B00DW1DUQA EBOK, page 33
‘I don’t think you do,’ said Finn. He was suddenly angry with his father. With both of them. He’d expected them to help him, support him. ‘You had your safe life back there in the valley, far away from Engn. You didn’t know what it was like to see your friends taken one by one.’
He regretted his words immediately. Of course they knew. They had lost both their children to the Ironclads. And others. He thought his father was going to be furious with him, but instead he only sighed.
‘I do understand, Finn. I really do. In fact, I tried to do something similar, myself, once.’
‘You?’
‘Yes. Long before you and Shireen. Five or six of us actually marched out of the valley and onto the plain intent on destroying the machine. We were going to smash it to pieces with our sticks before it could take any of us.’
‘You did?’
‘Oh, yes. Connor’s dad, too.’ His father smiled at the memory, a smile with no humour to it.
‘So what happened?’ asked Finn.
‘You remember I said I’d seen Engn, once? That was the time. We were idiots. We had no idea what Engn is like. We didn’t even get close. Standing in the foothills, we realised how foolish we were. The following day we turned around and went home. I don’t think Engn ever knew anything about it.’
‘If you hadn’t turned back, Shireen and I wouldn’t have been born,’ said Finn.
‘No. I know. Still, I’ve often regretted it. Regretted it every time someone gets taken. And when Shireen was taken and then you were taken I saw how much we’d failed you.’
‘Then you understand why we have to go back inside,’ said Finn. ‘Because otherwise it just goes on and on doesn’t it? Some other child. And some other parent.’
‘We don’t care about other children,’ said his mother. ‘We care about you and Shireen.’
Finn looked into her eyes and caught a clue there of what it must have been like for his parents all these years, not knowing if either of their children had survived. And facing the prospect, now, of losing them once again. The truth was he hadn’t thought much about their feelings all this time. He’d longed to see them, fantasised about them coming to rescue him, take him home. He’d never stopped to think what they must be going through.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Finn. ‘But we have to try. We’re in danger whatever we do. But if there’s a chance to destroy the machine we have to take it. And perhaps we can rescue Shireen, too.’
A look passed between his mother and father. An unspoken conversation, like in the old days.
‘Rest here for a few days, at least,’ said his mother. ‘You’re both dead on your feet. There’s no need to rush into anything.’
‘But it’s not safe,’ said Diane. ‘Like Finn says, the Ironclads will find us and then they’ll take you, too.’
‘Don’t worry about that,’ said his father. ‘We’ll hear the signal if any of them come near. And there’s a shaft not far away you can slip down.’
‘He’s right,’ said his mother. ‘You’ll be safe enough here for a little while.’
Finn looked at Diane. Another unspoken conversation. He could see she wanted to stay, also that she wanted to get away as quickly as possible. After a few moments, she acceded with the slightest nod of her head.
‘We could stay a day or two, if you think it’s safe,’ said Finn. ‘But we won’t endanger you. Any sign of the Ironclads and we’ll leave.’
His mother smiled. ‘Then it’s agreed. Make yourselves at home.’
The next three days were another golden interlude, another period Finn would remember fondly. His parents tended to their wounds, fed them, made them rest. As well as fresh bread they were brought chicken and fresh vegetables and fresh water from the wells to drink. He and Diane spent their days in the quiet of the hut, swapping details of their respective adventures, remembering their time together back in the valley. The day Finn and Connor had found Diane in the clearing and she’d threatened them with her knife. The barn she’d slept in. The way they thought no-one knew what they were up to.
Finn’s parents came and went, giving them the peace they needed. But in the evenings, after dark, they all sat together outside, eating and talking. Swapping stories. Finn loved to sit under the stars, his back to Engn, gazing into the far distances.
‘What are they saying about us?’ he asked his father on the second evening. ‘Everyone out here.’
‘They’re all talking about you,’ said his father. ‘Two people escaping Engn. It’s unheard of. You’ve given them all hope, I think. Made them believe they might see their own loved-ones again.’
‘But where do the Ironclads think we are?’
‘Some say you had horses ready and galloped across the plain for the mountains. The Ironclads have been seen fanning out in all directions. Others think you’re here somewhere, hiding.’
‘Does anyone know you’re connected to us?’
‘No, no. People are good at keeping secrets here.’
‘But if they’re searching they’ll find us eventually,’ said Diane. ‘Perhaps we should disguise ourselves. Change our appearance.’
‘Wouldn’t do any good,’ said Finn. ‘They have all our thumbprints on record. They can identify you from that. It happened to me once.’
‘There are thousands and thousands of people out here, scattered for miles around,’ said his mother. ‘They can’t search us all immediately.’
Finn nodded and went back to watching the sparks from the fires dancing up into the air to join the stars.
They heard the distant whistle late the following day, a long, falling note. Badger awoke immediately, her ears pricked. Finn looked at Diane, wondering what it meant. Then his father and mother came in. The alarm on their faces was clear.
‘Ironclads coming this way,’ said his father.
‘We should go,’ said Diane. She looked at Finn. Finn nodded.
‘You’re going to do this?’ said his mother. ‘Try and get back inside?’
‘We are.’
‘Perhaps the wreckers will be able to help you. Look out for you.’
Finn shook his head. ‘We can’t rely on them. Some of them helped me but their leader betrayed me to the masters.’
‘Their leader?’ said his father.
‘They call her Lud,’ said Finn. ‘Although her real name is Maeve as far as I know. In any case, we can’t trust her.’
His mother sighed. ‘Then just … just promise us you’ll be careful.’
‘We will.’
‘I’ll come with you now, as far as I can,’ said his father.
‘The thing is,’ said Diane. ‘We don’t know where this tunnel is. Mrs. Megrim didn’t know.’
‘No,’ said his father. ‘But Bran will know. He remembers all the old song-maps. They’ve been passed down for generations because it’s too dangerous to write things down. If anyone knows where it is, he will.’
‘Will he help us?’
His father considered. ‘He might. We can ask.’
They packed in haste. His father peered out of the hut first, then looked back inside. ‘The smoke says they’re still some way away to the south. Half a mile or so. If we hurry they won’t see us.’
Finn hugged his mother again. She clutched him tight but said nothing. Finn smiled at her, stroked Badger and stepped outside. Diane followed. A late-afternoon glow filled the air, making everything blaze with a vivid light, beautiful to see. A slight breeze picked up. Finn watched it ruffling the great expanse of grass, like waves blown on the waters of a pond. It also scattered the lines of smoke rising up into the sky, scrambling their messages irrevocably. As he stepped forward, Finn had the clear sensation of picking up old burdens, of old weights on his shoulders.
‘Follow me,’ said his father. ‘We’ll keep to the dips. We’ll need to move quickly and silently.’
They reached Bran’s little scattering of huts without seeing anyone. His father stood by the fire in clear view and gave a whistle, a rising note, unlike the warning about the Ironclads. After a moment, Bran came out to meet them. He looked warily all around as he approached, but looked pleased enough to see them.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t help you,’ he said to Finn and Diane. ‘Twenty years ago I’d have taken him on. The man who caught you. But now … there was nothing I could do to stop him.’
‘You did plenty,’ Finn’s father replied. ‘Without your signals I’d never have found my son again.’
‘And now you’re spiriting him away somewhere? Getting him safely out of the way, him and his pretty friend?’
‘Finn and Diane are going to try and get back inside Engn.’
‘No.’ Bran looked stunned. It took him a few moments to reply. ‘But why? Why would you do that?’
His father looked at Finn but didn’t reply.
‘There are others still in there,’ said Finn. It seemed they could trust Bran but, still, there was no point in telling him everything. ‘Others we might be able to get out.’
‘Ah,’ said Bran, nodding, as if it all now made sense. ‘Did I tell you my own son is in there?’
‘You did,’ said Finn. ‘What’s his name?’
‘Owyn. I heard he was a master. Did you ever come across him at all? He was short, like me.’
Finn could suddenly see it. There in Bran’s face, unmistakably, were the features of Master Owyn staring back at him. Perhaps if things had been different Owyn would have been different, too. More like his father. The masters were victims as well, in their own way.
‘Yes,’ said Finn. ‘I knew him. A few years back. He was … alive and well then. A master, like you said.’
‘Ah!’ The old man simply looked at Finn, a look of pure joy on his lined features.
‘The thing is, Bran,’ said Finn’s father. ‘We need your help to find a tunnel.’
‘A tunnel?’
‘It goes directly into something called the Directory,’ said Finn. ‘Do you know it?’
Bran looked thoughtful for a moment. He said nothing but his lips moved. Finn had the clear impression he was singing a song to himself. Finally, the old man nodded. ‘Yes. I know it. But you shouldn’t go that way. A few have tried and most haven’t come out again.’
‘Will you tell us where it is?’ asked Finn.
Bran considered. ‘I couldn’t help you before when I should have. But I will help you now. For that and because of the news about my son.’
‘We have to hurry,’ said Finn. ‘There are Ironclads looking for us.’
‘Let us go then,’ said Bran. ‘The sooner we go the sooner I can be back to keep watch for Owyn.’
The four of them set off in a line, away from the warmth of Bran’s fire towards the looming bulk of the walls of Engn. The walked for an hour or more, none of them speaking. Three times they heard further whistles, but always in the distance. Each time they stopped and listened in absolute silence, Finn dreading to hear the thunder of hooves charging towards them.
They clung to the shadows, threading their way between the fires. Only the lights from Engn illuminated their path. Finally they stopped at the top of a steep bank, a depression in the ground on whose slopes grew thickets of scratchy bushes. A jumble of boulders lay all around the bottom of the pit, as if it had once been a quarry. They were very close to the walls here. Finn could feel the familiar thrumming and booming noises through his feet. It was strange, he had almost missed them.
‘It’s down there,’ said Bran. ‘It’s well hidden. There’s a stone cap you’ll need to pull aside.’
‘But there must be hundreds of boulders down there,’ said Finn.
‘The one you want is half-way down the slope, hidden in the bushes,’ said Bran. ‘It’s big. You’ll need to be strong to budge it.’
‘I can do that,’ said Finn’s father.
‘Why is it here?’ asked Diane, suspicion clear in her voice. ‘If the Ironclads know there’s a tunnel here why don’t they seal it up? They must guard it at least.’
‘No, no,’ said Bran. ‘The Ironclads don’t know about it do they? You won’t find any of them at the other end. This takes you to the Directory. No Ironclads there, are there?’
‘How do you know that?’ asked Diane. ‘And why haven’t you used the tunnel to get inside yourself?’
‘I know that because I have used the tunnel myself.’
‘You?’
‘Many years ago now. I crept inside looking for Owyn. Then I crept right out again when it became clear he wasn’t there.’
‘But that makes no sense,’ said Diane. ‘You could have looked for him in the rest of Engn.’
‘No,’ said Bran. ‘You don’t understand. The Directory is isolated. You can’t get anywhere else from there. It’s the secret heart of Engn. The centre, the control. And the Ironclads aren’t allowed there.’
‘But the masters control Engn,’ said Finn. ‘And the Inner Wheel governs them. Everyone knows that.’
‘Then they know nothing,’ replied Bran. ‘The masters just do what they’re told by the Directory. Always have. Even the Inner Wheel is just a tool of the Directors. They’re the real power in Engn. The masters carry out their instructions.’
‘So there’ll be Silverclads there?’ asked Finn.
‘No, not them neither! The Directors don’t allow them, don’t allow anyone. No-one goes in or out, don’t you see? The Directory has walls all of its own inside the walls of Engn. It’s the brain in the body.’
‘Yet they have this tunnel people can crawl through to get inside,’ said Diane. ‘And they let you get in and they let you escape. How can that be?’
‘You’ll see why, young lady. It’s not a tunnel to them, is it? It can’t possibly be a tunnel, can it? I escaped because they didn’t think escape was even possible.’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Diane.
‘You’ll see.’
‘You said others have used the tunnel,’ said Finn. ‘Has anyone else ever escaped this way?’
‘None I ever heard of,’ said Bran. ‘I was lucky I suppose. I didn’t hang around when I saw how things were. Now if you’re going, go now, before the Ironclads find us. Plenty of them out here at least, especially with you two on the run.’
Bran was right. They couldn’t stand here all night debating what to do. Finn began to scramble down into the dip. He worked his way awkwardly through the dense, stubborn boughs of the bushes. He could see nothing around him and had to feel his way: reach out with his hands to pull aside the bushes, use his feet to feel around for the stone cap. His father and Diane followed him. Bran stayed where he was, up on the lip of the hollow.
Finn stumbled over the entrance half-way down the slope. A round boulder half-embedded in the earth. It was certainly in the right place. A tunnel behind it would lead directly towards the machine.
The three of them set to work. Wrapping their fingers around the edge of the boulder they began to pull. The stone was massive, but Finn could feel it moving slightly as they pulled. It was awkward standing part-way down the slope, slightly off-balance. He imagined the rock coming suddenly loose and the three of them tumbling down the slope in an avalanche of soil and stone.
‘Rock it,’ said his father. ‘Rock it loose.’
They worked away for some time, getting into a rhythm of pulling the stone aside then letting it fall back. Slowly it began to work free.
‘One more heave,’ said his father.
They put all their strength into it, Finn grunting with the effort. The great stone budged and came forwards. For a moment it balanced on its end, deciding which way to fall. Finn grasped one of the thicker boughs around him and tried to swing out of the way. The stone came to its decision and toppled forward, down the slope, crashing between the boughs of the bushes to land at the bottom of the hollow.
‘Have you found it?’ Bran shouted down. He sounded distant, as if he’d walked some way away.
‘I think so,’ called Finn. He kneeled at the place where the stone had been and felt the ground. There was a hollow there. He reached forward and touched stone-lined walls, leading away under the ground. It was low; they would have to crawl on hands and knees.
‘How long is the tunnel?’ Finn shouted up. ‘Do we need directions like before?’
‘No directions, no turnings,’ called Bran. ‘Just go straight and you’ll get there.’
‘How far?’
But the old man didn’t answer.
‘You’d better go,’ said Finn’s father.
They hugged again, almost overbalancing and sending themselves after the boulder. Then Finn let go and crouched down at the tunnel entrance.
‘You don’t have to come any farther, Diane,’ he called back. ‘You said you’d come with me to the entrance. I can go in alone.’
‘Oh, no,’ she said. ‘You’d only mess everything up. Look how long it took you to escape last time.’
She was trying to make light of it but he could tell she was terrified. He was, too. His insides fizzed with fear at the thought of going back inside.
‘I’ll wait here as long as I can,’ said his father. ‘In case the tunnel is blocked.’
Finn felt his father’s hand on his shoulder, his grip strong. Finn squeezed it, then began to crawl forwards into the darkness.
Chapter 31
They crawled for a long time, the sound of their laboured breathing filling the narrow tunnel. Finn’s knees soon ached sharply; he felt as though his bones had worked his way out of his skin to jut against the stones of the floor. The tunnel was utterly dark. Every now and then something tickled his face: the fronds of a tree’s roots or a spider’s web. For a while his father called to them, asking how they were, his voice hollow and sounding strangely near. But now, when Finn called back, there was no reply. His father had gone. Perhaps the Ironclads had been sighted nearby.
The air grew warmer and thicker. It was impossible to know how far they’d travelled. Somewhere up above them were the walls of Engn: those massive stone ramparts pressing down into the ground. He imagined he could feel their crushing weight. He thought the tunnel sloped down slightly, but it was hard to be sure. Perhaps it burrowed down to get under the walls. He thought about Bran’s words, the tunnel not really being a tunnel. It made no sense but he was too tired to try and work it out. He couldn’t think straight. He had to just keep going.
