DESPERATE  MEASURES

Part Eight:

It was as though all the dirt under Brianna's outcropping of rock had liquefied,

flowing around, beneath her. Pushing hard with her feet, she tried to shove herself

up onto more solid rock, but the soles of her feet contacted something fleshy that

twitched violently at her touch.  Then something slid past her shoulder.  She sat

quickly up, banging the top of her head on a piece of jagged rock and a stream of

blood joined the mud flowing past her right ear.

It was pitch black.  The lightning had gotten further and further apart in its flashes

and she could see nothing. She hugged her arms around her legs, trying to occupy as

little space as possible.  She couldn't leave.  Not yet. She couldn't even see the pond,

much less where its edges were.  The sound of the waterfall, mere feet away, merged
with the pouring rain and the wind-sloshed water of the pond itself.  It was almost like

being lost at sea. An hour later, the wind shifted sharply, blowing the waters of the fall

sideways into her face.  A long tendril of vine whipped into the cave, stinging her arms. 

She grabbed at it, yanking hard, but her hands merely slid down its thick surface, taking

off narrow patches of skin from both palms.  Finally she pinned it between her knees,

pressing hard to hold it, to keep its whip-like motion under some control.

Just before dawn, the storm rumbled off across the far side of the island, and utterly

exhausted, she curled tightly on her side and went to sleep, totally unaware it was then

the spiders came out of their deep crevices to explore what had happened to their

territory in the night.  She lay in deep and dreamless sleep, completely covered in

mud and clinging bits of vine debris, tucked in the dark shadows.

Maximus had awakened, hungry, and gone fishing in the shallows of his little cove with

his sharpened staff.  It took more tries, more effort than he'd thought, but at last he had

a fairly large fish rudely gutted and roasting on a spit over his driftwood fire back in the

cave.  Sea salt was drying on his arms and legs and he thought of the fresh-water pond
and the waterfall where he'd swum yesterday.  Yes.  He would go there this morning

and perhaps gather some fruit to bring back with him.

Making his way around the headland, he cut inland a good distance from Sid's camp,

wishing to avoid both the man and Brianna.  He caught sight of the shelter Sid had

made, though, noticing its shutters and door were closed and figured the two of them

must still be inside.  Good.  He did not want to encounter either of them at the pond.

Striding quickly through the palms and then the thicker underbrush beyond it, he

arrived at the flat rock by the pond, stripped off his tunic and washed the salt out of it

before diving into the water.  He swam back and forth across the width of it several

times, the water feeling slightly cool and wonderful on his skin, then just floated a long

time on his back, his eyes closed.

Back on the rock, he considered lying there to dry as he'd done before, but didn't want

to risk either of the couple on the beach coming upon him, so just put on his wet tunic, 

knowing the sun would dry it as the day wore on.  A bit reluctant to leave the place, he

sat down and let his eyes roam about the area of the pond.  There was a deep depression

in the rock to the left of the falls, all shaded, damp and dark and he thought it would be

a likely place for lizards or snakes.  He studied the brink of the falls, wondering what lay

up there and after a while rose and made his way down the ridge, looking for a way to

the top.

Not really needing sleep, Sid had read all night.  It was a work by Marcus Aurelius.

He smiled, laying it aside.  No wonder Maximus liked the man.  His mind ranged in

interesting places, places Sid had a sudden hunger to know about. Opening the shutters,

he looked out through the palms toward the sea.  Ah, a bright and rain-washed sky.  He

went outside, standing fists on his hips,  tipping his head up into the sunshine.  That was something he would never have been interested in before...feeling the sun on his face,

liking the feel of it.  Stuff like that had never been important. Now, though, he remembered

...that was it...he remembered the sun of Spain.

He raised his hand, turning it slowly, studying it.  Outwardly he was exactly the same. 

That, he knew, was what Brianna was reacting to.  Sid.  She was responding to the Sid

she knew. He couldn't blame her.  Well, parts of him could, those parts that habitually

blamed everyone else for anything not to his liking.  But.  And that was the difference....

that 'but'. But now he was...expanded.  He smiled.  "New and improved."  He was more

than before. He was all he'd ever been, but added to by all that Maximus was.  He closed

his hand into a fist, aware suddenly that his neural network felt a bit jangled.  It was just

that he was as yet unaccustomed to this new part of himself.  That was it.  It was so

different, operated on such entirely 'other' principles than he was used to.  All he needed

was a bit of time to work it out, to get the pieces of himself to fit together.  He'd be fine

then.  He knew he would.

He closed his eyes, Maximus' memories of carrying Brianna into the bath house pool

flooding through him.  All he had to do was be patient.  She would come to him. Given

time, she would.  He literally ached to touch her.  That, too, was a whole new feeling for

him. His hands remembered the smoothness of her skin in the waters of the pool, the

taste of her lips on his.

He opened his eyes, looking toward the palms.  Where WAS she anyway? Where had

she spent the night during the storm? He thought by now she would have come to the

beach.  Well, he would just go for a little stroll, keeping his eyes peeled for her.  She'd

probably made some rickety little palm frond lean-to that had blown apart  in  the

night.  Perhaps she'd be in the mood now for some of the things he could supply her

with?  All he had to do was make sure Maximus never forgave her.

About a half mile down the ridge, Maximus found a way to the top and, picking his way

through the rocks and thick brush, made his way to the brink of the waterfall.  The small

stream was swollen with the night's rain, but still only mid-calf deep and he stood in the

midst of it, looking down at the pond.  A movement in the trees caught his eye and soon

Sid stepped out into the sunlight.  Maximus quickly left the stream, fading into the

shadows, watching to see what Sid might do. There was much he wanted to ask the man

who so resembled him, but he was not yet ready to converse with him.  So he hooded his
eyes, staring down as Sid came out onto the flat rock.  He didn't like seeing him there,

having some vague feeling of his personal territory being invaded.

Sid, unaware of his watcher, looked around the pond, never having been this far inland

before.  When he'd first heard the waterfall moments earlier, he'd had a sudden hope

that Brianna might be there, but there was no sign of her.  He sighed and left, heading

for the hills he could see in the distance.

Brianna was awakened by a sharp stinging on her neck and, half-asleep still, sat up

again, forgetting where she was, banging her head again on the rocks.  "Shit!" she said

crossly, brushing one hand across her neck, sending something fuzzy sailing out into the

pond.  She lay down again, scratching at the spot with one hand, rubbing her head with

the other. Still exhausted from the night, she closed her eyes, gratefully drifting once

again into sleep.

Maximus studied the fruit in his hand.  He had no idea what it was, but the monkeys

seemed to eat it with no bad results. He sniffed it. It had a resinous, slightly sweet smell

and his tummy rumbled, hungry again. Picking up a sharp rock, he cut into it,

encountering a single, oblong seed at its center. That he picked out with his fingers

and spreading the peeling open took a bite of the orangey flesh. Juice ran down his chin

and he smiled. It was good.  Whatever it was, it was good. He gathered an armful of them

and headed back toward his cave.

Sid, standing on the top of the highest hill where Maximus had stood the day before,

scanned the island with his sensitive eyesight. Brianna was no where to be seen. Where

had the woman GONE? Suddenly he saw Maximus emerge from the palms onto the

white sand of the beach and make his way around the rocky headland, disappearing

from view. So, the General must have some sort of hidey-hole beyond the point, eh?

He'd check that out later. Now, though, he was more interested in finding Brianna.

He headed down the back side of the hill, intending to explore the more distant reaches

of the island.  She had to be...somewhere.

ON TO PART 9

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