Forest Shadows (9 page)

‘CROCOITE (Dundas)

‘Crocoite very rare, very special, it …' he said, his voice faltering and trailing off. Then after a moment he added, ‘It come from mountain not far from here.'

They went outside. Wu crossed over and sat in his usual seat. Jars found a log. ‘I tell something to you. Then you be more safe.' Wu's voice had turned solemn now and there was a softness about it, like falling snow.

Jars listened intently, hardly believing his words, words far too incredible to be true.

When his story came to an end, images, like a silent movie, careened and thundered in her head. Surely not, she told herself. The back of her neck tingled and a coldness, like a sliver of ice, ran down her back.

Wu had just told her, in clear, powerful terms, that she and the others could be in danger from something she couldn't even begin to imagine.

J
ars felt a few drops of rain. She lifted her head and looked at the sky; it was getting darker. ‘I'll have to get going, Mr Wu, it looks like a storm's brewing.'

Nodding, he stood and bowed once again. ‘Be careful, Jars; be very, very careful.' Then he added, ‘Maybe you like to bring friends to meet Wu Han? Maybe tomorrow?'

She nodded. ‘I'll ask them, Mr Wu. I'm sure they'd like that – visiting you and Po-Yee.'

‘I like too. You follow path along river next time. It much better way.'

Jars stood up to leave. ‘See you tomorrow, Mr Wu, with my friends.'

Wu Han waved as she and Shadow left, his previous words of warning still echoing in her head. When they were under the cover of the bush once again and out of sight, Jars flicked Shadow's ear. ‘Run, boy. Let's get out of here.'

Skirting trees and bushes, she and the dog fought their way through the thick underbrush. Mr Wu's words had convinced her. Shadow had not chased a wild animal. The darting figures she'd glimpsed in the trees earlier were definitely not native to the forest. They were something else, something that didn't belong here, not in this forest, not anywhere in this land. Her head and eyes jerked from left to right as she hurried on, watching for them, the shadowy shapes that she now knew were real. The nape of her neck prickled and her spine tingled. Were they watching her now? Feeling her heart thumping, she ran as fast as the bush would let her towards the main track.

‘Keep going, Shadow, we're nearly there,' she said between breaths. ‘The others are in the shack. It's not far.'

'Y
ou're back!' Snook cried when Jars and Shadow burst through the door of the ranger's shack. He and Reg were standing by the woodheater and Quenton, as usual, was lounging on his bunk.

‘Where you been? We were startin' to get worried,' Snook said. Nearly out of breath, Jars crossed over and collapsed on her bunk. Snook pointed at Shadow, who now lay stretched out under the table, tongue hanging out and panting. ‘You got Shadow back I see. He looks kinda wacked though. So do you.'

Reg left what he was doing and ambled over. ‘Yeah, you two look as if you've run a marathon. You okay, Jars?'

Still struggling to catch her breath, her shoulders heaving a little, she lifted her head and nodded.

Reg glanced at his watch. It was after five o'clock. ‘While you two get back to normal, Snook and I'll get some tucker on the go. After an early tea you can tell us what you've been up to.'

‘Okay,' Jars said between breaths, already embarrassed about her mad dash through the trees. She'd keep that to herself. Snook would have a ball with that. There was nothing surer. She'd tell everyone about Mr Wu though, tell them what he'd told her. They needed to know that … for their own safety.

‘Sorry I'm a bit late,' she said to Reg's back, finally catching her breath. Reg and Snook had already moved over to the wood heater to start the cooking. ‘Finding Shadow took longer than I thought, but something else happened. You're not going to believe it. It was incredible.'

All eyes turned towards her and even Quenton sat up looking interested. Reg and Snook put their cooking aside and then walked over to hear what she had to say. They all pulled up a chair except Quenton, who was seemingly content to stay where he was. She had their full attention. It looked like Reg's idea of her telling them after tea wasn't going to happen.

‘I followed Shadow's tracks through the bush,' she began. ‘Then I met a Chinese man. Shadow found him … and his wild animals.'

‘Oh yeah?' Snook said. ‘Where did …'

Reg held up his hand. ‘Steady on, Snook. Let Jars tell us what happened in her own time.'

Suitably admonished, Snook slunk back in his chair.

‘His name's Wu Han,' Jars continued. ‘He lives in a tin hut in a clearing where there are all sorts of wild animals. It's a sort of sanctuary. They belong to him in a special way. They trust him and they mingle with each other like they're friends. It's amazing.'

Snook couldn't help himself. ‘Hang on. That's crazy. That's …'

‘Snook!' Reg warned. ‘Remember what I said.'

Snook slunk back again.

‘It sounds crazy but it's not,' Jars continued. ‘It's a special place where, for some reason, their natural instincts to hunt and kill each other for food are forgotten.'

‘Kinda hard to believe,' Snook said leaning forward, ignoring Reg's words of warning, ‘but if you say so.'

Reg glared, not saying anything.

‘That's not all though,' Jars went on. 'He told me something else that sounds too crazy to be true, even stranger than his animals. But I believe what he told me. I believe every word.'

‘Go on, tell us,' Snook urged, not caring about Reg anymore.

‘It's about the strange lights we heard about on the television, and it's about his rock collection … of gold and opals and crystals.' She shifted her gaze to Quenton. ‘It's about the treasure.'

Snook scraped his chair closer as the words tumbled from her mouth.

‘He also told me about a close friend of his, another Chinese man he called Yao Ming.' For some reason, at the mention of the name, Reg leaned forward in his chair looking very interested.

‘Anyway,' Jars continued, ‘Wu Han asked this Mr Yao to hide the rock collection for him, which he did. He also asked him not to tell him where the hiding place was. You see, Mr Wu didn't want his collection falling into the wrong hands. By
wrong hands,
he didn't mean ordinary thieves.'

‘Whatcha mean, not
ordinary thieves
?'

‘He meant something else that was completely different. He was talking about strangers, not like you and me but living things that didn't belong here … not in this forest and not in this world. These
visitors
, he told me, would force the location from him, if he knew where it was hidden.'

‘Visitors? Who're they?' Snook asked, ignoring Reg's sideways glance.

‘He said its hiding place would be forced out of him by …' The words stuck somewhere in her throat and she hesitated before going on. Would they believe her if she told them? Would they laugh at her? The story she'd told them did sound far-fetched, too fantastic.

Reg made her mind up. ‘Tell us, Jars. Forced by whom?'

Like an echo from a deep well, Wu's words careened and bounced in her head like snakes as she heard his sing-song voice. ‘Mr Wu said that he was frightened of these strangers, these
visitors
. He called them,
The Collectors.
'

‘Whatcha mean,
Collectors
?'

‘They're something out of this world, Snook, and they're here now, among us.' Her voice shook a little as she told them what she had learned. ‘Mr Wu's
Collectors
are aliens!'

A
deathly silence fell over the room when Jars told them what Wu Han had said. But not for long.

‘Wha-what are you on about?' Quenton stammered. He flew from his bunk, rushed over to Jars and grabbed her by the arm. He pulled her close, their noses all but touching. ‘Aliens!

H-here? You're talking rubbish. Aren't you? It's not true. It can't be.' He pushed her away; then, without waiting for a reply, made for Reg, blubbering as he ran across the room. ‘I'm right, aren't I? It's all a lie. She's just making it up, isn't she?'

‘Take it easy,' Reg warned, taking a step backward as Quenton's bulk hurtled towards him, arms extended, looking like he was going to grab him as well. ‘Don't worry,' Reg said at a safe distance, ‘I'm sure there's a logical explanation for all this. Let's hear what else Jars has to say.' He waved an arm, telling her to go on.

Jars continued. ‘It was arranged between them that Mr Yao would hide the collection, leaving a written and very obscure clue in the form of a puzzle – a brainteaser that would, if solved, disclose the whereabouts of the gem stones. Mr Wu would keep the clue in a safe place where, even if it was found by someone undesirable – or more likely,
something
– its meaning would be hard to figure out. Mr Wu told me that you'd need to be very familiar with the local countryside to even begin to do that.'

‘And Wu Han was,' Snook suggested. ‘The clue would have made sense to him but nobody else.'

‘That's right; only he and Yao Ming would know what it meant. But here's the interesting bit. Wu Han was never to set eyes on it or try to work it out, unless it was absolutely necessary. That way, if he was ever pressured to hand over his collection he couldn't because he wouldn't know its location.'

‘But who would pressure him to hand it over anyway?' Snook asked. ‘Seems to me, it'd be pretty safe way out here.'

‘The aliens. According to Mr Wu, they've wanted it badly for years, for emergencies, in case they run short of energy.' Snook pressed his lips together and looked up at the ceiling as though digesting all that Jars was telling them. ‘So, if these alien guys saw that the collection was gone, they'd just think it had been sold, given away or somethin'. Okay, I get that, but what if Mr Wu wanted to get his stuff back?'

‘He'd have to figure out the puzzle. And remember, to do that you'd need to know the area well. He'd know it like the back of his hand, so he'd be in a pretty good position to work it out if he wanted to.'

‘And you believed all this …' Reg said. It was more of a statement than a question.

Jars nodded.

‘You gotta admit though, it's all a bit quirky. I mean, aliens, hidden treasure? Sounds kinda odd to me. ' Then, more serious, he asked, ‘What else do you know about this Yao Ming fellow? Did Mr Wu tell you any more about him?'

‘Mr Wu said that he had to go to Strahan to get some supplies but didn't come back. He doesn't know where he's gone. It sounds as if he took off with the rock collection but Mr Wu doesn't think that. He reckons something's happened to him.'

‘Okay, but do me a favour. Don't worry too much about the alien stuff; it's probably just an old man's imagination.'

Jars' eyes burned with a fierce intensity. She knew what she'd heard, what she'd seen. She thrust out her chin and looked Reg directly in the eyes. ‘I believe Mr Wu. I didn't raise the subject of the aliens or the treasure; it was the other way round. He told me that their spaceship has lost its power, that they needed the energy from certain crystals to restore it.'

Reg leaned over and squeezed Jars' arm.
Okay, if you want to believe, so be it, as long as you don't expect me to.

Jars smiled her understanding.

Suddenly, Snook leaped to his feet and thumped a fist into his palm. ‘I get it! Those alien guys must have been the ones who nicked the stuff from Mr Pearson's shop and that other one in Strahan.'

It was one of the rare occasions when Jars found herself agreeing with Snook. ‘Yes, and Mr Wu told me they now need another special, very rare crystal to complete the energy cycle on their spacecraft. They've already asked him for it. Apparently, they need it desperately. It's called crocoite.'

‘Oh boy, this's gettin' interestin',' Snook said, finding it hard to keep still. ‘But how come they knew this Mr Wu had the whatchacallit? And if he did, why didn't he just give it to 'em?'

‘Mr Wu explained it to me. The Collectors came here a long time ago. They saw the crocoite, which was then on display among his other crystals. And like I said before, they wanted it. I asked him why he didn't simply hand it over. His eyes glazed and his whole body shook when I asked that. Then he told me. I can still hear his words.'

‘What'd he say?' Snook's mouth had fallen open.

Jars hesitated before telling him:
‘The Collectors have come to collect Wu Han and Po-Yee.'

Listening to the various give-and-take of the others while stretched out on his bunk, Quenton grunted, then lifted his head. ‘Sounds far-fetched to me,' he said, as though trying to put on a brave front.

‘You can judge whether it's far-fetched or not tomorrow,' Jars told him. ‘Mr Wu's asked us all around to his place to pay him a visit.'

‘What for?' Reg asked. ‘Did he give a reason?'

‘No, he didn't say, but he seemed fairly anxious to meet you all. That's all I know.'

‘Wh-what about those alien things?' Quenton asked, suddenly edgy again. ‘I don't think I want to go into that forest again. I don't believe there's any extra-terrestrials out there but what if …'

‘What if they
are
out there?' Snook said, finishing the sentence for him. 'What if they
are
true? Is that what you wanted to say?'

Apparently stuck for words, Quenton lay down once again, turning his back and facing the wall as though he'd heard enough.

‘What the heck,' Snook said, ‘I say we go. Whatcha reckon, Reg?'