When Darkness Falls Read Online Free Page A

land, have children and grow old together. As his strength and mobility returned, he began to move off by himself, slowly learning to walk again. He would do it: it was a promise he made to himself and a silent promise to Nunjupuni.
    â€œI’m sorry I couldn’t stay awake, Grandad, but tell me, did Dani ever go back to see Nunjupuni?”
    â€œNo Grandson, at least not yet.”
    â€œWill he go and see her? What happens to their love?”
    â€œWell now ... are you ready to hear the rest of the story?”
    â€œYes, Grandad. This time I’ll try to keep awake to hear how it ends.”
    â€œNow let me see...”
    Dani had decided that once he was able to walk and hunt enough to be able to look after himself, he would leave his people and the few friends that still greeted him. He began by withdrawing into himself and going off alone.
    At first his disappearances would last for a day, then two days, then three ... and one day he just disappeared. It took him more than a month to reach Nunjupuni’s lands. Once there, he searched along the foreshore until he found a secluded spot where he could leave his few belongings without the chance of them being found, then he began to watch the camp, waiting his chance to see Nunjupuni, for the opportunity to get close enough to catch her attention. Then they could meet and make plans.
    He had been watching for a week or more, when one evening he came across a woman walking the foreshore near the camp, her arms folded as she strolled along in the shallows watching her small daughter run and laugh and playfully splash her in passing. The mother gave chase and splashed her back, laughing and frolicking, playing with the small one in the darkening, cooling waters. She turned about and made to return in the direction from which they had come, calling to the girl and bidding her return.
    The sound of the woman’s voice stabbed at Dani’s heart. The voice was Nunjupuni’s and the child was her daughter. Was she his child?
    He sank down beside a clump of sandhill grass, his heartthumping. His chance had come. He had planned and waited for this moment. He took a deep breath and as low as he could he emitted the mating call of the sand-curlew, then coughed as he was finishing it. He watched as her form froze. She hushed the child, frantically calling it to her. Then, with the child in her arms, she turned towards where she thought the sound had come from.
    He filled his lungs, but the sound died on his lips as another voice sounded. Someone was coming through the scrub to the beach, looking for the girl and her child. The voice was harsh and unfriendly. Nunjupini turned and retraced her steps in silence, going to meet whoever it was, turning them back before they could reach the shore.
    The next evening Danaranni and Nunjupuni met and very late in the night they were reunited in their love. They sat again in the dew-drenched sand and talked and planned. Yes, she was ready to leave, as soon as he thought it was possible. She had had enough of being the fetch-and-carry-all. The old man had indeed made her life a misery. He was particularly bad when her brothers were around forcing them to witness his complete authority. There was nothing they could do about it; the marriage had been arranged by their father and the Elders. The law stood.
    As much as Nunjupuni loved her little daughter, she could see the wisdom of Dani’s words when he said that the child would be a terrible burden, the greatest of all handicaps. They would be pursued, and would have to move as fast as his crippled leg would allow him. They would need all the skills they possessed to throw off their pursuers. He couldn’t carry the child, not over any distance, and she would wear herself out trying. They couldn’t stop to rest for long; the child would soon weary and there was no way they could stop her onceshe began to cry for warmth and comfort. No, she would have to