They stared hard across at the headland but could see nothing. For some reason, though, their hearts went cold and fear, which they had forgotten about during their days on Elgol, spread its icy grip around their stomachs. They stood listening, mesmerized by the pattern of noises and not knowing what to do, until Nab caught sight of Faraid and Saurélon coming towards them.
‘What is it? What’s happening?’ Nab asked, when they were standing next to them.
‘It is the Urkku,’ replied Saurélon with anger in his voice. ‘Every so often they come and slaughter the young seal pups while they are still on land and before they are able to take to the water.’
There was a lull in the noise and then they heard something being pushed into the sea and the sound of a motor coughing into life. Then all was quiet except for the high-pitched drone of the engine and the splashing of the little boat as it pushed its way through the waves.
‘It sounds as if they’re coming across to Elgol. They haven’t before. You must get back in the cave quickly. I shall come with you. Faraid; you take the elves and disperse them among the rocks. Nab and the others will wait until the Urkku have gone but they may have to leave sooner if things go wrong. I want to know where the Urkku are the whole time they’re on the island. Get five seals together and keep them hidden around this side and tell them to be ready to move quickly. I want a report as often as possible from you.’
Faraid went back into the elven cave to fetch the other elves and Saurélon led the animals quickly into their cave. The mouth was smaller than the cave itself so that there was quite a large area of rock wall on either side where they could hide and look out on to the beach without being seen. Saurélon put Nab, Beth and Perryfoot behind one side of the cave mouth and Brock, Sam and Warrigal behind the other. He himself stayed in the shadows at the back so that he could move from side to side and have as wide a view of the beach as possible.
They waited, saying nothing, their hearts pounding with fear. Then they heard the scraping of the boat on the rocks round to their right and out of sight, followed by the sound of its being pulled up on to the shore. The voices of the Urkku were loud and sounded very close but from neither side could they be seen. The boat was dragged up further and then the voices grew fainter as they heard heavy footsteps tramp off along the beach and then go up over the rocks.
‘They’ve gone,’ said Perryfoot with a sigh of relief.
‘They’ll be back,’ replied Nab. ‘Their boat’s still here.’
It was not long before they began to hear the same noises that they had heard previously from the mainland, only much nearer and more vivid. Knowing what was happening, the animals were filled with sickness and anger. Faraid ran into the cave.
‘They are at the back but working round towards this beach. Saurélon; can we not do something? They are butchering all the pups. We cannot stand by.’
Just then they became aware of a tremendous commotion outside. They peered cautiously out of the cave mouth and saw that one of the Urkku had gone ahead of the others and was chasing a little white seal pup along the beach. They watched numb with horror as the mother flapped along clumsily behind, trying in vain to catch them up and stop what she knew was going to happen. Then the Urkku came alongside the baby and, raising a huge wooden club above his head, brought it down on the skull of the pup which whimpered and cried before the club came down again and it flopped down twitching as blood poured from the gashes on its head and a stream of red ran down into the sea. The mother was still trying to reach her baby when the Urkku produced a knife and began to skin it while its tail still flapped with life.
The whole ghastly scene had been over in seconds. Beth was sobbing behind Nab, her face covered in her hands and her shoulders shaking, and he was just turning round to comfort her when he saw Sam charging out of the cave.
‘Sam, no,’ he called, but it was too late; the dog had leapt at the man’s arm and was pulling him down. The Urkku shouted and tried to shake him free but Sam refused to let go. The man tried to use his knife but he was unable to because it was the knife arm Sam had got hold of and eventually as the dog’s teeth sank deeper into the flesh he dropped it and it fell with a clatter on to the pebbles. He shouted again and this time the animals in the cave heard footsteps running over the rocks and Urkku voices shouting across to the man on the beach.
‘Get this dog off. It’s mad,’ he yelled desperately. ‘Don’t shoot; you might hit me. Use the clubs.’
Saurélon was now at the front of the cave trying to stop the others from going out to help Sam.
‘No, ’ he said. ‘I command that you stay. If you go you will be killed and we shall be lost for ever.’
‘But Sam will be killed,’ said Brock, angry and frustrated and determined not to let his friend die while he stood by.
Saurélon did not answer him. Rarely in all his long life had he been faced with such a difficult task, but there was no doubt in his mind that he was right to stop them from going even though it filled him with the utmost pain to have to do it.
They did not see the club come down but they heard it and they heard the growl of pain as Sam let go of the arm and rolled over on to the pebbles. Then the club came down again and they heard a little whimper.
Through a daze of grief they heard the voices of the Urkku outside.
‘Bloody dog. How did it get out here? How’s your arm?’
‘It came from that cave. I wonder if it’s the one from that pack of animals that have been causing all the trouble. You know. They’ve been on the news, chasing sheep and stealing food and they say there’s two runaways with them.’
‘Could be,’ said a different voice. ‘Come on. Let’s go and look in the cave.’
The animals were too numb with pain to hear what had been said but Saurélon had and he heard the heavy footsteps crunching over the beach towards the cave mouth. It was at that moment that the storm arose. The wind which had begun when the Urkku first arrived on Elgol and which had blown much of the mist away, now suddenly increased to a frightening intensity so that, instead of blowing, it seemed to pull. It pulled at the sea to form great waves and the tops of the white horses it drew up into the air so that the bay was full of fine misty spray. Then the rain came, lashing down in torrents on to the shore and the sea. The Urkku were bent over against the wind and had to shout to make themselves heard.
‘We’d best get back before it gets any worse. Come on,’ said one, and another one, the one with whom Sam had fought, called back.
‘We’ll take the dog. It may belong to somebody on the mainland. I’ll have something off them for what it’s done to my arm.’
Then a third voice broke in. ‘No. The storm’s too bad. Look at the waves. Let’s shelter in the cave until it’s died down. We’d never make it in this.’
The others agreed. They picked up Sam’s wet bedraggled body and Nab’s stomach turned over as he heard it land with a heavy thud when they tossed it into the boat.
‘We’ll take the skins into the cave. Keep them dry,’ said the third voice again and then came the clatter of running footsteps over the pebbles.
Saurélon spoke. ‘We must hurry into the elven cave. Come quickly. The Urkku are almost upon us.’
It was too late. The animals, dazed and bewildered, were slow to react to Saurélon’s command and the men ran swiftly over the beach to get out of the storm. Suddenly everything in the cave went dark as the five Urkku stood in the entrance and the animals realized with a jolt of horror that they were trapped. At first the Urkku were unable to see anything inside for their eyes were not used to the darkness but then one of them spotted the little huddle of animals crouched against the wall and the boy and girl staring up at him with big frightened eyes in their dark, brown, weatherbeaten faces, quivering with tension. He gave a shout of triumph.
