But she went over, the boat tipping, and dived.
Something did touch her leg as she went under the stone down-cropping. Then her
head was above the surface of the pool and Smhee’s was beside her.
They scrambled out onto the hard stone. Behind them came the clacking, but none
of the crabs tried to leave the pool.
The sky was black; thunder bellowed in the north; lightning traced white veins.
A wind blew, chilling them in their wet clothes.
They ran towards the dugout but not in a straight line since they had to avoid
the bushes with the poisonous thorns. Before they reached it, rain fell. They
dragged the craft into the river and got aboard. Above them lightning cracked
across the sky. Another bolt struck shortly thereafter, revealing two bears and
a number of men behind them.
‘They can’t catch us now!’ Smhee yelled. ‘But they’ll be going back to put their
horses on rafts. They’ll go all the way into Sanctuary itself to get us!’
Save your breath, Masha thought. I know all that.
The wind-struck river was rough now, but they got through the waves to the
opposite shore. They climbed panting up the ridge and found their horses,
whinnying from fear of the lightning. When they got to the bottom of the ridge,
they sped away, their passage fitfully lit by the dreadful whiteness that seemed
to smash all around them. They kept their horses at a gallop for a mile, then
eased them up.
‘There’s no way they can catch us!’ Smhee shouted through the thunder. ‘We’ve
got too much of a head-start!’
Dawn came. The rain stopped. The clouds cleared away; the hot winter sun of the