Daywards (18 page)

‘The morning after you and Jaran disappeared,' Eyna began, ‘Uncle Xani called the whole clan together in the main cave, told us he'd sent you and Jaran off on some special task and that he had an important announcement to make.'

‘He said he
sent
me off?' Dara interjected indignantly, and Eyna nodded.

‘I thought it was pretty strange, but nobody seemed too worried. Even Ma Saria. So I just accepted it. I was also a bit mad at you for not telling me.'

‘I bet.'

‘Then he announces that there'd be no hunting that day and that nobody was to leave the clan cave without his permission.'

‘He what?'

‘Just like that. He had a few blokes all ready to stand guard.'

‘Didn't anyone stand up to him? If you'd all gone at once …'

‘We couldn't. It was getting on for daylight by then, so most of the adults were trapped anyway, and there was no way us kids could get past those fellas.'

‘You could have run for it. Even Uncle Xani wouldn't let them spear kids.'

Eyna shook her head. ‘They weren't using spears.'

‘Eh?'

‘They had some kind of tech. Some round things. All they had to do was touch you with ‘em and whack! You're out like a light. They gave Uncle Clunil a blast with one when he got too near the cavemouth, even though he couldn't go outside.'

‘What about Xani?'

‘He had Da's daysuit. He was already wearing it when he pulled us all together, and once he thought he had everyone settled he put on the helmet and disappeared up the hill.'

‘To the Eye.'

‘That's what we guessed. So we spent the whole day there, just sitting around bored, while his mates swapped over every couple of hours. Then, just before sunset, Xani comes strolling back down the track, as happy as you like, and announces that everyone's free to go, but nobody was to go up the path to the top, or too far away from the caves.'

‘Did he say why not?'

‘Nope. Didn't explain anything more, not just then, anyhow.'

‘What did Ma Saria do?'

‘Slept, mainly. She didn't seem worried, even laughed when Xani told Uncle Dermott to keep a special eye on her. Anyway, most of us were pretty awake, ‘cause we'd been sitting around all day, so everyone was still up a few hours later when the Nightpeople arrived.'

‘That night?'

‘Yeah. Probably around midnight, I guess, maybe even a bit later. We're all sitting around the fire, mostly commenting on what a shi Xani was, when suddenly there's this strange noise and the whole place starts shaking.'

‘Like a loud humming?' Dara asked.

‘Yeah, exactly. It kept going for ages. Woke those who'd managed to get to sleep, so we were all up and in the main cave when Xani came down from the Eye.'

‘He'd gone back?'

Eyna nodded. ‘As soon as dinner was over. All excited and jumpy.'

‘He knew they were coming?'

‘Seemed that way. It was probably an hour after the humming stopped that he appeared again, walked into the meeting cave bold as you like, and behind him were these two strangers wearing strange suits, shiny like the daysuit, but with all these colours in them. Helmets and everything, so we couldn't see their faces.'

‘I know what you're talking about. I saw a couple of them at the Eye.'

‘So he walks in, stands there grinning for a few seconds, and then announces, “We have some visitors ”, just like that. And these two guys behind him, neither says a word, but one of them is looking down at a bit of tech attached to the sleeve of his suit, and the other is pointing quickly at each of us, like he's counting, but silently. And then Ma Saria, she stands up and marches over to Xani.'

‘She's unhappy?'

‘Sky! Dara, I've never seen the old girl so mad. She looked like she was about to tear his head off. Auntie Zar tried to stop her, but Ma just shoved her aside, walked over to Xani, pointed a finger right in his face and said, “For a long time now I haven't burnt out anyone, and by the Earthmother I'm not about to start again now, but if I was, Xani, you'd do well to be watching out for yourself ”.'

Dara threw her cousin a mystified look.

‘What'd she mean by that?'

‘No idea.' Eyna shrugged. ‘It sounded scary, though. Even Xani went a bit white and stepped back from her. Then she turned around and looked at everyone, meeting all their eyes, one at a time, before she sat down again.'

‘What else did she say?'

‘Nothing. After that, she didn't say another word all night. But most of us were a bit distracted, ‘cause more Nightpeople walked in, looking at each other and gesturing, but they had some tech in their suits so they could talk without us hearing. Then, finally, the one who seemed to be in charge introduced himself – some weird name –
Drak
.'

‘Drake. I've met him.' Dara suppressed an involuntary shiver at the memory of those washed-out eyes and emotionless voice.

‘Yeah?'

‘He's not in charge. I think he's second. He's bad news, though.'

Eyna didn't look surprised.

‘Tell me about it. He steps up and says, “My name is Drake. On behalf of the city of New London, I'd like to welcome you all and congratulate you on your achievement in surviving this long in such inhospitable circumstances. Now, I'd like the adults to move to this side of the cave, and the children to the other.” And while all this is going on, there's other Nightpeople carrying in all sorts of tech and setting it up like they had a right to be there.'

‘What did they look like?' Dara asked, wondering if Raj had been among them, before realising it was a silly question.

‘Dunno. They all had their helmets on.'

‘Sorry. Keep going.'

‘Well, Uncle Kez and Uncle Chia aren't too happy about this mob just marching in and ordering us around, so they refuse to move. Uncle Xani tries to tell them they have to and that it's in our best interests to cooperate and they tell him to go jump off the escarpment. It's getting pretty nasty, when one of the Nightpeople – I think it was Drake, but it's hard to be sure in those suits – walks over and touches Kez and Chia with some kind of tube and a moment later they're fast asleep, collapsed on the ground right where they were standing. Then Drake looks around at everyone and says, “I understand that this is a little confronting, but unless we receive your full cooperation in processing you, I will happily undertake the entire exercise using force. I hope I make myself clear.”'

Dara shook her head, imagining the scene.

Eyna continued. ‘And then they start doing all this strange stuff to us. Everyone has to wait their turn and nobody's allowed to speak while, one by one, they take us and scrape the inside of our mouths and shine lights in our eyes.'

‘They did that to me,' Dara interrupted, and Eyna nodded.

‘Did it to everyone. Plus a whole lot of other stuff. And every now and then, usually with the kids, they'd see something that would get them all excited and take whoever it was off into this sort of hut they'd set up at the back of the cave.'

‘Why? What'd they do there?'

Eyna shrugged. ‘No idea. None of them came out again, at least not while I was there.'

Dara thought about this for a moment, her brow furrowed. ‘How many did they take?'

‘I don't know. They went on all night and most of us fell asleep. They hadn't finished us all before the sun started coming up, though, and that made them jumpy. When I woke they were all clustered together near the cavemouth and there was a lot of pointing going on. Then a few headed back up the slope to the Eye, running flat out, while the three or four left behind took Uncle Xani aside and talked to him. Then they went and locked themselves in the hut thingy and we didn't see them again.'

‘They left Xani in charge?'

‘He seemed to think so. Nobody was very happy with him by then, though. Even his mates weren't keen to back him up and so when he tried to tell us that nobody was permitted to leave the cave again, well, it got really nasty. Lots of yelling and shouting. A couple of the aunties tried to tear the hut open and get the kids out, but nothing even made a dent in it. That's when Ma Saria and I left.'

‘Left?'

‘Yeah. While all the shouting was going on. Ma just came over to me and said, “Come on, girl,” and gestured towards the cavemouth, so I followed her out into the sun.'

‘Nobody tried to stop you?'

‘Uncle Dermott saw us going, but he just nodded. By the time Xani noticed us, we were outside in full sunlight, so there wasn't a thing he could do. He sure did shout, though.'

‘Did Ma Saria say anything?'

‘Not a word. We just walked down the path, into the forest, and she brought me here. We've been hiding out ever since.'

‘Shi!' Dara leaned back against the rock, shaking her head in disbelief. ‘Ma say anything about where they came from?'

‘Nothing. I don't reckon she knows.'

Something else occurred to Dara. ‘How'd you two find me, then?'

Eyna shrugged. ‘You know what Ma's like. She knew you were coming. She's known for days. She got a bit worried when you disappeared into the Eye, but as soon as you got out into the forest again, she knew.'

‘Reaching.'

Eyna nodded. ‘Yeah. ‘Cept I get the impression that with Ma it's not exactly the same as when you do it. Not like she has to make an effort. I think there's part of her that's just reaching all the time. Like she's always aware of everyone.'

‘I know what you mean,' Dara agreed. ‘I've thought that, too.'

‘So that night when you were comin' down the cliff, we were all ready to come and meet you. Would have been there earlier except we had to stop and hide from those hummers a few times.'

‘Hummers?'

Eyna threw her an odd look.

‘You must have seen them. There was one right over the top of you when you dragged yourself out of that pool. I was surprised it didn't find you, but Ma said you were probably too cold or still or something.'

The memory of that glittering, flying creature came back to Dara in a rush.

‘I thought that must have been a dream, or I'd hit my head or something. You mean it was real?'

‘As real as that rock there.'

‘It's tech?'

‘Yeah, but big tech. Bigger than I've ever seen. The Nightpeople fly around inside them. Ma reckons Da Janil used to fly one when he was our age.'

Dara closed her eyes and tried to recall the details of the hummer, but the memory was too blurred. All she could remember with any clarity was the inhuman quality of it – the way it floated, framed against the storm. It was uncomfortable to think of Da Janil as being the sort of person who'd willingly climbed into one of those things.

‘You okay?' Eyna, concerned by her cousin's sudden silence, placed a hand on Dara's forearm.

‘Yeah. Sorry. Just spaced out there for a moment.'

‘Anyway …' Eyna stood up. ‘We should get back in and keep an eye on Ma. She said you needed to keep still and warm for a few days.'

Inside the cavern, the low fire was still glowing in the centre of the sandy floor, and beside it Ma's prone form still slumped, asleep. Even from all the way over at the rockfall, the gentle rumble of her snoring bounced clearly off the stone walls and roof. When Dara had worked her way carefully around the last bit of the rockfall, her cousin was waiting, staring at her, her face unreadable in the darkness.

‘What do we do now?'

The question took Dara by surprise.

‘Eh?'

Eyna shrugged. ‘The first few days after Ma and I walked out, just staying hidden here was enough work – getting wood and food laid in. Then, when we felt you and Jaran coming back from the city, there was something else to concentrate on. But now you're here, what next? Are we just going to hang around forever, lurking in the forest and too scared to go out at night? And what about everyone else? Do they just stay up there on the cliffs while those Nightpeople do whatever it is they're doing?'

As she spoke, Eyna became more and more agitated, until Dara walked over and seized the younger girl in a tight hug.

‘I dunno, cuz. But something'll happen. You can count on that. We're not just going to let that bunch of tech-heads walk all over us. Ma Saria'll have a plan.'

‘But what if she doesn't?'

‘She will. Don't worry.'

Eyna relaxed slightly. They were still hugging when Ma's voice floated out of the darkness.

‘I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call it a plan, but I've got an idea you girls might be interested in.'

Dara and Eyna hurried over to the firepit, where the old woman was now sitting up and throwing a large log into the middle of the embers.

‘Sit,' she commanded, and the two of them did. Eyna picked up a sheet of bark and used it to fan the fire until bright yellow flames suddenly burst into life, licking around the sides of the newly added branch and briefly filling the air with heavily scented eucalypt smoke, which curled away into the darkness, vanishing through some tiny crack or fissure in the cave roof overhead.