Kayleb was the first to awake the next morning and he felt rested. He had slept well. Daylight poured into the cave from above and Kayleb was able to see clearly.
Rowan lay with his arm around one of the pigs and the sight made Kayleb smile; he looked so undignified! The other pig was lying flat, in the far corner of the cave. Cornwall, however, was nowhere to be seen. Kayleb rubbed his eyes. Maybe it was a trick of the light. He was about to raise the alarm when Cornwall looked down through the roof, making Kayleb jump.
‘So you’re awake at long last,’ she called out brightly. ‘I’ve been up since first light. You’ve missed a beautiful sunrise. I’ve got us some breakfast.’
Kayleb heard her scuttle down the side of the cave and then watched her crawl in through the narrow entrance.
‘I collected some firewood also. See here?’ She pointed to a small pile of wood directly under the hole in the roof. ‘All the smoke will go straight up there,’ she stated, triumphantly pointing upwards to the outlet above. Cornwall’s skirt was scooped up in front of her and in it was an enormous mound of mushrooms and fungi. She laid the food next to the firewood and promptly set to work to light the fire with a small stick. Cornwall rolled the stick furiously between her hands on top of some dried grass and another piece of bark. Amazingly, the grass began to smoulder and after she had blown on the grass a small flame appeared. The dry grass caught alight easily. Cornwall blew on the fire gently as she laid little sticks around the blaze.
Kayleb watched on, astounded. He felt like a caveman discovering fire for the first time. It was such a wondrous sight! He could never have imagined that he would feel so grateful for something so simple. Cornwall actually knew how to survive in this horrendous place and he was so thankful to have her with them.
The fire was soon burning strongly and Cornwall held several mushrooms on sticks over the fire. Rowan had woken with a start and was disgusted to find himself in such close proximity to Rupert. Rowan had to push Rupert away and reluctantly the pig wrestled to his feet and ambled over to Willow. Rupert and Willow were not impressed with the fire and sat together in the furthest corner of the cave, all heads looking on, with cantankerous expressions.
‘I thought I was holding a log on the rapids. That’s what I did on my first ICE,’ Rowan said at length, nodding at Rupert and then at Kayleb and Cornwall. He hoped that Kayleb had not realised that he couldn’t have had an ICE experience yet, as he had only turned sixteen yesterday. Cornwall smiled back at him.
When the mushrooms were toasted, Rowan nibbled cautiously on one. ‘Are you sure these are safe to eat? Only my mentors say that some mushrooms can kill you.’
‘I think Cornwall knows what she’s doing. You should have seen her light this fire. She’s awesome!’
‘There! All cooked. You must eat if you want to stay alive. Look, if the pigs won’t eat them then nor will I.’ Cornwall threw some mushrooms to Rupert and Willow.
Rowan stopped eating and held a piece of mushroom in his cheek waiting for the pigs to make up their minds. He could feel poison coursing through his veins as he waited.
Rupert and Willow immediately set upon the mushrooms like starving animals.
‘There, see, no problem,’ Cornwall said, laughing at Rowan. Rowan had the distinct feeling that he was an object of ridicule now and it felt strange being on the outside looking in. He was going to have to take charge and come up with their next plan of action. He thought hard but to no avail. Brainwaves were taking a back seat at that moment.
Cornwall began to throw dust on the fire to put it out.
‘We’ll be noticed eventually, if we let the fire burn. The Leaders won’t be up early this morning; they’ll be hung over. Last night a new batch of nettle wine was going to be opened when the stud ritual was performed.’
‘Didn’t the tasker get away?’ Rowan asked, helping to put dirt on the fire.
‘Yes but there are other taskers in the pen. The Leaders will still drink the wine. They like to drink,’ replied Cornwall sadly.
Rowan wasn’t quite sure why she looked so sad. Did she like to drink or was there something more menacing about the Leaders all drinking?
Cornwall looked up at Rowan’s face. ‘They get out of hand, like mad dogs and if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you get hurt. It’s ... hard for me to explain.’
‘It’s all right, I understand,’ said Rowan. He felt better now. Cornwall had allowed him to be her confidant. She had told him and not Kayleb.
‘Who was the tasker that escaped last night? We might know him. How many are being held at your settlement?’
‘Didn’t you hear the Leaders talking about him last night?’ Cornwall asked. ‘He’s called Indigo. We’ve had him for about three seasons now. He wasn’t much good though. He was a fighter, not easy to hypno and was certainly not willing to cooperate. I’m glad that he escaped. He was very unhappy; he said he missed someone called Robin and was worried that Robin would be fretting as Indigo had disappeared without saying where he was going.’
‘Robin! Have you ever heard of men liking men?’ asked Kayleb.
‘He must have been born naturally; he couldn’t be a tasker.’ Cornwall nodded. ‘How old do you think Indigo is, Cornwall?’ Kayleb asked.
‘About your age, a bit older perhaps. He comes from London too but he said he’s a time traveller and not a tasker. He said he was a university student studying science and quantum theory. He tried a time-travelling experiment and ended up in our village. I think he was a little mad. Nobody has ever time-travelled, have they?’ asked Cornwall.
Kayleb shook his head and laughed. ‘No, that’s just a fiction, but you never know: someone might find a way one day.’ It suddenly occurred to Kayleb that Cornwall was probably unable to read and wouldn’t have a clue what fiction was.
Cornwall didn’t seem that puzzled though. ‘We don’t get many taskers from Paris,’ she went on. ‘A few get caught; some have no idea of direction. At the moment there are five taskers in the stud pen. Four are from London and one is from Paris. These taskers are quite happy to stay. Taskers are well fed to keep their strength up. One is quite old now. He has escaped the AIDS II virus. I don’t know how but he’s quite well. It sounds barbaric your lifestyle, all that interference with your eggs. I’m surprised you haven’t created monsters!’
‘That’s like the pot calling the kettle black, Cornwall!’ Rowan almost shouted. Cornwall was starting to get on his nerves now.
‘The pot, the kettle? What is this kettle?’ Cornwall had lost the thread of the conversation.
You used it to boil water in. What do you use? A skull!’ asked Rowan sarcastically.
‘No, I’ve heard of it, but you don’t need to be so annoying. We just use a pot, although some of those that came from London talk of a cup microwave that heats itself up for hot drinks. Am I right?’
Kayleb was feeling restless and did not really care for any kind of antagonism, so he got to his feet briskly and collected up his rope and bucket.
‘Come on, we’d better start walking,’ he said brightly. ‘If we’re lucky, we might bump into Indigo and, who knows, he might be able to warp us home.’
Something moved overhead and a small rock tumbled down into the ashes of the fire making them jump. There was something on the roof of the cave. Everyone froze.
‘I might just do that,’ said a man, his head appearing in the gap in the roof. ‘I’m game if you are!’