No more trouble, so I suppose you can say it's worked. But some of our… lesscommitted… friends don't like having their sleep disturbed.' This was obviously a source of great irritation for him, but he maintained his composure.
'So what's your deal?' Carolina said to Shavi bluntly. 'Why are you walking the land?'
'A friend of mine is very ill. I need to find some way of helping her.'
'Medicine?' Meg asked.
'Something like that.'
'So where are you going? Maybe we could give you a lift.' Carolina glanced at Breaker, who nodded in agreement.
Shavi weighed up whether to tell them. 'South,' he said. 'To Windsor.'
Breaker tugged at his beard thoughtfully. 'We could do south.'
'Yeah, haven't been that way for a while.' Carolina winked at Shavi. 'We tend to steer clear of some of the posher areas. The residents used to run us out with pitchforks in case we robbed them blind.'
The two women were called over by a teenager who looked as if he hadn't bathed for days; thick mud coated his face and arms like some Pictish warrior. Once they were out of earshot, Breaker said, 'They just about run this place, those two. We couldn't do without them, though I wouldn't say it to their faces. Give 'em bigger heads than they've got.' He looked Shavi in the eye. 'So, are you with us?'
'I would be honoured.'
'Good. One more for the watch rota!'
The camp was already alive when Shavi awoke from the best night's sleep he'd had in days. In the light it was easier to get a better handle on the people roaming around, and to see the vehicles, which looked like they would have trouble travelling a mile, let alone thousands. He ate a breakfast of poached eggs on toast with Meg, who had an insatiable desire for information about what was happening in the country; she was bright and sparky and he warmed to her. Afterwards he had his first mug of tea since The Green Man; it made his morning complete.
Once everyone had started preparing for departure, Breaker hailed him to invite him to sit up front in his sixties vintage bus, which had been painted white and vermilion like an ice cream van. The back was jammed with an enormous sound system and what appeared to be the cooking and camping equipment for the entire community.
'Hell-bent or heaven-sent,' Breaker said with a grin as he clicked the ignition. He pulled in behind the black fifties bus and the convoy set out across the country.
The open road rolled out clearly ahead of them, with no traffic to spoil the view of overhanging trees and overgrown hedges.
'You have experienced the technology failures,' Shavi said with a teasing smile, his gaze fixed ahead.
Breaker eyed him askance, then laughed at the game that was being played. 'Oh yes, we've had our fair share of problems with that.' He winked. 'Some of us were even kinda happy to see it. Bunch of Luddites, I ask you! Travelling around on the Devil's Machines!'
'And what happens if the technology fails completely?'
'Well, that's why God invented horses, matey! If it's good enough for the old ancestors, it's good enough for me and mine. I can see it now: a big, old, yellow caravan… ' He burst out laughing. 'Bloody hell! Mr. Toad! Poot, poot!' He was laughing so much tears streamed down his cheeks and he rested his head on the steering wheel to calm himself. Shavi had a sudden pang of anxiety and considered grabbing the wheel, but Breaker pulled his head up a second later and righted the bus as it drifted towards the hedge.
Shavi noticed an ornate Celtic cross hanging from the rearview mirror. 'For safety on the road?'
Breaker nodded. 'Though not in the way you think. That symbol was around long before the Christians got hold of it.' He muttered something under his breath. 'Bloody Christians stamping all over any other religion. Some of 'em are the worst advert there is for Christianity. On paper it's not a bad religion. Love thy neighbour, and all that. But once they start mangling the words, anything can happen. Having said that, we've got a few Christians here, but they're not the kind where you can see the whites of their eyes, if you know what I mean. The rest of us are a mixed bag of Pagans and Wiccans, an Odinist, a few Buddhists, some I don't even bloody well know what they're called, and I don't reckon they know themselves either!'
'In these times faith has come into its own. It really can move mountains.'
'What do you believe in, then?'
Shavi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. 'Everything.'
Breaker guffawed. 'Good answer! I tell you, the people you have to watch are those bastards who don't believe in anything. You can see them all around. Scientists who reckon they know how the universe works 'cause they know how one molecule bumps into another. Bloody businessmen who think they can screw anyone over in this life to get what they want because there's no afterlife so no comeuppance. Property developers flattening the land…' He chewed on his lip. 'Making a fast buck, that's too many people's faith.' He raised a hopeful eyebrow in Shavi's direction. 'Looks like they could have a few problems in this new world.'
'Oh, let us hope.'
They laughed together.
The convoy avoided the motorways and kept to the quiet backroads. It was a slow route that involved much doubling back, but Breaker explained it meant they could more easily avoid undue police attention. As they cruised down the A444 towards Nuneaton they passed another convoy coming in the opposite direction, but these were the army. Grim-faced soldiers peered out from behind dusty windscreens; they looked exhausted and threatened.
'We live in a time of constant danger,' Shavi said.
'Something big's been happening, but we never get to hear about it. They go bringing in martial law, then they haven't got the resources to police it because everybody's off fighting somewhere. At least that's what the rumours say.' He glanced at Shavi. 'You hear anything?'
'I have seen signs… a little, here and there. The authorities have no idea what they are doing. They are trying to fight with old thinking.'
'They don't stand a chance, do they?' He mused for a second. 'We always wanted the Establishment to leave us alone. I wonder what the world's gonna be like without them?'
As they rounded a corner they were hit by a moment of pure irony: a police roadblock barred their way.
They were held there for half an hour. Everyone was forced out of their vehicles on to the side of the road while they and all their possessions were searched. Nothing untoward was found; those who did carry drugs had found much better hiding places, after years of bitter experience. Even so, the indignities were ladled on: verbal abuse, women pushed around, homes turned upside down and left in chaos. All the travellers remained calm. They had obviously learned any opposition would result in a rapid escalation into a confrontation they could never win.
Shavi expected the police to pounce on him in a second, but they seemed to have no idea who he was. Eventually, once the police had had their sport, the convoy was turned around for no good reason that anyone could see; other cars and lorries were waved right through.
Breaker's face was stony as he headed back north and looked for a side road. 'Just like the bleeding miners' strike. And they call this a free country.'
They eventually made their way around the blocked area and pitched camp for the night in the deserted countryside to the east of Stratford-on-Avon. The area was thickly wooded enough for their vehicles not to be seen from any of the roads in the area.
'One of the good things about all this-we never get hassled at night any more,' Breaker said. 'Everybody's too afraid to leave their homes once the sun goes down.'
Once they were all parked up, they assembled for the tasks to be handed out. Three went off to dig the latrines while others scouted the area for wood for the fire; no one was allowed to touch any living tree. The cooking range was erected from Breaker's bus and several volunteers set about preparing a vat of vegetarian chilli. The mouth-watering aromas drifted over the campsite.
After everyone had eaten their fill, Shavi sat with Breaker, Meg and Carolina next to the fire, watching the gloom gather. He had spent the day mulling over the story Breaker had told him about the abducted child and he had grown increasingly disturbed that so little had been done.
'What could be done?' Carolina said dismally.
Meg agreed. 'We've seen the things away in the field. Enough of us have come across all the strange, freaky
