Thyla - Kate Gordon [32]
‘I can’t wait ’til we can dump all of this crap,’ Harriet said. ‘Why do we have to go through this show of bringing all this stuff every time? It’s not like we need boots or walkie-talkies.’
‘Harriet, you know Ms Hindmarsh would never let us out without all this stuff,’ said Rhiannah. ‘Remember when I forgot my boots the other night? I was petrified she’d catch us coming back and see my bare feet and have a go at me about, you know, the stuff she always has a go at me about. Safety and the reputation of the school and blah blah blah. It’s okay. We can dump it soon.’
There was silence for a moment, and then Rhiannah went on. ‘Now, you know it’s going to be difficult tonight,’ she said. ‘Perrin told me. They’ve upped their night-time patrols of the grounds. Obviously they think the same as Perrin does. They must think it’s important to increase their forces. There are Thylas everywhere tonight.’
It felt as if my heart stopped beating for a moment. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end.
‘Thyla’.
I was sure I hadn’t heard that word in my new life, and yet it seemed so familiar. It must be a word from my past.
Thyla. Like ‘thylacine’. Like the stained glass at Cascade Falls.
What did it mean?
And why did it move me so?
Harriet laughed, and the sound cracked through my mind like a slap. ‘It really makes you wonder, doesn’t it?’ she said. ‘How humans could be so dumb. I mean, hello? Extinct? Yeah, right!’
‘Mate, you know why the Thylas have to do that,’ Rhiannah said, and her voice sounded tired and bored, as if she had said this same thing a thousand times before. ‘The Diemens were always tougher on them than us.’
‘Only because they were scared of us,’ said Harriet, and I could hear the smug grin in her voice.
‘And you also know that not all humans do think they’re dead,’ Rhiannah continued, ignoring her. ‘Which is their problem.’
‘Yeah, exactly!’ Harriet retorted. ‘Their problem. ‘Why don’t we just let the Diemens get them all? I mean, it would be one less hassle for us, wouldn’t it? Like tonight? It would be so much easier for us to do our job without them getting in the way. I know there’s all this talk of the treaty and stuff, but I dunno. Sometimes it just feels like they’re jumping the gun. And I know that lots of stuff is going down. Raphael disappearing and that Thyla going missing on their side and, look, I know Rha thinks that Lord is getting more powerful or whatever but really, you know, we’ve been perfectly fine for a really long time without cosying up to the Thylas!’
‘Can we please just not talk about that tonight?’ Rhiannah snapped. ‘Seriously, I’m over it. It’s all Perrin talks about.’
‘Sorry, Rin,’ said Harriet, her voice softer. She put her hand on Rhiannah’s arm. ‘It’s just, well, it’s not like the Thylas are grateful to us for helping, is it? They still try to attack us every time we come close to their territory.’
‘I know,’ said Rhiannah. ‘But there’s thousands of years of history there, like Rha tells us. You know, history he was there for and we weren’t. I think we forget sometimes that he’s not actually our blood brother. He’s been around for such a long time before us and he’s seen stuff. He’s seen it all happening. He’s lived through all those years of Sarco versus Thyla. He knows it’s hard to change that. We just need to do the best we can. And you know, when you say it’s their problem, it’s really not just their problem any more, is it?’
‘So you believe it?’ Harriet asked, her voice suddenly wavering. ‘You believe what Perrin says?’
Rhiannah shook her head. ‘I don’t know, but all the evidence points –’
‘Guys,’ Sara interrupted, stepping forward and pushing her glasses up her nose. Then she paused, pulled her glasses off and stuffed them in her pocket. ‘Won’t be needing them for a while,’ she said.
‘You don’t need them anyway,’ Harriet retorted.
‘Yeah, but I used to, and people would get suspicious if I suddenly stopped wearing them. Anyway, what