The Golden Highway

By Gillian Leggat

Julia and her friends Sean, Tanya, Thabo and Kyle find themselves trapped in a mysterious underground cave system , a famous heritage site in the middle of the bushveld.
Julia is searching for her parents who disappeared here and are presumed dead - but she won't give up hope.
As Tanya, Thabo and Kyle follow a misguided path to imprisonment and debauchery, Julia and Sean must stay one step ahead of the wicked Livedia and her henchmen to evade the clutches of evil, to find her parents and escape this world of deceit.
With a little help from new friends Moses, Zechariah and Balaam, will they complete their quest or fall prey to Livedia's tricks?
Julia is about to find out, but first she has to have faith...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley
• Release date: Jul 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9781785545252

Gillian Leggat

Gillian Leggat is an educator and the prolific author of more than 80 books in a wide variety of genres, including adult fiction and non-fiction, young adult novels, educational material and children’s picture books. She has a particular interest in creating picture books for young children. The Biggest Blessing is her second picture book published by Austin Macauley (Star Bright was her first). Gillian lives in Cape Town where she tutors English and writes her books. She enjoys swimming, hiking, attending her local church and going to the theatre, ballet and opera. She has three adult children and two grandchildren.

Book preview

About the Author

Gillian Leggat is a prolific author of children’s books. She has been published in various genres, including young adult, romance and textbooks for high school English students.

She has taught in a number of different high schools and is currently running adult writing courses and tutoring students preparing for their IG and AS examinations in English.

Gillian lives in Cape Town, is widowed, and has three grown-up children.

For Jennie, Robert and Susan.

Gillian Leggat

The golden highway

Copyright © Gillian Leggat (2016)

The right of Gillian Leggat to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 9781785545245 (Paperback)

ISBN: 9781785545252 (E-Book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2016)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

25 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5LQ

Chapter One

It was dark inside the cave and Julia felt chilled to the bone. She was dizzy and disorientated – she allowed her wobbly legs to give way as she sank onto a polished stone. As Sean kicked at the wall of rock that had recently tumbled from the ceiling, blocking out their light, Tanya, Kyle and Thabo stood nearby, watching despondently.

Julia felt bad. She was the one who had persuaded her friends to join her on a mercy-mission to find her parents. They were now trapped inside this isolated cave in the Cradle of Humankind labyrinth… and it was all her fault.

Two years ago to this very day, her parents had disappeared. Like vicious acid, the newspaper headlines burned a hungry pathway through her brain:

Esteemed archaeologist missing.

Dr Richard White and his wife, Margaret, disappear without a trace.

All official searches had long since been called off. But Julia refused to give up. Especially as there had been a sighting fifteen kilometres north-east of the Sterkfontein cave entrance. A small boy described seeing a woman with a butterfly clip in her hair and a man with a silver buckle on his belt. They had gone into a tunnel at this very spot.

And nobody had seen them since.

And now she and her friends were trapped in the very place that her parents had vanished so long ago. She felt so helpless.

At least Sean was doing something: while Kyle stood there grumbling and staring at the impenetrable wall that barred their way, Sean prodded and pushed, leaning into the barrier with his solid shoulders.

Must be a way out, he said.

The others stood like ice-blocks.

Someone help!

What you doing broer? said Thabo. You’ll never crack that rock.

We need a bulldozer, contributed Tanya.

This help? joked Sean, holding up a Swiss army knife.

Julia burst out laughing. That broke the tension. All of them, except Kyle, joined in, with the kind of physical laughter which brought intense relief.

What’s so hilarious? mumbled Kyle. Great being stuck here with only the ancient bones of our ancestors for company!

Julia shuddered. Dad had told her about the cavers who disappeared into the underground lake. They were never seen again. Now only their bones were keeping the shrimps company.

Sean mused: Wonder if we’ll come across any new archaeological finds?

Great, replied Kyle sarcastically. We’re trapped in this airless hell-hole and all he can think about is Mrs Ples and the monkeys.

Face it Sean, said Thabo, it would take a chain gang with pickaxes months and months to hack through that rock. We’re wasting our time.

He’s right Sean, agreed Julia. Maybe we should be checking out other options.

Yeah, like what’s down there, said Thabo. There might be an opening on the other side.

If there is another side, said Sean sceptically. Often these cave formations are convoluted labyrinths.

So how’re we going to get out of this mess? said Kyle.

We don’t want to do anything rash, Julia replied, much more calmly than she felt. Let’s just sit and think for a bit.

Great idea! replied Tanya. Drink in the deep dark silence, get in touch with our inner selves…and turn into frozen statuettes.

Sean put an arm round both of the girls. Julia enjoyed the sensation. The warmth of the huddle was calming and soothing her frayed nerves. For a while nobody seemed willing to break the silence.

She listened intently to the sound of breathing, straining her ears for other sounds of life: an animal, a trickle of water, even another human sound. Her eyes were certainly growing accustomed to the darkness: she gathered that they were in a huge cavern. The roof arched way above their heads, the ground sloping towards a massive lake. The cave walls were bare and formless with none of the traditional stalactites and stalagmites she had come to associate with caves. This was a monotonous place: bleak and barren; it was a place to starve.

They had to get out of there quickly.

Come on guys, she said, getting up suddenly. We’re crossing that lake. Must be some way out on the other side.

No way! Kyle complained. We’re not going down there.

But Julia was already half-sliding down the slippery slope towards the water. Sean followed, the others copying him. All except Kyle.

You coming Kyle? she called.

Only a mockingly distorted echo. She stumbled on towards the lake. Just before she reached it, she was abruptly jolted by a slap on the back. Kyle’s hand. Can’t get rid of me that easily.

Julia was relieved. Whatever happened, they were all in this together.

Chapter Two

Julia sat on her haunches and leaned forward. She dipped her hand into the mysterious, glistening water. The surrounding darkness made the lake look menacingly black, like a satin shroud. Quickly she withdrew her fingers, shocked by the intensity of the chill and the eerie sensation from contact with the water. She stared numbly at the forbidding blackness, mesmerized by its menace. There was something extremely foreboding about this mass of freezing water.

At that very moment, the glassy stillness was disturbed by a subterranean creature rippling the surface of the lake. Julia’s over-active imagination was injected with distorted visions of Loch Ness monsters and river pythons, particularly as the ripples were surging into wavelets, some of which lapped at her feet.

What’s going on? asked Sean, giving her relief from the bizarre images.

There’s something horrible in the water.

Aah come on, Kyle criticised.

Look there, said Thabo who was retreating from the water’s edge where the wavelets were breaking with regularity.

Wind and waves, offered Sean, a ridiculous suggestion considering the stillness of the air.

Get real! said Kyle. He added more urgently: But we do need to get away from that water chop-chop. Looks dangerous.

Sean took control. We can’t go back. You know our passage is blocked. We’ll have to go forward.

Brilliant idea! retorted Kyle. What do you suggest? Swimming?

I can’t swim, said Thabo quickly.

Kyle stared at him.

I… don’t like water.

Great! Kyle wasn’t helping.

It was something that happened to me long ago… nearly got killed by a croc.

No way there are crocs down there, said Tanya.

Something’s making those waves, said Thabo.

Probably caused by slight movements in the earth’s crust, said Sean.

An earthquake? That’s all we need, remarked Julia.

Not that, replied Sean. Just earth movements. Anyway, time we did something about crossing the lake.

Catch me in that water! Thabo exclaimed.

Me too, said Tanya. There’s no way I’m getting frost-bitten toes.

Maybe there’s some other way we can get across, said Sean.

Yeah, like a convenient bridge!

There might be a passage round the edge of the lake, Julia said.

Or a boat, added Tanya hopefully.

Very likely! It was Kyle again.

Sean had already gone to investigate. He went off to the left, while Thabo decided to try the right. Julia sat down. There was no point in all blundering off into the dark.

They had been in this cave for probably less than two hours and already the tension was palpable. Kyle and Sean were obviously in opposite camps, and soon they would be vying for ‘followers’. It was like Jack and Ralph in Lord of the Flies. Well, she knew who she would support if push came to shove; it certainly wasn’t going to be Kyle. Sean made mistakes, but at least he did stuff. Kyle just stood around complaining when anyone else took the initiative. And Sean understood her. Most of the time.

She was jolted from her reflections by a loud cry.

Thabo.

‘Thabo…bo…bo...’

A surrealistic echo bounced off the cave walls.

Sean.

"Se…se...Sean…ne…eeeee.’

The sibilant response was even more creepy.

Any luck?

Luck…luck...uck...uck...

Nothing.

Nothing…nothing…gggg...

The echo battered her nerves, making her want to scream.

But much worse than the echo was the increasing turbulence below her feet. There was definitely something in the lake.

The surface of the water broke. A flash, then it was gone. Only a concentric circle where the thing had been. It broke the surface again. This time a fin and a shiny silver body emerged. A fish! The third time it broke the surface it leapt into the air. A flying fish. A huge flying fish. It was flicking its fins this way and that, remaining suspended on the water, looking at Julia with disconcertingly bulging eyes. Its thick lips were opening-closing like enormous rubber bands snapping shut. But strangest of all, those blubbery lips seemed to be forming words. Disgusted yet fascinated, she looked at the large vowels that were being shaped by those grossly thick lips. When she heard sound issuing from the back of the creature’s throat, she looked around her sharply. Had one of her friends turned ventriloquist? What was going on?

But the others looked just as alarmed as she felt. She glared at the fish-monster. It stared back. She held the creature’s stare. She stepped back abruptly when it opened its mouth to speak.

Come with me, the fish-monster commanded in a tinkly melodious voice that sounded like soft chiming bells.

Come, come, it repeated, slowly swimming around and offering its back to her. Climb on, it said. I’ll take you across the lake.

Mesmerised, she stared at its shiny silver back.

Come Julia, come, said the fish enticingly.

This was too much! She drew back from the shore, shaking her hands at her sides. The fish actually laughed at her, but it was a surprisingly gentle, pleasant laugh – not offensive at all.

Don’t worry Julia, I know all about fear. But…

She was rooted to the spot.

I know fear. But you don’t have to be afraid. I can help you to get across the lake.

Must be another way, she said sharply.

There’s no other way.

On cue, a panting Sean stumbled towards her. He announced gloomily, There’s no other way round.

My side too, agreed Thabo.

Come with me. Climb up, said the weird creature in front of her.

The great fish’s voice was so soothing and persuasive that she waded into the water and clutched at its surprisingly un-slippery back.

Julia, cried Kyle, what you doing?

She was already seated on the creature’s back, holding tightly to a fin with both hands. The fish flapped its tail rhythmically, propelling itself forward. Even in this dim light, Julia could see some black eel-like tails writhing and breaking the surface of the water.

The fish skimmed across the lake at a startling rate, apparently heading straight for the thickening mass of wriggling rope-like forms. At the very moment when it looked as if a collision was inevitable, her fish plunged into the depths of the lake. The sudden surge of water into her nose and mouth made her cough and splutter, and if she hadn’t clung so tightly to the fin, her body would have floated away from the fish to be smothered by tightening black poisonous coils. Adjusting to her new situation she held her breath, hoping desperately that she wouldn’t have to stay too long under the water. Amazingly, the fish surfaced right next to the shore where her friends were standing. She felt immensely relieved. She didn’t even think she would mind being trapped or practically starved as long as she could be with her mates.

Four slightly smaller but equally impressive fish-creatures zoomed to a stop next to her. They spun round, offering their backs to her friends who were standing stock-still, gaping.

Your friends must come…

Come…ome...ome…meeee, echoed around the walls of the cave.

All of a sudden Julia found the whole situation intensely funny. Her friends were frozen like statuettes but four water-creatures were waiting, in a most un-fishlike manner, to transport unwilling passengers across a dark forbidding stretch of