Inside the shell of the castle keep, Ruth sat down, shaking. She
tried not to think about the gun that had been pressed to her head,
tried to think herself somewhere else. She buried her head in her
hands, and was surprised into a small cry of pain as the rope cut into
her wrists.
The others, exhausted from their night on the run, sat down around
her. Agnes put an arm round her, and Tom gingerly picked at the knots
on her wrists before reaching into a pocket for a penknife to cut them.
Patrick watched them from the top of the steps. He still held the gun,
albeit rather as if he didn’t know what to do with it.
“I’m sorry,” Ruth whispered to the others. “I was trying to warn you.”
“We couldn’t have got far anyway,” Adam said. “Are you ok?” There
were red circles on her wrists from where the ropes had grazed them.
“I don’t know what she’s planning, but it’s nothing good,” Ruth said.
“Did you manage to tell anyone what happened?” Tom, Agnes and Adam
looked at each other and then at the ground. “We didn’t really get a
chance,” Agnes admitted. “And...we panicked a bit.”
So there was no help coming. Ruth leaned her head against the stone
wall, looking out without any hope of finding a way out. Looking out
through the slit window she saw the adjudicator, with both Fantoms
beside her, giving orders to the two or three human guards who had come
with her. They began to move off down the path to where the vehicles
they had come in were parked. Ruth guessed they were being sent to look
for the TTC. How would the adjudicator react when she found out that
Tom had lied to her? Ruth was glad the adjudicator hadn’t asked her-
she could not have lied as convincingly as Tom.
So all that was left to guard them was the Fantoms. And Patrick.
Would he actually use that gun, fire on his friends? For his sake as
well as theirs, she hoped not.
Behind where the adjudicator stood was a broken-down wall, on the
other side of which was a long, almost sheer drop towards the valley.
Anyone trying to escape that way would smash onto the rocky slopes
below. There was no way out there.
At least- not directly.
An idea, a horrible idea, was forming in her mind. Perhaps there was
a way to let the others escape, a way to distract or even destroy the
stone monsters.
“Listen,” she said to the others, still gazing out through the window
slit. “I’ve got an idea that might work, I don’t know yet. But if you
get a chance- even the smallest hint of a chance- then run. Spit up,
she can’t chase all of you. And get help.” She turned to face them.
“Don’t pay attention to what’s going on behind you, don’t look behind
you, don’t even listen. Just go. Please.”
The other three looked at each other. “Ok,” Tom said. “But what’s the plan?”
“I- I don’t really know yet,” Ruth said, standing up. “It’s just an
idea. But remember what I said, when the time comes.” There were bits
of gravel and chips that had broken off the wall by her feet. She
picked up a few and climbed up to a sort of gallery that ran round the
inside of the keep. She stopped at a big window opening, high above
ground level, and looked down on the adjudicator, weighting the stones
in her hand. And then she threw.
The first one was miles off, but her second whistled past the
adjudicator’s head. The third was miles away, but the next two were
closer, and the sixth actually struck her shoulder. The woman looked
round angrily, and saw Ruth.
Patrick hurried towards her, the gun uncomfortably in his hand. “Stop it,” he said anxiously.
“Bring her out,” the adjudicator called to Patrick. He came towards
Ruth and, not very roughly, pulled her away towards the exit.
“What do you think you’re doing?” the adjudicator asked angrily.
Ruth was too scared to reply. Her plan didn’t seem such a good idea
now. She looked over her shoulder, and saw the others had come to the
doorway and were watching. She made eye contact with Tom. He would
understand.
Patrick was holding her by the arm. Ruth looked back at the adjudicator.
Then she pulled her arm free and ran.
She didn’t expect to get far. She heard the adjudicator shouting at
Patrick and the Fantoms to get her. She could hear the heavy treads of
the rocky monsters behind her. She reached the edge of the castle
bailey, and scrambled over the wall. Climbing that should slow the
monsters. For a moment as she struggled onwards she wondered if she
would actually be able to get away. Then she felt a grip on her arm.
Turning, she saw it was Patrick, wheezing from the effort of chasing
her. The Fantoms were not far behind.
They dragged her back up the hill to the adjudicator. Ruth saw with
satisfaction that she was standing by the castle steps alone. The woman
shouted at the Fantoms, pointing to where Tom, Agnes and Adam were
running away. One broke off and lurched towards them surprisingly fast,
like a sheepdog hemming them in against the wall of the bailey. The
other Fantom dragged Ruth up to the adjudicator, and then turned to help
it’s fellow.
Ruth looked up at it. It was made of stone. Stone and water. It
looked somehow less glisteney than usual, as if it were drying out up
here in the wind. She thought. Perhaps it had become brittle- perhaps
it was more vulnerable. She tried to remember what was on the other
side of the wall. The drop was not sheer, but it was steep. She
gulped. She had to try it.
The story continues...
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