the rising tide. Picking myself up, I tried again, but could not manage more than a limp. The figure had you in its arms now, cradling you as I do, turning to the sea and moving you in a most alarming fashion; a slow swing that suggested you were about to be hurled into the water.
I did not recognise the feeling that overcame me. I still do not. Nevertheless it manifested itself in simple enough terms; there was 653 metres of beach between me and you and I had to cover it in as short a time as possible, broken leg or not.
I staggered on, focussing on the figure with its dreadful sway, and its hood and cloak forming the same outline as the one which had appeared outside my house that night. This recognition drove me on, but the pain was too great and I fell to knees, only to be swept up by an unexpected force—Haralia’s hand upon my collar.
‘Get on!’ she yelled, hauling me onto Corona’s back behind her, and with two fresh kicks we sped for the rocks.
The figure saw us approach and turned, revealing a dark beard. He took two wary steps away, yet still he swung you. I jumped from Corona, my leg feeling better, and waded the remaining metres through the swirling tide.
‘Give that to me,’ I demanded, lunging for you. He did not flinch, but gave you up as easily as he had plucked you from the rock. I checked you. You were awake but not in distress, and smiled at my face as you always do. I turned to the figure, who removed his hood. I did not recognise him. He was not one of the hundred, and perhaps not even in the thousand that followed my siblings and cousins. Whoever he was, our paths had not crossed. He appeared young, though his face had a weathered texture and he was not straight backed, but neither did he stoop. He merely stood, looking at you through bright blue eyes with hardly any expression at all.
‘Who are you?’ I asked.
He did not look up at my question. Instead he pointed a finger.
‘Is he—?’
‘What he is is none of your business. What is your purpose here? Why did you take him?’
He took a long, slow breath and smiled. How furious that smile made me. He had no right to amusement or pleasure.
‘My purpose?’ he said. ‘I have no purpose, but I walk this beach often, along with many others. I heard a noise as I was traversing the cliff face and ran to these rocks, where I found him. He was making noises of distress, so I brought him down.’
‘Noises?’ I glanced at Haralia, who was standing behind me. She appeared calm, assessing this stranger with, I was frustrated to note, appreciation. He nodded at her—a greeting—and she smiled back. I splashed a few steps towards him in a bid to bring his attention back to me. It worked. ‘We did not hear any noises.’
‘Well, you were quite some distance away.’
‘So? I can hear bat wings flutter from nine-hundred-and-eighty-eight metres. I am sure I can hear this child’s cry from less.’
‘Perhaps you were otherwise absorbed,’ he said. His hair was long and unkempt. Any more knots and you would call it rope. He glanced at Haralia. ‘Your race. Who won?’
‘She did,’ said Haralia, brightly, for which I punished her with a glare. I shook with anger, my breaths too fast, my pulse still too high. Such feelings should never last this long.
The figure nodded at me, as if to show respect.
‘You are fast.’
I closed the distance between us more.
‘Stop talking.’
‘All right. But you should not leave infants unattended, not here. A hawk could have taken him.’
‘And you should not take what is not yours.’
‘He is yours, then? This child, this—?’
‘I have already told you, what he is is none of your business. Why did you want to harm him? Why did you want to drown him in the sea?’
He frowned.
‘Why would you think I wanted to drown him.’
‘This.’ I mimed his sway, adding additional amplitude for effect, and a ridiculous face to display my distaste. The motion made you gurgle with interest. ‘You intended to hurl him.’
He stared at me blankly, then laughed. The sound was rich with low and middle frequencies, and had no business being upon that beach.
‘I was not intending to hurl him,’ he said. ‘I was rocking him. They are comforted by it.’