At once, Pelham was on his guard. He raised his crossbow and aimed it at Helward… then slowly lowered it.

“Torrold… it’s me. Helward Mann.”

“God, what are you doing here?”

They laughed together, realizing that they were both here for the same reason.

“You’ve grown up,” said Pelham. “You were just a kid the last time I saw you.”

“Have you been down past?” said Helward.

“Yes.” Pelharn stared past him, northwards up the track.

“Well?”

“It’s not what I thought.”

“What’s there?” said Helward.

“You’re down past now. Can’t you feel it?”

“Feel what?”

Pelham looked at him for a moment. “It’s not so bad here. But you can feel it. Perhaps you can’t recognize it yet. It builds up quickly further south.”

“What does? You’re talking in riddles.”

“No… it’s just impossible to explain.” Pelham glanced towards the north again. “Is the city near here?”

“A few miles. Not far.”

“What happened to it? Have they found some way to make it move faster? I’ve only been gone a short time, and the city’s moved much further than I thought it would.”

“It’s gone no faster than normal.”

“There’s a creek back there where a bridge had been built. When was that done?”

“About nine miles ago.”

Pelham shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“You’ve lost your sense of time, that’s all.”

Pelham suddenly grinned. “I expect that’s it. Listen, are you on your own?”

“No,” said Helward. “I’ve got three girls with me.”

“What are they like?”

“They’re O.K. It was a bit difficult at first, but we’re getting to know each other now.”

“Good lookers are they?”

“Not bad. Come and see.”

Helward led the way back through the trees until the girls came into view.

Pelham whistled. “Hey… they’re all right. Have you… you know?”

“No.”

They walked back towards the track.

Pelham said: “Are you going to?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Take a tip, Helward… if you’re going to, do it soon. Otherwise it’ll be too late.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.”

Pelham gave him a cheery grin, then continued on his way northwards.

Thoughts and intentions in the direction to which Pelham had been alluding were put out of Helward’s mind almost at once. Rosario fed her baby before they set off, and they had been walking only a few minutes when the child was violently sick.

Rosario hugged it to her, crooning quietly, but there was little anyone could do. Lucia stood by her, speaking sympathetically to her. Helward was worried, because if the child were seriously ill there was not much else they could do but return to the city. Soon, though, the baby stopped retching, and after a lusty crying session it quietened down.

“Do you want to go on?” Helward said to Rosario.

She shrugged helplessly. “Sí.”

They walked on more slowly. The heat had not abated much, and several times Helward asked the girls if they wanted to stop. Each time they said no, but Helward detected that a subtle change had come over all four of them. It was if the minor tragedy had drawn them together.

“We’ll camp tonight,” said Helward. “And rest all day tomorrow.”

There was agreement to this and when Rosario fed the baby again a little later, this time it kept the milk down.

Just before nightfall they passed through countryside which was more hilly and rocky than that they had seen so far, and suddenly they came to the chasm that had caused so much trouble to the Bridge-Builders. There was not much sign now of where the bridge had been, although the foundations of the suspension towers had left two large scars in the ground on this side.

Helward remembered a patch of level ground on the northern bank of the stream at the bottom of the chasm, and he led the way down.

Rosario and Lucia fussed over the baby, while Caterina helped Helward erect the tent. Suddenly, while they were laying out the four sleeping-bags inside, Caterina put a hand on his neck and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

He grinned at her. “What’s that for?”

“You O.K. with Rosario.”

Helward stayed put, thinking that the kiss might be repeated, but Caterina crawled backwards from the tent and called the others.

The baby looked better, and fell asleep when it was put into its makeshift cot inside the tent. Rosario said nothing about the child, but Helward could tell she felt less worried. Perhaps it had been wind.

The evening was much warmer than the night before, and after they had eaten they stayed outside the tent for some time. Lucia was concerned with her feet, rubbing them continually, and the other girls seemed to be making much of this. She showed her feet to Helward, and he saw that large calluses had appeared on the outer sides of her toes. Feet were compared at great length, the other girls saying that theirs were sore too.

“Tomorrow,” said Lucia, “no shoes.”

That seemed to be an end to it.

Helward waited outside the tent as the girls crawled inside. The previous night it had been so cold that all of them had slept with their clothes on inside the sleeping-bags, but as it was now warm and humid that was clearly out of the question. A certain coyness in Helward made him resolve that he would keep his own clothes on, and sleep on top of the bag, but a fastdeveloping interest in the girls led his thoughts to wilder fantasies about what they might do. After a few minutes, he crawled into the tent. The candles were alight.

Each of the three girls was inside her own bag, although Helward saw from the pile of clothes that they had undressed. He said nothing to them, but blew out the candles and undressed in the dark, stumbling and falling clumsily in the process. He lay down, only too aware of Caterina’s body lying close beside him in the next sleeping-bag. He stayed awake for a long time, trying to rid himself of a fierce manifestation of his arousal. Victoria seemed to be a long way away.

6

It was daylight when he awoke and, after a futile attempt to get dressed while still in his sleeping-bag, Helward scrambled out of the tent naked and dressed hurriedly outside. He lit the camp-fire, and began to heat some water to make synthetic tea.

Here at the bottom of the chasm it was already warm, and Helward wondered again whether they should move on, or rest for a day as he had promised.

The water boiled, and he sipped his tea. Inside the tent he heard movement. In a moment Caterina came out, and walked past him towards the stream.

Helward stared after her: she was wearing only her shirt, which was unbuttoned all down the front and swinging open, and a pair of pants. When she reached the water, she turned and waved back at him.

“Come!” she called.

Helward needed no further bidding. He went down to her, feeling clumsy in his uniform and metal-studded boots.

“We swim?” she said, and without waiting for an answer slipped her shirt off, stepped out of her pants and waded down into the water. Helward glanced back at the tent: nothing moved.

In a few seconds he had taken his clothes off, and was splashing through the shallows towards her. She turned and faced him, grinning when she saw the response in him she had caused. She splashed water at him, and turned away. Helward leaped at her, getting his arms around her… and together they fell sideways full-length into the water.

Caterina wriggled away from him, and stood up. She skipped away from him through the shallows, throwing up a huge spray. Helward followed, and caught her at the bank. Her face was serious. She raised her arms around his neck, and pulled his face down to hers. They kissed for a few moments, then clambered up out of the water and into the long grass growing on the bank. They lay down together and started to kiss again, more deeply.