It was decided that they would all meet up by the lake at dusk, using the cover of darkness and with the stars as guidance to travel northwards. The North Star wasn’t as bright as it used to be but it was still recognisable by the hazy blue glow around it. The sky had been clear that day and if it didn’t cloud over then Kayleb reckoned that they would make good progress that night. That is, if they were able to slip away from the waster settlement undetected. The settlement was not far from the lake and they would have to skirt its edges carefully to make their way north.
Kayleb had his doubts about Cornwall. He wasn’t altogether sure that she was to be trusted. He and Rowan could quite easily be walking into a trap. Kayleb decided that they should hide behind a gorse bush and wait for Cornwall there, in case she had brought others with her.
Cornwall didn’t come alone. The pigs came too, trotting happily behind her. There was a bit of a commotion when Kayleb and Rowan came out of hiding. The pigs became highly agitated by the boys’ arrival on the shore and it took a great deal of effort before Cornwall managed to calm them.
‘I’m sorry but the pigs aren’t coming,’ said Kayleb firmly.
‘I can’t leave them; they’ll be eaten. The Leaders don’t know I’ve got them. They’re my babies,’ said Cornwall, looking imploringly at Kayleb.
Kayleb stared down at the pigs and then up into Cornwall’s frightened face and then sighed in defeat.
‘OK ... but you’ve got to keep them quiet; they might blow our cover.’
Rowan stared unbelievingly at Kayleb; things were hard enough without two deranged pigs in tow.
‘Are you mad? Do you honestly think that we are going to get out of this valley with those things? They’ve got to go!’
‘Look, I don’t like it much either. You were the one that wanted Cornwall to come with us.’
Cornwall led the way. She knew the safest route out of the valley and close on her heels her pigs, Rupert and Willow, followed, their huge feet trotting in unison. The track was narrow and Rowan found himself bringing up the rear. He felt cross. Somehow he had let Kayleb walk all over him again.
The sky was an inkpot blue and the North Star seemed extra bright that night. It made Kayleb feel uplifted. There was hope in his heart now and as they left the valley he thought that perhaps Cornwall would turn out to be all right after all; she was obviously just in need of some psychiatric treatment.
Rupert and Willow were becoming used to Kayleb and Rowan and only occasionally looked over their shoulders with scathing suspicion. The pigs stopped now and again and cocked their heads to one side and then continued on their way.
Kayleb thought that it might be the water in the bucket he was carrying, slopping over the edges when he stumbled, that caught the pigs’ attention.
In the distance somebody shouted and this was followed by a howl from an animal. The wasters’ settlement was behind them but was not that far away. Perhaps the wasters had discovered that Cornwall had gone, thought Kayleb. Perhaps they were now in hot pursuit and soon they would be captured. Kayleb picked up the pace and told Cornwall to walk faster. Kayleb’s ears strained hard, trying to listen to every sound in the night. A dog barked, but it seemed a long way off. He remembered the dogs he had seen chasing the tigeagle.
‘Do your people use dogs for tracking?’ Kayleb asked Cornwall, trying to sound calm. He instinctively knew what the answer would be.
‘Of course, silly! How else do you catch animals or taskers! They are trained to round up animals and bring the prey to the men to kill,’ she said, looking at Kayleb inquisitively.
‘Oh!’ said Kayleb. His heart was now in his boots and he had the distinct feeling that they were being pursued. ‘Would they use the dogs to chase you, Cornwall, do you think?’ Kayleb’s voice was now showing signs of quavering.
‘I don’t think so. I’m not prey, am I?’ Slowly Cornwall realised what Kayleb was trying to tell her. She stopped and the pigs grunted with disapproval. ‘What is it, Kayleb, do you know some- thing? You don’t think they’d do that ... use the dogs on me?’
A dog howled into the night and the fear on Cornwall’s face showed that she knew what was about to happen. Rowan kicked the ground with frustration and swore and then glared at Kayleb.
‘It’s all your fault. Those dogs can probably smell those pigs a mile off. You and your humanitarian attitude have done us up like a seagull. How on earth are we going to escape tracker dogs? Speak to them diplomatically perhaps?’
Kayleb’s mind was racing.
‘We need water to hide our tracks. Is there a stream nearby, Cornwall? That will stop them,’ he said, looking hopefully at her.
Cornwall looked sadly down at the floor, the starlight lighting up her hair like a halo. She was thinking deeply and then looked excitedly up at the boys. ‘There are caves nearby and the dogs won’t go in them. I’ve seen animals flee into the caves to escape the dogs and no matter what the men do to the dogs, they won’t go in. We’ll hide in them! They’ll think the dogs are messing them about again. That’s it ... Come on!’
Cornwall tore off to the left and everybody followed, hoping that they would see the caves soon, as the dogs were now much closer. Rowan was about to object, as he wondered what might be in the caves to stop the dogs entering but an especially loud howl sent him racing towards the caves too.
Fortunately, the caves Cornwall had spoken about were not far off and they were a welcome sight. The entrances were only big enough to crawl through, but the cave opening they chose quickly opened up as they went inside. Kayleb and Cornwall crawled through easily. Kayleb still had the bucket of water but he had lost most of it running and now it was only half full. Rowan had some difficulty getting into the cave, as his shoulders were quite broad. Rupert and Willow did not fit through the cave entrance and squealed when they found they couldn’t follow Cornwall.
‘I can’t leave them; they’ll be killed!’ cried Cornwall, frantically scraping at the earth. The earth was soft and scooped away easily but her hands were so tiny, that she hardly made any progress.
‘Here, let me try,’ said Rowan.
Cornwall crawled aside and Rowan, his hands working like shovels, soon made the cave entrance large enough for Rupert and Willow to enter. They barged in sending Rowan flying. The pigs were extremely frightened, as the dogs had arrived and were barking madly at the cave entrance. They didn’t enter though, just as Cornwall had predicted. The men of the village could be heard cursing the dogs for bringing them to the caves.
As they listened from inside the cave, it also transpired that the wasters hadn’t been chasing Cornwall after all. A tasker named Indigo had escaped from the stud pen and it had been discovered just as the sun had gone down when the festivities were about to start. He was probably long gone but the dogs had been on edge and the head waster was curious to see where they would take him. He was furious that the dogs had led him on a wild-goose chase. Their obsession with the caves had gone too far and the head waster hit out at a rather scruffy wolfhound. The dog escaped the beating and skulked back down the track to the settlement with the other dogs.
Inside the cave everyone tried not to breathe too loudly until the men had gone. Fortunately Willow and Rupert had been quiet, too; the shock of narrowly escaping the jaws of the dogs had stunned them into silence.
There was a fracture in the ceiling of the cave which let in some moonlight. The cave was quite large and luckily there were no wild beasts lurking in the corners. There was a strange smell which, Kayleb thought, might have put the dogs off from entering the cave. It was a smell of sulphur and was really not that pleasant. The ground was quite soft and the cave felt like a safe haven, and so sleep came swiftly to all.