Chapter 14
Allison Yale woke him. Race came out of an eon of sleep slowly, anguished. Somewhere back down there, Joss was drowning. He had pushed her in — it was an impulse, sudden and irresistible — then she was carried away from him despite his struggles to get to her and save her. His struggles took him farther away—
The anguish faded and he realized it had all been a nightmare — they were in the Mountains of the Oroné and he was in the tent, his mother bending over him. He smelled fish grilling.
Then he was awake and it was all true, even the drowning. It was a brassier blonde than his mother who bent archly over him with a bowl of stew. He sat up slowly, conscious of his bare chest, of the fact that her coarse blue shirt was unbuttoned at the top.
“Morning, Sir! Lovely day. Oh, a
