Loren sprinted silently towards the edge and launched herself at the far roof. Lacking Aurora’s grace she landed heavily and stumbled. Valna leaped forward to haul her away from the precipice.
‘Ok, I’m ready,’ Tarun said. He steadied himself, then, with determination etched on his face, sprinted towards the alley. Fear gripped Mervyn’s stomach: Tarun’s acceleration was too slow. He wanted to shout out, but recalled the raptors below. Opposite, Aurora and Loren waved frantically. Maybe Tarun saw them or maybe he just lost his nerve; either way he tried frantically to break his forward charge. He came to rest on the edge of the roof, but his forward momentum continued. With his arms windmilling backwards he teetered above the alley undecided whether to stay or fall. Mervyn reached him before disaster struck grabbed his collar.
‘Thanks, Merv. Bit slow wasn’t I.’ He tried to look nonchalant, but was clearly shaken. ‘I’ll just wait here.’
Mervyn dragged him round to face him, ‘If you stay, Tarun, you’re dead.’
‘You go, Merv, I’ll find another way; I’ll only slow you down anyway.’
‘Very noble, Tarun, but I’m not leaving you. Quarks, you’re my friend, what sort of person leaves their friend?’ Then Mervyn had an idea, ‘How about we go together?’
‘Ok. It’s a stream, ain’t, it Merv, with babbling water and singing birds, and we’re going to sail right across it, aren’t we?’
‘That’s right. In your own time.’ Encouraging Tarun took his own mind off the fatal drop, but he still felt nervous, not that he could show it, otherwise, Tarun would never jump.
‘Ready,’ Tarun rocked from heal to toe.
‘Steady’
Tarun crouched for a sprint start, ‘Go!’
Together they sprinted towards the edge of the roof. Tarun reached the precipice first. He leaped without slowing. Pride surged through Mervyn: Yes -- they were doing it.
The crash of a splintering door sounded from the alley below and for a spit second Mervyn took his focus off the leap. Even as he did so he knew he should have ignored the distraction: he had found the wobbly brick.
Mervyn’s toe dipped forward and his knee gave way as the brick tipped alarmingly towards the alley below. He pushed off hard to compensate, but was it enough? Opposite, he saw Tarun land heavily and roll; he must have jumped with his eyes closed. At least Tarun was safe.
For a moment Mervyn though he could make it, but the look of horror on his friend’s faces said otherwise. He was falling too low to clear the gap. Panic rose in his chest. He clutched wildly for the parapet. Loren reached out towards him, but she was too far away. Horror turned to despair as his fingers closed on nothingness and the wall shot past his head. He tried to cry out, but his voice choked in his throat. He fell silently towards the raptors below.
Bricks flashed past. A searing pain shot through his wrist. A burst of light exploded in his forehead.
Mervyn wondered where he was. Someone had punched him. Intense pain engulfed his wrist -- he must have broken it. Why was he in a maze? A thought tugged at his mind, something important. What had happened? He focused on the pain in his wrist. Slowly the fog in his head cleared and he remembered the leap. Something wet splashed onto his ear. If his wrist was broken what about his legs? He kicked his legs and stubbed toes on both feet. The maze in front of him resolved into a pattern of bricks.
‘Keep still,’ someone hissed. ‘Do you want to kill both of us?’
Mervyn looked up to see Valna grinning down at him. Then he looked at his arm. He could see the Palermo’s sharp claws sticking out both sides of his wrist. Fresh blood dribbled from the entry and exit wounds; another drop splashed onto his ear. Loren & Aurora steadied the little Palermo to stop him falling over the parapet.
Tarun suddenly appeared, ‘Give us your other hand,’ he whispered reaching down as far as he dared.
‘Don’t look down,’ Aurora hissed, but Mervyn looked anyway. The alley below appeared deserted.
‘They’re in the building looking for our apartment,’ Tarun explained. ‘Now give me your other hand.’
Cautiously, Mervyn raised his free arm towards Tarun, and felt his friend’s firm grip like a lifeline. He breathed a bit easier.
Valna’s claws dug ever deeper towards the bone as his friends hauled him slowly upwards. To dull the pain he concentrated on Tarun’s hand entwined with his. Finally, Aurora and Loren grabbed his belt and hauled him unceremoniously onto the roof. He landed on his back staring up at the town above him.
He stifled a cry as Valna extracted the claws from Mervyn’s wrist. Fresh blood oozed from the puncture wounds and spewed onto the roof leaving dark tell-tale splodges. Tarun produced a T-shirt from his pack and strapped it round Mervyn’s wrist to staunch the flow of blood, ‘That’ll do until we can get you into an automed -- can’t have you dripping everywhere.’
‘Thanks,’ Mervyn mumbled gritting his teeth against the pain. ‘You saved my life -- all of you.’ Even Aurora’s chima blushed pink with embarrassment.
‘Then I have repaid the debt I owe your father,’ Valna said grinning a toothy grin. Mervyn wandered what the debt might be; if he ever found his father he might ask him.
Loren tried to cover her embarrassment with activity, ‘How’s your foot, Tarun?’ For the first time Mervyn noticed Tarun limping.
‘Not bad... sprained I think,’ he whispered, ‘had my eyes closed -- trying to imagine a stream.’ Loren looked accusingly at Mervyn who just shrugged. Weren’t they all safely across? Well, across anyway.
‘ We ought to be long gone before the hunters discover you have flown from your apartment,’ Valna said, reminding them of the peril they still faced. ‘The raptors won’t give up their search until they find you. Very persistent are Raptors.’