by Jen Minkman
He joins me at the window. “Yes,” he says forlornly.
Our island is coming nearer and nearer. I can imagine hundreds of people gathering on the quays of Hope Harbor, craning their necks, eagerly looking forward to the moment the Explorer will lower her anchor and bring our seafarers home. Finally, the watchtowers will have fulfilled their destiny. What will come next – is Aldin going to dock his menacing, metal ship and disembark to start shooting people?
I start when I hear footsteps in the corridor. When the door opens, Aldin is there, flanked by three of his assistants. “We need you on deck,” he just says. “So the people at the harbor can see you’re still alive.”
William and Tony turn out to be waiting in the narrow corridor as well. Tony’s brown skin looks pallid. He puts a hand on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry,” he mumbles. “I should have tried to release you myself. Aldin seemed reliable.”
“You couldn’t have known this,” I reply.
William doesn’t say anything. He just puts an arm around Walt’s shoulders.
On deck, the sun is shining. The bright light twinkling off the blue-gray waves of the sea is in such sharp contrast with our bleak situation that it cuts through my soul. So this is where Aldin will execute his terrible plan – on a warm, sunny summer day.
The bearded bishop positions us all near the railing. Far away, on the docks, I see tiny figures of people.
“Why?” I spit out. A single word that is picked up by the wind and flung into Aldin’s face rigid with determination. I surprise myself with it, because I’d already concluded that keeping my mouth shut was probably best.
He stands up straighter. “My Book details fights between God’s people and the infidels who didn’t recognize Him as the Lord. Jericho fell under the sound of horns and battle cries, the walls crumbling so the people could walk right in and claim their rightful place. With the help of the islanders, I will build my empire and my church and free the poisoned land from the shadow of a distorted religion.”
“You call that justice?” I snap. “That’s human? What about my people’s freedom?”
Aldin gives me a genuinely surprised look. “It’s not human to smother every sign of aggression by lethal injection. And it’s not just to keep an entire population fenced in because of fear of violence. The God of the Old Testament fought for his people. He vanquished their enemies. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I will reclaim the fertile land for the true religion, like the crusaders in the old world did. I will adorn my church and beautify it in honor of God. I didn’t choose the name of this ship randomly.”
Tony scoffs, his eyes flashing fire. “You’re even crazier than I thought,” he chokes out. “If you really believe this is the solution to make Dartmoor a better place.”
Aldin turns pale, his jaw tightening. Before Tony can utter more criticism, he lunges at our friend’s throat. His hands clamp down on Tony’s neck, trying to strangle away the words that declared his plan a fraud and a mistake. Tony’s eyes start to bulge. He slings both arms around the railing and lifts his legs to kick Aldin in the skins, the stomach, and between his legs. The bishop won’t let go, though.
With a savage cry, William comes to Tony’s defense. He lashes out at Aldin with a clenched fist and hits the man full in the face. Blood starts to trickle from the church leader’s nose. Meanwhile, the sailors are watching the brawl with frozen, uncomprehending faces. Looks like they’re not used to seeing a lot of violence either. Strange that these men are so eager to help their leader in setting up a bloodthirsty institute like the Protester Church, then.
“Do something!” Aldin barks at his helpers.
That seems to shake them out of their stupor. One of the men behind us reaches for the weapon on his belt. Without warning, he shoots Walt’s father mercilessly in the leg.
A harrowing cry rips out of William’s throat. He staggers backward, slips – and tumbles over the railing.
“Dad!” Walt howls in despair.
Horrified, I try to swallow away the sudden sand in my throat. I stand rooted to the spot, but Aldin is quick to run over to the handrail and peer down to see where William has ended up. When a smug smile spreads across his face, my stomach lurches. William must have disappeared beneath the waves. Maybe he can’t swim anymore.
Aldin stalks over to us. “I don’t want to hear another peep out of you,” he hisses. “Just stay put and play nice so the villagers can see you.”
Walt, Tony, and I don’t argue. We’re all terrified, though I can feel the anger radiating off Walt. He must be trying his utmost best not to lash out at Aldin too and possibly endanger the rest of us.
As if things aren’t bad enough already, Aldin goes on to bark an order I don’t even understand, but the deadly effects are clear enough.
“Fire the cannons!” he roars.
Walt almost squeezes my hand to a pulp when far away in the distance, one of the watchtowers crumbles to dust, just like the illustrious walls of Jericho. They’re firing at the city. Everything will burn.
After turning on the sound system, Aldin delivers a public address to the people on shore. He tells the Hope Harborers he will bring us back alive if they do as he says, but that’s cold comfort.
I see no way out. Even if Walt, Tony, and I somehow manage to escape, we won’t have solved the situation. As long as they have this battleship, these people can take whatever they want. And I have no doubt they will.
Tresco
24 – Alisa
“There’s another ship?” I ask nonplussed. “Why?
“We don’t know,” Daryl replies. “It’s definitely a ship from the Other Side. Not made of wood, but of a different material.” He rubs his face tiredly. “I heard what happened to Phileas, by the way. The Bookkeeper ran into me on the Scilly Way. The Phileans are crestfallen. I did hear a few upstarts demanding I send in soldiers to have his murderer arrested, though.”
“Mia is just a child,” I protest. “What do they want with her?”
“Let’s just sort this out later.” Daryl casts a look around the square. “Where’s your horse? We can ride back together.”
“She’s at Saul’s.” I turn around to him. “You coming?”
Saul hesitates for a beat, and that’s when I understand he’s taken my question in the broad sense. I just wanted to ask him to come back to the cabin with me. I hold my breath.
“Yes, I’m coming,” he says softly. “To Hope Harbor. I want to see your ship. And those visitors from the Other Side.”
I smile faintly. “Good for you.”
“And I want to know how Ben is doing.”
We are back at Saul’s house in no time. My mare is waiting patiently, not disturbed by any of the events related to the small-scale war that has broken out on our island.
Before I can even ask Saul if he knows how to ride a horse, he’s in the saddle. He didn’t even use the stirrups. I gape at him.
“Our horses are wild,” he just says, extending his hand to me with a cock-sure little smile on his face. “You want me to help you?”
“Well, if you’re that good at taming wild horses, maybe you should let me sit in the saddle,” I grumble.
He dutifully moves backward as I slip into the saddle. A tiny, pleasant thrill runs through me when he slips his arms around my waist. It feels so – intimate. Maybe even more personal than the kiss he gave me earlier. I gently kick my horse in the sides and we follow the path back down to the village center. Once there, we join Daryl and gallop at full speed along the Scilly Way toward Hope Harbor.
When we arrive at the docks, the quays and piers are bustling with people. Swarms of spectators are watching the ships, waving at the Explorer as she gracefully sails toward the harbor. Everyone laughs and points excitedly at the vessel. Children are singing old hymns.
I can’t help but shed a few tears. This is what it would have been like if Annabelle’s Fleet had ever entered Hope Harbor. Many people have waited for something like this all of t
heir lives.
The Phileans are nowhere to be seen. They probably went home, tail between their legs, angry at the Explorer for coming back safe without being swallowed by a maelstrom out to suck Unbelieving apostates into the deep.
“Luke Almighty,” I hear Saul gasps behind me. He slips from the mare’s back and looks around him wide-eyed, taking in the city, the watchtowers, and the giant ship in the harbor. “It’s so – big. Everything’s so different.”
I dismount and walk over to Daryl. “Will you keep an eye on Saul for me?” I mumble. “If one of the Phileans sees him here, a fight might erupt. Their leader is dead and our ship is back, so they’re not happy.”
My boss nods. “There’s no end to this mess, is there?” he laments, a tad piqued. “Why can’t people just be happy with the way things are?”
“No idea.” I shrug. “What’s with the other ship?”
“No idea,” Daryl echoes.
The gray, hulking monster is trailing behind the Explorer, coming into port but not heading for the main quay. Maybe they can’t dock because their draft is too deep. The vessel does look gigantic, so that’s no surprise.
In the meantime, the Explorer has dropped anchor. The gangplank is extended and our travelers pour onto the quay. They are welcomed by friends and family who want to know everything about their visit to the Other Side.
I resist the urge to run forward like a little child and look for Walt. My task should be, first and foremost, to supervise this joyous return together with Daryl and my colleagues. And besides, I don’t want to leave Saul standing here all by himself. I haven’t seen Ben yet. He was released from the hospital yesterday, but he’s not the fastest stallion of the herd yet.
My stomach twists nervously as more and more people spill out onto the docks and I still haven’t caught sight of Walt. Nor or William and Leia. Have they stayed behind? Surely they haven’t? My eyes land on Nathan, standing a little ways away from me and also anxiously scanning the crowd.
“Isn’t Leia with them?” I hear Saul wonder about the same thing. He takes a step forward and warily observes the multitude of travelers in the harbor.
And then, something horrifying happens. Something beyond my understanding. An ear-shattering, booming noise blasts from the gray ship sailing behind the Explorer. Not a second later, our left watchtower collapses into dust and bricks, the stones tumbling into the water. The light in the tower goes out. For the first time in one hundred and fifty years, the fire has died.
Did that ship just destroy our tower from a distance?
My jaw drops. I can’t utter a single word, don’t know how to break the deafening silence that follows this mindless destruction. I don’t need to, because at that moment, a booming voice blares across the water, also seemingly coming from the strange ship.
“Citizens of Hope Harbor,” a sharp, nasal voice drones. “We have taken Walt, your future leader, hostage. And we have Leia, leader of the eastern rebellion, as a second captive. If you want to get them back alive, we expect a ship full of healthy men between the ages of twenty and thirty in return. Let them board the Explorer and make sure they won’t resist when we ask them to board our ship tomorrow morning and sail with us to Cornwall. These conditions are non-negotiable. If you don’t comply, we’ll destroy your city and still take what we want. You have seen what we are capable of.”
A deep silence follows this announcement. No one speaks. No one moves. The children’s revelry has abruptly died down. People gape at the tower blown to pieces, tears in their eyes and streaming down their pale cheeks. They stare uncomprehendingly at the ship in the distance, lying there like a terrifying, invading smudge of gray defiling the blue surface of our old, familiar sea. A predator waiting to strike our city.
When the Bookkeeper finally clambers onto a low wall and raises his hands. The crowd waits for his words with baited breath. “Hope Harborers,” he starts out, before his voice wavers and cracks. He doesn’t know what to say. Doesn’t know how to act. Whatever Nathan was expecting from the Explorer’s return, it certainly wasn’t this. And I am equally at a loss. Tony and Henry were good people who enthusiastically told us about their world. What has gone wrong?
Before I know what I’m doing, I hoist myself up onto the parapet to stand next to our leader and look at the throng of people. Slowly, my eyes scan the crowd. I see Carl and Daryl. I see my parents, holding on to each other. Ben is here and has found Saul, standing next to his older brother with a tear-stained face.
I lift a trembling hand and point at the gray ship. “Is this what we have waited for?” I begin, my voice loud and clear.
My audience stares up at me nonplussed, unsure of what I’m getting at.
“Is this what we have waited for all these years?” I repeat, more fiercely now. “After all the dreams we’ve had about Annabelle? The quiet hope we cherished that we’d be saved? Will we allow an unknown enemy from the Other Side to demolish our city because they think they can rule us?!”
The crowd starts to mutter resentfully, shaking their heads.
“Phileans, do you still think it’s better to wait for salvation from across the seas?” I say sternly. “Because if you do, then these are your allies. If you are really that eager to sail with Annabelle’s Fleet, maybe you should volunteer to board that ship and send fifty of your strongest men away to Cornwall.”
The disciples of the now deceased Phileas glance at each other nervously, clearly uncomfortable with my words. They stare at me helplessly.
“No, we don’t want that,” someone finally admits. Timothy, an elderly man who was by Phileas’s side on the Newexter square not three hours ago.
“Splendid.” I glare daggers at him. “Do you think it might be an idea to come together, east and west, and come up with a plan to rid ourselves of those bastards on their gray ship before they shoot all of Tresco to a pulp?”
“Yes,” Timothy says timidly.
“Who wants to help us?” I shout in a booming voice, addressing the multitude. “Who is brave enough to save our island?”
Ben and Saul both silently raise their hands. More people follow – young, old, men, women, Phileans and progressives. Old differences are cast aside under this pressure. We can only face a strong enemy like this if we work together.
“Who wants to ride out to Newexter?” Nathan calls out. “To warn our friends over there of the danger?”
Carl steps forward. “Consider it done.”
With a shaky sigh, I notice my outburst has drained me of all energy. My knees tremble as I lower myself onto my butt, sitting on the parapet like a small child suddenly tired after all the excitement. I’ve done my part – Nathan and Daryl are taking control and start dividing people into groups with different tasks, bringing order to chaos. Everything passes me by. It’s as if all the noise fades into the background and I hide away in a safe cocoon.
When I finally look up, it’s because someone puts a hand on my shoulder. It’s Saul. “That was quite a speech,” he says with a faint smile. “You know how to rev up a crowd, girl.”
“I wasn’t manipulating them, if that’s what you’re saying,” I splutter. “It came straight from the heart.”
“I know.” His dark eyes are warm on my face. “I could sense that. That’s why it worked so well.”
“What – what is the Bookkeeper doing?” I look around searchingly.
Saul’s face turns serious. “He’s getting fifty tough guys to board that warship and attack as soon as they get to the goons running it.”
“How?”
“I don’t know yet. But I do know one thing – that hostage situation isn’t going to end well.” Saul squats in front of me. “These people from Cornwall won’t let Walt and Leia go once they have our people. Why would they?”
“Then why send fifty men at all?” I say with a sob. “If my friends are dead anyway.”
“Of course we’re sending in those fifty men,” Saul grunts. “I’m going too. It’s the only way to get
on board the Crusader.”
I frown. “How do you know the ship’s name?”
Saul takes my hands in his. “Because William just washed up on the beach. With a nasty wound in his leg and an explanation for what’s going on.”
25 – Alisa
They gave William his own room at the hospital. He’s just been in surgery, but the doctor said he couldn’t do much besides taking out the metal object lodged in his leg. The weapon that shot William has torn through the muscles of his thigh. He’ll never be able to properly walk again.
We sit silently by his bedside – Nathan, Daryl, Saul, Ben, and I. Saul was the one who got Walt’s father out of the water, together with Ben. They saw him swimming for his life, a little ways away from the main docks.
William looks broken. I don’t know whether the salt on his cheeks is from the sea or from dried-up tears.
“We shouldn’t have gone to Cornwall,” he whispers, once he’s gotten us up to date about what had gone down in Dartmoor. “The people on that ship are dangerous, and we led them straight to Tresco.”
“Don’t say that,” Nathan objects. “It’s a good thing we know more about the world than we did before. Without Tony, we would still have lived in ignorance. We never would have been reunited with the people on the other side of the Wall.”
Saul slips his hand into mine. Despite the grim situation, his gesture still brings a small smile to my face.
“We can’t change past events,” I say determinedly. “We have to look ahead. Protect Tresco, like I said, in a unified effort.”
“And to do that, we need to stop the crew on board the Crusader,” Saul pipes up. “Bishop Aldin can’t be allowed to ever make it back to Cornwall alive. Or any of his men. If they do, it will only bring more looters and plunderers to our shores. Or delegates of that president you mentioned.”
