Hunters: A Trilogy (114 page)

George was either not listening or, hopefully, he had another reason for ignoring Ken’s heartfelt plea regarding the weather. Whatever the reason may have been, the snow kept coming and coming. By first light, it was stacked in huge drifts along the ridges at the top of the ravine. Ken and Junior stood in the doorway, looking at the total whiteness of their surroundings in disbelief.

‘Where in the hell did all that come from?’ Junior said, looking at the thick rafters of snow lining the branches of the trees above their position. ‘Do you think that we should go and check the traps? We had them hidden well under the trees just over the edge down there,’ he said, pointing towards the bottom of the slope. ‘Maybe they’ll be okay, what do you reckon?’

What Ken reckoned is that they didn’t have a hope in hell of catching anything in this weather, but the young man’s eagerness was so childlike that he didn’t have the heart to do his early morning, grizzly bear act.

‘Yeah, why not?’ he said. ‘If you don’t look then you’ll never know, plus it would be a shame to have something trapped and left up there to die of cold. Reset the traps anyway, just clear some of the snow away and stick some fresh green stuff in there, maybe a handful of pine nuts and some leaves or grass, if you can find any. It has to be worth a try and you never know, we may need it to survive if this doesn’t bugger off in the next twenty four hours!’ He cast his eyes despairingly to the snow-filled heavens above.

Junior slid into the cave and Ken heard him talking to Mikey in low tones. In a few moments, the young men exited the cave with their rifles in hand. With their hats pulled low and coat collars lifted against the cold, Ken watched as they slipped away down to where the sides of the ravine were at their lowest. It wasn’t long before they had disappeared into the blizzard. Ken stood and stared into the whiteness for a while, the thought of maybe having made a mistake in letting the two men go out in such weather, gently gnawing at his mind.

His concerns were to prove unfounded – within two hours they had returned, and not in the soggy, down-heartened way in which Ken thought they might come back, having discovered their traps were empty and then struggling against the finger-numbing cold as they tried to forage for more bait, whilst attempting to reset the fiddly traps. No, the two were nothing if not exceedingly proud with their morning’s work, it showed in the way he saw them striding purposefully up the slippery slope towards the cave.

Ken stood with Red at his side and watched as the boys approached, quickly identifying the dark carcasses that were draped across their shoulders. He smiled inwardly, thinking: ‘These guys are just unreal, un-bloody-believable!’

He let the thoughts run down to his face and gave the approaching boys a huge, face-cracking smile. He and Red stepped forward and lifted the bodies of one small deer and two overgrown hares from their shoulders. Michael also dumped two more fish into the snow in front of Red’s feet.

‘We stopped off at the pond on the way back and it turned out to be worth it!’ the boy said. ‘Pretty good for beginners, huh, Ken?’

Ken rose to his feet and grabbed both of the younger men in a bear-hug. Telling the boys to get by the warmth of the fire, he turned to Red and between them they dragged the catch into the cave.

There was soon a decent pile of fresh meat and fish piled on the deerskin. Ken separated the meat into piles and then wrapped it in the skin, making several neat parcels that Red took outside and buried in the snow. Ken looked up at Junior and Mikey, the nod of his head followed by and exaggerated ‘A-OK’ hand signal was all the boys needed to see. Ken was really pleased and that was more than enough for them. They grinned at each other and ‘chinked’ their plastic mugs together in mock celebration.

Later that morning, as they sat and watched Red doing his magic with some of the venison, the mouth-watering smell drifting away up their magical chimney, Mikey told Ken that three of their four traps had been sprung and that there were also lots of animal footprints throughout the snow-covered floor of the woods outside. He said that he and Junior had spent some time carrying out a sweep of the area, which is why they had been gone for such a long time, and during their scouting they had not seen one sign of any human activity.

‘There’s not a soul out there,’ he said, seriously. ‘And I couldn’t feel them either, there’s nothing here – I’m pretty sure that it’s just us, and them,’ he paused, looking down at the sizzling pieces of meat that Red was preparing. He remained quiet for a moment and sat looking out of the door as the snow began to fall again in sheets. The visibility was now almost zero and the snow was starting to stack itself against the wall of brambles which hid the entrance to their cave.

Turning his eyes away from the entrance and after staring into the flames of their little fire for a while longer, Mikey looked up and said, ‘I think that we should all come inside now, I think that it’s him who’s doing this – he knows we’re here, he doesn’t know where we are, but he is looking!’ He nodded uphill, behind the cave, to where their destination lay. ‘He’s up there and he’s watching – I can feel him in my head. He thinks we’re in the open and he thinks that he can sap our power with the cold, we must wait, stay hidden and wait!’ He looked into the flames once more, blue eyes shining and cheek muscles clenched in anger.

Then, almost as though he was talking to himself, he said, ‘The storm will end after a while and then we should move and move quickly! We should get to the top as fast as we possibly can, because he won’t be expecting us so soon! Then we will see who it is that has the real power – then we’ll see!’ The veins stood out on his neck, knuckles white as he balled his fists in anger.

It was the first time they had seen his true spirit. Yes, he had fought like the very devil himself during the battle at the farm, but they had all been doing that at the time and his rage had been only one part of an incredible event. However, here in the silence of the cave with only the moaning wind to interrupt their thoughts, the inner strength and pure power of his spirit jumped out of the young man. They were almost able to see the light of his being erupting from his half-whispered words. Michael was indeed a fearsome sight. Ken sat back on his haunches and looked around the others; they all remained silent as they stared at young Mikey.

After a while, Ken rose to his feet and went outside to tell Tori to come back into the cave. She stamped her way in and spent a while shaking the snow from her woolly hat and jacket shoulders, before laying both hat and jacket across her pack to dry in front of the fire. Taking the cup of hot tea from Jane’s outstretched hand, she squatted by the flames.

After warming herself for a while, she asked: ‘So, what’s the plan, should we stay or should we go?’ Michael looked at her and then repeated what he had told the others. Tori nodded, saying: ‘I was wondering how long it would be before you felt him. I’ve just begun to see him myself, but only within the last two hours…how long have you felt him, Mikey?’

When the young man told her that he’d been ‘watching the watcher’ from the first moment they had arrived, Tori blinked in shock. She stared at him for a moment and the others all felt the unseen force that flowed between them. Tori nodded and then looked away from the piercing gaze of her compatriot, letting her gaze fall upon the flickering light of the flames.

Finally, she drew a deep breath and rose to her feet. Brushing some droplets of melted snow from her arms, she said, ‘Mikey is correct, we should stay inside now – he cannot see us in here, and as long as that happens we will be safe, there’s no need for any more sentry stuff, either.’ She looked at Ken and winked, saying: ‘We should conserve our strength and get as much sleep as we can; I think we’re going to need it!’

She reached out with her left hand and stroked her husband’s neck; Red looked up at her and grinned. Tori smiled down at him, saying: ‘And you, my love, must not venture anywhere near the outside of this cave, he’s started using you again, you and Junior, he’s trying to see through you, both of you must stay inside!’

Red nodded in understanding as he recalled the ‘looking-glass’ description that George had given him before. He looked across at Junior, the tall young man grinned in acknowledgement of the tiny portions of Darkness he had inherited from his grandfather – his evil, dead, grandfather.

And so it was to be, for more than two days they stayed hidden within the bowels of the cave. The snow lashed their surroundings mercilessly, huge drifts began to form all over the woods and every few minutes there would be a sharp cracking noise as yet another branch surrendered to the burden of several feet of thick, powdery snow. The first time it happened, Ken and Mikey were on their feet in seconds with their rifles in the alert position and eyes frantically scanning what little they were able to see of the area just outside the cave. Seconds later there was another loud creak, followed by a vicious snapping noise, this time they caught sight of the falling branch followed by an enormous clump of snow thumping softly into the ground beneath the offending tree.

Ken laughed softly, saying: ‘Bloody hell, for a minute there I thought we’d been caught out!’ After spending a few more moments peering into the blizzard, and seeing no sign of anything else other than the blurring whiteness, they turned away from the entrance and went back into to the warmth of the cave.

Much later and only having left the cave when the occasional call of nature demanded to be answered, or perhaps to sneak out and retrieve one of the frozen meat-parcels, they were thrilled to notice that the atrocious weather appeared to be ending as quickly as it had started. With a last ghostly howl, the wind blew itself out, and within minutes a feeble glow of sunshine started to permeate the darkness of the overcast sky that had hung above them like some bringer of bad news. One hour later and it was almost impossible to see through the blinding glare of the bright sunlight as it reflected off the brilliant white façade that covered each and every part of their wooded surroundings.

Michael and Tori suggested that perhaps they should wait until the next morning before departing. The idea pleased Ken, who, having spent some time in his previous life in freezing conditions, knew exactly how tough the going would be if they tried to walk through such thick snow without the proper equipment. Yes, waiting for one more night would definitely be worth it, hopefully in the morning the snow would be gone, then they too would go, and go quickly!

They spent that last night in preparing themselves for the final leg of their journey; Ken carried out all his usual checks on their weapons and equipment and made sure that everything was properly stowed. The rest of the time was spent in getting plenty of food and drink inside themselves – the supply of meat and fish had, amazingly, been exactly enough for the period of their stay.

When Junior asked if they should go and set some more traps so they had meat for the rest of the trip, Mikey had looked at him and said, quietly: ‘We won’t need any more food. The time for eating is over, just take some water and a few of those boiled-sweets, if we’ve any left, they will be all that we need.’

That statement alone was the only thing the others needed to hear, and with an added burst of energy they all set to the task of the final preparations with great enthusiasm. By late evening the temperature had risen sharply and the melting snow was now running away down the ravine in sloshy torrents, every now and then there would be a loud splash from the distant pool as yet another thick sheet of it plunged over the lip and cascaded into the freezing water below.

They started a decent fire going and then allowed Red to cook them a massive stew made from all of their remaining rations. In a few moments the old grenade tin was bubbling away, the concoction smelling like it was due to be served on the top table of a five-star hotel somewhere. They gathered around the blazing fire and waited patiently for the red giant to serve them with their helping of the fine-smelling stew.

The heat from the fire had warmed the inside of the cave to such a degree that steam was now starting to lift from their damp clothes. Soon, a fine haze of mist had cloaked itself around them, its presence giving rise to a ghostly atmosphere, one that made Ken stare in fascination. He watched as the firelight flickered and danced amongst them, glowing within the halo of mist and sending strange shadows to scurry like wild animals across the damp walls of the cave.

A primeval atmosphere filled the room, a scene played out in every parallel there had ever been, played out for thousands and thousands of years beforehand. Ancient hunters preparing to meet the beast, meet it, conquer it – kill it! Ken looked around at the shining faces of his friends; their eyes like coals burning within their darkly-silhouetted skulls. He thought back to all the things that had happened, all of the strange, wonderful, and often horrifying events. Ken remembered the first time he’d realised that all was not quite as it had seemed to be…

He thought of George and, of course, he thought of Michael Wyppen.

The memories flooded into his mind, those shocking things he’d felt when he looked into the dying man’s eyes, the dark-skinned attacker who he and Red had questioned on the banks of the water channel down by the old windmill, Ken remembered the horrendous rush of power he’d felt as those awful eyes dragged him into their inner depths.

Those sickening words: ‘Who am I?’

The sound of that voice, the rusty malevolence, came rushing back like a storm of blood and horror. He felt the awful, sliding sensation creeping into his head, but this time he couldn’t stop it. Ken remained in a trance for what…to him…seemed like hours. He was powerless against the memories of all he had seen and done, visions of death, deep feelings of love, hatred and passion, immense rushes of fear and of joy – everything, all of it. His whole life flashed into his head. Every sensation he had ever felt chose that precise moment to parade through Ken’s sub-consciousness. He saw the Demon.

Its filthy, black, smoke-filled eyes zoomed inwards and stared him right in the face. Ken heard George laughing and watched as the Demon was blown away like smoke, blown away by a searing wave of green light. In the face of all of those lightning-quick memories, the worn-out old soldier still managed to do the one thing that had seen him through some of the worst moments of his life. He grinned at them and held on tightly to the fact that he knew they weren’t real.