himself before his fateful second encounter with Clearwater.
Roz helped Cadillac prepare the meal, her gestures complementing his
without a hint of awkwardness. They ate in silence, but on the
occasions when their eyes met they fixed each other with an unwavering
gaze that was only broken by mutual, unspoken agreement.
They were like two castaways, marooned on a wooded island amid an ocean
of red grass. But although they had only been in each other's presence
for a matter of hours, they were not strangers. Neither Roz nor
Cadillac had anything to hide. There was no need for timid, furtive
glances; no time for anything other than a frank appraisal.
There was no need to say anything. The eyes said it all.
The afternoon lengthened into evening. Roz helped him erect a hut
using a selection of unburnt poles and a patchwork of skins, then they
went into the forest to fetch more wood for the fire.
While they were there Cadillac bathed in the stream, washing away the
grey ash that had covered his body.
Night fell. They communed in silence over the evening meal that
Cadillac prepared with her help, then he gathered up the sleeping furs
that had been warming by the fire and took them into the hut.
A short while later he crawled out through the low door flap and picked
up the two carbines. Seating himself with his back to the hut, he laid
one of the guns across his lap and placed the other on the ground
beside him.
'Sleep now." They were the first words he had uttered in two days.
Roz stood up and slowly unzipped her camouflage fatigues, then rolled
them into a neat bundle. Cadillac averted his eyes as she stripped off
her underclothes, but she stood before him and willed him to look up at
her naked body, its smooth artificially-tanned skin tinted deep orange
by the firelight glow. When their eyes finally met, she held up the
garments that marked her out as a Tracker and dropped them onto the
red-hot embers.
They both watched as the flames took hold.
When there was nothing left, Roz said: 'There is no need to stand
guard. My power will protect both of us."
She walked past Cadillac, brushing his head lightly with one hand.
Entering the hut, Roz saw the firestone had been trimmed, leaving only
a tiny flame to light the way to bed. Picking up the stone, she pushed
