[Danny]

is silver scaring anyone else? oh well, you'll be laughing on the other side of your face in a few chapters' time, my friend...

CHAPTER 22

The first sensation I felt as I awoke was a feeling of despair: a knowledge that I had failed. I sat up and opened my eyes. Looking around, I could see five bodies lying around the Deck: four mudokons and one glukkon. The two mudokon crewmembers were dead; no-one alive would have their head at that kind of angle to their neck. One of them, the one who’d tried to disarm me, also had his arms tied in a complicated knot. All of the bones had been totally shattered in the process, and by the look on his face, it had been done while he was still alive. His comrade had died more humanely, except that his rifle barrel had been shoved into his skull through his eye-socket. I didn’t pay much attention to them – they had been about to kill us anyway, probably. Besides, they were clearly dead; nothing would help them now. Eight. Fuck.

Quiss didn’t seem to have awoken throughout the fight: his face bore the same hauntingly peaceful expression that in had when we’d carried him from the crate. He lay on the floor because Vint, who had been supporting him, seemed to have fainted. As I leaned over Vint, examining him, I saw that one of the bones in his lower arm was broken. It didn’t look too serious, but I somehow suspected that it was my fault.

Olek’s injury seemed more serious. Like Vint, his arm had been broken, but unlike Vint, Olek of course had to walk on it, and so it would hamper him a lot more than it would Vint. He also seemed to have fainted.

I wasn’t sure whether or not I had directly injured Vint and Olek, but I knew that the injuries would not have happened if I had allowed the guards to take us prisoner. I slumped onto the floor, leaning against the wall, tears rolling down my cheeks in despair. I had tried to control the Killer and I had failed. Because of my arrogance, two of my friends were injured. I had delayed us in meeting up with Yan, Ulp, and Rixx, and made it all the more likely that we were all going to die. I made a promise to myself, there and then: I would never again allow the Killer to surface. I would push him down; I would fight him, but I would never allow him to take control.

“Ulven?” Yan’s voice broke my reverie. “Are you okay?”

I looked up. Through my blurred, teary eyes I could see three familiar figures approaching me in the darkness.

“What happened?”

I said nothing as they approached. When they were standing over me, I stood up, and collapsed into Yan’s arms, my tear-streaked face pressed into his shoulder. I wept unashamedly, and Yan comforted me, although I expect he had no idea why I was crying.

“His arm’s broken. It’s a clean break; we should be able to set it.” Ulp’s voice came from behind me, where Vint lay. “You’ve got some medical gear in your pack, haven’t you, Yan?”

I felt Yan nod, and heard sounds of activity to my right. I pulled away from Yan, and wiped my eyes. “Sorry,” I sniffed.

Yan looked at me, puzzled. “It’s all right.”

I shook my head. “Not for crying; for all of this.” When Yan looked puzzled at me, I continued. “I started the fight. They were just going to take us prisoner, but I attacked them. The Madness took over, and they were injured somehow.”

Rixx and Ulp, who were trying to set Vint’s arm, looked up at this. “The Madness?” Rixx’s voice sounded slightly worried. I said nothing. Yan sighed.

“We’d better wake up Quiss.”

I looked at him. “I’ll do it.” I still didn’t know why I felt this attachment to Quiss, but I didn’t want anyone else to awaken him. “You’d better get Olek out of the way first.”

Yan looked down at Olek, as if seeing him for the first time. “Err… Yeah. Ulp, could you and Rixx take him away and try and set his arm when you’re done with Vint?”

Ulp nodded, slowly. I wondered what Yan had said to him to remove his prejudices to this degree, but he seemed to be getting on fine with Rixx and didn’t seem to mind being told to help Olek, either. He finished patching up Vint’s arm, and then picked up the medical gear. With Rixx’s help, he carried Olek around the corner. I crouched down beside Quiss.

“Quiss?” I spoke quietly into his ear. He stirred. “It’s time to wake up.” Groaning, he slowly sat up and opened his eyes. I put my arm around his back, to support him. “We’re going, now, Quiss. Come on.”

“Where…”

I looked up at Yan, who crouched down. “We should find a lifeboat and get away. To Hell with Carthag.”

I turned back to Quiss. “But we’ll need you to help us carry things. Would that be okay? Vint and… Vint’s injured, you see.”

Quiss paused, then nodded. “Okay, I’ll help. Where are the others?”

“We’ll go and join them now. Come on.” I held out my hand. Quiss stared at it for a second, and then grasped it. I helped him up, made sure he was balanced safely, and then let go of his hand. Leaving him, I handed him Vint’s pack, which Yan helped him to put on. I pulled on my own pack, and then approached Vint. I was almost there, when I changed my mind, and called over Yan. “You’d better wake him.”

Yan looked puzzled. “Why?”

“Just… It’s just better that way; trust me.”

Shrugging, Yan moved to wake Vint. I turned away, and helped Quiss around the corner to where Ulp and Rixx were treating Olek. When he saw Olek, he tensed, but he didn’t cry out or attempt to run. I think it was probably because Olek was injured that Quiss saw that he wasn’t a threat. I asked Ulp and Rixx to take care of Quiss for a minute, and then set off down the hull of the ship.

Every few metres, I stopped and looked over the edge, looking for a lifeboat of some kind. After about two minutes, I came to a ladder that ran down the outside of the hull. At the bottom, a boat bobbed on the waves, tethered by a length of rope. I took bearings of my position, and then returned to the others. Yan and Vint had joined them, and I looked at Vint, trying to see if it was me who’d broken his arm. He refused to meet my eyes, and maintained a neutral poker face.

CHAPTER 23

We had some problems getting Vint and Olek down the ladder, but we tied a rope to the railings at the top, and lowered them down gently, and eventually we were all sitting in the lifeboat. Taking a knife out of his pack, Ulp sliced through the rope, and we were free from the Ship.

It was quite light by now, and we weren’t actually far from land: we could see the skyline of a city – Carthag, presumably – on the horizon, in front of the Ship. After a brief argument, we decided the head directly away from the ship for a while, then turn towards the City.

Olek was still unconscious, and Vint was very silent, and wouldn’t even meet my eyes. He fell into an uneasy sleep after a few minutes. Quiss also fell asleep soon after we got onto the boat, as did Rixx. Ulp sat brooding, watching Rixx, Vint and me. I was as silent as Vint, worried that I might let slip what had actually happened. Only Yan seemed fully awake and talkative, but he gave up and settled down to sleep when he realised that none of the rest of us wanted conversation. Ulp and I were supposed to be rowing, but I guess we both fell asleep, like the others. In any case, when I awoke, no one else was awake. It was midday by then, but the sun was hidden from us by thick black storm clouds.

Ignoring the rocking of the boat, I stood up. I had heard about storms at sea: they wrecked ships, even when there were no rocks within miles. The waves sometimes towered hundreds of metres into the air. Our small boat wouldn’t really stand a chance. Looking into the distance, I found that I could still see the city’s skyline. It seemed no closer than it had that morning, but the Ship was gone. We were alone out here.

I reached over the side of the boat, pulling off the lifebelts. Vint and Olek were my priority, as they would be unable to swim, but I found that there was more than enough for all of us. I put two each onto Vint, Olek, and Quiss, put one on myself, and woke the others.

“There’s a storm on its way. You’d better put one of these on.”

Sleepily, Yan and Rixx pulled theirs on. Ulp looked suspiciously at his, but eventually put it on. We sat in silence, waiting for the inevitable storm to break. I don’t know how, but I somehow managed to fall asleep again.