The Burning Shore

Their whole way of life had changed dramatically since the stormwaves of war had swept over them. Though they had never kept the same grand style as some of the other leading families of the province, there had always been di

Centaine threw off her forebodings with her bedclothes, and ran down the narrow stoneflagged corridor on bare feet. In the kitchen A

I was on my way to you with a jug of cold water, she said gruffly, and Centaine hugged her and kissed her until she smiled, and then went to warm herself in front of the stove.

A

she ordered.

Oh, A

Hurry. She stepped into the basin and A

The child was delightfully formed, though perhaps her breasts and bottom were a little too small, A

You must wear your gloves and long sleeves this summer, she scolded. Brown is so ugly Do hurry up, A

The suds ran in long lacy lines down her lean flanks where the rack of her ribs showed through.

Don't be so rough, Centaine wailed. And A

Oh, what now? Centaine demanded.

You are as hard as a boy, your belly is too muscular for having babies. A

What colour eyes would a baby have, if its mother's eyes were brown and its father's a lovely shimmering blue? A

They must be the bravest men in the world. She became brisk. Hurry, A

You come back here immediately after, A

Nuage heard her coming and whickered softly. Cen tame flung both arms around his neck and kissed his velvety grey muzzle.

Bonjour my darling. She had stolen two cubes of sugar from under A

Outside it was dark and cold, and she urged the stallion into a canter, revelling in the icy flow of air across her face, her nose and ears turning bright pink and her eyes begi

She heard the distant beat of their engines, even over the sound of the guns, and then they came snarling into the yellow dawn, as fierce and swift and beautiful as falcons, so that, as always, she felt her pulse race, and she rose high in the saddle to greet them.

The lead machine was the green one with its tiger stripes of victory, the mad Scotsman. She lifted both hands high above her head.

Go with God, and come back safely! she shouted her blessing, and saw the flash of white teeth under the ridiculous tartan tam o shanter, and the green machine waggled its wings and then it was past, climbing away into the sinister sombre clouds that hung above the German lines.

She watched them go, the other aircraft closing up around the green leader into their fighting formation, and she was overwhelmed with a vast sadness, a terrible sense of inadequacy.

Why couldn't I be a man! she cried aloud. Oh, why couldn't I be going with you! But already they were out of sight, and she turned Nuage down the hill.

They will all die, she thought. All the young and strong and beautiful young men, and we will be left only with the old and maimed and ugly. And the sound of the distant guns counterpointed her fears. I wish, oh, how I wish, she said aloud, and the stallion flicked his ears back to listen to her, but she did not go on, for she did not know what it was she wished for. She knew only that there was a void within her that ached to be filled, a vast wanting for she did not know what, and a terrible sorrow for all the world. She turned Nuage loose to graze in the small field behind the chateau and carried his saddle back on her shoulder.

Her father was sitting at the kitchen table and she kissed him casually. His eyepatch gave him a rakish air despite that fact that his other eye was bloodshot; his face was a baggy and wrinkled as a bloodhound's and he smelled of garlic and stale red wine.

As usual, he and A

As a country girl, the processes of procreation were no mystery to her. Despite A

By a process of logic, she had reached the conclusion that man and woman must work on similar principles.

When she had questioned A

Watching them argue and laugh together, it all fell into place, the occasions when after a nightmare she had gone to A