‘Where are we going?’ he asked.
Father didn’t answer. Daniel pulled the blanket over his head so that he was completely enveloped in his own body heat. Inside the warm darkness he imagined that Father was far away. He was sitting next to him but he was in a completely different world. The coach that shook and rocked gave him the same feeling he had during the long voyage across the sea. The horses were transformed into sails that were stretched taut, the boy on the coach box held not reins in his hands but a wheel. He heard the clink of a bottle. Father was drinking. The whip cracked. The coach shook.
Daniel didn’t know what time it was, but what Father usually called a long time must have passed before the coach came to a stop. Daniel unwrapped himself from the blanket. It was still dark. Father had opened the door of the coach.
‘Why are we stopping?’ he shouted.
‘The horses need rest. They need to eat and have some water.’
‘We don’t have time.’
‘I can’t run them to death.’
‘I know about oxen. They could do it.’
The boy would not relent.
‘Oxen and horses aren’t the same thing. In half an hour we’ll drive on.’
Father slammed the coach door furiously. But he said nothing. He looked at Daniel. His eyes were glazed, but there was something else too, a fear that Daniel had never seen before.
‘I did something I shouldn’t have done,’ said Father. ‘I tried to touch her. She scratched me and broke free. We had to leave in a hurry.’
Daniel waited for more, but it never came. Because he had to pee he climbed out of the coach. The ground was cold under his feet. They were deep in a dense forest. The trees stood black, watching him. He peed. The boy was busy watering the horses.
‘Why are you black?’ asked the boy. ‘Were you burned? Or are you made of coal?’
Father flung open the door.
‘Don’t talk. Give the horses what they need so we can get moving.’
The boy came over to the door. He was short but broad-shouldered. He had taken off his fur cap. Daniel saw that his hair was cut short and very light.
‘I want to see the money,’ he said. ‘Or else I won’t go on.’
Father held up a fistful of notes. The boy tried to snatch them but Father was ready and held them high.
‘When we get to Stockholm,’ he said. ‘Not before.’
The boy kept staring at the money.
‘I’ve never seen that much money in my life. So much money and in such a hurry. What’s going on here?’
He walked back to the horses. Daniel climbed into the coach. Father leaned towards him and whispered, ‘Everything will be all right. I made a mistake, so we had to change our plans. You can’t always follow a path you plan in advance.’
‘Did she die?’ asked Daniel.
Father stared at him.
‘She ran,’ he said. ‘And she might report me. It will be a scandal. I’ll be hunted down. So the plan had to change.’
Daniel tried to pronounce the name of the man in the red coat. He couldn’t do it. There were too many letters. But Father understood.
‘Wickberg will be chasing me too. I don’t know which is worse, ripping off a woman’s clothes or breaking an agreement.’
He drank from the bottle again. Daniel could see that his hand was shaking.
‘We have to start a new life,’ Father said. ‘That life starts tonight.’
‘Where are we going?’
‘I’ll tell you when I know.’
The coach began to roll again.
‘Try to get some sleep,’ said Father. ‘I have to think.’
Daniel wrapped himself in the blanket again. He soaked up his own warmth and stroked his face and imagined it was the woman with the slender hands who was touching him.
Daniel woke up because the coach had stopped. He was alone. Father was standing outside talking to the boy. It was beginning to get light. They were still in a forest, but it was more open now. He could see fields and pastures. A lake glimmered between the trees. There was fog. Daniel felt cold and wrapped the blanket tighter around him. He had been dreaming. The antelope had been inside him. But Kiko wasn’t there. It was as if the antelope had been searching for him, searching for someone who could finish the work, paint its eyes and finish carving the last strokes in its leap.
Father opened the coach door.
‘We’re getting out here,’ he said. ‘The baggage is continuing on to the harbour, but we’re getting out here.’
Daniel climbed out. His body was stiff. Father seemed just as frightened as he was earlier that night but his eyes were no longer glazed, and Daniel knew that he had made a decision. The boy took down one of the bags that was tied onto the roof.
‘I’ll follow you all the way to hell if you don’t do as I told you,’ Father said to the boy.
‘For that much money, anyone will do as he’s told.’
‘Now off with you.’
The boy clucked at the horses and the coach vanished down the winding road.
They were alone. Daniel was shivering. Father was in a hurry. He yanked open the bag, tossing clothes and combs and brushes onto the ground. Finally he found what he was looking for: a white shirt, which, to Daniel’s astonishment, he began tearing apart. He didn’t stop until he had shredded the whole shirt into strips. The collar lay like a dead bird on the ground. Father sat down on the bag and wiped the sweat from his brow.
‘When this is all over I’ll explain,’ he said. ‘But now we have started a new life. As quickly as possible, we have to put some distance between us and everything that happened before. We’re travelling through a desert again. In order to reach our destination you have to do as I say.’
Daniel waited for the rest. He still couldn’t understand what had happened.
‘People will come and try to catch me,’ said Father. ‘They know that you and I are travelling together. And you are black. That’s why you have to let me do what is necessary. I’m going to wind these strips of cloth around your head and just leave holes for your mouth, nose and eyes. You have been severely injured in a fire. You have to keep your hands inside your coat. We’ll put a cap on your head. Then nobody will be able to see that you’re black. And no one can find me either.’
Father didn’t wait for him to answer, but began winding the rags around Daniel’s head. All at once he had the feeling that Father was going to suffocate him and started pulling at the cloth to get it off.
‘I’m only doing what I have to do,’ Father shouted. ‘It’s only for a few days. Until we escape. I once saved your life. So you can do this for me.’
Daniel suddenly noticed that Father was not only scared and sweating but he also had tears in his eyes. Daniel stopped pulling at the cloths. No matter what had happened, he had to help Father now. There was no other way out.
Father cut holes for Daniel’s eyes, nose and mouth with a little knife that he kept with his brushes and comb.
‘Pull in your hands,’ he said.
Daniel did as he was told.
‘No one can tell that underneath all this you have black skin. Now we have to get moving.’
They started walking. Daniel could feel his skin beginning to itch underneath all the material. Father walked fast with his bag in his hand. He was panting. It was morning now, and the sky was heavily overcast.
‘As long as it doesn’t rain,’ Father said. ‘I’ll lose my mind if it does.’
Daniel didn’t answer. He couldn’t talk. He could breathe through his mouth but couldn’t move his lips.
The forest grew thinner and soon there were open fields all around them. Father stopped now and then to catch his breath. At the same time he was listening and kept turning round to look behind them. Daniel wondered who was following them.