Arrows of Time - Kim Falconer [33]
‘Semantics,’ she said. ‘I can see the worry on your face.’ She stared at him. ‘We can’t go back.’
‘What about Shane? Don’t you worry about him?’
Her face smoothed. Whatever she felt about the man was suddenly pushed away. ‘What about him?’ she asked, her tone void of inflection.
Jarrod shrugged. ‘It’s possible he was caught in the earthquake. That doesn’t concern you?’
‘It certainly doesn’t concern you.’
‘Right.’ Jarrod wondered at her response. ‘I just thought he might be…’
‘He’s fine.’ She cut him off with a wave.
Definitely some tension there. Jarrod decided to change the subject. ‘Can I ask where we’re headed?’
‘T’locity.’
‘Person, place or thing?’ he queried, looking at the bleak surroundings. It was hard to imagine a township in this terrain. The landscape was one huge quagmire.
‘Place.’
‘Village?’
‘City. It’s quite grand. You’ll see.’ Selene adjusted her sword belt and led him on. ‘This way.’
Eventually the mire gave way to a firm dirt road, the dead oaks and rotten stench replaced by fragrant groves of pines with sticky-sweet resin dripping down the trunks and dark green needles poking skyward. The trees were interspersed with the red branches and peeling bark of Manzanita in full bloom. The white velvet bell blossoms were rimmed in blood-red and they dangled on the twisted branches—puppets bobbing in the breeze. Sunlight filtered through the canopy, turning Selene’s face golden. The landscape had radically altered from decayed to fecund, reminding him of her abrupt change of mood. She was definitely of this land, both dark and light.
There were still plenty of Corvids about, though once out of the stark background, they looked more like curious friends following the travellers’ progress than ominous scavengers waiting for mishap. There were other birds as well, all contributing their songs, verse and chorus, to the atmosphere. Tiny blue fairy wrens and red spotted finches chattered in the undergrowth, teetering on brambles and vines, searching for grasshoppers and grubs. A raptor whistled above. Jarrod didn’t recognise the call, though it sounded similar to that of a black falcon. A large family of magpies chortled back and forth, flapping and swooping about them. It made him feel quite at home.
‘We’ll stop for a wash.’ Selene’s voice jarred him out of his musings. She was pointing towards a line of trees at the side of the road.
‘Where?’ he asked, seeing only a deeper forest.
‘There’re hot pools at the bottom of that ravine.’
‘I wouldn’t mind a drink and a wash.’
‘It’s not about what you would mind or not mind,’ she said. ‘It’s about presenting well to the Caller. You probably don’t realise how you smell.’
‘That bad?’ Jarrod rolled up his sleeves as he followed her along a winding path towards the water. ‘The swamp was noisome…’
She spun her head around and smiled so briefly that he wasn’t sure if he’d imagined it. ‘Exceedingly,’ she said. ‘I’m sure I don’t smell any better.’
A short way into the woods they came to a gorge, nestled between the trees like a temple garden. A path wound down to the bottom where head-high boulders stood sentry around the river basin. Some rocks had miniature pine trees and tiny oaks growing from cracks in their sides, reminding him of the bonsai grown on the Isle of Lemur. Steam rose from the water where it pooled in deep green eddies. The mist hung about, as it did over the swamp, but the smells here were fresh and aromatic—thyme, pine needles and eucalyptus blossoms—a welcome change.
Jarrod knelt in the white sand, cupping his hands to sip the sparkling water. ‘It’s icy!’ he said, turning to her, his lips tingling from the touch.
‘Not in the depths,’ she answered.
‘Subterranean thermals?’
Selene raised one eyebrow. ‘You speak our language, but there are some words I don’t recognise.’
‘I mean underground fissures that vent…’
‘Underground, yes. I’ve got to wash properly,’ Selene said, cutting into his sentence as if the rest of what he had to say held no interest. She unbuttoned her cloak and sword belt.
Jarrod didn’t bother explaining more but watched