Toughened as her feet were by the weeks of hard hiking, they were used to the even pressure that rocks and stones applied through the thick soles of her boots. She flinched a couple of times as she stood on sharp edges. But that was nothing to the gasp of sheer horror as she stuck her arm tentatively into the stream of water. It was straight off a glacier and had the momentum of a twenty-yard fall. The combination of cold and pressure was instantly numbing, and it was all she could do to stop herself bolting back to safety and ordering Pete to check it out. But she could feel the boys watching every move – nothing for it but to do it.
She took a deep breath, braced hard against the shock and stepped forward. It knocked every last squeak of air straight back out of her. Eyes shut against the torrent, she could see nothing and fumbled forward a couple of tiny half steps, outstretched hands against the cliff, which remained depressingly solid under her frantic tapping. She stumbled again, bowed under by the weight of water, needing to breath but doubting there was much air around. On the next step the strength of the water trebled and she felt her panties start to loosen under the pressure. She grabbed frantically and just caught them at her knees.
Staggering under the deluge and the restriction around her legs, she leaned out with her free hand to find support from the cliff. It wasn’t there anymore. She started to fall, stepped out to save herself and cracked her shin against a rock. She cursed and stumbled over the obstruction, into the darkness, and suddenly she was out of the torrent of water. She stopped. She was in exactly the sort of hidden cave she had hoped to find. Shivering frantically, she pulled her underwear back up where it belonged and waited for her eyes to adjust. When they did, she could see that she had stepped through a big fissure in the rock, and the cave went back some distance. It was gloomy and cold, and she wasn’t doing any more exploring until she had some company. So she waited ... What on earth were they doing? She was freezing.
Finally, a heroic figure burst through the curtain of water – Pete, bare-chested, dragging a backpack in each hand. He shook like a dog and peered around him.
“Over here,” she called.
“Hey, nice job, this is great. He’ll never find us,” he said, dumping the backpacks.
Sam grabbed hers and started to pull out clothes, boots and finally her sarong with trembling hands. Meanwhile, Lens stumbled, thrashing, through the screen of spray. Before he could wipe the water from his face and figure which way was up, Pete had stepped forward to pull him away from the edge and get him safely inside the cave.
“C-c-cold ...” Lens mumbled, as he wiped at his face, then looked around him as his vision cleared. “Whoa ... this is p-p-p-perfect,” he said, adding several seconds later, “Very, L-l-l-last of the Mohicans – ‘Stay alive – I w-w-w-will find you.’ And all that.”
“Yeah, well, let’s hope there isn’t too much of that finding people going on,” said Sam, wrapping the sarong around her so she could peel off her wet, clammy underwear.
“How can he p-p-p-possibly find us in here?” said Lens.
“Maybe he’s seen the film as well,” retorted Sam. Pete flipped open the flap on the side-pocket of his backpack and pulled out a flashlight, while Lens started to throw everything from his pack onto the floor in the search for a towel. The light flickered into the back of the cave, which stretched further than the flashlight could reach.
“Wow,” said Pete.
“We shouldn’t use the flashlight, in case he sees it,” said Sam.
Pete put his hand over the front of it so there was just a weaker red glow. “I don’t think it’ll be a problem till the sun goes down, but how’s that?”
“Good,” she replied. They were shouting over the noise from the waterfall.
Pete walked back into the cave. “There’s a fairly flat spot back here, and it’s almost dry, the spray’s not reaching it. I reckon, if we spread the tent and the sleeping mats out, we could make this pretty comfortable.”
Sam moved up beside him. It was quiet as well as dry. Weak, dappled blue light rippled across the rock. “Sounds good to me, I just want to eat and sleep,” she replied.
“All right, bring the packs up here then, and let’s get some food on.”
It took a few minutes for them to set out the camp and for the two men to change while Sam got the remaining stove going. She elected to stay in the sarong, so she could rinse her clothes. With the water on and heating, she snuggled up in her sleeping bag to get warm again. Pete lay down beside her, with his backpack as a pillow. Although the water was cold, the warmth of the outside air was infiltrating the cave, sufficient for it to be comfortable once the bracing effects of the shower started to wear off. Snug as a bug in a rug, she thought. A wave of euphoria hit her, perhaps it was just the effect of not having to walk, of being warm, clean, of not feeling hounded and chased and frightened. And being with Pete.
“So, anybody got any ideas on the best way back to civilization once we do get across the border? We must be a long way east of our original crossing point now,” said Pete, checking the water.
“It’ll never boil if you keep looking at it,” she told him.
He smiled.
“This valley is much bigger than what I remember from the satellite photos,” said Lens, also curled up in his sleeping bag. “It’s kind of weird, actually, but maybe I just remember it wrong.”
“Maybe we’ve found Shangri-La,” she said. “It fits the bill – lush, hidden Himalayan valley ...”
“Yeah, and maybe Shibde really will turn to dust if that damn sword crosses the border ...” muttered Pete.
“But whatever else, this river” – Lens waved at the waterfall – “must flow into the one we followed on the way in. So my guess is that if we just follow it downstream we’ll eventually come to somewhere we recognize to get back out.”
“We won’t be able to pick up the food stash from the lodge if we do that,” replied Pete.
“I’ve got most of what Vegas and I were carrying still in my pack,” said Lens, “so the three of us should be all right. It’ll get us back to a village somewhere, and we can probably buy enough rice to keep us going.”
“So long as we don’t stay here too long,” said Pete.
“Twenty-four hours?” she suggested.
Pete shrugged. “It’s just going to come down to luck, Jortse and those other guys could be anywhere by the time we leave here.”
Nobody responded to that unwelcome thought.
The water boiled, and Sam watched Pete add the packets of freeze-dried food to the pot. He lay back to wait again while it rehydrated. “I wasn’t completely sure you’d follow me and jump off that cliff blind like that,” he said. “Lens bottled it, I had to push him.”
“I trusted you,” she said, a little sleepily, and reached out for his hand. “What would you have done if I hadn’t gone for it?”
“I’d have dragged you over,” he said, “just like I did with Lens.”
“But you went first – I might have pulled out at the last moment.”
“I wasn’t going to let go of you, believe me. I wasn’t sticking around to see how Jortse reacted, and I wasn’t going to leave you up there on your own.” He shrugged. “I’d just have pulled you over with me if I had to.”
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely,” he said, and squeezed her hand.
And in that moment she knew that he didn’t just mean that he was serious about making her jump. Then his expression changed to one of concern.
“There’s blood on your cheek,” he said.
She felt with her hand, and then remembered. “It was a piece of rock, shrapnel, when they were shooting at us.”
“Let me see.” He got the flashlight out, and dabbed at her cheek with a piece of damp T-shirt. His touch is so gentle, she thought.
“It’s OK,” he said, “just a nick.”
“Do you think they’re all right?”
“Huh, who?”
“Those two
men that I shot.”
“The first one will be fine ... the second I didn’t see,” he admitted.
“I was aiming for his legs, but it was all happening so fast. I’ve shot lots of deer before, I never thought I’d be shooting at other people.”
“They were having a pretty good go at killing us, Sam, and that was after they threatened to keep us imprisoned for the rest of our lives. There’s no question that you saved us.”
“I suppose,” she said. She moved closer, and he took her in his arms and held her tight.
Chapter 26
Sam was half awake, warm and well-fed for the first time in days. Pete was beside her, the weight of his arm on her belly. She felt his hot breath on her face.
“Maybe we should go and check out the back of the cave,” he said. “You know, I haven’t had a proper kiss yet – well, not a warm one anyway.” He slid his hand inside the overlap of her sarong. And then down her stomach. He was about to discover that she was naked underneath it.
“OK,” she said before he got that far. She didn’t really want Lens watching.
“Come on then,” he said, and held out a hand. Pete pulled her up, and she slid out of the sleeping bag. He found the flashlight beside the backpack and they crept off. Lens was fiddling with something and didn’t even seem to notice their departure. Pete led the way, with Sam in one hand, the flashlight in the other, and they had barely gone fifteen yards when he stopped so quickly that she bumped straight into him.
“Look,” he said.
“What?” She moved up beside him as she spoke and saw for herself. Black water glowed in the faint red of the flashlight, a dark pool spread out before them. Pete let out a little more light and she could see that it was more or less circular, about two yards in diameter.
“It looks like it goes down forever,” he said.
“Let’s throw something in it,” she suggested.
Pete squatted and felt the floor, found a stone and leaned over the edge. It hit the water with a plop, and he followed it with the flashlight. As it vanished it seemed like the pool really did go on forever. “Make a wish,” he said.
“That we all live happily ever after,” she said.
“There you go,” he replied, pulling her to him, “bound to happen now.”
“Hey, guys,” said Lens, voice echoing hollow and slightly shaky from the front of the cave, “check this out, the freakin’ thing does get properly hot!”
“What?” said Pete, as they reluctantly separated. He shone the flashlight to light the way back. Lens was kneeling in his sleeping bag, with the sword now lying in front of him.
“I thought I’d just have a quick look,” said Lens, “see if I could figure out what the trick was – I don’t know if my head is spinning, I’m so wiped out or what, but I’m sure it’s getting warm. Feel it, it just ... gives me the creeps.”
Sam crouched down to lay a hand on the metal. “Oh. Sweet. Jesus,” she muttered, a cold trickle ran down her spine at the warm touch. She turned it over – a palpable sense of threat exuded from the polished steel. She wondered how many men had died on the blade.
“Scary, hey? At first I thought I was imagining it, but ...” Lens tailed off. “This thing frightens the living daylights out of me, it’s like The Mummy or something.”
“Hang on,” said Pete, “this is the twenty-first century, and you’ve watched too many movies.”
“Feel it!” said Sam, a shudder running up her spine.
Pete squatted down beside her. “There has to be an explanation,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s freakin’ supernatural,” said Lens, with feeling. “Maybe we should dump it after all.”
“There’s a bottomless pool of water back there,” said Sam, thinking again about the fight on the border – hadn’t she seen him fend off bullets with it? “We should deep-six it,” she said, instinctively.
Lens was already pushing the sword at her. “Go for it, it’s the perfect hiding place, just what I’ve been saying ...”
“But what about if he catches us?” said Pete. “We’ve got nothing to negotiate with, you said you wanted to control it.”
“If it goes in that pool, it’s lost to humanity forever, how can that be a bad thing?” said Sam.
“OK, but if Jortse catches us?” asked Pete.
“We’ll tell him what we did, he won’t be able to retrieve it and he won’t be able to kill us with it. Then there are three of us and one of him.”
Pete was silent for a moment, then he nodded. “All right,” he said.
She grabbed her shirt, wrapped it around the grip and picked up the sword. Pete led the way back towards the pool, shining the flashlight ahead. Then the sun dipped below the lip of the cave’s roof and iridescent light exploded into the gloomy space, scattering off a billion droplets and showering rainbows. They all turned back towards the entrance, just as Jortse parted the curtain of water – backlit by the spectrum of dancing light, his coat swirling around him, hat still in place and a hunting knife raised in his right hand.
They were all transfixed, but the sword was glowing warm in Sam’s hands and she snapped out of it quicker than the others. She started to run for the edge of the pool. She didn’t know how he’d found them or what she was holding, but it scared the hell out of her and she knew that there was only one safe place for it.
“Stop!” The single word roared through the cave, filled every crack and crevice.
Sam couldn’t do anything but obey, short of the water, too far to guarantee a throw, she turned to look back. Slow to escape the sleeping bag, Lens had only scrabbled a few feet before he had been caught. Now Jortse stood over him with his left arm around Lens’s neck, and in his right hand, the knife.
“I’ll kill him,” said Jortse, only slightly less loudly. “Don’t doubt it. Now give me the sword.”
Pete was halfway between them, he turned to look at her – neither of them doubted it for one moment.
“Is it getting hot?” asked Jortse. “You can’t hold it forever. Only the Seeker can use the sword of Dali Shakabpu.”
“Thanks for your concern, but I’ve got an oven glove.” She held up the sword to show the shirt wrapped around the grip, pleased at how steady her voice was.
“You’re no prince of Shibde,” gasped Lens, his voice was strangled, strained by the arm round his throat, the steel on his skin. “You’re just another killer.”
“Ha – those idiot pacifists have brought my people only subjugation and pain and torture and death,” retorted Jortse. “If we are to die, we might as well die with a weapon in our hands. Now give me the sword.” He hauled Lens to his feet and started to approach her.
“But what about –” gurgled Lens.
“Give me the sword,” insisted Jortse, choking him off.
“He’s innocent, he’s done nothing to hurt you,” retorted Sam, backing away and raising the sword. Jortse’s anger had consumed him. She gripped the blade a little tighter to try to stop her hands shaking. When the pool was close on her right-hand side, she stood her ground. “I wouldn’t get within swinging distance if I were you.”
Jortse was three yards away. He hesitated, then stopped his advance. “If he and his friend had stayed to help Tashi, we’d have been at the border before the storm. It would have been five against five and none of this would have happened. So give it to me. I will take no pleasure in killing him, or you, but I’ve come too far to lose the sword.”
“We came here to chase a dream too,” said Sam, more quietly. She had the sniff of an idea and started to force her shoulder blades out against the wrapped friction of the sarong. “We gave that up for you, we did our best for you, now I ask that, in the same spirit, you let him go.”
“I have given up my whole life for this, it’s the only chance my people have for freedom. Now give me the sword.”
“Lens? What do you want me to do?” she asked. The sword was hot through the shirt, but this had to be convincing.
“I ..
. I ...” Lens was close to tears, voice rasping, the blade scraping up and down on his bobbling Adam’s apple. “Give it to him ...” he gasped, finally.
She had been relying on that answer. She fixed her gaze on Jortse, refusing to be unnerved by the soulless, blank eyes. “What guarantees do we have for our safety once we give it to you?”
“My absolute word as a prince of Shibde. I wish you no harm if you do not obstruct me. My fight is with others.”
She nodded, dropped her stance and held the sword out on the flat upturned palms of both hands. Jortse visibly relaxed. Then she took a step forward, and as she did so the sarong dropped. She squealed and grabbed at it with her left hand, and the sword began to slide off the palm of her right. The sarong landed on the floor. Naked, Sam’s hands and arms shot to cover herself. The sword bounced on its point and tottered.
Jortse watched it fall and saw the pool it was plunging towards. He released his grip on Lens and pushed him out of the way to save the weapon. Lens wriggled clear; the sword hit the water without a sound. Sam hadn’t taken her eyes off Jortse’s face, and saw his expression of absolute despair as the sword disappeared. He dived forwards to go after it. She felt the splash of water on her feet, it was freezing. He disappeared into the blank darkness of the pool. She hadn’t been expecting that. She’d been expecting to have to explain how she’d lost it. There was silence for a few seconds, and she took the opportunity to rewrap the sarong.
“I don’t know about you two,” said Lens, “but I’m getting the hell out of here,” and he ran back towards his gear.
“Shouldn’t we try to help him?” said Pete.
“How?” she asked. “You don’t want to go in after him. I felt that thing, there was something ... something about it. Anyway, he’s wearing such heavy clothes, swimming would be next to impossible. And that water is as close to freezing as it gets without being rock hard. For once, Lens is right, let’s go.” She was back beside her pack before she had finished speaking, and then they were all stuffing gear into the backpacks.
Powder Burn (Burn with Sam Blackett #1) Page 19