Transformation Space - Marianne de Pierres [5]
And perhaps it was not only Djes that had changed. Though Trin had hated his papa, Franco, for sending him to the carabinere station at Loisa, it had forced him to assume a leadership mantle, or be demeaned. ‘We must go back now. I doubt the others could see the craft from below the mountain’s lip. Perhaps we should not mention it yet. We can come back here again, the two of us, and watch.’
She nodded. ‘I would like that. Lead the way, my Principe.’
They returned to find the group sitting close together under the bushes, listening to Juno Genarro.
‘Principe!’ Juno sounded excited. ‘The caves are deep and cool. I think we’ve found a safe place.’
A small cheer went up from the group.
‘How many?’ asked Trin.
‘Two larger caves, and several shallow ones. Some rockfall needs to be cleared in one of the bigger ones, but there is room enough beside it for the moment.’
‘They are empty?’
Juno nodded. ‘Some small droppings, little else. And the floor is clean gravel.’
Trin glanced at the bright sky. Leah was rising. The cave mouths were only a short distance away, but that distance was unshaded. They must move now or spend another day under the bushes.
The thought of lying in a cool darkened place was irresistible. ‘We move now. Split numbers equally between the two large caves for today. When we’ve searched them more closely, we’ll decide who shall sleep where.’ It was a popular decision, he could see from their expressions. ‘Cass Mulravey?’
Mira Fedor’s gaunt friend lifted her head and stared at him. ‘Yes?’
‘Tivi and Joe will go with you. They’ll carry Thomaas.’
She didn’t argue. Her man lay with his head on her lap.
Trin stepped out from the bushes and ascended the rocky path to the caves, ignoring Joe Scali’s look of reluctance at being separated from him.
From me? he wondered. Or Djes?
Trin knew that he was deliberately keeping Joe Scali apart from Djeserit. The moment of physical closeness he’d seen between the two on the beach was chewing at the edges of his mind. They’d been bringing fish back for the others and had guiltily moved apart at the sound of his voice.
He reached for Djeserit’s hand. She gripped him back, but the webbing between her fingers prevented him from interlacing Trin’s through hers. Not her. Not Djes. She would never betray me.
It was a short climb, and only Thomaas had to be carried. Even his madre, Jilda – the oldest and most feeble – managed it, assisted only by her servant Tina Galiotto.
The group divided naturally. Mulravey was followed by her women, her brother and his friends, and Joe, Thomaas and Tivi. The surviving carabinere and the miners who’d joined them in the Pablo mines followed Trin. The korm tagged behind him also.
That surprised Trin, as the outsized alien child had spent most of the journey with the women. Though he knew its devotion to Djeserit, it had stayed shy of him since Loisa, and to be honest the creature made him uncomfortable. He sensed judgement in the strange beaked blue-skinned face. When not shadowing Djes, the korm often paired with Cass Mulravey’s ragazzo. Though the ragazzo was much younger – maybe only six or seven Araldis years of age – the two were often together at meals, or as they’d trudged the desert. Right now Trin resisted ordering the korm back to the others. Djes would protest.
He looked ahead. The entrances to both of the larger caves were smooth and oval, one larger than the other. Trin took his party into the large one.
‘Why so perfectly formed?’ he asked Juno Genarro.
‘Lava tubes, Principe. Made by hot gases, I would guess, not erosion.’
Inside, even the walls were smooth. Trin ran his hands along them, feeling the thick grain of the long-ago-cooled rock. As his eyes adjusted, he saw the wider, deeper cave beyond, and the thick back wall of a rockfall. He glanced at