The Power of Five Oblivion

turned round and spewed up on the grass. I couldn’t help myself.
    Jamie was angry. He was afraid the noise would give us away. But fortunately the pub had old walls and thick glass. The chef didn’t hear me. I wiped my sleeve across my mouth and took a deep breath. I didn’t know if it was a man or a woman on the board. It was too horrible to think about. But that was how these people had survived. They were cannibals. They had taken to eating each other.
    “We have to find the Traveller,” Jamie whispered.
    “Where is he?” For a dreadful moment I wondered if I had just seen him. But that wouldn’t have been possible. The dead person in the kitchen must have taken hours to prepare, while the Traveller had only been away for a few minutes.
    Jamie stared into the darkness as if listening for something – and in his own way that was exactly what he was doing. He was picking up thoughts as if they were radio signals. “There’s a barn…”
    We ran in that direction. I was glad to put distance between myself and the Punch Tavern. I couldn’t wait to get away. But we weren’t going anywhere without the Traveller. We wouldn’t have been able to manage the boat without him, and anyway, there was no way we were going to leave him behind. We reached the barn. There was just enough light to see that it was painted white, with a pond outside and a well. The barn had huge wooden doors but fortunately they were open. We went in.
    There was a single oil lamp burning on a table and a man sitting next to it in what otherwise seemed to be an empty space. He had a rifle across his lap and he snatched it up the moment we came in. I found myself reaching for the gun which was still tucked into my waistband. Of course, he’d have shot us both before I’d even found the safety catch and remembered how to release it, but Jamie simply looked at him and said, “You’re very tired. You need to sleep.” And the man did just that, laying his rifle down again and closing his eyes.
    “Where is the Traveller?” I asked.
    Jamie looked around him, then pointed to a grid in the floor. “Down there,” he said.
    The grid was like a trapdoor, solid metal, partly covered in straw. It must have opened into some sort of underground storage area. We hurried over to it but it was locked with a heavy padlock. My heart sank when I saw that. How many more problems would we have to overcome? And how long would it be before the people in the Punch Tavern realized we were missing and came after us?
    “See if you can find the key,” Jamie said.
    I went towards the guard, who was now sound asleep, the rifle loose in his hands. At the same time, Jamie knelt beside the grid.
    “Jamie – is that you?” The voice was hoarse. It came from below. It was the Traveller.
    “We’re looking for the key,” Jamie said.
    “They knocked me out. We have to get out of this place.”
    “I know.”
    “I’ve got it!” I’d found a key on a chain in the guard’s jacket pocket. I pulled it out and threw it to Jamie, who fitted it into the padlock. I was relieved when I heard the click and the lock sprang open. Together, we heaved the grid up and the Traveller climbed out. He nodded his thanks at us but I could see that he was embarrassed. He was meant to be looking after us – the Nexus had trusted him – but without us he would have been dead meat. Quite literally. He turned back and that was when I saw something else that made my skin crawl.
    He hadn’t been alone.
    Looking down, I saw that there were two more men in the pit below the church. They were both stark naked, with shaved heads and wide, blank eyes. I don’t know how long they had been there but they had been caged like animals. That was all they were to the people of Little Moulsford. I expected them to climb up, but they just sat there, staring at us, saying nothing.
    “There’s nothing we can do for them,” the Traveller said. “They’re both mad. God knows what they’ve done to them.” He snatched the rifle from the sleeping guard. “Is there anyone near the Lady Jane ?”
    “Not that I saw,” Jamie said. “But we need to hurry. They must already be wondering where we’ve gone.”
    The three of us scrambled out of the barn. We left the trapdoor open so if the poor men who were down there wanted to, at least they could get away.
    The Traveller checked the rifle. It had a clip of ammunition and the clip was full. “They took my gun,” he explained.
    I drew out my