Firebrand

by Antony John

  “This way,” he said, pointing toward the battery. “We’ll take the same route as earlier.”

  “Wait!” There was something on the battlement just in front of us. It was so dark that I could barely make it out.

  Then it squeaked. Straightaway, there was an answering squeak from another rat. I didn’t stop to see how many of them there were coming toward us, I just ran back in the other direction.

  “Keep low,” said Jerren. “Stop when we’re directly over the main gate.”

  I did as he said. When we reached the main gate, guards were filing out of the fort directly below us. They stayed in pairs, one with a gun and the other with a torch. Every single pair headed toward the battlements where we’d climbed the wall only moments before.

  “Just keep going north,” whispered Jerren. “They’re all looking at the south wall. It’s our only chance.”

  Again, we kept low and sprinted. My entire body ached, but I kept going until we were circling around to the esplanade. There we paused in the shadow of the bank where Rose and I had hid that same morning.

  The armed guards who weren’t searching for us had formed a tight perimeter around the other Sumter colonists. Men, women, and children sat huddled beside the monument, large eyes peering out into the darkness, fearing the worst. Rain drummed against the ground as the siren split the air.

  Dennis and his mother were in the crowd too. While everyone else kept their focus on the familiar sight of the fort grounds, Dennis stared in our direction. I hoped he had seen us, but there wasn’t even a flicker of recognition.

  “Why don’t they make a run for it?” Jerren asked. “Everyone’s too busy to notice.”

  I glanced over my shoulder. In the distance, the ship had moved farther still to the east. The foresail had been lowered. Had everyone from the cutter made it on board? If not, who was sailing it?

  Tentatively I raised my hand, hoping to get Dennis’s attention. His eyes shifted toward me and he blinked. Slowly, he raised a hand in response. Then he tilted his head toward his mother and shook his head from left to right.

  “I don’t get it,” said Jerren. “What’s he saying?”

  I felt my entire body deflate. “She doesn’t want to come,” I mumbled.

  “What?”

  “She told us this morning that she was with this colony now, not us.” I punched the ground. “Chief didn’t separate her from the others . . . she chose to stay.”

  Just then, Dennis’s mother turned her head and noticed the ship sailing away. I held my breath as she narrowed her eyes, deep in thought. Maybe she would change her mind. There was still time.

  Instead she looked away again. She’d made a decision and she would stick by it.

  Only, I couldn’t let her do that. Not for Rose’s sake. Or for Dennis’s.

  “We have to do something,” I said. “The ship is leaving.”

  Jerren bowed his head and said nothing.

  “Did you hear me?”

  “What do you want me to say? It’ll be suicide to rescue them.”

  “It was almost murder to leave Rose with Kell, but that didn’t stop you.”

  “Hey, I’m here with you now.” He clenched his fists and stared ahead. He was breathing fast. “Look, I’m sorry for that. I was wrong. And whatever happens from now on, I want you to forgive me.”

  I met his eyes. There was fear in them. “Forgive you for what?”

  “Just . . . please.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me out into the open to get the attention of the guards.

  He was double-crossing me. I couldn’t believe it. Not after everything we’d been through.

  As the guards reached for their guns, he pulled me down so that we were kneeling. Then he raised his free hand and turned it around like he was sculpting the air. I wanted to run away, but his grip on me was painfully tight.

  There was something else too: a strange feeling, as if he was trying to feel my power. Or wanted me to channel energy through him.

  I was so shocked, I couldn’t react. But then calmness swept over me and I knew what to do. I focused all my energy on his hand twisting above us. I studied the way his fingers moved so deliberately. Then came the sound of the siren—piercing, deafening—as if he’d collected its energy and focused it just on us.

  As suddenly as it had started, it was over. The sound that had been inside my head and pulsating through my body disappeared so completely that the silence that replaced it felt unreal. Not total silence, though. It was like we were caught in a bubble, where the ocean could be heard again, and even the cries of the men from below. Everything except the siren.

  Now something was happening to the men advancing on us. They dropped their weapons and pressed their hands against their ears, lips pulled back, teeth gritted. And when that wasn’t enough, they staggered backward, tripping in their haste to escape. Children were screaming at the intensity of the sound—the siren, I guessed. Nothing would make it stop.

  I was already growing weak. Surely Jerren wouldn’t be able to keep it going much longer. I looked over my shoulder, hoping against hope that there was somewhere left to run, but we’d trapped ourselves on the esplanade.

  Marin and Dennis still wouldn’t leave the group, but they were on the edge of it now. The group was leaving them.

  Jerren moved his hand again and something shifted. It was like he was diverting the sound away from Marin and Dennis. While everyone else cried out from the noise, they clearly weren’t affected. They may have considered themselves part of this new colony, but now they stood out entirely.

  The Sumter colonists were retreating. One lunged at Dennis, probably hoping to hold him hostage until Jerren stopped. But Dennis wormed free, and the man jammed his hands against his ears again. A couple tried to edge toward Marin, but one look at their furious expressions and she stepped away. And with that small gesture, her new life on Sumter was over. At best, she and Dennis would be shunned; at worse, killed.

  Marin grasped Dennis’s hand and strode toward us. She wouldn’t look at me, but I didn’t care. We weren’t doing this for her.

  Jerren was shaking from the stress. His control was weakening—I could see it in the way that the men on the perimeter of the group were able to break free, tearing their hands away from their ears. They looked at the guns lying a few yards away.

  The wind was strong and seemed to be nudging us toward the edge of the esplanade. I didn’t want to be forced that way, but there was nowhere else to go. Below us, the harbor churned, throwing waves against the boulders at the base of the wall. Even worse, the ship was to the northeast now. It was sailing away from us. Stranding us.

  But then I spied another boat—a catamaran. I didn’t need to see Alice to know that she was sailing it. She was almost flying, and when she turned about, the sail dipped so low, I was sure she’d capsize. Instead she threw her weight backward, stabilizing the craft.

  “Can’t . . . hold,” muttered Jerren, panting.

  Could Alice see this from the boat? Did she have any idea that Jerren was an elemental too?

  As Marin and Dennis reached us, I struggled to take stock of the situation. My mind was as sluggish as my body. I remembered that the pipe I’d swum through had been fully submerged, so it must have been high tide. That meant we’d have deeper water to jump into, as long as we cleared the rocks.

  “Step back,” I said, tugging Jerren until we toed the edge of the wall.

  “If we jump, we’ll hit the rocks,” shouted Dennis.

  “Or get shot here.”

  Dennis looked at his mother and then at me. Finally, as the guards lunged for their guns, he pulled me away from Jerren. I was too tired to resist. “Give me your element,” he said, voice low.

  I stared blankly ahead. “Can’t—”

  “Give it to me!”

  Energy trickled through me as D
ennis stared at the sky. In what felt like a full strike but must have been only a moment, he turned the wind directly on the approaching guards. Hit by a wall of air and horizontal rain, they collapsed as one.

  Before they could get up, Dennis yelled, “Turn around.”

  Alice was maybe thirty yards away. She was sailing close to the rocks—too close really—and moving fast. I fought to stay awake, stay conscious.

  “Now!” yelled Dennis.

  He flicked his wrist again, turning the wind onto us. It hit me from behind with the force of a blast, toppling us all and sending us out into space. I was laid out horizontally as I landed with a crash.

  CHAPTER 39

  I hit water but smashed onto the rocks that lay just below the surface. The pain shocked me awake again. I couldn’t tell if I’d broken a rib, or sliced up my stomach—I just knew that I was in agony. Heat radiated from the wound, burning me up from the inside.

  I surfaced after the others. Alice was only a few yards away. She’d let out the sail to slow the boat, but I couldn’t reach the rope she tossed out to us. If I missed that rope, it was all over. She’d never be able to turn around before the guards regrouped.

  Dennis and his mother lunged for the rope and caught it. Jerren did too. But the boat was drifting past me. I wasn’t going to reach it.

  Jerren loosened his grip so that his left hand slid along the rope. He clasped the very end and swung his right arm out toward me, catching a flap of my tunic. I shut out the pain in my chest and raised my right hand so that I was holding his arm too.

  Something whipped into the water beside me. I wasn’t sure what it was until someone fired the gun again. Bullets dashed against the surface of the water.

  So much for not wasting ammunition.

  Alice pulled on the mainsheet, but the boat responded sluggishly. The catamaran was a light craft, not made for five people, and I was acting like an anchor. Jerren eyed the side of the boat. It was so close, but without the use of his right arm, he was stuck. Bullets rained down.

  “Jibe,” I said as loudly as I could.

  “Don’t be crazy,” shouted Alice.

  “Do it!”

  As water crashed against me, Alice yanked the tiller toward her. The boat began to turn, the rope drew closer to the side, and I was able to grab the back. I released Jerren’s arm and he pulled himself to the boat and on board. “Abort the jibe,” I croaked.

  Spurred on by the sound of a bullet cracking against the hull, Alice did exactly as I said for once. We’d lost almost all our momentum, but now the catamaran responded to her movements. Jerren slid to the back and helped me aboard too. I was almost onto the canvas deck when he cried out.

  “What is it?” cried Alice.

  I slithered beside him as he clasped his left forearm. “What happened?” I asked him.

  He spat onto the deck. “My arm.”

  Blood was trickling out, but it was impossible to know exactly where he’d been hit or how severe the wound was. “We’ll get you to the ship. Look at it there.”

  Jerren nodded. He knew there was nothing else we could do for him.

  Alice tried to maintain balance and keep the sails full. The ship was a few hundred yards away, nothing but a shadowy outline in the darkness. It was so much farther away than the last time we’d seen it.

  “Are we going to make it?” asked Dennis.

  Alice didn’t answer.

  He tilted his head toward me. “Is Griffin alive? I saw that room. The rats. I wanted to tell you—”

  “He’s alive,” I said. I didn’t add: for now.

  I stole a glance behind us. Sumter was already fading into the darkness. The black reminded me of rats. Would the colonists get them under control again? For the children’s sake, I hoped so.

  I ran a finger across my chest wound and felt a loose flap of skin. The pain was excruciating, but I was almost relieved. A broken bone would take longer to heal.

  Alice kept her eyes fixed on the ship. She didn’t take the direct line, but moved quickly over the ship’s wake and onto the calmer water it was leaving behind. Good thing too, because we’d be leaving the harbor soon and heading out onto the ocean, where the waves were bigger. By contrast, our water was smooth.

  Little by little, we drew closer. When we were a hundred yards away, Alice began to veer right.

  “Rope ladder’s on the other side,” I wheezed.

  “Forget the rope ladder. If we sail to port side, we’ll be in the ship’s wind shadow. We’ll lose control of the sails. Stop dead in the water.”

  Someone on board must have realized the same thing. As we crossed their wake and entered turbulent water again, the ladder was unfurled on our side. It touched the water and was dragged backward.

  The waves must have been at least three feet high, too much for the catamaran. The ship’s bow carved a channel through the ocean, creating wake that threatened to overturn us. Only Alice remained seated now. Even Dennis and his mother were lying down, gripping the frame tightly.

  Alice eased us alongside the ship, but she was struggling to maintain control.

  “Dennis, go!” she yelled.

  Kneeling on the canvas, one hand around the metal frame, Dennis reached out and grabbed the ladder. Once he had a good grip, he looked back to check that Marin was following. Only then did he place his other hand on the ladder and begin to climb.

  Marin went next. We’d saved her life, but she wouldn’t even look at us. When she was halfway up, Jerren grunted. “We risked our lives for her?”

  “Not for her,” I told him. “For Dennis.”

  He peered at his injured arm and winced. “Your turn now.”

  “Uh-uh. Not before you.”

  I wrapped an arm around him and pushed him across the slick canvas. Once he had a grip on the ladder, I helped him get his footing. He climbed slowly, his left arm only good for draping over the rungs.

  “Go, Thom,” Alice shouted.

  I was about to reach for the rung, but stopped myself. “Wait. You can’t reach the ladder and hold the boat steady.”

  “Don’t worry about me. Just go.”

  My mind flashed back to Eleanor lying broken on the deck. I still didn’t understand why she’d chosen to die, but there was no way I was going to let Alice follow her.

  Once Jerren had boarded the ship, I pulled the rope ladder toward us. I grabbed the highest rung I could reach and shouted for Alice to place a hand on the lowest.

  She transferred the mainsheet to her left hand. It was a risky move—now she was unable to control the tiller and sail independently—but it freed up her right to take the ladder. With a single defiant nod, she drove the tiller away. The catamaran whipped to the right and the wet canvas deck slid from right under us. I was left dangling as Alice plummeted into the water.

  Her body banged against the side of the ship. She still had hold of the rung, but the fast-moving water dragged her under.

  I coiled my right arm around a rung and reached down with my free hand. I couldn’t get to her, so I grabbed one of the lower rungs and heaved that upward instead. Alice resurfaced. Gasping for breath, she slapped at the next rung. Then the next. A moment later, she swung a leg up and got a foothold.

  Just as well, because I lost my grip on the lower rung. Alice crashed back into the ocean.

  This time only her legs went under. Her head and torso stayed above water, and she continued her climb. With Jerren shouting encouragement from above, she followed me to the top, where someone dragged me over the side. I leaned against the rail and stared back at Sumter. There were tiny dots of light from the torches, and the faint echoes of the siren. But a mile separated us, and no one was following.

  We’d escaped. Not without casualties, but still, we were free again. There wasn’t room in my mind for anything but that thought.

  I flo
pped onto the deck and lay there, not thinking, not even aware if I was breathing anymore. As I tilted my head, I caught sight of Ananias limping toward me, supported by our father. They knelt on either side of me, and hugged me so tightly that I wasn’t sure which of us was crying.

  CHAPTER 40

  I woke up in a cabin, woozy and disoriented, stealing shallow breaths so that my chest wouldn’t hurt so badly. I wanted to sleep longer, but every part of me ached. Outside, the sky was the deep, dark blue that preceded sunrise.

  Rose was beside me, one thick bandage tied around her neck and another across her chest and around her torso. Her face was bruised.

  She saw me watching her and frowned. “That bad, huh?”

  I leaned over and kissed her gently on the cheek. “You’re alive. That’s what matters.” My mind flashed back to the night’s events. In the almost silence, it was difficult to imagine everything that had happened to us. “Where’s Griffin?”

  Rose tilted her head away from me. “They put him in a cabin with Nyla.”

  “They’re in quarantine—”

  “No. Ananias says it’s just so they can observe them more easily. The incubation period is three days.”

  Three days until we’d know whether they were going to live or die. Less, really, because they’d both been bitten the day before.

  “If he’s the solution . . .” Rose began, but she didn’t finish the thought. Until we knew for sure, there was always the other possibility. And what about Nyla?

  “I have to go see him,” I told her.

  “I know.”

  She reached up and placed her hand on my cheek. I leaned in and kissed her, first on the cheek, then on the lips. She swallowed hard, and as our lips came together again, she opened her mouth. I opened mine too, and for a precious moment there was no ship, and no Plague, and no enemies or pain or death. It was just the two of us.

  I left the cabin and staggered along the corridor. I knew where we’d taken Nyla the night before, but when I opened the door, Griffin was alone, sleeping. Apart from the blanket covering his chest and upper legs, he was naked. Every exposed piece of skin was covered in scratches and bite marks. It took me back to the room with the glass cube, and the sight of the rats crawling all over him.