Star of Hope by Moira McPartlin

Author:Moira McPartlin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fledgling Press
Published: 2019-02-16T16:00:00+00:00

Ishbel

The storm lasted over an hour and when it stopped the sky lighted and Ishbel thought she heard the goose overhead, out for more food.

‘We should go,’ she said.

‘Yes.’ Merj filled a rucksack with the remains of the food.

‘Shouldn’t we leave some for the next person?’

‘Come on Ishbel, there wasn’t that much to begin with.’

She grabbed the sack from him and pulled out a fistful of grainer bars, stored them in the compartment under the floor and clicked the lock to. She turned to him.

‘You had a key for this,’ she said.

‘So?’

‘So you’re well connected.’

He shrugged. ‘If you say so.’

They opened the door to find a flooded land. The van was surrounded by half a metre of muddy water.

‘How can that be in such a cold climate?’

‘Better take the snowshoes off Ishbel, and swap them for wellies,’ he said. ‘But strap them to your back. The permafrost is underneath and you never know when it might snow again.’ She thought it was doubtful but did as he said.

They jumped down and started to wade but the going was tough. The water moved against them.

‘At least it is flowing, it should disperse,’ Merj said.

‘But the ground is permafrost, where will it go?’

‘Into the rivers.’ Merj looked up to the canopy of trees. ‘Maybe we could swing from tree to tree.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not an Amazonian.’

After a while the water level lowered and the trees began to thin out but the forest floor had a boggy skin and sucked their boots with each step.

Ishbel checked her communicator. They’d been tramping for hours and had yet to see the forest edge.

‘Do you have another van we can visit?’

‘No.’

‘It’s still ten kiloms to the next rendezvous point and I’m three days late.’

‘They’ll still be there.’

‘How do you know, Merj?’

‘Because The Prince sent word for them to wait.’

‘Isn’t that dangerous? We already know there’s a traitor.’ She pushed back the thought it might be Merj.

‘They will do as The Prince says. This mission is very important to him.’

‘I thought it was important to us all.’

‘It is.’

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