by Perrin Briar
“Why not?”
“Because Craig and I will come up with a plan to stop it,” Kali said. “We’ll do something tonight to sink all the Gap to the bottom of the docks.”
“It’s too risky,” Jera said. “They’re out looking for you. It’s only a matter of time before they find you. You have to be careful.”
“Don’t worry,” Kali said. “We’ve avoided them this long. We can avoid them one more day.”
“What happens if you get caught?”
Craig and Kali shared a look.
“We have a plan in place,” Craig said.
“Our wedding is just a cover,” Kali said. “They’re going to use it to send tributes all around the world. We can’t let that happen. I won’t let that happen. Besides, if we don’t stop them, who will?”
Chapter Forty-Five
Richard leaned on the balustrade that led out onto the back garden. The moon was big and bright and bathed the world in a silvery-white glow. A figure emerged out of the foliage at the bottom of the field. It looked almost ghost-like. Richard reached for the pistol at his waist. The figure floated toward him. He relaxed when he realised it was just Constable Stern, and then tensed again when there was no sign of Jera. Richard descended down the stairs to meet Stern.
“Where is she?” he said.
“She escaped.”
“She what?”
“She was up in the treehouse. I was sharpening my sword, keeping an eye out for bandits. It was getting late, so I called up the tree, but she didn’t answer. I climbed the tree and found the treehouse was empty.”
“It took us five weeks to find her. Now you’re telling me you’ve lost her within five hours of her return?”
“I’m sorry, Deputy Commander,” Constable Stern said, lowering her head in shame.
“I’ll deal with you later. Go assemble the men. We’re going to scour the woods for her.”
“That won’t be necessary, sir,” Constable Stern said.
“And why is that?”
“Because she’s heading right for us.”
Jera appeared from the woods at the bottom of the garden, her dress fluttering behind her like a wraith. Richard clenched his teeth and relaxed his hands which had formed fists.
“You’re dismissed, Stern,” he said.
Stern nodded respectfully and left.
“Where have you been?” Richard said to Jera as she approached.
“Just out for a walk.”
She walked to step past him. Richard grabbed her arm and spun her around.
“You’re never go to out of the house alone again,” he said. “Is that understood?”
“No,” Jera said, pulling her arm away. “It’s not understood. I’ll go wherever and whenever I please, and without a babysitter.”
Richard glared at her with white-hot fury. Then his expression melted.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to stifle your freedom. I’m just concerned about your safety. You can understand that, can’t you? I want you to be safe and sound. Just until the wedding, please don’t go wandering off by yourself. Okay?”
Jera thought for a moment.
“Okay,” she said. “I didn’t know you cared so much about me.”
“Of course I do. I travelled the world to find you. I love you.”
“Really? But you hardly know me.”
“I know enough to know I love you. And if you’re going to love me one day, we need to learn to trust each other.”
Jera smiled. She went inside, letting her fingers trail out of his hand. Richard’s smile turned sour. Captain Philmore appeared from nowhere.
“Search the woods,” Richard said. “Leave no stone unturned.”
“Yes, sir,” Captain Philmore said.
Richard headed inside and sat at the dining table, joining the rest of the happy family.
Chapter Forty-Six
Kali chopped the vegetables with quick precise movements. She tossed the refuse into a bowl to add to the compost heap in the garden later. She tipped water from the jug in with the vegetables and set to cleaning them with her hands. She extracted the vegetables and put them in a pot over the fire.
She heard rushing footsteps outside, leading to the door. Someone grabbed the door handle and threw it open. Kali seized the knife in her fist and turned to face her assailant. It was Craig. Kali’s shoulders relaxed. She put the knife down.
“I nearly stabbed you!” Kali said. “What happened to the secret knock?”
“Sorry,” Craig said. “But I’ve got some exciting news.”
“Worth getting stabbed over?”
“Maybe.”
“Go on.”
Craig wet his lips.
“A huge shipment of fireworks arrived this morning for the wedding,” he said.
“That’s it? There are fireworks every day during the week of the king’s birthday.”
“No, no,” Craig said. “The exciting thing is they’re being stored separately from all the other materials in case another fire starts. It’ll be easy pickings!”
Kali felt an ice cold finger tickle the back of her neck.
“I don’t know,” she said.
“What don’t you know? Imagine all the havoc we could cause with gunpowder! We’d be able to stop the spread of Gap once and for all! And you won’t have to marry Gregory!”
“You mean, if we do this, and if we succeed, I’ll be able to return to my family and friends?”
“Yes.”
Kali turned away and stirred the boiling vegetables.
“What is it?” Craig said.
“Nothing.”
“You’ll be happy seeing your friends and family again. You’ll see.”
Kali put the ladle down.
“What about us?” she said.
“What about us?” Craig said. “You’re a rich merchant’s daughter.”
“And you’re a baker.”
“All I can offer you is bread.”
“I love bread, and I love you.”
“You say that now, but when you’re back in the heart of civilisation you might feel differently.”
“We could just not do this. Let the Wythnos ships go, not destroy them or go after this gunpowder. We could stay here. Forever.”
Craig shook his head.
“And let millions of people ruin their lives with Gap?” he said. “We can’t do anything so selfish.”
Kali kissed Craig on the lips.
“Which is why I love you and always will,” she said. “I don’t like the person I was before. I like who I am now. And it’s all thanks to you. So, what’s the plan with the gunpowder? No doubt you’ve got it all planned out already.”
“Am I that predictable?” he said with a grin.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Men armed with long sticks with a glowing red fuse on the end moved from one lamp to another down each quay, illuminating a dozen moored ships. A pair of uniformed constables completed their patrol of the docks and climbed the steps up to the street. No one noticed a pair of figures garbed head-to-foot in black outfits edging their way along the docks in the water. Their outfits were smooth and slippery, made from seal skin. Hoods covered their heads, leaving only a bare narrow strip around the eyes.
They came to a small fishing trawler that banged into the quay. No way between them, Craig and Kali grabbed hold of the boat and edged their way around it. Heavy footsteps on the deck sent vibrations up their arms. Kali hugged the boat close, sensing the sailors were close.
“It’s the end of the world, that’s what it is,” a sailor said. “Just the other day when I was returning to port I was set upon by a school of angry mermen. You can see the holes their tridents made in the hull of my ship if you don’t believe me.”
Craig and Kali took a deep breath and slipped beneath the surface. They waved their hands and kicked their feet to keep below the surface. Looking up, they could see the figures of two men peering over the edge. But Craig and Kali coul
dn’t be seen. The sea was deathly black at night. Kali looked at the hull and made out triangular marks in the hull. But they could have just as easily have been a shark’s teeth or other monster of the deep. The men above disappeared from view and Craig and Kali floated back up to the surface, the water running over their seal skin suits and not making a sound. They let out their breaths in a slow drawn-out fashion and continued to move along the dock.
The moon was big and bright, the pockmarks on its face clear and visible. At the opposite end of the dock they emerged in a pool of shadow. They crept along the wall of a tackle shop and down a side alley. They turned widthways and put their hands and feet on the wall on either side and shimmied up. Kali reached the roof first, pulled herself up and then helped Craig up. He pulled his mask down.
“It’s in that building,” Craig said, pointing to a large window.
The frame was made of wood. The glass was green and warped with age. Craig took off his backpack and dug a corner of the frame out. It was rotten and gave without much effort. Then Craig pulled out the glass square from its frame and sat it down. He reached in through the hole and lifted up the latch on the inside. The window swung open on a horizontal hinge through its middle. Craig and Kali pulled their seal skin masks down.
“Wish me luck,” Craig said.
“Good luck,” Kali said.
Craig stepped into the room. It was dark, the only light coming in through the large window. The room was not large, about the size of his hut in the woods, but he could make out a chest at the end of the room. It was made of a heavy dark wood, strong and impermeable. The frame was made of iron. He put his hand under the lip of the lid and lifted it. The shadow inside moved so fast he didn’t even see it. Craig flew through the air and landed on his back. His chin stung and the world spun.
“Craig!” a muffled voice said, and he knew it was Kali speaking through her mask.
“Go!” Craig said. “Get out of here! Go!”
The shadow from the chest was on Craig. The huge man’s hands seized him and drew him up from the floor, his feet losing contact with it. Craig kicked at the man, but it was no use. He might as well kick a brick wall. Kali hesitated.
There was a whistling sound and a clack as metal struck the wall beside her head. Kali looked up and saw the archers on the parapet of a watchtower. There was another whistling sound, and Kali ducked. She felt the arrow pass overhead. She ran toward the building’s edge and hopped down between the two walls, her feet sliding down the wall and slowing her descent. She landed in the alleyway. She looked up and couldn’t make out the watchtower. She was out of range.
She ran down the alley and emerged on the dock. A dozen white uniforms with swords glinting in the moonlight headed right for her. Kali dashed along the deck. A constable swung his sword at her, meeting only air as Kali leapt into the water. An archer loosed an arrow. It followed Kali’s form as she disappeared beneath the dark tide.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Lord Wythnos liked to stroll through the corridors at night. It helped him to think. His ancestors looked down on him from their portraits, and the family heirlooms decorated the corridors and walls. He always discovered something new. He let his feet take him wherever they wanted to go. Today they brought him to a long corridor with rich red carpet. A constable stood guard outside one room. Lord Wythnos paused, considered turning around, but didn’t. He approached the constable.
“Is my daughter inside?” he said.
The constable nodded.
“Give me a moment,” Lord Wythnos said.
The constable didn’t move.
“I said give me a moment,” Lord Wythnos said. “Please!”
“Of course, sir,” the constable said, smirking, and performing a mock bow.
He moved down the corridor. Lord Wythnos shook his head with irritation. At what point did he lose respect from his subordinates? He rapped on the door with his knuckles.
“Jera,” he said, “are you in there?”
There was no reply.
“I’ll just assume you are. Just listen to me, and I’ll leave you alone. There’s something I need to tell you. It might help you to understand why I did what I did. Do you remember the Great Storm six years ago? I’m sure you. We lost a lot of ships that day, and although new ones were being built, they were not being made fast enough. Merchants decided to use other shipping companies. We were fast going to go out of business. We were going to lose everything. You and your sister would have had to have gotten jobs. Your mother too. You would have been lucky to have married into a middle class family.
“So, I made a decision. If I’d known what the Ascars were up to, would I have made the same decision? No, I don’t think so. But I made the best decision I could under the circumstances.
“I did what I did for our family. I’m sorry it is you and your sister who have to pay the price. I hope with time, when you have your own families, you might be able to understand what I’m going through. Until then, know that I love you, Jera. And I always will.”
He pressed his hand to the door, turned, and then left.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Jera sat huddled against her bedroom door hugging her knees. She wiped a tear from her eye.
Chapter Fifty
Kali pulled herself up onto the muddy riverbank. She tore her mask off and tossed it aside. She dragged herself onto the grass. She peered around at her surroundings. The edge of the forest was ten feet away. Kali grunted and looked down at her seal suit. It had been torn at her waist, a thin trickle of blood seeping out. She got to her feet. Pain stabbed at her waist, just below her ribs. She held a hand tight over it, applying pressure. She walked toward the forest. She stopped at the edge and looked out across the water at the lights glowing in the distance. She turned and walked into the foliage.
Chapter Fifty-One
The small of Craig’s back itched. He leaned against the wall and rubbed the burlap of his prison shirt against it. His body relaxed with relief.
There was a distant metallic clinking sound Craig recognized as the keys at the jailer’s waist coming down the corridor. Craig stood up, the restraints at his ankles kicking up clouds of dust from the straw on the floor. The dry fibres stabbed into the soles of his feet. The keys rattled as they were inserted into the door and turned. He straightened his back, hands in front, assuming a confidence he didn’t feel.
The door swung inwards. Gregory Ascar stepped into the room. With his tailor-made silk suit he couldn’t have been more at odds with the man in the cell opposite him. Ascar turned to look at the jailer, who closed the door and moved down the hall, keys clinking. Ascar looked Craig over through the prison bars that separated them.
Craig’s cell took up less than half the room, just enough space to pace up and down. Gregory dragged over the plain wooden chair leaning against the wall and placed it in the middle of the empty space. He sat down, crossed his legs, rearranged the fabric of his trousers and looked up at Craig.
“We’ve met before, you know,” Gregory said. “In the market place. Must have been five weeks ago now. Funny how time flies, isn’t it? Or rather, skips. Do you remember? I remember. I would never have thought that plain little man in the street would have caused so much trouble to my ships.”
“They aren’t your ships.”
“To my tribute, then.”
Craig snorted.
“Your tribute?” he said. “Crates are meant to provide food and drink to celebrate your wedding. Instead, you bring a plague of Gap. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Is the landlord of a pub ashamed of what he sells to people? Is what he does any different to what I do?”
“Gap ruins everyone’s life it touches. Alcohol doesn’t. Not everyone’s, anyway. You can try to justify yourself as much as you like, but you know deep down the evil you’re committing.”
“And kidnapping is not an evil act? You made a big mistake when you kidnapped my betrothed.”
“I did
that for the good of the kingdom.”
“You did it for yourself. If you despise it so much, why not simply ignore it like everyone else? I must admit, you had me suspecting my own men for a while. My dear Captain Timon. He’ll never trust me quite the same way again. But you failed. I caught you. But there’s still a way out of this. Tell me who your accomplices are and where Kali Wythnos is and I will allow you to live.”
Craig looked away.
“No?” Gregory said. “You’re going to tell me. You might as well get something out of it.”
Again, no answer.
“I give you this one opportunity to tell me like a man before I let in the men who will make you tell me like a dog. Tell me, now. Before it’s too late.”
Craig’s eyes moved to the side in thought, but still he said nothing.
“Very well,” Gregory said.
He stepped out into the hall.
“Wait,” Craig said. “Wait. I’ll tell you. On your word as a gentleman that it’ll be quick.”
“I told you you would live.”
Craig met his gaze. Gregory smiled.
“Okay, okay,” he said. “I was going to have your throat cut outside town. Fine. I’ll make sure your death is quick and painless. Now, where is she?”
“She’s at the old windmill.”
“The old windmill in the east? We already checked there.”
“I know. I moved her there after your men left. I’ve been moving her from place to place to thwart you.”
Gregory pressed his lips together. He stepped out into the corridor and waved his hand. The sound of rattling keys came down the corridor. Now the gaoler wore a belt with a series of sharp implements hanging from it.
“Sit and watch him,” Gregory said. “If my messenger comes, get the truth out of him any way you can.”
