SAL
At last Mr Merkel’s arms fell still. The fire, though, would not be done for hours yet. The grove was hot with it, it cast shadows that danced with it, the night was filled with its greedy licking popping mutter, and the sweet, sizzling smell of it was thicker than the air. The acacias shrank away, drawing their fingered branches into their limbs, and the bats that hung from them like dark fruit fled into the sky.
Lucas’s grip on Sal’s hair loosened, and Sal bucked up, throwing him off. Lucas reached for him again, but Sal slipped from his grasp and ran without looking back, down the path to the bluff and up the trail, gasping in the cool night air, hearing Lucas’s heavy feet behind him. He broke from the trail and headed for the cave with the mindless urgency of the hunted. When he
