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several
children." she said, "The storm has hurt the homes of the big
people more than it has hurt us because they build above ground. We
can start afresh here."
    I thought about this for a while. Perhaps she
was right.
    When my hunger was assuaged I went to the
entrance of the village. The wind had dropped, but it still gusted.
There was sand partly blocking the way and I had to scrape it
aside. I knelt there, mostly shielded from the wind looking across
the grey and stormy waters, thinking. I could not recall a storm
like this nor had I heard my father or anyone else speak of such a
wind. There was no going out today even if I had any but the most
pressing of reasons - and I no longer seemed to have any reason at
all. I turned, rose and walked back underground. She was waiting
for me.
    "Do we need anything from outside?" I asked
her.
    "No. We have fuel for several days' fire and
food enough for as long or longer."
    "Then we'll shelter until the storm ends," I
decided.
    "I'll build the fire up," she said by way of
answer. Outside the weather was still foul - inside we were
sheltered and dry.
    It was nearly two days later that the wind
dropped and the clouds let the sun through. I had no hope that any
of my people would have survived the storm but, all the same, I
felt I must look. I walked along the seashore - and this time I did
walk - but saw nothing. I could see the main island near and clear
and I found the wreckage of a boat, probably mine. However, most of
the other rubbish thrown up by the waves seemed to be natural. I
did not see any sign of any other person, big or little.
    When I had gone past the boulder where I had
sheltered that first night, I turned back. There wasn't much point
in going further.
    Something niggled at my mind and I think I
felt that all was not right, though I had seen nothing wrong. I
smelt the smoke of our fire before I saw the village. I knew
instantly that we had a visitor and I saw from the size of the
footprint in the sand I had scraped away that it was one of the big
people. I heard the sound of the hard stuff they make their weapons
from. The noise came from underground. So he was still there. I
couldn't see any others, so there was probably just the one, but he
couldn't be allowed to go back and tell others of his
discovery.
    I could hear someone coming towards the
entrance, so I stood to one side. He stopped in the entranceway
blinking, stooped over because he was so tall. I didn't give him
time to get used to the light again or to recover himself, I
chopped down and then stabbed upwards. I cut off his sword hand at
the elbow with the first blow and I felt the sword strike home with
the second. Then a clump of damp sand hit my face.
    A second one emerged with a spear as I
brushed the sand from my face and eyes, stabbing wildly at him as I
did so. He caught me with his spear and the head broke off,
allowing me to reach him with an upward stab of my sword. The two
of them staggered away, bleeding and dying. I collapsed on the
sand. I did not think they were going to make it to the main
island. In fact I saw one of them drop about a hundred yards
away.
    "Lian!" I called, but she did not answer.
"Lian! I've been hit, come and help me." I called again, but she
did not come or even answer. From inside came a smell of
burning.
     
     
     

Chapter 6
     
    Steve tugged the ring off his finger. "Phew!"
he said.
    "Did we all share a dream?" asked Gill
cautiously. "I certainly felt I was watching something real."
    Alicia was looking bemused but said
nothing.
    "It was real," said Steve at length, looking
at the ring which he was still holding. "Or, at least, realistic.
How long did it last?"
    Gill glanced at her watch. "I'm not sure.
About twenty minutes I think." She was about to say something else
but Steve interrupted her.
    "When you say you shared the dream, do you
mean that you took part in it?"
    "Not exactly. I ... well, stood by on the
sidelines, as it were."
    "I'm off football images, if