Flatnose did not come around until he was lying beside Basta under the ruined roof. He rolled his eyes furiously and went purple in the face, but neither he nor Basta could utter a sound because Farid had gagged them both, again very expertly.
"Wait a minute, " said Dustfinger, before they left the two men to their fate. "There's something else – something I've always wanted to do, " And to Meggie's horror he drew Basta's knife from his belt and went over to the prisoners with it.
"What's the idea?" asked Mo, barring his way. Obviously the same thought had occurred to him as it had to Meggie, but Dustfinger only laughed.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to cut a pattern in his face theway he decorated mine, " he said. "I only want to scare him a little. "
And he had already bent down to cut through the leather thong that Basta wore around his neck. It had a little bag closed with a red drawstring hanging from it. Dustfinger leaned over Basta and swung the bag back and forth in front of his face. "I'm taking your luck, Basta!" he said softly, straightening up. "Now there's nothing to protect you from the evil eye, and the ghosts and demons, black cats, and all the other things you're afraid of. "
Basta tried to kick out with his bound legs, but Dustfinger avoided him easily. "This is good-bye forever, I hope, Basta!" he said. "And if our paths should ever cross again, then I'll have this. " He tied the leather thong around his own neck. "I expect there's a lock of your hair in it, right? No? Well then, perhaps I'll take one. Doesn't burning someone's hair have a terrible effect on him?"
"That's enough!" said Mo, urging him away. "Let's get out of here. Who knows when Capricorn will realize these two are missing. By the way, did I tell you that he didn't burn quite all the books? There's one copy of Inkheart left. "
Dustfinger stopped as suddenly as if a snake had bitten him.
"I thought I ought to tell you," said Mo. "Even if it does put stupid ideas into your head."
Dustfinger just nodded. Then without a word he walked on.
"Why don't we take their van?" suggested Elinor when Mo headed back to the path. "They must have left it on the road. "
"Too dangerous, " said Dustfinger. "How do we know who might be waiting for us down there? And going back to it would take us longer than going on to the nearest village. A van like that is easily spotted, too. Do you want to set Capricorn on our trail?"
Elinor sighed. "It was just a thought, " she murmured, massaging her aching ankles. Then she followed Mo.
They kept to the path because the snakes were already moving through the tall grass. Once, a thin black serpent wriggled over the yellow soil in front of them. Dustfinger pushed a stick under its scaly body and threw it back into the thorn bushes. Meggie had expected the snakes to be bigger, but Elinor assured her that the smallest were the most dangerous. Elinor was limping, but she did her best not to hold up the others. Mo, too, was walking more slowly than usual. He tried to hide it, but the dog bite obviously hurt.
Meggie walked close to him and kept looking anxiously at the red scarf Dustfinger had used to bandage the wound. At last they came to a paved road. A truck with a load of rusty gas cylinders was coming toward them. They were too tired to hide, and anyway it wasn't coming from the direction of Capricorn's village. Meggie saw the surprised expression of the man at the wheel as he passed them. They must have looked very disreputable in their dirty clothes, drenched with sweat, and torn by all the thornbushes.
Soon afterward they passed the first houses. There were more and more of them on the slopes now, brightly color washed, with flowers growing outside their doors. Trudging on, they came to the outskirts of a fairly large town. Meggie saw multistory buildings, palm trees with dusty leaves, and, suddenly, still far away but shining silver in the sun, a glimpse of the sea.
"Heavens, I hope they'll let us into a bank, " said Elinor. "We look as if we'd fallen among thieves. " "Well, so we have, " said Mo.
22. IN SAFETY
T he slow days drifted on, and each left behind a slightly lightened weight of apprehension.
Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
They did let Elinor into the bank, despite her torn stockings. Before that, however, she had disappeared into the ladies' room of the first cafe they came to. Meggie never did find out exactly where Elinor hid her valuables, but when she returned her face was washed, her hair not quite as tangled, and she was triumphantly waving a gold credit card in the air. Then she ordered breakfast for everyone.
It was an odd feeling to be suddenly sitting in a cafe having breakfast, watching perfectly ordinary people outside in the street, going to work, shopping, or just standing around chat ting. Meggie could hardly believe they had spent just two nights and a day in Capricorn's village, and that all this – the bustle of ordinary life going on outside the window – hadn't stood still the whole time.
Nonetheless, something had changed. Ever since Meggie had seen Basta hold his knife to Mo's throat it had seemed as if there were a stain on the world, an ugly, dark burn mark still eating its way toward them, stinking and crackling.
Even the most harmless things seemed to be casting suspicious shadows. A woman smiled at Meggie, then stood looking at the bloody display in a butcher's window. A man pulled a child along after him so impatiently that the little boy stumbled and cried as he rubbed his grazed knee. And why was that man's jacket bulging over his belt? Was he carrying a knife, like Basta?
Normal life now seemed improbable, unreal. Their flight through the night and the terror she had felt in the ruined house seemed more real to Meggie than the lemonade that Elinor passed over to her.
Farid hardly touched his own glass. He sniffed its yellow contents, took a sip, and went back to looking out of the window. His eyes could hardly decide what to follow first. His head moved back and forth as if he were watching an invisible game, and desperately trying to understand its rules.
After breakfast, Elinor asked at the cash desk which was the best hotel in town. While she paid the bill with her credit card, Meggie and Mo examined all the delicacies behind the glass counter. Then to their surprise they turned around and found that Dustfinger and Farid had disappeared. Elinor was very worried, but Mo calmed her fears. "You can't tempt him with a hotel bed. He'd prefer never to sleep under a roof, " he said, "and he's always gone his own way. Perhaps he just wants to get away from here, or perhaps he's around the next corner putting on a performance for tourists. I can assure you he won't go back to Capricorn. "
"What about Farid?" Meggie couldn't believe he had simply run off with Dustfinger.
But Mo only shrugged his shoulders. "He was sticking close to Dustfinger all the time, " he pointed out. "Though I don't know whether he or Gwin was the real attraction. "
The hotel recommended to Elinor by the staff in the cafe was on a square just off the main street that passed right through the town and was lined with palm trees and shops. Elinor took two rooms on the top floor, with balconies that had a view of the sea. It was a big hotel. A doorman in an elaborate costume stood at the entrance, and although he seemed surprised by their lack of luggage he overlooked their dirty clothes with a friendly smile. The pillows were so soft and white that Meggie had to bury her face in them at once. All the same, the sense of unreality didn't leave her. A part of her was still in Capricorn's village, or trudging through thorns, or cowering in the ruined hovel and trembling as Basta came closer. Mo seemed to feel the same. Whenever she glanced at him there was a distant expression on his face, and instead of the relief she might have expected after all they'd been through, she saw sadness in it – and a thoughtfulness that frightened her.