Eritopia

Interrogation

The hyena lay motionless on the ground. 'What do we do now?' Bear asked.

'Kill it,' screamed Calypso, jumping up and down.

'Calypso, really,' Anya said. 'You've never killed anything in your life.'

'All right then, but there might be others. What if it cries out?'

'I think it is alone,' Van said.

Bear bent down to examine the hyena. Pale eyes stared upward into its head. Sharp, yellowed teeth stuck outside thick lips. Matted fur, flecked with grey, covered the sloping muzzle. Then the body shuddered, and Bear stepped back. The hyena's eyes opened.

'Urgh,' Fleg gurgled.

'You stinker,' said Calypso, waving a fist at it. A well-aimed kick had it gasping and wide-awake. 'Slit its throat,' said the monkey. 'Go on, Bear, you've got the sharpest claws.'

'No, no,' Fleg whined. 'Don't kill me.'

Bear looked at his claws. Calypso was right, although he'd never had to prove it.

'Van?'

'As much as I hesitate to agree, we do need to find out what it knows.'

Bear put his right paw on the hyena's neck. 'Tell us what you're doing here.'

'You must be the ones,' Fleg responded.

'Which ones?'

'The Insiders. Friends of the wolf.'

'The wolf? What do you know of him?' Bear dug his claws into Fleg's neck.

'One of the nicest animals I've ever met,' the hyena croaked. 'We all said so.'

'All?'

'Grap, Tang, the Colonel, Asmel, although she's now dead.'

'And the wolf? What happened to him?' Van asked.

'We were escorting him to the Outside.'

'You captured him. We know.'

'Captured is a strong word. Escorting, in a friendly manner. Until he was rescued.'

'Rescued?'

'Yes, by little men. They hurled sharp sticks from the trees. Hit four of us. Three dead, and the Colonel wounded. We ran into the trees.'

Van gestured to the others to draw back a few yards. When they were out of earshot, he said. 'His description of Not-Bear's escape matches what I have discovered. But I do not think they acted alone. Hyenas are well organised, but lack initiative. They must have had orders from somewhere else.'

'What does that mean?' Bear asked.

'I worry that the Outsiders know we are here. This hyena was sent to track us. They already knew about Not-Bear, and must have followed him from the Occasion.'

'So, he is still in danger?'

'More so than ever,' Van said. 'As are we.'

They went back to their captive. 'Were you sent to spy on us? Van demanded.

'Not me,' said Fleg, 'It was my idea, I'm in charge.'

'And the Colonel you referred to?'

'Except for the Colonel, of course. But he's injured.'

'Huh,' said Bear. 'So where were you taking the wolf?'

'As I said, nice wolf, good with words. There was a demand from the Outsiders. We had to find the stranger, and take him to them.'

'Who were these Outsiders?'

'I don't know, there's a mixed bunch of them. They're not very nice. There was one in particular, a big black hyena, Melos, arrived one day with orders. He's gone now. But you have to do what they ask you, even the Colonel, otherwise— '

'Otherwise?' Bear said.

'You disappear,' Fleg said. 'We found the wolf. Everything was going well, until his friends turned up. We were only doing our jobs.'

'How many of these friends were there?' Van asked him.

'Three,' Fleg said.

'You'd better not be lying.' Bear leaned on the hyena and pressed his neck with his paw.

'I can't tell you anything if my throat's cut,' Fleg gurgled, twitching from side to side as he tried to wriggle free.

Van watched him squirm. 'This is good news,' he said. 'It confirms what we know. The wolf is still alive.'

'If he's not lying.' Bear looked down at the hyena.

'I don't think so,' Van told him. 'Hyenas lie and cheat with ease, but faced with danger they soon speak their thoughts.'

'That's not true,' Fleg spluttered.

'Quiet!' Bear pressed harder.

Van continued. 'There are two things to consider here. The first is that the Outsiders are expecting Not-Bear. The second is that he is with allies: the man from the Circle and the two others who rescued him from the hyenas.

'Where is Not-Bear going now?' Bear asked.

'There is a City across the Outside, called Eritopia. That's where we are all heading.'

Calypso twitched a bit. Anya pawed the ground with a hoof.

Bear didn't know what a City was, and he was too exhausted to ask. Everything was happening so fast. Talk of men in the Forest, rescues, hyenas, and other things trying to get to Not-Bear.

'Then we must hurry and find him,' he said.

'We will get to him as soon as possible. But we must take a different route now, westwards. Not-Bear is too far ahead for us to catch up.'

'But that way takes us close to Steepling Ridge through the Black Marshes,' Anya said. 'Is that safe?'

'Nothing is safe,' Van said. 'We face danger at every step.'

As he said the words the cold and damp spirit of the Forest seemed to close around them.

Bear released his grip and Fleg looked up. His tormentors stood over him.

The monkey was staring in his face. Its little eyes bobbed in front of him. Fleg snapped his jaws, and Calypso leaped back.

'Stink, stink, stinker.' He bounced up, over and then on top of Fleg's head.

'Ouch,' said the hyena. 'Are you going to let me live?' he asked.

'We are,' said the monkey.

'Untie me then,' Fleg said.

'Not likely,' Calypso said. 'So you can bite me?'

'But you can't leave me like this.'

Calypso bounced once more on his face, cracking his head on the tree trunk. Fleg howled in pain. He turned his head in time to see three departing backs and the monkey bounding after them. He looked down at the harness wrapped around his legs and sighed.