The view from high up on the escarpment was breathtaking. I had never seen so far before, or even dreamed that so much country existed. I could see the steephead where Bane Valley ended, and mountains beyond it. In the east I could make out the marshes. They were grey-green and they stretched away into the distance.
I felt light-headed with the vastness of it all, and a bit giddy; then, without warning, I was sick. I held onto the tree and leaned out so as not to get it on the blanket. The road was far below. It was the same road that went past the Overhang, but it looked different here – it was narrow and grassy. The sight of it made me dizzy. I leaned back into the crack between the rocks and closed my eyes, my throat burning and my mouth tasting foul.
There was no wind this morning, and the only sound was trickling water. I discovered a gap in the rocks behind me, wide enough to poke my head right into. It was dark inside, and had a musty smell, but the water sounded close and I wanted to wash my mouth out, so I got the cup out of my bag and reached my arm in. The gap wasn’t big enough to put my head in as well as my arm, so I couldn’t see what I was doing.
I felt something swipe me. Oh, did it sting! I lurched back and would have fallen if it hadn’t have been for the stranger’s rope, which held me as I dangled over the cliff edge.
I scrambled back to safety and looked at my arm. There was a fine trail of blood from my elbow to my wrist.
Cautiously, I peered into the hole again. For a moment two small bright eyes met mine. There was a chittering sound, then all was quiet. I tore a strip off the blanket and wrapped up my arm before reaching into the hole again. The creature spat, but if it tried to scratch me again I couldn’t feel it. The cup hit rock. I held it the right way up and heard water running into it.
‘That’s all I want, little one,’ I whispered as I pulled my arm out.
I drank the water. When I looked into the hole again, I saw a fierce little face. The animal opened his mouth and showed me a set of tiny teeth before backing away. His tail came into sight: a red plume tipped with white. I heard him spit at me again, then chomping sounds came from within. On the floor of the cave I could see a scattering of fine white bones. I would have liked some more water, but I decided I wasn’t game to put my arm in again.
I looked at the road below. There didn’t seem to be an easy way down to it. Cling-vine was growing out of the rock face, but I doubted it was strong enough to take my weight. I decided I needed to eat before I tried to make my descent.
As soon as I took out the bread, something shot past my shoulder and leapt into the tree. A face peered down at me through the leaves: a sharp, narrow face fringed with reddish fur. The eyes were bright and mean. If the creature sprang at me now I could fall. I broke off a small piece of bread and threw it, and he caught it in midair.
‘There, we’re even,’ I whispered. ‘Bread for water. Now go away.’
I put half the bread back in the bag and began eating the rest. The creature ate too, then moved closer, wanting more.
‘I need this. I have a long way to go.’
He blinked and held my gaze. His eyes were grey-green, like the marshes.
‘I have to eat. I have to get down from here,’ I told him, as I threw him another piece of bread.
The creature caught it, then he ate slowly, looking deep into my eyes.
‘What are you?’ I asked. He wasn’t like any animal I had seen near the Overhang. He wasn’t a rabbit or a fox.
‘You’re small and sleek,’ I said. ‘And you are not to be trusted. I’ll call you a sleek.’
The creature blinked and closed his eyes as if satisfied, then suddenly he sprang, snatching the remaining bread out of my hands and disappearing down the rock face. I held onto the tree and leaned out over the drop, but I couldn’t see where he’d gone.
I cut myself a hunk of cheese and had another drink, then I undid the rope, packed it away with the blanket and began the climb down.
The cling-vine was stronger than I’d expected, so I used it to lower myself a little way at a time until my feet found a narrow ledge, then I paused for a moment before carefully lowering myself further.
Suddenly I heard a high-pitched cheeping sound from above. I looked up and saw the sleek – then I heard the same sound below; he was now crouched on a rock beneath me, and his fur was standing on end. I hadn’t see him move – he’d simply disappeared from above and appeared below – so I wasn’t sure if he was actually the same creature or another one.
When I continued lowering myself towards him he shrieked in alarm, so I froze. I tried to find a foothold and realised there was nothing beneath me.
‘Thank you, little sleek,’ I gasped, as I pulled myself back up to the ledge.
The sleek went quiet and stayed where he was. His fur settled. I climbed along the wall and began coming down a different way.
Luckily I had always been a good climber. I’d found the hole in the night cave and climbed up onto my ledge at the Overhang before I was old enough to walk. Marlie had always been scared I would fall – so scared that in the end she’d put a rope on me and kept me tethered to the cow-yard fence when she was busy.
I adjusted the weight of the bag on my back and decided to only look as far down as the next foothold. I was glad the face of the escarpment was solid here and not the crumbling rock I had seen out near the Gap that day I’d met the stranger.
Eventually I found a long groove in the rock wall and squeezed into it; then, bracing myself with my hands and feet, I made my way down the groove like a person coming down a chimney.
The sun was low in the sky by the time I reached the bottom. I was surprised to find the sleek waiting for me. He looked friendlier than he had on the escarpment. He was no bigger than a cat, but he was finer. His ears were pointy and his fur shone in the last rays of the sun.
When I sat down on the ground, he sat down, too.
‘You saved my life up there, Sleek.’
He looked so soft and silky that I thought I might touch him, but when I reached out he spat and scratched me just as he had done in the hole. Then he turned and skittered away. I saw the white tip of his tail disappear into the long grass. I tore off another piece of blanket, and after I had bandaged my hand, I slung the bag over my shoulder and began walking along the road.
After a while the road left the escarpment and wound through trees and open fields. The ground was soft and springy underfoot, nothing like the hard ground near the Overhang and the road that led to the Gap. There weren’t many stones about, and those I saw were covered in moss. Lichen grew on the tree trunks and some sort of feathery vine trailed from the lower branches into long grass.
Not good cattle country, I thought. Plenty of feed, but their hoofs would rot in this wet ground.
I decided to stop and have a proper look inside the bag before the sun went down. The stranger had travelled light. Apart from the rope and blanket and the things Wim had added, there was only a wooden bowl and a spare shirt, like the one he had been wearing.
I took out the bread. Immediately there was a rustling in the grass nearby and the sleek appeared, his eyes fixed on the food. I held out a small piece. He snatched it from my hand and gobbled it; then he watched me suspiciously, waiting for more.
‘That’s all for you,’ I said. ‘I’ve got to make this last.’
When I took out the cheese, the sleek didn’t wait for me to eat it in front of him. He sprang at me, as he had on the escarpment, snatching the whole cheese from my hands. He was tremendously strong: the cheese was nearly as big as him, and he was gone with it in an instant, disappearing into the grass.
‘You’re not getting away with this!’ I cried and ran after him.
The sleek might have been strong, but the cheese was heavy and hard to hold in his mouth. After a while he slowed down, and when he did I lurched towards him and grabbed it. He darted away, then he stopped, staring back at me defiantly.
I put the cheese in the bag. ‘Shoo, Sleek! Go away!’
He flattened his ears, stood up on his hind legs with his nose in the air and made a clicking noise – the same sound that Marlie sometimes made when she disapproved of whatever I was doing.
I clapped my hands and the sleek dropped onto all fours and ran off, heading, it seemed, for the road. I was still cross with him, but when he paused and looked over his shoulder I followed. It wasn’t like I had any other company.
The sleek moved easily in front of me, weaving in and out of the long grass. As we walked, the grass became taller. Soon it was almost too tall to push through. I was about to turn around when I fell forward into what looked to be a large nest. It was made of sticks and reeds and lined with soft grass.
By now it was getting dark, so there seemed no point in going any further. I turned my back on the sleek and ate out of the bag, biting off chunks of cheese and gulping them down. Then I took out the blanket and, putting the bag under me so the sleek couldn’t steal the rest of the food, I lay down inside the nest. I was exhausted from the climb and from my escape the night before. I put my hands behind my head and watched the moon rising, the same moon I had seen from the escarpment. That seemed ages ago.
I wondered about Wim and Marlie and hoped Alban Bane had gone home by now. It would be terrible if he and his gang were camped outside the Overhang waiting for me, and worse if he took Marlie back with him. Poor Marlie. One way or another, I had always brought her trouble. I put my hand on the cow charm and tried to remember the last thing she had said to me. Go well, Peat. Tears stung my eyes and my throat felt tight. I thought about the cows. Who would look after them if Marlie was taken?
The sleek watched me with lazy eyes from a small distance, his head between his paws.
‘I don’t know what’s going to happen, Sleek, but I know one thing for sure – I can’t ever go back to the Overhang.’
He yawned and closed his eyes. After a while he curled up and went to sleep.
Things could be worse, I told myself. At least I’m alive.
It was true: I was alive and safe; I had food in my bag, Marlie’s cow charm around my neck, and a companion, if not a friend, in the sleek.
The only problem was that I was heading for the marshes.