4

Jim shone the torch on their map. “We just follow the path, I think. Over the river, down another path, take the left fork and into a clearing.”

“In the dark?” Staci asked skeptically. “It’s hard enough in the daylight. I’m tired.”

“We all are, Stace, but the sooner we get there, the sooner you can sleep,” Lou said. “And it beats being locked up in a hut that is as hot as an oven.”

The three of them set off.

Ailsa’s map led them down paths that were straighter than the one they’d followed the previous morning. The river was easy to cross as it wasn’t too deep. After twenty minutes, they arrived at the clearing. They settled down.

Jim and Stacy were soon asleep.

Lou missed having Deefer by her side, now accustomed to him sleeping on her bed—he wasn’t allowed on the beds at home. Lou dozed fitfully, her dreams full of birds and Jim statues.

Staci woke her at first light.

Jim made a fire and started breakfast.

Soon afterwards Ailsa appeared with Deefer.

He flung himself on Lou, barking madly, as if he hadn’t seen her for years.

“Get down, you silly animal. I’m pleased to see you, too.” Lou made a fuss over him. “OK. I heard you. Now shut up.”

Ailsa sat down beside Jim and unwound her veil. “There’s trouble in the village,” she began. “They went to get you at dawn.”

“Annoyed to find us gone, were they?” Lou asked.

“Annoyed is the understatement of the year. They know I helped you.”

“But what had we done?” Staci asked.

Ailsa took a deep breath. “The temple you slept in is sacred. They take their religion very seriously. Not only did you trespass on sacred ground, there were things missing.”

“We may have moved things around a little bit, but I certainly didn’t take anything.”

“The punishment for violating the sanctuary is death. I tried to tell them that you were strangers so you didn’t know, but they said ignorance of the law was no defense.”

“How do they know you helped us escape?”

“It’s a long story. The short version is I had to run away to save my life. I have nowhere to go.”

“So stay with us,” Jim said.

“I can’t do that.”

“Sure you can. Not that I exactly know where we’re going, but I don’t see why not.” He turned to the others. “Can’t she?”

Staci and Lou exchanged a long look.

“Sure, you can,” Staci said

Ailsa smiled. “I don’t even know your names. I’m Ailsa Cudby.”

“I’m James Kirk, or Jim. This is my sister, Staci, and my friend, Lou Benson. The hairy one is Deefer. Now you know who we are, and you’re probably safer with us than on your own.”

“Then, yes, I’d like to stay with you. Thank you.”

“Mind you,” Lou grinned. “You may live to regret it. We’re kind of stranded here. We got shipwrecked a couple of nights ago.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Were there no other survivors?”

“Only the three of us were on the boat. Four, including Deefer. We were trying to find Jim and Staci’s parents who got lost after an earthquake and tsunami, only we ended up getting lost ourselves.”

“Are you from England?”

Jim grinned. “England via the Canaries, Grand Turk, and the Panama Canal, yeah.”

“On your own?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow, I’m impressed.”

“What about you? What are you doing in a place like this?”

Ailsa’s face fell. “My parents were killed in a plane crash six years ago. I was the only survivor. I was picked up by the tribe and have been here ever since.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Surely someone would have looked for you when you failed to arrive at wherever you were going?”

Ailsa shook her head. “I don’t know if they looked for us, but no one found me. It was a small plane. Just Mum, Dad, and me. Dad was flying, the engines failed and there wasn’t time to get an SOS out. He and Mum were missionaries. They’d been working on some of the other remote islands and were enroute to Pagan. We crashed here.”

“Our parents are missionaries, too,” Staci said. “They’re in the Philippines. We’re meant to be rescuing them, but we got shipwrecked here on the way there.”

“Let’s just hope we’re not here for six years,” Jim said. “We’ve wasted enough time getting this far.”

Lou ignored the sideways glance he gave her. He could have said no and not agreed to her course changes. But she wouldn’t dredge the past up now. Right this moment they had a more pressing issue. There had to be another village somewhere, hopefully one that was friendlier than the last.

“We should go,” Ailsa said. “They’ll be here soon. They’ll search the area systematically looking for me.”

The others nodded and began to pack up their few belongings. They broke camp and got to their feet.

Ailsa put dirt and leaves over the fire to disguise it. “So they won’t know we were here,” she said.

“I don’t know about that,” Lou said quietly. “Look at Deefer.”

Deefer stood stiff, with hackles raised. He looked at a fixed point in the undergrowth and was growling.

Jim followed the direction of his gaze and grabbed Staci’s arm, pulling her close to him. “It’s too late. They’re here.”

Four natives leapt from the bushes.

Lou grabbed Deefer’s collar and needed all her strength to stop him from attacking.

One of the men looked at Ailsa. “So Ailsa, why you here?” he said in halting English. “These bad, broke law. You good. You like daughter. Why you help them?”

“They’re from England, Amio. They don’t understand your laws.”

“You want go with them? Back to England?”

“Yes, I do.”

Amio scowled. “Then you die with them.”

The natives moved in with their spears outstretched.

Ailsa cried out in their language.

The natives stopped, glaring at her.

She spoke again and the natives backed off.

Amio looked at her. “I miss you. I no forget,” he said and they disappeared back into the forest.

“Wow,” said Jim. “I’m impressed. What did you say to them?”

Ailsa smiled. “Nothing they didn’t already know. I assume we’re not staying here.”

“No. Let’s move out,” Jim said, picking up the bags.

Ailsa pulled off the veil off her head and shoved it in Lou’s rucksack. “Am I glad to get rid of that,” she said, putting the rucksack on.

“You sure you want to carry that one? It’s heavy.”

Ailsa smiled. “I got it. Probably easier for you this way.”

Lou nodded gratefully. “Yeah, it will be. Thanks.”

Ailsa ran her hands through her long, brown hair. “I don’t suppose you have a hair band or pair of scissors?”

“I have a band. Actually I have loads of them” Staci pulled one from the collection on her wrist and handed it over.

“Thank you.” Ailsa twisted her hair into a bun and fastened it.

They left the clearing and began walking.

Lou found it impossible to go fast as her leg hurt a lot more than usual. To take her mind off the pain she asked, “So what happened before you came to find us?”

“It was just before dawn. Amio and Mau went to the hut to give you more food. It was drugged, like the other food had been. They found me there. I’d stupidly gone back to check all your things were gone. When they found me there and you gone, they went ballistic. They told me I was no longer part of their tribe. I’d betrayed them and I would have to die instead of you. They tied me up and left me there. Outside they began the ritual drumming. They can’t have shut the door properly, because the dog, Deefer, came in.

“I was trying to untie the ropes with my teeth. I guess the dog thought that was a good thing to do, because he started chewing on them, too. He bit through part of one and I was able to get an end loose. We made a run for it. If it hadn’t been for him, I would be dead by now.”

Jim smiled back at her. “If it hadn’t been for you, we’d be dead by now and you wouldn’t be in this mess,” he rephrased.

“If not you, then someone, or something else. I haven’t been happy there for a while. I just needed the incentive to go. Six years is a long time. I’m old enough to make my own decisions now. I want to go home.”

“Seeing as how you live here,” Staci said, “which way do we go?”

“I don’t know. Sorry. The tribe doesn’t stray far. No one ever goes more than one full day’s journey from the village.”

“Why?” Lou asked.

Ailsa shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure, but it does mean the further we go, the less likely they are to change their minds and come after us again.”

They walked for two hours, Ailsa and Jim leading in front.

Staci walked with Lou.

Deefer stayed by Lou’s side, apparently determined to keep her in his sight.

Staci chatted to Lou as they walked. Lou tried to listen, but found it increasingly difficult as her leg grew more painful. She lost her balance several times and finally had to ask for a rest. “Jim,” she called. “I have to rest. Sorry.”

Jim turned. “That’s OK. I did promise we wouldn’t go too far in one go.” He put the bags down. “This looks as good a place as any.”

Lou lowered herself to the ground and sighed.

Deefer flopped beside her, putting his head on her lap and looking up at her.

She rubbed his ears. “Nice to sit down, huh?”

Deefer woofed and settled contentedly.

Ailsa looked over at Jim. “Jim, how much food do you have left?”

“Enough for a week, at best. Probably less. Why?”

“It won’t be a problem. The forest is full of fruit, roots and things. I can find things to eat.” She jumped to her feet. “Back in a sec.” She disappeared off into the trees.

Jim watched her go before turning a worried gaze on Lou. “Is your leg really bad?”

“It has its moments, but right now? Yeah, it is. I don’t think I can go any farther today.”

“OK. We’ll move on tomorrow. I can catch up with the logbook today.”

Ailsa came back with her skirt full of fruit. She brushed off her skirt and sat down. “There’s plenty more out there we can eat. Roots and small mammals I can cook. These are really sweet and full of juice.”

As they ate, Jim still stared at Ailsa.

Lou grinned. He was besotted, which should make things interesting. They spent the next half-hour telling Ailsa about themselves.

Jim then told her about their journey.

Lou closed her eyes listening to Jim talk. The pain was turning her stomach. Perhaps she needed to skip a meal or two here or there to avoid the nausea afterwards. Right now she would happily give her left leg for some paracetamol, although that would somewhat defeat the object of the exercise.

Jim looked at her. “Can I check your leg, mate?”

“That means moving,” Lou complained.

“Only slightly. C’mon. Do it now and get it over with.” He tossed her the blanket and turned his back. “See, I won’t look.”

Lou shook her head. “How are you going to check it without looking?”

“You know what I mean.”

With some help from Staci, Lou pulled her leggings down. “This would be easier in a skirt. Maybe I should just adapt the blanket and wear that instead.”

Ailsa paled. “What happened?” she asked.

“Shark, ahhhh.” Lou gasped, as Jim touched her leg. Red-hot pain shot through every part of her. “Don’t…please, don’t touch it.”

“Sorry, mate. It’s not healing properly. Parts of it are infected again and I don’t think the bones have set either. It’s no wonder it hurts so much. You can get dressed now. It’s a shame we don’t have the splints I made.”

“We do. They are in one of the bags,” Staci said. “I picked them up just in case.” She rummaged through the bag and gave them to Jim.

“Ta.” He strapped them on to Lou’s leg.

The relief Lou felt was immediate. “Thanks, Jim.”

“We really do need to get you to a hospital,” he told her quietly.

“No chance of that,” she replied just as quietly. “I’ll be fine honest. I just need to rest. Pain reliever would be nice.”

“Can’t do that, I’m afraid. However I did bring cards. Fancy a game? We could teach Ailsa.”

“Sure. Might take my mind of things for a bit.”

The rest of the day passed quickly.

It didn’t take Ailsa long to catch on to the game.

As darkness fell, Jim lit a fire.

Staci heated up two of the tins.

“Baked beans.” Ailsa said, her joy obvious. “I haven’t had these in years.”

“You really have been here six years, yeah?” Staci asked.

“Since I was twelve.”

Staci dished up. “That would make you eighteen then?”

“I guess so. We don’t do birthdays here. It was tough at first, but I got used to it.”

“When is your birthday?”

“August fifteenth.”

“Five days after Jim’s, then. He’s eighteen, too.”

After dinner, Jim, and Ailsa chatted on one side of the fire.

Staci and Lou played hangman on the other.

“I think Jim is in love,” Staci whispered. “The last time he had that look on his face was over Lara King, at school.”

“Don’t tease him, though. I think the feeling could be mutual.”

Staci looked at her. “Do you mind? I always thought you and he would…you know…”

Lou shrugged. “No. He’s made it perfectly clear he doesn’t like me that way. Doesn’t mean you and I can’t still be friends forever though, does it?”

They settled early that night, intending to set off just before dawn in the morning to get a couple of hours in before it got too hot.

Lou woke suddenly. A weird dream lingered, not exactly frightening, but unsettling.

In the dream, a huge bird with massive wings circled above their camp before swooping ever lower. It landed and walked towards them. It looked almost like an eagle, but resembled a hawk, too, with fur in places instead of feathers. It was trying to find something. Behind it was a man, wearing tribal costume, with outstretched spear, strangely familiar.

Then Lou remembered.

Oneki.

The mythological being was part eagle, part hawk. The giver and protector of life, and the lawgiver.

The tribal man behind the bird looked like Jim.

Lou gasped as the meaning came to her.

The man was Xantic, the taker of life, the grim reaper.

And there was something else. Something important.

Lou just wished she could remember what it was.