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‘Think you can make it up there?’
He indicated a rocky outcrop, jagged against the skyline, further along the ridge, which continued to rise until, way beyond, it ascended steeply up a bare rockface to begin a proper summit of the next mountain in the chain.
Thea shrugged, reaching for her water bottle and drinking deeply. Angelos was watching her impassively.
She’d done well so far, he allowed grudgingly. He’d set a deliberately fast pace, to see what she would do, but she’d just followed him. Doggedly, steadily. Now he studied her. Was it bravado that was keeping her going? He did not want to have to carry her down if she overdid it and collapsed.
‘Tell me if you need to stop,’ he said tersely, then he set off again.
Thea put her water away, took a breath, and went after him. The path was more difficult now, disappearing in places, and the ridge was getting narrower. But she kept going. Angelos did not outpace her now, deliberately, she assumed, slowing to her pace. There was a sharp wind, too, keening up the scarp slope they were now exposed to on the far side of the ridge. But walking had made her hot, and she was glad of its cooling.
Another half-hour of walking got them to the outcrop that he’d indicated. As they gained it Thea realised that the rocks it was made from framed a grassy hollow, looking out over the next valley. Angelos shrugged off his rucksack and levered himself down on to the close-cropped turf.
‘Sit down,’ he ordered.
Reluctantly, for the grassy hollow was not large, Thea did as she was bade, keeping the maximum distance from him she could. Unfortunately, with his broad shoulders and their thick jumpers, that was not much. Worse, out of the wind but still in the sun, and glowing from her exertion, she felt far too hot.
‘Take off the jumper,’ said Angelos, and proceeded to remove his.
Again reluctantly, Thea did as she was bade, feeling immediate relief to be only in the flannel shirt beneath.
‘Now drink more water,’ Angelos instructed, extracting his own flask
once more.
Again, Thea did likewise, and felt the cool water snake down her parched throat.
‘Worth the climb?’ Angelos enquired laconically as she lowered the flask to her lap. Her legs, like his, were stretched out straight, but angled away from him.
She gazed around, taking in the splendours of this high, lonely place. All around mountains stretched as far as the eye could see, their peaks snow-capped, their sides verdant. Below her the ridge dropped down into a deep valley, uninhabited from what she could see.
It was as if they had the world to themselves.
As if they were the only people in it.
She didn’t answer, only sat, glad of the rest, while her gaze took in the vast space all around. Apart from the keening of the wind there was no noise. Sun burned down on her, and she was glad of her dark glasses. Her skin felt hot, and she dipped into her pocket for her sun cream, methodically working it over her face to renew its protection.
Beside her, Angelos watched her. She was absorbed in her task, still gazing out ahead of her. She was paying him no attention, but it didn’t bother him. He wanted to watch her. Study her.
Yet again she was different. The groomed, soignée Thea he’d seen for the past few days had changed. But it was not just in appearance, with the functional climbing gear and her hair snaking down her back in a plait to resist the wind, but in the way she sat there. Gazing out quietly. She put the sun cream away and tucked her legs up, hooking her arms loosely around her knees, face lifted as she looked about her.
‘That peak there is the Hohenhorn,’ he heard himself saying, indicating the tallest mountain in the direction she was looking. ‘Below us the Heinser valley. The drop is nearly a thousand metres.’
Suddenly she felt her shoulder brushed. Automatically she stiffened, but Angelos’s deep voice only said, ‘Look—there—hanging below the Hohenhorn—a pair of eagles!’
She swivelled her head, staring, trying to make out the specks his outstretched arm was pointing at.
‘I see them!’ she exclaimed. She watched, riveted, as the pair twisted in the air. Silently a pair of binoculars was handed to her. She seized them and lifted them to her eyes.
‘Don’t look at the sun,’ Angelos said sharply.
She found the eagles, though it was hard, as they started to soar upwards on thermals, to keep them in view. But it was an incredible sight to see. Reluctantly she handed back the binoculars. Angelos took them and refocused them for his eyes. Her gaze went from the eagles to him. He was completely absorbed. Completely, she realised with a little jolt, at home here on this high place.
She went on looking at him, her feelings strange.
After a while the eagles were out of sight, and Angelos let the binoculars drop. He turned back to Thea. For a moment she could not look away. Yet both their gazes were veiled by dark glasses.
I can see him, and he can see me, but we can’t see each other …
