‘Look what your lies have condemned us to! You can’t sail! None of us can! That cutter was our salvation but you let it go! Idiot!’
An impudent wave conquered the skiff’s side and drenched Frankenstein from waist to foot. It looked like to be the first of many, with ample supplies for all.
However, unlike his breeches, Julius’ spirits were not noticeably dampened.
‘I wilfully misinformed them, yes. Do tell what stopped you from correcting me.’ The enquiry came with a smile. ‘Was it perhaps…’
A circular motion of his hand mimicked the operation of a mincing machine.
He thought it a fair bet that Ada had researched his earlier hint about the fate of illicit Lazarans. And she had. Lady Lovelace would have blanched were she able.
Frankenstein pressed his advantage.
‘Calm your fears, madam. Consider the train of events. First disaster: i.e. the cutter intercepting us. Then miracle: its mysterious setting us free. Next, disaster again as we are cast adrift with less knowledge of seamanship than the man in the moon. As a mathematician, surely the next part of the sequence should be plain to you? No? Then permit me to spell it out: disaster, miracle, disaster and then…’
Regardless of fresh wave-wettings, he indicated he was willing to wait for the slow of understanding to catch up.
Lady Lovelace turned away in disgust. If she were any less of a lady she might have augmented the threatening sea by spitting into it.
As if on cue in a gothic melodrama, thunder broke and lightning illuminated far more of the scene than anyone wanted.
‘If I may,’ said Foxglove, ‘I’ve heard that the appropriate action is to strip all sails and sit it out…’
Which they duly did (Lady Lovelace having nodded approval), not having the faintest idea of what else to do.
* * *
Dawn should have received a welcome from them, but instead it found the party half-dead (save for Ada, who was ahead of that curve…). They weren’t just soaked but saturated, and gladness of any kind wasn’t on the menu.
Their gross ingratitude had the excuse that it wasn’t much of a dawn. Diffuse light from somewhere behind the storm was allowed through on sufferance, but not much and not often. Big black clouds remained firmly in control of minor intruders like the sun.
It had been quite a night: dramatic but repetitious. First climb the mountain of a wave, rising to almost vertical, nearly tipping them out of the boat; then enjoy a sickening pause at the crest before plunging down the far side, losing the pit of your stomach (its contents being long gone) en route.
And that was just one wave: tonight the sea had many more where that came from, and another would be along in just a few seconds. Then rinse and repeat, again and again without pause for prayer or sigh of relief, throughout the hours of darkness. Each repetition every bit as thrilling as the first...
Lady Lovelace and Julius just clung on for dear life, but Foxglove lashed himself to the mast with his belt and spent the night baling like a man possessed, spoiling his top hat in the process. If he possessed inhuman powers and if he kept up the same pace for the duration of the storm, then maybe, just maybe, their most likely cause of death might be running ashore rather than foundering.
But, of course, he didn’t and couldn’t, and so taking a break from his labours didn’t make much odds. The big man straightened his complaining back and surveyed the sky.
‘Fimbulwinter…,’ he concluded.
Like most Swiss, Frankenstein was fluent in all the main European languages, but this word was new to him.
‘Pardon?’ he shouted above the roar.
Ada’s chin reposed in her hands. It was possible she was closely monitoring the inexorable rise of water in the bottom of the skiff. Or possibly she was just miles away.
But not too far to explain.
‘Old English for the end of the world,’ she said, without lifting her eyes. ‘My forebears believed it would be preceded by a mighty storm.’
Once again, erudition in the lower orders quite threw Frankenstein. Not only was it beyond his experience but also disturbing on myriad levels. Like returning home to find your hound playing the harp.
‘A storm taking wolf’s head form,’ Foxglove expounded. And gestured.
Indeed, when Julius looked the cloud front did somewhat resemble a monstrous maw advancing to swallow all. It was a tribute to Nature’s sadism—or possibly the power of suggestion.
‘No.’ Frankenstein discounted the evidence of his eyes, thinking to supply comfort and raise morale. ‘Not the end of the world. Merely of us—maybe.’
Ada clapped her hands in mock glee, just as a refreshingly icy wave found home in her lap.
‘Oh goodie!’ she said. ‘That’s all right then.’
* * *
Later. Lady Lovelace was cultivating her huff in the minimal cover afforded by a sun parasol. Unsuited to rough salt waves the flimsy thing soon looked not long for this world.
Likewise, Foxglove’s headgear. The top of his top hat had come out and he was having to use his boots for baling instead.
Their accessories closely matched the skiff itself. Spun and buffeted by wind and wave alike, like a human long maltreated by Fate, too much had been asked of it. If Mariner had still been aboard he would have known what to do, even if it was only succumb to despair. As it was their tiny glimmer of hope, probably misguided, was a torment to them.
But for the opposition of the waves they would have been making excellent progress… somewhere. The wind drove them at a fair pace, sails or no sails, but they’d long since lost any sense of direction. Land, if and when it loomed up, might be anywhere; friend or foe—but thereagain, anywhere would do. Always assuming of course, that they didn’t founder first under the weight of the water they were shipping, or smash to splinters on rocks. Little things like that.
Yet there was another remote possibility they’d hardly bothered to think about. Surely no other sensible ship would be about in such filthy weather, not if had a port to shelter in. Clearly therefore, the ship Ada spotted was not sensible, or else it was homeless and/or incompetent just like them.
These were not relevant considerations right now. Lady Lovelace went into action. She rose like a rocket, she screamed like a banshee, she waved like an admiralty semaphore tower.
It was a big vessel, they could tell that much despite the distance and poor conditions. An armed-merchantman, or a frigate maybe. Like the skiff its three tall masts were stripped, but professionally so, not lubberly-style. And though she rode the towering waves heavily, just as they did, she looked by far the better bet for survival.
Ada certainly thought so. At great risk of going overboard she was doing everything a lady might to attract attention across a watery gulf. More so in fact. If her drawers had been red or any other bright hue she would have happily whipped them off and waved them. For what use was a good name without years of life to enjoy it in?
‘Doctor!’ she ordered Frankenstein, in-between her ‘haloos’ and the regular rude interruption of waves. ‘Fire a shot in the air, fire several! Get their attention.’
Julius never ceased to marvel at the European aristocracy. Some times they were as innocent as angels, others as worldly as devils. The former in this case. Not having to lift a hand for themselves from cradle to grave made the class amazingly impractical.
‘I would if I could,’ he replied. ‘But I can’t, so I won’t.’
‘‘Won’t’?’ screamed Ada. ‘ “Won’t”? You? Mr Promiscuous-Pistol! Old shoot-on-sight? Normally, we can’t stop you! Oh, just do it, you damn foreign dago or I’ll…’
Empty threats are awfully demeaning, so Foxglove stepped in.
‘It’s the water, madam,’ he explained with saintly patience. ‘The waves: washing over all night long. I very much doubt Mr Frankenstein has any dry powder left…’
He’d have much preferred to avoid the subject altogether, having surreptitiously ditched Julius’ gun overboar
d long before. At the time it had seemed prudent, the better to feign innocence when intercepted by the cutter. Now, having survived that passing crisis, his action felt awfully like common theft. And Doctor Frankenstein did so dearly love his firearms. When he found out there’d be ructions...
Meanwhile, Lady Lovelace wasn’t having any truck with tomfool logical explanations. ‘That’s no excuse!’ she said, followed by something else fortunately swallowed up by the storm. Then she spurned her companions and devoted all attention to the new arrival.
It was nearer now, no doubt about it. The tempest, though 99% malevolent, was doing them this little favour, driving the dying skiff in the right direction. Unless, that is, it was really pure 100% evil and just stoking up false hopes in order to dash them shortly.
But ‘shortly’ was when they’d be within hailing distance. ‘Shortly’ there’d be method as well as madness in Ada’s efforts. Soon even Frankenstein saw purpose in adding his lung-power to the cause.
Now they could see activity on deck, and lots of it. Up and down the poop and middle portions there moved lovely swarms of people. Surely, any second now, one of them must turn and see the vessel bearing down on them.
Apparently not. Presumably preoccupied by the storm, the boiling mob aboard carried on without a friendly wave or word in their direction. At first it was frustrating, a cause for irritation to nerves and straining throat.
Then it grew odd. Then worrying.
Foxglove proved to have a perspective-glass tucked inside his waistcoat. He drew bead with it.
‘Ah.’
Another one of those rich English words, capable of conveying a thousand different meanings.
This version mixed warning with disappointment, albeit decently restrained. The ‘ah’ stayed calm and level—not that that signified not a great deal. Foxglove’s stiff upper lip could have sustained suspension bridges.
‘Well?’ said Ada. ‘Well? Ah!’ That ‘ah’ signified disgust and irritation, courtesy of a refreshing wave right in the face.
Foxglove had been debating whether to say, but his Mistress’s query left no room for manoeuvre.
‘Alas, milady, I fear this newcomer labours in as much difficulty as we. Possibly more so.’
‘Give me that!’
She snatched the glass and, parting her sodden locks with one hand, used the other to see for herself. That left her vulnerable to the sea’s rough ways but the view proved fascinating enough to risk it. Lady Lovelace stood firm, most unladylike, legs akimbo, and surveyed her to her heart’s discontent.
‘Perhaps I might talk to them,’ she ventured, though sounding un-Ada-ishly hesitant. ‘Kin to kin…’
‘No,’ ordered Foxglove, in a rare reversal of roles. ‘Begging your pardon, milady, but I cannot allow that. They are in no mood.’
Ada screamed in fury and flung the petite telescope away.
Because he’d been poised for such a tantrum, but still making a most impressive lunge, Frankenstein caught the thing before the sea could have it. Then he took his turn.
All became clear. A running fight was taking place aboard the vessel—or, more accurately, was drawing to its close. Lazarans had charge of most of the ship now, save for the crew’s last stand on the poopdeck. A few men in naval uniform, white-faced as their Revived foes, traded blows with insuperable numbers and were forced back, step by step, to the stern. Elsewhere, in the taken part of the ship, Lazarans were taking vengeance on their former masters. Captured sailors were being forced through the rigging—turned into minced meat—or else just eaten alive. They were women and children, presumably passengers or officers’ family, amongst them. It was not the nicest view Julius Frankenstein had ever beheld.
So, the 100% malevolence hypothesis proved correct. Now, just when they’d rather it weren’t so, the waves saw fit to bring the two ships together. And they’d been spotted at last. Ranks of rank Lazaran faces stared at them from the ship’s rail, or peeked out from open gunports (open in this weather—that should have been a clue long before!). They wailed and beckoned, but not, Frankenstein thought, with his best interests at heart. Some mounted the rail, ready to jump and board.
He’d seen enough and Foxglove got his glass back.
There was the option of clutching at straws, like proposing paddling away with their hands. Or else they could just await developments, retaining residual dignity. Julius plumped for the latter and sat down.
Lady Lovelace would have reproached—maybe even attacked—him, claws to the fore, had not further company arrived. A ship’s boat, even smaller and more wave-distressed than they, rounded the mother vessel’s stern. Sailors pulled professionally on its oars, accumulating distance between them and Lazaran nemesis, despite all opposition. For, quite aside from the sea’s best efforts to capsize the craft, ex-men rained down missiles on them as they passed. Frankenstein saw one oarsman slump down, brained by a brandy barrel from above. A comrade directly took his place at the oar—and tipped the useless body out.
Ada saw that too and was intrigued enough to comment.
‘How could they be sure he was dead?’
The answer was they couldn’t, but it remained unsaid. Scruples had gone overboard before the sailor had.
Such clear-sightedness did the trick. The row-boat negotiated the danger-rich passage round the ship’s stern, though threatened by each successive wave with being smashed to splinters against its towering side. Then gradually they drew beyond the range of hand-propelled Lazaran enmity and only musketry and cannons remained to worry about.
Evidently, the mutiny aboard was too young yet for that sort of advanced, co-ordinated, action. Or, just as likely, they might be really raw Lazarans: transported for training elsewhere. Either way, using firepower might still occur to them shortly. Julius hoped to be somewhere else—even if only via death—by then.
Meanwhile, the contents of the skiff had a decision to make. The row-boat had seen them and was heading in their direction. Compared to that mere cork in a barrel, the skiff must have looked like a hundred-gun ‘ship of the line’ and highly attractive in present circumstances.
The question was, should they share those attractions? Was there space enough aboard the skiff without bringing forward the hour of sinking to now? On the other hand—and the trouble with life was that there always was another: a second or even third hand to trouble your thoughts—some genuine maritime expertise wouldn’t go amiss. Presently they were mere playthings of the storm, not going anywhere, or leastways nowhere of their own choosing.
And yet who were these men? Was it wise to welcome them aboard in out-numbering numbers, all unknown? They might well be slavers or, worse still, legitimate authority. They might prove to be as ruthless as Ada and hurl the original occupants overboard to save themselves...
It was a conundrum, of the sort that should be susceptible to the awesome powers of human reason. It certainly ought to have been vulnerable to Lady Lovelace, with her trained scientific mind.
In the event, she looked at Julius and he looked at her and neither could decide. The row-boat drew ever nearer.
So Frankenstein tossed a coin.
Chapter 16: ADA WALKS ON WATER
‘Jolly decent of you. We wish you well.’
The third-lieutenant was being ironic, which made a change from the shocked silence of previous hours—and a change, Julius supposed, was as good as a rest.
Frankenstein also supposed both responses were the lieutenant’s armour against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Not yet sixteen by the looks of him, and yet here he was directing his very own vessel—the skiff. Or so Third-lieutenant deluded himself.
The boy was wasting his breath addressing his former ship and its new Lazaran owners. They couldn’t hear his mock blessing across such a distance and through such a storm. Not that they would have listened anyway: they were too busy decorating their prize ship with dead men and bits of (therefore dead) men.
The bright side of having to w
itness it was that, with no hand attending wheel or sail, the frigate was being driven before the wind straight towards the rocky coast; kindly going before the skiff to see if the way was safe. Hence Third-lieutenant’s mock gratitude.
It wasn’t safe. There are few sounds so gut-wrenching as the bottom being ripped out of a ship, even if it’s not actually the wood beneath your feet. Add to that the lamentations of the doomed Lazarans on board and there was quite a symphony to chill the blood. It made even the tempest sound benign.
‘Bound to be,’ said one of the able-seamen, as he adjusted what little sail it was safe to raise. ‘When they’re well lodged on we’ll tack round the larboard of them. They’ll block the worst of wind and wave.’ Then he remembered the niceties. ‘If you’re agreeable, sir?’
Third-Lieutenant scanned the boiling white water along the shore and knew no better.
‘Make it so.’
‘Aye, aye, sir.’
Myriad tugs upon ropes and minor adjustments turned their path away from immediate ruin. The sea fought them tooth and nail but the sailors had their way.
Ada, Foxglove and Julius were relegated to the skiff’s stern. Not exactly spurned, but not consulted either. It had been that way since the survivors of the mutiny were allowed over the side. Their technical proficiency gave them mastery of the vessel after the briefest of introductions. Now, following a shaky period just getting the skiff under control and ensuring survival, the former hierarchy of His Majesty’s frigate ‘The Lady Bridget’ reasserted itself.
For his part, Frankenstein marvelled at how grizzled men of far greater size and experience deferred to a beardless boy, just because of epaulets on his skinny shoulders. It reminded him of a bull he’d once seen, a ton or more of sheer muscle power, being meekly led along by an Alpine herdsman. The beast might have flung its master off the mountain with the merest flick but it chose not to, subdued by a tiny nose ring and long habit. There was a metaphor and lesson there, for those who studied humanity.
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