Ash (49 page)

Delphine had caught up to him. ‘I’ve never seen this kind of thing before,’ she told him nervously.

‘Well, there’s usually a choice when you’re cremated. Your ashes can either be planted like these, with a commemorative plaque, or they can be immured in a solid wall, scattered over a rose garden, buried at sea – whatever you like, within reason. I doubt any of these . . .’ he waved his arm around to cover the area ‘. . . had much say in the matter, though.’

The investigator had noticed that the closer he and Delphine got to the rearmost rows, the less worn the metal was, the sharper the inscriptions. These were obviously the latest additions, although the numbers continued to puzzle him.

Then another thought came into his head. Uncannily, Delphine had the same idea.

‘The numbers . . .’ she said excitedly.

‘. . . are codes,’ Ash finished for her.

He reached into his coat’s deep pocket to pull out a dogeared notebook and a pen. He began to copy the numbers on the plaques, laying them out as they were in the field.

Delphine chewed her lower lip in thought. ‘They must have a file on every person laid to rest here for their own records. It has to be run like a business . . .’

‘A business that raises millions every year for Comraich and, of course, for the Inner Court itself. And think of the information and secrets brought here by guests—’

‘All those skeletons in all those cupboards—’

‘Blackmail,’ Ash said. ‘Some of those skeletons might even bankrupt major companies. Hell, they could probably bring down governments, if the IC chose. Influence. No wonder the Inner Court is big on that word.
Influence
is their power.’

‘So that’s why – ’ she stopped abruptly, as though she’d shocked herself.

‘What, Delphine? What aren’t you telling me?’

‘David, every guest here is given the “truth drug”, sodium pentothal, to make them confess everything they know regarding colleagues and enemies alike.’

Ash was horrified. ‘You were aware of that and didn’t say anything?’ He hadn’t meant it to sound like an accusation, but what else could it be?

‘I didn’t realize, David.’

She stared into his eyes, and the hurt he saw in them made him want to bite off his tongue.

‘I mean, I knew what was happening, but when I expressed my doubts I was told it was done as a kind of detoxification of the individual’s mind, and that no records were ever kept. As a psychiatrist, Dr Singh was responsible for that. He sometimes gave me information that might help me enable patients to overcome their inner demons, or resolve their anxieties, but that’s all.’

Having scribbled a good selection of code numbers, Ash stood and capped his pen, putting both it and the notebook back into his jacket. He faced her, now expressionless.

‘David?’ she said, as if appealing to him to believe her.

He grinned and pulled her into his arms. ‘I’m a pretty good judge of people,’ he told her gently. ‘Although I have made some mistakes in my time.’

His mind seemed far away. He held her tightly and nuzzled his face into her raven-black curls. ‘Not with you, though, Delphine. Everything I feel about you is good.’

She rested her head against his chest and he could feel her relief. But she could feel his heartbeat begin to race as his grip tightened even more. Her body stiffened with apprehension.

Outwardly calm, his voice low and even, he said, ‘Delphine, I don’t want you to look round or make any sudden moves, but you remember that dirt track we saw . . . ?’

Mystified, she started to turn her head, but his voice was sharp, though still low in tone.

‘No,’ he said. ‘Don’t look now, but there’s one of those wildcats standing in the middle of the track watching us.’

She did as he asked and kept the side of her face tight against his chest. He felt her tremble and she sucked in a breath.

‘What are we going to do?’ she asked in an unsteady whisper.

‘Well, it’s a pretty mangy-looking specimen, about as big as a medium-sized dog, and at the moment it’s just curious. Looks as if it’s been in one hell of a fight . . . Uh-oh.’

‘What?’

‘It’s been joined by another.’

Delphine stirred her head, lifting it from Ash’s chest, but continued to avoid looking behind her. Then she became even more rigid in his arms.

‘David,’ she whispered, frightened.

He’d already guessed what she was going to tell him.

‘There’s another three prowling by the bushes.’

Ash risked a look and almost swore when he caught sight of the three predators. Their gingerish hair was matted, patchily caked in dried blood. One was limping heavily. All three were prowling back and forth, sizing up the two humans, assessing the risk to themselves.

Pretty bloody minimal
, Ash thought. How did you fight off a pack of blood-crazed creatures that were as large as dogs, especially when you had nothing to defend yourself with? The creatures made no sound, merely observed them.

He looked again at the dirt track and saw with mounting horror that three more cats had joined the pair already there. It was as if they knew they had plenty of time, and were relishing the contact that would soon come. Ash felt that he and Delphine were being treated like trapped mice, and part of the fun was the anticipation of the kill.

Another solitary cat appeared from the undergrowth that ringed the wide burial place, its green, slanted eyes looking directly and wickedly into the investigator’s.

This is not good
, Ash told himself.

When Delphine spoke, it was difficult to catch her soft, quavering words.

‘David, what are we going to do?’

‘Maybe they’re just curious,’ he said, doing his best to sound reassuring.

He felt her shiver.

‘They’re probably just toying with us,’ he quickly added. ‘You know, cat-and-mouse stuff.’

‘Cats always kill the mouse in the end.’

He could find no answer to that, and he noticed several of the wildcats had crept up to the boundary line of the neat rows of plaques.

‘Seems pointless, just standing here waiting,’ he coaxed her, ‘so how about we walk off slowly,
very
slowly, give ’em nothing to get excited about.’

‘Ailurophobia,’ she responded.

‘Sorry?’

‘Fear of cats, that’s what it’s called. Ailurophobia.’

‘That’s good to know.’ His smile was grim and he guessed this was Delphine’s way of coping: imparting pointless knowledge. ‘Will you be setting a test later?’ He kept his voice light, hoping banter would take some of the fear away – his own as well as hers.

‘When I was little, I wanted to be a vet,’ she told him, her own voice somewhat quavery. ‘I always liked cats then.’

‘Tell you what we’re going to do.’ Ash saw one or two of the mean-looking wildcats had encroached onto the grass, delicately padding between the plaques, leaving the dead undisturbed. ‘We’re going to walk away very, very slowly, and get back among the trees. Now, they might leave us alone, or they might begin to stalk us. I don’t think it’ll be a sudden rush – they haven’t sized us up yet – and because they’re wild animals, they could be more scared of us then we are of them.’

‘I don’t think that’s possible.’ Her arm slipped into his as they prepared to move off.

‘Of course, there’s one other thing I could do.’ More and more wildcats were appearing from beneath the undergrowth and between the trees.
Christ
, he thought,
there’s a whole army of them!

Delphine was peering up at him, expecting an answer.

‘I could,’ he said hesitantly, ‘I
could
rush at them, maybe scare ’em off.’

‘David!’ She was shocked at the idea. ‘Don’t you
dare!
’

‘Don’t forget, they’re not used to humans. To them we’re an unknown quantity. At least it might give you the chance to run in the opposite direction.’

‘I won’t let you do it. It’s stupid and I won’t allow it. We’ll walk away as you say, and they’ll leave us alone.’

He gazed down on her, and even in such a desperate plight, Ash could only feel her guileless inner spirit. But he grew steadily more angry at the thought of the woman he loved being raked and torn by long claws, bitten by ravenous teeth . . . He almost ran at the predatory creatures anyway, but Delphine’s common sense prevailed. Their only chance was simply to walk away.

‘Come on, David,’ she pleaded, afraid he might still go through with his plan, ‘let’s start walking away
together
.’ She emphasized the last word.

They both turned from the creeping beasts and, without haste, as though taking an almost leisurely stroll through the memorial plaques, they started walking.

The wildcats watched them leave.

And then, equally leisurely, they began stalking their quarry.

With Delphine clinging to his arm he could feel her tremors growing worse. They had travelled some distance back into the woods, with the sharp-clawed, sharp-toothed bestial felines trailing them languidly, both hunters and hunted equally aware that an attack was coming, the outcome of which was a foregone conclusion.

Ash saw a moving flash of colour in the trees on the left of the path they were on. They had been walking slowly for some minutes by now, and he feared time was running short. He knew the savage climax would come soon. The wildcats were stalking them ever closer, and it was as if he could actually
smell
the tension in the air. Each stiff step seemed hard won; each sudden rustle or snap of a twig might mean the assault had begun.

Yet they held their resolve, forcing themselves not to run, nor even walk faster, keeping their pace steady as if unconcerned about their deadly entourage.

Another flash of orange, to the right this time, and Ash guessed he and Delphine were gradually being outflanked. A trip, a fall – even a sneeze, in the eerily quiet forest – could set the cats off, and the investigator was only too well aware that they had to find some kind of sanctuary soon, or it would be all over. Ash determined that he would protect Delphine with every last ounce of strength in his body, yet there really could be only one outcome for both of them: they would be torn to shreds.

Ash spotted a stout branch lying in the grass beside the rough path and, without breaking step, he stooped and picked it up. He thought he heard a strange snarl from behind him, and then an elongated hiss. The time was coming.

The evil he sensed in Comraich Castle also dwelt in these woods.

‘Delphine,’ he whispered, although it sounded too loud in the quietness around them. ‘The cats will attack any moment now.’

She turned to him, that small movement too swift, an interruption in their evenly paced stride.

Ash winced as he heard a chorus of hissing from both behind and around them.

‘Stay cool,’ he urged her. ‘When they come at us, I want you to run. Run as fast as you can and don’t look back.’

Thin, helpless tears trickled down Delphine’s cheeks. They both knew their situation was hopeless: there were at least twelve wildcats, more joining them all the time, openly stalking them, starting to divide their forces, some to rush at David, the others to chase after her. All cats had incredible speed, and these were true hunters: they would bring her down in seconds.

‘I’ve told you, David,’ she said decisively, ‘I won’t leave you.’

Although touched by the determination in her voice, he was exasperated. ‘You’ve got to try and get away. It’s your only chance.’

The big scabrous beasts were drawing in, arrogantly bold, but still a little wary. One was now creeping along beside Ash, its mangy scarred head low to the ground, shoulder muscles bunched, its haunches high and quivering with power. Its tail twitched from side to side like a silent metronome.

‘David, I’m staying with you,’ Delphine repeated. ‘We’ll fight them off together. Who knows? They might not even attack. We may be able to walk straight back to the castle.’ They both knew it was a forlorn hope, though Ash couldn’t help but admire Delphine’s optimism.

He looked sideways at the wildcat that had the nerve to come closest and, hesitating for only a moment, the investigator flicked at the animal with the branch he carried to see whether it would make it back off. He was well aware that such an experimental manoeuvre could also provoke an attack, but the situation was desperate.

In the end, it did neither. The creature hissed and its front paw struck out at the offending stick, although not violently; it was as if the cat merely thought it an irritant, perhaps even a plaything. It padded along, gracefully for such an unkempt specimen, keeping pace with its prey. Then, suddenly, the noises increased.

The pack began to make strange snarling sounds, unearthly wailings and hissing, curious choking sneezes as if clearing their throats of fur-balls, then raising their heads and sniffing the air. Ash wondered whether they could smell his and Delphine’s fright.

Ash decided he’d had enough. The animals were going to attack sooner or later and now, as far as he was concerned, he’d prefer that it was sooner. The investigator stopped in his tracks, bringing Delphine to a halt beside him. He released himself from her clutching arm and turned towards the predators, noting that they were now surrounded.

‘I’m going to force their offensive, Delphine, only it’ll be me attacking them, not the other way round. You never know – they might be surprised enough to run away.’ He gave a short humourless laugh at the thought that the cats would be scared of
him
! Holding out the thick branch to its full extent, he slowly waved it round in a wild circle, as if it might intimidate these wild beasts into breaking the circle.

Delphine had been looking around frantically, and suddenly her grip on Ash’s arm became even tighter.

‘David, I think we can get out of this. Look . . .’

‘I’m a bit busy here,’ he said, not daring to take his eyes off the wildcat he was facing. He wondered if perhaps she was in the first stages of hysteria.

‘Look, there’s a wall over there,’ she said.

Her steady tone told him she wasn’t the hysterical type. He glanced across quickly. ‘I suppose if we had something solid at our backs we’d have a better chance of defending ourselves,’ he conceded.