Opalescence by Ron Rayborne

Author:Ron Rayborne [Rayborne, Ron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, time travel, prehistoric, dystopian, environmental collapse, opals, auel, nature fiction, paradise earth, nature adventure
Publisher: via Indie Author Project
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Tom could see that there would be other rivers to cross. Most of the large ones seemed to run down, then south, eventually ending in faraway deltas, bays and estuaries around the top of that huge inland sea. He still wondered about it.

Chapter 18

For days they walked. Days on days. And the days became weeks. Over hill and dell they went. They forded rivers and streams, always brimming with fish. Picked their way along the sun-dappled shores and inlets of lakes and tarns. Scooted timidly across the sheer face of towering cliffs when the alternatives were worse. Pushed through tall grass and stiff thicket — lush, verdant growth that half-buried trees — and drier lands. If not for the journal, he’d have lost track completely. As the weeks dropped away, each of them was changing. Tom had stopped shaving his beard and combing his hair. It now ranged wild as the land around them, constantly tousled by the wind. He was also growing stronger, his breathing easier. His cough had vanished. The skin on his face darkened and his confidence increased, the set of his eyes now a little less fearful, a little more sure. He’d never felt better.

Little, too, was changing, and the rate amazed Tom. She had trebled her weight, constantly on the chase after ground squirrels. He suspected, though, that, with her increasing mass, she would soon lose her acrobatic edge and would have to begin hunting larger prey. Still, like her human, she was growing surer and more serious. When she barked at the large herbivores blocking their path, it now seemed to be less of a playful request and more of a warning. It alarmed Tom when she began to bite the running flanks of much larger beasts, and he worried about the possibility of a kick.

There was something else that Little began to do which annoyed him. As each day wore on and grew hotter, she would simply stop at some point under the shade of a large tree and refuse to go on. The first time this happened, Tom did not notice until he heard her bark and turned to find that she was sitting down a hundred yards away, ears pointed forward toward him. Her first two barks he’d missed, having gotten into a bit of a walking trance in the dripping heat. He called her, but she wouldn’t budge. He wondered if something was wrong and tread back, but, having inspected her, found nothing. So he turned to continue and called her, checking to see that she was following. Still she sat, unmoving.

“Oh, for crying out loud!” Tom exclaimed. “What is it?” At this, Little lay down, mouth opening in a wide grin. Actually though, it was more of a pant, her sides heaving rapidly. Tom wiped the sweat from his face with his forearm, unknowingly smearing dirt across it. Ah, so that’s it, he thought, she needs a break. He looked out under the boughs of the massive oak. Waves of heat were radiating upwards from the ground in the exposed areas.

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