For some reason, after leaving the west wing of the complex, Kayleb had expected to be taken down to the tunnel and was surprised when David led everyone out of the sanctuary and back down to the river. Kayleb felt uneasy, it was a bit of a shock being led back out into the wilderness. Kayleb looked down at his feet; he didn’t know which heel his microchip was in but he knew it would be bleeping for all to hear and the feeling of vulnerability returned.
Including David, there were ten members in their action group and Kayleb realised that Rowan, himself and one other rather long-limbed boy called Prozac were the only taskers in the team. He was still not sure whether Indigo was a tasker or not; his time travelling story was a bit far-fetched but, then again, he did seem to be older than sixteen and much more mature than most taskers. Kayleb looked for Rowan. He and Cornwall were trailing behind the group but they did not seem concerned that they were falling behind. The action group had all been issued with rucksacks full of provisions and Rowan seemed to be struggling to carry his.
A young woman with dark hair wandered down the line. She was heavily built and puffed as she walked. Her cheeks were pink and she looked worried.
‘David says we must all keep together. We’ve got six days’ travelling to go before we reach the tunnel. If anybody attacks us then you must hold the hand of the person in front of you and form a chain.’ She stopped short when she saw Rowan.
‘What’s up with you? Are you all right?’ she inquired, looking at Rowan.
‘He’s fine,’ snapped Cornwall. ‘He’s just had a bit too much sun. There’s nothing wrong with you, is there, Rowan?’
‘No ... there’s ... nothing wrong with me,’ said Rowan in a dreary tone.
‘Just keep up, you two.’ The woman went back up the line and Kayleb was relieved. He was feeling guilty about Rowan and was puzzled by David’s defence plan. What good would holding hands do? Surely it was better to creep along in the undergrowth and try to not be seen, rather than walking boldly along the river. The river was likely to be a place where wasters gathered and they didn’t have Willow to warn them. Cornwall had decided to leave her behind with the other pigs.
Staying together was difficult to accomplish. Rowan was getting slower and slower and occasionally slumped to the ground complaining that his rucksack was too heavy. It was a pitiful sight. Kayleb couldn’t stand seeing him in this state any longer and walked back to talk to them.
‘Cornwall, you have just got to release him from his hypnotic state. Can’t you see it is making him weak, and he’s holding us up,’ said Kayleb firmly. Indigo, fortunately, was further up the line talking to the other tasker, so he didn’t hear.
Cornwall looked defiantly at Kayleb. ‘You don’t understand. If I release him then he will probably run off and then I will never see him again. He belongs to me.’
Kayleb looked incredulously at Cornwall. ‘Belongs to you? You can’t own another human being! How can you let him suffer like this? It’s not fair! You can’t force him to stay with you. It’s cruel.
You’re cruel!’
Cornwall looked hurt and Kayleb thought perhaps he’d been a bit hard with her but couldn’t understand why she would want to own Rowan.
‘Look, he won’t run off. I’ll talk to him. When we stop for a break, release him and then I will explain everything to him. He will listen to me because I saved his life.’
The saving his life bit wasn’t true, but it seemed to do the trick. Cornwall nodded and Kayleb sighed with relief. They had fallen quite far behind the main group and were beginning to get anxious looks from some of the group members. Kayleb took Rowan’s backpack and carried it for him, thereby allowing Rowan to walk faster and catch up with David and the others.
Fortunately, after a few hours of walking, David decided to stop for a break and Kayleb was quite thankful, as Rowan’s backpack and his own were very heavy and Rowan’s was awkward to hold. He had been dreading bumping into wasters as it would not have been possible to link hands or run with Rowan in his hypnotised state. They stopped at the foot of an enormous chateau and sheltered in the shadows of the bushes that skirted the great walls.
The ancient chateau had tall robust towers that stretched into the sky. Their tops were decorated with dark rings emphasising their huge circumference. The thick walls looked cold and forbidding. Kayleb put his hand out to feel them but soon discovered that he was unable to touch any part of the building at all. He wandered up and down but found that his hands were always repelled at his every attempt to touch it.
‘It’s a force field,’ called David who had been watching Kayleb’s futile attempts to touch the tower. ‘It protects the chateau, which houses many wonderful relics and some beautiful tapestries. I have a friend in this chateau, Ledbetter. He is the curator and looks after everything in here for Paris. We will go and meet him soon. He has a link with London and has been a valuable source of information. Unfortunately he has not been too well lately so I would like to help him, if I can,’ he added, taking a few sips of water from his flask.
The sleepy silence of nightfall was rudely interrupted by yelling from Rowan, who was standing some distance away from the rest of the group. Cornwall had released Rowan from his trance and he wasn’t happy. Kayleb was glad to hear that Rowan was back to normal but didn’t want David to know what had happened.
‘My friends are messing about. I’d better sort them out before the wasters hear them,’ called Kayleb. David nodded as Kayleb headed towards Rowan and Cornwall.
‘Hypnosis can be a dangerous thing, you know; it can cause all sorts of trouble!’ called David as Kayleb rushed over to the disturbance. Kayleb pretended he hadn’t heard him and realised that there was very little he could keep from David.
‘Look, cut it out, you two,’ said Kayleb breathlessly. ‘Do you want the whole world to hear you?’
Rowan was red with fury. ‘I was just minding my own business when I found this nutter stroking my hair,’ he said, pointing his finger at Cornwall. It was then that Rowan realised that he was standing in front of the largest building he had ever seen.
‘Where on earth am I?’ Rowan looked up at the chateau, his neck arching.
‘It’s a long story and I’ll explain later. We are all going in there in a minute to meet someone called Ledbetter, so at least we will be safe for the night and not out here in the wild,’ Kayleb added. Rowan still looked confused but did not protest.
David signalled to everyone to get up and follow him. They headed to the entrance of the chateau and waited. There was no doorbell to ring. Kayleb wondered if David would make a hole in the wall again. They did not have to wait too long, before an elderly man appeared in a window above the main doors. He called down to them that he couldn’t open the main doors as he had forgotten the code and that he had let down a rope ladder from a window in the nearest tower.
It was almost dark and the rope ladder was difficult to find. The climb was quite tricky for some of the group. Kayleb worried that David would find climbing the ladder too much for him but was surprised how easily he climbed it. As for himself, he felt a lot stronger than when he had tried to climb the rope in the well.
Rowan felt perturbed. He didn’t remember the journey to the chateau. There was a large chunk of his memory missing. He decided that it was best if he went into the chateau while he tried to work out what had happened. He felt sure that his memory losses had something to do with Cornwall. She had done the same thing to him before, he was sure. He didn’t know what she did but it was something to do with her eyes. He had to avoid those eyes at all costs. He should feel angry with her. He had been earlier but now he was so weary and needed to sleep. He didn’t know what to think or do. He hoped that things would be clearer in the morning. His forehead throbbed and he had struggled to climb the ladder.
The room they entered was a gallery whose walls were panelled with dark wood. Pictures and various artefacts were on display but were covered in cobwebs. Ledbetter stood before them, tall and thin. He held a lantern. He had a sallow complexion and his long straggly grey hair hung loosely around his face. His eyes were dark and sad. His grey robes were tattered and crumpled and in need of mending.
‘You do not look well,’ David said to Ledbetter. ‘I know you are ill. I have heard you in my dreams crying out in the night.’
‘You know me too well,’ replied Ledbetter in French. ‘I am growing old, that’s all. This castle is damp and is not good for my bones. I am well enough. It is good to see you, David. It has been almost a year since I last saw you, though we have spoken many times. This is it then? You are going ahead with your plan and you have all these kind people to help you. I wish I could come too. I had a food parcel air-dropped this morning. Come, I will find you something to eat and we will talk.’
Ledbetter led them along many dusty corridors until they finally arrived in the kitchen of the castle. This too was covered in cobwebs and looked cold and uninviting. It did not look as if it had been used in a long while. At the end of the kitchen was a door. Behind the door were a flight of stairs leading down into the cellar and this, the group discovered, was where Ledbetter had made his home.
In the cellar there was a wood-burning stove which gave out a hearty glow and around it were a variety of settees, chairs and cushions. There were candles all around and in the far corner was a bed with a worn patchwork quilt over the top. Ledbetter signalled to everyone to sit down and went off to get some food. Kayleb, Rowan and Cornwall sat on a sofa and Indigo sat next to the stove and warmed his hands.
Ledbetter brought through a large tray, which he carried with some difficulty as it was laden with hams, bread, cheeses and salad. Kayleb eyed the food suspiciously. He wasn’t sure if it was fresh. There was a peculiar smell coming from the tray and the aroma was filling the room.
‘Ah, wonderful,’ exclaimed David. ‘You have Stilton cheese, my favourite! Ledbetter is one of the finest cheese-makers I know. You must try some, everyone.’
‘Yes, please do,’ said Ledbetter, now beaming with pride.
The odd odour of the cheese stirred Rowan from his daydream. He looked towards Cornwall. She nibbled daintily on a slither of cheese and grimaced as the bitter taste took effect. What was this girl doing to him? He did not like being out of control. She made him feel weak and confused. On the one hand he felt that he should protect her from harm, and yet on the other she irritated him immensely and he felt he wanted nothing to do with her. The night before she had lain next to him, he remembered that; it had felt so natural and yet he knew that mentors were not allowed to sleep together. His feelings battled within him. He was troubled; not being able to remember what had happened since going to sleep in the hammock weighed heavily on his mind. Rowan wasn’t going to ask Kayleb what had happened to him; that really would be humiliating. He would eat first, find a place to sleep and then tomorrow he would slip away from the group and make his own way back to London. Silently Rowan got up from the sofa, took some bread and ham, carefully avoiding the crumbling Stilton, and looked around the cellar for a place to sleep. His backpack had a bedroll on top and a sleeping bag inside. He took these and found a quiet corner and settled himself there, reminding himself that under no circumstances should he look into Cornwall’s eyes.
Kayleb had enjoyed Ledbetter’s meal and lay back on the sofa. He felt full and contented. He had been really glad when Rowan had gone to bed, as he did not want to tell him about Cornwall’s antics. There was a good feeling in the cellar; excitement was in the air. David and Ledbetter chatted away to each other and the rest of the group seemed to be in high spirits. Kayleb wondered what information Ledbetter could provide David with as he was locked away from all of civilisation. Kayleb leant nearer to David and Ledbetter and strained to hear what they were saying. The room was too noisy so Kayleb wasn’t rewarded.
Cornwall nudged Kayleb. ‘I think Ledbetter is a telepathic,’ whispered Cornwall. ‘David is, too, don’t you think? David knows what you are thinking sometimes.’
Kayleb nodded. She was right. He had often felt this but it was only now that he realised this to be true.
‘Yes, I think you’re right. It’s a bit spooky though. It must be great to be telepathic if you’re faced with an enemy,’ Kayleb added.
‘There is more to David than meets the eye. I think he will make a great leader when we get to London,’ continued Cornwall.
Kayleb nodded and looked at Cornwall thoughtfully. There were no leaders as such in London. The political system was a computer program maintained by a secret IT society, the Think Tank, though this was influenced by the public voting on their interactive digi-screens. Kayleb feared that David’s psychic ability would be of no consequence in London. What was needed was a superhuman computer hacker. Law and order was maintained with harsh penalties being dealt to those that did not conform and, although the people of London felt secure beneath the defensive shield, their lives were controlled and lacked excitement. Kayleb wondered what his mentor Conrad, a key member in the police force, would think of David. Kayleb tried to remember Conrad’s face. It seemed blurred now. Had they been apart so long that Kayleb was forgetting what he looked like?
The room was hot and Kayleb felt drowsy. He found himself drifting off to sleep. He could still see Helen’s face clearly in his dreams, smiling at him, her long hair swishing as she moved.