“Hopefully not too far,” Saoud said. “Though I doubt a bear could make it down that slope to den here.”
My fingers hit hard rock, and I groped sideways to see if the cave changed direction. As far as I could tell, it didn’t. We wouldn’t know for sure until we lit a fire, but it seemed that we would be all right in here, though we would certainly be cramped. I sniffed the air, and smelled only water and stone. There wasn’t even the smell of bat droppings. It was, after such a run of hardship, almost unbelievably good luck.
Saoud and I went back to the mouth of the cave, and waited a moment for our eyes to adjust to the light before we attempted the ledge again. The others were waiting for us, their packs still on their backs, hope on their faces.
“It will suit,” Saoud said. “Come. Mind your feet along the ledge.”
When we were inside, Arwa pulled a small collection of sticks and dried grass out from under her dress, kept mostly dry by the fabric. She set it on the floor of the cave and waited for Tariq to light it. It took some effort for him to get a spark, and we all held our breath while he worked on it. At last the fire caught, and Saoud carefully fed it the larger branches he had carried in his pack.
In the meager light of the fire, the cave seemed less than welcoming. It was high enough for us to stand straight in, and went back into the mountainside farther than the reach of the light. This spoke more of the feebleness of the light than the size of the cave, I noted; but I could not exactly criticize as they were all we had.
“Come on, Yashaa,” Saoud said. “We have to go back to the ridge and pick a lookout spot. Leave the others to set up camp.”
I nodded, and followed him out once more. We scrambled back up the slope to the ridgeline, a hard climb, and then walked along it with great care. At last, Saoud found a tree that was to his liking, and we climbed into it with one of the tents. It would not be a comfortable watch, but the view was good, unless something came over the mountain itself for us.
“That would have to be dragons,” Saoud said when I pointed this out to him. “In which case, we’re cooked whether we see it coming or not.”
Neither of us really believed that a dragon would come, nor that it would eat us if it did, but the mountains were generally uninhabited for a reason, and I knew that I would never be fully comfortable here.
“I’m going to take Arwa and Tariq down toward the pass as soon as we’re settled here,” Saoud said as we worked. “We’re going to need more food, the type we can’t hunt for, and the Little Rose needs things she can’t exactly buy herself.”
“You can’t buy them and say they’re for Arwa,” I said. “She’s too short.”
“We’ll say we’re buying them large in case she grows,” he replied. “Yashaa, you know we must go.”
“And I must stay, and deal with the problem I so cleverly brought upon myself.” I tried to make light of it, but my reluctance to separate showed in my voice. I didn’t want them to go and leave me alone with the Little Rose, and they would be gone for a long time. I had never been without them, and I didn’t know if I was ready to spend so much time with her.
“Don’t be an ass,” Saoud said. “You heard me when I made an idiot of myself and took your problems as mine, from here to the end of time, lest my lady release me.”
“Now who’s an ass?” I asked, but I felt like laughing true laughter for the first time in days.
“We’ll be a matched pair,” Saoud said. “I understand royalty likes that sort of thing.”
I was still smiling when we slid back into the valley and made our way along the ledge. They had done good work while we were gone, I saw as soon as I entered the cave. There was a fire pit laid out on the rock floor near the front of the cave, and what remained of our gear was laid out around it to be useful. The Little Rose’s blanket had been hung up, blocking off one side of the cave for her privacy and Arwa’s. The rest of the bedrolls were rolled near the fire, to save space.
“We’ll have to dig a privy somewhere away from the pool,” Tariq said. “And then take care using it in the dark.”
“Very good,” said Saoud. “I will take you up and show you the lookout tomorrow. Tonight, I think we should all sleep here.”
Tariq was assembling a supper from the last of the bear meat, and Saoud went to dig the privy. Arwa was sitting next to the fire, with an old shirt in her lap. I watched as she tore it into strips. The Little Rose sat beside her, rubbing her feet and watching closely, and all but stewing in her uselessness. I took a seat across the fire and watched with some confusion.
“Bandages?” I asked, as Arwa took several of the strips, stacked them on top of one another, and began to carefully stitch a seam along the sides.
“Of a sort,” said the Little Rose.
“They’re too short,” I said.