Orphans of the Tide

by Struan Murray

  Ellie, Seth and Anna waited until two in the morning, then crept down towards the Warrens. The streets were eerily silent but for the occasional bark of a dog. Down one alleyway they heard footsteps, and had to hide in a doorway as a guardsman marched by. As they set off again, Ellie brushed the alley wall, and something wet coated her fingers. She looked up, and saw three words scrawled across the stone, glistening in the moonlight:

  KILL THE VESSEL

  Ellie pulled at her shirt collar, her throat tightening.

  The Inquisitorial stronghold reared out of the dark in front of them: a bleak, grey-green slab of a building, furry with moss. Its windows were boarded up like all the others. The gargoyles on its roof had since lost their heads.

  They snuck across the street and round the side of the building, three darting shadows. The sea was wild; thick ripples of froth danced angrily in the moonlight. Seth looked down at it.

  ‘Are you frightened?’ said Anna.

  ‘Of course not,’ he said, then swallowed. Ellie gripped his hand.

  ‘We can try the main door,’ she said softly, ‘if you don’t want to do this. Maybe the guard will be asleep.’

  ‘No,’ said Seth. ‘No, I can do this.’

  The sea thrashed, flecking their faces with stinging salt water, making Seth wince. Ellie squeezed his hand.

  He closed his eyes. He frowned, and the sea swirled and crashed up the side of the building. Ellie felt water leaking through her socks. Seth’s face twisted to a snarl, then a look of pain. The sea started bubbling up towards them.

  ‘It’s okay,’ Ellie whispered. ‘It’s okay, Seth, we’re here.’

  Anna took hold of his other hand. Seth drew a long, deep breath.

  And the sea began to sink.

  Down it went, further and further, as if a huge glass bowl were being lowered into it, pushing the water aside to form a dark, curved wall. As the sea receded, it revealed two staircases, exposed to the air for the first time in centuries. One set led down to some broad, slimy flagstones. The other rose up, into a dark hole in the side of the building.

  The sea stopped sinking. Wisps of blue had formed on Seth’s skin, but they didn’t swirl as they’d done before. Seth looked deeply asleep, though he was standing upright.

  ‘Is he in a trance or something?’ said Anna. She waved a hand in front of his face, then clicked her fingers.

  ‘Stop it,’ Seth grunted. ‘I’m trying to . . . concentrate.’

  Even as he spoke the water rose three inches towards them, before Seth focused and lowered it back again.

  ‘I think we might have to carry him,’ Anna said.

  Ellie put her hands under his arms, Anna took his legs, and together they hauled him down the first staircase. The stone was slippery with streaks of algae, and occasionally crumbled beneath their feet.

  Ellie risked a glance up. The top of the wall of water was now high above them. If Seth lost control, it would sweep in and drown them. They carried Seth up the second staircase, into the belly of the Inquisitorial stronghold. All Ellie could hear was the ominous silence of the water, and Anna’s heavy breathing. She couldn’t hear Seth at all. She kept watching the little blue wisps on his bare neck, praying they wouldn’t turn violent. She held her breath until at last they rose above the top of a thicket of mussels that indicated the high-water mark.

  They set Seth down, and Ellie squeezed his shoulder. ‘Seth, you can stop now,’ she whispered. ‘We’re above sea level.’

  She pulled a canister of whale oil and a small lamp from her pocket. She struck a match, revealing Seth’s tired face – his eyes unfocused, his lips dry. He shook his head, and as he did the sea came crashing down and swept up the steps, stopping just below their feet.

  ‘You did so well,’ Ellie told him.

  ‘Did it work?’ Seth said distantly.

  ‘Well, we didn’t drown,’ said Anna, gazing at Seth with the reverent look she normally reserved for vicious weapons. ‘What does it feel like?’

  ‘Like I’m a tiny voice,’ Seth croaked, ‘trying to shout at this massive, dark thing, to tell it what to do. Only it shouts back. And its voice is so much louder.’

  ‘But you moved it,’ said Ellie. ‘You didn’t lose control.’

  Seth smiled. They climbed the last few steps, coming up against a wide metal trapdoor. Ellie tried to push it open, but it didn’t so much as shudder. She moved the lamp around until she spied a tiny keyhole.

  ‘You do know how to pick locks, don’t you?’ said Seth.

  Ellie shrugged. ‘I’ve studied diagrams – I understand the theory.’ She pulled two thin pieces of metal from her pocket, then stared at the keyhole. ‘Um . . .’

  Anna groaned. ‘Move over,’ she said. She snatched the lock-picks from Ellie’s hand, slid them into the keyhole, then rattled them around inside.

  CLICK.

  Anna grinned mischievously in the lamplight, then went to heave the trapdoor open. Ellie touched her arm.

  ‘We need to make sure there’s no one up there,’ she said. She passed the lamp to Seth, then eased the trapdoor gently open, peering through the crack. A musty, damp smell seeped from inside, but no sound or light.

  Ellie motioned for Seth and Anna to stay put, then climbed up. Her heart clanged inside her head. A shred of lamplight revealed cracked walls and empty candleholders. A floorboard creaked beneath her boot. She paused, and listened.

  Seth’s large eyes watched her from the trapdoor. She beckoned, holding a finger to her lips, and they climbed up to join her, Seth easing the door shut behind them.

  They stood in a long dark corridor lined with oil paintings – portraits of austere, white-haired men, who looked like they thought themselves very important. They crept on, passing many wooden doors with tiny barred windows, like prison cells. Ellie wondered if anyone was locked inside, mouldering away in the dark.

  Ahead, a grey stone staircase led to the floor above. Ellie looked back at Seth and Anna and they nodded at her, their faces resolute and determined.

  A floorboard creaked overhead.

  Ellie’s heart lodged in the base of her throat. The three of them huddled together in the nearest doorway, and Ellie took the lamp from Seth and closed all the shutters, drowning out the light.

  She counted to ten, then opened the shutters on the lamp halfway, and they crept on towards the staircase. It was so narrow that she could feel the chill from the stone wall on her cheek. At the top, they paused again. Ellie poked the lamp round the corner, illuminating the new corridor. She counted eight doors on either side. She raised the lamp up higher, revealing a large pair of double doors at the far end.

  A shadow stepped across the beam of light. Its head turned towards them.

  Ellie wrapped her arms round the lamp without thinking. It was so hot that she almost dropped it, and Anna grabbed it to keep it steady.

  ‘Go back,’ Ellie whispered, as the light bounced drunkenly in the cramped stairwell. ‘Go back! Go back!’

  They fumbled on the steps as Seth tried to move backwards. But he couldn’t turn in the tight space. Ellie took a step towards the corridor, twisting to give them more room. A face appeared before her; large bright eyes and gleaming white teeth. Ellie fell back into Anna.

  ‘What is it?’ Seth whispered. ‘What’s happening?’

  Finn was smiling down at Ellie from the top of the stairs, his golden locks like fire in the lamplight, his eyes swimming with joy.

  ‘What an adventure this is!’ he said, his voice dancing up and down the corridor. ‘And just think – at any moment an Inquisitor could walk out of one of these doors, and you’ll have no choice but to ask for my help!’

  ‘Go away,’ Ellie whispered, shamefully aware that Seth and Anna could hear her talking to someone only she could see.

  ‘Why so mean?’ said Finn, resting his fists on his hips. ‘It’s not fair to be mean to me. Remember – I have a wish to use. And if you’re not going to be fair, then I can be very unfair. All these wa
lls, why, I could melt them away, just like I did when you jumped from that tower. Then the Inquisitors will see the three of you together. You’ll all be executed. And it will be entirely your fault. You’re always saying it’s your job to protect Anna. But then, you said the same thing about me, and look how that ended.’

  Ellie took a deep breath, feeling the corners of her eyes itch. Ice shards stabbed her chest.

  ‘You wouldn’t do that,’ she whispered. ‘You need me alive.’

  A warm hand touched Ellie’s arm. ‘It’s Finn, isn’t it?’ said Seth. ‘Ellie, ignore him.’

  Ellie stepped round Finn, but he followed after her.

  ‘Oh, so brave, Nellie,’ he said, puffing out his chest and putting on a deep voice. ‘Marching into the belly of the beast. But if you keep this up, you’re going to get people killed, believe me.’

  ‘Then what should I do?’ Ellie mouthed. ‘If I let you win, you will kill people.’

  A floorboard creaked loudly beneath Anna’s boot, and they all froze. Ellie held her breath, listening for footsteps behind closed doors, for the scraping of chair legs or the clink of swords against scabbards.

  Finn leaned on Ellie’s shoulder. ‘What do you even think you’ll find in Hestermeyer’s diary?’

  ‘A way to stop you.’

  Finn shook his head, and his necklace of trinkets jangled. ‘But why do you want to stop me? I can give you the thing you want most.’

  From far below, there was an eruption of sound that sent a chill down Ellie’s spine and into the pit of her stomach. A grown man’s scream of anguish, like from a pain deep inside his bones.

  Ellie hurried on towards the double doors ahead, praying none of the other doors would open. She extinguished the oil lamp, and reached out a trembling hand for the doorknob.

  But the doors didn’t open.

  No, she thought. Please.

  She groped in the dark for Anna, slapping both lock-picks into her palm. Anna bent over, fumbled to find the lock, and slid them into the keyhole.

  There was a rattle of a doorknob behind them, and the squeaking of rusted hinges.

  With a sharp intake of breath, they pressed their backs flat to the double doors, gazing into the darkness. Ellie pushed her thumb through the hole in her coat sleeve, nervously gripping the frayed cloth.

  A shadow emerged from the furthest doorway, silhouetted by a sliver of light from inside. Anna’s hand reached for Ellie’s, squeezing it tight, her palms damp with sweat. Ellie’s other arm lay across Seth’s chest. She could feel his hammering heartbeat.

  The Inquisitor reached back into the doorway, collecting a lamp from inside the room. Anna’s hand gripped tighter.

  ‘If he looks this way . . .’ Finn whispered. Ellie could see his gleaming smile out of the corner of her eye. Seth’s fists were clenched, prepared to run or fight. Anna’s breath was loud in Ellie’s ears.

  Then the Inquisitor turned his back to them, and headed down the stairs.

  Ellie’s vision swam with specks of silver. The three of them slid down the doorframe, then Ellie felt Anna’s sweaty hand pushing against her cheek, knuckles knocking against her teeth as she shoved Ellie’s head aside to access the keyhole. Ellie heard the lock-picks rattling by her ear, then a quiet click. Anna eased the door open and they hurried inside.

  Though they were surrounded by darkness, Ellie could feel the immensity of this new room. The air was colder, and smelled of sawdust and old paper. She relit the lamp, illuminating a chamber that looked a lot like her workshop, if someone had tidied up. Stretching into the darkness were rows of shelves piled high with wooden boxes, leather chests, neatly folded clothes and stacks of tattered books.

  ‘Oh, it’s the Inquisitors’ closet,’ said Anna.

  ‘What sort of things have you got in your closet?’ said Seth, pointing to the nearest shelf, where there was a taxidermy seal with its eyes missing.

  They moved between the shelves. Ellie spotted dusty bottles of wine, and framed portraits, and a child’s rocking horse. Here and there, large brass plaques had been fixed to the shelves. On those plaques were names:

  18: OLIVIA CLAXTON

  4: ANDREW URWIN

  11: MERL STANTON

  The possessions had not been stored in any particular order, and there were stretches of shelf that lay empty, presumably until a new Vessel died to fill them. The smaller the number, the more worn the possessions: the clothes yellower, the paper crumblier and the metal rustier.

  13: MARTHA ORR

  28: RIVER BOWDITCH

  Ellie stepped over to River Bowditch’s shelves. She picked up a small shirt, unfolding it across her front. It had a dark red-brown stain in the middle. She winced and put the shirt back down, inspecting some of the other items: a toy rabbit with a button nose, and a bow made from a crudely curved stick, with a string running from one end to the other.

  Ellie felt a twinge in her gut and turned away from River’s possessions. She searched the other shelves for Hestermeyer’s name. Brass plaques glinted in the lamplight. How many of these people had been real Vessels? Ellie thought. How many had been wrongly accused, like Seth? Glumly, she wondered which of these empty spaces they would put her possessions in. They’d need a lot of shelves.

  41: FELIX KERNAGHAN

  29: PATRICK HUNTER

  ‘Ellie, look at this.’

  Seth’s voice called to her from the darkness. She found him at the edge of the room, between the rows of shelves.

  A huge, sprawling mural was painted up the wall, all the way to the ceiling. On it were many craggy yellow shapes, floating in a faded blue. Her eyes fell on a particularly large one, near the top. Two words were written on it:

  THE CITY

  ‘It’s a map,’ said Ellie, wondering why Seth was so interested in it.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Seth. ‘But it’s different from the one in your workshop.’

  Ellie held the lamp up, illuminating the top of the mural. She saw the many smaller islands that lay off the coast of the City: the hunting islands, where wild wolves and boars ran free; the farming islands, where endless fields of crops were cultivated. They were a few days’ sea journey at most from the City.

  Ellie lowered the lamp: a week’s journey, two weeks’, a month’s. The islands vanished, the sea now vast and empty, beyond the reach of even the boldest whale lord. Nothing but blue.

  And blue.

  Then new islands appeared.

  First came a tiny islet, unlabelled. Then another, and another. Then a jagged shape the size of a hunting island. Ellie lowered the lamp further.

  And found a new shape. Even larger than the City.

  Ellie stared. ‘What is this?’ she said. ‘How can there be another island that large? There are no other islands like the City. This has to be a mistake.’

  She looked left and found Finn at her side, staring at it intently. She didn’t like the hungry look in his eye.

  ‘I don’t think it’s a mistake,’ said Seth darkly. ‘I think it’s a secret.’

  Ellie felt a great, creeping weight on her shoulders as she stared at the island.

  ‘Ellie,’ Anna’s voice whispered through the dark. ‘I’ve found him.’

  Ellie’s stomach flipped, and she hurried to Anna’s side, two rows over, beneath a towering bank of shelves filled almost entirely with books.

  45: CLAUDE HESTERMEYER

  ‘Can you see the copies of his diary?’ asked Ellie.

  ‘No,’ replied Anna. ‘I’ve got something better.’ She held out a small, worn, leather-bound brown book with no title. A thrill shot up Ellie’s spine. ‘I think this is the original.’

  Anna put it in Ellie’s hands. Ellie turned the pages carefully and familiar phrases leapt out in shaky, careful handwriting. This was it – Hestermeyer’s own diary. She turned, and turned, and turned.

  Then her finger curled beneath a page and found . . . a gap.

  ‘No,’ Ellie breathed. ‘No, no, no!’

  She looked at
the left page, then the right one. The exact same section was missing.

  ‘No!’ she cried, flicking the pages back and forth, back and forth, as if the vanished pages might suddenly reappear.

  Merry, tinkling laughter filled the room. Finn rubbed tears from his eyes.

  ‘Oh, Nellie, if only I had a mirror!’ he giggled, his cheeks rosy red. ‘You should see yourself. You look so surprised!’

  ‘What did you do?’ Ellie whispered.

  ‘Nellie,’ Finn scolded her. ‘Work it out! How many of those drawings of mine did I rescue for you? There were loads of them – hundreds even! I didn’t just take those pages from your copy of the diary. I took them from every copy.’

  He laughed so hard he began to wheeze. Ellie turned away, clutching her hands to her ears. She found it was difficult to breathe.

  ‘It’s okay,’ said Seth, putting a hand on her shoulder. Her mouth was dry; she could barely speak. It wasn’t okay.

  ‘The pages are gone,’ she managed to gasp finally. ‘They’re gone.’

  ‘It’s okay,’ Seth kept saying.

  ‘He can’t win,’ she whispered. ‘I have to fix this. I have to stop him.’

  ‘We will, Ellie. We will.’

  ‘But how?’ Ellie moaned. A sob was curled up painfully in her chest, and she was struggling not to let it escape. Finn was still emitting tiny giggles as he got his breath back.

  ‘Oh, Nellie. Oh, dear Nellie. You’re too much fun. Did you really think a few pages in a book would give you the secret to destroy me?’

  Ellie glared at him. ‘If they couldn’t, then why did you go to so much effort to get rid of them? You do have a weakness, and Hestermeyer found it.’

  Finn looked at her a moment, and his small smile vanished. He licked his lips, and bared his teeth in a wide, hideous grin. ‘If he knew my weakness,’ he said, pointing to the shelves, ‘how come I still killed him?’

  Ellie turned from Finn to hide her face, afraid that he was right.

  ‘Ellie?’

  Anna’s voice was hollow, and a little confused. She was holding up a pile of yellowed, tattered pages. A title was written across the top in a neater, more confident hand than the writing in Hestermeyer’s diary: