Layne and Lennox exchanged glances, then followed behind him. Gwalchmai swallowed hard, but he could not force his legs to propel him forward and stood rooted to the spot, watching his friends slowly advance on the nightmarish beast. It was colossal, near nine feet in height, and the light from the blazing branch glinted on its dagger-length talons.
Gaelen’s legs were trembling as he approached the monstrosity. It reared up and tensed to leap at the youth but he drew back his arm and flung the blazing brand straight at the creature’s face. Flames licked at the shaggy fur around its eyes, flaring up into tongues of fire on its right cheek. A fearful howl tore the silence of the night and the beast turned and sprang away into the night. The boys watched until it blended into the dark woods. Layne placed his hand on Gaelen’s shoulder. ‘Well done, cousin,” he said, his voice unsteady. Tm glad you woke.’
‘What in the seven hells was that?’ asked Gwalchmai, as they returned to the comfort of the fire.
‘I don’t know,’ said Layne grimly. ‘But from the look of those jaws it’s not after berries and grubs.’
Gwalchmai retrieved the blazing torch and examined the beast’s tracks. Returning to the fire he told Layne, ‘It’s the same track we saw in the valley. And we know no hunter made it. Congratulations, Gaelen, you saved our lives. There is no doubt of that.”
‘I had a dream,’ Gaelen told him. ‘An old man appeared to me, warning me.’
‘Did you recognise him?’ asked Layne.
‘I think he was the druid with Cambil on Hunt Day.’
‘Taliesen,’ whispered Gwalchmai, glancing at Layne.
‘What are we going to do,’ asked Lennox. ‘Go back?’
‘I don’t see that we need to,’ said Layne. ‘We turned the beast away easily enough. And most animals avoid Man anyway. Also we will be at Attafoss in the morning, so we might just as well see it through.’
‘I’m not sure,’ said Gwalchmai. ‘That thing was big. I wouldn’t want to face it without fire.’
‘If it’s hunting us,’ said Gaelen, ‘it can do so equally well whether we go forward or back.’
‘Are we all agreed, then?’ Layne asked them. Gwalchmai longed to hear Lennox suggest a swift retreat back to the valley, but Lennox merely shrugged and donned his pack.
Dawn found the companions on the last leg of their journey, climbing the steep scree-covered slopes of the last mountain before Attafoss. As they crossed the skyline the distant roar of the falls could be heard some miles ahead.
‘Always roaring, never silent,’ quoted Gwalchmai. ‘Whenever I hear it I feel the hairs rise on the back of my neck.’
Layne hitched his pack into a more comfortable position. ‘No sign of the beast, anyway,’ he said, leading them on down the slope to cross a narrow stone bridge and on to a winding trail through gorse-covered countryside. Layne bore right down a rock-strewn slope and on, at last, to a narrow strip of black sand nestling in a cove below the falls. Here they loosened their packs and settled down for breakfast. The jutting wall of rock deadened the thunder of the falls, but the wind carried the spray high into the air before them, and the sun made rainbows dance above the camp.
‘It occurs to me,’ said Gwalchmai as they ate,’that we have not come across a single clue. No pouches. No stones marking the trail. It is an unpleasant thought, but we might be wrong.’
‘I’ve been thinking that,” said Layne, ‘but then the rhyme is clear. Perhaps the clues are all at the falls.’
After the meal they gathered at the water’s edge to indulge in the age-old sport of stone-skimming, at which Gwalchmai excelled, beating Layne by three jumps. Refilling their water canteens, the boys picked their way up the slope and into the timberline above the falls.
Lennox prepared a fire in the afternoon and Layne suggested a quick search of the woods for clues. Leaving their packs by the fire they set off to scout, travelling in pairs – Lennox and Layne moving south, Gaelen and Gwalchmai north.
From a highpoint on the hillside Gaelen glazed once more at the majesty of Attafoss, watching the churning white water thunder to the river below.