Moonlight and Ashes (43 page)

‘It is.’ Danny solemnly told him of the newspaper report as Gus listened attentively. When he’d done, the other boy let out a low whistle.

‘So, what yer intendin’ to do about it then?’ he asked.

‘I’m goin’ back to Coventry to check that me mam an’ Lucy are all right.’

‘Oh yes? An’ how are yer plannin’ to get there at this time o’ night?’ Gus scoffed.

‘I thought I might sneak onto one o’ the goods trains that leave Pwllheli durin’ the night.’

Gus was shocked when he saw that Danny meant every word he said and was filled with a grudging admiration. It took guts to embark on a journey like that.

‘The reason I’ve come here is ’cos I need you to do me a favour,’ Danny explained. ‘In the mornin’, I want yer to go an’ see Eric an’ tell him where I’ve gone, so he won’t be worried. By then it will be too late fer him to stop me anyway.’

Gus eyed him silently for a moment before suddenly telling him, ‘Sorry, mate, I can’t do that.’

‘Why not? I thought yer were me friend!’ Danny exclaimed.

‘I am, which is why I’m comin’ wiv yer. Yer don’t fink I’d let yer go off all on yer tod, do yer? But you’ll’ave to ’ang about while I go an’ get properly dressed an’ fetch Albert. While I’m upstairs I’ll scribble the missus a note, an’ no doubt she’ll let Eric know where we’ve gone.’

‘Are you sure you want to do that?’ Danny asked uncertainly, and a big grin split Gus’s face.

‘You bet. Now wait ’ere while I go an’ get ready, will yer? It’ll be mornin’ before we get goin’ if we stand ’ere gabbin’ fer much longer.’

A smile spread across Danny’s face as he watched Gus disappear through the barn door, and for the first time in his young life he understood the meaning of a true friend.

As promised, Gus appeared minutes later with Albert peeping out of the pocket of his coat.

‘I’ve brought us some grub in case we get ’ungry on the way,’ he informed Danny, and Danny saw that Gus’s other pocket was bulging with apples and any other food that he had found lying about.

Side-by-side, the two boys crossed the yard and were soon on the lane that led to the village. The snow started to fall again in great white flakes that covered their footsteps, and Gus cursed. ‘Bleedin’ ’ell. We’ll be frozen stiff before we even get to the station at this rate - that’s if we make it to the station. Yer do know that some o’ the roads are impassable, don’t yer?’

‘Only to cars,’ Danny replied defiantly. ‘We’ll be able to find our way through the drifts if we’re on foot.’

‘Huh! Let’s ’ope yer right,’ Gus mumbled as he thought of the cosy bed he’d just left, back at the farmhouse.

Thankfully, they could just about see where they were going, for the snow was so bright that the lane stretched out before them like a silver ribbon as it snaked its way down the hillside. Even so, it was heavy going, and by the time they’d reached the bottom of the hill they were both panting. Their breath floated in front of them, like steam from a kettle and the sheer effort of having to keep lifting their feet high was exhausting.

Afraid of being seen, they kept to the shadows of the buildings as they made their way through the village. The streets were deserted, although the odd light still shone from certain windows, which told them that some people had not yet retired to bed.

‘I ought to tell Sparky where we’re headin’,’ Gus whispered as they approached the house where he was staying.

Danny shook his head. ‘Best not to. If the grown-ups get wind o’ where we’re goin’ an’ we’ve told Sparky, he might get into trouble.’

‘I s’pose yer right.’

Glad of the carpet of snow that masked their footsteps, they moved on, and soon they were adjacent to the blacksmith’s cottage.

Gus saw Danny pause to stare at the windows of
Ty-Du
as they passed. Reaching out, he squeezed his friend’s hand. ‘Yer can’t tell Lizzie either,’ he told him regretfully. ‘She’d be bound to want to come wiv us, an’ that would only complicate fings.’

Danny nodded. Gus was right. It would be far better for Lizzie to stay where she was for now. Just until he was sure that their mam was safe at least.

When the lights of the village were left behind and he found himself in unfamiliar territory, he was suddenly very glad that Gus had offered to come with him, for he wondered now if he would ever have found his way alone.

Gus stopped to catch his breath and get his bearings. ‘It’d be much quicker if we were to cut across the fields,’ he remarked. ‘Trouble is, there’s all those disused mineshafts that way. They’re bad enough in the day so I’m not sure it would be safe to go that way at night.’

‘Let’s stick to the road,’ Danny told him, trying desperately hard to keep the tremor of fear from his voice. ‘There’s no chance of anyone comin’ along an’ findin’ us, so even if it takes us a bit longer, it don’t really matter, does it?’

Heads bent, they battled on, and after a time Danny began to wonder if this had been such a good idea after all. They seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, with nothing either in front or behind them. The snow was coming down so fast that they could barely see more than a yard at a time in front of them, and without thinking he reached out and linked his arm through Gus’s.

‘Are you quite sure we’re goin’ the right way?’ he said as they reached the top of a hill.

‘Yep. If you look down there yer can just see the lights o’ the town - look. But are you quite sure there’ll be a goods train passin’ through?’

‘Oh yes,’ Danny replied confidently. ‘I remember Eric tellin’ me one day that there were more goods trains than passenger trains passin’ through the station since the beginnin’ of the war.’

Danny’s eyes became slits as he peered through the snow, and sure enough, there below him were the faint lights of Pwllheli. The sight seemed to spur them on as slipping and sliding, the boys began to descend the steep hill. The drifts were deeper here, and soon their Wellington boots were full of snow and their feet felt as if they didn’t belong to them.

‘Are yer
quite
sure this is what yer want to do?’ Gus asked, and for the first time, Danny heard a note of uncertainty in his voice.

He nodded vigorously as he thought of his mam, and a little feeling of excitement fluttered to life in his stomach. If he arrived in Coventry to find her safe and well, which he prayed he would, then he would soon be in her arms again, smelling that wonderful smell that belonged to her and her alone. He realised in that moment just how very much he had missed her, and the thought made him renew his efforts. So much so, that Gus had to struggle to keep up with him.

At last they reached the cobbled streets of the town and began to tramp towards the railway station. They were almost there when Gus pulled Danny to a halt.

‘Slow up, matey. We don’t want to be seen hangin’ around here, do we? We need to go furver on an’ see what trains are comin’ through. Look, we could sneak in through that fence there. That way we won’t ’ave to go onto the platform.’

Seeing the sense in what his friend said, Danny followed him past the main entrance to a fence that had some of its panels broken. After squeezing through they found themselves amongst an assortment of engines and stationary carriages, from which hung sooty black icicles. Any train that entered the station would have to pass by them and Gus smiled with satisfaction as he crouched in the darkness. To the right of them, the dim lights on the platform chased the shadows away, revealing a couple of figures sitting huddled on a bench, suitcases at their feet.

‘So what do we do now?’ Danny whispered, his teeth chattering with cold and excitement.

‘We wait. It can’t be that long till a train comes, an’ then we’ll hop into one o’ the goods vans at the back end of it,’ Gus whispered back. At the sound of his master’s voice, Albert popped his head out of Gus’s pocket and looked about, then with a twitch of his whiskers he shuddered and burrowed back down.

Nodding, Danny nestled into his friend’s side and settled down on the frozen track to wait.

The first two trains that went past whistled through the station without even slowing, sending flurries of snow all over them. By now, Danny was sure that he had never been so cold in the whole of his life.

‘P’raps this weren’t such a good idea after all,’ he muttered miserably as he hugged his knees to his chin.

Gus, who was standing in the middle of the track peering along the line, turned to glare at him. ‘It’s a bit late to be changin’ yer mind now. The way the snow’s bin comin’ down we’d never get back to the village anyway. Just keep yer pecker up, there’s bound to be another train along soon.’

The words had barely left his lips when the stationmaster marched on to the platform and the track beneath them began to tremble.

‘Birmingham train!’ the stationmaster shouted, and Gus’s face dropped.

‘That’s near enough,’ Danny assured him. ‘Birmingham ain’t so far from Coventry as the crow flies so we can hop on another train into Coventry from there. Me mam used to go to the rag market in Birmingham on the train sometimes so that’s how I know.’

Gus laughed triumphantly. ‘In that case, stand well clear o’ the track then, an’ let’s hope this one stops.’

In no time at all a train appeared out of the snow and began to slow as it approached the station. The boys held their breath as they watched a guard appear who began to load what appeared to be mailbags into one of the carriages at the back. He was so close to them that had he looked round, he would surely have seen the two lads, but luckily he was too intent on getting his job done and getting back to the warmth of the office where a nice hot pot of tea was mashing.

The second he began to walk away, Gus hissed urgently, ‘Right, foller me an’ don’t make a sound else the game will be up.’

With his heart in his throat, Danny did as he was told. Gus sprinted across the platform and, after sliding the carriage door partially open, he climbed aboard and bent to offer Danny his hand. After hauling him in after him, he shrank down in the darkness clutching hold of the carriage door, not daring to slam it. They waited, hearts beating fast. Slowly, the train began to chug away.

‘There yer go!’ Gus laughed exultantly. ‘We’re on our way, matey. Now let’s see if we can’t make ourselves comfy an’ try to ’ave a kip. Look - if we shove some o’ these sacks togevver, we could lie on ’em. Be like a nice fevver bed, then, won’t it?’

Danny nodded as they heaved some of the mail sacks together. It was certainly not the most comfortable of mattresses they had ever slept on, but even so they had barely left Pwllheli behind before both boys had fallen into an exhausted sleep.

A sharp dig in the ribs brought Danny springing awake. ‘Ouch!’ he grumbled as he stared at Gus who was standing over him with a deep frown on his face.

‘Come on, wakey wakey. I don’t know what’s goin’ on but the train seems to be slowin’, though I can’t see no sign of a station ahead.’

Danny yawned and stretched stiffly, almost overbalancing as the train suddenly slewed to an abrupt halt. The change of trains at Birmingham had been amazingly easy, as the platform there had been almost as deserted as the one at Pwllheli.

‘What the bleedin’ ’ell is goin’ on?’ Gus sounded concerned as he peered through the slight gap in the door.

Crossing to join him, Danny suddenly gasped and pointed at the sky. It was dark with aeroplanes that seemed to be heading for the city beyond. Suddenly the sky lit up with searchlights and the sound of bombs dropping not too far away reached them.

‘Jesus Christ. It looks like we’re arrivin’ in the middle of an air raid. That’s probably why they’ve stopped the train from goin’ into the station, in case they target that.’

Fear swelled in Danny’s throat. ‘What are we goin’ to do?’

Squaring his slight shoulders, Gus inched the door a little wider. ‘Well, I ain’t gonna stay ’ere like a sittin’ duck, that’s fer sure. Come on - let’s make a run fer it. I reckon we’ll be safer takin’ our chances out there than squattin’ ’ere.’

As Gus swung himself down from the carriage, Danny reluctantly followed him, surprised to see that although there was a sharp frost here, there was no snow.

Keeping their heads down, the two friends sprinted across the tracks and ran until they pushed their way through a hedge and found themselves in what appeared to be a park of some sort.

Glancing around him, Danny suddenly declared, ‘I think I know where I am! Me gran used to bring me an’ Lizzie here sometimes to feed the ducks.’

‘So we
are
in Coventry then?’

Danny nodded as they began to walk across the frozen grass. In the centre of the park was a lake that was frozen over. The moon was shining down on it, making it appear like a sheet of polished glass, but neither of the boys were in the mood to appreciate it tonight.

They trudged on until they reached the entrance gates where Gus demanded, ‘So which way do we go now then?’

Peering this way and that, Danny tried to get his bearings. The streets were dark and deserted, save for the searchlights that swept the sky, and it was hard to judge.

‘I reckon it’s that way,’ he told his friend, nodding towards the area where the bombs were dropping thick and fast.

Gus shuddered but turned in that direction all the same. Keeping close to the shadows of the buildings they crept along, their eyes fearfully watching the sky overhead. The closer they got to the city centre, the louder the noise became until they had to shout to each other to make themselves heard.

‘I reckon we should try an’ make our way to a shelter,’ Gus roared as a bomb dropped dangerously close to them. Danny almost jumped out of his skin and threw himself face down on the ground. Only yards away from them, a wall suddenly collapsed with a sound like thunder, and the ground beneath them shook. He could see the city centre ahead of them now, but it was nothing like he remembered it to be. The Cathedral, all apart from its spire, seemed to be flattened, and well-known shops were no longer there.