“All is well?”
Silva’s grin faded just a bit. “Mostly,” he hedged.
“What do you mean?” Rebecca fought down an almost panicked concern. “Is everyone all right? What of… What of Lawrence, and Mr. Cook?”
“Oh, ever’body’s okay, I guess. Cook’s over there, still sleepin’. I figger Larry must’ve perked right up, ’cause he was already gone, trompin’ around, I expect, before I even came around. Most o’ them Imperial fellas is still sleepin’ too, ’cept Rajendra. Him and Cap’n Lelaa’s over there inspectin’ the boat.” He looked up. “And here comes our overall captain o’ everything now.”
“At ease,” Sandra said sarcastically. “Don’t bother to jump up and salute!” She was smiling when she sat in the sand next to Silva. “How do you feel, sweetie?” she asked Rebecca.
“Okay,” replied the girl. She glanced warily at the nearby tree. “Are you quite sure there are none of those creatures such as were on Talaud? The ones that climb trees and drop upon prey from above?”
“Ain’t seen any,” Silva assured her, “and there’s no scratch marks like they make.” He shrugged. “Who knows, though? Don’t worry; I been keepin’ my eye out!” He chuckled at his little joke. Suddenly, his face went blank and he stiffened. Seeing his reaction to… whatever, the two girls froze as well. Slowly, Silva eased around to look back in the jungle behind him. “Damn you, Larry,” he said, “what are you doin’ sneakin’ around in the bushes? You mighta got shot. Again.”
Lawrence practically slithered up among them, his eyes darting about. “Quiet!” he insisted. He looked at Rebecca and lowered his head. “I so sorry!” he moaned. “I so, so sorry!”
“What? What is it, my dear?” Rebecca asked, alarmed.
“I just learn charts and I guess I didn’t learn so good, or I did learn good, and still not right!”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” Silva hissed.
“I think he means that we are where we set out to go, this Yap Island, but, with Larry not knowing charts or being familiar with all the hundreds of islands around here, Yap isn’t the same place as Tagran after all,” Rebecca said carefully.
“Yes, yess!”
“How does he know?” Sandra asked.
Lawrence hesitated. “I here… again!”
“Before?”
“Yes!”
“You’re positive?”
“Yes!”
“Well,” said Sandra, relieved, “if he’s definitely been here before, he should know where the real Tagran is. Isn’t that true, Lawrence?”
Lawrence lowered his head again. “Yes,” he hissed.
“Whoa, wait a minute!” said Silva. He fumbled behind him in a pile of things he’d brought from the boat. In a moment, he had the chart in his hand. He pointed at a spot on the map. “This here’s Yap, what you thought was Tagran. That’s where we are, right?” He pointed southwest. “This here’s that scary island you said was the place you went through your trial, where there’s all sorts o’ boogers you wouldn’t ever tell us about.” He looked at Lawrence. “There ain’t nothin’ southwest of that but empty ocean, so it can’t be Tagran.”
“No,” Lawrence said.
“So if that ain’t it and this ain’t it, your home must be this spot, northeast of here, right?” Lawrence nodded miserably, and Rebecca and Sandra both looked at Silva questioningly. He exhaled noisily. “What the hell. Whatever doesn’t kill you is a hoot, I always say.”
“What do you mean?” Sandra asked, but she knew.
“Ladies, Larry here’s been beatin’ around the bushy fact that we’re marooned on Boogerland itself.” Silva looked hard at Lawrence. “I ain’t scared o’ Boogerland. I ain’t scared o’ much at all anymore. The only thing that does scare me is threats to folks I care about. You mighta noticed I tend to react violently to those. Now, I know you ain’t supposed to blow about what’s runnin’ around here, but we’re talkin’ Princess Rebecca and Miss Tucker now! I don’t give a furry shit what you promised or swore to; I swear I’ll twist your head off your skinny neck if you don’t cough up everything you know about this damn place!”
That evening they had a big fire on the beach. In spite of everything, Lawrence had still refused to tell Dennis what he wanted to know, but he had told Sandra and Rebecca. They were females, after all, and no female was ever expected to undergo the trial. Sandra promptly told Silva roughly what they could expect-and it was scary. Evidently, they had some time, though. Not much, but apparently, the most dangerous time on the island reached its peak at a certain “season” of the year: the mating season of the semi amphibious “shiksaks” that sometimes even troubled Tagran. It wouldn’t be a cakewalk, but maybe, just maybe they could be gone by then. In the meantime, they had a lot of work to do, and this first full night on Shikarrak Island, or Boogerland, as Silva continued to call it, would be devoted to a much-needed, watchful rest.
Rebecca was drowsy, but it suddenly dawned on her that she didn’t see Silva among the group gathered around the fire. She stood and walked a short distance away, and as her eyes adjusted, she could just make him out, standing short of the surf line.
“Mr. Silva?” she said quietly
“Hmm? Oh.”
“You frightened me,” she scolded. “I looked about and you were nowhere to be seen!”
“Sorry, li’l sister,” he said. “Most o’ those fellas over there don’t like me much, and I had a little thinkin’ to do.”
Sandra joined them in the darkness. “What were you thinking about?” She huffed. “Anything besides the obvious?”
Silva actually laughed. “Well, yeah, prob’ly. You know the skipper-Captain Reddy-will be lookin’ for us by now.”
Sandra sighed sadly. “I know. No matter what else is going on, he’ll have dropped everything to come after us.”
“After you,” Silva stated the fact. “And maybe the munchkin queen here. Don’t hurt my feelin’s none. I bet he’s got Walker back by now, and I can almost see her steamin’ by out there in the dark, with a fine, big bone in her teeth!” He shook his head. “Thing is, he ain’t gonna find us. He’s gonna chase Billingsly’s dead ass all the way to the New Britain Isles and he ain’t gonna find us.” He chuckled. “You know what he’s gonna think? He’s gonna think them Brits are either hidin’ you girls… or they did somethin’ to you.”
Sandra and Rebecca were both silent for a moment, suspecting Silva was probably right.
“What do you suppose he’ll do?” Rebecca asked at last.
Silva chuckled again. “I don’t know, li’l sister, but I guarantee they’re gonna hate it.”
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Distant Thunders d-4 Page 47
