Song Beneath the Tides by Beverley Birch

Author:Beverley Birch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Michael O'Mara
Published: 2020-03-25T18:11:13+00:00

Fourteen

‘You still think you’re picking up creepy stuff from the forest and the island?’ Jack fixed Ally with a penetrating stare.

‘Leli wants to go to Kisiri and see if people’ve been there,’ she defended herself. ‘He’s asked Mzee Shaibu and we can go too, to help! You’ve been worrying about those boats—’

‘But that’s not all – you’ve just been listening to the story­teller . . .’ He didn’t finish, glancing at Leli, standing close beside her.

‘We can help, Jack! You know, more people to look round.’ She tried not to show urgency in her voice.

Jack looked from her to Leli and back again. The warmth of Leli’s arm against hers was calming. It willed her on.

‘We promised Carole to stick together – if you won’t go, Jack, I can’t!’

‘But why right now? You’re not telling me something. What’s the whole story? Ally, what’s really going on with you two?’

His eyes bored into her, sharp with suspicion. She refused to look away. ‘That’s not fair, Jack. I tell you things and you say I’m being stupid! You won’t listen! We’ve got to look – we’ve got to help! Don’t you want to help?’ she challenged. You—’

‘OK, OK!’ he stopped her. ‘We’re going to help figure out these boats hanging about. But you’re not going to make your big brother have to watch your back all the time, wandering off in search of legends and spooky stuff, are you? Not with all these other things going on. It’s bad enough having to keep track of Benjy.’

She flushed hotly, ‘Don’t—’

‘Just teasing,’ he said, ‘well, sort of. You’ve made your point, Ally. We’ll all go, Benjy too.’

Jack insisted on dragging the canoes out of sight into a thicket above the beach. Huru had guided them to the only sandy bay on the rocky south shore of the island, the side they hadn’t been before.

Leli led them all across low shelves of flat rock strewn with seaweed and shells, pushing inland. The ground rose, undulating through stands of palms, sandy banks laced with thorny creepers, grassy mounds and bushy hollows. It opened unexpectedly onto a broad, open plateau clothed in dense fern. Thick forest bordered its length on the far side.

‘In this place they came on their journey.’ Leli was low-voiced for Ally.

‘Who came?’ asked Jack, close enough to overhear.

‘First people of Shanza,’ said Leli. ‘Festival story.’

Ally avoided Jack’s eye. She could feel his scrutiny, always assessing her and Leli.

She followed Leli closely, pushing through the ferns, releasing a bruised, pungent fragrance. Two lone baobabs rose, gigantic, from the plateau’s centre, their trunks broad enough to shield three people abreast, their branches dotted with crows. As they all neared, the birds broke into a shrieking argument, flapped off, swerved in a black cloud into the flanking forest.

Hysterical chirruping answered, and a violent shaking rippled along the high canopy. A lone dark shape soared from it, dwindling against the sky’s white glare.

Ben squinted after it. ‘Is that a fish eagle again?’

‘Kwazi,’ Huru confirmed. ‘We saw in the mangrove waters.

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