Pointing Leaf

by Lakes, Lynde

  “What are all those tiny lights up there?”

  “Glow worms.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” It was hard to talk with her teeth chattering from the cold. She almost bumped into the spear-like stalagmite formed from the floor to meet the stalactite above.

  “No joke. If I remember correctly the crevice waterfall is just ahead. We can rest there.”

  She flashed the light on her watch. Three in the morning.

  By the time she heard the roar of the falls, her feet felt like lead. Strange, the air suddenly became warmer, and her skin turned dewy from the humid spray that misted the atmosphere. Still no sight of any falls. Then ahead, there it was. It blocked their way and dropped from above at least forty-feet with silvery waters crashing into a swirling pool of foam and mist.

  Rad placed the box of provisions on the stone floor. He lit the lantern and placed it on a ledge. The flame threw images onto the wall. Shadows of Toni and Rad danced there like lovers. Next to them, icicle stalactites reaching toward lacy spears of stalagmites, reflected like prehistoric demons.

  Toni stooped and dipped her finger into the pool at the base of the falls.

  “This is warm!” The echo of her raised voice bounced off the walls of the cavern.

  “Tukaha told me that in years past, Maori women came to swim here.

  They liked seeing themselves in the mirrored pool. It was said that the water embodied magic and that those who swam here became more beautiful.”

  “Guess I’d better take a swim.”

  He looked into her eyes. “You don’t need it.”

  Embarrassed, she glanced away. She had shamelessly hinted for that pitiful compliment. Instantly, she was sorry.

  “The brightness here from the glow worms is extraordinary,” she whispered in awe, “as if the ceiling blazes with ten-thousand tiny, clear, Christmas bulbs.”

  “Turn off the flashlight, and save the batteries. Besides, with the lantern lit, you don’t need it.”

  The last of the romantics, she thought. Toni rubbed her sweater-covered thawing arms, glad to get feeling back into them.

  “Are you cold?” He stepped toward her.

  She had an urge to walk into his arms. She remembered their heat, their strength. She retreated a step. “Not anymore. The air is warmer here.”

  “The thermal underground stream feeds into the pool and heats the air, primitive steam heat.”

  “With enough power to run a thermal generator?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Hmmm. The puzzle pieces are falling into place.” She felt her excitement rising. “I’m going in. Maybe there’s a way out behind the falls.” She sat down on a rock and started taking off her boots.

  “Stay here. I’ll check it out.” Rad quickly removed his sweater and shirt. It seemed he was always getting naked around her. Her breath caught. In the dim light, the shadow of his upper body magnified on the cave’s wall, like a giant warrior. The man himself looked no less impressive. Toni fought the urge to reach out and touch him. Imagining if she did, his powerful, work-hardened arms would close around her.

  A piercing cry echoed through the cave.

  It sounded like a cross between a wolf’s howl and a blackbird’s caw. “Good God! What was that?”

  He shook his head. “It came from beyond the waterfall.”

  Rad took off his boots and unzipped his jeans. Underneath he still wore his black swim briefs.

  Would she have been embarrassed if he’d worn something other than a swimsuit? Or nothing?

  Again, the piercing cry bounced off the rock walls.

  The Maori drawing on the wall at the entrance of the cave portrayed a

  creature with a man’s body, a bird’s head and the tail of wolf. Toni shuddered. She knew of no creature like that in existence. And certainly didn’t want to meet him face to face.

  “I’ll take a look,” Rad said, touching her shoulder.

  Before Toni could protest, he dove into the steamy water, surfaced, and swam in smooth, even strokes toward the waterfall. When he reached the swirling foam at the base of the falls, he dipped under the cascading shield and disappeared.

  Toni glanced at her watch. Five minutes, then she was going in after him. Not wanting to get her clothes wet, she undressed to her bra and panties and sat down shivering on the boulder to wait.

  The roar of the glassy falls crashed in an unending chorus of water meeting water. Rainbows danced through shimmering cascades until the falling froth met the dark, swirling thermal pool. Toni stared into the veils of mist floating above the surface at the point where Rad had vanished. Her skin felt moist from the steam, her face a little flushed.

  Five minutes passed, and he wasn’t back. Toni stood and paced a few steps. She clenched and unclenched her hands. Then she took a deep breath and dove in. Swimming to the falls was like swimming into the path of a roaring flood. Rushing waters pushed her back as she struggled forward. Her arms and legs ached, but she refused to quit. She gained distance. The pool was as hot as a Jacuzzi until she reached the falls, and then it turned icy. She dipped under and swam ten stokes to a ledge that led into a tunnel-extension of the cave. The ceiling gleamed with thousands of glow worms. With effort, she lifted herself onto the hard rock. Water dripped from her body and hair, leaving puddles, as she walked hesitantly deeper into the tunnel. Only the mass of glow worms lighted her way. Soon their number became fewer, the light dimmer. She winced when cobwebs brushed across her face. It was getting colder the farther she went.

  Toni heard a moan. A shiver slipped down her spine. She heard it again just ahead. Then she saw him, slumped on the floor, like the giant who’d fallen from Jack’s beanstalk.

  “Rad, are you all right?”

  “Get out, quick!” His tone carried pain and urgency.

  She stooped and put his arm around her neck. “Not without you,” she whispered. “Come on. Lean on me.” Using all her strength she helped him to his feet. Toni stumbled back the way she had come, moving relatively fast, considering she was half carrying Rad.

  They were almost to the falls. She felt the mist cool on her skin.

  A piercing bird-wolf call rang out behind them, and rapid footfalls thundered closer.

  “Leave me. Save yourself.” Rad’s voice tightened with tension. “It’s Manu-wuruhi-tane!”

  “The falls are just ahead. Don’t stop now.” She pulled him along. Then she pushed him into the water, and jumped in after him. The coolness seemed to renew his strength; he grabbed her hand, and together they dipped under the falls. They swam beneath the surface of the pool until they reached the other side.

  She heard a splash and looked back.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Don’t be scared,” Rad said in a tone Toni knew was supposed to comfort her. “That splash may’ve been a loosened boulder falling from above.”

  Toni stared at the cascading waters, not at all sure it was only that.

  She felt Rad’s strength as he lifted her out of the water and placed her on the side of the pool. Lantern flame and eerie light from the ceiling glow worms, like ten-thousand fireflies, allowed her to see Rad clearly as he hoisted himself from the water onto the ledge.

  His breathing was heavy. “In case I’m wrong,” he said, “we’d better take cover.”

  Rad drew her behind a boulder. He let go of her hand but didn’t step away. He smoothed his wet hair back from his face. The scent of wet flesh and damp hair mingled. Tiny rivulets streamed from his body and formed a puddle at his feet and merged with her own small pool.

  “You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met,” he said.

  “It’s part of the service.” She couldn’t keep the slight quiver out of her voice.

  “Don’t make light of it.” His brown eyes were warm and intense with sincerity. “The risk you took…” Rad’s voice cracked. “When a person saves my life, I never forget it.”

  “I know,” she said softly. She had earned a friend for l
ife. Even though Rad’s trust had been wrongly placed in Tinihanga, it had been unconditional and unshakable. The thought of him caring for her that strongly, even as a friend, made a shiver slip down her spine.

  “If the legend is true, we’re safe now. The tale claims Manu-wuruhi-tane can’t swim.”

  She scanned the swirling waters. “And I’m supposed to trust a myth?”

  ****

  Rad didn’t blame her skepticism. Fighting his own doubts, he concentrated on Toni’s face, trying to ignore that she wore only a wet clinging bra and panties.

  “Did you see it?” Her breath came in deep gasps.

  “Clearly. It was a man with a bird’s head and wolf’s tail. It charged and knocked me down. I must have hit my head against the cave wall.”

  “Are you all right?”

  He nodded, noticing the way Toni looked up at him with a searching gaze, as if she wanted to verify for herself that he wasn’t hurt. Her interest in his safety seemed more than a professional concern.

  Rad couldn’t see the color of her eyes in the dim lighting. But he didn’t have to; he had memorized the shade, the palest of green in a sunlit rainbow. The freckles sprinkled across her slender nose weren’t visible either, yet

  he knew there were exactly fourteen. Her lips trembled. In less perilous circumstances, the most natural thing in the world would’ve been to bend and press his lips against hers to still the quiver. The last time he’d kissed her, Tinihanga had caught him off guard. He couldn’t let something like that happen again. Still, he’d never forget the fire he’d found simmering beneath her professional cool.

  Toni rubbed her arms. “You don’t really think that thing is supernatural, do you?”

  “I can only tell you what I saw. It looked exactly like the drawing on the cave wall. I’m sure it’s hard for you to believe in Maori legends, but don’t discount them completely.” For some reason he couldn’t come right out and say that he half believed this myth.

  “Are you certain it can’t get at us?” She darted a glance toward the falls.

  “Not at all sure. We’d better arm ourselves.”

  “Any ideas?” Her gaze searched the cave as if she wanted to come up with solutions of her own.

  He tried to concentrate on the problem at hand, but the images and senses he had ignored a few moments before began replaying in slow motion. He had lifted Toni out of the pool effortlessly, her auburn hair a mass of dripping ringlets from the top of her head to her ivory shoulders. Her accelerated breathing had made the already clinging bra even more transparent.

  “Take off your bra.”

  “What?” She stepped back from him. Her eyes hardened like jade. It was as if all the light in the cavern had been drawn there to explode into sparks of outrage.

  “I need the elastic and cloth to make a slingshot. We can hold off an attack here if we’re prepared.”

  “Slingshot? Who do you think you are, David?”

  “Unless you have a better idea, strip.”

  She stared at him a moment as if undecided. He turned away to give her the privacy to take off the bra and re-dress. Rad glanced at Toni’s shadow on the cave wall. Thank Atua she wasn’t arguing. She removed the bra.

  He hadn’t intended to watch, but his eyes had a will of their own. His gaze fixed on the gracefully disrobing silhouette. Even after their support was gone, her breasts remained pert and high. Toni’s shadow curved in all the right places just as the living woman did. When she lifted her arms to slip her sweater on over her head, her breasts rose. Rad’s breathing went shallow, and he felt a warming in his groin. She stepped out of her panties. His heart pumped harder. Now she was slipping on her slacks. He felt lecherous for watching. She hadn’t stripped to be ogled by him. She did what had to be done to save their lives. In his present frame of mind, the sooner he got dressed the better. He removed his swim briefs to give them a chance to dry and quickly pulled on his jeans and slipped on his shirt and sweater.

  Back in control of his emotions, he set about the immediate task of looking for the stones he needed. They had to be the right size and shape. The two he settled on weren’t perfectly formed for the job, but he’d make them do. He began filing one against the wall to make it more Y-shaped.

  “What can I do to help?” Her voice carried a partner-like eagerness he liked. She’d tied her wet hair back with her lime-colored scarf. Her green turtleneck sweater and slacks covered most of her skin, but her breasts and hips were bare underneath. The thought brought a pleasant warmth to his groin.

  When he showed her how to fasten the elastic to the filed stone, their hands brushed. Their gazes met. He yearned to crush her to his chest and capture her lips with his own. His voice cracked when he tried to force a firmness into it. “I think you have the idea now.”

  Rad thrust the stone into her hand and stepped backward several steps. He had to get away from her fire, or he’d do something very unwise. Toni learned fast, and while he made another, she finished up the first slingshot.

  “We need a stash of sharp, marble sized rocks for ammunition. See if you can gather some. But stay in sight.” Toni moved swiftly, graceful as a gazelle, gathering rocks in the folded edge of her sweater. She darted glances toward the waterfall as she worked. While she stacked a supply of rocks in a pile, he sharpened a pointed rock into a dagger.

  “Rad, up there!” Her eyes widened as she pointed.

  Rad heard the rustling on the ledge above them, too. Crouching, he and Toni tensed, ready with their rock-armed slingshots.

  A bat flapped its wings and spiraled upward toward the top of the falls. Toni’s released a relieved exhale. They exchanged glances and laughed. “I guess I’m getting a little high-strung,” she said. “Mixing with bikers, killers, kidnappers, and a man with a bird’s head and a wolf’s tail all within one waking period must have taken its toll.”

  She did some deep breathing, then started exercising. With a graceful arm over her head, she arched her body and bent sideways toward the floor.

  Rad smiled. She was poetry in motion, as delicate as butterflies, as ethereal as angels soaring into the heavens. He was too aware of her, more than he dared to be with danger facing them.

  Suddenly, the piercing cry of Manu-wuruhi-tane echoed around them, bouncing off the rock walls of the cave like screams of death.

  Toni’s body was rigid when he pulled her behind the boulder. “It’ll be all right,” he said. “We’re prepared.”

  “Oh sure, with two makeshift slingshots and a dagger,” she said in a tone sharpened by a nervous wit.

  Her admirable spirit in the face of danger bouyed his own spirits.

  Still, the cascading falls and rushing waters would drown out any footfalls. He swallowed. His mouth tasted metallic from tension. His palms were slippery with sweat. Time ticked by. Neither of them spoke. For a while Toni stood with her slingshot aimed at the waterfall. Then she sank down against the boulder with her knees against her chest.

  After an hour with no sign of the birdman, he said, “Looks like a false alarm.”

  Toni nodded and blinked her drowsy eyes. The gutsy lady was dead on her feet. Rad glanced at his watch. 4:00 A.M. They’d gone twenty-three hours without rest. Rad rose and grabbed a sleeping bag.

  “I’ll keep watch,” he said. “Sleep awhile. I’ll wake you if there’s trouble.” He unzipped the bag and laid it flat like a blanket. “Come on.” When she hesitated, he said, “At least close your eyes a few minutes.” He patted the sleeping bag.

  “Okay, but only a cat nap,” she said as she lay down. “We have to try to get out. We can’t just wait here to die.”

  He saw strength in the determined set of her chin and something else, a softness that made him want to protect her.

  “Don’t worry; we’ll think of something.” Rad wished he was as certain as he had tried to sound. He rested his back against the boulder, positioning

  himself so he could see any approaching danger.

  Toni turned on
her side. In minutes her breathing evened. She didn’t look like the agile, courageous detective who had taken down two men in one swoop only hours ago. Now she formed a very feminine mound of curves and planes, her sweater resting loosely over ample breasts and curving to a small waist, legs slightly bent and crossed at the calves. Her palms, pressed together as if in prayer, rested under her left ear.

  The flame of the lantern cast a glow on her face. Her dark auburn eyelashes formed silky crescents beneath finely shaped eyebrows. He ached to trace her gracefully defined jaw line with his fingers. His flesh burned, remembering their first kiss. What would it be like to feather kisses from her delicate ear lobe to the descent of her fine cheekbone then capture her lips with his? Would it be as powerful as that first time?

  He’d always believed the dark-skinned Maori women were the most alluring in the world. Even though Toni’s nose was not wide, her lips not full, and her eyes were not the dark velvet of the native women, he found this pakeha woman more beguiling than any woman he’d ever met.

  This was a fact he hadn’t wanted to admit, even to himself, but it was true. He’d been enchanted by her luminous green eyes from the moment he saw her. It seemed she carried all her emotions there: spirit, defiance, empathy, concern and something else he hadn’t yet defined. Whatever it might be, it was the softest expression he’d ever seen.

  Toni had only slept about an hour when her eyes fluttered open. She looked disoriented, then smiled. He had an urge to gather her close and let her feel the heat radiating from his body. He almost reached for her.

  “Your turn,” she said. “You must be exhausted.”

  “Not really. I’d rather eat. How about you?”

  “I’m starved,” she said pulling the box of provisions closer. “Do you think the food is poisoned or drugged?”

  “I’m not a good one to ask. I’m beyond trying to figure out Tinihanga. You decide.”

  “I guess there’s only one way to find out,” she said opening a can of salmon. “At least Tinihanga left everything needed to prepare the food.”

  “Remind me to tell him what a considerate guy he is the next time I see him,” Rad said, as he unfastened and uncorked the wine.