CHAPTER 10 (Southern Continent)
For the crew and their families in the south these were surreal months, waiting as they were for the expected blow to fall. They worked hard to make the defences as impregnable as they could and practiced their newfound skills with sword, knife and bow. As the days passed, the tension grew. There was no sign of the convicts. A minority tried to hold on to the hope that the convicts would leave them alone, but deep inside their hearts knew that it was a wish, nothing more.
It was almost a relief when the mounted scouts reported that they had located a small advance party of convicts a day’s march away.
“They’ll be here by morning,” Gerry announced to Camilla as he dismounted from his grey mare. She was still his favourite and he almost never rode any of the others.
So it had come at last. Camilla took a calming breath as she digested the news.
“Get the goats up top,” she ordered, “then get the horses fed and ready to depart.”
The man nodded. They had no time to waste if the party were to leave unobserved.
Gerry and Camilla had concocted the plan between them. Camilla knew they would not be able to hold out against the men. She had not forgotten the idea she had had when talking to Gerry about the other animals. There was no point in waiting until they were about to be overwhelmed before trying to break out. Those leaving would have to go now.
After a long and heated discussion amongst the adults in Fort, she had managed to persuade them that a few should leave before it was too late – those most at risk from the men.
Those most at risk - that was the moot point. The convicts’ main incentives were twofold. The first was revenge, revenge for their incarceration and abandonment and the second was booty – they wanted the crew’s goods and chattels, and that included the women. There was an obsessive fear amongst the families of what would happen to the women and adolescent girls.
Accordingly, a search was initiated for any young women with any experience of horsemanship. They had found four. Their experience was minimal, but all four had demonstrated an interest in the horses whilst aboard the Electra and two had even ridden them gently round the livestock section on occasion. These four began a crash course (crash being the operative word, they had taken many a tumble) of riding at speed then learnt how to do the same with a pillion-passenger behind them. These young women were already getting their mounts ready, together with Gerry (the only male in the party) and Martine, another of his horse handlers, a woman of thirty whose passion for horses rivalled his.
The six passengers that were to accompany them had been selected by lot. All non-crew females between the ages of thirteen and twenty-five had their names entered on the database and the handheld had randomly selected six. One of those selected later decided not to go: she was a young mother and refused to leave her children. Camilla had respected her wishes, made a mental note to find a replacement and had then promptly forgotten all about it. With a start she realised this and turning, made for the north wall where she knew Anne Howard was helping to finish hammering in the spikes that would form that part of the cliff’s defence.
One of those on the list to leave was fourteen-year-old Jenny, Jessica Howard’s best friend. Jenny’s parents had insisted that she take this chance, although it had been a difficult decision for them, weighing the unknown hazards of this new world of theirs against the impending and more immediate to their eyes, hazard of the approaching men. Jenny herself was torn in two directions. One part of her wanted to remain with her parents and little brother Gavin, the other was absolutely terrified about what these men might do to her when they did break in.
Jessica Howard had resigned herself to remaining behind and facing whatever life dealt out, and that without the comfort of her best friend nearby. Anne Howard had not minced words when she explained, in detail, what was likely to happen. She had cut Jessica’s hair short in an attempt to disguise her as a boy but they both knew that it would not fool the convicts for long.
Jenny and Jessica were preparing an interminable number of the spicy-flavoured whiteroots for the evening meal when their task was interrupted by seven shrill blasts of the whistle. They looked at each other; the moment they were dreading had arrived. The convicts had been sighted. Fort would be in a siege situation by nightfall.
“I have to go Jess,” said Jenny quietly.
“I know,” answered her friend, also quietly. “Got everything you need?”
“Packed and waiting.” Jenny’s eyes strayed over to the corner of the communal cook shop where her backpack lay; ready for when the call came.
“I’ll come with you to the gateway.”
Jenny nodded as she wiped her knife on a scrap of cloth and attached it to her belt. When Jessica would have thrown hers down regardless in her haste, she picked it up and slipped it into her friend’s back pocket.
They stood staring at each other, committing to memory how each looked at this moment.
“I’ve got to report now,” said Jenny at last and hefted her backpack on to her shoulders. “Mum, Dad and Gavin are meeting me at the gate.”
Jenny’s eyes were filling with tears as she realised that the coming goodbye might well be the last time she would ever see her parents and little brother. Her parents had been positive, saying that when the danger was passed they would all meet again, but Jenny was almost adult now and knew what was what. The two girls walked to the gateway arms round each other’s shoulders. Neither was sure who was comforting whom.
At the assembly point, the six horses were saddled and waiting, their girths being tightened. Their handlers were giving them a light feed before departure and were attaching the saddlebags to the saddle cinches. Jenny’s parents were waiting, her little brother in his father’s arms. Jessica whispered goodbye to Jenny and stepped back.
All was noise and organised chaos. There were shouts of command as the last items were manhandled within the barricades. As soon as the horses left, the gateway aperture would be sealed shut. The goats complained loudly as they were herded into Fort. Sentries took up their duty stations. The barricades were being given a final check-over by the work-parties still outside before they too came in.
Jessica stood watching, a small forlorn figure amongst all the chaos, then she heard someone calling her name and turned. It was her mother approaching, frantically calling her name as she tried to be heard over the tumult. Cherry and Joseph were following close behind. Anne Howard carried a backpack in her arms. As she reached her eldest, she was talking rapidly.
“Camilla spoke to me. Nell Morrison is not going and you are next on the list. You have to leave now.”
“I can’t,” stuttered Jessica, a dazed expression on her face, “I can’t leave you. Cherry and Joseph need me. You need me.”
Shocked, she stood unresisting as Anne lifted the pack on to her back.
“You must. I’ve packed some food and a change of clothing.”
Jessica looked into her mother’s eyes. They were anguished; this moment was purgatory for her.
“Some personal things as well, holograms of the family, to remember us by. Don’t worry about Cherry and Joseph, it’s unlikely the men will harm the children. It’s you that’s in the greatest danger. Got your knife?”
Jessica nodded, too dazed to say more than, “I love you.”
Taking her daughter in her arms, Anne murmured into her ears, “I love you too darling. You don’t know how much. Now be a brave girl and say goodbye to Cherry and Joseph.” Jessica’s throat swelled with emotion and her eyes filled with yet more tears and she bent down and opened her arms to receive their embraces. They leapt into her arms, crying noisily but there was no time for more. The horses were ready, they moved around restlessly, their hooves sounded loud on the hard turf.
They had to go before the convict advance party spotted them and gave chase.
The four Howards clung to each other for one final moment, then Jessica became aware of hoof steps approaching and the jangle
of a bit moving restlessly in the approaching horse’s mouth.
“Ready Jessica?” said Gerry encouragingly, “you get to come with me. Ever been in the saddle before?”
Jessica shook her head. This was all happening too fast for her to take in.
The horse-handler looked at her with sympathy but he couldn’t give the girl any more time. They had to be off.
“I’ll mount then someone’ll give you a leg up. Hold on to my waist tight. We’ll try and go a little slower to begin with. Keep to a gentle canter until you get used to the motion. But we must go now.”
He mounted and Jessica was thrown up behind him. She wrapped her arms round his waist as he had ordered.
As parents, siblings and those who could watched, waving hard to give them all a good send off, the six horses turned and walked towards and out of the gateway. Calls of ‘I love you and good luck’ followed them as they left. When Jessica looked back she saw her mother standing bravely beside Cherry and Joseph. The three were waving and smiling bright smiles.
As the last tail swished out of the opening, work gangs at once began to drag the large wooden gate into place, in preparation to sealing in all those who remained.
Anne Howard and her depleted family walked away from the gate, the children crying inconsolably at losing their big sister. Anne was no whit behind them. She did not think she would see Jessica again. She hoped that she had made the right decision, sending her into the great unknown expanse of the planet like this but what other choice did she have?
There was a resounding crash as the beam fell into place in the aperture at the gateway. There would be just time for the native glue-like substance to harden before the evening. The work gang swarmed over it, fitting the subsidiary defences into place. There was much hammering of nails into wood as they attached the frames. Before many hours passed, there would be little indication that it had once been an entrance, although the tell-tale tracks leading up to it would give it away if the convicts looked carefully enough. Camilla ran here, there and everywhere trying to convince herself that she had done all she could as she wondered what the next day would bring.
Murdoch’s advance party observed Gerry leaving with his party in the distance and noted the direction they were headed. The sergeant in charge sent some of his men back to report, then following orders, dug in and waited for the main army to arrive. He did not have any orders to give chase.
The sentries could see no sign of the southern sergeant and his men.
“Waiting for the rest to catch up,” said a grim Camilla, “Gerry did say that he spotted only a few. They know we’re not going anywhere. They’ll no doubt send scouting parties out when it gets dark.”
“Do you think they’ll want to parley?” asked Shelley Lambert, her closest friend, at her side as usual.
Camilla nodded. “Should think so, not that any terms they might offer will be acceptable.”
“Terms?”
“Something like ‘hand over the women and we’ll let the rest go’,” she said with a wry grin at the younger woman.
Shelley’s eyes widened. “I’d rather die,” she stated vehemently.
Camilla’s soft hazel eyes rested on her. “Yes, I know, but you and I have no children to care for. It’s different for the mothers. We’re crew and are duty-bound to defend them to the last. We can’t expect husbands and fathers to tamely hand over their womenfolk either. But it’s a no-win situation I’m afraid.”
Shelley stared at her.
“There are only losers,” Camilla continued, “these men want what we’ve got, the supplies we salvaged and us.”
“What?”
“Yes, they are stuck on this planet for good, just as we are. They look to the future and for that they need – females. Without us, all that will happen is that they will grow old then die. Without women they have no future.”
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