The Fox and the Pigeon hole Chapter 3

3. Moonlight

When Rafiel has finished thinking and Lance has started to get restless he says suddenly “I’m sorry”, his voice is still powerful and deep but less commanding, less threatening now.
“For what?” says Lance, taken aback at how calm and reserved Rafiel’s voice is, for such a large and imposing person “I frightened you, I should have shown myself when I first saw you but, I was too afraid”

“Afraid? Of what?”Says Lance, still astonished that a man like Rafiel, who could do so much damage with a single blow, is apologising to him.
“I knew that I only had one chance to gain your trust and I didn’t want you to run away, the last thing I wanted was for you to be alone in the woods, unprotected”.

“Why though? What do I need protection from? “Lance thinks of the animal that was following him but then he remembers that the animal is not an animal at all, it is the man sitting in front of him.
“This area is crawling with officers, haven’t you seen any? “ Rafiel looks up from the fire, his face full of concern and curiosity.
“No” Says Lance “I thought they would be after me, but I haven’t seen anyone apart from you”
“Oh” says Rafiel looking back into the fire, after a few silent seconds Lance voices something that has been in his mind for a while, ever since he first saw the man.
“What were you dong in the forest? “
“Me?” he says looking up and smiling “I was looking for you, of course”.

Looking for him? Lance is just confused further, how could this man have had any inkling of what was going in his Collen. “But” he says, determined to get some answers “the nearest village is miles away how did you have time to get here so quickly?” This, Lance is sure will get him some answers, but when Rafiel replies, it is just as short and un- explained as before.
“I’ve been travelling towards your village for” he looks up in thought “about four days I think”.
“But why?” Lance is starting to get impatient , Rafiel just sits and looks at him, then as though deciding he is worthy of the truth he sighs and starts his story.

As it turns out, it is not much different to Lance’s story, his village also revolted, although they did in a much more organized, destructive way. Their protest against the government was the product of weeks of secret meetings, planning and preparation. Everything was ready on the day and at twelve noon exactly the first smoke grenade went off, then another, and more. They were placed at strategic positions so that soon the whole village was immersed in a dense cloud of thick, chocking gas. Only minutes after the incident, officers arrived, they were ready for a fight, not caught off guard and drunk like in Lance's village, but armed with bullet proof vests and crates upon crates of weaponry. In groups they searched the streets, clad with gas masks and rifles but, as had been planned, they found no one. The perfect moment came when the officers re-grouped in the town square, confused and humiliated they were trying to look for a solution to the sudden disappearance of the two hundred inhabitants of the village.

Lance is amazed by the precision and the simplicity of the plan he listens on, fascinated. To lure the officer’s attention away from the shops and houses around the square a woman was willingly sent outside, she ran right into the square screaming and screaming obscenities at the government and, as predicted, the officers all converged on her, ready to tie her up and torture her for information. But as they all turned towards the woman, not wanting to miss any of the action, and away from the shop windows and the doors of the houses, the whole population of the village came charging out. Caught by surprise only one or two misplaced bullets left their guns, before they were engulfed by the mass of people. Wielding anything from small forks, to a sharpened broom handle, the people were able to reduce the group of twenty or so officers to a shivering, bloody wreck, tied together on the floor. As had happened in the uprising of Lance's village, the people had taken their years of anger out on the officers, through all the kicking, punching and use of any household items the people could get their hands on, the officers were close to death when they were pushed from the village. As in Lance's Collen the officers, humiliated by the onlookers from the truck and were driven away quickly.

“The government would never want anyone to find out how their so called, vermin had beaten them and given them a taste of real life “Rafiel finishes his story with an angry spit into the fire and they sit in a tense silence. Lance is filled with excitement and curiosity, if this has happened in two villages then why not more; maybe the government has a full scale countrywide protest on their hands. This thought alone would sustain him, thought Lance, whatever the government throws at him; he will stand and fight knowing that he is not alone. Even the overseas towns and cities although pampered with better lives, more food and improved living conditions have anger against the government, everyone does. Perhaps the government doesn’t realize that they could be easily overthrown by all the people they control, bonded by their hatred.

“Cough”. Lance jerks awake, through his blurry, unfocussed eyes he sees the dying embers of the fire and then, looking up he sees Rafiel’s figure swimming into focus, he is also sitting up his eyes wide, not with fear, but more with concentration, he is staring at a clump of bushes near to the cliff face. “What is it?” Lance whispers, but Rafiel just glances at him and nods to the bushes, turning silently to see them more clearly Lance notices it too, lit up by the eerie moonlight, the silhouette of a person crouching in the bushes is unmistakable. Turning back, he sees that Rafiel is on his feet, a long knife in one hand.

Temporarily marvelling at how silently he can move for such a large person, Lance looks up at Rafiel who gestures him to stand as well, slowly and silently Lance raises himself on to his hands and knees , and finally onto his feet . Standing side by side they stare into the bushes, then like an animal sensing danger the man in the bushes moves slightly, he stands up and looks in their direction, can he see them, Lance wonders. Then a cloud shifts and the moon is once again shining on the forest floor, before either Lance or Rafiel can do anything the bright moonlight has illuminated their faces, and the man has taken flight.
“After him!” Rafiel shouts, losing all pretence of stealth and for the second time that day Lance finds himself running fast and hard, using every ounce of energy he has. Rafiel is a little way ahead of him when they plainly see the man dive to the left, right into the cliff face, and vanish. Startled Lance reaches the place where the man vanished, Rafiel is already parting an irregular patch of long grass, revealing a tunnel, only big enough for a man to crawl through, sloping steeply downward into the cliff.