In a daze I swam to the rope and somehow looped the end of it into the handle.
The effort left me drained and it took all of my energy to simply float on my back as the boys hauled the pack up.
As soon as my ears dipped below the surface of the water, the whispered talking I’d heard at the previous pool swirled around me. The voices were slightly louder this time and seemed angry. I quickly flipped vertical again, treading water as I waited for the rope to reappear.
When it did, I struggled to push my cold stupid limbs to do as I commanded, shoving them into the makeshift harness the boys had created. After what felt like an age, I was ready. “OK,” I yelled.
I could hear Luke and Josh straining as they pulled my dead, water-sodden weight up and out of the pool. I grabbed at the rock ledge as it came into reach and hauled myself over the edge, scraping the skin off my elbows and bruising my hips and knees as I scrambled out.
I rolled away from the edge and lay panting on my back, the hot afternoon sun a welcome relief from the shadowed icy water.
Luke helped me up, pulling me into a bear hug that took my breath away. After a few moments, he gently pushed me away from him and held me at arm’s length, dipping his head to look directly into my eyes.
“Don’t ever do that to me again, Alex!”
I nodded and gave him a wobbly smile, my mind still trying to unscramble the mysterious events that resulted in me still being alive.
Josh draped his arm around my shoulders as we walked to the cave we’d be staying in that night, keeping up a falsely cheerful conversation that soothed my shattered nerves, and a tight hold on me that bore most of my body weight.
The boys treated me like I was made of china for the rest of the day, insisting that I get into some borrowed dry clothes as soon as we reached the overhang which was to be our shelter for the evening. Josh quickly built a fire while Luke went hunting for our dinner.
I watched in awe as the sun, which had almost set, bathed the view from the cave in blood-red light edged in shadows.
Directly beneath me and above me, the rock face ran in an unrelenting gash across the middle of this comparatively small mountain, curving away from me into a valley dark with trees. I could hear the chuckle of a stream somewhere below where I was standing and could make out the grassy plain we’d walked through earlier in the day, now a pool of violet shadow.
I turned to see what lay ahead of us, what the rest of this camping trip might hold.
Its beauty left me breathless.
We had walked deep into the Injisuthi and the mountains that were a pretty backdrop from the Van Heerdens’ farm, now soared majestically skyward, their jagged outline looming in confident grandeur above me. I felt so small and insignificant pitted against their timeless magnificence.
Josh’s sleeve brushed my arm, startling me, as he joined me in admiring the view.
“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” His voice was hushed as the night’s chorus washed over us.
I nodded. We stood in companionable silence watching the last of the light bleed into the shadows, before moving back to the crackling fire.
Our conversation spanned a vast array of subjects, from Josh’s theories about the female leader in the cave, to school. Josh politely avoided talking about my family and particularly about Brent, which I was grateful for, and instead hovered on light and happy topics.
Josh was going into his final year of school the following semester and was then planning to go on to study further in medicine.
“What about you, Al?” he asked casually. “What do you want to be?”
I hated this question, mainly because I didn’t know the answer to it.
My parents had decided that I would study further after school and were trying to persuade me that my grades in maths and science should naturally lead me to engineering or medicine or something along those lines. Just because I was good at those subjects didn’t necessarily mean I liked them, in fact, I couldn’t think of anything more terrifying than being trapped in a world constantly bombarded by routine. A world, that from my perspective, most adults I knew seemed to suffocate in.
I shrugged “no idea”.
“Oh come on,” he goaded, “you must have some clue?”
“OK,” I grinned. “I want to be a warrior princess.”
Josh laughed at me. As children we’d often played a game where Alexa the warrior princess, along with her trusty sidekick Josh, rescued the world from Luke the dragon.
“You look like you’re turning into just that,” he replied, grinning at me, seemingly pleased at the blush that crawled up my neck. “Although maybe the warrior element needs a bit of work, most warriors can hold their own against baboons,” he amended, lightening the sudden intensity of the mood.
I laughed, nodding.
“What’s so funny?” Luke asked, walking into the cave.
“Just teasing Alex about her clumsiness today,” Josh replied easily.
The rest of the evening was lovely. One of the last uncomplicated evenings I remember. The night sky, so far from any manmade light, was crowded with billions of stars, the summer air warm and gentle on our exercise-weary bodies.
The boys had decided to go back to the pool I’d fallen into the next day. As it was only a short distance from the cave, I was given the option to join them or stay at base camp.
I shuddered at the thought of going anywhere near that pool again, remembering the icy water closing over my head as my lungs fought for air and black spots danced in front of my eyes. It wasn’t just the water that made me edgy, he might be there, or was the right pronoun it?
After dinner, we climbed into our sleeping bags around the fire and chatted until the moon rose brilliant and full, eclipsing the stars.
I don’t remember falling asleep, but I do remember waking up!
The firelight had faded and the crackling and popping of burning wood had subsided to a smoky hush. My eyes opened heavily my mind trying to sort through what had woken me.
I was just drifting back to sleep when I heard it again. The soft pad of footsteps as someone walked past my head.
My heart began to pound.
I opened my eyes to tiny slits searching for Luke and Josh’s sleeping forms, hoping against hope to find one of their sleeping bags wrinkled and empty. They were both sound asleep, their faces a warm orange from the dying fire.
A sigh to the left of Josh and on the edge of the cave had my heart pounding, freezing my muscles in place as I twisted my head to see who or what had made the sound.
He was sitting with his legs dangling over the edge of the small cliff below the cave, outlined by the moonlight.
I felt a scream building in my throat as panic gripped me.
I must have moved, or he felt my eyes on him, because he swung around into a crouch very suddenly, his long hair swinging out behind him, his muscles bunched and poised for flight.
I sat up very slowly trying to make out who it was. Moonlight glinted off his skin and he turned his head fractionally, the silvery light revealing clearly that it was the same person who’d rescued me earlier.
Fear and curiosity tugged at me. This time curiosity won.
“Please don’t go,” I whispered.
He was motionless for what seemed like an age and then stretched out his hand to me.
I took a deep breath, pushing the fear that almost incapacitated me away, as I untangled myself from my sleeping bag and crept toward him. Sitting down a few paces from him I wrapped my arms around my legs and stared in fascination. His profile in the moonlight reaffirmed my initial impressions from the afternoon. Strong features countered by youthful softness.
“Hello, Alexandra,” he said quietly, his voice rich and warm.
“How do you know my name?”
His full lips curled into a smile.
“Am… am I dreaming?”
This made the most sense to me. Somehow, I must have sleepwalked to the edge of the cave and this was a drea
m created by my sub-conscious mind as it wrestled with my miraculous survival of the fall into the pool.
He slowly shifted closer, watching me the whole time as if I were a bird that would take flight if he moved too quickly, and took my hand in both of his.
They were rough and warm.
I looked down, fascinated and afraid, at where my hand disappeared into his.
He grinned at me, his white teeth flashing in the moonlight, his smile lighting up his eyes, his features somehow clearer than they’d been a few moments before.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’ve been following you for a while,” he replied, ignoring my question and watching my face carefully.
“Um… why?” I asked, a slither of fear at his admission popping goose bumps on my skin.
He laughed quietly. “Do you always ask so many questions of a stranger?” he asked. Then he dropped one of his hands from mine and shook my hand formally with the other. “Hi.” He smiled at me.
“Hi,” I replied.
Half of his face was in shadow, but the half I could see revealed a large lash-fringed almond-shaped eye in an open friendly face. He was dressed in a pair of flared trousers, the moonlight glinting off his bare chest.
He was still holding my hand and smiling in obvious amusement at my appraisal. I slowly pulled my hand from his and wrapped it safely around my knees again.
“Err…” My mind scrabbled to remember the questions I wanted answered. “Why have you been following us?” I asked again.
“You,” he clarified. “I’ve been following you.”
“Um… why?”
“I’m a guardian, Alexandra.” He smiled at me as if I should know what he was talking about.
“I’m sorry,” I managed, “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”
He sighed and shook his head.
“Honestly, Alexandra, I thought your father would have ensured you were better informed before sending you here.”
I went cold.
“Um, well, he didn’t, so could you fill me in?” I whispered, my voice wavering with shock. Perhaps this was why Dad had been so afraid of me leaving the farm. I scrambled for the reason anyone would be interested in following me, coming to the hurried conclusion that it must have something to do with Dad’s work in Namibia.
He glanced over at the boys again and then seemed to sweep the night sky looking for something. Eventually he sighed and shrugged his broad shoulders.
“Well, I don’t see the harm in filling you in. It is after all your destiny.”
I gawked at him, my mouth falling open.
“I’m already in a heap of trouble for saving you earlier,” he continued. “Although I can’t see that she would’ve been very pleased if I’d let you drown; although…” he continued the conversation with himself “… she will probably argue that had I left you a minute or so longer your genes would have done the rest.” He smiled. “You would have been really, really confused if that had happened.”
I shook my head trying to clear it. I was obviously dreaming because in the entire time we’d been talking, “Hi” was all I’d really understood.
“My genes?” I managed.
“Perhaps I should start from the beginning?” he suggested.
I nodded. “That would help.”
“Alex?” Luke’s sleep-drenched voice drifted in the night air. I whipped around to see him propping himself up on his elbow, hair sticking up everywhere, rubbing his face.
“Who’re you talking to?”
“This is, er…” I turned back to where he’d been, my arm outstretched in introduction. A slight breeze and the hint of a chuckle were the only evidence that he’d ever been there.
Chapter 9
Stories
I woke the next morning groggy and stiff from my fall. Luke was already up making coffee which I accepted gratefully, before walking to the lip of the cave and sitting with my legs dangling over the edge, awed at the beauty of the view, running the previous day’s event over and over in my mind. I sighed, rubbing my arms against the suddenly cool air as Luke came to stand next to me.
“So you’re sure you’re OK to stay here while we go to the pool?” he asked.
“Yup.” I was so sure, particularly after last night’s visitor. I was even more curious about my saviour after the visit, but if I was being honest with myself, I was frightened that he seemed to know who I was too.I did not want to have to explain what was going on if he appeared while the three of us were exploring the pool. It would be better for Luke and Josh to meet him there – if he showed up at all – on their own.
The boys packed some food and water, and headed off half an hour later. I quickly tidied the “cave”, rolling up sleeping bags and putting bits and pieces of equipment at the back of the overhang.
I was crouched on a rocky ledge washing the morning’s dishes in the river below the cave when the soft plop of a pebble to my right brought me up short.
“Good morning, Alexandra.” His rich musical voice startled me, making me lose my balance, rocking forward into the stream.
“Uh, hi,” I managed, struggling to think coherently as my mind swung from terror to fascination and back again while I pushed myself awkwardly out of the water.
He sat diagonally opposite from me and he was breathtaking.
My partial impressions of him from the first two encounters had been mere shadows. I took in the warm butterscotch of his skin, stretched over a strong lean frame. His torso was bare while his legs were covered in an iridescent fabric that pooled around his feet as he crouched. His waist-length hair shone in the sunlight framing a strong jaw, high cheekbones and a refined nose. He was younger than I’d first thought, probably just a year or two older than me.
Heat rushed into my cheeks as my gaze settled briefly on his full lips, as the memory of them covering mine and breathing into my oxygen-starved lungs snapped into focus.
He was smiling encouragingly, almost as if he were afraid I would run from him, his eyes sparkling as he watched me.
“What’re you doing?” he asked casually.
I looked down at the forgotten pan in my hand.
“Dishes,” I offered lamely, holding up the pan and sponge I’d been using, and feeling utterly stupid. “The uh… the boys have gone to the pool.”
“I know,” he said.
I nodded dumbly, mulling over how I felt about that.
I sat back feeling dazed as he watched me quietly.
“What’s your name?” I asked eventually as the silence stretched uncomfortably.
“Well, the closest translation in your language would be Merrick.”
Merrick. I rolled the name around in my head. It suited him, this golden boy shrouded in mystery.
“You rescued me yesterday.” It was a statement not a question, but he nodded all the same. “Where did you come from?”
He stood suddenly and gestured to the rock I was sitting on. “May I?” he asked.
I nodded.
He leapt gracefully across the narrow piece of stream separating us and settled next to me.
“I was in the cave below the pool when I heard the gun shots and then a splash.”
“There’s a cave below the pool?” He nodded. “How deep is it?”
“Pretty deep”
I thought for a few moments, trying to work out the logistics of what he was telling me.
“So the rock forms a shelf under the overhang and you were there?”
“No, I was underwater,” he replied.
“You were diving?” I asked.
He shook his head, smiling.
“So there’s like a bubble of air down there?” I asked.
He shook his head again, his grin growing.
My mind twisted like a worm on a hook trying to find the logical explanation I knew should be there.
“There’s a cave below the pool that you were in but there’s no air?” I asked.
He nodded, gr
inning.
“So it’s an underwater cave?” I repeated.
He nodded again.
“You were in the cave when I fell. Did you have a scuba kit?” He looked at me blankly. “You know, one of those oxygen tanks and mouth pieces…” I trailed off, taking his blank expression as a no.
“Err… Merrick, I’m really confused,” I told him, hoping I didn’t sound as dumb as I felt.
He laughed, a full-bellied warm sound, one I liked very much and wanted to hear again.
I wasn’t getting anywhere with the cave line of questioning, and he wasn’t offering any information, so I decided to try another tactic.
“You said last night that you’d tell me the story from the beginning,” I prompted.
He nodded. “Yes, the beginning is a good place for you to start,” he replied, “but get comfortable, it’s a long story.”
I squirmed around, eventually crossing my legs, my head propped up on one elbow shading my eyes with my hand.
“Hmmmm, where to begin?” He flashed me an impish grin. “Maybe the cave at the sapphire pool you were at two nights ago? Or perhaps Josh’s grandfather’s stories?”
My muscles locked down as I realised that he really had been watching me for at least the last three days. Anxiety squirmed uncomfortably in my stomach. I nodded, hoping he hadn’t noticed my fear.
He sat cross-legged, leaning against a boulder, the sun playing across his beautiful face, his voice growing enigmatic as he spoke.
“Her name was Sabine,” he started. “The female leader you saw in the cave?” I nodded. “She and a small band of women and children from her tribe had fled to the valley to escape slave traders. When they got there, they joined a much larger group of women and children who had gathered for the same reason. The men of the villages formed a sort of cork at the front of the valley to protect the women and children.”
I closed my eyes, picturing the beautiful valley choked with frightened people. Merrick took my hand and rested it gently in the palm of his hand. My eyes sprang open at the contact, he’d moved soundlessly to sit beside me.
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