Posted As Missing

Chapter Twenty-Six

"The clouds have come down and wrapped the hillside in fog," David said Monday morning as he crawled back inside and under the blankets to rewarm.

"We saw that when we were out," Rachel said. "It often happens in the spring, particularly after a storm. Sometimes it lasts for several days, hanging on the hills until there's a wind."

"It's a few minutes to eight. Let's break camp and use this as a cover to head farther along. Good morning, ladies," he said as he rolled to kiss each in turn. "No need for breakfast, we can find a stream and pause an hour or so along for a bite."

Twenty minutes later they were through the waterfalls and moving along the ledge. "Stop there." David turned to the women. "I'll take your packs past the bulge, much safer that way; this is a tricky spot, even more now with the wetness from the mist."

He ferried the packs in three trips then coached the girls past the bulge. They all paused at the corner and looked back into their spa. "We must come back here when this war is over." He nodded and smiled. "I cannot remember a more pleasant spot."

"Nor more pleasant company to share it with," Maria added.

The trio moved quickly along the base of the bluffs. "Up there," he pointed, "That's the mushroom and firewood store."

They came to the block of rock and sidled around it, then turned and followed along beneath the lower set of bluffs, arriving at the stream again a few minutes later, below the waterfalls. They looked at the stag's remains. It was little more than a rack of antlers on a stripped skull, some scattered bones and pieces of hide; it had been well used.

David led a traverse maintaining elevation as they threaded in and out of shallow cirques and around rounded ridges. It was twenty-five past nine when he paused at a tiny stream tumbling over large and small rocks. "How's this for breakfast?"

They unslung their packs and sat on the mist dampened moss which covered the rocks. "Mama, you get breakfast ready, I want to check David's wounds." Maria ran her fingers through the stubble on his cheek. "How old is this beard now?"

"Friday evening was my last shave. This is Monday, so nearly ten days. These wounds were stitched up a week ago right now."

She pushed lightly along the scar. "Still sore?"

"No, more itchy, but that's also the whiskers. I remember in the mountains how they became itchy as they grew."

She watched the remaining stitches as she moved his lip around. "I'll take these out this evening after we've camped. They've done their job. How's the inside?"

"Feels so much better, I can open my mouth a lot wider now — the jaw hinge is so much less sore. I had no problem at all with the meat last night, but that was so wonderfully tender."

"Is this still numb?" she asked, licking his lip.

"A little, but not as much." He ran his tongue over it and caught the tip of hers. She was quickly exploring the inside of his mouth, probing the lines of his scars, checking for swelling on the inside of his cheek, feeling the other swelling with her hand.

"When the nurse is finished with her examination," Rachel said with a giggle, "I can pour the tea. Breakfast is ready."

David shifted with a deft hand move from his thigh to a more comfortable lay across his hip, adding with a chuckle, "If all medical examinations were like this, I'd be tempted to play sick or injured."

"I think it has a lot to do with the energy between you two. It's so magical watching you interact."

They sipped their tea and gnawed tender meat off the ribs. "We'll have to eat a lot of venison the next while," Rachel said. "We don't want it to spoil."