Devil to PayPart 18I didn't know where I was going. I went in the opposite direction to the way we'd come. The undergrowth was thicker, the trees denser. An owl hooted at me. The sweat was pouring into my eyes, and I held onto each tree as I passed, using them as a crutch. I was determined to go where they wouldn't find me. His name ran like a mantra through my skull - LigheLigheLigheLighe, as I struggled along. It seemed like hours. It was hours. The moon had disappeared. The trees changed. The night noises grew less. I was so thirsty, I started crying. Bloody stupid. If I was here to die - and I was - water would only hinder the end. I crawled. Like Frodo up Mount Doom, I crawled. Every inch was agony. Every movement gained was gained at a price. The skin flayed from my knees. My hands were raw. I saw a faint red light in the east and thought it was the Mountain of Fire. I crawled on. At last I could crawl no more. I stopped under a tree, and leaned against it. It looked like a friendly tree - a nice place to die. I said a prayer - asked Lighe's God to look after him for me...to keep him safe for me, because I loved him. The last thought I had before the darkness took me was his face - his beloved face - and he was smiling down at me, from above. **** Elijah Fuck, how am I going to tell this without crying like a kid? I can't...you'll just have to put up with me is all. I woke to the sun shining right into my eyes. Hell, I'd slept for hours, and Dom hadn't woken me for the bottle or a drop of water once. I reached out to touch him, and... fuck, I can still feel that griping in my guts...he wasn't there. I woke everybody sobbing his name. Standing at the cave mouth sobbing his name. Where had he gone? How could he go? He could hardly stand, for fuck's sake, let alone walk anywhere. Viggo searched the back of the cave. Tino and Andy ran outside and looked in the trees and stuff. Billy was holding me, because I was shaking like a fucking leaf. Orli sat there, and just looked at me. "Where is he, Orlando?" I sobbed. "Where'd he go?" Then it struck me. "He must've heard us ...last night. He must've...oh, God! God! I must find him!" Viggo came and grabbed my arm. "Lijah! We can't just take off into nowhere! We have to think this through!" Billy nodded. "Yeah. C'mon, Lij, drink a drop of tea, and we'll think about it" "But he'll get further away the longer we take looking for him!" I saw Viggo give Billy a strange look. I'm young, but I'm not stupid. "You don't think he got very far, then", I whispered, staring Viggo right in the eyes. "No, Lijah. He can't have got very far...he wasn't well enough. Don't worry, we'll find him." We sat down, and Viggo lit the fire. Its warmth did little to stop me shivering, but I guess it was shock. My Sblom, out there, on his own...sick...maybe... I brushed the thought away. Viggo was formulating a battle plan. "Billy, you go west with Tino. Andy you come south with me. Orli, you go east with Lijah..." "What about north? " I asked. Viggo smiled. "If we find nothing, we'll all come back and go north. Okay?" I nodded. "Besides, north is up the fucking mountain", Orli pointed out. "If he's gone to do what I think he's gone to do..." Viggo smacked him on the arm - his injured arm. Orli squealed. "Shut up, you stupid bastard!" Viggo hissed. Orli turned on him. "That fucking hurt, Mortensen! Besides, I don't feel well enough to go hunting after a stupid git who didn't have the sense to hang himself from the nearest fucking tree, where we could all see him! If he was going to do the honourable thing..." He didn't finish the sentence because Billy punched him, hard, on the side of his face, and effectively stopped him. "Fucking shut up, you daft cunt, or I'll do for you." Orli collapsed in a heap, nursing his injured face. Nobody looked at me, except Andy, who came over and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I leaned into the contact, grateful for the human touch. My Sblom! I just sat there, not believing what I was hearing. My Sblom? No! Never! Oh, sweet Jesus, help him! Viggo was whispering something very loudly into Orli's ear. Billy was as mad as fire, but I stopped him beating on Orli again, which he looked ready to do, the way his hands kept bunching into fists. "Bills - look at his eyes, dude. He's burning up with fever! That wasn't our Orlando - it was..." Billy's look turned soft as he met my eyes. "Yeah, Lijah. I know, mate. Thanks!" He offered Orlando his hand. Orli hit it away. "Fuck off, Billy! I can manage!" He tried to struggle to his feet, but fell backwards into Viggo's arms. "Put him in bed, Viggo", I said. "We can do it on our own, dude. No need to trouble him." Orli stared at me with clouded eyes. "But I want to come, Lijah. I want to find our Sblomie!" I smiled at him. "Go to sleep, Lando. You can help me look after him when I find him, and bring him back. Go to sleep". Poor Orli. He didn't mean it - it was the fever talking. "You can't go on your own!", Viggo objected. "You are too..." I met his look. " Upset? Okay, dude - I'll take Andy- you get lost on your own!" Viggo hugged me as Andy and I prepared to leave. I looked at Orli, fast asleep in his little cocoon. I couldn't find it in me to hate him for what he'd said. He was in pain. He was my brother, and my friend. Shit! What were a couple of feverish words compared with that? We stopped by the farmhouse for a flask or something to carry water in. For Sblom. I hid behind a tree. We didn't need them to know who we were. Andy said Tino had told the old couple that we were runaways from a faction in the next valley. Wouldn't do for them to know it was us. They might talk, if they thought we meant money, particularly American dollars. And, fuck, we knew what people would pay for us. We scoured the trees, every bush, brake and stream. Anywhere where a body.... I tried not to think. Thinking was shit. We had been out a couple of hours. We seemed to be getting nowhere. Andy and I sat under a tree, and ate some bread and cheese, and drank some water. I rested my head on Andy's shoulder, and gave in. I cried like a baby. I wanted my Sblom so much, it was a physical pain. I wanted him, safe, in my arms, where he belonged. Andy hugged me. He was kind. I think I slept for a few minutes, and I woke with a start, sure I had heard Dom calling me. We got up, and carried on. Suddenly Andy pointed to something in the grass. "Look, Elijah! Someone's crawled through here!" I could see the flattened grass and stems. My heart lifted. It had to be him...it had to be! We followed the lines of flattened vegetation, until we came to a small clearing with a big tree in the middle of it. Under the tree, silent and cold, lay a body. It was Sblom. |