The Sea-wreck Stranger

by Anna Mackenzie

  Heat colours my cheeks. ‘You can be grateful once I’m sure you’re truly safe,’ I say, knowing we’ve a way to go yet. His mood is infectious, though, and I feel happier than I have in weeks. Already my thoughts are running ahead. Once we’ve worked out where he’s to go, he’ll need supplies for the journey – maybe Merryn will help with that as well.

  I stand up. ‘Keep out of sight,’ I remind him. ‘And no fishing.’

  ‘I’ll be careful,’ he says. ‘You too, Ness.’

  At the cave mouth I raise my hand, then turn and run along the waterline, spray lifting with each step. Though I’ve known Dev for only a few weeks, I feel as if he’s always been part of my life; as if, as well, I’m responsible for him somehow. Maybe that’s what comes of saving someone’s life. Soon enough his survival will be out of my hands. I’m not sure whether that’ll make me feel better or worse.

  When I reach the house Sophie is off on an errand and Tilda is asleep. With my plan for tomorrow in mind, I spill all but the last dribble of her tonic as I pour a fresh glass, then I set both the measure and the bottle near her bed where she can’t help but see them. Ty and Marn will be late home but I set the dinner on to cook. I’m busy at the stove when Sophie appears in the doorway, face flushed as if she’s been running.

  ‘Ness! Ness, come quick,’ she hisses.

  I follow her to the barn where she spins and grips my arm. ‘Ness, it’s Jed. I think he knows!’

  ‘Knows what? Sophie, what’s wrong?’ I demand.

  Sophie’s fingers are tight on my arms. ‘Jed forgot to take the soup Tilda gave him – or he left it on purpose. I knew Elsie and Ton would be thankful for it after their journey, so I took it to Cotterburn.’ She releases my arms and waves her hands in agitation. ‘Ness, Jed wasn’t there! The house was shut up and empty, even though he’d had time aplenty to get there.’

  I watch her, unsure why a worm of dread is starting to crawl in my stomach.

  Sophie hurries on with her telling. ‘I came back as quick as I could because I wanted to let you know but I was too late! Oh, I knew as soon as I saw the house that something was wrong!’

  ‘Sophie, tell me,’ I demand, for it’s clear from her face that the worst is yet to come.

  ‘I came home by the path not the road, and stopped to catch my breath where you can look out over the bay. After last time I wondered – well, I just did.’ Her face is slightly defiant as she glares at me. I nod, to hurry her on. ‘Ness, I saw you running along the beach. I could tell it was you, and I could guess where you’d been.’

  A little of the tension flows out of me. ‘You know I go to the beach Sophie. It’s no secret.’

  Sophie waves a hand to silence me. ‘I stayed standing there, once you’d gone,’ she says. ‘I don’t know why; I just did. And then …’

  ‘Sophie?’

  Tears clog her voice when she answers. ‘Then I saw Jed. After you left, he crossed the beach. It was Jed, Ness, I’m sure of it! And he went to the cave!’

  My breath catches. ‘Did he go inside?’ I ask, struggling to keep my voice level.

  Sophie looks miserable. ‘I think so. I couldn’t see the cave mouth. I climbed as close as I dared to the edge of the bank and saw him coming back around the rocks, from where the entrance is. He was out of sight too long not to have gone in.’

  We stare at each other in silence, a silence that feels loud with the rapid beating of my heart. ‘Ness, Dev is still alive, isn’t he?’ Sophie suddenly asks.

  I nod.

  ‘You’ve got to move him from the cave! When Ton gets home, Jed will tell him. Then –’

  She doesn’t need to finish. I know what will happen next. I feel almost numb, as if my knowledge comes from someone else, someone standing away at a distance. This is the end, that person is thinking. This is what it’s all been leading to. Jed Barritt will tell Ton and Colm, and then they’ll come for Dev. And for me. After that –

  ‘Ness!’ Sophie is suddenly gripping my arms. ‘You have to do something! You can’t let them find him.’ She walks a few paces away, shaking her closed fists up and down as if she might force an answer from the air. ‘Oh, why didn’t you tell me?’ she suddenly bursts out. ‘Why did you keep it to yourself? I thought he must be alive! You’ve been acting so strangely, and I was almost certain it was Dev I saw on the beach that time!’

  ‘I told him not to go out of the cave,’ I say numbly. I should have taken Sophie seriously before: I was too busy trying to throw her off the scent to think beyond that. ‘I could have moved him then, or …’ My voice trails away, and I slump onto the milking stool. ‘Just this morning I was thinking he was safe,’ I tell her quietly. ‘But he’s not. He never could be, not here.’

  Sophie crouches before me and takes hold of my hands. ‘Ness, you can’t give up! Not when there’s still a chance! Marn said Ton and Elsie won’t be home before nightfall, so Jed won’t have told anyone yet. We don’t even know that he means to.’

  ‘He’ll tell them,’ I answer dully. ‘Either that, or –’ Dread sweeps cold and oily through my stomach.

  ‘We could talk to him!’ Sophie says. ‘We could ask him –’

  ‘You don’t understand!’ Her suggestion sets a savage anger loose inside me. ‘You’ve no idea what Jed’s like! What he’d do. He –’ Putting my fear into words would make it too real. I know there’s no point pleading with Jed to keep my secrets. ‘He’ll tell, and he’ll enjoy it,’ I say flatly.

  Sophie watches me coolly. ‘So you’ll just give up?’ she asks.

  ‘Sophie, what choice do I have? I can’t stand against Ton Barritt and Colm Brewster! Dev can try, if they give him a chance. He knows all sorts of things that might help us. He knows about how the fish came to be poisoned.’ A spark of life flares up in me. ‘Sophie, we could start fishing again! The poison that got into the sea isn’t so strong any more. That’s what he came here to study. Dev says …’ I stop. It doesn’t matter what he says if no one’s ready to listen. Sophie is looking at me askance.

  ‘Even you don’t believe it,’ I say. Her eyes turn from mine. Hopelessness floods through me. I think of Jed, who could this minute be standing in front of Colm Brewster with his tale. At least they’ll have their scapegoat, I think. They’ll be able to blame Dev for the storm and all the damage it brought. At least Merryn will be safe. Merryn. What was it she said, last time I saw her? Something about people not being able to see the truth even when it lay right before their noses. People like Ton.

  If they didn’t see Dev, if they didn’t find him, would they still believe Jed? If I denied everything he said – what then? I stand up. ‘Sophie, can you cover for me? Say I’ve gone to – to …’ I can’t think of a story, but Sophie smiles.

  ‘To check Ton’s goats. Someone left the latch undone and they’ve broken out of his paddock. It could take an age to gather them back again. And with Ton coming home …’

  We smile at each other. It’s worth a try. Anything’s worth a try. I’m about to turn away when I glimpse movement over her shoulder. The smile slips from my face. Colm Brewster is standing in the doorway of the barn.

  Chapter 23

  ‘Hello, Ness. Sophie. Is Marn about?’

  Colm Brewster stands just inside the barn door, his meaty hands on his hips, his feet planted firm as if he had every right to be there. I’ve no idea how long he’s been listening. Swallowing hard I try to recall what we’ve most recently said, about Dev, and about fishing. Colm’s face gives nothing away.

  ‘He’s out on the farm,’ Sophie speaks up, ‘but I can take you to where he’s working. Tilda’s inside, but she has one of her headaches. She’s lying down.’

  Colm nods. ‘Perhaps Ness can take me. I’d like a word with her as well.’

  I shrink inside. ‘I –’

  ‘Oh, but, I’ll never be able to get the goats in!’ Sophie says, sounding piteous. ‘It’s only Ness can handle them, especially Ton’s.’

  ‘I was just fetching Mattie’s lea
d rope,’ I improvise, risking a quick glance at Sophie. ‘If I take her, the others’ll follow more easily.’ My voice sounds choked but I’m hoping Colm won’t notice. He came up on us awfully quiet for such a big man.

  Colm’s eyes travel from one of us to the other. ‘They’ve escaped, you were saying.’

  I nod, unable to force out another word. Sophie’s not so reticent. ‘And we know who left that gate open as well!’ she says righteously. ‘When he’s not making trouble, he’s making mischief, and I’m not sure there’s much difference.’

  ‘Sophie!’ I hiss.

  ‘Oh, why should we protect him? Jed’s idea of a joke is to make work for others. Or to waste their time,’ she adds.

  ‘Indeed?’ murmurs Colm.

  ‘I’d better get after the goats,’ I say hastily.

  ‘You had,’ Sophie agrees, turning to Colm. ‘I’ll take you up to Harman Ridge where Marn is. He’s mending a fence there.’

  He’s not. He’s ploughing Ton Barritt’s middle field. Harman Ridge is about as far in the wrong direction as Sophie could think to lead him. Blinking in surprise at her temerity, I cross the barn and sling Mattie’s rope across my shoulder. There’s a plan hatching in my mind, if only we can buy enough time.

  Sophie’s a step ahead of me already. ‘Ness, if you’re back before me, you’d best take the basket of food Tilda packed for Elsie that Jed forgot. Tell her as well that I’ll visit tomorrow – Tilda said I can go help her with the house because Jed won’t be any use and there’s still the storm damage to tidy.’

  My tongue feels like glue in my mouth as I nod. I’ve no idea where this bold new Sophie came from, nor where our shy and quiet one might have gone.

  Sophie continues to prattle as she leads Colm across the yard. I’ve never heard her talk so much, and most of it nonsense. At least it stops Colm from getting a word in. Halfway up the field, I turn to see if they’re out of sight, and Colm chooses then to turn as well. Watching where I go, I think. I wave and head on, giving them plenty of time to cross the hill before I veer from my course and circle back towards the house, slipping into the kitchen to fill my pockets with bread as I pass.

  Colm’s horse is tied by the gate. He meant to come up on us unheard. I narrow my eyes, thinking that to have found us at all, Colm had to be snooping around our sheds.

  By the time I reach Skellap Bay I’ve worked out my plan. It hinges on two things: Dev’s strength and whether Sophie can gain us enough time. The tide is coming in fast. I run along the water’s edge, leaving the tide to seep into my footprints and wash them away.

  At the far side of the bay I pause. The water’s knee-deep around the rocks. If a search party came now, they’d not get into the cave – but they could as easily set a watch so that no one could get out either. Lifting my skirt clear of the water I wade into the sea.

  As I near the mouth of the cave I’m about to call out when it sinks into my head that it could be a trap. I keep my silence and concentrate on the water that pulls at my legs. The cave is empty. Climbing onto the ledge I glance around, my heart twisting in my chest like a fish out of water. The fire is burnt low and Dev’s belongings are gone. Grief wells in my throat and I kick at the embers and the grass bedding, pushing the last signs of his being there onto the sand where the tide will carry them away.

  There is nothing to stay for. Tears creep down my cheeks as I wade back to the cave mouth. I wonder where they’ve taken him, and whether he’s still alive.

  ‘Ness!’

  An incoming wave pushes me into a submerged rock, scraping my shin raw and nearly losing me my footing. Muttering a curse, I look up. Dev squats on a ledge in the cliff’s shadow, above the slapping water and the entrance to the cave.

  ‘I didn’t expect to see you again so soon,’ he says.

  ‘Dev!’ My relief feels like to choke me. ‘I thought they’d taken you!’ I pull myself awkwardly out of the grip of the tide, blood dribbling down my shin while my skirt clings damply to my calves. ‘Dev, you’ve got to get away. It’s not safe here, not any more.’

  Dev nods. ‘There was a boy here earlier,’ he says. ‘He said he was a friend of yours. It wasn’t long after you’d been.’

  ‘Jed,’ I confirm. ‘And he’s no friend of mine. What did you tell him?’

  ‘Nothing,’ Dev replies. ‘I pretended not to understand him.’

  Just for a moment I feel a blossoming of relief, but we’ve problems aplenty before us yet.

  ‘I decided I’d be safer from a lynch mob if I was out of the cave,’ Dev adds. ‘If they looked disinclined to discuss matters, I thought I could swim for it.’

  It’s never occurred to me that Dev can swim. I study him critically. In the pale afternoon light, he looks haggard and thin. I draw a deep breath, wishing less hinged on predicting what Jed will do, and when.

  ‘I think we should try the cliff first,’ I say. Though I’ve not yet planned beyond it, I don’t doubt it’s our best chance – our only chance, for even if Dev can swim, I can’t.

  Chapter 24

  As we set our feet on the first ragged leg of the path, my mind begins to grapple with the question of what brought Colm to Leewood. Jed’s not had time to approach Colm, not yet, and I somehow doubt he’d choose that course straight off. He’d talk first to Ton – but knowing Jed, he’ll want to savour his discovery, and plan how he can gain the most by it. That gives us an advantage of time, but whether it will be enough … A pace ahead, Dev’s limp is growing more pronounced, though the first part of the climb is easy enough.

  Behind us, the tide has crept high up the sand. I think back on the solace the bay has given me over the years since Pa died, knowing as I do that its comfort is likely gone. Even if I can get Dev away then convince Marn of my innocence against whatever accusation Jed levels at me, I’m still likely to lose the little freedom that I’ve had.

  And there’s still Colm to contend with. Colm came to Leewood for reasons of his own.

  A rock rolls under Dev’s foot, sending him stumbling sideways so that I lunge hastily forward to steady him. His breathing is rough as he leans against the cliff, taking the weight off his bad leg.

  ‘Are you all right?’ I ask anxiously. The worst of the climb still lies ahead.

  The best Dev can offer is a grey-faced smile. While he can still smile at all, we’ve a chance, I decide. As I wait for him to regain his breath the sun drops behind the headland, leaving the cliff and half the bay in shadow. The suddenness of the change feels like an omen. I shiver.

  Colm and Sophie will have reached Harman’s Ridge by now. I hope she has a story ready to explain Marn’s sudden change of plans.

  Sophie. Despite knowing there’s more to Sophie than she shows, I can’t but be amazed that she could lie without a flicker, and to Colm! And to cast doubt as well on Jed’s credibility: I couldn’t have done it so smoothly if I’d been planning it for days. This new Sophie will be someone to be reckoned with. For a moment I allow myself a shred of satisfaction as I think of Tilda faced with the Sophie I’ve just seen.

  Dev straightens and turns back to face the cliff so I set my thoughts aside. His steps are slow but steady and we’re soon at the point where the path steepens and the weather’s done the most damage. Dev studies the ragged rock then turns towards me, his look questioning.

  ‘This is the worst,’ I say. ‘Some of the steps are broken away and you have to scramble – it gets easier, after.’ I look at his leg and doubt floods me. ‘I’ll go first,’ I suggest, unslinging Mattie’s rope from my shoulder and reaching to loop it around his waist.

  Dev shakes his head. ‘If I fall, I’ll pull you with me.’

  ‘You won’t fall,’ I tell him, less certain than I try to sound. ‘Just watch where I put my feet. The rope will tell me when you need to rest.’ He’s reluctant, I can feel it, but I knot the rope around both our waists. ‘Can you use your arm?’

  ‘A little.’

  ‘We’ll manage,’ I tell him. ‘Are you ready?’


  The rock is cold beneath my fingers as I reach for the first handhold. I doubt I could manage without all of my limbs, and Dev has yet to recover his full strength besides. But we’ve no choice.

  I climb slowly, clearing any rubble that might unbalance his feet. From behind, Dev’s breathing comes uneven and loud. Halfway up the broken section the rope pulls hard at my waist and I stop, twisting my head to look back.

  Dev has his cheek against the rock, his injured arm curled in against him.

  ‘Don’t look down,’ I call.

  He doesn’t answer. Flexing my fingers I turn my face to the sky. We’re losing light fast. That’ll protect us, if anyone comes to the beach, but it won’t help us with the climb. ‘We’re nearly over the worst,’ I add, though it’s not quite true.

  When Dev starts to move again, I keep tension on the rope, trying to help him find each step, murmuring instructions where I can. He’s dragging his injured leg, leading each step with the right. I try to match his pattern as I make my way upward, working out a route that he might manage.

  Our progress is slow and we’re both tiring. Ahead and to my right is our last obstacle, the place where the storm tore a bite from the cliff-face. Beyond, the path is intact and almost flat as it skirts the edge of a protruding boulder before leading up the last steps to the cliff top. I squat to rest on a ledge where there’s room for us both.

  Dev’s face is slick with sweat as he turns awkwardly to sit beside me. ‘This is the last,’ I tell him, reaching to untie the rope from his waist. ‘I’ll fix the rope across the gap – I can tie it here, then around that snag of rock.’ Dev barely flicks his eyes in the direction I’m pointing.

  Leaving him to rest I work my way crab-wise across the slip, not breathing easy till I reach the unbroken path beyond. The storm has done more damage than I realised but I doubt it’ll matter. I’m not likely to be using the path again. Untying the rope from my waist I loop it round a tooth of rock and wave Dev on. Slowly he stands and follows my lead. There’s no problem. He crosses the gap easily, his longer limbs giving him an advantage.