Rokkaku

Creeeak.

Ignis rolled over in his bed and pulled the blanket up over his ears. He hurt all over, and wanted to sleep.

Creeeak.

Creeak.

The noise was waking him up. It sounded like someone was walking across the floorboards. "Michael, shut up," he muttered from under the covers.

Creeeeeeeak.

Ignis opened his eyes, ready to curse his brother, and was suddenly wide awake.

He was in a small room made of wooden boards, lying on a mattress laid out in the middle of the floor. Apart from a few pieces of furniture, the room was bare. Through the windows set in all four walls he could see trees, and sky. Afternoon sunlight was shining down onto the bed, making him blink.

Ignis sat up, wincing at the twinge in his neck. He reached back to probe at it cautiously. His back and the nape of his neck flared in pain as he touched them, but there was something in between - a plaster. Another was on his arm, and two scrapes on his leg seemed to have been washed and dressed. Ignis stared at them for a minute, frowning, then saw his clothes folded by the bed.

As he dressed, there came another long creeak from under his feet. He stopped. The creeak came again. This time it felt as though the floor shifted. Startled, he looked around. The branches through the front window were still. Through the other windows, the leaves shifted gently in the breeze, but there was no other movement. He started to turn away, then stopped dead as he realised what was wrong. Wait a minute . . .

. . . how can there be branches outside all of the windows?

Ignis moved to the door, opened it, began to take a step out - and grabbed the doorway to stop himself, his eyes going wide.

The door opened onto a tree branch. Beyond that was a ten metre drop. Ignis backed away and sat down on the bed with a thump, staring out of the door at the leaves and branches behind it.

Creeeeak . . . This time the floor definitely shifted underneath him.

"Oh, hell." Ignis crawled on his hands and knees to the doorway and slowly peeked out over the edge.

Branches and leaves blocked most of his vision, but he could see that beneath him was a long building, flat-roofed and built of wood. Between him and the roof was nothing. No ladder, no stairs - only a few ropes strung through the branches.

The wind whispered through the leaves and the tree leaned gently with another creeeak. Ignis held on tight until it had stopped moving.

He took a breath. Okay . . . climbing a tree. That's all you're doing. Then before he could think twice, he swung out and started clambering down. It was easier than it looked. The branches were worn smooth from use, and there were footholds nailed into the trunk. In only a few seconds, he turned, jumped, and landed with a thump on the roof below. Then he straightened and looked around in amazement.

The valley he was standing in was like nothing he'd ever seen before in his life. In front of and behind him, along the length of the valley, was a line of long, broad buildings like the one he was standing on, built on stilts over the small stream that ran below. There was a small gap between the end of one building and the beginning of the next, and they stretched down the valley one after the other, obscured slightly by the oak, birch, and alder trees that lined the slopes.

Above them were dirt paths, cut slightly into the valley's steep slopes, and along the paths were the doors and windows of rooms. The rooms - if that was what they were - had been built into the valley sides, sunk deep into the earth so that only a door, a couple of windows, and a little of the roof showed of each. The valley was so steep that the rooms were nearly on top of one another, the paths forming levels that rose higher and higher upwards. Steps, logs, and curving tracks linked the paths to the ones above and below them.

But it was what was between the slopes that made Ignis stare. The house he had left wasn't the only one up in the air. Nearly all of the bigger trees supported either huts or small platforms, connected in midair by a network of ropes and swings. The lowest paths on either side of the valley were joined by hanging bridges made of logs. The higher levels were connected only by taut ropes, running from the valley sides to the trees, the branches, and the huts and platforms. Each layer of huts and platforms was stacked on top of the next, so that the ropes rose higher and higher until the uppermost level was in the treetops, more than ten metres above the ground and level with the highest layer of paths on either side of the valley. Afternoon sunlight shone in patches through the leaves, forming dappled patterns on the houses and ropes and leaving many of them half-hidden in the greenery. It was as if the entire valley had been designed not for walkers, but for creatures that could fly - or climb. As Ignis turned slowly to look down the length of the valley, he could see in the distance the glitter of some vast body of water through the trees.

There was a thump and muffled voices from the building he was standing on. Ignis jumped. He could hear someone shouting. Hurrying to one side, he found a ladder and climbed down onto the grass. The voices from inside grew clearer.

"Keep your centre, damn it! Stop trying to pull him off his feet and keep your centre! Again!"

There was a moment's silence, then a thundering crash which made the building's thick wooden stilts quiver.

"No, no, no! God help me, what did I do wrong to get landed with the most bungling pack of students this school's ever seen? There are three-year olds in Japan who can do this trick! Arthur, Toshiro, get over here. See if you can be uke without mucking it up."

Curious, Ignis stepped around the white flowers lining the stream and moved to the building's lower side. There was a set of steps leading up to an open door. He leaned his head around the corner.

The hall was long and wide, with a rubbery floor. Twenty boys in their early teens were standing around a short, bald-headed man. It was his voice Ignis had heard. All of them were wearing odd-looking black suits with slipper-like shoes and a thick green belt tied at the waist. As Ignis watched, a West Indian boy half a head taller and twice as broad as the short man stepped forward and grasped the short man from behind in a bear-hug, pinning his arms to his sides. A shorter Japanese boy stepped in front of him.

"Right." the man declared. "Now uke attacks." The Japanese boy nodded and threw a punch.

The man did something very fast. Suddenly the boy was on the ground clutching his stomach, and the boy behind him was flying through the air, landing flat on his back with a crash that shook the room.

Ignis stared, certain he had been hurt badly, but as the West Indian boy sat up Ignis saw to his surprise that he was grinning. The man pulled the boy up. "Now did you see that?" he demanded to the rest of the class. Heads nodded. "Again, and this time do it right!"

Ignis ducked away, wide-eyed. Where was he?

He ran down the steps, but stopped as he was about to turn the corner. Above the trickling of the stream, he could hear voices approaching.

"Christopher!" A girl's voice, cheerful and enthusiastic. "I've been looking all over for you! You know, have I ever told you how much I appreciate you?"

"Yes . . . lots of times. Usually just when you're about to get us both in trouble."

"Get you in trouble? I'd never do anything like that. Why would you ever think-"

"What have you done, Jennifer?"

"Done? Nothing! I just wanted to ask you a hypothetical question . . ."

Two children walked into Ignis' view. They both looked his age or a little younger, and wore the same black suits he'd seen on the children before. The girl was slight, like Allandra, with streaked blonde-brown hair and a bounce in her step, while the boy was taller, with dark hair and eyes, slightly bronzed skin, and a watchful expression. He stopped and folded his arms. "What sort of question?"

"Well, hypothetically, suppose someone in our class - let's call him Ichiro - had said something nasty - let's say, oh, that everyone in the class except for him and his friends had sucky taijutsu - then, hypothetically, should I put a pair of slugs in his tabi?"

"No, Jennifer. Hypothetically, picking a fight with the toughest and best student in the class would be a very, very bad idea. You've done more than enough to make him mad at you already."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! I'm very sure!"

"Okay." She paused. "Here's another hypothetical question . . . what if I already did?"

From somewhere behind the buildings to the north came a high-pitched yell. Christopher jumped, then spun to glare at the girl, whose face had broken out into an expression of delight.

"Jennifer!"

Jennifer fluttered her eyelashes, placing her hands over her chest with a look of angelic innocence. "Who, me?"

"Are you out of your mind?

"C'mon, Chris. Slimy things always get into people's shoes. It's like, a law of living in the woods or something."

"Or get put in! And if Ichiro finds out who did it, we're both going to-"

"Jennifer."

The man who had approached without any of them noticing was Japanese, with a lined face and greying hair. The black suit and belt he wore were faded with age. Despite his plain looks, there was something commanding about him. Christopher and Jennifer jumped, turned, and bowed hurriedly. "Um, Nishiyama-sensei. We were just-"

"Akamatsu's taijutsu class has just been disrupted." Nishiyama's voice was even. "It seems that Ichiro is claiming that someone put some kind of creature into his tabi. I don't suppose that either of you would know anything about this?"

Jennifer backed up a step. "Um. N-no, sensei . . ."

"Your father made some comments in the letter that arrived with you, Jennifer. Specifically, he claimed that you could not go a fortnight without stirring up trouble. Given that you have been in Rokkaku three weeks and the incident last week with the shaving cream also happened in your presence, I would be interested to hear where you have been this past hour." His tone remained mild, but his eyes didn't stray from Jennifer's face. She gulped.

"No! She didn't have anything to do with-"

Nishiyama's gaze slipped to Christopher, and the boy hesitated. "I mean - she couldn't have had anything to do with it. Because . . .um . . ." he turned to look behind Jennifer, "she was showing the new student around!"

Ignis moved to one side to see who Christopher was pointing at, and his eyes widened. It was Allandra. She was standing behind the other two children, looking up at the man they called sensei.

"I see," Nishiyama replied. "Well, neither of you seem to have found her a gi yet, so I suggest you do so. Allandra, have you been assigned a room?"

Allandra shook her head.

"Then I expect the same goes for you, Ignis."

Ignis jumped. Nishiyama had given no previous sign that he knew Ignis was there. "What-" Ignis began. He had intended to ask what was going on, but as he spoke Nishiyama turned to look at him. The man's face showed no particular expression, but something about it made Ignis change what he had been going to say. "Uh, yeah."

"Then you can share with Shiro Yoshimatsu in the fifth set of rooms down Fox Row. Allandra, you can take the single room three down Willowherb. Both of your injuries from the river seem to have healed, so unless Dr Furuta says otherwise, I expect to see you in classes tomorrow. You have a great deal to catch up on." He turned and paused. "Oh, and Jennifer? Stay out of trouble." He walked away.

Ignis stared after him. "How did he know my name?"

Jennifer shrugged. "He's Nishiyama. He knows all the students' names. Whew, that was close."

Christopher turned on Jennifer. "That was more than close! Why do you always have to drag me into these things?"

"Oh, stop complaining. It's not like you've got anything better to do."

"Not got-!"

"Ally?" Ignis asked, walking towards them.

Allandra grinned and gave him a quick hug. "Hi, Ig. Glad you're better. I went up to see you earlier, but you were still asleep."

Ignis hugged her back, then shook his head and held her at arm's length. "Wait a minute! I want to know what's going on."

"First things first. This is Jennifer, and this is her friend Christopher. They've been showing me around - uh, apart from the last ten minutes. Jennifer, Christopher, this is my older brother Ignis."

Jennifer waved. "Hiya. Did you both enrol here at the same time?"

"We haven't-" Ignis began.

Allandra interrupted quickly. "Um, Jennifer, how about you come back later, after Ignis and I have had a chance to talk? It's just that we really need to catch up."

"Okay, we'll be tour guides!" Jennifer bounced away down the path, dragging Christopher with her and waving. "See you later!"

As they turned the corner, Ignis rounded on his sister. "What the hell is this place?"

"Rokkaku."

"What? No, forget it. Where are Vargas and the others?"

Allandra laughed. "Miles away. Calm down, Ig, we're safe. Vargas doesn't have a clue where we are, and he can't find us, either. We've really landed on our feet."

Ignis looked around. The steep-sided valley was nothing like the one into which they'd fled. "Where are we?"

"A mile or two north-east of the Tawi, I think."

Ignis stared at her. "What's the Tawi?"

"The river we fell into." Allandra sighed. "Just stop asking questions a second and I'll explain. After you hit that rock, I was carried downriver. Someone pulled us both out."

"Who?"

"I told you, stop asking questions. I don't know who. But while we were unconscious, he carried us here, northwest to this valley, and he did it without anyone seeing. Our father's got no idea where we are, and he can't find us, either. This school doesn't appear on any map."

"School? What do you mean?"

Allandra grinned. "I'll show you." She took Ignis' hand and led him up the valley. The path they were walking on was made of packed dirt, with grass and wild flowers growing around it. A few yards above them, higher up the valley, was another path, and through the trees, higher still, was another. They were passing by the rooms Ignis had seen earlier, the little houses sunk deep into the sides of the valley. Allandra led Ignis onto a small platform built over a short drop down to the banks of the stream. The valley was dotted with them, one-metre squares of wood along the sides of the paths.

"What are we-" Ignis began.

A bell rang.

Suddenly the valley was alive with young people, pouring out of the doors all around them and from the long buildings along the stream. All of them wore the same black outfits that Christopher and Jennifer had, with belts of white, green, red, and black, but apart from that, they were different in every way: boys and girls, tall and short, light- and dark-skinned. Some were no older than Ignis, while others looked old enough to be adults. The one thing they all shared was an easy grace of movement. They weren't just walking, either. As Ignis watched, a boy on the opposite side of the valley grabbed a rope and swung easily across the stream, flying over the roof of the building below to swoop straight towards them. Ignis jumped back, and the boy came down with a thud in the centre of the platform. "Hey!" he called. "Keep the landings clear!" Then he ran past and away, springing up the side of a tree-trunk with steps cut into it that was laid up the valley slope.

The boy wasn't the only one travelling by air. Children scaled the trees to reach the houses in the middle levels: others used the rope swings to travel between the lower platforms. At the highest levels, the ropes were being used as well. As Ignis watched in disbelief, a boy twice his size stepped out of the door of one of the high houses and walked along one of the ropes toward another house twenty paces away. Halfway along it, he turned, jumped backwards, caught the rope as he fell, and swung casually onto the roof of a house three metres below. In the clearings further down the valley Ignis could see pairs of boys sparring with long sticks, and below that a crowd of younger children being led uphill by an older man. Ignis turned to Allandra.

"What is this place?"

Allandra grinned at him. "This is Rokkaku. Ninja school."

Ignis looked at the boys and girls swarming around them. "This is a school?"

"It's a martial arts school." Allandra started leading them back down the path, keeping to the left to avoid the shouting children. "They teach regular things, but they also teach ninjutsu. It's a Japanese martial art: fighting and stealth and lots of other things. Like that." Allandra pointed to a rope above their head where someone was walking. "Students join at eleven and stay to eighteen. Jennifer told me a bit about it while I was waiting for you to wake up. Everyone's just finished afternoon classes, that's why they're all out."

"Afternoon classes? What time is it?"

"Four o'clock. You slept through the day."

Ignis noticed they were getting sidelong looks from some of the children brushing past. Glancing down at his clothes, he realised why. He was still wearing the same sweater and jeans from before, while everyone else he could see in the valley, even the adults, were wearing the black suits. "What about Vargas?"

"That's the best part. Rokkaku is a secret school. It's not on any maps. Apart from the people who come here, no-one knows it's here. There's no way Vargas can find it. We're safe."

They had come to the lower end of the valley. The long buildings over the stream carried on a short way further, then stopped as the stream widened and became more pebbly, disappearing down between a cluster of trees. To the right, the valley slope was covered with some kind of pink, flowery herb that sprouted up around the grass and trees. It gave off a dry, sweet smell. Scattered between the patches of herbs were doors, set into the valley sides. Allandra pointed at a door one level higher than them, then at one below. "That's your room, and this is mine."

"Good." Ignis took a quick glance around: despite the bustle, no-one seemed to be looking at them. He opened the lower door, motioned Allandra in after him, and closed it.

The room was small and sparsely furnished, like the one he'd woken up in. A low bed sat in one corner, next to a table and chairs. The fading rays of the afternoon sun shone through the windows to paint squares of light on the wooden planks of the side wall. The walls were bare except for a piece of paper above the bed. The noise of the valley behind them faded away and it was quiet.

Ignis sat down upon the chair. "How much do they know about us?"

"It's not what they know, it's what they think." Allandra sat down on the bed and looked at Ignis seriously. "They think we're new students here."

"What?"

"Remember the person who took us here? Whoever he was, he left a letter with us. The teachers here had read it by the time I woke up. I don't know everything it said, but it told them our names - and that we were enrolling as first-years here at Rokkaku."

"Did you tell them who we were?" Ignis demanded.

Allandra looked insulted. "Of course not. I'm not totally stupid, Ig. I told the doctor that we'd fallen into the river and I couldn't remember anything else. He didn't ask any more questions. When I asked about you, he got Jennifer and Christopher to take me to you."

Ignis relaxed slightly. "Good. They wouldn't have been so helpful if they'd known our father was a drug dealer."

The words hung in the air. Calling Vargas a drug dealer was like calling a professional assassin a common crook: it didn't go far enough. Vargas Havelock was the drug industry for his part of London. How big a part it really was no-one but Vargas himself knew, not even Pete and Tav, his two closest lieutenants. Vargas travelled throughout England, sometimes overseas. Ignis, Allandra, and Michael had overheard snippets of deals over the years. Not only drugs. Handguns to England: automatic weapons to Ireland: other products risky enough that they were referred to only by codenames. But drugs were the biggest seller. It was drugs that had financed Vargas' rise through society: drug money that had bought him the six or more houses he owned throughout Britain and the meetings with the men in the expensive suits whom they sometimes glimpsed visiting him in the evenings. Vargas knew everyone, had contacts everywhere. As far as Ignis knew, he'd never been arrested.

Ignis yawned and winced, touching the plaster at the back of his neck. It seemed things weren't as bad as he'd feared after all. Still, there was no point wasting time. "Ow, I hope this gets better soon. Okay, then. What's the nearest town?"

"Rhosmaen, I suppose."

"That's no good. Somewhere else."

"I don't know if there is anywhere else. We're really in the wilderness out here. But I guess if we went around the lake to the dam road, we'd find a place eventually."

Ignis nodded. "It's good enough. We can wait till sunset. Did you see anywhere we could take something to eat?"

"For what?"

"For when we get out of here."

Allandra hesitated. "Why now?"

Ignis looked at her in surprise. "Huh? Well, it doesn't have to be right now, but they'll figure out we aren't students sooner or later. Better get out before that happens."

"How would they know?"

"Well, if we stick around without going to the classes, they'll notice, won't they?"

"But what if we did go to the classes?"

Ignis frowned. "What do you mean?"

"They think we're students. Well, what if we became students? They've already given us rooms and enrolled us. And the way the teachers were before . . .I don't think they ask many questions here. They wouldn't tell our father, anyway. And we could-"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute." Ignis held up his hands. "Last thing I remember, we were trying to run away. What's the big idea?"

Allandra's eyes were bright. "Because here we've finally got a chance. Don't you see, Ig? This is the one place in the world where Vargas could never find us. No newspapers, no telephones, no police. Out there he has contacts everywhere, can track us wherever we go. Look, we always try to run away when we escape. We never think about where we're trying to run to. Can you think of a better place than this to hide in?"

"You've got to be kidding me. You think I got away from home and ran the gauntlet down that valley to go to school?"

"Why not?" Allandra's voice was quiet. "We have to learn somehow. Jennifer and Christopher told me stories. They said that the master ninjas, the really good ones, are almost invincible. We could stay here for a few months. Then when we're stronger than Vargas," she straightened up defiantly, "we could go back and rescue Michael."

Ignis rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. Ally, I know you love coming up with these grand plans, but they never get anywhere. You know you wouldn't stand a chance against our father. And Michael probably wouldn't even want to leave."

Allandra narrowed her eyes. "That is not true!"

"Whatever. Anyway, I don't go to school in London and I'm not going to school in a forest, no matter what they teach."

Allandra let out a breath, then looked thoughtfully at Ignis.

"I'm not kidding, Ally."

"One week."

"What?"

"Try it for one week. Then if you don't like it, we'll both go."

"Ally, I told you. I'm not rolling over and playing lapdog for anyone. Not Vargas, and not some stupid teachers, either."

"Think about it, Ig." Allandra's voice was persuasive. "We don't lose anything. If we stay here a week and then leave, it'll still help. By then Vargas will have given up searching around here: he'll think we've gotten away somewhere else. And if we find out that we really can learn something, we'll have a better chance when we do leave. We win either way."

"But-"

"Please, Ignis." Allandra reached out and touched Ignis' arm. "I'm not sure we'll get another chance like this. I don't want to risk Vargas catching us again. If that happens . . ."

Ignis was silent. Vargas had never made a secret of his goal for his children. They were to take over the family business. Become like him. 'Grooming them', he had called it. And over the last year, their father had been starting to put pressure on them to begin working for him for real. As the pressure had grown, his patience with their escapes had grown shorter, and the punishments harsher. Ignis knew that with this last escape, they had pushed their luck too far. If they were recaptured, they would get more than just a beating, more than just a session with Pete. Vargas' revenge on them would be dire - both for him, and for his sister, who was now looking at him with pleading eyes.

"This could work, Ig. Just try it. Please?"

Ignis looked at Allandra, and threw up his hands in defeat. "Ah, fine. One week. But that's it. After that, we leave."

Allandra's eyes flashed with happiness and she hugged Ignis close. Ignis put up with it for a few seconds, then pulled away.

There was a knock at the door. Allandra and Ignis exchanged glances. "Who is it?" Allandra called.

The door opened. Jennifer poked her head in. "Hi, Allandra."

"Oh, hi. Come in. Did you come to show us around?"

"Nope," Jennifer beamed. "We came to kill you and eat you."

Allandra stopped. "What?"

"Well, they don't feed us enough here," Jennifer began, "and the teachers don't taste very good. So we decided last week we needed a food supplement, and we decided the new students would be best, because-"

With a sigh Christopher pushed past her. "Just ignore her. We actually came to bring you your gis." He held up a bundle of folded cloth.

"And to warn you about the snakes under the bed," Jennifer added with a straight face.

"And to show you around," Christopher said, "if you can put up with my lunatic friend."

Allandra giggled. Ignis rolled his eyes. "Right. Well, I'll leave you to make friends. See you later."

He walked out past Christopher, ignoring the offered clothes, and climbed a steep path that took him to the row that Allandra had pointed to. The door had a "3" carved into it, and there were windows on either side. Ignis opened it and walked in.

A boy was inside, sitting on his bed in an odd cross-legged position, one foot against the opposite knee and the other tucked underneath him. He looked up from the book he was reading as Ignis entered: he was tall and slim, with dark hair and eyes. He wore the same black coat and trousers as everyone else, with slipper-like shoes and a white belt. "Hello?" he asked, his tone of voice an inquiry.

"Yo," Ignis answered. There were two doors in the corners of the room. One led into a small bathroom. Ignis glanced through the other. It was a bedroom similar to this one. The bed was made. The same piece of paper he'd seen in Allandra's room was pinned on one of the walls. At the top were several words: one was "Ninjutsu".

"Can I help you?" the boy asked, politely.

"No, I'm cool." Ignis leaned against the wall.

The boy looked at him, his eyebrows raised. Ignis folded his arms and glanced around the room. There was a bookcase, half-full of volumes Ignis couldn't recognise, and a small table which held a bowl of fruit and a tea set. In the corner were propped up a collection of sticks and something that looked like a wooden sword. There were no posters. Apart from a small figurine on a bedside table, the room had no decoration at all. It was so tidy Ignis felt uncomfortable.

"I don't mean to be rude," the boy asked finally, "but what are you doing in my room?"

"Oh, right. My name's Ignis. I'm going to be living here a while. You're Shiro, huh?"

Shiro blinked. He looked Ignis up and down. "Living here?"

"Just for a week." Ignis looked around. "You got a CD player we could put on?"

"A CD player?"

"No? How about a stereo? It's so quiet here it's freaking me out."

"No."

"A radio?"

Shiro shook his head.

"Okay, then where's the TV?"

"I don't have a TV." Shiro looked at Ignis quizzically. "But where would you plug it in if you got one?"

"Into the - huh?" Ignis looked around. He couldn't see any power sockets. He bent to look under the bed and table. Nothing there. He walked to his room and did the same thing. Still nothing.

"Hey, what's going on?" he demanded, walking back out.

"Rokkaku doesn't have a lot of power. The wind generators on the lake shore don't provide much electricity, and we need all of it for the lights." Shiro nodded at the lampshade hanging from the ceiling and the reading lamp above the bed. "There are back-up generators above the kitchens, but they're only for emergencies."

"What? So what do you do all day?"

"Well - for one thing, we don't watch TV. Mr Oakley went over all this on the first day. Weren't you there?"

"I just got here."

"I can tell." Shiro looked at Ignis dubiously. "Are you sure you're a student?"

Ignis bristled. The tone in Shiro's voice seemed to suggest he didn't think Ignis was good enough. Not that he particularly wanted to be here, but even so . . ."I said I'm a student. Have you got a problem with that?"

Shiro raised his eyebrows, shrugged, and went back to his book.

Ignis looked around the room for a little while. There wasn't much to look at. "How come my room's smaller than yours?" he asked after a few minutes.

"It's not." Shiro didn't look up. "This room is my bedroom and the shared room. You can use it as well."

"There's nothing in here to use." Ignis studied Shiro. "So you're Shiro Yoshimatsu?"

Shiro turned a page. "Yes."

Ignis looked at him. Shiro was tall and pale-skinned, with dark hair and eyes. "How come you have a Japanese name when you're not Japanese?"

Shiro turned another page.

"Hey. Didn't you hear what I said?"

Shiro spoke without looking up. "It's not polite to ask questions like that."

"So I'm not polite."

"Yes. I noticed."

Ignis glared down at the boy, but Shiro sat quietly, reading. There was a rap at the window; Ignis looked up to see Allandra's face and walked out to join her.

"How's it going?" Allandra asked.

Ignis exhaled. "I've been in this place one hour and already I don't like it. Can we get something to eat?"

"That's why I came." Allandra pointed Ignis up the valley and they started to walk. Students were walking in the same directions ahead of them in twos and threes, crossing the bridges to head up into the trees. The sun was beginning to set, and dusk had fallen over the valley while Ignis had been inside. As they watched, sphere lamps flickered and came on between the houses, first one or two, then more and more until the valley was dotted with globes of pale light. On their own, none was bright enough to illuminate the valley, but collectively they cast a white radiance like a full moon. Each lamp had a hooded shield mounted above it that reflected the light down and sideways. From above, the spheres would be invisible. "Jennifer and Christopher told me that it's dinner time. The canteen's at the top of the valley. It lasts from six to seven thirty."

"Then what?"

"Then everyone goes back to their rooms, I think. The lights go out at ten o'clock."

"This is ridiculous," Ignis growled.

"It beats getting caught by Vargas."

"If he's even still looking for us."

Allandra's eyes were shadowed. "He will be."

Rhosmaen was growing quiet in the twilight. The black Land Rover was parked in the driveway of Tawelfan. The window through which the children had escaped was closed.

Pete stopped outside the kitchen door and swallowed. Bringing bad news to his boss made him nervous. He opened the door and walked in.

The kitchen was cold and dark despite a fire burning in the stove. Vargas was sitting at the end of the table. Icy blue eyes lifted to fix upon Pete as he entered. Pete came to a halt. Vargas waited.

"Uh," Pete began. "We've been all down the river. I don't reckon they went down that far. I mean, we're sure. We've asked about. No-one saw anything. So, uh - I guess they went up into the hills."

Vargas said nothing.

"There's a lot of hills. And it's getting dark. How about we-"

"Keep looking," Vargas said evenly.

"Uh," Pete hesitated. "It's real dark up there. We can't see much. If we just-" Vargas' eyes narrowed just slightly and Pete quickly changed tracks. "Right. Keep looking. You got it, boss. We'll find them." Pete backed out of the door, hurrying down the corridor into the back room. He let out a breath.

"Well?" Tav asked.

"He says keep looking."

"Hell." Tav's handsome face twisted. He disliked menial work of any kind, especially anything that involved dirtying his clothes. "More hours on that hill. They're miles away by now."

"You sure?" Pete asked dubiously.

"You think anybody would stay out in the middle of nowhere like this if they had the choice?" Tav grunted and stood up. "Fine. Let's get this over with. By tomorrow he'll have a proper search set up. County police, probably. Then we can get out of this godforsaken place and back to London."

A voice spoke from above. "Um, Tav?"

Pete and Tav turned. Michael was hesitating at the top of the stairs.

"What do you want?" Tav said.

Michael swallowed. "Um . . .do you know where Ally-"

"Get out of here, you dumb brat!" Pete snapped. "You'll know soon enough when I get my hands on them." Michael's eyes went wide and he fled. Pete turned to Tav with a scowl. "I hate these rugrats. Why wouldn't the boss let me teach that one a lesson?"

"Go ask him yourself."

Pete backed off. "Hey, man, I'm just saying. All he ever lets me do is hurt 'em a bit. He never lets me really teach 'em."

"Because he wants them whole, and you'd best not mess with that." Tav walked to the door, then looked back. "By tomorrow, we'll be back in London and Vargas'll have everything in place. There can't be more than a dozen villages they could have reached on foot from here. He'll have contacts in every one. And if they're still out around the river, the police or the rangers will find them. They'll be back soon."

"Then what?"

"Then he'll probably let you loose on the both of them, as long as you don't do any permanent damage."

Pete grinned. The motion stretched the skin of his face, showing an old scar down his left cheek and two missing teeth. His eyes glinted. "When I've finished with them, they ain't going to be running away no more. How long you think it'll be?"

Tav shrugged and pulled open the door. Pete followed him out into the darkness. "Who cares?" Tav said as they started walking down the road. "They have to surface sooner or later, and when they do he'll get them. It's just a matter of time."

Benedict Jacka

1. Rokkaku