I Can See Clearly Now

Plessey rushed up to Gorden with a smile on his face.

"Shall we visit the Swan-Seers again? They aren't far."

"Swan-Seers?" Cola asked, "Who are they?"

"Oh, we met them back in episode four or five." Gorden said, swinging his staff. "They prophecised *you* you know!"

"This way!" Plessey said zipping off towards the river side.

Gorden and Cola plunged through the reeds after him.

Gorden ran slap-bang into Plessey. The snail was stock-still outside of a cave of reeds.

The snail was shaking. "Something's wrong!" His voice quivered. "I'm..."

Gorden cracked his knuckles, gripped his staff tight and stepped in front of the snail. He didn't say "I'll go first." But you could feel it by looking at his back.

Gorden padded gently into the shadows, his footsteps squelching in the mud.

The cave was dark and their was no sign of movement. Gorden nearly trod upon the swans before he saw them.

Bile rose in his throat.

"I should be used to this by now." He said to himself as he looked at their bloody corpses.

"Aaaarrrrgghh!" He cried and swung his staff at the reeds over his head. He screamed and swung again, and again. He battered at the fibrous covering until he'd bashed a hole big enough to let some light in and the ripening air out.

The light didn't make the sight any easier to bear. The swans had a rather bohemianly plucked style when alive. Now their featherless, emaciated bodies were only just recognisable as birds. Their necks had been broken a number of times and virtually tied around each other. Small stab (or claw) wounds covered their bodies.

Plessey floated up beside Gorden.

"They knew this was going to happen." He said, "There's no sign of wasted food and, besides the bodies, the place is clean and tidy."

Gorden rubbed his hand over his face.

"Should we bury them, do you think?" He asked.

"No." Plessey said with feeling. "I'll deal with this. I can't bear to think of their bodies decaying undergound." He shrugged his shell. "Stand Back!" He exclaimed.

"Shouldn't we look for clues?" Gorden began to say. He got as far as the "Sh.." when a fierce bright spot appeared between Plesseys eye-stalks. Gorden stood transfixed as the spot grew larger. It didn't look like it was getting bigger, per se, rather that it was coming towards Gorden from a great distance. The bright spot became a small flame then erupted as a brilliant ball of fire which sprung from Plessey and engulfed the dead swans. The conflagration touched the swan's bodies and the swan's bodies only. The light was blinding but Gorden didn't feel any heat.

In a matter of moments the dead bodies were consumed and the flames flickered and disappeared.

"I won't look for clues then." Gorden said, matter-of-factly.

"Are you feeling as nervous as I am about getting home?" Plessey asked. Gorden nodded, grimacing.

"Let's get Cola and make tracks."

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