by Rob May
They hugged each other tight as something shambled past their hiding place, its heavy feet shaking the snow.
‘Good thinking!’ Kal whispered into Deros’s ear. ‘We would have been done for!’
‘Well, yeah, it was either this or try and fight it,’ Deros said in a faintly hysterical voice. ‘But I think two against one might have been a little unfair on the poor creature!’
Kal just hugged him tighter. ‘You saved us!’ she said. ‘I’m so, so sorry. Coming up here was a stupid idea. It’s all my fault.’
‘No, no,’ Deros tried to soothe Kal, despite being almost crushed underneath her. ‘You wanted to help Mister Speckle. It’s my fault we were even out here in the first place. I wanted to find treasure so bad. We should have stayed home and gone skating on the river instead with all the other kids, but you were kind enough to come with me on this stupid quest.’
Kal almost laughed. ‘Okay then,’ she said. ‘It can be your fault!’ She kissed him on the frozen nose. ‘Now let’s get home as fast as we can. Do you think it’s gone yet?’
When they emerged, the canyon was in darkness. The sun had almost disappeared behind the mountains, and when they reached the mouth of the canyon, the sloping field of snow they had climbed to get here was glowing orange. The sunset sparkled on the icy limbs of the Watcher Tree, and the forests and village below were just dark shadows.
A darker shadow moved along the tree line. Something was down there, something big.
‘What do you think it is?’ Kal said.
Deros squinted as he peered into the gloom. ‘It’s either a giant or a troll … or maybe even a giant troll!’
They watched it as it following the path they had taken along the tree line to Dark Dell, where they had discovered the stash of fool’s gold. The troll, or whatever it was, seemed to be following the only tracks it could find. But when it didn’t find them at Dark Dell, it would follow their scent down through the forest and back—
‘Home!’ Kal cried. Suddenly she was more scared than ever. Her parents’ cottage was the first place the creature would come to as it descended the mountain. ‘We have to do something!’ she said. ‘We have to warn them!’
‘How?’ Deros said. ‘Build a big fire? That wouldn’t be very sensible; the troll would come back up and get us instead. They always tell us to run and hide if we see a monster. Let’s go down to the forest and climb a tree!’
Climb a tree … the Watcher Tree!
‘Come on, then!’ Kal said, hurling herself down the mountain slope. Her legs gave way almost immediately, but she fell onto her belly and started sliding down the snowy field. She shifted her shoulders to adjust her direction until she was heading directly for the Watcher Tree—the giant pine that stood alone, half a mile above the tree line.
It was a hair-raising ride. At one point Kal realised that she was skidding so fast she would probably break all her bones if she hit the tree. She twisted around until she was speeding feet first, and pulled her axe out of her belt. She jammed it into the snow behind her, using the blade as a brake. It was barely enough. She was still going to smash her legs at this speed. At the last second, Kal turned side-on and hit the trunk of the Watcher Tree with a solid thunk that drove the air from her lungs, and sent snow crashing down on top of her from the branches above.
How many years had it been since someone last climbed the Watcher Tree and rang the great bronze bell? A hundred? Two hundred? How many years since someone had actually even kept watch up here? Refuge had been a safe haven for so many years that the villagers had got complacent. Well, tonight they were going to get one hell of a wake-up call. Kal gritted her teeth as she climbed the ladder of nails that had been driven into the trunk many generations ago. All her limbs were sore, and the cold wind burned her throat as she gasped for breath.
The trunk of the Watcher tree split into a V, and the bell hung between it, secured by a tangle of ancient rope and branches. A thick rope hung down, but when Kal pulled on it, it just snapped off. She tried to knock the clapper against the rim, but she couldn’t move it hard enough or fast enough, and it just made a dull clang. Kal tried to push the bell instead, ducking underneath it and putting her shoulder to the rim. But it was no good; it wouldn’t budge.
She swore out loud—the first time she had ever uttered such a bad word louder than a quiet whisper into her pillow at night. Looking back, she could see Deros picking his way carefully down the slope; he was anxious to help, but not so keen as to risk his neck sliding down.
The sun vanished behind the western peaks. Suddenly it seemed twice as cold. Kal knew her father would be standing in the doorway of the cottage right now, looking out for her return. Kal’s mother would be inside, pretending she wasn’t worried. And somewhere in the forest, the troll was hunting for food …
Spurred on by the urgency of the situation, Kal scrambled up the boughs of the tree until she was perched above the bell. She studied the frozen knot of ropes and branches for a moment, then took her axe from her belt.
She struck once. Nothing happened.
She struck twice. The bell shifted a fraction of an inch.
She struck again. A frozen bough cracked and split in two, and Kal almost fell out of the tree as the giant bell plunged down a foot, then swung outwards. As it swung back, the clapper hit the rim with a resounding bong.
The effect was almost instantaneous. As if responding to ancient ingrained fears, shouts and horns sounded down in the village, and fires were lit. Kal lay back against the bark in relief. The villagers would make their way to the cave under the ridge across the river. The braver ones would see off the troll with noise, fire and blades.
Deros finally made it up the tree. He and Kal joined hands, turned towards the village … and watched.
* * *
They watched for an hour. By then, the village fires were low, and the noise subdued. The troll hadn’t returned, so it was either dead or had been chased off in some other direction. Kal and Deros couldn’t wait around any longer; they descended from the Watcher Tree and, finding their way by feel and starlight alone, made their way home.
Kal’s cottage was deserted, the front door hanging open. She wasn’t worried, though—not yet. Deros squeezed her hand, but she just shook it off. They continued past her parents’ carpentry shed (Kal had been in there just this morning, helping her mother paint a new table for the White Horse Inn), passed a row of new brick houses (also deserted) and continued on to the village green, a large rectangle of carefully mown and tended grass, bordered on one side by the river that ran through Refuge—the deep, swift and cold Green Beck.
The troll lay dead on the grass, its severed head some distance from its body. Kal approached it without fear: the shaggy head was almost as tall as she was, and the sharp fangs as thick and long as her leg. She touched its nose; it as still warm and wet, and felt like a horse’s muzzle.
‘Not so scary now, are you, you big lump,’ she said to it.
She heard cries and sobs of relief behind her, and turned to see Deros being embraced by his parents. Mister and Missus Brown were both woodcutters, and tonight they carried their sharp axes with them.
When they looked up and saw Kal, their expression turned from relief to sadness and sorrow.
Kal was now very worried. She was worried sick. The awful certainty of what had happened passed through her like a wave, and she fell to her knees.
The entire Brown family was around her, holding her, comforting her. Through her daze, she could only hear snatches of what they were telling her. ‘Your parents both fought the monster off as long as they could … held the bridge while the village was evacuated … very brave …’
‘It’s my fault,’ Kal croaked.
‘Kal, it’s nobody’s fault,’ Deros said. ‘The troll killed your parents, not you!’
It’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault!
V.ii
Aftermath
It’s my fault, it�
��s my fault, it’s my fault, it’s my fault!
Kal fought her way up out of the nightmare, just like she had on many previous nights. And like every previous night, she banished the regret and buried the sadness by swearing to herself that she would never, ever again let herself get dragged into foolish escapades to help or please others.
And then she remembered where she was.
The sick bay of the Mort Royal.
Following the destruction of the dreadnought, Kal had been dragged out of the water and put to bed with concussion. She remembered Doctor Tooth recommending a treatment called trepanning, before Lula had dragged him away. Then Kal had sunk into a deep sleep, and into the past.
Back in the present, it was now dark outside the portholes, and the ship bobbed on a gentle swell. Kal figured she had been out for at least ten hours. Long enough! She swung her legs off the narrow berth, steadied herself as a wave of dizziness washed over her, and then went looking for clothes.
In the next bed, Dogwood woke up to find Kal wearing his trousers. He waved an arm at her. It was an arm that was missing a hand.
‘How are you feeling?’ Kal asked. Dogwood’s roomy trousers fit Kal like mid-length pantaloons, but cinched with a belt they looked quite stylish.
‘I’m fine,’ he grunted. ‘It was all I could do not to scream when the doc cut it off, but I didn’t want to wake you.’
‘The doctor cut it off?’ Kal said, raising an eyebrow. ‘Did you get a second opinion first?’
Dogwood cackled. ‘Didn’t need one. My hand was so mashed it looked like a piece of seaweed. I’m not bothered, though. I’ll buy a gold hook with the bounty I’m going to collect for killing Jako, seeing as it turned out he was the leader of the pirates. Don’t forget, it was me who struck the fatal blow. I have a witness!’
Dogwood’s witness turned out to be Pip, who was in the bunk above. He looked a little green around the gills. ‘Hey, Kal,’ he spluttered. ‘The doc told me I was dead for half an hour! Drowned! They hung me by my ankles until twelve pints of water had drained. Captain Dogwood helped by whacking me with an oar until every last drop was out, and then I came to!’
Kal had to smile. She clasped the boy on his shoulder. ‘Thank you for stepping in with that dagger when you did. Dogwood should give you a cut of the bounty. Tell him that if he disagrees, you might forget what happened out there.’
Dogwood almost choked, and then he and Pip fell to arguing and negotiating. Kal was pleased that they had both survived the battle, but her heart fell at the thought of the Black Lotus, previously the Swordfish, lying at the bottom of the sea, along with its previous captain—
‘Kal, matey!’
She turned, and was confronted with a face she thought she’d never see again. The last time she had laid eyes on it, it had been grey and lifeless. But now the skin was full of life again; not the deep tanned brown it had once been, but a freshly-scrubbed pink. A patch covered one eye, but the other was a bright and clear blue.
‘Dead Leg!’ Kal exclaimed. ‘You were rescued, too!’
‘Rescued?’ Dead Leg spat. ‘My arse! When I regained my senses, I was chained to a hook in the flooded galley! It took all my strength to break free and swim out of the wreck. What did you do to my ship, Kal? I leave you in charge for one minute!’
* * *
While Ben talked to one of his admirals, Kal examined the paintings decorating the captain’s cabin. Famous Republic sea battles of the past, recorded for posterity in oils and hung in gilded frames: the Navy destroys the Indux Flotilla, despite being outnumbered three-to-one; the Navy lays siege to the frozen port of Novasky; the Navy brings down the Kraken of the Balibu Trench that had been terrorising the seas around Amaranthium. Kal wondered if Ben would commission a new painting: the Navy destroys the world’s biggest pirate fleet off the shores of Port Black.
The admiral finished making his report, saluted and left. Ben moved around the large map rolled out on the centre table, and began picking up small painted lead models of ships and putting them carefully away in a felt-lined ebony box. ‘It’s over,’ he told Kal. ‘We chased the last of the pirate ships and sunk them just as they tried to navigate the Nubaran passage through the reef, east of here. Three hundred and forty-three enemy ships destroyed, with less than a hundred friendly losses. We sank twenty-eight of those strange submarines, and even managed to capture one intact to send back to Amaranthium. This was a decisive victory, Kal—Port Black is safe again.’
Kal went over and studied the map. She picked up a lead dragon head, the size of a chess piece. ‘What does this represent?’
‘That,’ Ben said, ‘is some terrible sea serpent that accosted us between here and the reef. It was the most frightening thing I’ve ever seen, I tell you, Kal. It was a disgusting sickly green, with a mouthful of teeth, and it almost stretched up to snatch my crew off the deck. We’ll be taking a different route back tomorrow, that’s for sure.’
Kal looked up from the map. ‘Tomorrow?’ she said. ‘But, Ben—Sirensbane is still out there …’ She waved a hand across the thousands of islands on the map. ‘… somewhere.’
Ben shrugged. ‘But he’s not running Port Black, that’s the main thing. The new governor can put a bounty out on him—he’ll turn up eventually, I’m sure, hiding under a shell. Speaking of the new governor, I was thinking of installing your friend Lula. What do you think? She’s capable and popular with the locals.’
‘No,’ Kal said. ‘I mean, yes, Lula will make a good governor, but listen—Sirensbane still has a hideout somewhere where he’s pumping out that awful drug, and he has zombie Islanders working for him, Lula’s father among them most likely. They can be saved, Ben! Dead Leg came back from the curse, so we can’t just abandon them—’
‘I’m getting married, Kal,’ Ben said, suddenly changing the subject.
Kal was floored by this surprise revelation. ‘Married? You?’ She couldn’t quite take in what he was saying. ‘You asked Zeb to marry you?’
‘No,’ Ben said. ‘Of course not.’
‘She asked you?
‘No!’ Ben said emphatically. ‘I love Zeb, I do, but we can never be married. As paramour to a consul, she enjoys respect and privilege from her peers in the gambling business; and by extension I also gain support from the industry, since the casinos know I have an insight into their world, and their interests at heart. But Zeb and me, we have nothing to gain from actually marrying each other.’
Kal was stumped. ‘So then who?’
Ben gave a slightly embarrassed smile. ‘Marina of Eldragoro.’
Kal looked blank for a second, then she twigged …
‘Princess Marina? the King of Eldragoro’s sixteen-year-old daughter? Oh Ben!’
‘It was part of the deal I made with the king,’ Ben said, holding up his hands to fend off Kal’s glare. ‘We agreed to divide up profits from trade in the Auspice Islands, and join our countries by marriage to secure good relations in the future.’
Kal felt her dizziness return, and she had to sit down. ‘Ben,’ she said. ‘Please don’t tell me this whole business was just a power play. Did you put Sirensbane up to this? Is that why you’re not interested in hunting him? Did you let him escape? Ben, the man is a monster! He is beyond evil. You don’t know how far he’s gone, or how far he’ll go if you let him run free!’
Ben paled. ‘What? No, Kal! I never even met the governor of Port Back, let alone knew that he had become this Sirensbane character. Kal, I swear it. The first I heard of it was from you! The deal with Eldragoro was made at very short notice. I had to think on my feet to make sure they didn’t steal the Islands away from us. Yes, I may have took advantage of the situation, but—’
‘I don’t know if I believe you,’ Kal said. ‘I want to believe you, but I don’t know if you’re putting on an act, Ben.’
She stood and turned away from him. She could hear his heavy breathing behind her, as if he was as shocked as she was. ‘Kal,’ he said. ‘You’ve known me lo
nger than anyone. You know I tell stories, and you know I have secrets sometimes—things I don’t want to trouble you with—but I would never lie to you!’
Kal looked back over her shoulder.
‘You’ve changed so much since then, Ben,’ she said. ‘I just don’t think I do know you anymore.’
Ben didn’t reply. He just spread his palms. His expression was open, honest and distressed by Kal’s words.
They stared at each other in silence for some time. Kal couldn’t think of anything to say, so eventually she just left without a word.
* * *
Kal went topside, passing sailors and soldiers who were heading down for the comfort of their hammocks. The vast expanse of the Mort Royal’s main deck was as wide as the Kingsway back in Amaranthium. The only activity now, though, was marked by the clink of bottles and the smell of tobacco: small scattered groups of men and women were enjoying the quiet of the night. Two bells rang, followed after a short pause by a third. Kal couldn’t remember what time that indicated, only that the delayed bell meant that it was half past the hour, whatever hour it was. One o’clock in the morning, she guessed.
Lula was standing alone at the rail, smoking a cigar. Hanging above her, glittering in the moonlight, was the captured nautilus submarine, having been winched out of the water on a giant crane. It swung to and fro in the Reaping Wind. Kal joined Lula beneath it, and together they shared a silent smoke. The cigar was wrapped in dark, ripe leaves, and tasted rich and sweet. Kal started to relax at last.
Eventually Lula broke the silence. ‘Everything alright?’ she said.
Kal sighed and blew smoke out to sea. ‘Sirensbane escaped, if he was ever here. The Navy and the Armada are leaving tomorrow, though. Oh, and they want to you be the new governor.’
Lula spat over the side. ‘And work for the Republic? I don’t think so. I’m leaving tomorrow, too, Kal.’
‘Where will you go?’