An eagle swooped Read online

  'No higher ... so you have indeed reached the supreme heights?' He seemed far away all at once, and his head turned to the rocky peak on which was built the ancient castle of St. Hilarion.

  Following the direction in which his head was turned, Tessa saw a movement a mere flash as if something

  had darted behind the mountain. Eagles soared and turned above these peaks, she knew, and for some quite inexplicable reason she found herself endeavouring to recall the words of a poem she had once read, long ago, when she was at school, She could remember only the end.'' ... and all is still, save when the taloned eagle swoops and gathers to Its doom the gentle prey.'

  A shiver passed through her whole body and, slipping her band out of Paul's, she rose from her chair. 'It's cold, Paul, dreadfully cold '

  'Cold?' he echoed disbelievingly. 'You're cold?'

  She stood there, looking down at him, bewildered, and quite unable to account for the fear that engulfed her.

  'I .. .'' Even breathing seemed difficult. 'I just felt-felt chilly. I'll go and put something on.'

  'But, darling.'' he said urgently, 'is anything wrong? You can t, possibly be cold. Why, I was just about to strip off! He wore slacks and a short sleeved shirt; Tessa on the other hand wore only shorts and a very brief sun top. But until this moment she had felt quite warm - to warm in fact, for the temperature was in the eighties."

  'I'm warmer now; it's gone whatever it was.'

  Paul had risen and instinctively she moved towards him. Sensing her nearness, he took her in his arms.

  'My darling, what is it?' He bent his dark head and kissed her lips. 'You don't appear to be cold, my love.' His hands slid caressingly from her soft brown shoulders to the slender curve of her waist. 'You feel beautiful and warm.'

  'I'm all right now,' she quivered, snuggling to him, as if to seek his protection from ... she knew not what. 'Sometimes you shiver, don't you? for apparently no reason at all.'

  'Sometimes, darling,' he agreed, and held her very dose. 'You're sure you're feeling better now?'

  She murmured 'yes,' and put her cheek to his. How concerned he was for her! Could anyone ever have a more loving husband?

  After a little while he released her and went indoors to change. She watched him with his stick, carefully guiding himself, touching the familiar objects, the trunk of the fig tree that gave them shade, the tall palm and then the almond tree. The low wall, and after that the scent of the long row of oleanders would act as a guide. Then the steps of the verandah and finally one of the columns supporting its roof, and around which a vine twisted its way up to the balcony above where it clung to the supports provided for it.

  To be blind.,. Tessa closed her eyes and tried to imagine what it must be like. Darkness always darkness for the rest of one's life. She opened her eyes swiftly and felt the dampness on her lashes. The sun shone on the garden, on the flowers and trees and on the magnificent white, villa. Everywhere there was light ... ,

  She sat down again, quite warm now, and watched the door for Paul to come out. He appeared, and her heart was filled with compassion as, once again, he carefully guided himself with his stick.

  If only the accident had never happened ... if only Lucinda had not touched that wheel. If ... Then she, Tessa, would not be here; she would never have known the bliss of the last two weeks for heaven had been hers from the very moment of her arrival, almost, as Paul in his infinite generosity had been swift to forgive, and to forget the wrong done to him. Yes, it was only because Paul was blind that he was hers ....

  Later they walked along the lane, in the cool of the evening, taking advantage of that enchanting, but all too fleeting, hour between sundown and the fall of night. The clear crystalline quality of the air Paul could appreciate for himself the glow reflected in the depth of the sky was something that had to be described to him.

  'It's magical!' she exclaimed, and instinctively they both stopped. 'With the horizon on fire and a great arc of the sky tinted with orange and bronze. And the little white clouds are edged all round with crimson, while the thinner, wispy clouds look like streaks of translucent gold but oh, they're changing to violet now, though there's still a sheen of bronze on the horizon. ... It's magical,' she breathed again, and as Paul made no comment. she asked anxiously, 'Can you imagine it, darling?'

  'I can see it,' he answered in a faintly awed and bewildered tone. 'How did I miss this wonderful ability you have? I never realized it existed.'

  Tessa's pulse fluttered. 'Ability?'

  'To describe things so perfectly. As I said, I can see the sunset.' A frown appeared between his eyes; he seemed most puzzled as he opened his mouth to speak again.

  But suddenly the hush was broken, and Tessa exclaimed, eagerly grasping the opportunity of changing the subject, 'Listen, Paul, the sheep bells! '

  From afar, echoing across the vast mountain stillness, floated the tinkling music of the sheep bells, clear and sweet on the .. .twilight air.

  'Wonderful.' His strong fingers tightened their hold on her hand. 'There are few sounds more pleasing than those little bells. Do you know, Lucinda, that sound might be coming to us from a very great distance, because of the exceptional clarity of the air in these mountains,'

  They stood listening for a long while, then turned and made for home.

  'Where shall we go today, Paul?' They were having breakfast; it was the day after their visit to Nicosia and Tessa asked the question hesitantly, wondering if Paul would prefer to have a day at home.

  'Somewhere not too far away; Come, Lucinda, you make a suggestion for a change,'

  'Well ... if you don't want to go far, perhaps a swim?'

  'A splendid idea. What about the beach to the west of Kyrenia? 'We'Il find a saudy cove and have it all to ourselves .. '

  Tessa agreed, saying she would telephone for a taxi. 'Kypros will be here in half an hour,' she informed Paul on returning to the room. He nodded and said thoughtfully, 'We must have a car, Lucinda. It's a good thing you

  can drive.' .

  'A car?' She had driven on some rough roads, but somehow she felt the responsibility of having Paul with her, on this narrow track cut in the mountainside, with its sheer drop on one side, would make her extremely nervous. 'The road's not very good, Paul.'

  'Other cars use it.' He made a swift impatient gesture as if waving away her protest as childish. 'You'll get used to it.' There was a curt edge to his voice, she thought, a tiny line appearing between her eyes. But she soon dismissed the idea, chiding herself for 'imagining things.

  'Yes, I expect you're right. It'll be much more economical to have our own car, for these taxi fares must

  be mounting up shockingly. I don't' know how much we owe to Kypros already.'

  'Don't trouble your lovely head about it. One only has to walk when one hasn't the money to pay.'

  They drove down from the mountain under a brilliant sun, with the sides of the road a riot of colour and the skyline now and then fringed with palms. High in the heavens, above the rocky crags, an eagle turned, then glided like a shadow in the sky.

  'What can you see?' asked Paul in gentle, tender tones.

  'We're coming to Bellapais now.'

  'Ah yes, that magnificent Gothic ruin. Tell me about it.'

  'It's brown sandstone very Weathered, but the arches standing out against the blue sky are so beautiful. And in the gardens are the tallest, straightest cypress trees you ever saw.'

  'You want to stop?' Kypros slowed down as he waited for Paul's answer.

  'For a moment or two, perhaps.' .

  Kypros drew on to the front of the cafe. As usual men were sitting about at the tables, playing trik trak, with the loser buying the drinks, which was invariably Turkish coffee served in minute cups and accompanied by a glass of iced water. Just across, the Abbey grounds were a blaze of colour, and beneath its ancient walls the famous 'Tree of Idleness' gave welcome shade for both the locals and the few tourists who were visiting this quaint whitewashed village.

  The thirteenth century church was now used by the villagers, having been adapted for the Greek rite, and Paul said they would attend the service on Easter Day. 'You won't understand it, but you'll find, it interesting. Part of the service is conducted outside the church, with the congregation holding lighted candles.'. .

  'But suppose it rains?' she said on a questioning note.

  'It doesn't.' Paul gave a little laugh and Tessa caught her breath. How attractive he was! Would she always be so thrilled by his laugh or his smile? 'The only thing you have to worry about is keeping your candle alight.'

  The road farther down was lined with carob trees, and beneath was a sea of crimson and gold as waves of delicate poppy heads splashed their profusion of colour among a multitude of less delicate but equally beautiful chrysanthemums.

  'It's the harmony of colour that takes your breath away,' Tessa said, after describing it all to her husband. 'Oh, Paul, the lambs they're so tiny, and seeking for their mother's milk all the time! And the goats ... they're with the same shepherd, but keep separate from the sheep. I wonder why?' .

  'Probably consider themselves a cut above the sheep,' came the teasing reply from Paul, and Tessa laughed. They slowed down to pass a peasant on a donkey, proceeding at a leisurely pace and Tessa was reminded of Maroula's injunction, slowly, slowly.

  'They make such a comical picture, when viewed from behind because of the shape of the donkey, the man and the two great panniers. which always seem to be filled with twigs and brushwood.' The sea sparkled down below them and Tessa heaved a great sigh of contentment. 'It's wonderful, Paul, . ,'

  He paused before responding and she turned her head to look at him. Could it be imagination, or was there a fleeting curve of triumph on his lips? His words however, held all
the familiar tenderness as he echoed softly,

  'You're right, my beautiful wife it's wonderful.' Tessa continued to look at him, but he was smiling and that indefinable something which had produced a moment of strange uneasiness disappeared as swiftly as it had come. She reached for his hand, felt its tender caress, and her heart was filled to the brim with contentment and warmth.

  After changing in one of the battered beach huts on the cliffs they had a lazy hour on the hot sand before going into the water.' Paul made no request, but Tessa knew he expected her to remain close beside him. This was the second occasion on which they had gone into the sea, and Tessa experienced a sense of happiness and gratification that with her help he was able once again to enjoy his swimming, which she knew he loved because he and Lucinda had spent a good deal of their time in the pool near their home.

  'We'll come out now,' he said, and she merely carried on a conversation as they made for the shore.

  She passed him a towel, watching him as he dried his face, then his arms and legs, and lastly, his hair. It was jet black, and normally it waved away from his forehead. But now it curled, falling on to his brow and making him appear attractively young and, somehow, much more carefree than she had ever seen him. .

  'It was marvellous in that water.' She looked out to the indistinct smudge of the horizon. 'There's a terrific heat haze over the sea, and the colour is changing all the while. It's turquoise and indigo and purple and that sort of silvery white I was telling you about. I suppose the colour's different today because the sky's a much deeper blue than usual.'

  Paul lay back on the sand, his hands folded behind his head. So slim, and yet giving the impression of great muscular strength; so brown, but it seemed to be the result of exposure rather than the natural colour of his skin. And then Tessa realized with a sense of surprise that Paul had not been nearly so dark when she had known him in England.

  'I expect I shall soon be brown,' she remarked, speaking her thoughts aloud, and Paul turned his head in her direction. 'I was just looking at you,' she added then. 'You're very dark, Paul.'

  'That's to be expected; I've lived in the garden since' coming here.' A slight pause, 'You won't brown, though, not for a long while owing to the natural colour of your skin. You'll have to take care, otherwise' you'll find yourself in some considerable pain.'

  'Yes yes; I must take care.' Almost made a slip, she realized with a little jerk of fear.

  'What about some lunch?' Paul suggested when

  Tessa told him it was already one o'clock. 'Whatever you say.'

  Her words brought a strange little smile to his lips. 'How very nice and obliging you always are, Lucinda.

  Come, we'll go to the Mare Monte.'

  This most exceptional hotel was at Karavas, a few miles from Kyrenia. Standing on a rocky ledge above a beautiful sandy bay, its verandahs looked either on to the sea or the mountains.

  They sat facing the sea; down below a few tourists basked in the sun, or swam in the calm clear water. Tessa and Paul lunched on kebab and salad and drank the Cyprus wine with it; then they had fresh strawberries and cream, and finished off with cheese and coffee.

  Kypros had gone off to see a friend, and had not returned when the meal was finished.

  'Shall we go on to the beach?' Tessa suggested. 'It looks wonderful down there.'

  The sand was dry and hot; they strolled hand in hand along the waterfront until, from above, was heard the voice of Kypros telling them he had returned. 'Are we going home now?' she asked as they reached the car.

  'Do you want to go somewhere else?' 'It's quite early,' she began hesitantly.

  'Perhaps K ypros can suggest something, then. I don't know the island any more than you do, my love, so I can't recommend one place more than another.'

  'I take you to the Seven Springs at Lapithos?' The taxi driver looked inquiringly at Tessa. 'You will like. And there is a cafe there, with a view right down the mountain to the sea.'

  'That sounds all right.' Paul got into the car. 'Take us to this place, K ypros. I gather there's a new road, cut right out of the mountainside.'

  'Yes, that's right.'

  The drive was breathtaking, right from the moment they left the beach and took the road up into the straggling village, parts of which extended to well over eight hundred feet above see level. The winding narrow streets were lined with ancient, sandy coloured houses, shuttered against the sun. In every garden there grew lemon trees, whose blossom sprayed the soft warm air with its heady perfume. Olive trees and walnuts, pomegranates and aimonds allllourished in the fields and gardens. On higher ground, and often nestling on a rocky ledge on the hillside, the lovely white villas of the more wealthy Cypriots and the English settl~rs ' contrasted vividly with the background of dark mountain and pine clad slopes. Their gardens were a mass of colour s geraniums and roses, white and pink oleanders, hibiscus and bougainvillea. And everywhere there were flowers in pots on the verandahs and in the porches, on the balconies above, and even on the steps which often led to a terrace on the roof.

  'Here is the beautiful water which gives Lapithos its what you say? prosperity.' Stopping the car, Kypros opened the door for Paul to get out. 'Kephalovryso, it is called. See how it gushes out of the rock.'

  See .... Tessa stood beside her husband and a little lump lodged in her throat.

  The water cascading down from the vast reservoir within the brecciated limestone mass was an incredibly beautiful sight.

  'It glistens like silver in the sun' she said, feelmg inadequate, but then she added more brightly, You can hear it doesn't it sound wonderful?'

  'It sounds strong. There's a great volume of water coming down, apparently.'

  'This supplies all the area, and that is why Lapithas is greener than many places. From long time ago. It makes Lapithos rich.'. Kypros made a comprehensive gesture as he spoke.

  Tessa took Paul's hand and after a little while they went across to the cafe. With the typical friendliness and hospitality of the Cypriots, the proprietor himself came and chatted with them, sitting down and ordering a drink which he had with them. As Kypros asserted, the view was marvellous, taking in the olive groves and the palms against the sky, the mellowed houses, clinging to the hillsides, some appearing so old and fallen into a state of disrepair that it seemed impossible that people occupied them still. The white and ochre churches with their domed roofs and picturesque campaniles, the curving shoreline with, its rocky bays and narrow peninsula and then the magnificent expanse of the blue Mediterranean, With the distant horizon a misty vision of sea meeting sky behind a glassy haze of quivering heat.

  This is your first visit to Lapithos?' the cafe proprietor asked, eyeing Paul, and then looking at Tessa. Staring and thoroughly examining would be a more fitting description of his gaze, and Tessa wondered just what he was thinking. For the 'strange Greek' who lived on the mountainside above Bellapais was known for miles around. A recluse ... who had suddenly begun to go about ... with his new wife. Little did Tessa know it, but she had been 'the object of much discussion, for the average Cypriot did like to know what went on, not only in his immediate surroundings, but for a radius of several miles! And any stranger appearing in a village would immediately be investigated, question upon question being asked until, by some quite incomprehensible means, her whole case history would be public knowledge. After that, she was a stranger no more, but was accepted and smiled upon by every man, woman and child in the village.

  'Yes, it's our first visit,' Paul said pleasantly. 'You have a very extensive ruined city hereabouts, I believe?' 'Lambousa that's what it's called today, "but it's actually the ancient city of Lapithos. It's on the sea shore, not in the mountains ,as is the town today.'

  'One can visit these ruins?'

  'They are free for anyone to visit, yes. But there's very little to see everything was destroyed in an earthquake and now the buildings are grown over with vegetation, You can see some of them, of course, and it is said there are many treasures underneath, but excavations have not yet been undertaken by anyone.'

  'Where is this place?'

  'About a mile and half this way—' He pointed towards Kyrenia. 'On the seashore, as I said.'

  They stopped there on the way home, and to her delight Tessa found the handle of a large amphora and part of the rim of another, smaller one.