The Edge by Roland Smith

Author:Roland Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Into the Dark

IT TOOK RAFE and me a while to find his backpack. It had been ransacked like the other packs, but most of the gear was nearby, including his headlamp. We repacked it, then found the camel munching on some bushes. The next problem was figuring out how to put the saddle on the beast.

“Not a problem,” Rafe said. “We have wild camels all over the outback. When I was a kid, I spent my summers leading camel tours around Ayers Rock, or as the aboriginals call it, Uluru.”

I knew that Ayers Rock was called Uluru, but I didn’t know there were wild camels in Australia.

“Camels are an invasive species, mate,” he continued. “The explorers Burke and Wills brought them over for their walkabout in the Never Never. After the car was invented, the camels were set loose. They’re a nuisance now, like roos. They shoot camels to control the herds.”

He might have been exaggerating about leading the tours, but he certainly seemed to know a lot about camels. He made the camel lie down, or cush, as he called it, which made it relatively easy to get the saddle on. When he got the camel back up, he buckled the saddle on like he’d done it a thousand times before.

“Small camel,” he said. “Female. Not big enough for both of us, but I can haul your pack and the other gear up with me.”

There was no debate about who was going to ride the camel, but I didn’t mind. I had no desire to ride a camel. He made the camel cush again, then clambered onto the saddle. I handed the gear up, and we headed off into the dark with the donkey trailing behind.

It was a lot easier negotiating the scree without a heavy pack. I kept my head down, looking for the others’ trail, but the scree was undisturbed and seemingly endless in my lamplight. I hadn’t even picked out the trail we had made getting to the cliff. I had just about resigned myself to hanging in limbo next to the river with Rafe, Ethan, and Cindy—providing Ethan and Cindy hadn’t been snatched as well—when my headlamp caught a tiny flash of something white to my left. I stopped and tried to find it again, but the camel bumped into my back, sending me sprawling face first onto the rocks.

“What the bloody . . .”

The rest of Rafe’s startled shout was drowned out by the camel bellowing and the donkey braying. I paid no attention to any of it because my fall had reopened the eagle wound on my chin, and I felt warm blood running down my neck. I started swearing too, probably saying worse things than Rafe was shouting, until I realized we were making enough noise to be heard all the way down to the river.

“Quiet!” I shouted.

Apparently both man and beast understood. The cursing, bellowing, and braying stopped immediately, as if I’d punched a mute button. I switched my headlamp off and whispered to Rafe to do the same.

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