They moved up a sandy hill, as far from the bombed area as possible. To Nikolas's surprise, over the hill there was another bay at the southern part of the small island. Finding no trees to provide shelter, he scanned the halfmoon-shaped beach. He spotted several large boulders down by the water. Darting toward them, he saw a natural cave right at the edge of the water. "We can wait here until help arrives," Nikolas thought.
Kneeling, he placed Anna on the dry sand floor, next to a small fire pit full of old ashes. The past winter's storms had left the cave with the smell of the fresh sea. The dry sand gave a welcoming reminder of Mother Earth's healing powers.
Nikolas made Anna comfortable by covering the warm sand with some cloth for a pillow. He thought about lighting a fire to keep warm, but decided it would reveal their location. Then he sat down next to Anna and wiped her face clean of drying blood with cool seawater. Even though it was a warm day, Anna was trembling.
"I hope they do not come back again," she whispered.
"I don't think they will," Nikolas said, bringing a few drops of water to her dry lips.
He then lay down and beckoned for Anna to rest next to him. She accepted, her petite body shivering. Her head was on Nikolas's uninjured arm. Hours passed and Anna's condition was becoming worse. She was running a high fever and beads of sweat were dripping down her forehead.
Confronted with pain, her mind escaped to the magical land of the pharaohs, drifting on the lazy waters of the Nile aboard royal ships. The slight breeze swayed the papyrus reeds and the leaves of the date palms on both sides of the river. In the balmy night sky, a full moon hung perfectly still, illuminating the rich green valley. A dark-skinned girl played the harp, while another massaged Anna's naked body with warm lavender-scented oil. Standing nearby were two muscular African men. Their task was to cool Anna's body with fans made from an array of colorful peacock feathers.
Their dark bodies glittered in the moonlight. She tasted ripe figs dripping with honey and drank jugs of beer. She felt like an Egyptian queen. There was a wide smile on her lips that puzzled Nikolas, but he was happy to see her content, even in her sleep. He focused on his thoughts for a moment, trying to plan a strategy for getting out of there. His first thought was about collecting all the debris from the wrecked boat to make a raft to get them to Ierapetra. Another idea was to light a fire and hope that some fisherman might see their distress signal and rescue them.