Page 9 (1/2)

PART TWO - JUNI

Chapter 9 THE PROMISE

Dervish regards the cave with so lance at where I’m hunched over Loch His attention is fixed on the walls, the roof, the fores him softly and mumbles, "Over there"

Dervish snaps to his senses and advances "Billy told me what happened," he says, still several metres away "How is he?"

"Fine-" I say and Dervish smiles "-for a dead man" The smile vanishes He slows Behind hi a sob or a scream

"You’re sure?" Dervish asks softly

"Check for yourself," I say hollowly "Prove " My face crinkles "Please"

Dervish kneels and gently pushes me away He examines Loch Rolls his eyelids up Puts his ear to the dead wrestler’s chest Goes through all the same resuscitation tricks that I tried I don’t bother telling hi his time Let him find out for himself

Eventually he draws back, saddened-but worried too He looks at ain what happened"

"He slipped," Bill-E rab him but I couldn’t reach"

"There was nobody else in the cave?" Dervish presses sharply He looks atelse?"

"No," Bill-E cries

"No," I whisper

"You’re sure?" Dervish asks, voice low, directing the question just to me this time "It’s important You were alone? The three of you? You’re sure?"

I nod slowly, confused

"I tried to save hiht hiht, Grubbs? It wasn’t my fault Please, Dervish, don’t say it was hs "It was an accident" He rubs his chin, troubled He stands, looks around, glances at the waterfall and the spot Loch fell from Doesn’t mention the crack-he hadn’t seen the wall before I howled and split the rock so he assumes it’s a natural feature

"Is there anything you can do?" I ask "Any spells?"

"No," Dervish says plainly "He’s beyond help"

I fight back tears "Will the ambulance be here soon? Maybe they-"

"Nobody can do anything!" Dervish snaps "He’s dead You’ve seen death before Don’t ask the impossible You’re not a child"

I stare at my uncle, stunned by his harsh tone It sounds like he’s criticising

Dervish catches my look and his expression softens "This is bad And not just because Loch is dead" He looks around again, nervously "I didn’t call for an ambulance"

"What?" I explode "But-"

"He’s dead," Dervish says as if that explains everything "An ambulance wouldn’t have helped"

"But you didn’t know that when you came," I shout "When Bill-E fetched you, Loch was alive Why didn’t you phone for help? Maybe they could have got here before you Maybe Loch would be alive if-"

"Billy, come here," Dervish interruptsnot to look at Loch Dervish keeps me silent with a fierce frown I want to screa to hear my uncle out When Bill-E’s ato coht is a tragedy I feel for you, honestly, even though I’ive you all the support I can, ht now I have to be hard And I have to ask soain a nervous glance around "As far as the official verdict goes, Loch can’t have died here," Dervish says "I’ll explain later Right now you have to trust me We need to move the body Make it look like this happened somewhere else Cover up the entrance to the cave and tell nobody about it Understand?"

Bill-E and I gawp at him

"Please," Dervish says "I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t crucial"

"You want to tamper with the body?" Bill-E croaks

"I just want to move it," Dervish says "We’ll take it to the quarry You can say you were cliency services once we-"