decision.â He peered up at the sky again, as though expecting to see clouds. âIn the meantime, we have to keep moving. The moonâs high, so weâll have light for an hour or two more, but after that, if I canât see the ground underfoot, it might be nasty for both of us.â
âThen keep your eyes open for another place to hide during the day thatâs coming. The loss of an hour or two of darkness wonât make much of a difference to our journey if we donât know where we are or where weâre going. But what about water? Have we enough?â
Moray hefted the water bag. âWe have until we reach the end of this. After that weâre in Godâs hands.â
âWeâre in Godâs sands , Lachlan, and like to die here if He doesnât provide for us.â
âWell, weâll find that out tomorrow. For now, I walk and you take your ease.â
He fastened the water bag carefully in place, then strapped on the harness again and set off. They did not speak to each other after that, for they both knew how sound can travel in the desert at night and they had no wish to attract company. Moray quickly steadied himself into the plodding gait he had been using for hours, but he was aware from the outset that fatigue was rising in him. He gritted his teeth and willed himself to ignore the shooting pains in his calves and thighs, concentrating solely on the incessant rhythm of placing one foot ahead of the other.
Some time later, much later, he decided afterwards, an agonized groan from Sinclair brought him back to awareness, and he stopped short, surprised to see that the terrain around him had changed completely and that he had walked from one desert zone into another without realizing it.
âAlec? Are you awake?â
Sinclair did not answer him, and Moray stopped on the point of peeling off the harness that felt now as though it had embedded itself into his body. Instead, he straightened up, arching his back and suddenly aware of the pain and stiffness he had blanked out of his mind until then, and looked about him carefully. The moon was low in the sky, but it still threw sufficient light for him to see his surroundings clearly enough to be amazed at what lay before him. The ground beneath his feet now was hard, scoured down to bedrock by thewind, and he was standing on the edge of what he saw as an enormous tilted bowl that loomed above and ahead of him, a broad, almost circular area of flat land, more than half a mile in extent, that was littered with great boulders and surrounded on all sides, except for where he stood, by towering, featureless walls of sand. Mountainous dunes, their gigantic slopes painted silver and black by moonlight and shadows, swept up on both sides of him to shut out the horizon ahead, eclipsing the stars. As he stood there, hearing only the pounding of his own heartbeat, he became aware of the stillness of the night; nothing moved and no smallest sound disturbed the absolute calm.
âAlec, can you hear me?â There was still no response, but he spoke again, quickly, as though he had heard one. âWeâre in a different kind of place here, but it looks promising, as far as finding shelter goes. There are boulders ahead, within reach, and we should be able to find a spot among them where the sun wonât roast us tomorrow. Itâs late, and the moonâs almost gone, and Iâm too tired to go much farther, so Iâm going to take us there and find a spot to rest. And then Iâm going to sleep, perhaps for the entire day tomorrow. But first Iâm going to feed you some more of those drugs you donât want. That is if I can force my feet to move again. Hold on, and Iâll try.â
He bent to the traces again and, after the first few faltering steps, found the plodding rhythm that had enabled him to keep forging ahead for hours. Within another quarter of an hour he was close enough to thelargest pile of
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