“Remarkable!” the white-haired man said, staring at her. “Look at her clothing! Why, she should be freezing. And here alone except for a wild animal which would probably have eaten her when hunger overcame it. Amazing! I would have liked a closer look at that cat, though. It seems totally unlike any of the others I’ve noticed.”
The pilot didn’t respond to what the elder said but came forward to kneel before her. Before her and so unworthy for such an honor! He even looked her in the eye and spoke in a kind voice that almost made her weep.
“You look a long way from home, alannah. Are you lost? Was that big ol’ kitty what you folks down here use for a track-cat?”
Goat-dung sank to her knees before him and bowed her head. “Please forgive the companion of this ignorant and despicable child, O Captain of Angels. Coaxtl befriended me out of pity, but now that my own kind are here, she has fled from fear of the righteous. For are not all animals to be meat and fur for the company men?”
“Where did you hear such drivel?” the captain replied in a disgusted tone of voice. Goat-dung did not expect that.
“Did I get it wrong?” she asked fearfully. “Forgive me if I misquoted the Shepherd Howling. I am the stupidest of girls, as has often been said of me.”
“If you ask me, you’re the luckiest of kids,” the pilot said. “And we’re lucky to have found you before you froze to death. Now come aboard, darlin’, and stop cringin’. Sure, no one will hurt you now.” And he looked back at the tall white-haired man with an expression Goat-dung could not see in the descending shadows.
“Of course they won’t, my child,” the white-haired man said. And while the pilot had quite correctly refrained from touching such filth as she, the white-haired man took her hands in his and raised her in his arms, carrying her to the plane. “You will come with us to Sierra Padre.”
“You won’t make me go back to the Vale of Tears?”
“Not if that’s how they teach you to talk about yourself. Especially if you have run away from all those bruises and cuts I see on you, no, we won’t take you back,” the pilot said.
“What and where is this Vale of Tears?” the white-haired man asked.
“You won’t make me go back there, sir? I don’t deserve to. I fled from being the bride to the Shepherd Howling.”
“Bride? You’re no more than a baby!” The pilot sputtered with outrage.
But the white-haired man said, “We go now to Sierra Padre, where I will begin my work, and you, my dear, will have a hot bath, clean clothing, a decent meal, and a good night’s sleep.”
“She certainly will,” the pilot said. “An old shipmate of mine, Lonciana Ondelacy, lives in Sierra Padre with her kids and grandchildren. Loncie will be glad to take this little one in.”
The white-haired man smiled at her, helping her climb into the big plane beside the other man, who did not smile.
This reassured her more than anything the pilot had said because, of course, it was only right since she did not deserve to be smiled upon. Then, with a great deal of noise and wind, the Captain of the Angels and the white-haired patriarch sent the hummingbird ship aloft, where, for that night, all was miraculously as wonderful as they had said it would be.
Chapter 10
Marmion, led by Seamus Rourke, flanked by Sally and Millard and followed more slowly by Matthew’s five assistants, emerged into early-morning sunlight. Rick O’Shay was the last to leave the cave.
“My word! It is the next day?” Marmion exclaimed. She turned to Seamus, who grinned, a smile that had little to do with the day or anything else immediately obvious to Marmion.
“Sure is, missus.”
“But we weren’t in there long …” Sally began, glancing down at the digital on her wrist. Her eyes widened. “Good heavens.”
“The next day?” Ivan grabbed her wrist to peer at her digital before checking his own. The other four men apprehensively conferred over this unexpected loss of time. “But we’ll be behind in our work …” Ivan wheeled accusingly on Seamus. “You had no right to take us away from our work for a whole day.”