The Ocean of the Dead: Ship Kings 4

by Andrew McGahan

  Dow flushed. At that one word, pretence, all his suspicions – inflamed by separation – slunk away. He felt a fool. All along, she had been acting on his behalf, trying to unpick for him the twists of the Great Prophecy. And he remembered then, shamefaced, that a more immediate prophecy loomed, threatening Nell. ‘And what of Uyal?’ he asked more gently. ‘If you two have been in conversation, have you learned any more about the . . . things that you have foreseen here in the Barrier?’

  Nell’s gaze wandered to the sea and the floating isles, the haunted look of her dreams returning to her eyes. ‘If you mean, have I found a way to escape the future that has been set aside for me? Then no. Yes, I’ve talked long with Uyal, and understand a little more about the nature of prophecy, I think. But I see no way out, as much as I would give anything to find one. Fate will not be robbed. And as Uyal said, the crux will be upon us soon.’

  The desolation in her voice was unnerving. Dow stared about helplessly at the hateful Doldrums world, the weed and the islands and the lowering sky. And no . . . no . . . she must not be left behind here.

  Nell roused herself. ‘But listen, Dow. I underestimated Diego – you must not make the same mistake. He is in deadly earnest about becoming the founder of the New World. And he has changed from before. Proud and cold he is still, and not to be trusted, but he has learned patience, and also the knack of leading. He has turned himself – against his nature – into a bold taker of risks, and convinced other bold folk to follow his lead.

  ‘Don’t mistake his crew either. They are not the usual idle courtiers of Valdez. They are true seafarers. Yes, they have been mutinous of late, but that’s only from fear and confusion – the same as we saw on the Chloe. For the most part, the people here are brave, and loyal to their prince.’ A ghost smile played on her lips. ‘I had little love for him in the days of old, when we were affianced, for I saw no great hope of the sailing life with him. But in truth, the girl I was back then would have found much to admire in this new Diego.’

  Dow accepted this without comment; he was being rebuked, he knew, for his earlier pettiness.

  Her smile faded. ‘Of course, I know too well all the evil Diego has done since those days for my feelings for him to ever change. Nevertheless, he still sees me at his side when he is Emperor in the New World. Presumably, you will be irrelevant by then, or dead.’

  ‘Killed by his order?’

  ‘Maybe. Or maybe not.’ She gave him a wary look. ‘There’s something you should know, about your parents, and your brother and sisters, the way they died. I’ve talked to men on this ship who were there, and Diego told you the truth when he said he did not intend to kill them. The fire that destroyed the Barrel House started from within, not from without. Most likely it was just a terrible accident. Diego did not order it – he only wanted to capture your family, to hold as hostage against you.’

  Dow glowered. ‘It doesn’t make him innocent. If he’d left them alone, they would still be alive.’

  ‘Yes. But it’s best you understand him as he truly is. He’s cruel, but he’s not a casual murderer. Nor do I think he intends to kill you himself, once the two of you have reached the southern world. For one thing, he thinks I will be there too, and he knows that I would never forgive him for it. But more than that, he thinks he will triumph anyway, whether you live or not. He is sure that he is the one specially chosen by fate to rule the New World. When the final moment comes between you and he, remember that. He acts from conviction, not merely from old hatreds or jealousies. He will not give up.’

  ‘Why are you telling me all this now?’

  ‘Because soon I’ll be gone!’ It came wrenched out of her, the fear and grief suddenly wild, then shut away again. She went on more calmly. ‘Uyal and I, we feel it. Whatever is fated to happen here in this waters, among these Sunken, it will happen soon – tonight, tomorrow night, or the next. A few days at most. And after that . . . You know what happens after that.’

  A few days? A few days at most – so close, so soon – and Dow was to lose her? Not merely taken away to another ship, but lost forever, left behind, while he and the rest of the fleet sailed away?

  No, and no, and no . . .

  ‘But even if I won’t be there with you,’ she averred, ‘it’s still vital that you prevail when you reach the south. So we must discover how it is that the ruler of the New World is to be identified. I’d hoped, having failed with Diego, to learn the answer to the riddle from Uyal. In vain – Uyal has given no clear reply on that or any other matter. Except once. I said that Uyal was foolish to encourage Diego’s hopes to win back my love. And Uyal said this in response – I have given no encouragement to Diego, he does so all by himself. But this I know: whatever else he may gain, even the rule of the New World, you he will lose utterly.’

  Nell glanced at Dow with these final words, and he felt them strike like a toll in his heart. Lose utterly. What could that mean, other than that she would be put beyond Diego’s reach entirely, beyond even the hope that he might win her over in years to come – and that could only mean that she would be beyond anyone’s reach, even Dow’s.

  It could not be let happen . . .

  She had laid a hand on his arm. ‘I know you don’t want to be here, Dow, but as I said before, I’m glad. It gives us this time together. Come below to my cabin. Nothing is going to happen yet, not in these daylight hours, so we aren’t needed for now.’

  He held her gaze, alarmed by the hopelessness and loneliness he saw there, the defeat in her, the surrender to fortune. But he was not so ready to give up. If they had only these few days left, then they must not waste them in mere companionship, they must strive still to find some escape. He said, ‘This crux that you see coming, it involves these creatures from the deep, the Sunken? If so, then we can surely—’

  She shook her head. ‘Please. Let’s not talk about it anymore. It can wait. Come below. It’s cooler there, you can leave your guard standing watch outside the door – and we can be alone. Please.’

  All of Dow’s protests fell away. His fear for her remained, but he read the greater need in her eyes. It was not protection she wanted of him, it was comfort, and to say farewell, and he could not deny her that.

  He nodded.

  And she led him away.

  *

  Later, Dow and Nell returned to the New World’s high deck. It was sunset by then, and the gloom of day was already sinking into darkness, the Doldrums roof heavy with a last brooding glow of red. On the main deck below, preparations for the night were underway. The boats had been recalled and lifted from the water, and seamen were readying the mines for their first trial.

  Across on the Chloe, Dow could see his own crew preparing likewise, under the instructions of Fidel and Jake Tooth. And truly, the ship would fare as well under them as it would under himself. But still . . .

  And yet perhaps it was better, after all, that he was here. If only because of Nell. In her cabin, she had clung to him at first with an almost inconsolable grief, as if this was her last chance before he was lost to her, and she to him. It was both frightening and consuming. But afterwards she had calmed, and for a time they had just talked, as though it was some other time and place, and there was nothing to be feared and no fate to bow before.

  But as the hours had passed, marked by the ship’s bell, faint from above, the trapped look had crept back into her eyes, and she had withdrawn into silence. Now, on the high deck with the night deepening, she seemed so remote she might have been lost already.

  ‘His Highness comes,’ announced a marine from the top of the stairs that led to the Great Cabin, and all the officers stood to attention as, flanked by Captain Leopold, Diego emerged onto the high deck.

  ‘At ease, everyone,’ said the prince, and strolled to the forward rail to look down at the activity on the main deck. He paid no attention to Dow and Nell – even though, Dow knew, he must have received reports that the two of them had spent the afternoon together. After consulting a mo
ment with his captain, Diego turned at last to the rest of the assembly. ‘Very well, let’s get the trials underway. And take heart – whatever the night brings, we will win through this peril, I promise.’

  The officers nodded, gazes approving upon their commander, a tall figure in the gloom. And watching on, Dow had to admit it: his feelings for his enemy had changed. Whereas once he had held Diego in simple contempt, now there was a complexity of emotions. Dislike yes, and bitterness – Dow would never forgive the events at Yellow Bank – but also recognition. For here was another who had sacrificed all to chase a greater dream on the other side of the world, and who had drawn committed followers with him. And that recognition forged Dow’s loathing into something new: hatred. For unlike contempt, hatred was a sentiment reserved only for those one feared, and Dow realised now that for the first time since they had met, he was afraid of Diego.

  Captain Leopold gave the order, and on the main deck a flame flared up in the darkness. It was a fuse sputtering into life, the first of the experimental mines, held high in a sailor’s hand. After a moment’s delay, the man lobbed the flaming thing out and away from the New World. It hit the sea with a dull splash and sank without a ripple, the flame guttering even beneath the water as it fell away into the depths; then—

  Whump.

  Orange glared briefly in the sea, lurid under the starless sky. Dow felt a thud come to his feet through the deck, then with an oily reluctance the ocean bulged and burst upwards, fronds of seaweed writhing eerily as if in pain, before the nicre-heavy waters quickly smoothed again.

  It was not a massive explosion, certainly not so great as to risk damage to the hulls of the ships – but Dow was impressed by the noise and light. To an underwater creature it would surely be disturbing.

  And so the evening’s trial progressed. At intervals deliberately kept irregular but no longer than a quarter hour, each ship would hurl a mine into the sea, sometimes to the left, sometimes the right, sometimes aft or forward, and the sea would light briefly with the detonation. As the hours passed, torn and broken seaweed began to litter the surface, some of it bleeding darkly. But no faces loomed up from the water; no shapes crept from the sea to climb the hulls.

  Was it working, then? Dow and Nell descended to the lower hold of the New World, listening there awhile as the mines exploded all about, and the concussions were even more impressive below than above. Dow began to hope. Maybe this really was the answer.

  Midnight arrived. Dow and Nell went back topside, and by now many onlookers on the high deck were departing, the novelty of the mines worn off. At the first bell, Diego went below, presumably to his bed. Dow was in no mood for sleep, however, and although Nell was silent and preoccupied, neither did she seem tired, and so the two of them remained at the rail – attended always by Dow’s marine guard – and watched the explosions.

  Finally, as the third bell after midnight was sounded, there came a stir on the stairs, and a strange cavalcade arose from below: four seamen, carrying between them the wheeled chair of Uyal, the black curtains swaying. The high deck gained, the men lowered their burden to the planks and drew back, then the attendant, who had followed on, took charge of the chair.

  He wheeled it directly to Dow and Nell.

  ‘Good evening to you both, on this night of noise and flame,’ came the voice from behind the veil, the gauze all the more impenetrable in the darkness. ‘I have been watching for a time to speak with Dow alone, without my prince in attendance, and now at last it has come.’ Before Dow or Nell could respond, the voice added, ‘Ignella of the Cave, would you leave us please?’

  Nell gave the chair an unhappy look. ‘What could you have to say to Dow that you cannot say to me?’

  The voice was firm. You need not go far, it will be only for a short while.’

  Nell stared a moment longer, but then nodded, and with a searching glance at Dow moved off forward, just as another mine, tossed into the sea off the bow, detonated with a heavy thump.

  ‘Come, Dow Amber,’ said Uyal, as the attendant turned the chair away and began to push it towards the stern rail. ‘There is little time to say what must be said – a pivotal point rapidly approaches.’

  Alarmed, Dow moved at the chair’s side. ‘You foresee something happening tonight? You mean the things from the sea? They’ll attack?’

  ‘What may happen tonight is not what we must discuss; it matters only because it limits our time together.’ The wheeled chair had reached the rail. ‘Thank you, Dante,’ the voice said to the attendant, ‘you may leave us for now. And you there, guard, stand back. You can watch over Dow from beyond earshot.’

  Dow watched with bemusement as both the guard and the attendant withdrew. Then a hopeful thought struck him. If Uyal wanted to speak to him so privately, free of the presence of Diego, then maybe—

  ‘Do not delude yourself,’ said the child voice with perverse knowingness. ‘I intend no betrayal here of my prince. The secret knowledge he holds regarding the foundation of the New World, and of how its ruler will be known, will not be told to you by me.’

  Dow frowned. ‘Then what do you want?’

  ‘To give you warning. There is a course ahead from which you must turn away. For this reason alone did I summon you to this ship. Though it gladdened my heart to give poor Nell some time with you.’

  Poor Nell. Dow pushed down his dread. ‘I thought you brought me here to protect me from danger.’

  ‘That’s only what I told Diego, so that he would do as I asked. Oh, the danger is real enough, but you need no shielding from it; you will survive this night, and the nights that follow. It is not your life I fear for, but your judgement. Beware! It will be tested severely, and soon.’

  ‘What test?’

  ‘A test of the commitment you made to lead your people to the New World. And now not only your own people, but those on this ship as well. If you turn from them in the trial that approaches, then no one on either ship will ever see the rise of the sun in the southern ocean.’

  ‘Why would I turn from anyone? Tell me what you mean!’

  ‘You’ll know soon enough – were I to say too much of what I have foreseen, already you would be blinded by it. But when the moment comes and the choice is before you, to follow your heart or to follow the vow you made to lead, then remember: if you take the selfish option, no matter how much you want to – and you will want to – then you will sacrifice the lives of all of the rest of us. You must make the braver, harder choice, even if it robs you of your own joy – for that is what true leaders do.’

  Resentment stirred deeply in Dow. This was about Nell. Uyal had not said so, but it was. He was being told he must abandon her for the sake of everyone else. The two of them, who had given up so much already – their homes, their family, their world. Now they must surrender each other too. ‘You’ve told Nell all this, haven’t you. Convinced her there’s no hope.’

  ‘There is none.’

  ‘And we’re to do nothing?’ Dow pressed. ‘Just accept what fate decrees, and never seek to challenge it?’

  The voice sounded amused. ‘Never? I did not say that. I speak now only of the near future, tonight, tomorrow, a few months ahead at most. Beyond that, beyond the discovery of the New World, should it come, then I know nothing of your fate, or Nell’s, at all.’

  Dow stared in confusion. Nothing of their fate? And not never? What was he to make of that? Bitterness washed over him again, a weariness of hints and half-riddles that he would never grasp or solve . . .

  ‘I do not blame you,’ said Uyal, as if Dow had spoken aloud, ‘for never has fate so twisted itself around the strand of one man’s life as it has around yours.’ There was no amusement in the veiled speaker now, only a ready sympathy. ‘But we prophets navigate our visions as we must, striving for the best among outcomes that we perceive only murkily – and we can be wrong, like any other soul, even such as I, for I am only mortal.’

  Dow gave the wheeled chair a doubtful glance.

&nbs
p; Laughter, always disconcerting in such an infant-like voice, came from behind the curtain. ‘Yes, mortal, I said. I have rare talents maybe, but I live and breathe as does anyone, and I was born to a normal man and woman, just as you were. And one day I will die.’

  Dow found himself fascinated, despite his other concerns, for such was the unearthly air surrounding Uyal, and which had surrounded Axay before, it was easy to forget that they had both been naturally born. ‘Your parents,’ he asked at last. ‘Who were they?’

  ‘Humble enough folk of Valdez. Farmers. Nothing in their lives, or their parents’ lives, or their grandparents’ lives, suggested that they would bear such a child as me, and yet I came nonetheless, to their terror presumably. But in fact I remember nothing of them, for as soon as word of my monstrosity spread I was taken away by King Carrasco’s authority to his court.’

  Monstrosity, Dow thought. Choosing careful words, he asked, ‘You are truly so deformed, then?’

  ‘Aye. Those that behold me tell me I am scarcely of human shape at all, and truly I do not feel as if I was quite intended for this world. Oh, I am not in pain, but nor am I ever in comfort; I have not the limbs to walk, and crawling is a sore trial. I found it soothing, at home in Valdez, to swim at times in warm pools, and it is said that my predecessor, Axay, had a great bath fifty feet wide in the high palace of the Twelfth Kingdom in which to rest. But of course that is not possible on this ship.’

  ‘I met Axay,’ Dow mused. ‘You are the same – in deformity?’

  ‘So I am informed, near to identical. Whatever our condition or affliction is, we share it entirely.’