Transformation Space - Marianne de Pierres [4]
Not all, though, he reminded himself, as they accepted a breakfast of dried fish from the hands of Tina Galiotto. Djes had discovered and used the stimulant pods herself, without telling him about them. She had done it to ensure they were safe, she’d said, a foolish and bold risk. In their flight from the mainland, they’d depended on her to lead their boats across the islands. Without her abilities to swim and fish, they would have perished.
She followed closely behind him as he dragged his weary body up the short but steep distance of bush-covered rock to the mountain peak.
At any other time, the view from the peak would have lifted his mood: sheets of brown sea broken up by the irregular shapes of tiny white islands, and the roaring stretch of the Galgos Strait that they had just navigated and, by Crux’s blessing, survived.
To the west he saw larger islands, separated from each other by greater distances and then eventually becoming lost in the Southern Sea. Their yachts would not have made it to any of them, he thought. This island was their only hope.
He swivelled east, to look again in the direction that they’d come. Beyond the strait and the delta of tiny islands nestled against the coastline, the central continent of Araldis was a slim snaking line tinted red by the rising haze of blown sand.
Trin looked back across their track and felt a pang of loneliness. He was cut off from all the places he knew, forced now to find a way to survive on this island mountainside.
‘We’ve travelled so far. It’s hard to believe,’ said Djes.
‘Si, bella. Surely the Saqr will not bother to pursue us here.’
She nodded. ‘I hope not. I suppose, though … it depends on why they’re here.’
He dragged his gaze from the wide vista to Djes. Why were the Saqr here? Every one of the survivors pondered that question endlessly, he was sure, but there had been no time for discussion, no energy for anything other than keeping the will to survive. ‘You have ideas on that?’
She shrugged. In the growing light she looked so tired and jaundiced that he pulled her into his arms. For all his concerns about her growing independence from him and her natural leadership qualities, he could not bear to lose her.
She leaned closer and slid her own arms around his waist, reaching beneath his fellalo to stroke his bare skin.
Trin felt a spark of desire but knew he did not have the vigour to pursue it.
She sensed that almost immediately and withdrew her hand. Locking her grip behind his back, she stayed close to him. ‘It’s good to be away from them. They watch us together.’ She sighed.
‘We can’t stay much longer,’ said Trin. The light was gaining potency.
‘Just a few moments. Please.’
He held her tightly. How was it possible to know a person so well, and yet barely have talked to them of anything other than the most practical things?
‘Trinder?’
‘Si.’
‘What is that?’ She drew away from him a little and pointed.
High above them, he saw a circular object like a wheel spinning free across the sky. They watched its trajectory to the east in silence.
‘Mira?’ asked Djeserit finally, hope lifting her voice.
Was it? Had the eccentric Baronessa returned with help for them? Trin’s heart contracted for a single beat, and then settled. As far as he knew, OLOSS did not have craft of such a shape and size. ‘That is not an OLOSS ship. It would be hasty to think it signifies our rescue. Perhaps it transports more Saqr.’
‘No!’ Djes turned her face to his. ‘Please, let it be Mira. Can’t it be her?’ Tears squeezed out onto the taut skin of her cheeks.
He trailed a fingertip in their wake. Djes was not given to quick emotion. He did not recall her crying before, other than when the Saqr had attacked her and torn her leg. ‘Don’t raise your hopes.’
She sniffed and nodded. ‘You’re right. We are not that lucky, I think.’
He grimaced at that and at the way she straightened her shoulders, and it made him think about her parents. What had driven them to abandon such a pragmatic