Chapter 21

David had opted to walk after all. He loaded as much as he dared onto Sally's back and then hoisted little Beckie up too. They made good time, as many as eighteen miles some days. David killed for meat when he could and there was an abundance of game to pick from. Even the weather was pleasant enough and David made much of that.

"You see, Beckie, God is definitely with us. Didn't he say he would watch over us on this journey to his promised land? He's even provided nice weather for us to make the journey nicer."

'Beckie' had viewed the past few days as something of an adventure, but she was really starting to miss her mommy and the other children. She didn't understand all David's talk about God, was too young to know what the memories she had about religion were all about - all she knew was that the voice that came out of nowhere frightened her.

"When do I get to go back to mommy?" she asked.

"Weren't you listening to my story, Beckie? God has chosen you now and you don't get to go back to the others. It's only you and me for now. You, me and God's promise."

Beckie didn't like the sound of that. David was fun, but she really wanted to cuddle with her mommy.

"But David, I don't want to leave mommy and live with you forever. I don't want God to choose me. Couldn't he choose someone else?"

"Wash your mouth out child! It's a great honour to be chosen to serve God. Now hush, you're frightening Sally with your whining."

"You've got no right to speak to me like that! I want my mommy!"

Beckie began to cry, but David ignored her. He had been expecting this at some point and he knew she would get over it. Once she realised there was no going back she would adjust well enough.

Adam's temper had flared when he and Thomas scrambled down the mountainside and came across the spot where Sally was normally tethered. The hoof marks and the rubbing on the nearby tree were clues, as was the horsehair still snagged on the bark where the mare had rubbed herself.

"The little bastard has got a horse! Shit we'll never catch up with him if he's riding!"

A few miles further on they crossed some wet sandy soil and the tracks showed that David was actually walking beside the horse. They guessed that the other boy must be using the animal as a pack-horse and the knowledge that he too was on foot encouraged them to pick up their pace.

That had been eighteen days previously but Adam and Thomas believed they were still on the right trail. Every so often they would come across a track that confirmed David, Lillian and the horse were still ahead of them and Adam's determination simply grew and grew.

Ben checked on both David and Adam at regular intervals. As luck would have it (bad luck that is) he didn't see Adam find the drawing that Lillian had made so he was still unaware that Adam knew David had his daughter.

"I'm going down to the lake - it's been ages since I last had a swim. Want to join me?" Ben asked his twin.

"Sure, but be warned - the water is still going to be really cold," she replied.

The twins made their way down to the water's edge, their two-year-old twins with them. Already the children had shown a great love for the water - just like their parents and they refused to be left behind.

"Have you checked on what's happening lately?" Sarah asked as they were stripping off.

"Yeah, Adam and Thomas are still following David. It looks as if Adam is never going to give up. David and Lillian are about three days away from the great river, but Adam and Thomas are only about a half day behind them now. It's going to be touch and go."

Kirsty and Simon were already in the water, splashing each other and generally having fun. Kirsty had a shiny, flat stone with her and she threw it as far out into the water of the lake as she could (which wasn't far for a two-year-old). Simon was off after it like a fish and Ben and Sarah laughed.

The boy stopped swimming at the point he estimated the stone had sunk and then jack-knifed his body into a dive. Sarah and Ben waited in anticipation for him to surface triumphantly with the stone, but became worried after a minute passed.

Ben grabbed his pouch and closed his eyes. He searched his worldview before quickly zooming down and under the water to see what was going on. What he saw shocked him and he dived into the water and began swimming as fast as he could.

Simon had become tangled up in some weeds on the lakebed and he was struggling to free himself. Ben wasn't sure how much oxygen his son had left and he swam with the most powerful stroke he could muster. Sarah knew something was badly wrong and she called Kirsty out of the water. She saw Ben dive and then had to wait to see what happened next.

Ben swam downwards toward Simon who was still struggling frantically. Bubbles of air had been streaming from the youngster's mouth, but as he got close to him these stopped. Simon's eyes were desperate, pleading with his father to do something. Ben steeled himself and tried to rip away the weeds - he knew that even if Simon stopped breathing, he would still have minutes left to get him to the surface and try to revive him before his brain would be damaged.

It was a truly heartbreaking moment. In his panic, the boy had turned and twisted so much that the tough, stringy weeds had him bound fast. Try as he might, Ben couldn't tear the bindings away from Simon and before him he saw the life fading from the youngster's eyes. A thousand things went through Ben's mind in that moment. He was supposed to protect his children. He had failed Simon. He wished he could take the boy's place. He wished he could breathe life back into his now limp body.

That last thought had him exploding into action. He grabbed Simon's head and forced his mouth over his son's. He tried to force as much of the air in his own lungs as he could into the boy. He kept at it for two or three minutes when something occurred to him.

"How is it possible that I've been blowing air into him for so long, but I'm not running out of air myself?"

At the lakeside, Sarah was frantic. Both her son and her twin had now been under the water for far too long and she feared the worst. Pulling little Kirsty to her side, she bent and buried her face in the girl's neck as she sobbed her grief.

Ben looked into the eyes of his son and saw that he was now staring back at him, puzzled. Experimenting, he tried to draw a breath and actually 'felt' the water around him give up its oxygen. By some miracle he guessed that the nuggets were somehow allowing him to breathe under water and that his contact with Simon was doing the same for the boy.

Making sure to remain in contact with his son, Ben returned to the job of freeing him from the weeds. With the panic now behind them both, it proved surprisingly easy to unravel the fronds and within a few minutes father and son were swimming strongly towards the surface.

"Aaaaiiieeeeee!" screamed Sarah when she saw her loved ones burst from the depths of the lake.

She picked up little Kirsty and held her tightly to her chest as Ben and Simon swam towards her. She stood stunned as they waded ashore and it was only Ben's arms enfolding both her and her daughter that shook her from the daze she had fallen into. Before she could speak, little Simon began shouting excitedly.

"Daddy and I can breathe under water, Mommy. We can breathe underwater!"

Sarah raised an eyebrow at her twin in question. She could see that the ordeal had tired him, but before her eyes he drew strength from somewhere and squared his shoulders.

"It must have been the nuggets. He was trapped by some weeds and I couldn't get him free. It was only when I realised that I'd been down too long to still have any air that I knew something was going on. By then Simon was breathing again too. That must have happened when I grabbed hold of him."

Sarah slowly shook her head in amazement.

"I had really begun to see the nuggets as a curse. They have brought us many difficulties and there are possibly more to come, but now I will never question them again. Without them I would have lost my son and possibly my mate too," she said.

With the exuberance of youth, Simon had already forgotten the panic of being trapped in favour of the excitement of his new-found ability.

"Daddy, can I go back in? I want to breathe under water again! Can I?"

Ben tried to explain to his son that he would only be able to breathe under water if he was in contact with him.

"Well, come on then daddy! Let's get back in the water!"

Elizabeth and Hannah tended to their own children and the two youngest belonging to the water twins. Both the girls had grown increasingly worried about their own twins, given the length of time they had now been away from the caves.

They continually harped on at Ben to check to make sure they were both still alright and he updated them on the boys' hunt for David. No mention of Lillian was made when he described how Adam and Thomas were in pursuit. Ben still thought that Adam wasn't aware that David had Lillian and he was desperate to keep that information from getting out.

For Hannah, having just lost a daughter, the thought of losing her mate too was a heavy weight on her shoulders.

"Why is he being so vengeful, so stubborn!" she demanded of no one in particular. "He's been away for almost three weeks now, we're getting nothing done, no one is hunting for food and he's putting himself and Thomas in danger!"

Elizabeth did as much as she could to try to calm the other girl down. Her tantrums were upsetting the children, as they sensed the atmosphere around the caves.

"Don't worry, they'll be back soon enough. It won't be long before we're cursing them for getting under our feet, come on now, help me bathe the little ones," said Elizabeth.

David thought his ears were playing tricks on him. For the last few miles he had been able to hear a roaring noise and he was sure it was gradually growing louder.

It was the afternoon of the twenty-first day since he had left the cave and he was beginning to wonder if the mighty river that God had described actually existed. At least little Beckie had stopped crying and asking for her mother, that was a relief. He tugged the halter around Sally's neck to urge her up the sandy incline.

David's back was turned to what was on the other side of the incline, as he focused on managing the horse. Beckie's gasp of surprise made him spin round quickly and then he froze in place.

The roaring he had been hearing was now explained. Before his was a broad stretch of water, easily a mile across. He was standing on a cliff and he could see that the river had cut deeply into the rock. The water seemed fast moving where it tumbled downwards and created rapids, but the stretch directly in front of him seemed more placid and calm.

Off in the distance David could see the sun striking mountains and valleys. The weather had been getting hotter and hotter as they had walked, causing him to guess that the land he was walking through was in the planet's southern hemisphere and he was walking north towards the equator.

"Look, Beckie! The promised land! Just as God described it to us. There we will build a new life together you and I. We will build a tribe that will flourish and be worthy of the God they worship!"

The little girl was still staring at the magnificent landscape with wonder and didn't respond. David tugged Sally and began leading them towards where he could see the cliffs dropping away down to the water's edge.