He strode to the river’s edge and peered down at the water. Cupping his hands over his eyes, Steven narrowed his vision so all he could see was the river rushing by, in perfect perpetual rhythm, towards the ocean south of Estrad Village. He took deep, relaxing breaths and imagined himself standing on the banks of Clear Creek as it careened riotously through Idaho Springs. Feeling better, he knelt down and splashed icy water on his face and then rubbed two handfuls on the back of his neck. The cold felt good against his skin and once again he felt his hopes rise, an upswing on the emotional roller-coaster he had ridden since his fateful decision to breach his bank’s code of ethics and open William Higgins’ deposit box. If there was enough familiarity in Eldarn for him to have a few refreshing moments near a stream, perhaps it was all right to hope he and Mark might find their way home.
Mark joined him on the riverbank. Without speaking, he stripped to his underwear and strode boldly into the water. Steven smiled: that was Mark; finds himself in a foreign world filled with magic, war, demon creatures and no discernable way back home and instead of worrying, strips to boxers and enjoys an evening swim. Looking back over his shoulder, Steven could see the Ronans taking an interest in Mark’s antics as well.
Brynne looked at him questioningly, but all Steven could do was to shrug and shake his head.
‘Hey,’ Mark called, ‘c’mon in. It’s only cold for a second.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ Steven replied, still smiling. ‘How can you just go swimming like that? Like you’re at a community pool in the suburbs?’
Mark shook the water from his face and answered, ‘Well, I figure either way we have to go into Welstar Palace, and from what everyone says, entering Welstar is just about the most dangerous and life-threatening decision we can make while we’re here in Eldarn.’ He started backstroking towards the centre of the river.
‘What does that have to do with swimming?’
Mark stopped again and trod water. ‘I’m swimming because I can,’ he said matter-of-factly. ‘It helps me to distance myself from this growing certainty that we’re never getting out of this place alive.’
Steven contemplated Mark’s words for a moment then quickly peeled off his own clothes and jumped into the icy water, shouting as the cold struck his skin with the force of a hard slap. He dived beneath the surface and saw the brown, pebbled river bottom was dotted here and there with larger smooth stones.
The mundane normality of the riverbed, like his first sight of the little cove, brought him a measure of comfort. He was glad Mark had talked him into this pre-dinner swim. He was right: they had to actively control whatever they could, because there were so many things about Eldarn that seemed to flail about wildly out of reach, things they had no control over whatsoever.
Breaking the surface, he gasped for breath, then grinned at his roommate as if to say thank you, but Mark was already moving towards the riverbank. ‘Where are you going?’ Steven called.
‘I’ve been sweating for three days in this heat. I’m going to wash my clothes.’ Mark stepped from the water and collected up his bundle, but just as he was about to throw everything in, he stopped short.
‘What’s the matter?’ Steven climbed up the bank to pick up his own pile of clothing; he tossed it into the shallows along the river’s edge.
‘I just remembered grabbing a book of matches at Owen’s the other night. I don’t want them to get wet. Who knows when we might need ’em.’ He poked through his pockets until he discovered the matchbook, folded up with several crumpled pieces of parchment.
‘Oh, this is the paper I found back at Riverend as well. I’m glad I checked. We might need that too.’ He dropped the matches and parchment on the ground before dropping his clothes into the river. The two men sat companionably in the knee-deep shallows, scrubbing their clothing clean, before clambering out to squeeze as much water as possible from each piece and hanging the lot from sundry tree branches around the camp.
When Garec called them for dinner, Mark, still wearing only his damp boxers, moved towards the fire-pit, chivvying up his friend. ‘C’mon Steven, there’s rabbit to be eaten over here.’
‘Grand,’ Steven answered sarcastically. ‘Let’s eat the Easter Bunny, shall we?’
‘Hey, don’t laugh. It smells pretty tasty.’ Mark dragged a fallen log to the edge of the fire and dropped down on it as if he were falling into a comfortable sofa.
‘You’re right. At this point I’m so hungry I could eat a fried dog,’ he said and sat next to Mark.
‘I’ll check with the chef: I do believe Eldani Fried Dog is on the menu for tomorrow.’ They both laughed, but Garec was disgusted that anyone would ever think of eating pets.
‘It’s really okay, it’s just a joke about one of our – er, eating establishments back home… you know, 20,000 flies can’t be wrong,’ Mark tried to explain. It wasn’t long before the incredulous group were giggling at the thought of breakfast cereal that could be used to spell words, beer that came in metal cans and whole cooked chickens served in colourful paper buckets.
After dinner, Mika cleaned their pots in the river and Versen gathered more firewood to see them through the night. Sallax sipped thoughtfully from a goblet of Garec’s family wine and Brynne unrolled her blankets on an area of smooth ground near the fire. Mark felt a tense knot in his stomach loosen when he saw how close to him Brynne had decided to sleep, but he couldn’t catch her eye.
He and Steven had borrowed some of Garec’s clothes while theirs dried in the warm night air. Gilmour poked at the fire with a branch, then abandoned his apparent fascination with the flames to fill his pipe from a leather pouch tucked inside his riding cloak. There was tension in the air, but no one seemed willing to break the mood by prompting Gilmour to elaborate on his startling morning revelation. Finally, Gilmour himself broke the wary mood as he poured himself a goblet of wine and invited everyone to join him around the fire.
‘Come my friends, we have much to discuss,’ he said, patting an empty log beside him.
Brynne sat next to Steven. Leaning over to him she whispered, ‘This is difficult for all of us. It must be especially maddening for you two.’
Steven ran his palms back and forth along the coarse homespun fabric of his borrowed leggings. ‘I’m just glad we met people we could trust. I really am sorry for the way we treated you at Riverend Palace.’
She reached over and took his hand. It was the same gesture Hannah had used when reaching for him over fajitas that afternoon in Denver. Steven smiled inwardly at the memory; that had been a good day.
‘That’s all right,’ Brynne said. ‘You believed it was your only way out at the time.’
‘At least then it felt like we had a way out.’ He tried not to allow his anxiety to show in the tone of his voice.
‘It will be all right, Steven, I’m confident things will work out in the end.’ She patted his hand again, comforting him with her touch.
Versen and Mika joined them around the fire; Sallax stood nearby, keeping watch for potential assailants approaching through the forest.
Gilmour looked at each of them in turn before beginning, ‘My friends, I want you to understand from the start that whatever you hear tonight, whatever you may learn, I am still Gilmour, still your friend and your compatriot. You may think I have withheld a great deal from you in the many Twinmoons we have known one another, but do not blame me for that. You are like my children to me, and the greatest joy I have felt in the last fifty Twinmoons has come from knowing each of you.’ He looked at Garec as if the young man held a special place in his heart, then turned to Mark and Steven. ‘And you two represent the culmination of more than nine hundred Twinmoons’ anticipation for someone who has-’ he grinned at Steven ‘-or at least has knowledge of Lessek’s Key.’
He waved his pipe around. ‘This is the most excited I have been in half my life. I – we – may finally have an opportunity to defeat Nerak, to close the Fold for ever and to ensure the clouds of hatred, mistrust, violence and oppression that have been destroying Eldarn for six generations will at last be lifted.