Gela had always seemed like a grownup, even when she was little, but now she hung her head like a little kid.

‘I think John is right about needing to find more space,’ she mumbled quietly quietly, so we could barely hear what she said.

Caroline shrugged.

‘Well, suit yourself, but I’m disappointed in you, and your mum will never get over it.’

All this while Secret Ree had been writing down everything we agreed, scratching it on a piece of bark with a leopard’s tooth, her tongue sticking out with concentration.

THEY STICK TO LAWS

THEY NO A.V. OR STRORN

NOT PAST BLOB

5 WAKES THEN NO MORE JOIN

1 SKND BUCK EACH PRD

WE 2 GLSS OR 2 SKNS

‘You scratch your name on that, John,’ Caroline said, ‘to show you agree.’

I didn’t look at Tina. I knew she wasn’t going to like me agreeing to things like this without talking to her and to everyone else first, and I didn’t want to give her a chance to make little angry signs at me that Caroline’s lot would be bound to notice. She might not like me taking charge but this was just how it was going to have to be. And that was why I didn’t go down to meet her and Jeff and Gerry when they first came over. I wanted to be quite clear that they were joining me . And it was the same for all the rest over here at Neck. None of the others would be here if it wasn’t for me.

‘Okay,’ I said, ‘but Secret Ree’ll have to write another bark out for us with your name on it.’

‘Oh honestly , John!’ Caroline said.

But all the same she didn’t refuse. I’d won that one easily and I thought to myself, now was the moment to act like we were the big ones.

‘Why don’t you come up and see our buckling?’ I said. ‘We can give you some meat and fruit to eat before you walk back. You’d be welcome. Gela, could you run up and get the fire going?’

And that was the agreement made between us and Family. I could imagine the story already: John and Caroline Agree.

‘That’ll never last,’ I told John. ‘She won’t be able to control David and his lot that long. I’m not sure she even means to keep the deal herself.’

‘Of course it won’t last,’ he said shortly, ‘but it’ll hold for a bit, and that’ll give us some time.’