It took a long time to get Kath out of
the hold and Ivor into it. As they passed at the door Kath’s face was as pale
as Ivor’s was red. It required the efforts of all of them to force the mate,
who was short but strong, into the brig even though his resistance was almost
entirely passive. He showed absolutely no regret, and had sunk into an
irritable sulk.
Once they had sorted
out this immediate problem they had to decide what to do next.
‘I can turn round and
we can probably avoid them, by taking the long northern route home. They’re too
far away from us to follow us without the signals…’ said the skipper
Kath was blinking in
the sunlight, ‘what are you talking about’ she mumbled, but no-one took any
notice of her. Potentilla was shaking her head.
Viola had said
nothing but continued to stare out to where she imagined the mysterious
watching boat might be if it were still visible. Inside, however, she was
wrestling with Laurence’s warning, and that was threatened to drown out
everything else. Everyone else waited
patiently for her instructions.
‘Perhaps we should turn around’ she said, ‘it would
be the safest thing to do’
‘Or we could pretend
to turn around’ said Dom, with as much confidence as he could muster.
The skipper narrowed
his eyes.
‘And how will we do
that, lad?’ he asked
Dom pointed to the
tiny rowing boat that was sitting in the middle-side of the deck. It was big
enough to carry only about three people comfortably. Kath began shaking her
head the moment she saw it.
‘No, no, no!’ she
wailed, ‘you must be joking!’
‘How far is the coast
from here, skip?’ Dom asked. The skipper sauntered down the stairs and came
back, some minutes later with a chart. He unrolled it on a bench and examined
it carefully.
‘Not far’ he said,
‘but a long way in that’
‘What’s your plan,
Dom?’ asked Viola warily.
Dom walked to the
side of the boat and waved his hands slightly theatrically over the water.
‘Flat calm’ he said,
‘Tillie and I could row us to the shore in a jiffy’
‘That’s not a proper
measure of time’ whispered Kath, with a note of desperation in her voice, ‘it
might as well be forever’
Viola walked round
the rowing boat twice. She examined it as if it were a tiger behind flimsy
bars.
‘Are you serious?’
she asked, ‘we wouldn’t all fit in it and we’d never make land’
‘Aye, you might’ said
the skipper, ‘if you were desperate…’
Viola was about to
say that, of course, they weren’t desperate and that going home was by far the
best option: then they could think more clearly about what was happening. But,
maybe, just maybe, she was beginning to get a little desperate; desperate to
find the naga and uncover what she was guarding; and desperate to work out why
she had been chosen to find these things out. And if they turned around now she
might never know, and what if that meant something dreadful would happen,
something that she could have prevented? She knew Laurence was right, but she
felt impelled to carry on; Ophia had asked her to do this and she couldn’t yet
deny her.
She waited, but she
knew that waiting would anyway be a sort of decision. Kath muttered and
threatened but Potentilla and Dom had already started to manhandle the rowing
boat to the side of the ship. The
skipper still looked sceptical but he moved towards them to help them anyway,
showing them how to tie on the ropes that would allow the little vessel to be
lowered into the water.
‘Come on, ma’am’ said
Potentilla, turning to face her, ‘you won’t let one boat scare us off, will you?’
Kath stopped moaning and
scowled at the lieutenant. Her face was even whiter now.
‘Don’t start
listening to her…’
Viola still hadn’t
said anything but she was almost sure now that they would have to go. Her
casting vote was going to fall on the side of the rasher members of the party.
‘How dangerous would
it really be?’ she asked of the skipper. He shrugged.
‘Well, it is a clear
still day, and we can get a bit closer before it becomes obvious what we might
have done. So we’ll sail on for another twenty minutes and then I can drop you
off. Then I’m thinking it’s a an hour’s row to the old harbour, if that’s where
you’re heading’
Viola was still
standing unmoved but by now she was nodding, as much to herself as anyone
else.
‘I plan to go, but not everyone has to come
with me…’
Kath’s expression
changed suddenly – her face went from petrified to affronted in an
instant. She had found a fear greater
than that of a miniscule boat on a mighty sea – the fear of being left behind.
‘Who do you mean by
that, Vee?’ she asked in a shaky voice.
Viola put her hand on
her friend’s shoulder; she had completely misinterpreted the tone in her voice.
‘I meant you, of
course, Kath. It’s finally your chance to go home’
Kath stared at her
unbelieving. Her voice dripped with indignation.
‘I don’t want to go home – can’t you remember? This was my idea’
Potentilla grinned and
nodded at Dom. They and the skipper finished tying off the boat and carefully
pushed it over the side. This took several minutes but then it was time to go.
They lowered the rowing boat down into the green sea. It looked very small and even though it was
only about ten feet down, it looked like a very long way. Potentilla unrolled a rope ladder, attached
it to two large iron hooks on the deck and clambered down it. Dom was just
behind her. She picked up an oar from
the bottom of the boat and examined in with enthusiastic bemusement. Kath stood on the deck and watched this. She
was coming down from her panic-induced high, and could feel her terror seeping
back.
‘She’s never rowed a
boat in her life, has she?’ she said to Viola
Viola smiled thinly.
‘She’s from a desert…so,
not much opportunity…’
Kath swayed from side
to side, almost certain now that she would faint.
‘This is utterly
insane…’
‘Yes’ said Viola,
‘but we have to try it – I’m sure of it. So, now let’s go down, shall we, if we
can’
She turned around and
shuffled backwards to find the top of the ladder. She stepped down very
carefully until she reached the deck of the swaying boat.
Kath hesitated for an
age at the top of the ladder, paralysed by fear, but also certain that she had
to join her friends. There was no way, however, that she could climb down,
there just wasn’t. She could hardly look down, but when she did she saw
Potentilla right below her, smiling and beckoning eagerly.
‘Jump, Kath’ she
said, ‘we promise that’ll we catch you’
Unable to think of
anything better to do Kath threw herself over the deck side and tumbled into
the rowing boat. There were enough bodies and arms below to cushion her fall
adequately, but the little vessel rocked violently. She curled up into a ball
where she had fallen, with hands over her eyes – she had no intention of moving
until they were on dry land.
The rowers now found
that they had to sit very awkwardly as Kath was in the middle of the boat.
Viola perched right at the back with her bottom only half-resting on anything.
She just hoped that it would be a short journey. They untied the ropes that held their tiny
boat against the fishing vessel.
Potentilla watched as
Dom slipped his oar into the rowlock. Dom nodded at her; she smiled back. He
nodded more insistently; she smiled more broadly.
‘Put your oar in the
slot, Tillie… please. We should go as soon as we can’
They all ducked down
instinctively as Potentilla struggled with the oar. Eventually, after a lot of
bashing and Visneorian swearing the oars were in place. It was time to go.
‘Good luck!’ shouted
the skipper from above, ‘make straight for the shore and make sure you tie her
up securely. It’s time for me to make a run for it. I’ll come back in a month’s
time and wait around for two days; after that you’ll be on your own…’
They all shouted up
their thanks and he batted away their pleasantries with a wave of his hands.
‘Get away with you,
you damn fools – I’ve never met a rummer crew. But good luck to yer, anyway…’
Dom began rowing,
with Potentilla struggling to match his stroke. They moved off in a graceful,
totally non-functional, arc. Dom just hoped that things would improve. The boat
behind them was already sailing away. Viola
was staggered by the stupidity of what they were doing, but it was too late to
turn back now. In front of her she could see nothing but the blue curve of the
horizon and she wondered with a shudder whether there was any land in front of
them at all.
‘And one last thing,
major…’ shouted the skipper at them across the swell.
‘What?’ asked Viola, turning
to look back. She strained to hear his voice, and anxiety suddenly rose in her
stomach again, ‘what’s wrong?’
The skipper lent over
the gunwale and bellowed out across the distance growing between them.
‘You owe me a row
boat’
A few seconds later
the fishing boat had turned and sailed off to the north-east. And about ten
minutes after that they were alone, a single dot in the middle of an empty
sea. The rowers struggled as they were hampered
by Potentilla’s lack of experience.
High above them
something was tracking them, but they couldn’t see it. And they couldn’t see it because it was so
small, so dark, and so far up. It was a black dragonfly, flying soundlessly
above the rowing boat. It had followed the path of the mate’s signals and after
the ship that had carried it had slunk away to the east it had made its steady
way across to their boat. Now it
patiently followed as the rowboat made for the shore.
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