A Cleft Of Stars

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The yellow flame of the lantern was an oasis of normality in the cave's grim interior and we clung to its slight cheer under the shock impact of Rankin's death. We knew we ran a risk in burning a light but this was masked by its position in the longer leg of the L-section. At the moment we simply couldn't bear the dark. We stood close together near the lantern for comfort, our backs turned on Rankin's body sprawled upon the floor.

I've never seen anything like this.' Nadine's voice was wobbly. 'What did he mean, King's Messenger?' 'I haven't a clue. It's as mysterious as hyena's blanket.' It cost me an effort not to turn towards the body, as though I was still hoping to extract the mystery from Rankin. Nadine said in a small voice, 'I wish we hadn't been here for. . for his end. What he said means that hyena's blanket isn't just a phrase von Praeger cooked up. It's real, something terrible. I would rather not have heard.'

'Rankin knew he was finished by the time we found him. I believe he was trying to make amends for what he'd done to me. If only he'd gone a stage farther! What he did manage only serves to compound the mystery.'

'King's Messenger-my mind's a blank.'

The great bead was about two inches long and three quarters of an inch across, with a large hole through the centre. The hexagonal facets were beautifully worked. Even the poor light seemed to penetrate to its heart, which glowed with a kind of lustrous, regal hue somewhere between dark blue and indigo. We turned it this way and that.

'I simply can't think straight with Rankin lying there,' she said.

'I'm not too bright myself. Let's go into the kitchen cave.' 'I'd rather be outside.'

'The moonlight makes it too dangerous. It's anyway not strong enough if we want to examine this thing more closely.'

Rankin's last words churned in my brain and a score of might-have-beens crowded in at the sight of the twisted face as we stepped past the body on our way farther in. From the trail of bandages and bloodstains it was possible to reconstruct his last movements: they led from the stretcher into the inner cave and back.

I pointed this out to Nadine. It looks as though Praeger didn't get anything out of him. When he'd finished his hellishness he left, and Rankin somehow or other managed to make his way into the inner cave. I'd guess that he then collected the " King's Messenger" from some hiding place and was struggling with it again when we arrived.

It was a relief to reach the kitchen and be away from the body but I was still very uneasy.

'This place is a trap now, Nadine. If Praeger and Koen walk in we're sunk.'

'But you barred the door, Guy.'

'If I could climb over the gateway, so can Koen. We mustn't stay long. We'll throw everything away if we do.'

Nadine said quietly. 'There's only one place where we can go now, isn't there, after what Rankin said?'

'The Hill.'

'It holds the key to your innocence, somehow. Rankin made that plain.'

I echoed his words. 'They were cut diamonds — from The Hill.'

'Hyena's blanket — King's Messenger?'

'There can't be any diamonds at The Hill, Nadine! Dammit, it's sandstone: crumbly rotten sandstone, not diamond-bearing gravel!'

· 'If you're sure of that, then that leaves only the possibility of a cache there. That would tie in with Rankin's remark about the "King's Messenger" being the way in. But "hyena's blanket". .!'

'Let's keep our cool,' I interrupted. 'Let's also play this step by step and keep realities firmly in mind. That applies especially to the geography of The Hill. We must rule out linking the hyena's blanket with the sort of wild improbabilities von Praeger fell for-the Dika business, for example.'

'Let's accept it as a fact that your grandfather used the words as a code. He didn't know anything about hyenas or The Hill, as far as we know. He'd never been here: had your father?'

I gestured in the direction of Rankin's body. 'We'll never know, now.'

She tossed the 'King's Messenger' up and down and the blue fire burned in its heart.

'Why call a bead the King's Messenger? At least we can thank our stars that he came clean and revealed that it was linked with the way in.'

'To what? We know no more about that than about anything else in this infuriating business.'

'Cast your mind over The Hill's layout and it's pretty apparent that the way in to whatever Rankin intended must lie on the summit.'

My mind jumped ahead of our reasoning and I saw the answer in a flash.

Isifuba! The isifuba board! One of the pieces was missing!' I took the bead from her with excited fingers.

'It could be, Nadine! This could be it!'

'They were mosaic stones, Guy, not beads. They were decorative pieces in a pavement.'

'How do we know? We didn't explore. All we saw was a strange collection of coloured stones. We don't know what they really are.'

'Then the sooner we get back there and find out, the better!' '

Rankin wouldn't have cached anything where he couldn't get at it fairly easily.'

However, as I speculated further the balloon burst.

'No, Nadine, it can't be! It all presupposes that there was an excavation trench there previously, leading to the underground chamber. That only came to light with the archaeological expedition. It must be somewhere else on the tabletop.'

'No, I think you're wrong! Dr Drummond got on to the underground chamber in the first place because he spotted what he called a sinkhole. The present trench is only a development of it. The hole where we entered has been there all along, long before the expedition arrived on the scene.' '

'We were there!' I exclaimed bitterly. 'My God, we were right there: we had the solution in our hands!'

Tut we didn't have this.' She indicated the bead. 'We're guessing still, but our line of thinking sounds good to me.'

And if we're correct, Koen and Praeger are now in possession. Maybe they're working on the isifuba board at this very moment. Perhaps that's why we haven't seen anything of them,' I added.

'That's assuming Rankin blew the gaff. There's an additional reason against that. Didn't you see the mess as we came in? Von Praeger had ransacked every single item from the workshop.'

'I'd overlooked that. It looked like a hurricane's trail' I drew her close and drew her face up to mine.

'You see where all this is leading, Nadine? We've plumped for Praeger's own line of thinking.'

'The other half of the Cullinan.'

'It could be-and yet it needn't be. We know from Praeger himself how he arrived at his deduction about another huge diamond. The actual secret may in fact be something entirely different.'

'But it has to do with diamonds, Guy. Rankin said so.'

'My innocence has to do with diamonds,' I replied grimly. '

We're at the cross-roads again, Nadine. All we have is a lot of damnably tantalizing loose ends.'

'Could you walk away from it now, Guy? — I couldn't.' '

Then that's settled. The Hill it is.'

She ran the smooth surface of the 'King's Messenger' over my face, as if she were sketching me with an artist's chalk.

'I don't fear The Hill, my darling. It has given me everything I want. I continued to be restless and edgy at the thought of our being trapped in the cave.

'Don't let's rush our fences after we leave here,' I said. '

Breaking through Praeger's lines at The Hill will be tough, make no mistake. Nor must we let any emotional spin-off from Rankin's death interfere with clear thinking.'

'We've decided; and I'm happy.'

It was clear that our resolve had given her an immense shot in the arm.

'After Praeger's outfit, the moonlight is enemy number two,' I went on. 'The shadows will be risky as we move along the edge of the hills but frankly it's the open crossing of the wadi that scares me.'

'Must we retrace the route we took coming here?' '

There's no alternative but I don't like it.'

'We've beaten them all along the line so far, Guy, and we can do it again. We've simply got to get back to the isifuba board.'

'And darkness is the only time for doing it. Let's face it, we can't hike for miles, break through Praeger's defences, climb the secret stairway and set about solving the problem on the summit all in a few hours tonight. We're going to be pretty short of sleep, even by the time we've reached The Hill.'

'I'm fine, Guy-ready for anything.'

'We must also make up our minds that once we do reach the tabletop we'll have to sit out a siege there. Five days is about our maximum with limited food. After that what happens is anyone's guess.'

'We do have the edge on them as far as food goes.' She indicated Rankin's shelves. 'Let's dump all this over the precipice. Then even if they come back here they won't last out as long as we do'

I smiled at her enthusiasm. 'We'll eat some of it first — now — and take away what little we can carry. I'll start the dumping right away and make a recce at the same time.'

First, I covered Rankin's body with a blanket, gathered up an armful of supplies and crept out on hands and knees to peer cautiously over the breastwork. I needn't have been so concerned: the light was hazy and diffused, and the countryside far from being illuminated. The high thin cloud which had masked the sky during the day had thickened and, to the north-east — the weather quarter — a long black line showed.

'Nadine! Come and look at this!'

I must have sounded more excited than I knew, for she came running and I had to warn her to keep down.

The cloud bank — it looked almost like a front at sea — appeared about a hand's-breadth above the horizon. But the moon which had travelled about a quarter of its way across the sky was consequently ahead of the oncoming bank.

'It all depends on how fast that cloud is coming up,' I said. ' It could overtake the moon within an hour. If it does, we'll be home and dry. It'll be a dark, dark night.'

'Can we risk waiting here so long? — Guy! I just saw something!'

'Where? Where, Nadine?'

'Near your camp, slightly to the right- no, I can't be sure now. I thought I saw it.'

We craned our necks, trying to pierce the uncertain light but couldn't make out anything.

'It moved,' she breathed. 'It seemed to flit from one rock to another.'

'The bastards!' I exclaimed. 'It looks as if they're on the alert. And there's Dika too.'

We'll make it, Guy.'

I pitched the supplies carefully over the parapet to avoid clatter and when I had done that, I tried to measure the respective rates of climb of the cloud bank and the moon.n relation to the stars. Eventually I gave it up, concluding, however, that by and large the bank appeared to be gaining. After we had eaten I checked again and returned to Nadine, feeling much happier.

'Now I'm sure. This is a break we couldn't have foreseen. We'll hang around here until it's dim enough for a safe crossing via the handlines. Then we'll put as much distance behind us as we can while the going's good.'

The ensuing minutes dragged like hours and we became more and more impatient to leave; the moon and the rising cloud bank were like two tortoises competing for the world's slowest race in the sky.

Eventually, however, the distance between them did narrow to the point of safety and the haziness increased to a general blurred dimness in which The Hill was swallowed up. Then we left. As a precaution I ripped the handlines loose after we had crossed but I had to leave the door ajar, as I dared not risk being seen climbing over if I should decide to barricade it from the inside.

We made our way from patch of shadow to patch of shadow down the steep path off K2, keeping a watchful eye on the wadi; but before we were halfway down the moon lost its race with the cloud bank and the night became pitch black. We moved as quickly as we dared, speaking in whispers only. Nadine took the lead, finding her way with surprising certainty, apparently untiring and buoyed up by the thought of returning to the The Hill.

It was after midnight when we arrived at the western limit of our route and made a right-angled turn to cross the wadi. The whole sky was now blacked out: it had taken place without so much as a whisper of wind at ground level. To my tight-strung senses this silent blackness seemed to add a touch of the sinister.

'If the drought should end at this moment we could find ourselves in trouble,' I told Nadine. 'The wadi could become a quagmire. If it does rain we'll be trapped on this side. Daybreak is our deadline, remember.'

It's very hot and oppressive. It does feel as though it could be working up for something.'

'If we lose the boat in a flash flood we're done for.'

'I know, I know. Nevertheless I'm quite drunk with excitement!'

I kissed her. The Hill alone is enough to send you on a trip, any time.'

'Any time — but not without you, my darling.'

We rested briefly before crossing the wadi. By the time we were over we were both stumping along mechanically, exhausted. It was with relief that we found our course had brought us directly to the boulder which had previously sheltered us.

'We're in no shape to climb the stairway,' I said. 'What we need is a good couple of hours' sleep.'

Isn't that rather tempting the gods, seeing we've got this far safely.'

'The most dangerous part is ahead. We'll need everything we've got for it. I'll wake, all right. I've got a sort of built-in alarm in my brain.'

She nestled down against me and it seemed like only minutes, not hours later, that I jerked awake.

'What is it, Guy?'

'Wind. Listen!'

We heard its rustling approach among the kiln-dry grains of sand and shortly afterwards we were smothered in dust from a passing squall.

'The weather's really lining up on our side,' I said. 'If the wind goes on like this it'll deafen Praeger and Koen to any sound we make.

'Do we have to go near them?'

'Right past, if they're at the camp. There's no other way to the secret stairway.'

'What's the order of battle from now on, then?' There was the slightest tremor in her voice.

'First we have to shin up the terrace: it'll have to be done carefully, feeling our way for holds. I don't much fancy that in the dark. Then we'll backtrack on yesterday's route until we're in the vicinity of the camp. After that it's hands and knees and by guess and by God until we get to the root cage. You hang on to me — I'll lead now. Later on in the stairway you'll be the boss. Let's go!'

'I love you. I'm going to say that over and over to myself all the way and I'm going to say it again to you when we're safe.'

'I love you, Nadine. If I don't get another chance. Her mouth came hard against mine and we tasted the blown sand on each other's lips.

'I won't have you say that, ever! We'll make it. We must, we will.'

We set off into the gusting wind, which made an unpleasant but effective cover. It was so dark we had to link hands. We reckoned we must be near the camp when we picked up a footpath, and we dropped flat to a crawl. When the ground began to rise we knew we must be slap against the camp's protecting boulders but it was too dark to make them out. One behind the other we went on to higher ground, moving only when we had the wind's sound to mask our own; lying, scarcely breathing, during the intervals. Once on the slope proper we cast about for a time in the inky blackness until we found the root screen. It was with a sense of immense relief that we found it was deserted. We made rapid progress up the secret stairway and by the time we reached the tricky section we began to feel a growing confidence that we had achieved our objective.

'There's only one real danger point left,' I said in a low voice. 'Those last few final steps of the climb. If they're not waiting to ambush us there, we can be pretty certain that we've broken through.'

'Let's wait until day,' she whispered back.

'No, it's better to attempt it now. It's just on dawn anyway

— the cloud cover's delaying the light. They've had nothing to alert them that we're here.'

'I'll lead then, Guy.'

'No. This is my party.'

I worked my way up and my heart pounded when my head rose to a level where I would be an easy target. I couldn't see a hand's-breadth ahead and I took it slowly, hoping that a possible ambusher would not hear my exertions. Finally I hauled myself on to the summit and when Nadine appeared we crept silently away to the underground chamber. On the summit the light was slightly better and the first signs of, day were apparent in the east through the cloud, making the out lines of objects vaguely discernible. The wind was stronger and less gusty than at ground level, with a tendency to hold steady from one direction.

We went straight to the isifuba board, of course. Immediately I switched on the flashlight I realized that we would have to work fast if we were to discover anything before it failed altogether. Nevertheless, when Nadine produced the '

King's Messenger', the bead had the power to pick up the faint light.

'Why didn't Dr Drummond clean up the board?' I asked. '

There's a lot of sand and grit here that we'll have to get rid of before we can begin to examine it properly.'

'There wasn't time and the layer wasn't thick enough to impede our first tentative look at it. Guy! Why, it can't be!'

'What, Nadine?'

'There must have been hundreds of wind storms over the years — why then isn't the dust inches deep in here? There's nothing to stop its entering. These mosaics should have been completely obliterated. And yet, look! There's some dust, but it'

s certainly not the coating of centuries.

'What are you trying to say?'

'Rankin. He kept it clean.'

'By God you're right!'

'Yes. And another piece of the jigsaw falls into place. Rankin kept it free of dust because … because he was using the isifuba board!'

She snatched up the torch to shine it more closely while I started to puff away the fine covering layer. As I did so my eyes came close to the glowing 'King's Messenger' which Nadine had put down.

'Look at this, Nadine! Here, the torch!'

I directed the beam into its heart.

'There's a chevron pattern cut inside!'

Nadine craned forward to see and her hands rested on the mosaics.

'Guy! Here's one that's loose!'

'Damn this light! It's dying on us!'

What had appeared to be an inlaid coloured circle revealed itself under Nadine's excited fingers as another bead. It was smaller than the 'King's Messenger', round and not hexagonal, and deep green in colour.

'Look, look, it's also got a pattern cut inside!'

The fast failing light showed us a different design from the '

King's Messenger': this one was a triangle etched above two lateral bars.

Then I explored with my finger-tips in the hole it had come from, and at the base I detected a stubby little shaft, smooth as ivory, with some notches in it.

'Nadine — give me the "King's Messenger"!'

I tried fitting it to the notches but all it did was to revolve loosely.

'I believe we're on to something!'

'What do you make of it, Guy?'

'I'm guessing, but the beads and notches could be some form of locking tumblers — like a primitive lock.'

'Let's try the others..

I sat bolt upright in astonishment.

Nadine looked at me. 'What is it?'

'The lay-out of the board itself. Look. There are three squares each way. It reminds me of a so-called magical square whose numbers always add up to 15 whichever way you total it.'What?. . I don't follow!'

'The ancients used to set out figures on a square in an order which was supposed to endow it with magical properties: a top line of three squares containing the numbers 4, 9 and 2; a second having 3, 5 and 7; and a third with 8, 1 and 6. Add it across, down or diagonally and the answer is always 15.'

'Where does that get us?'

'My guess is that those numbers will tally with the number and design of the slots inside the beads. If we fit them correctly into their corresponding positions on the board I believe we'll be able to move this whole slab of rock — like opening the door of a combination safe … blast!'

The flashlight had flickered and finally died.

Nadine found my hands in the dimness. I'm frightened of what we might uncover, Guy.'

I tried to revive the torch and juggled with it but with no result.

'Most of all we need light — daylight.'

'I'll slip outside and see how the sky looks,' she said.

'Right. Meanwhile I'll have another bash at this damn torch.'

The entrance was a greyish rectangle and I gave Nadine a leg up through it and continued battling with the flashlight. After a couple of minutes I was rewarded with a faint gleam and immediately went back to the mosaics, praying the light would last. It was only the last kick of the batteries, however, and I achieved nothing before it eventually fizzled out. I stood for a while longer, engrossed in the puzzle. All at once I realized that Nadine had not returned. I went to the entrance and was about to call her when I saw two figures struggling on the skyline at the top of the excavation shaft.

Koen held Nadine fast with one hand clamped round her mouth and was dragging her towards the secret stairway. I stood transfixed while a wave of cold fear and hot rage swept over me and then I reached for the only weapon I could think of: the torch, which I had dropped. As I felt for it my fingers encountered the ivory arm guard. In place of my surge of confused emotions came an icy clarity of purpose. I slipped it on and threw myself through the opening.

I leapt up the shaft and ducked behind the fortification wall running to the edge of the cliff. I saw Nadine break half free from Koen's grip: he whipped out the derringer with its flickblade and struck at her. I saw her sleeve rip and she went limp. It took all my self-control to stop myself flying at his throat. It was only when he spoke that I realized Nadine was still alive.

'You bloody little bitch! Treasure, eh? I'll teach you!'

I could not make out her choked reply 'but he laughed unpleasantly and dragged her farther towards the edge.'It's you we want alive — he'll come after you, all right. I sprinted, crouching behind the wall, until I was between him and the head of the stairway, right at the stone post overlooking the drop. I steeled myself as I heard him say, 'Wait till the Doc starts to give your boy-friend a work-out like Rankin! If he doesn't come clean, you will. You'll wish you'd torn your own tits off before the Doc's finished with you!'

I couldn't see him because of the post but I heard his shuffle on the other side. With it still between us, I threw my karate arm encased in the arm guard round his neck and trapped his head against the post and with my right I jerked his gun hand full stretch to send any shot into the ground. I felt — I could not see — Nadine fall clear.

Koen lashed out instantly at my shins but he had overlooked the post and gave a strangled grunt of pain. Then he dug his bull neck hard down and tried to rip my arm with his teeth but the ivory guard saved me.

He was tremendously strong and I soon realized that he would either break free or tear his derringer hand loose, then shoot or stab me at a range of less than a foot. I threw all my strength into trying to throttle him, at the same time attempting to kick the derringer away; but he hung on. He was a clever fighter and, once he realized I couldn't choke him, weighed up the odds with lightning speed. He managed to loosen my hold on his throat a little and swallowed a lungful of air. It seemed to give him added energy and he tore the gun half out of my grasp. Sweat poured off me as I tightened my stranglehold, jamming my face hard against the post as I sought purchase.

With the sudden flash of thought that is born of deadly danger, my mind took in what the stone post was really for. It was notched at the height of man's throat: the hook on the arm guard was the complementary half of a deadly garrotting setup. One had only to trap one's victim's head against the post in order to break his neck with the hook. But Koen was facing the wrong way for it to operate for me.

So I feinted and shifted all my force to his gun arm and at the same time deliberately eased off his throat. He fell for it and swung to face the post, exposing his neck to the hook-and the kill. It was all over in seconds and needed surprisingly little effort. I hung on when he went limp and the derringer discharged harmlessly into the ground. I think it must have been a dying nerve reflex which tightened his finger on the trigger. When his body started to sag I braced my knee against the post and jerked him backwards over the edge of the cliff.

I climbed slowly over the wall and walked towards Nadine, who was still crouched where Koen had thrown her, her glorious hair dusty and dishevelled and a smear of dirt from Koen's hand across her mouth.

When I came up to her, we simply stared at one another as if in a trance and then I leaned forward and kissed the tiny trickle of blood coming through her torn sleeve. It was salty and warm and near to her breast.

The gesture brought· her with a blind rush into my arms, her mouth crushed against mine, her words hardly distinguishable through her sobs. She tried to kiss and smile and cry all at the same time, caressing my face and murmuring endearments as if her heart would break. 'Oh my love, my darling, my beloved. . there aren't words for this sort of thing. . I want to say prayers and incantations and your name all mixed up together but they won't come. . Guy, Guy, Guy!'

She shook all over and held me: she loosened my arm and slipped off the ivory guard; she drew me back farther from the drop.

Suddenly there was the whang and whine of a ricochet off the stone post and almost simultaneously the blast of a shot from below.

'Praeger!' I said, moving still farther away. 'But I'm sure he can't see us: that's simply blind anger on account of Koen. The hell with him! Before anything else I'm going to attend to that wound of yours.'

'It isn't a wound, it's just a scratch. It was only meant to scare me.'

Nevertheless, I bound up the cut with my handkerchief, thinking that Koen must have been an expert with a knife to have been so precise. As I did so Nadine winced as another harmless bullet bounced off the cliff and screamed into space.

'We're under siege, Guy.'

'In more ways than one,' I replied. "Just look at that sky. I'

ve seldom seen anything more threatening.'

It was a wild-looking morning. In the early light the clouds were black and ominous and they seemed to block every point of the compass as far as the eye could reach. They were low, too, and the horizon was in-drawn, which added to the feeling of being hemmed-in.

'This poor light puts paid to our doing anything more about the isifuba board for the moment,' I said. The terror of her experience was ebbing fast but it had left behind a lovely light in her eyes.

'Let's get our breath back before we start anything else exciting. To begin with, let's learn to live with a siege.'

I caught her light-hearted mood. 'Right! Then the first thing on my list is to clean myself up at the spring.'

'Philistine!' she mocked. 'No soul! Mysteries and magic pavements go overboard in favour of a bath!'

'They'll keep. My dusty body won't.'

At the spring, which had fashioned a crude basin out of the rock by virtue of centuries of dripping, I stripped and rejoiced in the cool water.

I rejoined Nadine at the small pyramid of coloured pebbles. The colour had come back into her face and she was smiling and serene.

'You're not going to have the edge on me — I'm next!' 'It's glorious; absolute heaven.'

She kissed me before going and her eyes were very bright. I said, 'I'll keep a watch on Praeger.'

'I'll be back.'

There was a shade of meaning about the way she said it which I didn't catch. I watched her trim figure disappear, then I moved carefully under cover to the strongpoint at the head of the stairway. There was no need for my glasses because I could see Koen lying near my camp with his head slewed unnaturally to one side. Von Praeger, with Dika, was near, his rifle barrel resting on a boulder and aimed at the summit. For a moment I toyed with the idea of taking a pot-shot at him with the derringer but its short range would have been just the waste of a bullet. I wanted him to know that we were in good heart, so I collected one of the shaped stone missiles and pitched it to fall as close to him as I could judge. The result was spectacular. Von Praeger blazed off a whole volley of shots indiscriminately at the spot where the rock had fallen, the stairway and the rocks all round my hiding place. When the racket had died down I risked a glance below but he was nowhere to be seen.

Then, without apparent reason, but by a compulsion I could not explain, I felt my attention drawn to the tabletop itself. Nadine was standing by the little pyramid, her hair as black as the lowering storm. She was looking across at me, her lips parted, her eyes like stars. Her breasts, dappled with an aureole of drops from the spring, shone luminously white against the backdrop of the storm.

She was completely naked.

The blood throbbed in my ears; then I was taking her to me. A dozen strides covered the space which separated us. The tiny living muscles at the corners of her deep eyes spoke a world of obvious and emphatic messages as well as nuances of doubt about her nakedness, a host of nerve-tingling ambiguities, expressing all things since woman was woman. 'It had to be here!' she whispered. 'Love me-love me right here!'

And the pulse which before had been only in her eyes spread into the thighs and breasts thrust hard against me. But the blaze of emotion which overwhelmed us was matched by the storm, of which we became oblivious. All I know is that a moment before the thunderbolt struck the pyramid and exploded I caught a glimpse of it flaming towards us like a meteor and I threw our locked bodies to the ground out of its path. Then our spellbound world erupted in a burst of flame and dust and at the same time the solid rock under us seemed to split and heave like an earthquake. A fissure opened next to us and raced across the summit like a seam unthreading and there was a heavy rumbling from the heart of The Hill as it started to break in two: while on the river side the tabletop seemed to be toppling over the edge in an avalanche.

Fear emptied veins which a moment before had been pulsing with love.

We clung in terror now to one another while rumble succeeded rumble. Until eventually everything grew quiet, except for the sound of the sluicing rain beginning.