“The mind does need to rest, so yes, sleep is necessary. You can lose your mind in here, so it is important to allow it to rest.”
He got up and started plucking more fruit off the tree, stashing them in a leather satchel he carried across his back. “Eating isn’t necessary, but it is a nice reminder of what’s normal.”
She hesitantly picked a couple of orangos and handed them over to him and was rewarded with a fleeting smile. Once the satchel was full and heavy with fruit, he slung it elegantly over his shoulder and started to walk again. The impromptu rest and lesson was over.
They continued walking, so long that she started to loose all sense of time and bearing. The grass and trees morphed into sharp, rocky ground as it started to rise into an incline. But through it all, the sky remained persistently grey and she began to find its unchanging nature oppressive. She would give anything for a cloud, a flash of blue, or sunshine – she’d even settle for some rain.
The incline had started gently, but had quickly turned brutal, with sharp loose rocks that made it difficult to find stable footing. None of it seemed to affect Alex – he continued in his easy, swinging rhythm, taking sure and confident strides as they climbed onwards.
On particularly steep sections he would turn and offer his hand to her. But she was stubborn and prideful – refusing his assistance and choosing to scramble up awkwardly, scraping her hands on the sharp and unyielding rock as he watched with a bemused expression on his face.
They reached a tiny plateau about three quarters of the way up the climb and Alex finally called a halt to their progress. Her heart was racing, sweat was trickling down her spine and her vision swam uncomfortably. She felt as if they’d been climbing upward for days and she was ready to collapse, cry, vomit or perhaps all of the above.
She had long since passed the point of trying to hide signs of weakness from Alex. She dropped to the ground and gasped desperately for air, every breath searing into her lungs and making her feel even more ill.
Allyra started trembling. Tiny tremors that had started in her fingertips, building and building until they travelled through every muscle in her body. She wrapped her arms around herself and dropped her head between her knees in an attempt to control the shivering. But – it wasn’t a matter of cold; it felt as if she’d crossed a line, reached a point of no return. Her body and mind could no longer cope and they were beating a hasty retreat.
Hydrogen, helium, lithium…
It wasn’t working, she couldn’t remember any more…
Alex hunched down beside her, holding out a peeled orango. She closed her eyes and shook her head – the very idea of eating turned her stomach.
“It will make you feel better.” He said gently.
His voice seemed to come from very far away, fading away…
She was retreating into the warm embrace of oblivion, its shadows wrapping around her like a familiar cloak. Her mind was breaking up – a picture disappearing, pixel by pixel.
She was beyond hearing, but if not, she might have heard the sudden alarm in his voice and seen the concern marring the graceful lines of his face.
Alex shook her roughly, calling her name, shouting for her to come back to him. Failing, he reached up and slapped her soundly to no avail. He hesitated for a moment then pulled her up into him, pressing his lips to hers.
He forced his tongue into her mouth and a tiny cinder sparked within the depths of her mind. It burned in the darkness, fragile but brilliant.
He tasted like moonlight and forgotten dreams.
He bit down on her lip, hard enough to draw blood. The cinder sparked into flame and consumed all before it. Allyra came rushing back into herself, sucked in like a rush of air into the resulting vacuum. As the sharp, metallic tang of blood curled around her tongue, she pulled back and slapped him – hard.
His head snapped to the side with the force of her slap and he backed away immediately, giving her a wry smile.
“How dare you! You… You pig!” she spluttered, incandescent with rage.
“Is that meant to be an insult?” He queried lightly, “I’ve always rather liked pigs myself – intelligent and friendly creatures…”
“Don’t you come near me – you filthy, psychopathic megalomaniac!” she said, her voice no longer raised, rather low, controlled and dangerous.
He gave her a quick nod and then turned away. Left to her own thoughts, she was shocked at just how close she’d come to the edge of the precipice, how close she’d come to losing herself.
She found that yes, she was angry at him, furious even, but his actions had somehow brought her back from the edge.
*
Allyra curled into the side of the mountain, as far from the edge of the tiny plateau as she could manage. Her body was still shaking uncontrollably and she couldn’t stop thinking about just how close she’d come to falling into the abyss, to losing her mind. Drawing her knees to her chest, she rested her head on them and rubbed her arms in an attempt to generate some heat. It felt as if she’d never be warm again.
Alex’s eyes flickered over her and for a moment she thought it was concern written in them, but his gaze moved away too quickly for her to be sure.
Perhaps it was anger or even disgust at her fragility. Fragility which didn’t seem to apply to him, it probably wasn’t even a word in his vocabulary.
Despite the wound she’d seen today, or was it yesterday? Whenever it was, he didn’t seem to feel it, moving with perfect ease and grace. And if it was cold, he certainly didn’t seem to feel it – his shirtsleeves were still
