Beth found it hard to focus at first and she had difficulty for a second or two in appreciating where she was. The last thing she could remember was waking up feeling faint in a deep green hollow; now here she was in a hay loft. Oh and it was so beautifully warm! The warmth under the hay brought life hack to every part of her body and she closed her eyes again for a second or two to bathe in the luxury of it. Then she vaguely recalled Nab’s kiss and looking at him she reached her hand out from under the hay and grasped his where it lay by her side. She felt peaceful, content and happy. They stayed like that for a long time; looking deep into each other’s eyes with their hands squeezed tightly together. Nab’s other hand gently stroked her cheek and straightened her hair where it lay spread out in its tousled fan under her head. Only the grunts and snuffles of Perryfoot and Brock as they slept broke the stillness of the loft. The only light came from the little window at the far end where a fitful moon threw the occasional shaft of silver on to the hay and silhouetted Warrigal where he stood on the sill looking out into the night. Finally the warmth and their exhaustion spread over them and they both fell asleep with Nab curled up in a ball by her side.
When they awoke next morning Beth felt a lot better and the colour had returned to her face. Nab showed her the eggs and she forced herself to eat them raw; breaking the shells carefully and then pouring the contents quickly down her throat. They would do her good anyway, she thought and indeed as the day progressed she grew stronger. In the afternoon Sam and Warrigal fetched three more and, later, three more for the evening. It poured with rain all day, pattering down on the roof and dripping off the eaves. In the morning Beth and Nab went over to the window where Warrigal had kept lookout and they stared out at the sheets of rain as they bucketed down from the heavens and swept across the green fields and valleys, filling the rivers and streams and saturating the ground. There was something very comforting and cosy about watching the rain from inside; Beth had loved to look out through her bedroom window at home when storms broke, and it reminded Nab of the times he had stared out from his rhododendron bush in Silver Wood. As they sat together by the window Beth decided that she would begin trying to teach Nab her language and perhaps she could learn his. Now would be a good opportunity to start when there was nothing else to think about and there were no distractions. She pointed outside and then cupped her hand under a drip from the eaves. ‘Rain,’ she said and then pointed to Nab’s mouth hoping he would understand that she wanted him to repeat it. He did so slowly and carefully and then she pointed to him to tell her his word for it. Nab quickly understood what she wanted. ‘Ashgaroth ẙ Draish,’ he said. To Beth it sounded like a lot of squeaks and grunts for there are no alphabets and letters as the Urkku know them; only sounds. Nevertheless, difficult though it was, she attempted to copy the noises made by Nab and her attempt sent him into a fit of laughter which was so infectious that she too began to laugh. Then she tried again and Nab nodded and smiled to show that she was nearer.
After this she taught the boy her name which he found easy to say and he taught her his which, because it was short and only consisted of one sound, she found relatively simple. They went on like this for most of the rest of the afternoon, pointing to or touching things around them. Generally Nab found it easier to learn her words than she did to repeat his, and she found his even more difficult to remember, if not virtually impossible. Still she made up her mind to persevere; at least they had made a start and she was surprised at how quickly and easily Nab had taken to human speech.
When evening came the skies began to clear and the rain finally stopped. Warrigal flew down from the rafter where he had perched, sleeping all day, and spoke to Nab.
‘We should be making a move,’ he said. ‘How is she, d6 you think?’ /
‘Much better,’ Nab replied. ‘I’ll try and indicate to her what we think and ask if she’s ready.’
He did so; pointing outside and then to all the animals and then outside again. Beth understood. She nodded her head to show him that she thought she was all right now although she would really have liked another night in the barn. Still, she definitely felt much improved and since the night was clear it was probably as good a time as any to start out again. The three of them went back to where Perryfoot and Brock were still sleeping, roused them and then, after Beth had carefully put the three remaining eggs in an inside pocket of her cape, they went down the stairs, with the hare once more in his sling, and, fetching Sam who had been lying on the bottom step, squeezed through the partly open door and went out into the night.
CHAPTER XVI
All through the cold crisp days of January they trudged on across the plain. The cloak of winter was heavy on the land; the trees were bare and stark, the grass cropped short and the fields frozen. There was some snow but no rain; it was too cold for that and the animals were grateful, for rain brings damp and damp is the enemy of every wild creature. So the snow froze, coating the trees with glitter which glinted in the moonlight and covering the fields with a crisp white surface which was easy to walk on and left no footprints. But although they were free of rain there was an icy cutting wind which swept down from the hills they had just crossed and nagged at them until it found a way through to their bodies. Beth was grateful for her cloak and all her layers of clothing which, although heavy and cumbersome to walk in, kept her at least moderately warm.
They kept to the same pattern as before; by day sleeping under hedges or in hollows and then as the sun started to go down in the late afternoon, setting out to walk through cold clear nights when the stars twinkled at them and the moon lit their way. For much of the time the Scyttel of standing stones which they were heading for was out of sight but Nab had no difficulty in feeling the currents of Roosdyche. Sometimes as they travelled they would come across a smaller Scyttel quite accidentally; it would perhaps have been marked by a stone or else it would simply be a little mound or a copse of trees or a place where water welled up from the earth. At other times it took the form of a grotto by a stream or a collection of huge rocks. They would stop by these places for a while and feel the power of the Scyttel giving them energy, strength and clarity of thought and, if they were lucky enough to come across one around dawn, they would sleep there for the day and awake feeling marvellously refreshed and invigorated.
Sam’s injuries were almost perfectly healed now and he was in the peak of condition; his coat a deep shining gold and his eyes clear and bright. Perryfoot too was better and had been ejected unceremoniously from his sling by Nab one night when it was thought that things had got to the stage when he was simply cadging a free ride. In fact, without his lift he would never have got better or even survived but now, although he still had a bad limp and would never be able to recapture his former speed, he was very nearly back to normal.
Beth found that she had got used to the grasses, roots, berries and toadstools that Nab found for her and had even begun to enjoy some of them. They at least now kept her going and she looked forward to the spring and summer when she knew there would be far more variety and choice. Now she was able to recognize some and, although Nab always insisted that he look at them before she ate in case they were poisonous, she gathered most of her food herself.