David Gilman - The Devil's breath

His face burst into white teeth and laughter as Max came into his room. The two boys hugged each other. “You saved my life! They told me!”

“You came back for me. What are friends for?” The tensions and danger of their journey were behind them, the freedom from fear gave them a lightness they had not known for a long time.

“Miss van Reenen told me everything, and your friend Sayid, and the man who came from England, and Miss van Reenen’s father has taken his plane down to find my family. Then we will go home.” His smile faded a little. “And you will go home.”

“Yes,” Max said, “I will.”

Mike Kapuo stood with Mr. Peterson at the door. “I’m Detective Chief Inspector Kapuo. I need to talk to you two boys. We have to piece this whole thing together from day one.”

“OK,” Max said. “Where do you want us?”

“Well, I know!Koga’s first language isn’t English, and I don’t speak much of the Bushman language, so I’ve brought in an army interpreter; he’s a Bushman, so we’ll talk to!Koga first, and maybe Kallie can stick around to help out.”

Max hugged his friend. “Don’t tell them about the cave paintings and the prophecy. They won’t believe you.” He went out, leaving Mike Kapuo and Kallie with bewildered looks on their faces.

“I will tell them because it needs to be told, and it is the truth,”!Koga said, and laughed.

Out in the corridor Mr. Peterson shook Max’s hand. “Doctors have given you a clean bill of health.”

“Thanks, Mr. Peterson. And thanks for saving my dad.”

“I didn’t-you did. You knew he was in there, and I had to give it one last try. You want to see him?”

Max nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat.

They stood for a moment outside his dad’s room, looking through the window at the gaunt figure of his father, who lay in bed, drips feeding into his arm, seemingly asleep. Mr. Peterson put an arm around Max’s shoulders.

Sayid pulled a face. “Sorry, Max, I tried to cover it over. I didn’t know how to tell you.”

Max nodded. “ ’s OK,” he answered quietly.

Mr. Peterson stepped away, allowing Max to go into the room when he was ready. “This is going to take a very long time to try and fix, Max. He’s going to be all right physically, but they hurt his mind-we don’t know how long it will take.” Mr. Peterson hesitated. Max looked at him, seeming to hear the unspoken words- maybe he’ll never be healed . “You understand, Max?”

“Yes, sir. I understand.”

“OK. We’re flying back to England tonight. The government has laid on a plane and a doctor. You, me and Sayid, with your dad. He needs specialist care now.”

Sayid gave an encouraging smile to Max, ready to leave.

“Sayid, thanks for everything.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“I bet you did.”

Sayid nodded. There’d be time enough later for talking the whole thing through.

“Anyway. Thanks for being here. For being my mate,” Max said.

Max stood for a couple of minutes, watching his father. There were so many things he wanted to tell him, but perhaps that didn’t matter too much right now. They had shared such intense moments these past few days, each of them had told the other how they felt. There was no more awkward father-son thing. They had come through, and they were both alive.

Max went into the room and sat next to his father. His eyes opened and he smiled, his hand reaching out to touch Max. “Hey,” he whispered.

“They said you’re gonna be all right, Dad,” Max said.

“Oh yes.” He frowned slightly. “Thing is, my brain’s a bit like scrambled eggs. I know there’re a lot of pieces missing. Lots I can’t remember.” His dad smiled. “I remember you, though.”

Everything was drawing to a close. The sun was retreating and Max hovered, uncertain how to say his goodbyes. His dad was loaded into the plane, Sayid had got aboard and Max waited with Mr. Peterson as Kallie pushed!Koga out in a wheelchair.

What was it about Africa that seeped into your blood, like the sunset caressing the sand? Whatever it was, he envied the people staying behind. There was no place on earth like it.

“What happened at the dam?” he asked.

“We’re not sure. Shaka Chang died there, we know that much. He didn’t have time to open the floodgates fully,” Mr. Peterson said.

“When I was in the chopper, with Dad, just before I blacked out, I thought I heard someone say that the storm had stopped the soldiers getting there.”

“That’s right. The rainfall was torrential. It cleared over the dam briefly, but it stopped the ground and air assault. He’d have poisoned thousands. He had no idea you were alive and had got the message out.”

They watched the darkening sky as Kallie and!Koga got closer. Mr. Peterson shrugged. “Strange place, Africa. Things happen. Things you can’t explain. Shaka Chang’s pilot had landed the helicopter at the dam site; he was waiting for Chang to come back, then they were going to fly out to an airstrip, an hour away, to link up with his private jet. That’s disappeared somewhere. Anyway, he said he saw a hawk, well, he insisted it was a peregrine; he seemed to know what he was talking about. Said it came out of the sky and attacked Chang. He tried to fight it off, but it clawed at him and he lost his footing. They’ll never find his body.”

Kallie and!Koga had reached them. “OK, Max, five minutes and we’re off. Bye, Kallie, thanks for everything. You too,!Koga. You’re two of the bravest kids I’ve ever known.”

“And Max?” Kallie said.

“He’s the bravest, just don’t tell him I said that or I’ll never get him to do homework again.”

Mr. Peterson walked off towards the waiting aircraft.

“I’ll stay in touch, Kallie, if that’s OK?” Max said.

“Sure. Whatever. Hey, I might be coming to Europe.

Dad’s agreed to let me go to college-tourism degree or some such. Thinks I need educating. It’ll help the business. I’ll look you up.”

“I’d like that.” And she knew he meant it.

He looked at the Bushman boy who had not only saved his life but also shown him a different way of living it. “You be careful,!Koga. I will think of you and I will seek out the morning star-the Dawn’s Heart-and always remember.”

The boy nodded. “Remember, Max, this is all a dream.”

He embraced them again and turned away. Kallie called after him. “Max! I almost forgot!”

She pulled out a folded envelope and emptied its contents. “Your watch. You gave it to!Koga, remember? The police gave it back to me. I said I’d make sure you got it.”

His dad’s watch. In his heart he wanted!Koga to keep it, but he knew with equal certainty that the wild and free boy had no need for the confines of time.

“And this,” she said, spilling out a jade and gold bracelet. “You were holding this when they pulled you out of the chopper. You wouldn’t let go for ages.”

Max turned the jade and Moldavite in his fingers. “This is Shaka Chang’s,” he told her.

She looked puzzled. “How did you get it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I picked it up in the hangar when we went in with the soldiers. I’m not sure.”

The quickening sun warmed the gold bracelet and touched the Moldavite pearls, reflecting infinite years of trapped light.

And from within the bracelet Max thought he saw a fleeting image of Shaka Chang’s hand clawing at the sky, as a pair of talons raked his wrist.

The plane lifted off just as the edge of the world turned red. Max gazed back at the darkening ground and saw a shadow move into the last ray of broken light.

The creature looked over its shoulder at the departing plane.

And then the jackal loped away into the night.