Billy, Barret and Briar.
They were shackled at the ankles and chained to a wall.
What a nasty predicament.
“Hey pig-boy, remind me to kill you when we eventually get out of here.” Barret gestured at Briar and rattled the chains in defiance.”
“Topey head,” Briar retorted half-heartedly. “Don’t you ever get tired of threatening the same old boring thing all the time?”
“Not when it involves killing you,” Barret said without giving any real thought to the question.
Billy sat on the stone dais and wondered what was next. He wondered if this Grarrt fellow had abandoned them all, wondered if what Barret had said was true that Grarrt had simply lured them here to be caught and humiliated, because that’s what Humps do. This gave Billy cause to doubt the possible goodness that could be found in all people, or Humps, or weird half human half animal creature things, or rocks....
Indeed, if it was simply the inherent nature of a Hump to be awful, who was he to be questioning the natural order of things?
Although he had hoped, and possibly still did, that the Grarrt he hadn’t met yet still had some good in him, good enough to come to their aid. How else but for that hope would he get out of this mess?
Billy prompted his companions toward another topic.
“So Barret, aside from killing Briar, what’s really on your mind?”
Barret fidgeted and stumbled over the question in his head for a short while before answering, choosing whether to be truly honest or typically abrupt.
“I’m at a loss, Billy, What comes next? What are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to get out of here? I should’ve known we couldn’t trust Grarrt, for goodness sake, he’s a Hump, and you just can’t trust Humps. You want to know how I really feel, Billy? I’m damn scared, that’s what I am, damn scared,” is what he would have said if he had chosen honesty, but as usual his abrupt nature forced a completely different response.
“You want to know what I think? If it wasn’t for pig-face here we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Briar ignored the attack. He felt guilty enough as it was, because Barret was right.
“How do you mean?” Billy asked.
Barret huffed, tapped his foot and puffed, folded his arms and then spoke. “This is all Briar’s doing. Yep, sold you out for the sake of that pallet gun of yours.”
Billy looked at Briar questioningly.
“That’s why he took us up the cliff,” Barret continued sharply, “Took us up to a place we had no chance of getting away. Sorted it all out with the Humps in town, that’s why he was spying on us in the shed.”
Billy remained silent.
“And that’s probably where he got to when we were at Ballders. Telling your mother where you were my foot, you probably don’t even have a mother.”
Briar, who now chose to avoid Billy’s betrayed stare, glanced down at his own shackled feet. He wore different coloured socks, one blue, and the other green. Why did he wear odd socks? Because he was slovenly.
“Is that right,” Billy finally said to Briar, “Are we chained to this wall because of you?”
Briar didn’t speak.
“So what went wrong Briar, why are you chained up too?”
Briar lifted his gaze slowly away from his socks. “I came to rescue you with the others,” he said softly.
“And what a roaring success that’s been,” Barret boomed and echoed throughout the cavern. “How do we know this isn’t still part of your plan?”
“Do I look like I want to be hanging around here half naked and chained to a wall?” Briar spat back.
“Come on fellas, that’s enough,” Billy intervened softly.
“You’ve gotta believe me Billy, it wasn’t meant to happen this way. They only wanted the orange thing, that’s all.”
Billy tapped his chin. “And how did they even know about the orange thing?” he asked.
In the moments that followed Barret surprisingly remained silent and Briar turned away in shame.
“I told them that day at the markets,” he said, “It was something new so they wanted it. But that was before I even knew you. Now I just feel ashamed of it all.”
Billy thought for a moment, tapped his chin again and sighed. “Good,” he said finally, “you should be ashamed. But I can forget about it, what’s done is done. I guess you were just doing what you were told to do, and I guess the fact that you’re chained to the wall with us shows that you’re on our side now.”
Barret stared in disbelief; he grimaced but held his tongue
Billy continued.
“When we get out of here we’ll remember all of this as a fond adventure and be grateful it happened because of the strength and courage it gave us.”
“Piffle,” Barret grunted, “Strength and courage my foot. Quit with the motivational rubbish and see it for what it is – Briar’s a sneak thief and because of him we’re now toys for the Humps to play with.”
“Maybe so, but he’s in the same boat as us now.”
“Serves him right,” Barret snapped, “Judas betraying Judas.”
It was at that same moment they all turned to stare at the shadowed arches in the far wall. Beyond that wall they heard a cracking thud followed by a dull rumble. As predictable a question in just such a situation could ever possibly be, one of them still had to ask it....
“What was that?”
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX