Chapter 17
Trailing behind Clodagh and Fiske, Yana heard the copter lift off. She paused, listening until the sound was barely audible, then turned back to follow Clodagh. As she started walking, she became aware that the atmosphere inside the cave had subtly altered and lightened: the whole cavern was flooding with a sense of release-the exhalation of the breath she had felt it holding since she had first arrived.
At the same time something splashed and she swiveled, but she could see nothing, and decided that the sound must have come from outside the cave. Backtracking, she peered out along the little stream that flowed into the cavern, through the low, dark opening. Something was rising from the stream out there. Sparkling droplets of water splashed around a long, silver-brown body energetically shaking itself dry as it rose from the water. Yana watched in fascination as the droplets flew, clearing a finely sculpted head with ears flat against the skull and bright eyes that seemed to search the entrance of the cave. Then the moisture was gone and the head seemed to, well, fluff out, she supposed, and the body lengthened into that of a man-a man who seemed to be wearing a fine silky pelt of hair. Or, perhaps, a gray wet suit. But as he walked closer to her, she saw with joyful surprise that the man was Scan, clad in nothing at all save volcanic ash, which he must have been trying to wash off in the spring before coming inside.
“You always travel that way?” she called out, not quite trusting what she thought she had seen and hoping that either he would explain sometime soon or she could somehow find a subtle way to ask.
He grinned down at her. “Not always, but it’s very convenient if you know how.” He looked down at himself. “Can get a little drafty once I’m out of my element, though.”
The cave was littered with bits of uniform that had been discarded by survivors as not worth transporting. Scan rifled through them until he found a flight suit riddled with holes. He pulled it on, and it served as a social covering.
“Ashes as disguise and swimming as transport? Clever of you,” she said, making a wild guess.
“More or less,” he said, coming to stand very close to her and putting his hands on her shoulders.
She wasn’t quite ready yet to be distracted by his touch, still bewildered and intrigued by the way he had appeared and by what she felt surely had to be her perfectly ridiculous perceptions of it. “You know – I was wondering about that raven that guided us here – I sort of had a sense of you then. You don’t by any chance own a black wet suit and hang glider, do you?” she asked, lifting her brows in a query that practically demanded that he confide in her.
He remained amused and enigmatic. “And make myself small, as well? Gracious no, I couldn’t do that. I don’t go in for wings. I’ve a definite water affinity. But I do have friends in high places.”
Yana decided to pursue that mystery later and concentrate on more urgent matters for the time being. She laid a hand on his arm and said, “Sean, I’d better brief you as to what’s happening here. Torkel Fiske is ready to court-martial me for trying to defend
Petaybee and Clodagh’s taken Torkel’s father into the cavern-”
“I know, Yana, I know. And I’ll explain as soon as there’s time. Right now we’ll do better to help Dr. Fiske and Clodagh.”
His hand made a reassuring warm spot on the middle of her back as he guided her toward the passageway.
Yana became suddenly aware that the sound of the helicopter, which had grown faint by the time she had found Scan, was suddenly louder again. Instinctively she lengthened her stride. Sean heard it, too, and increased his pace to match hers until both were well within the passage.
The luminescence was brightening, and ahead of them she could hear Clodagh saying soothingly, “… someone who wants to meet you, Dr. Fiske.”
The copter thud grew louder and louder, then suddenly began fading again, but from behind, Yana heard quick footsteps entering the cave.