The Fathomless Caves by Kate Forsyth

Author:Kate Forsyth
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: Random House Australia
Published: 2002-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

Isabeau came back to consciousness only slowly. She was aware first of angry voices. She recognised Meghan’s, sharper than she had ever heard, then Lachlan’s deep baritone, and then, surprisingly, Maya’s voice, raised in angry denial. Isabeau lay in a sort of stupor, wondering why they all sounded so angry. Then the oddness of it struck her. Lachlan and Maya?

She opened her eyes. She lay curled on her side in sand. It was dark, but a group of men stood nearby with lanterns in their hands, casting wavering orange light over pale sand and the dark shapes of people. The orange light seemed to throb, making her feel sick. She turned onto her hands and knees, and retched into the grass. The ground seemed to tilt under her body. She clutched it, trying to reorientate herself, but the sand slithered away under her fingers. Then Meghan knelt beside her, holding her, asking her how she was. Isabeau had to concentrate hard to understand the meaning of the sounds. Then she said shakily, ‘In a minute. I’ll be fine in just a minute.’

Meghan cradled her, soothing her as she would a sick child. Then Lachlan was kneeling beside her, gripping one of her hands. ‘What did she do to ye?’ he asked fiercely. ‘Did she try to enchant ye?’

Isabeau did not understand. ‘Iseult …’ she whispered, then as agony suddenly lanced through her arm, she screamed. ‘Oh, Eà, Iseult!’

Lachlan let go of her hand. ‘Iseult?’ he asked. There was an odd intonation in his voice. ‘What about Iseult?’

Isabeau turned her head restlessly. ‘She was hurt, injured. She was near death. I could feel her slipping away. The pain … the cold … I had to go. I have never skimmed so far. I kent it was dangerous but I had to go.’

‘Iseult is hurt?’ Lachlan’s voice, his whole manner, had changed. He leant forward, seizing Isabeau roughly by the shoulders. ‘Where? What happened? Is she …? What happened, tell me, in Eà’s name, tell me!’

‘She’s alive.’ Isabeau found herself weeping. ‘I could no’ make them understand me, the soldiers searching for her under the snow, I could no’ make them hear me. I could feel her slipping away, it was so cold, it was so cold! At first it was like knives and then …’ She could not go on. She wiped her eyes with her hands, tried to catch her breath.

‘But she’s alive?’ Meghan said. ‘Are ye sure? Ye can feel her?’

‘Aye, I can feel her. The pain, I can feel it here and here and here.’ Isabeau pointed to her ribs, her arm, her knee. ‘They have set her broken arm. I could feel it, damn it. Why, oh, why do I have to feel everything she does?’

‘Oh, ye do, do ye?’ Lachlan said, raising an eyebrow.

Isabeau could not look at him. She was grateful for the darkness. ‘How did ye ken?’ she said to Meghan. ‘I could never have found my way back if ye had no’ been here.

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