It was the same sun we’d spent all yesterday cursing, but we cheered it when it rose. Over the hill it came, just like the cavalry, flashing its golden sabres between the trees to warm our spirits and thrust back the pursuing dark. Now Jyp and Clare and I stretched and sighed, basking like lizards on a long slab of rock. The rest of the party lay scattered on other warm spots round about. Nobody moved, except to grunt and shift as a wound twinged, or to throw an arm over their eyes to blot out the feverish swirling behind their lids. After nightlong hours of terrified blundering through tangles that whipped and slashed and strangled with an almost human malice, just lying here and not moving was everything we could want, lulled by the soft thunder of the nearby falls. We’d done it; we were away, we were safe, and we could be back at the ship by nightfall.
And we’d got Clare. It felt almost unreal. Here she was, flaked out on the rock shelf beside me, just as if we were back sunbathing on the office roof at lunchtime. We’d got her out, got her away. She could go back to her old everyday life now …
She, and I. That started up all sorts of odd thoughts. I clenched my eyelids tight in a vain attempt to shut them out. I wished I could sleep, but the events of last night still ramped and roared through my mind, untameable. That wild flight through the jungle, with the storm and God alone knew what else baying on our heels, seemed almost an anticlimax after what had gone before. Somehow we’d held together –
No, not somehow. I knew how. None of us, not the bravest among us, would have dared lose sight or sound of Mall, if they’d had to tear off a limb to keep up. Mall had held us together, though herself drained and shaken, leading us in a great arc around the slopes away from the castle and the deadly paths to it, and down, down towards the far end of the little valley that led to the falls. As the first greyness showed in the sky we reached it, the first light that showed each man his neighbour’s face, and scored upon it the same haggard terrors and utter exhaustion he himself had felt. All except me; for nearest me, warm in the crook of my arm, was Clare, and on her face was only a wide-eyed wonder and delight.
That had come as something of a shock. After all she’d been through, God alone knew what I’d expected – probably to find her shattered, stunned, an uncomprehending wreck. I’d a fair idea I would have been. At best I was praying the effects wouldn’t be too lasting, that she’d be able to get back to something like her old crisp confident self again. I certainly hadn’t expected to find this new Clare, relaxed, accepting, apparently blissfully happy in my company and asking no explanations, not even a word about going home. It occurred to me that after days of dark and terror and rough handling even the bloodshed and horror, the manic flight, must have spelt revenge and exhilarating freedom. This rest and peace probably felt like paradise. But I’d have to watch her, later, in case some reaction set in.
A shame, really. I felt oddly relaxed with her myself, in a way I never had back at the office. If it hadn’t been so unnatural I might almost have preferred her like this.
I rolled over on my side again, and swung an arm out to her; but it only flopped over the edge of the shelf. A sharp qualm of alarm faded; I remembered her saying that the moment she could get back on her feet she’d go down to the pool to bathe, which she certainly needed. Days in the Wolves’ tender care – though mercifully she seemed to think there’d only been one – had left her ragged and filthy, and she’d added a fair quota of gore helping Mall tend our wounds. Probably she’d assumed I was asleep, and wandered off without disturbing me. She wasn’t worried, and nor was I, not really; there were sentries posted, but under this clear sun our impromptu camp felt safe enough anyway. It was realizing I stank to high heaven in the heat, too, that brought me to my feet. Just the thought set me itching; having Clare around was reviving civilized ideas. Cool water and clean sleek skin glided through my mind. One or two other ideas darted about like teasing fish, but I let them slip away. I wasn’t the sort to take advantage – no way. But all the same …
All the same, it might be as well if I kept an eye on things. I stretched, a little stiffly, no more; there were a few twinges from misused muscles and cuts half-healed, but otherwise I felt startlingly fit. Jyp stirred as my shadow fell across him, winced as he jarred his arm a little, then sank mumbling back into sleep. There was no disturbing him, anyhow; or any of the others I could see. The camp slept; only the sentries stirred at their stations in the shade. I clambered off down the rocky slope towards the falls.
