As the morning progressed and the temperature rose, their mood became more careless. None of the three girls wore her jacket, and at the next stop Lucia undid the top two buttons of her shirt and Caterina opened hers all the way down the front, holding it in place with a large knot and so baring her midriff.
By now Helward could not mistake the effect they were having on him. As familiarity grew, so the atmosphere eased further. Even Rosario did not turn her back on him the next time she suckled her baby.
Relief from the heat came with another patch of woodland, one which Helward could remember helping to clear for the track-layers some miles before. They sat down in the shadows, waiting for the worst of the heat to pass.
They had now passed a total of five cable-stay marks: thirty-three to go. Helward’s mood of frustration at the slowness of their journey was easing; he saw that to travel faster was hardly possible, even if he had been alone. The ground was too hard, the sun too hot.
He decided to wait for two hours in the shadow of the trees. Rosario had moved some way away from him, and was playing with her baby. Caterina and Lucia sat together under a tree. They had taken off their shoes and were talking quietly together. Helward closed his eyes for a few minutes, but soon became restless. He walked out of the trees on his own, and went down to the scars left by the four lines of track. He looked left and right, north and south: the line ran straight and true, undulating slightly with the rise and fall of the ground, but always maintaining its direction.
Enjoying the comparative solitude he stood there for some time, wishing the weather would change and the sky would cloud over, if only temporarily. He debated with himself for a while, trying to decide whether it might be better to rest during the days and travel at night… but considered on balance it would be too risky.
He was about to turn back to the trees when he suddenly saw a movement about a mile to the south of him. At once he was on his guard, and dropped to the ground, lying behind a treestump. He waited.
In a moment he saw it again: someone was walking up the track towards him.
Helward remembered his crossbow, folded inside the pack… but already it was too late to go back for it. There was a bush just a yard or two to the side of the stump, and he wriggled over until he was behind it. Now better covered he hoped he might not be seen.
The figure was still coming towards him, and in a few minutes Helward saw to his surprise that the man was wearing the uniform of a guild apprentice. His first impulse was to come out of hiding, but he fought this back and stayed put.
When the man was less than fifty yards away, Helward recognized him. It was Torrold Pelham, a boy several miles older than him who had left the crèche a considerable time before.
Helward broke cover and stood up.
“Torrold!”
At once, Pelham was on his guard. He raised his crossbow and aimed it at Helward… then slowly lowered it.
“Torrold… it’s me. Helward Mann.”
“God, what are you doing here?”
They laughed together, realizing that they were both here for the same reason.
“You’ve grown up,” said Pelham. “You were just a kid the last time I saw you.”
“Have you been down past?” said Helward.
“Yes.” Pelharn stared past him, northwards up the track.
“Well?”
“It’s not what I thought.”
“What’s there?” said Helward.
“You’re down past now. Can’t you feel it?”
“Feel what?”
Pelham looked at him for a moment. “It’s not so bad here. But you can feel it. Perhaps you can’t recognize it yet. It builds up quickly further south.”
“What does? You’re talking in riddles.”
“No… it’s just impossible to explain.” Pelham glanced towards the north again. “Is the city near here?”
“A few miles. Not far.”
“What happened to it? Have they found some way to make it move faster? I’ve only been gone a short time, and the city’s moved much further than I thought it would.”
“It’s gone no faster than normal.”
“There’s a creek back there where a bridge had been built. When was that done?”
“About nine miles ago.”
Pelham shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“You’ve lost your sense of time, that’s all.”
Pelham suddenly grinned. “I expect that’s it. Listen, are you on your own?”
“No,” said Helward. “I’ve got three girls with me.”
“What are they like?”
“They’re O.K. It was a bit difficult at first, but we’re getting to know each other now.”
“Good lookers are they?”
“Not bad. Come and see.”
Helward led the way back through the trees until the girls came into view.
Pelham whistled. “Hey… they’re all right. Have you… you know?”
“No.”
They walked back towards the track.
Pelham said: “Are you going to?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Take a tip, Helward… if you’re going to, do it soon. Otherwise it’ll be too late.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll see.”
Pelham gave him a cheery grin, then continued on his way northwards.
Thoughts and intentions in the direction to which Pelham had been alluding were put out of Helward’s mind almost at once. Rosario fed her baby before they set off, and they had been walking only a few minutes when the child was violently sick.
Rosario hugged it to her, crooning quietly, but there was little anyone could do. Lucia stood by her, speaking sympathetically to her. Helward was worried, because if the child were seriously ill there was not much else they could do but return to the city. Soon, though, the baby stopped retching, and after a lusty crying session it quietened down.
“Do you want to go on?” Helward said to Rosario.
She shrugged helplessly. “Sí.”
They walked on more slowly. The heat had not abated much, and several times Helward asked the girls if they wanted to stop. Each time they said no, but Helward detected that a subtle change had come over all four of them. It was if the minor tragedy had drawn them together.
“We’ll camp tonight,” said Helward. “And rest all day tomorrow.”
There was agreement to this and when Rosario fed the baby again a little later, this time it kept the milk down.
Just before nightfall they passed through countryside which was more hilly and rocky than that they had seen so far, and suddenly they came to the chasm that had caused so much trouble to the Bridge-Builders. There was not much sign now of where the bridge had been, although the foundations of the suspension towers had left two large scars in the ground on this side.
Helward remembered a patch of level ground on the northern bank of the stream at the bottom of the chasm, and he led the way down.
Rosario and Lucia fussed over the baby, while Caterina helped Helward erect the tent. Suddenly, while they were laying out the four sleeping-bags inside, Caterina put a hand on his neck and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
He grinned at her. “What’s that for?”
“You O.K. with Rosario.”
Helward stayed put, thinking that the kiss might be repeated, but Caterina crawled backwards from the tent and called the others.
The baby looked better, and fell asleep when it was put into its makeshift cot inside the tent. Rosario said nothing about the child, but Helward could tell she felt less worried. Perhaps it had been wind.