Page 106 (1/2)

WHEN I AWOKE IT WAS QUIET, AND THE AIR WAS clean and warm, with the smell of the sea

I was now thoroughly confused as to tiht-headedness that I had not slept through a day Also I wasn't in any protective enclosure

We'd been following the night around the world, perhaps, or ratherat random in it, as Akasha maybe didn't need at all to sleep

I needed it, that was obvious But I was too curious not to want to be awake And frankly tooof human blood

I found myself in a spacious bedroom with terraces to the west and to the north I could srant and rather still Very gradually, I took stock of the room

Lavish old furnishings, led with modern luxuries everywhere I looked The bed on which I lay was a gilded four-poster, hung with gauzy curtains, and covered with down pillows and draperies of silk A thick white carpet concealed the old floor

There was a dressing table littered with glittering jars and silver objects, and a curious old-fashioned white telephone Velvet chairs; a monster of a television set and shelves of stereo music equipment; and small polished tables everywhere, streith newspapers, ashtrays, decanters of wine

People had lived here up till an hour ago; but now the people were dead In fact, there were many dead on this island And as I lay there for a e in my mind where we had been before I saw the filth, the tin roofs, the mud And now I lay in this bower, or so it seemed

And there was death here too We had brought it

I got up off the bed and went out onto the terrace and looked down over the stone railing at a white beach No land on the horizon, only the gently rolling sea The lacy foa under the moon And I was in an old weathered palazzo, probably built soo, decked with urns and cherubs and covered with stained plaster, a rather beautiful place Electric lights shone through the green-painted shutters of other rooms Nestled on a lower terrace just beneathpool

And ahead where the beach curved to the left, I saw another old graceful dwelling nestled into the cliffs People had died in there too This was a Greek island, I was sure of it; this was the Mediterranean Sea

When I listened, I heard cries co fro slain I leaned against the fra

Sorippedthe invisible blade to pierce solid flesh Thirst Or was it ain; wasted bodies contorted in the final struggle, faces smeared with blood

Not , I couldn't haveBut I had

And now I could s, fires like those fires in Azi burnt The sain and took a deep clean breath If I let them, the voices would come, voices from all over the island, and from other islands, and fro there waiting; I had to push it back