Chapter 4

Jack woke early, at first light. He packed away his blanket and pulled out some food and water then, mechanically, carried on walking. The hope that he would catch up with Jetta and his daughter later that same day put a renewed vigour into his step.

The path was narrow and hard to follow, but he kept to it and, in a few hours walk, had reached the next village along the way. The news that a young woman, fitting Jetta's description and travelling with her young daughter, had spent the night there just the night before last increased Jack's hope of finding his daughter that day and confirmed that he was, at least for now, on the right track. As he left the village the road, which had widened when it joined with another to enter the small settlement, once again narrowed and he was left to wander along a dirt track that seemed to be heading decidedly for what appeared to be a forest. The land was more rocky and hilly now, but the dark line of trees in the distance was apparent and, in another couple of hours, unmistakable.

****

Jetta awoke with a headache and a stiff neck. Her daughter was curled up safe in her arms, but hungry and crying for her breakfast. Rousing herself and reaching for her backpack, she fished out the necessary items and began to feed Hope. Only once the child was satisfied did she break her own fast and ready herself for the last leg of the journey ahead.

Hoisting Hope onto her hip, Jetta made her way forward from the guardian tree. In a couple of hours' brisk walk, she could make out the sound of falling water amidst the usual noises of the forest. Gradually a stream became visible at the bottom of a deep gorge. Jetta followed the edge of the gorge back upstream, the roar of the water becoming ever more present in the otherwise peaceful surroundings.

At last, "The Curtain" came into view. It was a huge waterfall at least a forty metres high. As the water careened over the rocky precipice, it fell forming a shimmering, diamond curtain, obscuring the lower part of the rock face from view. Spray bounced back up the gorge to where Jetta stood, at about a third of the height of the entire waterfall, refreshing her face and encouraging her on to the final leg of her journey. Smiling, she made her way onwards, aiming straight for the side of the waterfall, along a path well hidden by autumnal layers of leaves. Just as she reached what seemed to be the very edge of the precipice, she disappeared behind the rushing, sparkling curtain of the waterfall.

Once behind the curtain, all sound from the forest seemed deadened and distant compared to the echoing roar of the fall itself. Although the light was by no means as bright as outside, Jetta could make out clearly, through the watery glow, the entrance to a cave. Hidden in a carved alcove in the rock, to keep them dry, she found some torches and a small box of matches. Placing her daughter on the floor of the cave only long enough to light one of the torches, Jetta made her way deeper into the cave.

As the silvery glow of the waterfall disappeared from view, the cave widened into a broad tunnel. In some places the original walls still stood untouched by any human tools. In others, where the tunnel had grown too narrow for its purpose, it had been artificially widened to allow something the size of a horse and cart passage. In the gloom of the cave, illuminated only by the flickering light of the torch, Jetta's mind once again wandered back to another cave.

"Maybe you should go easy on that stuff," Jetta frowned, trying not to laugh at Jack's slightly redder than usual face. "It's pretty strong stuff."

"I promise," Jack slurred, wincing as Jetta dabbed at the newly formed scar tissue. "I will lay off it if you promise not to do that again!"

"Do what?" Jetta asked, knowing exactly what he meant.

"That!" Jack yelped as she started to clean another part of the healing wound.

Jetta smiled and bit her lip to stop herself laughing out loud. Jack hiccupped, then winced again and took another swig of the bottle. Jetta sighed and reached forward and took the bottle out of his hands.

"What'd y'do that for?" Jack pouted.

This time, Jetta couldn't hold back the laughter.

"Because," she giggled. "If you carry on like that, I won't have to worry about your wound killing you! You'll give yourself alcohol poisoning!"

"Ah," Jack seemed to consider this. "Well, now that wouldn't be good."

"No."

"So does this mean that you're finished torturing me?" Jack grinned, hopefully.

"Nearly! Only a little bit left to do, then I'll put a clean bandage on it. You'll just have put up with the pain."

Jack sighed and pouted.

"Don't look at me like that!" Jetta laughed. "Or I might be tempted to leave it as it is! Then you'd get an infection in it and you'd be in a heck of a lot more pain than you are now! Plus it could kill you!"

"You're far too serious, you know that."

"No, I'm sober! One of us has to be!"

"Why?" Jack winced as Jetta returned to cleaning the wound.

"Because this needs doing properly."

"Why?" Jack grinned, watching Jetta concentrate on what she was doing.

"Because otherwise you'll get an infection."

"Why?"

"Because..." Jetta realised what Jack was doing and looked up. "Will you stop saying 'why' all the time!"

"Why?" Jack laughed.

Jetta threw a blanket at him and finished cleaning the wound. It was pretty much closed, she thought to herself. They would be able to travel once the sun came up tomorrow morning. She managed to re-bandage the wound without any further protest, but it wasn't until she had finished her work and sat back that she realised she hadn't heard anything from Jack since she had thrown the blanket at him.

"Jack?"

No answer came and Jetta leant towards Jack's head, worried that he had hit his head or that the alcohol had taken too much of an effect upon him.

"Jack?"

Suddenly arms grabbed her and swung her round.

"Gotcha!" Jack cried, laughing.

"You sod!" Jetta screamed, punching Jack in the shoulder. "I thought you were..."

Cut off mid sentence by Jack's lips on her own, Jetta froze. Slowly, she returned the kiss. As she laced her arms around Jack's neck, she felt him pull away from her slightly. Looking up into his, slightly unfocussed, eyes she saw him grin.

"But I'm not," he whispered, gently, lowering his head to kiss her again.

After two hours' walk, a light could be seen in the distance. As the light grew brighter, it grabbed Hope's attention and she gurgled happily. Jetta smiled.

****

Ebony put the finishing touches to her make-up and headed out of the door and down the stairs. Ruby had brought her up some breakfast and told her, very kindly, that she didn't have to go down. Lex was there and Ruby would totally understand if Ebony wanted to stay out of his way, or, for that matter, the way any other Mall Rat who happened to turn up. Ebony had smiled sweetly, thanked Ruby for the breakfast and announced that she would be down shortly, Lex or no Lex!

When Ebony made her entrance into the bar, heads turned. The room went so quiet, you could hear Lex drop his glass. Out of the corner of her eye, Ebony saw Ruby's eyes widen and Slade take a step backwards. She could feel everyone's eyes on her. She could see the fear in the faces of the few girls in the saloon. She could sense the desire in the faces of the young men. Without even looking at him, she knew Lex would be eyeing her up and down. Everyone was.

"What's wrong Lex?" Ebony drawled, swinging round to face him, "Anyone would think you don't approve of my new outfit!"

"N-no, I wouldn't say that..." Lex stopped, sensing a trap in Ebony's tone.

"So you do like it then?" Ebony stalked round in a small circle to give him a better view.

Lex's mouth hung open as he watched Ebony turn. She was wearing a black leather catsuit with a low cut halter neck, no back and slits up each side of both legs as far as the thighs. Her red and black make-up was back and the pink heart shape on her cheek had been replaced by a red and black heart, broken into two jagged-edged halves and tipped at the lowest point with a red, blood-like teardrop shape. She looked stunning. More than that: she looked deadly. Lex shut his mouth again, unable to think of a reply that could get him out of the corner he had suddenly found himself in. Instead he made a small, stifled noise, turned and walked into the kitchen.

Ebony watched him go, her eyes narrowed and hawklike. Slowly, as he disappeared through the doorway, she smiled, then laughed. It was a mad laugh. Standing nearby, Slade heard that laugh and shuddered. He had seen Ebony in the deepest, darkest part of her madness. The only other people to see her that way had been her sisters and Jack. Java was dead. Siva was also gone. Now Jack had disappeared. Slade could understand Jack's wish to find his daughter: he had a similar wish himself. The point was, however, it wasn't Jack who had only just been brought back from a very destructive madness. If that madness was going to take hold of Ebony again, Slade could only hope it wouldn't have fatal consequences, for anyone!