High The Vanes (The Change Book 2) (17 page)

“Are you sure?” I asked, hoping for one small sign of sorrow.

“What is there to be sure about?” she said. “She was not going to be with us. It was her choice to be alone. We have much to do. If she had done what she did somewhere else we would not have known about it. Let’s move on.”

She pulled herself out of the sleeping bag and immediately started to roll it up. I called Eluned back into the tent.

“We’re going,” I said. “Let’s pack what we need.”

On the morning of the third day we came in sight of Salopian Caster. It turned out to be closer to Uricon than we had thought, but Tacita and Charity had pitched their tent to the south, so we had to loop back north. From where we stood, just at the edge of a small copse, there did not appear to be much life there. Between us was a broad meadow that ran down to the banks of a wide river. On the other side another, steeper, meadow led up to massive walls. There was no sign of a gate or entrance way through the walls.

“Have you been here before?” I asked Tacita.

“Once,” she said.

Nothing else. She had been mostly silent since we left the camp, answering questions in just the same way with one-word answers. She said nothing else.

“How do we get in?” I asked.

“The bridge,” she said. She raised her arm and pointed to the right of where we stood. Faintly visible in the distance was a stone structure that obviously crossed the river. From what I could make out, the river appeared to surround the caster like a moat.

“That is the only entrance?” I said.

Tacita shrugged in response.

“Any ideas?” I asked Eluned.

She turned to Tacita. “What is the name of this river?”

“The people of this caster call it the Sabrina. In Deva Caster we call it the Severn. Others, I have heard, call it the Hafren.” It was the longest she had spoken for days.

“Did you say ‘Hafren’?” Eluned asked.

“So it is said. I have never heard anyone call it that. Mostly it is called the Severn. Why?”

Eluned turned to me. “We know these names, my lady. Sabrina and Hafren.”

“It is said there are stories about them,” Tacita said.

“Stories?” I said.

“I remember one story. It tells that Sabrina was a girl who was drowned in the river by the wife of her father.”

“Surely the wife of her father would be her mother?” I said, interrupting.

“No. She was the child of the second wife.”
“And the first wife was still alive?”

“So the story tells. It was because of the second wife that the first wife was angry.”

“Understandable.”

“Sabrina became a naiad.”
“A what?”

“A naiad. An elf of the water. She guards the river.”

“Surely ‘Sabrina’ is a ClassLat word, isn’t it, Tacita?”

“Yes. It is the same as Severn in our language.”

“So I’m afraid your story sounds far-fetched,” I said.

“There is another story,” Eluned said. “Hafren is one of three sisters. The others are Ystwyth and Gwy. They gave their names to the three great rivers of our country. Hafren suffered the same fate as the girl in the other story.”

“She was drowned? By her father’s first wife?”

“Yes. But she did not become a naiad. She became instead a High Servant of the Lady. Her task is to protect the river and those who travel on it. It was she and her sister who taught me while you were with the Teacher.”

“Does any of this help us to get into Salopian Caster?” I asked her.

Tacita smiled. Again for the first time since we left the camp.

Eluned turned away. “No, my lady. I am sorry.”

I put my hand on her shoulder. “I am not angry with you, Eluned. I should not have said that. We need to cross the river somehow, but I cannot see us being able to use the bridge.”

“There may be a boat,” Tacita said, walking out into the meadow.

I looked about, but there was no sign of anyone else, so we followed her down to the river’s edge. Unlike the river Eluned and I had crossed before, this time the water was calm and almost flat. There was a current, but it did not seem to be fast-flowing.

“We go this way,” Tacita said, striking off to the left. “There was once another bridge on the other side. Perhaps we could find some way of crossing there.”

It was some distance before we came upon what was clearly the ruins of another substantial bridge. I was conscious of the fact that we were out in the open while we walked, easily visible to anyone looking from the top of the walls, which now loomed over the meadow on the other side. Fortunately, we reached the ruined bridge without being seen.

The bridge had once had several arches carrying a wide road across to the other side where it led up to what had once been a gateway into the caster. At least three of the central arches were now missing, so there was a wide gap. The gateway had been crudely bricked up. There was no sign of a boat, and I found myself hoping that we would not come across a creature as strange as the one who had taken us across the other river.

“Why did they do this?” I asked Tacita. “Why destroy the bridge?”

“It is no longer needed. No one leaves the caster. Very few enter it. The bridge on the other side is sufficient.”

“Why did you go there?”

“When we began our Guard duty we had to visit Salopian Caster to collect our equipment. That is the purpose of this caster.”

“To provide equipment for girls going on Guard duty?”

“Amongst other things, yes. They make tents and clothes. And food packs. Not only for new Guards. For those who live here and for the people of Deva Caster.”

“How many people live here?”

“I do not know. Not as many as at Deva Caster. As I told you, no Guards come from this caster, so there are no girl children.”

“So only men who make the tents and things?”

“And child-bearers. And some childless. They come from other casters. And boy children.”

“What happens if the child-bearers produce girl children?”

“They are sent away.”

“To Deva Caster?”

“No, we have our own child-bearers. I do not know where they are sent.”

“Do the boy children go to Schola?”

“Of course. There is a small Schola here. But they leave earlier than we do. To work in a fabrica or an officina.”

While we were talking, Eluned had walked over to what remained of the bridge. She had climbed up onto one of arches that had not been destroyed. Standing high above us, I heard her calling.

“My lady! My lady! Come. See.”

When we climbed up to join her, Eluned was excitedly pointing in the direction of the wall on the other side of the bridge.

“A small door,” she said. “See? At the base of the wall, a little way from the old gateway. I did not see it at first as it is the same colour as the stones of the wall.”

When I followed where she was pointing, I did eventually make out the door she was indicating. It was indeed small and well disguised. As I stared, I could make out a pathway in the grass that led down until it stopped about half way between the wall and the river bank.

“There’s a path,” I said. “It leads from the door, but it doesn’t go all the way to the river. Why would it do that?”

“That is where they bury the dead,” Tacita said, matter-of-factly. “See where the earth has been dug up? Just further from where the path stops.”

It seemed strange to me that they should choose such a place to bury their dead. It was not very large and I could imagine them running out of space before too long.

“The door is opening,” Eluned said.

“Get down,” I whispered. “Quickly, before we are seen.” We all threw ourselves down onto the ground.
 
While Eluned and I lay flat, our hand covering our heads, Tacita lifted her head so that she could see. She told us what was happening.

“It’s a childless,” she said. “Carrying two small bundles. One under each arm. She’s walking towards that patch of dug earth. She’s dropped the bundles. There must be a hole, or a pit, because the bundles have disappeared. Now she’s walking back to the door. She’s gone in. The door’s closed.”

I sat up. “What was that all about?” I said.

“She was obviously disposing of something. Too far away for me to see what. Just looked like dirty white bundles from here,” Tacita said.

It struck me like a thunderbolt. White bundles. “Duwch yn y tangnefedd,” I said. One of Taid’s sayings resurrected itself. “Oh no. Oh no.”

“What is it, my lady?” Eluned asked, sitting up.

“Small white bundles. Babies. Girl babies.”

“What are you saying, my lady?”

“Tacita told me. Just now. While you were climbing up here. The women they call child-bearers. If they produce a girl baby, you said they are sent away. Didn’t you?”

“Yes, but ...” It dawned on her what I was suggesting. “This cannot be.” She burst into tears.

“They are killing them and burying them over there, Eluned,” I said. “And it’s left to the childless to dispose of the bodies. It’s too awful. Too awful.”

Eluned stood up, her hands over her head. “You are monsters,” she yelled before I could stop her. “You do not deserve to live. Monsters!”

I grabbed her arm and turned her towards me. “Stop this,” I shouted at her. “Stop it. They will hear you.”

She looked at me. “But they are monsters,” she said in a slightly calmer voice.

“I know. I know,” I said. “But yelling at them will change nothing. If they find us out here we will be finished.” I took her hand and led her down from the archway. “I have to get across this river and into the caster.”

As we stood on the bank of the river I looked at the gap where the arches had been removed. It was certainly nowhere near as wide as the rest of the river. I started to take off my shift. When it was off I rolled it into as small a bundle as I could.

“I’m going to swim across,” I said. Before they could stop me, I scrambled down the bank and into the water. It was freezing but I carried on. Holding the bundle of my shift up out of the water, I waded up to the bridge, clambered up onto the base and made my way out to the gap. It looked much wider from here than it did from the bank, but without hesitating I plunged in, still holding up the bundle. Paddling with one hand, kicking with my legs as hard as I could, slowly I propelled myself across. The current was pulling me away from the bridge, so I had to struggle to keep on track.

After what seemed an age, my hand struck against a mass of stonework under the water. It must have been the remains of one of the missing arches. Using this to push myself out, I kicked against it, bruising my feet in the process. I covered the last stretch of water between me and the first surviving arch in just a few minutes. As my hand touched it, I dropped my legs and my feet found the bottom. I stood up and clambered up onto the base.

Out of the water, still panting with the effort, I heard water splashing behind me. Turning to look back I could see Eluned, also holding up her shift, swimming much more powerfully than me across the gap. Within minutes, she was stood in the water beside me.

“Take this,” she said, handing me her bundle. “I will bring the other one.”

With that, she plunged back in. Tacita had made it to the base of the last arch but was clearly too afraid to jump into the gap. She was clinging onto the stonework, her clothes roughly held up as the current pulled at her. Moments later, Eluned was beside her. Without a word, she grasped Tacita round her chest with one arm and struck out back towards me with the other arm. Hampered by the weight of Tacita who was doing nothing to help her, she took longer to cover the distance, but in the end she made it.

“Stand up,” Eluned said, coughing water from her mouth.

“I can’t. It’s too deep,” Tacita wailed.

“Here. Give me your hand,” I said, leaning over towards her. I took her hand and pulled her in until her feet hit the bottom. As soon as she felt that, she pushed herself off towards the bank. Although she was still holding up her bundle, most of her clothes were soaked. Eluned and I waded after her. Soon we were all lying on the grass on the bank of the river, shivering and gasping for breath.

“I hope no one comes out of that door,” I said, hoarsely.

“Wrong side,” Eluned said. “Wrong side, my lady.”

I turned my head and realised what she was saying. We had arrived on the side of the bridge away from the door, so were hidden from it. “Good,” I said. “Good.”

Eluned stood up, shook out her shift and pulled it over her head. Her body was still wet, but because the shift was mostly dry it absorbed most of the water. I stood up and did the same. As my head emerged from the neckline I noticed that Tacita had rolled over so that her face was buried in the grass. She still could not take the sight of two developed women.

“Turn around,” I whispered to Eluned, taking her arm so that we were not looking at Tacita. After much scrabbling, she said, “I’m dressed now.”

I turned to look at her. Her shirt was soaked. “Well done,” I said.

“That was madness,” she said. “I can’t swim.”

“You didn’t need to. Eluned is strong enough to swim for both of you. As you saw.”

“But why did you do it?”

“To get us across the river. I knew that if I suggested it, you would refuse and Eluned would probably warn me of the dangers. The best way was to do what I did. Say nothing and plunge in. And now, here we are, the three of us, safely across. So it worked.”

“I worry about you sometimes,” she said, smiling.

“So do I,” Eluned said. “So do I.”

“Tell me,” Tacita said as she tried to squeeze some of the water from the front of her shirt, “now we’ve crossed the river. Why are we here?”

“The first thing I want to do is find out where they have taken my grandfather,” I said, watching her.

“And you think you will find that information here?”

“Why not? All the casters communicate with each other. If they didn’t bring him here, they might know where he was taken.”

“This is a work caster,” she said, with a contempt that only a ten-year-old’s voice can express.

“And?” I said.

“They will know nothing. No one tells the work casters about anything. Except how much to make and how quickly to make it.”