24
Once they’d thrown on their rain clothes, he rowed them to the shore. They carried the Zodiac above the high tide line and beached it face down do it didn’t fill up with rain. He led her to a winding path that switchbacked up a steep incline. The fresh mossy scent of rain-soaked woodlands went to her head like fine wine. The twisted trunks of ancient spruce soared overhead. How long had these trees been standing guard here on this quiet spot of coastline?
The wind had felled some of the giants and transformed them into fallen logs thick with emerald moss and gray lichens. Giant ferns, ornate as lace, grew as tall as Ruby.
The canopy was thick enough to stop much of the rain, but nonetheless a steady drip-drip sounded all around them. A raven perched on a high branch and watched them
