A finer end - Deborah Crombie [121]
Fingers trembling, he untied the ribbon and folded back the wrapping from the tissue-thin folio beneath.
The path that had begun with such deceptive gentleness now switched back and forth up the steep north side of the Tor. The drop-off was sheer, the clay between the viciously sharp stones was slick as glass, and there was no railing.
Gemma made the mistake at first of trying to use her torch, but she found that while the circle of light lit the terrain immediately beneath her feet, it blinded her to the turns of the path and the nearness of the precipice.
She fell once, hard, cutting her hands and knees. She lay there a long minute, feeling the cold dampness seep through her clothing, letting her heart slow. It didn’t matter that she was afraid of heights, she told herself, as she couldn’t tell how far up she’d climbed.
After that, she used her hands as much as her feet, trying always to feel the rising ground on her right.
Still, she misjudged a turn in the path: her left foot slid over the edge, sending pebbles echoing down the hillside. She stood gasping, gathering her courage, but the prospect of the return journey was so terrifying she knew that even if it weren’t for Faith, she could only continue upwards.
At last, her right hand reached into space, and as she moved gingerly in that direction she felt the ground level out beneath her feet. She had reached the summit. For an instant moonlight rent the clouds, illuminating the tower before her. Then the clouds blotted out the moon again, but the dark, squat shape remained imprinted on her brain.
How had she ever thought to find Faith in this desolate place?
She used the torch now as she inched forward, but it lit only the sparse turf, and once a startled sheep. When she called out Faith’s name, the wind snatched the word from her mouth. She halted a few yards from the tower, unwilling to go any closer. Despair washed through her.
Then, in a lull in the wind, she thought she heard a cry.
“Faith!”
This time she was certain she heard a response—a moan? Or a sob?—and it came from the far side of the tower. Gemma hurried forward, stumbling.
As she rounded the tower, she saw a shape crouched against the base.
“Faith!” she called again, and heard something between a groan and a scream in reply. Gemma knew that sound, and the primal pain that prompted it. Faith was in labor.
The girl sat with her back pressed against the side of the tower, her feet spread apart, her knees up. Gemma knelt beside her and touched her cheek.
Faith turned her head towards Gemma’s hand like a blind thing and whispered, “Garnet?”
“No, love, it’s Gemma. I’ve come to help you. Let’s get you up and I’ll take you down the hill.” But as she tried to raise the girl, Faith screamed again.
Panic bubbled in Gemma’s throat. It had been less than a minute since the last contraction. They weren’t going anywhere. Faith was going to have her baby right here, and soon. She was panting now.
“Breathe with it. Breathe with the pain,” Gemma urged. “Remember what Garnet taught you.”
For a moment, she thought Faith hadn’t heard her, then the girl obeyed.
“Good girl. Now just relax. Breathe again. That’s brilliant.”
As the contraction eased, Faith whispered. “I can’t—without Garnet—They mean to take my baby.… the Old Ones … I can’t … I can’t stop them by myself.”
“No one is going to take your baby. I’m here, and I’m going to help you. We’re going to have this baby together. And the first thing we’ve got to do is get you out of these trousers.” The girl’s clothes were sodden and she was shaking with chill—their removal could scarcely make her colder.
A litany of lack ran through Gemma’s mind as she scooted Faith up the wall into a standing position. No towels, no gloves, no knife to cut the cord … and as her hand brushed against the tower she felt a numbing cold. She bit her lip to stop her teeth from chattering as the vicious wind scoured her back.
But there