Helix and the Arrival (16 page)

Steckman stands with his hands on his hips, proud of himself. ‘Well, here it is. The river.'

Ug and Saleeka's arms hang low and loose by their sides. Their jaws hang almost lower.

‘It's huge,' I say, feeling the pull of its current even on dry land. Small waves of foam appear and disappear on the surface, as if the water is in a hurry to reach its destination. ‘Where does it go?' I ask Steckman.

‘The river?'

‘Yes. Where does the water end up?'

‘I can't say because I haven't ventured that far myself, but there are stories that the river empties into open waters.'

‘What does that mean?'

‘Imagine a place where dry land ends and there's only water as far as the eye can see. That's how it's been described to me.'

Ug's fascination with the river isn't as great as mine. He's looking around, impatient now. ‘How do we cross?' he asks.

Steckman casts his eyes upwards and we follow his gaze. Above us, some distance in the air, are two ropes. Each end of the two ropes is fastened to a strong tree on either bank. One rope is strung directly above the other, spanning the width of the river.

‘This is the crossing point,' says Steckman.

‘How do we get up there?' says Saleeka.

‘I'll show you,' says Steckman.

We follow him to the tree that has one end of the two ropes fastened to it. Hacked into the trunk are footholds. A third rope hangs down from above.

‘Watch,' says Steckman. Leaving his heavy sack on the ground, he pulls himself up using the hanging rope while his feet scale the tree using the footholds carved into the trunk. He reaches the first horizontal rope but continues upwards to the higher one. When he can reach the upper rope, he grips it with his hands, and stands on the lower rope.

‘See? Easy!' he yells.

‘What about Porgo?' I yell back. ‘How will she cross?'

‘She'll have to get wet, unfortunately. But it's okay – swamp boars don't mind a bit of water. I'll tie a rope to her and heave her across the river.'

Porgo's tail retreats between her legs. I think she knows there's only one way across the river for her.

Steckman climbs back down the tree, skipping the last couple of footholds and landing with a dull thud beside us.

‘Thank you for showing us the crossing point,' says Ug. ‘Now we will be on our way.'

‘On your way! And what will you say when you reach the other side?'

‘We will tell them that we have come for medicine,' says Ug, matter-of-factly, as he reaches for the hanging rope to scale the tree.

Steckman takes a step towards Ug. ‘Do you really think the river people will greet you like friends, give you their medicine and then let you go free? That's not how it works in times like these.'

Ug lets go of the rope and turns to me. ‘Helix? They will give us the medicine we need, won't they?'

I don't know the answer but I can see that Steckman has a point. What if the river people don't want us on their land? I can't even imagine what would happen if a bunch of river folk appeared in Rockfall asking for, say, some charcoaled meat.

‘I'm not sure, Ug,' I say.

Ug looks disappointed. ‘What do you suggest?' he says to Steckman.

Steckman takes a moment to think. ‘Let me go first. Wait until I reach the other side and speak to an elder – that way I can explain so there are no surprises.'

‘What sort of surprises?' I say.

Steckman mutters something under his breath that I can't quite hear. Or maybe it's that I'm not meant to hear.

‘What did you say?' I ask him.

‘Nothing … Nothing important. Why don't you let me cross? If all's well, I'll give you a sign letting you know it's safe to come over.'

‘No,' says Ug. ‘Thank you for the offer, but we do not have time to wait. My father may already be dead for all I know, so every moment is precious. We will cross the river and bear the consequences. Won't we?' He looks at Saleeka and then at me.

We nod. We have to.

Steckman is left standing speechless.

We cast aside all unnecessary weight. I leave behind my spear and food sack. Saleeka throws her spear on the ground, too. Ug leaves his heavy club, but keeps his spear strapped across his back.

Ug begins climbing the tree to reach the ropes strung across the river. We watch him from below. It looks easy enough, even for someone of Ug's size.

‘Come on, follow me,' he says.

Saleeka starts climbing the tree, using the footholds to scale her way upwards. She's far enough up for me to follow, but just as I'm about to begin climbing, I hear a sound from the tunnel that we just came through.

‘What was that?' I ask Steckman. I can tell he's heard something, too.

Porgo squeals, but it's not her usual friendly excited squeal.

‘What is it, girl?' says Steckman.

The lady braid vine opens to reveal a large grey mountain wolf … followed by another.

I take a few steps back and Steckman does the same. Ug and Saleeka, high up on the river-crossing rope, can see what's going on but are unable to do anything.

Both wolves have quivering lips and bared fangs. A deep growl comes from within them. They are big creatures – the larger of the two stands taller than me. And they're looking at us and thinking of one thing. Food.

But then something happens to shift the attention of the larger wolf. It has picked up the scent of the food sack my mum gave me, which is lying on the ground. This could be our saviour! The wolf walks to the sack and sniffs once, then twice. Then it turns its head back to face me and gives me an unimpressed look that says, ‘I'd rather go for something a bit more fresh – plus I'm not a big fan of charcoaled mountain vole.'

Both the wolves creep slowly forward. With the river behind us, we have nowhere to go. Still, I walk backwards and, as I walk, I'm aware of my spear on the ground behind me.

Half of me says, ‘If I can just reach the spear, I might be able to defend myself.' The other half says (rolling on the ground in laughter), ‘You? Defend yourself with a spear? You must be joking!'

Steckman has picked up his sack and is holding it between himself and the smaller of the wolves as if it might offer some protection. Porgo, like us, is walking backwards. With each breath, she lets out a soft whimper.

Ug's voice comes from above. ‘Your spear, Helix.'

‘Grab it!' says Saleeka.

I take another step backwards. The growls are getting deeper and the pink-gummed snarls more frequent. The wolf with its eye on me has saliva hanging from its fangs.

I feel the wooden shaft of the spear underneath my foot. All I need to do is to reach down, pick it up and thrust it through both wolves at once. Easy. Kind of like a giant version of my mum's meat-on-a-stick.

Steckman looks at me out of the corner of his eye. ‘The spear, Helix,' he says.

There's no more time for thinking. If I'm going to die at the teeth of a wild beast, it may as well be with a spear in my hand. I reach down with speed and take the spear in my throwing hand. In the one motion, I throw it the short distance into the great grey leaping beast.

The world stops. Time freezes. Then the beast takes a moment to look at the spear embedded in its chest below its throat. The spearhead, as it turns out, has only just pierced the wolf's skin. I guess this is what comes of almost thirteen years of no spear-throwing practice.

The creature growls. This time, though, it is not only a hungry growl, but an angry growl as well. Great. Now it has two good reasons for ripping me to pieces. With the spear dangling off it like a twig, it bounds two steps towards me and leaps, with the smaller wolf following. It looks like I'm first on the menu.

A wall of grey fur, muscle and sinew closes in …

Then there is a yelp, and the smaller wolf falls sideways with a spear in its side. Ug has struck from above.

The bigger wolf, which is standing over me, looks upwards at Ug with revenge on its mind, but quickly realises that Ug is well out of its reach.

‘Not to worry,' I can see the wolf thinking. ‘There's a meal for the taking right here.'

It focuses its attention back on me and bares its fangs so that I can see its glistening pink gums. It thrusts its head forward, ready to take its first bite …

There's a problem, though. The end of the spear attached to its chest is now butting into the ground, stopping it from moving its head forward.

And there is one other problem for this wolf, too. From the side, much to its surprise, comes a heaving, squealing mass of pink-fleshed bristle. Although Porgo doesn't have the weapons (as in fangs) to do any real harm, she bows her head and batters into the giant grey wolf, knocking the beast off me.

The two of them – grey wolf and swamp boar – roll down the river embankment until flatter ground stops their momentum. I get up onto my hands and knees. Piercing the air comes a horrific squeal.

‘No!' I yell, running down the bank towards Porgo.

‘Stop, Helix!' calls Steckman.

The wolf, tasting blood, has forgotten about everyone else. It isn't even aware of me now, as I take hold of the spear still attached to its chest and push as hard as I can, trying to drive it into the beast. It moves a little way in, but not far enough to do any harm.

Porgo is shaking. And squealing. I can see her look into my eyes, pleading for me to do something, asking me why this is happening.

All my weight is on the spear, but it's not enough. On my own, I can't do it. On my own, I'm just Helix, the puniest caveboy on the mountain.

But then I feel another pair of hands around mine … and another.

Ug and Saleeka have made it down from the crossing rope. They grip the spear, hand over hand, as if everything depends on it. We all push together and the spear disappears into the grey beast. There's a brief moment when it turns, howls and bares its fangs towards us, but then its life has gone.

I bend down and look at Porgo. Steckman is by her side, with one hand on her round belly. She's bleeding and not moving. I pat her head and I think she knows I'm there because her small tail waggles, just a little.

‘We have to save her,' I say to Steckman.

Without much confidence, he says, ‘If we can get her across the river, I might be able to seek help for her.'

‘Please,' I say. ‘She saved my life.'

Steckman reaches into his largest sack and removes a skin of high quality. ‘It's panthera … I was saving it
to trade when the winter comes. It will keep the cold off her skin and stop some of the bleeding,' he says.

I help Steckman wrap the thick panthera skin around Porgo's middle. We fasten it with a short length of vine rope. Next, Steckman ties a longer piece of rope around her torso. ‘We'll pull her across once we reach the other side. I can't think of any other way.'

Ug removes his spear from the smaller grey wolf and heads towards the tree. ‘We must leave,' he says.

Saleeka follows him, and then I go, too.

Steckman ties his sack to his back. With Porgo's rope tethered to him, he follows us up the tree and onto the crossing ropes. ‘I'm still very uneasy about this,' he mumbles. ‘Bringing uninvited folk from the mountain across the river … It's a recipe for being tied to a wooden pole and sent downriver. And then there's … Oh, it doesn't matter. We've come this far – no turning back now.'

I don't think to ask Steckman what his other concern is. My only focus at the moment is making it over the river and seeing Porgo reach the other side safely.

The two taut ropes make it easy for us to make our way over to the other side. At one point I look down and see the fast-flowing waters below. It makes my stomach jump and I turn my eyes back to the riverbank ahead of me.

We reach the other side, one by one, and just as on the mountain side of the river, there is a rope and notches in the tree on the far side to help us down. Steckman is the last to reach the ground, laden with his heavy sack.