Underworld (7 page)

‘Did what? Is that not your stew that's cooking?' He sniffed it. ‘Agh, smells good today, Agnes.'

Mrs Soames pushed at Mr Marks. ‘See, I knew he had something to do with it.' Her eyes went to Zesh. ‘Or him. They're all the same.'

It was easy to see that Zesh was surprised by her outburst at him. He wasn't used to that. But her accusing gaze didn't even touch Liam.

Mr Marks stepped forward. ‘Was it you, Axel?' His voice seemed to answer the question. Of course it was Axel. Who else could it have been? And Axel didn't help matters with his answer.

‘I just wish I'd thought of it.'

‘What happened, anyway?' Liam asked, keeping a straight face.

Mrs Soames jumped forward. She was ready to lift Axel by the throat. Luckily, Liam thought, Mr Marks was there in front of her. And anyway, Axel was built like a horse.

‘What happened?' she yelled. ‘I'll tell you what happened. Some dirty so-and-so put cow dung in my ovens! Cow dung, and I started heating it up this morning!'

Fiona burst out laughing. Even Zesh laughed. Only Angie looked as if she might cry in sympathy. Their amusement only made Mrs Soames even madder. ‘See!' she shouted at the teacher. ‘I told you they were a bad lot.'

That only made them worse.

‘I don't know what you're laughing at,' she screamed at them. ‘It only means there will be no dinner for you tonight!'

Axel almost fell over laughing. ‘Every cloud has a silver lining.'

They were all taken to the local chippy that night for their food. It was supposed to be a punishment. It was the best meal they'd had all week. Mr Marks still wasn't happy with them, especially Axel, sure that he was the culprit.

And Axel didn't deny it.

‘How do you not tell him it wasn't you?' Fiona asked him more than once.

‘Let him think what he wants. I don't care,' was his answer.

That night back at the hostel Mr Marks outlined their itinerary for the next day. Another joyful hike in the wild, finishing with his special treat, ‘Though I don't think you deserve it,' he told them. The caves. He was taking them down into the caves.

The caves on the island, he said, were spectacular. Famous throughout the world for their grandeur, some explored and some unexplored. An adventure he felt they couldn't miss, even if they didn't deserve the chance.

‘Caves? Underground? He thinks I'm going into some grotty old caves? In his dreams,' Fiona complained.

After the teacher left them, they sat around the coal fire in the communal sitting room, angrily discussing the next day's trip. Fiona was desperate for a cigarette, which was doing nothing to help her mood.

‘What is it with him and these caves? How can anybody enjoy being buried alive?' This was Axel.

Fiona turned on him. ‘I thought you would understand, Axel. Worms like you are usually found under rocks, are they not? You should feel quite at home.'

There was a gasp from everyone. Fiona held Axel's
stare. For a moment she wasn't sure if she'd gone too far. Had she given him just that one push that would send Axel over the edge? She tried not to swallow, stared him out.

‘Bitch,' he said.

Fiona breathed with relief. Axel could never match her in the mouth department.

‘Talking of worms …' The voice of Mrs Soames took them by surprise. She stood in the doorway watching them. The light from the hall was behind her, she was only a silhouette, and the glow from the fire was sending eerie shadows across her face.

‘I hope you're not here to tell us any ghost stories,' Fiona said drily.

Angie shot forward in her seat. ‘Oh, I love ghost stories. Go on, Mrs Soames, tell us a ghost story.'

She shook her head. ‘Oh, I wouldn't dream of telling you young people a ghost story. Not away out here, totally secluded in the dark woods.' She grinned. ‘I thought I would tell you a bit of history, instead.'

History, Fiona was thinking. Ghost stories she could handle, but history? Forget it. She got to her feet. ‘I'm goin' to my bed.'

Mrs Soames stood in front of her, barring her way
out of the room. ‘Uch, sit yourself down. Do you not want to hear the legend?'

Fiona sighed. ‘And what legend would that be … The legend of the cook that cooked dung?' She giggled, and Mrs Soames's face grew dark.

‘There's lots of legends about caves. Caves are strange, mysterious places. They're like catacombs under this island, winding everywhere. Lots of stories about them. After Culloden, you know, a lot of the Jacobites hid out in the caves. Some of them never came out.'

Fiona looked around them. ‘One of them kind of stories. Somethin' in there, got them, didn't it?' She didn't sound impressed at all.

‘Have you never heard of Sawney Bean?' the cook asked. They all looked at her blankly. ‘He lived in caves, him and his children and grandchildren. They used to kill, and rob and then … they would eat their victims. Well-known fact, Sawney Bean and his family of cannibals.'

Angie was loving it. ‘Did they live in these caves?'

‘No, my dear. Nothing could live in
our
caves … for long. Even Sawney Bean.' She was being deliberately dramatic, and Fiona was getting annoyed with her. A
cigarette, she was sure would put her in a better mood.

‘OK, so no cannibals.' Fiona was beginning to get bored again. ‘So what have you got?'

‘During the Reformation, the priests used to hide in the caves too. And for a time smugglers used them as well.'

‘Smugglers?' Liam said, interested. ‘Aha! There might be gold in them thar caves.'

‘There's something in there guards any gold, let me tell you. Because there were smugglers that never came out either.' There she went with the ominous voice again. She's been watching too many movies, Fiona thought.

‘During the war the army started to use the caves for developing secret weapons. But it didn't last. The soldiers got afraid, couldn't stay in the caves for long.'

‘This is so interesting,' Fiona drawled. ‘Though I think I have enjoyed watching paint dry even more.'

‘Shut up,' Zesh said, looking enthralled. Once again Fiona thought that he and Angie were two of a kind.

‘During the war a Nazi submarine was torpedoed and some of the sailors survived. They tried to hide out in the caves. Deeper and deeper into the tunnels they went … but only one of them came out …'

‘Don't believe this rubbish,' Axel said.

‘I suppose when he came out,' Zesh said, laughing, ‘he was stark raving mad at what he'd seen?' He pulled at his hair and put on a mad face. In Fiona's opinion it was an improvement.

Mrs Soames didn't even blink. ‘He was mad all right. Mad as a hatter. He had seen the Worm … and that's what got his friends.'

‘I've seen lots of them,' Axel said.' Used to cut them up and fry them. Didn't do me any harm.'

Angie turned on him. ‘Oh, you didn't, Axel. That's cruel.'

Axel ignored her. ‘I don't believe a word she says.'

But Zesh was curious. ‘Go on, Mrs Soames, what's this about a worm?'

It seemed to Fiona that Mrs Soames's smile changed then, or was it the flickering firelight? Or was she just tired?

‘They do say the reason we have all these winding caves is because they were made by the Great Worm, burrowing its way through the earth.'

‘Yuch, that is gross.' Angie grimaced at the thought.

‘So, this is one of these Loch Ness Monster type of legends.' Fiona was suddenly bored again. She hated
Loch Ness Monster stories. ‘I suppose nobody's actually took a picture of your Great Worm either?'

‘Plenty of people have seen it,' Mrs Soames said quickly, ‘but they're not believed because they never have any proof. We've got no doctored photographs of the Great Worm, you see. But there's people been lost in there, and they've never been found.'

‘And you think the people who never came out were eaten by … the Great Worm?'

Mrs Soames didn't actually answer Zesh. Instead she told them yet another story. ‘They say its breath is like poison. And its lair is deep in the bowels of the earth. What wakes it up is the scent of a human. And tomorrow there is going to be a lot of humans in those caves.'

Fiona had had enough. ‘I don't believe I'm listening to this crap. I mean, at least Loch Ness has got a monster. You've only got a zonking Worm.'

‘I think a Worm's scarier, Fiona,' Angie said. Her face was pinched with fear.

‘Och, you're a Girl Guide, Angie. You'll probably get an extra badge for fighting it off.'

‘We don't have to worry,' Axel sniggered. ‘If we meet up with this Worm, we'll throw Angie at it. If she doesn't flatten it, it'll take it a couple of weeks to eat her.'

‘If we threw you at it, we could probably poison it,' Fiona snapped back at him. ‘Two worms with one stone.'

She was always too quick for him. Before he could think of an answer the moment had passed. But he'd get her for it someday. She could almost see that written all over his face.

‘Laugh all you want now,' Mrs Soames said, ‘but tomorrow, when you're deep down in those dark caves, and you hear strange noises and smell strange smells, you'll remember about the Legend of the Great Worm, and you'll be afraid then all right.' And she left them, chuckling to herself.

‘Is she allowed to do that? Trying to frighten us like that? I'm putting her down on my list.' Fiona was ready to fly after the cook.

‘She's only telling us a story,' Zesh said. ‘I bet if our school trip was at Loch Ness, we'd be taken out on a boat and someone would try to scare us with stories about Nessie. You're not scared, are you, Fiona?'

That got Fiona's back up. ‘No. I am not. But look at poor wee Angie, she's nearly wetting herself.'

Angie almost snapped at her in embarrassment. ‘No, I'm not! I think she made it all up. Why have we never
heard of this Worm? I mean, at Loch Ness you can buy floppy hats of the Monster. It's a worldwide industry.'

Liam fell back on the floor laughing. ‘You want a floppy hat of this Worm?'

The idea seemed to appeal to him.

It appealed to Zesh too. ‘Or you could get Worm rock.'

Soon they were all laughing, even Angie.

All except Axel. Fiona noticed that he couldn't even raise a smile. And she wondered if he was afraid.

* * *

I thought I was going to die that day. I am still amazed I am alive. Alive when all my comrades perished, all except me. And Captain Goldner. We lie at the mouth of the cave, almost dead with exhaustion. I want to cry. My friends are gone. Our submarine destroyed, and we are here on our enemy's shore. I think of my home in Munich, my mother and my little brothers. She did not want me to leave, but what choice did I have? What choice did any of us have?

For a moment I think the Captain is dead too. No luck there. He turns his face to the sky and breathes in deeply. My mother says the devil looks after his own, and the devil has looked after the Captain. All my comrades, good decent men, are dead, and he who hates the world, is alive.

He turns to me. His eyes are as cold as the sea. ‘We seem to be the only survivors, Lothar.'

‘Yes, sir,' I say, and I almost salute. The habit of a lifetime dies hard.

He watches me for a while, as the waves surge into the cave. I wonder if the tide is coming in and if, after all this, we are still going to drown.

‘We go in the cave,' he says, nodding to the gloomy interior. ‘We'll be safe there.'

‘Have we got to do this, sir?' Liam wasn't happy. ‘I feel stupid.'

They were all kitted out in authentic caving gear. Mr Marks had insisted on it. Wellies, helmets with headlamps, waterproof suits and first-aid kits. They had ropes attached to their belts, and whistles round their necks. Underneath they were wearing old warm clothes too.

‘It's not just for safety reasons,' the teacher explained, ‘but I want you to experience the real excitement of caving.'

‘The excitement! Wow, about as exciting as trainspotting.' Axel felt stupid too. He was angry he had to wear a helmet, with a lamp attached to it. ‘And by the way, I feel stupid as well.'

‘You feel stupid! At least you started off looking stupid,' Fiona said. ‘But I'm just a young girl – and look
at me! I'm like something out of a horror picture.' She did a turn like a model on a catwalk, and plucked at the chin strap on her helmet. ‘If my mother could only see me now!'

Mr Marks let out an exasperated sigh. ‘You're supposed to look on this as an adventure.'

‘I'm looking forward to it, sir.' Zesh, of course, standing straight, actually looking good in the ridiculous gear.

‘Me too, sir. I think it's dead exciting.' This was Angie, looking as if she was going to ooze out of the waterproof gear she was wearing.

What was it with that girl? Fiona thought. She was always bouncing like the rubber ball she resembled. She seemed to have gained in confidence too since they came here. Was that because she felt Fiona was her best friend? Actually, Fiona couldn't stand her cheerfulness. They could all see that. Why couldn't Angie?

‘Sure it's not that big Worm you're scared of, Liam?'

Liam spun round and faced Axel.

‘What's all this about the Worm?' Mr Marks asked.

‘Mrs Soames tried to scare us with it last night,' Liam told him.

Mr Marks shook his head. ‘It's just a legend. A stupid legend.'

That shocked Liam. He had wanted the teacher to say it was all made up, just to frighten them. That there was no legend of the Worm.

‘You mean … it's true, sir?'

‘No. It's not true. It's a story. Like the Loch Ness Monster. You don't believe in that, do you?'