The Sea-wreck Stranger

by Anna Mackenzie

  A sigh of relief escapes me. ‘It’s not far now,’ I tell him, twitching the rope from its hold. As I turn, my boot slides on a loose stone and I stumble, throwing out an arm to save myself but finding only air.

  With a cry like a young gull I tumble from the cliff. The sensation of falling ends as my cheek connects with solid rock, my head exploding in an arc of pain which quickly gives way to darkness.

  Someone is pounding on my head with a hammer. The thought stumbles up at me from the darkness but the throbbing sends it back.

  ‘Ness!’ a voice calls.

  Whoever it is, I wish they’d leave me alone. I hurt too much. I let myself drift away from whoever is lifting me, tugging at me.

  ‘Wake up, Ness.’

  Outrage fills me. Why shouldn’t I sleep? I’ve scarcely slept in weeks. The voice doesn’t give up. I try to turn away but Sophie has pushed me out of bed. The floor is hard and lumpy beneath me. With a moan of protest I open my eyes.

  Rock greets me, close by my face, cold against my skin. My vision is fuzzy and I blink to clear it.

  ‘Are you all right?’

  I realise the voice is Dev’s. I nod slightly. Waves of pain pulse through me. My face hurts. I lift a hand to my cheek and stare uncomprehending at the blood on my fingers.

  ‘You gave yourself quite a crack,’ Dev says. ‘You were lucky the ledge broke your fall.’

  Broke me, more like, I think.

  ‘I don’t think you’ve broken any bones. Do you think you can make it to the top?’ he asks.

  It comes to me at last that we’re on the cliff path. In a hurry. ‘I’m just a bit dizzy,’ I say, struggling to stand.

  ‘Slowly now!’ Dev grips my arm as nausea catches me.

  Dev settles me back against the rock. A tear leaks down my cheek, stinging as it reaches the cut.

  ‘It’s all right, Ness.’ Dev wraps an arm round my shoulders. ‘We’ll just sit for a minute – I could do with a rest. I didn’t really believe I could manage the climb, not with my leg the way it is. But we’ve not far to go now.’

  I lean against him, listening not to his words but to the gentle twist he gives them, as though he’s turned the sounds slightly sideways. The smooth flow of his voice soothes me. The pain in my head is receding, making way for the throbbing of grazes on my back and side. ‘I’m sorry,’ I say at last.

  Dev gives my shoulders a gentle squeeze, and I feel a sudden confusion. I’ve never been held by any man other than my father. ‘What have you to be sorry for?’ he asks. ‘I’ve brought you nothing but trouble and you’ve saved my life at least twice by my reckoning. It’s about time I had the chance to even the score. I only wish I could have saved you the fall.’

  We sit in silence. My thoughts stray to the little that Dev’s told me of his world. I wonder if he has a family, and what the place he lives in looks like. I’d ask him if we had time to spare, but we haven’t. The sense of urgency I lost with my fall begins to creep slowly back. Besides which, I’m hungry. Unfolding as slowly as a moth leaving its cocoon, I reach into my pocket for the bread rolls I stashed there a long while ago. ‘How long since we started up the cliff?’ I ask, nudging my brain into gear.

  Dev shrugs. ‘An hour, maybe less.’

  I look at the sky. Sophie and Colm will be back from Harman’s Ridge soon, and as well as Colm, I’ve Jed to worry about. How long, I wonder, would it take Ton to organise a search party, if Jed tells him what he’s seen? We’ve still to find somewhere for Dev to hide. ‘Come on,’ I say, clambering unsteadily to my feet.

  Alone, I’d go straight to Merryn, but her farm will be one of the first places Ton thinks to search, and it would put her at risk if Dev was found there. We need somewhere that’s linked to no one and where no one will think to look – and I know suddenly where that is.

  When we stagger at last onto the headland, I turn my back on the track to Merryn’s, seeking instead the overgrown path that leads to where the long-abandoned cottages lie in ruins above the sea.

  Chapter 25

  ‘There’s talk,’ colm’s voice carries out into the yard, ‘and I’m sorry to say that it reflects badly on your family.’

  Colm doesn’t sound sorry, and Marn’s reply is muffled. I slide out of sight along the wall. I’m tired and I’ve no desire to face Colm again tonight. Dev and I argued over this and I’m wishing now I hadn’t won.

  It was true, what I’d said: to buy Dev time to escape, I had to return to Leewood. If I didn’t, Jed’s story would be believed and they’d start searching straightaway for the stranger he’d seen. At the same time, I could hardly argue my innocence if I disappeared for a night. But as exhaustion sweeps up in a wave that seems like to break and drown me, I’m regretting my haste.

  ‘There are rumours about your niece,’ I hear Colm say.

  I don’t want to hear his rumours. My head is aching and my cheek feels raw and swollen. Slipping round the corner of the house, I’m startled to come face to face with Sophie. She raises a finger to her lips then beckons me to follow her.

  ‘Ness!’ she hisses, when we reach the slight safety of the hen house. ‘Where have you been? What happened to your face?’ she adds, belatedly taking in the state of me.

  I let myself sink into the musty smelling straw. I’m too tired to offer explanations. Sophie stands before me, hands on hips, as tears of exhaustion dribble down my cheeks. Suddenly she reaches into a nesting box, cracking the two eggs she finds into the tin cup we use for measuring feed and stirring the mix with her finger. ‘Here,’ she says, ‘eat.’

  The grainy egg slides down my throat, and I do feel a little better. The walk back from the headland is scarce more than a blur in my mind. I think I’ve maybe been asleep on my feet most of the way. ‘Where’s Ty?’ I ask.

  ‘Helping you with the goats,’ Sophie answers. ‘When Colm and I got back, I sent him off to find you.’

  ‘Long ago?’

  She nods. ‘Long enough for Colm to grow suspicious. He wasn’t too pleased when we didn’t find Marn – nor when we ended up in a bog.’ She laughs briefly, but settles as she studies my face. ‘Ness, what happened?’

  A scratching at the door stops any answer I might make but we both start to breath again as Ty’s tousled head appears around the frame. ‘About time,’ he says. ‘Come on. We’d best go in.’

  ‘But –’

  ‘You have to face them. It looks better that way,’ he says.

  ‘We’ll tell them you had a fall. It explains why you’re so late, and that cut on your face as well,’ Sophie adds. I can feel their curiosity lapping around me like water.

  ‘I did fall,’ I say.

  Ty shrugs. ‘If you pretend to be a bit woozy it’ll get you out of saying anything, at least for now.’

  It’s not a pretence that will require much effort, I think, grateful for the arm Ty wraps around my shoulders. ‘You needn’t overdo it,’ he mutters as I stagger off course.

  I’m too tired to find an answer. As we open the door, Colm and Marn turn to face us, their expressions – one accusing, one concerned – sharply etched.

  ‘Ness is hurt,’ Sophie announces.

  Marn’s furrowed face swims before me as I slide away from all of them, legs buckling beneath me as soon as Ty loosens his grip. There seems no point in battling. Just for a moment I yearn for the quiet comfort of Dev’s shoulder, then the soothing blackness of earlier returns to wrap protective arms around me.

  ‘Ness, wake up. Ton’s downstairs.’

  I open my eyes a crack, closing them as quickly as brightness knifes into them. ‘Leave me alone, Sophie,’ I murmur, but she doesn’t. She shakes my shoulder, setting my brains a-jangle and reminding me too closely of yesterday’s adventures.

  ‘Marn sent me up to fetch you. Ness, Jed’s here as well.’

  Jed. An unpleasant taste creeps into my mouth. ‘Sophie, I can’t,’ I wail. ‘I can’t face them.’

  She eyes me a moment then shrugs and stands up. ‘I’ll tell
them you’re sick,’ she says. ‘You look it at least.’

  A few minutes later heavy footsteps sound on the stairs and Marn marches through the door, seeming to fill the room to overflowing. ‘Sick or not, I want you up,’ he says. ‘Ton wishes to speak to you.’

  I push myself to sitting, my face screwed tight against the storm that’s raging in my skull. Satisfied that I’ll do as I’m bid, Marn turns away. At the doorway he pauses, one hand on the latch. ‘Ness, have you anything to tell me?’

  I shake my head.

  ‘Then be sure you’re down quick,’ he says.

  Marn is waiting stiff and straight in front of the fire when I walk carefully down the stairs. Beside him Ton stands wide-legged and puff-chested, the lines of his face hard and closed. His right shoulder is bandaged, his arm bound in a sling against his chest. It reminds me briefly of Dev but the similarity goes no further.

  ‘Come here, Ness,’ Marn says.

  I go to stand in front of him, my heart working over-hard so that I fear they might see how it shakes me.

  ‘Ton has come to me with a concern involving you,’ Marn says. My stomach clenches tight. I grasp my hands together to hide their tremor. ‘I’m going to ask you a question and I expect an honest answer.’ Marn’s voice is heavy and slow.

  I nod.

  ‘Is it true that you often go to the bay?’

  I swallow at the lump that fills my throat. ‘Yes.’ I tell him. Marn’s face offers no clue to how far this will lead. ‘I never shirk my chores,’ I add in haste. ‘You know that! I work as hard as any. Harder.’

  Ton clears his throat and Marn’s eyes flick towards him before they return to me. ‘No one is saying otherwise, Ness. But you know that the sea is not part of our life.’

  ‘Nor anything from it,’ Ton puts in.

  I look at him, seeing a similarity to Jed in his face, but Ton’s features are both harsher – worn so by the weather – and softer. He hasn’t Jed’s cruelty.

  ‘I’ve been going there for as long as I can remember,’ I say.

  ‘For what purpose?’ Ton barks.

  I lift my chin and answer him straight. ‘For Pa,’ I say. ‘I go to the bay because I can remember him there.’

  A muscle twitches in Marn’s face. It’s not the answer he expected.

  ‘You go because you’re disobedient and wilful,’ growls Ton. ‘And for worse reasons besides, I’ll warrant.’

  Marn raises a hand to still Ton’s words. ‘Ness, the truth now,’ he says. ‘Have you ever seen anyone else at the bay?’

  ‘No,’ I say, trying to gauge how much Ton knows. ‘Only …’ I look down. ‘Ty used to come with me.’ I try to make this sound like a confession, regretfully given – and I will regret it if Ty is punished for his part. ‘But he doesn’t any more,’ I add. ‘He doesn’t remember Pa much. I’ve not seen anyone else.’

  ‘She’s lying,’ Jed says from behind my shoulder. ‘I’ve seen her there. And I’ve seen the cave where she has a man hidden – a stranger.’

  I shake my head, looking from Marn to Ton and back again. Their expressions tell me they neither of them believe me. Suddenly Sophie steps into the room from the shadow of the stairs. I doubt any of us had realised she was there. ‘I’ve seen things, too,’ she says, her voice calm and quiet. I glance at her but she doesn’t meet my eyes. Her gaze is fixed on Marn.

  ‘I’ve seen the way Jed follows Ness; the way he looks at her. I’ve heard the threats he makes, and the way he tries to scare her.’ She turns to face Jed. ‘Have you told Ton about the time you trapped Ness in the pantry?’ she asks. ‘What would have happened, Jed, if I hadn’t come when I did?’

  Jed’s face goes a mottled red and his fists clench at his sides. ‘This is lies,’ he cries, but Marn holds up a hand to silence him.

  Sophie has us all mesmerised. She is gazing intently at her father. ‘Ask her how she got that cut on her cheek,’ she challenges. ‘Ask her what happened yesterday afternoon! Jed followed her. He asked permission to go home – he said that’s where he was going – but he didn’t. He hid and followed Ness. I saw him.’

  The room crackles with tension as she finishes her speech. Marn doesn’t ask. He turns his eyes from Sophie to Jed, to Ton, and finally to me. I can feel my face flush and I hang my head. I’m stunned to silence by Sophie’s nerve.

  ‘Jed?’ Ton finally barks.

  Jed licks his lips. ‘It’s not like she says,’ he starts, ‘It’s true that I followed her but …’ Those words seal the case.

  ‘Outside,’ Ton barks, the muscles of his jaw working as he stares his son down. ‘My apologies, Marn, for disturbing you.’ Strain shows in his voice. ‘You’ve always been a good neighbour.’ He glances at me, gesturing awkwardly with his hand as if to wave aside the challenge he made, before he turns abruptly for the door.

  Watching the expression on his face change as his eyes settle on his son, I feel a rush of guilt. I’ve no business letting Ton make this assumption; I should tell him that Jed isn’t responsible for my battered face, at least, not directly. Gathering my courage I open my mouth, but as I meet Jed’s eyes, the venom in his look hits me like a blow. I step back involuntarily. His face has told me as clear as if he shouted that it’s him or me now. I push the guilt aside.

  As soon as the door closes on Ton’s back, Marn turns me to face him. ‘Did Jed hurt you, Ness, other than this?’ he asks, indicating my face.

  I shake my head. He would now, I don’t doubt. And he can. All he has to do is find Dev. After that he’ll be believed in whatever lies he tells.

  ‘Go upstairs, Ness. I’ll tell Tilda you’re ill.’

  ‘I’m all right,’ I say.

  ‘Upstairs.’ Marn’s tone brooks no argument.

  Sophie comes later to tell me I’m to stay in my room. ‘Marn’s gone out but he said you were to stay here,’ she says. ‘Tilda’s in a rage, so you’re safest out of her way.’ She hesitates. ‘Ness, I think Marn’s gone to the bay.’

  I nod. Marn doesn’t believe me, but nor does he quite believe Jed. I feel sorry, suddenly, that we’re all of us lying.

  ‘Sophie, don’t …’ I want to tell her not to change, not to become someone other than my sweet little cousin, but I can’t find the words to say it.

  She tosses her head. ‘I’ve said nothing untrue,’ she says, ‘and I won’t. But I won’t let them take you either,’ she adds fiercely. ‘Ton has no right to come here accusing you, and Jed’ll get what he deserves. He’s a bully, and worse.’

  ‘I fell, Sophie. It wasn’t –’

  She holds up her hand. ‘If you don’t tell me, I can’t know for sure,’ she says. ‘I can only guess, same as everyone else.’

  I’m silenced by her certainty.

  That night I dream I’m standing on the seaward slope of Cullin Hill directly below the scarp. Out to sea the cloud twists thick above the water, curtaining me from the world. Oftentimes I’ve stood there wondering at what lies beyond. Some days it’s hard to tell sea from sky, but in my dream the cloud is a dark smudge like a bruise while the water below is chopped and broken by waves. Watching the crests of the waves curl and shatter, I feel my heart jumping with them, irregular and fast.

  Directly in front of me a bridge leads out into the cloud and there’s a compulsion in me to take it. As if something pulls me against my will, I step slowly onto the flimsy wooden slats. As soon as I do, the bridge begins to shake and I know that someone – or something – is trying to dislodge me. I have no choice but to go on, into the mist that lies ahead. As the first cold tendrils begin to stroke my flesh I realise the mist is alive, and hungry.

  I wake breathless and bathed in sweat. Beside me Sophie is turning restlessly, and I tell myself that explains away my dream. But it doesn’t explain the sense of dread – for what’s behind as much as for what’s to come – or that, even awake, I can’t seem to stop my heart from pounding.

  Chapter 26

  In the morning the kitchen is empty when I go downstairs.
I nudge the fire into life and set about making porridge. Marn’s jacket is missing but Ty appears soon enough carrying an armload of wood. He shrugs when I ask after Marn. Sophie, when she straggles down the stairs, is equally subdued, so that we three eat in silence, each wrapped in our thoughts and not ready to share them.

  It’s almost a blessing to busy myself with my chores though my cheek is swollen and tender and my head aches dully if I move too fast. When I glanced in the mirror this morning the bruising was dark beneath my eye, highlighting the cut which runs diagonally across my cheekbone. I was lucky, I know, to get off so lightly, though I still feel more sorry for myself than not.

  My thoughts stray to Dev and I chastise myself for not acting sooner, for not going to Merryn for help, for not moving Dev a week ago. Regrets are easy.

  At midday Marn appears, dour and silent. He’s all but finished the meal I set before him when we’re startled by the sound of men in the yard.

  ‘Afternoon, Marn,’ Colm says, as Marn opens the door to his knock.

  Marn acknowledges him with a nod. He looks as wary as I feel, while the men at Colm’s shoulder seem inclined to look anywhere but directly at us.

  ‘It’s been said,’ Colm announces, ‘that a stranger has been sheltering in the bay below your farm. We’d like permission to search the beach.’

  Marn frowns. ‘If it were true, I’d know of it,’ he says, ‘but you’re welcome to look. Who made the claim?’

  ‘I don’t see that it matters.’

  ‘Jed,’ Marn says, answering the question himself. ‘I’ve given him a roof over his head and a welcome in my home, and the way he’s repaid me is less than worthy.’ He reaches suddenly and takes hold of my arm, pulling me forward to stand beside him. Colour rises in my cheeks and I look away. They’re none of them to know that it’s guilt that stains my face.