Vulture's Gate

by Kirsty Murray

  As soon as Li-Li hit the ground, Callum ran towards the terrace wall, stopping in surprise when Li-Li turned and smiled at him.

  ‘You’ve come to save us, haven’t you?’

  ‘I’ve come for Bo,’ Callum replied.

  At that moment, Bo landed beside them. She grabbed Callum in an awkward embrace, squashing Mr Pinkwhistle between them. ‘Where are the rest of the Festers?’

  ‘There’s no one else – only me. Aren’t I enough?’ said Callum, unable to wipe the grin from his face.

  Bo laughed. ‘You are everyone and everything that matters. And you are crazy.’ She ran her hand over the top of his head, feeling the roughness of his short hair. ‘But now what? Should we search for your fathers? Maybe they’re somewhere in the Colony. Then they can help us, the way you always said they would.’

  Callum’s face grew dark. ‘They can’t help.’ He hung his head and stuttered as he spoke. ‘Ruff is dead. He died before we even reached Vulture’s Gate. And Rusty’s gone too. He was under the Wall with me. We loaded up a cave full of explosives that I was meant to detonate. But then he made me get out. He did it alone. He sent me ahead and waited. He died for me, he died so I could live.’

  Callum’s voice cracked as he spoke. ‘I had to see you Bo. I had to see you one more time before we both die too.’

  Bo pulled him towards her and held him close. ‘It’s all right now. We’re together again.’

  ‘You two are so sloppy,’ said Li-Li. ‘You may be ready to die. But I’m not.’

  Bo stepped away from Callum. ‘Then we have to get off South Head.’

  ‘We can escape by sea,’ said Li-Li, turning to Bo. ‘Hackett has a ship. He keeps it moored at the dock near the Zenana.’

  ‘But the harbour is full of mines,’ said Callum.

  ‘I know,’ said Li-Li. ‘But the Bouboulina is a minesweeper. She’s indestructible. She’s made of glass-reinforced plastic and she has a set of ROVs, little robotic boats that they send ahead to blow the mines. You can see her from the end of garden.’

  Bo and Callum followed Li-Li to where the Zenana was separated from the harbour by a high barbed-wire fence. Callum stared dubiously at the grey minesweeper moored at the pier. Even Bo felt a flicker of uncertainty as she looked at the Bouboulina, heavy and forbidding in the approaching twilight. Behind it the harbour glowed blood-red and orange as the sun set behind the smoking city, an apocalyptic vision of hell.

  ‘I don’t know how to use all the sonar and radar,’ said Li-Li. ‘But I do know how to sail her. I was born on a boat. My mother’s family were all sea people. And I’ve been out on the Bouboulina before. With Hackett,’ said Li-Li. She looked down at her bare legs and blushed.

  Callum frowned and looked from Li-Li to Bo. ‘I was thinking more a little boat,’ he said. ‘One that three people can manage. I don’t see how we can get away on that thing.’

  ‘Callum, there’s something I wanted to tell you about,’ said Bo. ‘We are more than three . . .’

  ‘Yes, we can’t leave the others,’ said Li-Li.

  ‘What others?’ asked Callum.

  ‘The other girls in the Zenana. They don’t deserve what will happen to them. Hackett and the Colony men, they’ll hurt them the way they hurt me. Then they’ll take them out to the island to die.’

  ‘We can’t save everyone,’ said Callum. His face look tired and drawn, as if in the weeks since Bo had last seen him he had aged years.

  ‘Yes we can,’ said Li-Li ‘The Bouboulina can take thirty. There are only seventeen other girls at the Zenana.’

  ‘Seventeen!’ said Callum.

  35

  FLIGHT

  The gardens of the Zenana were eerily quiet as Bo, Callum and Li-Li crept back up to the house. Inside the lounge room, Meera and Verity had managed to settle the girls, forcing them to sit on the floor in three rows, their hands folded in their laps.

  ‘Wait here,’ said Bo, stationing Callum and Mr Pinkwhistle beside the terrace doors.

  ‘But what are you going to do? They’re big women. They look like men. You can’t overpower them.’

  ‘No,’ said Li-Li. ‘But if Bo follows my cues, we’ll have all the girls outside within the hour.’

  As soon as Bo and Li-Li stepped over the threshold, chaos threatened to break out again in the living room. All the girls began talking at once. Lolly pushed her way past Meera and Verity and threw herself at Bo.

  ‘Not now, Lolly,’ said Bo, ready to fight. But Lolly wrapped herself around one of Bo’s legs while Verity grabbed hold of Bo’s arm and dragged her down the steps. At the same time, Meera gripped Li-Li by her hair and pulled her across the room. But Li-Li didn’t resist. ‘Where have you been?’ shouted Meera. ‘What’s happened to your dress?’

  ‘There are hundreds of Festers and strange men outside! They tore our skirts off!’ said Li-Li. Bo looked across at her in surprise. It hadn’t occurred to her that lying would save them but Verity and Meera instantly released both girls and ran to lock the doors and draw the curtains.

  ‘Squadrones are on their way to defend us,’ said Meera. ‘As soon as they are here, all the girls will be taken out to the island. The Pally-vals will arrive any moment. We must stay calm.’

  Li-Li picked-up Ritisha, one of the smallest girls beside Lolly, and held her in her arms. Bo wondered what she was planning and a minute later she understood. Ritisha began to wail and writhe, hitting out at Li-Li with all the strength her plump little body could muster.

  ‘I’m sorry, Lolly,’ said Bo, sweeping the toddler into her arms and then pinching her so hard that Lolly too began to howl. ‘Good girl,’ whispered Bo. ‘Be loud. Be very loud.’

  ‘What are you doing! Settle those two now!’ commanded Meera.

  ‘She’s hysterical,’ shouted Li-Li. ‘It’s not my fault. And she’s set off Lolly too. Should we put them in the Black Boxes until the squadrones arrive?’

  Bo suddenly understood what Li-Li was planning. Only Meera and Verity carried the keys to the punishment rooms. When they reached the top of the stairs and Meera opened the door to the first tiny soundproof room, Bo and Li-Li acted in concert to push her inside and slam the door shut. Five minutes later they had Verity locked in the second room.

  As they walked back downstairs, Bo kissed Lolly on the cheek and stroked the pink mark on her leg where she’d pinched her. ‘You were very brave. I’m sorry I had to hurt you but I needed your help.’

  ‘Helping hurts,’ said Lolly, putting her thumb in her mouth.

  ‘Yes,’ said Bo, ‘Sometimes being helpful hurts but it’s a very good thing to do.’

  In the living room, all the girls were talking at once. Li-Li stood on a chair and shouted for their attention.

  ‘There are no Festers outside,’ she announced. ‘That was a lie. But there is one boy out there who is Bo’s friend. A clever boy, not a stupid boy. He’s like . . . the soldier in the “Story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses”. So I don’t want any of you to be afraid of him or to treat him badly.’

  ‘But what is he doing here?’ asked Serene.

  ‘He’s come to rescue us. If we let Meera and Verity take us to the Island, cruel men will hurt us. Bo and I are the only girls who have been to the Island and come back, and we can tell you it is a bad, bad place. So we’re all running away. Together. Right now.’

  She jumped down from the chair and grabbed Serene with one hand and the snivelling Ritisha with the other. ‘That should do it,’ she said, as an aside to Bo.

  Callum looked bewildered as the girls poured out of the Zenana and surrounded him, their faces full of curiosity and admiration.

  ‘You’ve come to rescue us,’ said Serene, smiling up at Callum.

  ‘I guess so,’ he said.

  They streamed down through the garden, their skirts and veils flowing out behind them. Li-Li led the way and Mr Pinkwhistle ran alongside, as if he were shepherding them towards the fence.

  ‘This is like a very strange dream,’ said Call
um.

  ‘Pray that when we wake up, we’ll be far away from here,’ said Bo.

  When they reached the water’s edge, Bo set Mr Pinkwhistle to work, using his titanium jaws to snap through the tangle of barbed wire that lay in great curling piles all along the waterfront. Once the roboraptor had made the way clear, they pushed through to the water, scrambling over semi-submerged rocks to the dock of the Bouboulina. Callum, Li-Li and Bo lifted the smaller girls onto the wharf one by one. Bo was the last to climb up onto the weathered timber. A premonition of disaster washed over her. It almost felt too easy as they walked along the dark and deserted pier towards the minesweeper. She glanced up at the side of the boat at the same moment as a small, pale face appeared at the rail.

  Before she could stop him, Callum had cried out. ‘Flakie! It’s us, Callum and Bo. Flakie, let down the ramp.’ He raised one arm to wave. Li-Li tried to stop him but it was too late. Flakie bent over the rail, clutching a gun in both hands, and fired. Callum fell forward, one hand pressed against the bloody wound to his shoulder, his face blank with shock. Bo knelt beside him, his head in her lap as the girls crowded around him. She pulled his hand away from the wound and blood gushed across his shoulder.

  ‘No, this can’t be happening!’ she said, as she pushed her hand against the wound to stem its flow.

  ‘Why did he do that?’ asked Callum, gasping in pain. ‘It was Flakie.’

  ‘He’s a drone,’ said Li-Li. ‘They do what they’re instructed to do.’

  ‘You should run,’ said Callum. ‘Leave me and hide.’

  Li-Li snorted with exasperation. ‘We’re girls. He can’t hurt us. Only boys,’ said Li-Li. ‘And if he’s the only one on board, he won’t be hard to get rid of.’

  ‘It will be all right,’ said Bo, putting her cheek against Callum’s. ‘Everything will be all right.’

  ‘We must go now,’ said Li-Li.

  ‘I can’t leave him.’

  ‘If you want to save him, you’ll do as I say. I need your help. We have to climb the ship’s anchor to get on board. Then we can come back for him. The girls will take care of him. As long as they shelter him with their bodies, Flakie won’t fire again. He won’t risk hurting one of us.’

  The little girls closed in around Callum, making a circle of protection over his body and Bo stepped away.

  ‘Mr Pinkwhistle will guard you too,’ she said. ‘I’ll come back for you, I promise.’

  Callum didn’t answer. His eyes were shut and his face was stiff with pain.

  Bo followed Li-Li to where the minesweeper’s anchor chain stretched into the water. Li-Li leapt from the dock onto the long chain and scrambled up towards the deck like a monkey. Once on board, they headed straight to the cabin on the forecastle. As they turned a corner, they came face to face with Flakie. He was still carrying his weapon but he stared at them as vacantly as if he was holding a teatray.

  Li-Li held Bo back. ‘Watch this,’ she said. She grabbed Flakie by the front of his uniform, snatched the gun from his hands and dragged him over to the edge of the deck where there was only a section of chain as a railing. Without letting go of him, she undid the chain and then leaned her face close to his – so close that it looked as if she was about to kiss him. Flakie teetered on the brink trying to avoid her lips, flailing for something to grasp other than Li-Li. Then he fell, mutely, into the dark harbour water.

  Li-Li laughed and hurried back to Bo’s side. ‘They make it that the boys they’ve trained for the Zenana won’t touch you, no matter what. And they’ll do anything to escape being kissed. If your face gets too close, they panic. They’re morons. We used to make them fall in the pool all the time. It was such fun. As soon as they dragged themselves out, we’d do it again.’ Bo leant over the railing, scanning the water for Flakie. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him scrambling up the side of the dock. At least he hadn’t drowned.

  Li-Li slipped her hand into Bo’s and led her to the bottom of a small flight of stairs that led to the forecastle. At the top of the stairs, a sliver of light shone out from beneath a door. It opened, and as the light flooded down the stairwell, the shadow of a man fell across their upturned faces.

  ‘Two foundlings,’ said Hackett. ‘How charming. I always said Misericordiae-brewed girls might be better breeders, but you foundlings are much more fun.’

  ‘Hackett,’ said Li-Li. ‘I’m so glad to see you.’

  She raised the gun that she’d taken from Flakie and fired a single shot to his chest. For a split second, Hackett looked surprised before he fell forward, tumbling down the stairs to lie in a heap at their feet.

  ‘What have you done, Li-Li?’ said Bo, kneeling beside the body.

  ‘I hope I’ve killed him,’ she replied. ‘He deserved it for what he did to me. And what he would have done to you, and the other girls, if he’d had the chance.’

  Bo looked up at Li-Li as if seeing her for the first time. Li-Li gripped the pistol, her knuckles white. Gently, Bo pushed Li-Li’s hands down, forcing her to lower the gun.

  ‘We have to bring the others on board. You lower the ramp and I’ll check the boat for other men.’

  Bo was relieved to find the cabins below deck were all empty. As soon as she’d finished her task, she ran down the ramp and onto the dock. The girls stepped aside and she fell to her knees beside Callum. He lay like a broken doll, his head at an odd angle, his body limp. She picked him up carefully, cradling his head against her chest. Warm blood seeped from his shoulder, soaking into the bodice of her torn and dirty dress.

  Li-Li called to them as the girls ran up the ramp and boarded the Bouboulina. Mr Pinkwhistle let out a low, guttural growl and his eyes glowed a brighter red.

  ‘No, Mr Pinkwhistle, follow,’ said Bo. But the roboraptor went skittering down the pier to where two squadrones were clumping onto the dock. Bo heard the men roar in surprise as the roboraptor attacked their legs. Struggling under Callum’s weight, she staggered up the ramp. She laid him tenderly on a bunk in one of the cabins and covered him with a blanket.

  ‘I won’t be long. I’ll come back to you soon,’ she said.

  When Bo climbed back on deck, all the girls were clustered at the railing watching the ramp retract and squealing at something that was happening below. Down on the dock, Mr Pinkwhistle was slashing the soldier-drones’ legs with his teeth. They tried to smash him with the butts of their guns but he was too nimble for them. He wove his way between their legs, snapping with such speed that the drones jumped to one side to avoid him, as if they were all caught up in a crazy dance. Bo put her fingers between her teeth and let out a long, shrill whistle. In an instant, Mr Pinkwhistle had raced to the end of the dock and launched himself into the air, landing neatly on the deck beside Bo. She picked him up and hurried to the forecastle.

  ‘They’re coming for us,’ she told Li-Li. ‘Can you really do this? Can you get us out?’

  Li-Li kissed her lightly on the cheek and turned to the minesweeper’s controls. The Bouboulina surged away from the dock.

  ‘Go and nurse your boy,’ said Li-Li.

  36

  ONCE UPON A TIME

  As Bo descended the stairs from the forecastle, the first harbour mine exploded and sent a shudder through the bow of the boat. She reached to steady herself and realised something was wrong. Hackett. He wasn’t lying at the bottom of the stairs any more. A dark stain of blood on the floor marked where he had lain.

  Outside, the first rays of dawn light were creeping across the water. Bo scanned the main deck anxiously. There was no sign of Hackett. Surely he couldn’t have escaped?

  The Bouboulina surged into the harbour, leaving a trail of white water in its wake. The girls stood at the rails, watching the shoreline and the Zenana receding from view. Against a lightening sky, columns of smoke billowed above the Colony. All along South Head, red-tiled roofs were collapsing. Rocked by explosions, the Wall continued to topple into a pile of rubble. Bo crossed the deck to join Lolly, who was clutching th
e railing, the wind blowing her curls out behind her. At the sound of Bo’s footsteps, Lolly turned but the beginnings of her smile were replaced by a scream. Something clipped Bo hard across the back of the head.

  ‘Where’s the other little slut?’ asked Hackett, his voice slurred with pain. Bo didn’t answer. Despite her throbbing head, she leapt at him, knocking him over with the force of her attack. She aimed a blow to his face but Hackett grabbed her arm and twisted it hard before she made contact. She let out an involuntary cry of pain, then sank her teeth into his wrist until she could taste his salty blood and he roared in wounded rage. Suddenly, Hackett was on top of her, both his huge hands around her throat, squeezing the breath from her body. As if from far away, she could hear the small girls screaming and, above the commotion, someone shouting. Hackett released Bo and turned to face Li-Li.

  ‘Where did you think you could run to?’ sneered Hackett. ‘There’s nothing out there for you. For you or your little girlfriends.’

  Li-Li glared at him and pointed the gun at his chest but Bo could see that she was trembling. It would be harder to pull the trigger a second time.

  Hackett took a step closer.

  ‘You were safe in the Colony, Li-Li.’

  ‘I don’t want to be safe, if safety is what you gave me,’ said Li-Li. ‘I want to be free.’

  Hackett laughed and a little fleck of blood flew from his mouth and landed on Li-Li’s cheek. Even though his chest was sticky with blood, he stepped towards her and reached for the gun.

  ‘Girls like you will never be free in this world,’ said Hackett.

  Suddenly, as if from nowhere, Callum appeared, swinging a pole with all the force left in his wounded body. He brought it down hard across Hackett’s arm. Then he stepped in closer, wielding the pole like a club, beating Hackett around the head and shoulders. Man and boy careered across the deck, crashing into the railing. Hackett grabbed the end of the pole and wrenched it from Callum. Callum slumped, as if the pole was the only thing that had given him strength. For a split second, Bo thought Hackett would fling Callum from the ship. In the same instant, Li-Li and Bo ran to Callum’s aid and with a mighty push, they forced Hackett over the railing and into the harbour. His pale face bobbed up and down in the water, washed with the first morning light.