Ben caught Ned’s thought and spoke his answer aloud. “Oh, don’t trouble yourself, marm, we’ll be alright. Though I’d like you to keep watch for us on our return. We may need to get out of these mountains pretty fast.”

  Arnela stroked behind Ned’s ears. “I’ll watch night and day for a sign of you. Now you must rest, it’s safer to travel by night if you want to avoid discovery. Lie down now, children.”

  They lay warm and cosy on the dried grass, Ned with his eyes half closed, watching Arnela mending their torn cloaks with goat-hair twine and a large bone needle.

  Just before the Labrador dropped off, he heard her gathering grass and murmuring to the goats who had strayed inside. “Hush now, Ajax, and you too, Pantyro, let the young ‘uns sleep. They’ve got enough to contend with, or they will have soon. Come on, now, outside, all of you, have dinner out in the fresh air. Clovis, can’t you do something about that kid of yours, I’ve never seen such bad manners. Out with you!”

  Lulled by the safety of the cave and its flickering firelit shadows, Ned sent Ben a message. “I wouldn’t mind being one of Arnela’s goats, they certainly get the best of treatment and care from her. Hmm, maybe not, though. Goats are a pretty thick lot, I’d never be able to put up with all that maaahing and baaaing, would you, mate?”

  But his thoughts fell on deaf ears. Ben, Dominic and Karay were already soundly slumbering.

  Ben had the feeling that it was evening outside when Arnela wakened them. She had bowls of vegetable soup and some bread and honey prepared for them.

  “Eat plenty now, young ‘uns, it might be some time before you get another good meal. Here, I’ve fixed up your cloaks as best as I could—needlework was never my strong point. I’ve packed a little food for you, and I’ve thrown in one of my extra ropes and an ice axe, you’ll need them.”

  Having eaten, the four companions went outside to take their farewells of their newfound friend. It was cold. Frost glittered on the rocks, and the sky above was a vault of dark velvet, pierced by a million pinpoints of bright starlight and a pale lemon-rind slice of moon.

  Arnela’s formidable arms encircled their shoulders. “Go now, and take all my fondest wishes with you. Stay to the right winding paths—avoid the left ones, or you’ll finish up stranded on some ledge. Lead them off, Ned, you good dog. Go on, don’t look back, and tread carefully.”

  They trudged away with Arnela’s voice fading behind them. “Come out of that water, Theseus, d’you want your hair to freeze? Narcissus, stop looking at yourself in the pool. Clovis, don’t act silly, I’ve got your kid here with me. Come on, all inside now, that means you, too, Pantyro!”

  * * *

  22

  NIGHT IN THE high mountains was like being stranded on some strange planet. Silence reigned. In the clear air, every sound was magnified and echoed. The travellers walked gingerly onward, keeping their voices to hushed whispers lest they betray their position to anyone in the vicinity. It was hard going, all upward, and each pace had to be made carefully across the eerie expanses of white snow and ice and black pockets of shadow.

  They had been going for two hours or more when Karay’s breath plumed out like steam as she whispered to Dominic, “Hadn’t we better rest awhile and catch our breath?”

  Ben heard her and called a halt. He chose a spot in the deep shadows of a crag to one side of the path. No sooner had they installed themselves there than voices were heard.

  Ned’s ears rose as he contacted Ben. “Sounds like two men. Good job we got in here out of the way.”

  It was the fat rogue Cutpurse and a weaselly-looking older fellow called Abrit. They shuffled by within twenty feet of where the friends were hiding. Cutpurse stopped, leaning on a staff he was using as a crutch, and scanned the ground suspiciously. “Look, there’s tracks here!” There was obviously no love lost between the two men, for Abrit treated Cutpurse as if he were a half-wit. It showed in his voice. “Of course there’s tracks, lard gut, they’re the tracks we made on the way up. Look, there’s the dog’s paw prints out in front. Come on, stop slowin’ me down or we’ll never find Rouge an’ Domba, or the dog. Now what’s the matter?”

  Cutpurse lowered himself painfully and sat down on the snow. “My ankle’s killin’ me, it’s agony to walk any further. Listen, why don’t we find someplace where we can lay up for the night? Then tomorrow we can catch up with the rest an’ tell ‘em there was no sign of Rouge, Domba or Gurz. We’re just killin’ ourselves, blunderin’ round in the dark!”

  Abrit scoffed at the idea. “Hah! Alright, we’ll do that. But when we get back, I ain’t sayin’ nothin’. You tell Ligran Razan you couldn’t find ‘em. How does that sound to ye, eh?”

  Cutpurse pouted childishly and nursed his injured ankle. “That Ligran’s got it in for me—he’d slay me as soon as look at me. Cruel, that’s what it is. Sendin’ a man out on a search with a broken foot. Huh, just wants t’be rid of me, Ligran does!”

  Abrit nodded. “Me too. I’ve never got on well with Ligran. So, all the more reason for findin’ Rouge an’ Domba. We’ll be savin’ our own lives by doin’ the job. On your feet, fatty!”

  Cutpurse began to rise. Then a thought occurred to him. “I think we’re goin’ the wrong way. Look, there’s only tracks goin’ upward. Where’s the tracks Rouge an’ Domba left when they came down? I can’t see any.”

  Abrit scratched his head. “Y’could be right there. They must’ve been searchin’ on another path. Maybe over the side of the icefield yonder. We’d best go an’ take a look!”

  Ben breathed a silent sigh of relief as they watched the two robbers hobbling off over the wide, lumpy icefield, which sloped away to their left. Karay whispered. “Thank goodness our trail was mixed up with the tracks of the others.”

  The two robbers were about a third of the way into the icefield when Ben turned to Karay. “Do you feel rested enough to carry on now?”

  The girl began making her way forward indignantly, muttering to herself, “Of course I am! It wasn’t just me who needed a rest, you two were panting worse than Ned!”

  To prove her point she dashed out of cover, accidentally stepping on an ice-covered bit of rock. Her feet left the ground, and she thudded backward. An involuntary cry came from her as she fell flat on her back. “Yeek!”

  The sound echoed sharply out into the surrounding peaks.

  Out on the icefield, Cutpurse and Abrit halted abruptly. Cutpurse waved his staff triumphantly. “They’re the ones Ligran wants—come on, let’s get ‘em!”

  Abrit shouldered his companion to one side. “Out o’ my way, ye fool, I’ll stop ‘em!” Pulling a musket from his belt he fired a shot across the cliffside at the girl lying on the ground. The report echoed like thunder.

  Ben blinked as the musket ball pinged off the rock behind him. The two robbers were scrambling across the icefield toward them, shouting at them to halt. Then the noise started: a dull muffled sound from above, building up into one massive rumble, growing louder by the second.

  Krrrraaaaacvwwwwwk!

  Dominic dived out and dragged Karay by her feet back under the shelter of the rock. Then he pulled Ben as deep into the shadow as possible. Ned galloped to his master’s side.

  Dominic’s voice was almost lost in the unearthly roar. “Avalanche! Avalanche!”

  Powdered snow, hard snow, sheets and columns of ice mixed with rocks, scree, shale and boulders came thundering down as a huge wedge of the mountain, disturbed by the gunshot, toppled down onto the icefield.

  Cutpurse and Abrit died where they stood and were swept away by nature’s irresistible force.

  Ben, Ned, Karay and Dominic, bundled together in the rock’s shadow, hugged one another tightly. A monstrous single wall of ice scrunched by, halting with an immense grating crack between the overhanging rock top and the path they had intended to follow. Everything went black, dark as an underground dungeon. Their eardrums reverberated with the thudding, solid waterfall of snow that pounded outside against rock and ice.

  This was followed by a silence so complete that it made a ringing sound inside their heads. As rapidly as it had started, the avalanche was over.

  Ben’s voice sounded muffled as he spoke the words that came to him from Ned. “Is anyone hurt, are we all here?”

  Their arms were still around one another as Karay and Dominic replied out of the stygian darkness.

  “I bruised my shoulder when I slipped, but I’m still alive.”

  “More than we can say for those Razan villains, I suppose.”

  Ben shuddered at the thought of the two men’s fate. “Nothing can have lived out there. ‘Twas like the end of the world. Ned feels nice and warm, though.”

  The black Labrador licked Ben’s hand. “That’s the sweat of pure panic. I think they call it the heat of the moment.”

  The boy hugged his dog closer. “All we can do now is wait for daylight. Maybe the sun will reflect through all this, and we’ll be able to judge our position.”

  Surprisingly, it was not as cold as they had expected. Their breath and body heat combined to keep the temperature above freezing in the dungeon of snow and ice.

  Throughout the remainder of the night, the four friends slept fitfully. Ben was half in and half out of sleep when the dog’s thoughts cut in on him. “Phew, it’s getting a bit muggy in here, but I can see your face now, mate. Can you see me?”

  Ben open his eyes to a blurred grey gloom. “Aye, I can see you, mate, though it’s getting a bit difficult to breathe. It must be near dawn outside.”

  Dominic opened his eyes. “Any food? I’m famished!”

  Karay’s voice came from over Ned’s shoulder. “Me too!”

  Ned, with the limited room allowed to him, dug in the snow, which was almost knee high. Ben heard his thoughts. “I’ve found Dominic’s facemaker satchel, anything in here?”

  Dominic pulled the satchel free of the snow. “Thank you, Ned. Let’s see what’s left in here.”

  They watched as he loosed the straps and rummaged about. “A hard piece of cheese, stale heel of a loaf … Aha, what’s this? Wine, nearly a flask of it. I’d forgotten about that!”

  Karay sat up as best as she could. “I’m glad you did! Now share it out, quick, before I die of hunger!”

  Dominic smiled. “Oh, what’s your hurry, you’ll live. Now eat slowly and don’t talk for a while, or we may use up all the air in here. Proper daylight can’t be too far off.”

  Nibbling and sipping, they bided their time. Gradually the greyness was replaced with a golden glow that began permeating their snowy prison. Ned wagged his tail. “Looks like a nice sunny day!”

  Ben pushed the offending tail away. “It might if I could see properly. Keep your tail still, mate!”

  He felt around until he unearthed Arnela’s ice axe. Ben poked it forward and tapped gently. “Feels like a solid block of ice trapping us in here. What d’you think, Dom?”

  The facemaker took the axe from Ben, reversing it until he was holding the metal head. He probed over his shoulder with the butt of the shaft, pushing at a space above him. Loose snow showered down on them.

  Karay encouraged him. “That’s the way, give it a good hard shove!”

  Dominic shook his head, murmuring as he probed. “Gently does it, don’t want to bring the whole lot down on us.” He pushed further with the haft until it slid forward easily, then withdrew it.

  A golden circle of light shone down, centering between Ned’s ears. The air began freshening immediately. Ben laughed. “Well done, sir. You’ve saved our lives!”

  They took turns. Working carefully, each one widened the hole, waggling the ice axe and pulling down chunks of ice and frozen snow. As water droplets came down, Ned held out his tongue and caught a few.

  Karay knotted the rope about her waist and stood in a crouch. “I’m the slimmest and lightest, so I’ll go first. You men, take one of my feet each and give me a good boost.”

  Ben and Dominic cupped their hands, making stirrups for her feet, then lifted. Her head rose into the hole above. She called back to them. “Right, one, two, three. Hup!” Their heads banged the ice wall as they jerked her upwards.

  Karay fell out and forward at the same time, enlarging the hole; then she disappeared. A moment later, her head appeared in the hole. “Ned can come next! Pass him up. Here, boy, give me your paws, good dog, come on!”

  The Labrador rose into the sunlight, dispensing cheery thoughts. “Hey, hup! This is good fun!”

  Ben did not exactly return the sentiment. “Huh, it should be, you’re sitting on my head, you great broad-beamed hound!”

  Soon all four were standing out in the fresh, sunlit mountain morning air. Dominic swelled out his chest and thumped it cheerfully with both fists. “Well friends, onward and upwards, eh?”

  A strange voice answered him. “Aye, lad, that’s the way we’re goin’ too. Let’s all go together!”

  Ligran Razan and five of his followers strolled out from behind the rock that the friends had been trapped against.

  Ben was stunned. He shot Ned a swift thought. “Don’t move, mate, they’re too well armed. Don’t try anything!”

  The black Labrador speedily replied, “Watch out for me, Ben, I’ll be around!” He streaked off down the mountain.

  One of Ligran’s men unslung a rifle and grabbed a powder flask from his belt.

  Ligran stuck out a foot and tripped him. “D’you want to start another avalanche, idiot? Let the dog go, it ain’t important. Well, now, what’ve we got here? Two handsome boys an’ a pretty girl.” He drew his sword and placed the point against Ben’s chest. “What are ye doin’ this high up in our mountains, lad?”

  Ben tried to look simple and friendly at the same time. “We’re travellers, crossing over into Spain, sir.”

  Ligran’s sword flashed in the sunlight. Ben felt the sharp sting as the flat of the blade slapped him across the cheek.

  The Razan leader snarled viciously at him. “Liar! Travellers go through the pass, south of here in Andorra. Now tell me the truth or I’ll slice the nose off you!”

  Karay stepped boldly in front of Ben. She faced Ligran. “He told you, we’re going to Spain. Now I’m telling you. Go on, cut my nose off, you coward. I’m not armed like you!”

  Ligran raised the sword and struck. It sheared off a dark ringlet of the girl’s hair. Karay did not flinch. Ligran let his sword fall and laughed. “I like a maid who has spirit. We’ll see how much you have left when Maguda’s finished questioning you. You’ve heard of Maguda Razan—she’s my sister.”

  Karay laughed in Ligran’s face. “If all her brothers are as ugly as you, I feel sorry for her!”

  The blade quivered a moment in Ligran’s grip; his eyes narrowed savagely. Then he turned away and rapped out orders. “Take their rope an’ tie them together, hands an’ necks! If we hurry we’ll arrive back just after the two I sent ahead with the bear. Use your clubs an’ beat them if they try to lag behind!”

  Tied together with Arnela’s rope looping their hands to their necks, the three friends shuffled forward. Ben spoke out of the side of his mouth to Dominic, who was behind him. “Well, at least we won’t get lost on our way to the Razan hideout.”

  A cudgel cracked sharply against his shin. A lanky, scar-faced villain waggled the weapon in Ben’s face. “Shut your mouth, boy, or I’ll break your leg. That goes for you other two. You’re prisoners now, so march!”

  * * *

  23

  HUDDLED forlornly on the floor of the big cave, the bear uttered a piteous moan. Razan men and women formed a circle around the animal, watching it curiously. The two who had been sent ahead with it held the neck chains slackly, averting their eyes when Maguda spoke. The matriarch of all the Razan leaned forward slightly. Her huge hypnotic eyes pinpointing on the wretched animal, she croaked venomously, “Ye’ll dance before I’m through with ye. Guards, take this thing out of my sight. Away to the dungeons with it!”

  Men hauled on the chains, forcing the bear into an upright position. It made a mournful noise as the spikes inside its iron collar dug into its neck fur. They were dragging the bear away, when Rawth, the eldest of Maguda’s brothers, entered the cavern and approached his sister.

  The hypnotic eyes swivelled in his direction. “Thou hast come to tell me that our brother Ligran approaches, this I already know.”

  Rawth shrugged uneasily. “He brings captives, two boys and a girl, but no black dog is with them.”

  Maguda hissed like an angry snake. “Ssssstupid men! Would that I had the strength in my limbs that mine eyes possess. It is I who would have captured all four. Bad omens portend misfortune if the dog is not in my grasp. Bring the prisoners straight here to me when they arrive. Go now, help thy brother!”

  Ben stumbled in deep snow, and a guard poked him in the back with the butt of Arnela’s ice axe. The boy straightened and struggled on uphill, his mind worried by lack of communication with Ned.

  Dominic whispered furtively, as if privileged to his friend’s thoughts. “Wonder where Ned is. Not like him to run off.”

  Karay overheard him and replied shortly, “If I was as fast as a dog, I’d have made a run for it, too. What was he supposed to do—wait around to be captured, or shot?”

  One of the guards pushed the girl roughly. “Shut your mouth!”

  Ben spoke aloud to distract the robber’s attention from her. “Ned’s more use to us running free. He’ll help us—mark my word, he’s no ordinary dog.”

  Ligran Razan turned and pointed his sword at Ben. “One more word from you, lad, an’ I’ll chop your tongue off!”

  Ben decided it was wiser to keep silent from then on. The Razan leader looked like a villain who would take delight in carrying out his threats. Cruelty and a volatile temper were stamped all over Ligran’s coarse features. So Ben held his silence, even as the mouth of the cave came in view. He wanted to shout out to his companions about the red and black figures he could see, scrawled in primitive fashion on the wall outside the cave entrance: men hunting boar, just as Edouard had seen before passing out after his accident. Edouard had said that he would know where the Razan stronghold was if he could find the place where the men were hunting wild boar. Ben was puzzled, but he noted the position of the ancient artwork as he was shoved into the passages branching into the caves.

 

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