On the afternoon of the third day, when the weather was turning bitterly cold again and the light in the wood was gloomy and dark, Bracken finally reached the entrance to Curlew’s tunnel. Henchmoles were not far behind and so he pushed Violet down it, with an instruction (which he had scant hope would be carried out) that she should warn them that he was there, and turned round to ward off any henchmole who might come and surprise them.
Violet tottered complainingly down into the tunnels, saying she was hungry and she hoped there was some nice mole around who would do the proper thing and produce a worm or two, or three, and that Bracken never answered any of her questions, and ‘Aren’t there any moles here at all? She found herself face to face with Mekkins, who had advanced warily up the tunnel to see what the fuss was about.
‘Hullo,’ said Mekkins, ‘and who are you, then?’
‘Violet. I’m hungry.’
‘Yes, so I heard. I expect Rebecca’ll find you something.’
‘He’s up there,’ said Violet, looking back up the tunnel. ‘He said to warn you.’
When Mekkins saw Bracken, he was relieved to find him safe but shocked at how terribly weary he was. But a moment’s account of what had happened soon explained why.
‘I’ve come ’ere myself to take them away,’ said Mekkins, ‘’cos I could see the way things are goin’. There’s only one place where they’ll be safe, and that’s out of the system.’
‘But where?’ asked Bracken.
‘With Rose, on the pastures. It’ll be risky getting them there and might even be risky once they’re there, because Rose’s protection may not be enough. But anywhere else… well…’
Bracken was almost falling off his paws with tiredness. But still he snouted into the gloom for signs of henchmoles.
‘They’ll not come this far yet, surely?’ said Mekkins.
‘Yes, they will,’ sighed Bracken. ‘There seem to be so many of them and they’re so determined to find us that they keep on and on. They nearly caught us several times. You’ve got to get out of here, Mekkins. I’m sorry…’
‘Listen, chum. You’ve worked a bloody marvel. The more I know about you and Rebecca, the less I understand. But don’t you say you’re sorry. Now look, there’s no sign of them at the moment, and it would take them a while to find these tunnels anyway, so you go down and rest for a bit and I’ll keep a watch out and come down later to work out what to do. You send Curlew up as well, ’cos there’s something she can do…’
Mekkins had nothing for Curlew to do at all, but he knew that Rebecca had been worried about Bracken. ‘Let ’em have a few minutes together for Stone’s sake,’ he said to himself. ‘Don’t ask me what it’s about,’ he added, shaking his head and turning his attention to the gathering dark.
But Mekkins’ sentimentality was misplaced. Bracken was too tired, Rebecca already too aware of the dangers in the system, and Comfrey too afraid of Bracken’s size and different smell for there to be much between any of them. Only Violet seemed unaffected by it all. Bracken laid his head on his paws and looked curiously at the thin and nervous Comfrey. Why, he liked Violet better! As for Rebecca and himself, neither could believe that they had really made a journey to the centre of the system together. Surely that had been two different moles? The burrow was small and cramped, the atmosphere fearful, and everything in flux. There was the feeling that nothing could be permanent and that the system of Mandrake was giving way to something worse. As for Bracken, he was beginning to feel tired of running, always running, and felt half inclined to go out on to the surface and do some final battle with the henchmoles. But then he fell asleep.
Rebecca watched over him, wondering as she looked, almost for the first time, at a mole she hardly knew, and who seemed a stranger, why she was so moved by every start and turn in his fitful and uneasy sleep. ‘Who is he?’ she wondered. She wanted to draw Comfrey to her and say to him ‘Look, that’s your father. His name’s Bracken, he’s a brave mole.’ But wisely she let him be.
Comfrey was having problems of his own, anyway, with Violet—who might just as well have woken from a long refreshing sleep for all the sign she showed of tiredness after a three-day escape from Rune’s henchmoles.
‘What’s your name?’ she asked him.
‘C-C-Comfrey,’ he finally got out.
‘Why can’t you speak properly?’
Silence.
‘Well, at least you could ask my name, which is Violet.’
‘Where do you come from?’ tried Comfrey.
‘Rue’s tunnels, near where the Stone Mole lives.’
‘Who’s the St-Stone Mole?’
‘He is, silly,’ said Violet, pointing at the sleeping Bracken. Violet turned away, looking a little miserable. Now that Bracken was asleep, she felt alone. He was all she had.
Rebecca stretched a motherly paw to her and pulled her to her flank. ‘Why don’t you tell me what happened, my love,’ said Rebecca, and bit by bit Violet did, her little defences dropping as she relaxed at last into a mole who seemed almost as cuddly as Rue. ‘What’s going to happen?’ Violet asked much later. Rebecca could see how alone she was, and how near to tears. Bracken’s daughter, Bracken’s son. He couldn’t have done more for them. Now perhaps she could care for them while they grew up.
‘Rebecca! Bracken!’ It was Curlew, running back into the burrow. ‘Wake up, Bracken! The henchmoles are coming!’ How Curlew had changed since Rebecca had first come! True, her fur was still rough and patchy—but her spirits were so full and high, and her body straighter and prouder than it had been. ‘You’ve got to leave, Rebecca, almost immediately,’ she said.
Mekkins came running down. ‘They’re almost here,’ he said, ‘and they’ll find these tunnels very soon. There’s an exit nearer the marshes and I’ll take you all out by that.’
Bracken did not move. He did not even get up. He was tired of running. ‘You go. I’ll stay. I can hold them back for a while.’
As Mekkins and Rebecca started to argue, Bracken got up and slowly faced them. His gaze was clear and there was an enormous authority about what he said that left nomole there in any doubt that he would do what he intended.
‘I led them here and I’ll lead them away again, in a different direction to where you’re going. Don’t worry, Mekkins, I won’t try to fight them all by myself. But with luck I can lead them off your scent, and you, Rebecca and these two,’ he pointed to Comfrey and Violet, ‘can get away to Rose the Healer.’
Violet started to protest, but Bracken gazed at her with such strength and love that she simply retreated back to Rebecca’s flank and waited for once for the adults to do whatever they had to do. ‘Rebecca will take care of you and I’ll be back,’ Bracken said gently to her. ‘And don’t you chatter so much this time!’
For a moment Rebecca and Bracken stared across the burrow at each other and the light that seemed to have gone from them shone again, and time was not important. ‘Why, it’s there and always will be,’ thought Rebecca, knowing it was true.
‘I’m not going either,’ said Curlew suddenly. ‘These are my tunnels and they’ve served me well, and I’ll defend them. I couldn’t live anywhere else, anyway.’ Her mind was quite made up so that, with a shake of his head in puzzlement, Mekkins led Rebecca and the youngsters away, and the burrow was suddenly silent of them.
‘There’s a tunnel I’ll show you, off to the east,’ said Curlew. ‘It goes for quite a way. If they come, I’ve got a way of holding them up for a bit, so you go down there and lead them off away from the west, where Mekkins will be. Every little bit gives them time.’