Helix and the Arrival Read online

  The further we walk, the thicker the woods become. The land has flattened out now and it’s hard to say in which direction Rockfall lies. The woods have become shady and dark, and very few sunrays are finding gaps in the treetops. I can still spot the sky from time to time, but only in small glimpses. It’s as if I’m in a cave – a different sort of cave, with tree trunks for walls and leaves for a ceiling.

  ‘We will rest ahead at Cave’s End,’ says Ug.

  ‘Where?’ I say.

  ‘Don’t tell me you haven’t heard of Cave’s End,’ says Saleeka.

  She can tell by the blank look on my face that I haven’t.

  ‘Why would he have? He has never been there before,’ says Ug to Saleeka.

  I’m surprised to see a large rock in the distance. We haven’t seen a rock of this size since entering the high woods. It looks like it’s been placed neatly down onto the land from above – a glorious offering from the heavens, perhaps.

  ‘Is that it?’ I say, pointing ahead.

  ‘What do you think?’ says Saleeka.

  ‘It’s huge,’ I say.

  ‘Cave’s End is the last cave before the river and marks the beginning of the low woods,’ says Saleeka.

  ‘The low woods! How did we get this far? I never agreed to go to the low woods.’

  Ug ignores my panic and says to Saleeka, ‘How do you know about Cave’s End?’

  ‘Why shouldn’t I know?’ she says, with her hands on her hips.

  ‘I did not think cavegirls came here, that is all,’ says Ug.

  Saleeka looks like her head is about to pop. ‘Why’s that, Ug? Because cavegirls are meant to be learning how to slave over hot coals and look after screaming cavekids?’

  ‘Ahem. Excuse me, both of you. Sorry to interrupt your most interesting discussion, but can we get back to Cave’s End?’

  Fuming, Saleeka stomps the short distance to the rock. Ug and I follow.

  ‘So where’s the cave?’ I ask.

  ‘Keep walking,’ says Ug.

  I walk past the rock, which is at least five times my height and the same in width, and follow its curve until I reach its far side. ‘I’ve found the entrance,’ I yell back, sounding like I’m the first one ever to discover it.

  The entrance is narrow. Ug, who is behind me, has to turn sideways to fit in. Once inside, though, the narrow entrance widens and slopes down as if it’s taking us underground. A short distance ahead, the cave expands into a generous cavern, which is almost pitch-black. I can make out the remains of a fire pit on the floor, with coals that look to be fresh.

  ‘Cavemen have been coming here since the beginning of time,’ says Ug.

  ‘And cavewomen … Or one cavegirl, at least,’ says Saleeka.

  ‘You should not come here,’ says Ug. ‘It is a refuge for cavemen.’

  ‘That’s funny. I didn’t see a sign out the front saying “Cavemen only”.’

  ‘Hey! Stop arguing,’ I say. ‘You’ll scare away all the wild beasts I’m about to hunt.’

  ‘Come on,’ says Ug. ‘Let us leave.’

  We leave the cave and emerge into the light. Ug sits on a rock near the entrance and we copy his lead, finding a place to rest, eat and drink.

  Saleeka seems to have calmed down a bit. She asks Ug about hunting and what he’s caught lately.

  Ug’s face doesn’t show much emotion. ‘Just this and that,’ he says.

  ‘What’s “this and that”?’ says Saleeka.

  ‘You know … There was a poison-toothed tusk boar a few nights ago. But that was in the middle woods. Mainly I go to the low woods.’

  ‘The middle woods! You hunted a poison-toothed tusk boar from the middle woods!’ I say, looking around.

  Saleeka slaps me on the arm to shut me up. ‘What else have you hunted lately?’ she says to Ug.

  ‘Well … forest goats, trunk pythons, rock monitors, pantheras … Just the normal stuff,’ he says, picking some food out of his teeth with a twig.

  These creatures are almost make-believe to me. The main reason I can be sure they exist is because I’ve seen Ugthorn and Ug drag them into their cave after a hunt.

  Ug’s had enough of talking about himself. ‘Let us go – we need to keep moving,’ he says.

  Up and walking again, I can tell we’re definitely in the low woods now. A thick canopy of green covers us from above, and only occasionally does the sky peek out through the treetops.

  ‘Stop!’ hisses Ug.

  Saleeka and I crouch behind him.

  Ug grabs a handful of my loincloth and pulls me close. ‘A woodland fawn,’ he whispers. ‘It is yours, Helix.’

  ‘What should I do?’ I say.

  ‘Keep low. You will need to cover some ground. Stay upwind – this side.’ He pushes me in the direction I need to head.

  I creep forward, with Ug crouching low behind me and Saleeka behind him.

  ‘Closer,’ he whispers, and he’s right. There’s no way I could make the distance with a spear from where I am.

  I look up and see the fawn at close range. It has soft brown skin and wobbly legs. It looks very young.

  ‘Now,’ says Ug, ‘take your shot.’

  I grip the spear tighter in my throwing arm. ‘It’s still too far away,’ I whisper back to Ug.

  ‘No it is not. Any closer and it will sense you. Throw now.’

  ‘I can’t.’

  ‘Helix! What are you waiting for?’ hisses Saleeka, from behind Ug.

  ‘This is your chance,’ Ug urges. ‘Do you want to be a caveman or not?’

  I feel a fire burning within me, flickering through my insides and filling my head with heat. I rise with the spear in my hand, ready to hunt a beast.

  I let go, but not of the spear.

  I let go with my lungs and scream. Really loudly.

  The fawn hears me and skips into a run for its life.

  ‘Throw the spear,’ I hear Ug yelling from behind me.

  But instead of throwing the spear, I keep screaming and sprint after the fawn, following it around trees and over logs.

  The fawn is running from me, and I am running from Ug, Saleeka and everything else that has anything to do with the mountain.

  I hear Ug and Saleeka call to me as they follow, but they have no way of keeping up. I’m too fast for them.

  I run through the forest as far as I can, losing sense of time.

  I run.

  And run.

  And run.

  The muscles in my legs are about to give up, but just as I’m about to drop to the ground, I break through the woods and find myself in open grassland.

  I see the fawn from the corner of my eye, running on ahead and out of sight.

  I collapse to my knees, my chest rising and falling, trying to refill my body with air.

  But I’m not concerned with my lack of breath. Before me, the land has opened up into a new world. A steady breeze blows air into my face, fanning my amazement even further. It’s a view that I never expected to see from this vantage. Ahead of me is the river. It is swollen and blue, lapping at its banks as if it has anticipated my arrival.

  ‘You’re here at last, Helix,’ it says to me. ‘Welcome.’

  My spear has gone – I must have dropped it somewhere behind me. I hear Saleeka screeching at me from the woods’ edge. But I don’t care. The river has taken hold of me. I know it’s forbidden. I know it’s dangerous. I’m sure there are unimaginable perils lurking beneath its surface. But I still don’t care.

  I rise to my feet, doubled over and still breathing heavily. I look up from my toes to the river and beyond.

  The river people are close and real now, not just dots in the distance. Their skin and hair is darker than mountain folks’. Their bodies look leaner, but not in a weak way. They wear a decoration around their necks – a string threaded with colourful objects.

  Their roundhouses sit heavily on the land, as if they’ve always been there. From the mountain, they looked crude and makeshift. But now I c
an see details that were not visible before. The curved mud walls are decorated with patterns of crisscrossed lines. The timbers across the roof are much heavier than I expected and look to have been felled from mature trees. And then there’s the roof thatching over and under the timbers that is thick and well made. I imagine it would withstand the worst of the weather.

  Beyond the roundhouses are fields. Shoots of greenery sprout up in neat rows. This must be the food that grows from the mud. To the side of the fields are oxen, which are tethered to poles in the ground. This is another source of confusion for mountain folk, as any animal tethered to a pole on the mountain would be considered fast food.

  Caveman: (Grunts.) Oh look. It’s a juicy beast fastened to a pole by a rope. How convenient.

  Cavewoman: (Squeals.) Let’s start a fire underneath it. We’ll be fed in no time!

  I want to know more, but the river won’t let me. As long as I’m on the other side of her, I will forever be a cave-thing.

  Ug and Saleeka, still panting from chasing me, have finally emerged from the protection of the woods. They are behind me now, but I sense they are extra alert and wary of being so close to the river.

  Ug is the first to say something. ‘What were you thinking?’

  I shrug my shoulders. No matter what I say, he won’t be satisfied.

  Now it’s Saleeka’s turn. ‘Why didn’t you throw your spear? The fawn was almost under your feet.’

  Again, I shrug my shoulders. The fawn isn’t important now.

  ‘We should not be here,’ says Ug.

  ‘Why not?’ I say, gesturing to the river. ‘It’s beautiful.’

  ‘We have to leave. Immediately,’ he says. ‘The river people will see us.’

  I don’t move. I stare at the river.

  ‘Helix! Did you hear him?’ says Saleeka. ‘We have to go.’

  ‘Can’t we just stay a little while longer? Everything is so much clearer down here.’

  Ug grabs hold of my arm, squeezes hard and pulls me close so we are face to face. ‘Helix, I am about to leave. If you want to find your way back to Rockfall before dark, you will need to come with me.’

  If we were having this conversation deep in the woods, I would be jumping on Ug’s back and saying, ‘Please, get me out of here! Take me back home. Now!’

  But out in this open grassland with the woods behind me and the river in front … It’s weird, but I’m not the least bit scared.

  Saleeka grabs my other arm. ‘Helix? Have you got rocks in your head? We need to leave. I’ve never been this far away from Rockfall and it’s freaking me out.’

  ‘What’s the matter with you two?’ I say. ‘First, you say to me, “We’re only going to the high woods,” but somehow or other we end up in the middle woods and then the low woods; and now you’re saying we’ve gone too far and need to go home. It’s not as if we’re in mortal danger. I mean, there’s no rhinovore about to impale us with its horn, no flock of hungry vultures in the sky wanting to peck away at our flesh, no army of river people trying to skin us alive and boil us for dinner. You both need to relax!’

  Twang.

  It’s not the twang of a bandi-twang, but the twang of a wooden arrow piercing something solid and then wobbling to a standstill.

  Ug and Saleeka let go of me.

  The three of us look to the tree behind us, at the arrow embedded in its thick trunk.

  ‘Run!’ yells Ug.

  Saleeka sprints after Ug, back into the low woods.

  But I’m still staring at the arrow buried in the tree trunk behind me. It must’ve travelled close to the top of my head to strike where it has.

  Ug is screaming from within the low woods. ‘Come on, Helix. Run!’

  He’s right. I have to follow him. Before I leave, though, I take one final look across the river to the lowlands. As I scan this other world, I see a figure on the far side of the riverbank. Young, sleek and dark, he is holding a bow loaded with an arrow and aiming it my way.

  I hold my ground. If he’d wanted to impale me, he probably would have done so by now.

  He sees me gawping at him and lowers the bow, releasing the tension on the arrow.

  We lock eyes and share a moment of common understanding, me being the target and he … Hang on … No, it’s not a ‘he’, it’s a ‘she’. I walk forward a couple of steps to be sure my eyes aren’t deceiving me, but I’m right – the archer is a girl. And not just any girl, a rivergirl.

  I see that her eyes are at one with the river – a bright, sparkling deep blue. I smile at her. I don’t know why, it’s just my natural reaction.

  And although I can’t be perfectly sure, I think the corners of her thick, red lips turn upwards into a smile, too. It doesn’t last for long, though. She raises her bow and fires another arrow, which lands almost exactly where the first one did.

  I get the message: ‘The next one will be much more painful!’ But I don’t run, I walk. I walk backwards, watching the rivergirl, waving goodbye to her as I disappear into the low woods.

  From the safety of the woods, I watch her turn and walk back to the village, probably to tell the story of a skinny caveboy from the mountain who smiles and waves like a fool when arrows are fired at him.

  I find Ug and Saleeka without trouble.

  ‘What were you thinking?’ demands Saleeka, shaking her arms in the air.

  Ug is so angry that he can’t look at me. He turns and begins to walk back up the mountain, his muscled torso clenched with fury.

  I follow behind them, keeping a fair distance.

  When we arrive back in Rockfall, they go their separate ways, still boiling inside. I know I’m a failure to them. I didn’t spear a fawn and I stood frozen in front of a river person. But this journey has taught me something much more important than how to throw a spear: I now know for sure that there is a world out there much bigger and more interesting than anything I’ve seen on the mountain.

  ‘So how did it go, son?’ Dad is crouching over me. He looks weird from this angle, as if there’s almost enough moustache to cover his entire face.

  I yawn and rub my eyes.

  ‘Your mother and I want to know. Go on! Spill the rocks! Sherwin’s even up and waiting to find out.’

  I look over and see Sherwin’s hairy back. He’s sitting by the fire, gnawing at his breakfast.

  I groan and think about disappearing back under my sleeping skin. Last night I said I was too tired to talk, but there’s no escaping Mum and Dad forever. I stand up with my sleeping skin draped over my shoulders and walk to the fire, finding a spot to sit.

  ‘Here he is,’ says Sherwin. ‘The caveman-to-be. Funny thing, though: I’ve been looking everywhere and can’t find your catch.’

  ‘Sh,’ says Mum. ‘Be quiet, Sherwin.’

  ‘Did you catch anything, son?’ asks Dad. ‘Not that it matters if you didn’t.’

  ‘Um … I … Well, the thing is, you see –’

  Sherwin rolls back and lets out a loud, ‘Ha!’

  ‘Sherwin!’ snaps Mum, picking up her whacking stick and pointing it at him.

  ‘I knew it! He caught nothing,’ says Sherwin.

  ‘It’s not about what you catch,’ says Dad, ‘it’s how hard you try. And you tried hard, didn’t you, son?’

  ‘Yes, Dad,’ I say. ‘I even went as far as the low woods –’

  ‘And now he’s lying!’ Sherwin interrupts me again. ‘Just because you didn’t catch anything, little brother, doesn’t mean you have to make up stories.’

  I’ve had enough of Sherwin, so pull out my trusty insult of insults. ‘Why don’t you go find yourself a wife?’ I say.

  Sherwin’s already crinkled brow gets crinklier, but before he can jump across the fire at me, Mum points her stick at him again.

  ‘I went as far as the low woods and even visited Cave’s End,’ I say.

  ‘You what?’ says Dad. ‘Did you hear that, Barb? Our boy went to a proper caveman site!’

  ‘We stopped there to have
a rest. We’d been chasing a small herd of fern gazelles but lost their trail.’ Okay, I know the second bit is a lie. But give me a break – I’ve been telling the truth up until now.

  ‘Fern gazelle,’ drools Dad, who probably last tasted fern gazelle at his marriage banquet. ‘Did you end up catching anything?

  ‘No,’ I concede. ‘I think we scared most of the other creatures away with our chase.’

  ‘Son,’ says Dad, ‘I’m just so proud that you made it as far as the low woods, especially considering the woodsphobia that runs in our family.’

  Dad has always said he has woodsphobia and that it runs in the family, but no one knows of anyone before him that had it. Luckily, Dad’s fast on his feet like me and, with the help of Sherwin (when he can be bothered), can catch enough food on the mountain, above the woods, to keep us fed.

  Mum passes me a gecko kebab and says, ‘By the time your Arrival comes around, Helix, you’ll be confident in the woods and ready to hunt on your own.’

  ‘I know,’ I say, trying to sound like I believe her.

  ‘What are your plans for today, son?’ asks Dad. ‘A bit of heavy club work? Some spear throwing, perhaps? Another trek into the woods?’

  ‘Actually, I need to go to Newstone again,’ I say, thinking of the sacred rock I said I’d return to Veldo.

  ‘More work for Speel?’ says Dad.

  ‘Yes, that’s right,’ I say. It’s technically not a lie this time, because I need to pick up the rest of Speel’s writing skins.

  ‘Maybe you could follow up on my torism idea, son – see if anyone is keen on a caveswap.’ Dad winks at me.

  ‘Don’t pester the boy with your silliness, Jerg. No one wants to leave their cave. Can’t you get that through your head?’

  ‘I think it could work,’ I say to Mum. ‘Maybe there are folk in Rockfall who would like to visit somewhere else.’

  ‘Now you’re warping his mind as well,’ she says, pointing to me.

  ‘Give it a chance, Barb. I can smell change in the winds.’