Encante (11 page)

“Abandoning his world for Vee’s, you mean?”

She nodded. “Father may take some convincing, but he already thinks you a good man. And he’s been desperate for me to leave this ship since I was brought aboard. He has even considered asking you to take me when you leave.”

“He has said nothing to me of this!”

“Nor to me,” she assured me. “He cannot come to terms with the notion of never seeing me again. It gives him . . . pause.”

That caused me to pause myself.

“Are you certain about this, Drusilla?” I pulled us up short and studied her face. “I can try my best to bring us back to visit, but navigating to a specific location on a world is impossible without a true portal, and even then it’s tricky at best, without trying to navigate to a specific person . . . Unless the Kabbalah suddenly decides to free the gods. I make my trips utterly blind. It’s happenstance that has brought me to Idele four times, and I have appeared in vastly different locations each time. We have no idea where your family might be a day from now, a week. You may truly never see them again.”

“I know.” She smiled. “But for the first time in my life, having an uncertainty in my future is a pleasant thing. Besides, I shall be with you.”

We rounded a corner and caught sight of her brother, finally, busy with two of the repair technicians on a section of piping that appeared to have come loose from the wall.

“Axel!” she called out, but before he’d even lifted his head, our path was blocked.

Drusilla half tripped up she was so shocked. Evidently she’d been so intent upon finding Axel she hadn’t sensed her uncle’s approach. I sought for something to say, even as she regained her composure, but before either of us could speak, he backhanded her across the face with such force she was flung into the wall and slid to the deck. Axel cursed and ran towards us. I did not stop to think. My fist connected with Everett’s jaw before he’d recovered from striking her. He rocked backwards but did not fall. Larger men had been easily downed by my right hook.

“Traitorous whore,” he spat at her. “You’re no better than your wretched mother.”

“Uncle!” Axel tried to restrain Everett, but he was no match in strength. I half blocked the blow that followed, but it still sent me reeling. Before I could recover, two sailors came up behind me and locked both my arms behind my back.

“You truly thought you could hide anything from me, wench?” He laughed. “You really thought you had
freedom
aboard this vessel? You’re an abomination. I know all that is said in that room of yours, all that is done. You’ll be going
nowhere
.” He shook his nephew off his arm and turned to the technicians behind him. “See my niece escorted to a cell with Mister Escher here. They will learn their place while I deal with these new encante.” Drusilla’s face fell, while Axel looked only confused. “Oh yes, you may think them superior and strong, girl, but I shall make them slaves, just as their kind have always been slaves.”

“My kind have
not
always been slaves!” Drusilla struggled as she was manhandled to her feet. My own struggling increased at the sight, but it was useless; with my arms pinned behind me and two of them restraining me, I hadn’t a hope.

“What other encante? Uncle, let her go!” Axel gave up worrying at Cage and turned his attention to his sister’s bleeding face. “Dru, what’s he talking about?”

“They’ll make me the richest man alive,” Everett snorted at her, “even more so than the fabled treasure that drew me here.”

“Treasure?” Axel asked in confusion, struggling to stem the blood flowing from her nose.

“The stupidity of the young.” Everett laughed again. “I came here seeking treasure, boy, not
science
. Now, see your sister is taken in hand, or I’ll be locking you up with her. As for you,”—he turned to sneer at me—“this is what you get for eschewing my hospitality.”

This time I took the full force of his fist, and it left me in darkness.

Chapter Fourteen

I
faded in and out of consciousness for some time. The room we were in was small, dark and bone dry. Drusilla suffered from it sooner that I, for the seal on the door left the same air circulating, and it soon ran thin. My throat was scratchy from it, and dry as old bones. She became weaker by the hour as I struggled to regain full consciousness. By the time I was of any use to her, she could barely sit up.

“What’s wrong?” I croaked.

“I need water,” she whispered.

“They’ve not so much as brought you a drink?” I was shocked. Even by Everett’s standards it was cruel.

“More than drink, I need . . .” She shook her head, one pale hand holding her own throat. “Swim.”

“Swim?” I straightened and shuffled across the floor to her.

She laid her head on my lap gratefully and I stroked her hair, snatching my fingers back when I felt it. Brittle as straw, it crackled beneath my fingers.

“Drusilla do you need water like the other encante?” I was suddenly panicked. It had never even occurred to me. She only whimpered in response. I thought of her usual glorious hair, fine as silk, and how it had shrivelled so swiftly. Was that happening to the rest of her?

“It’s all right,” I said. “I’m going to get us out of here.” I fumbled in my pocket for my compass. “I know you wanted to say goodbye, but we don’t have a choice now, we must leave immediately.” I felt her nod against my leg.

I pulled my compass free, wondering that they’d not taken it from me. They must not know what it was. Everett might think he knew everything but he was wrong. I thanked the gods Drusilla and I hadn’t discussed Axel’s love affair with Cage’s precious Vee, or the poor boy would have been in here with us. I twisted the dials gently, aligning them to the correct constellations for home and praying that we would appear somewhere friendly, close to an appropriate water source. I got the final dial in place and hugged her tightly to me. She whimpered again as I rearranged her so she sat in the crook of my legs, her head on my chest.

“It’s a little disconcerting at first, you’ll feel strange, but it doesn’t last long. Are you ready?” I didn’t wait for a response, but shifted the mechanism around, holding my hand a little further away from her face, just to be sure, and watching as the cogs and dials began to turn and spark.

Nothing happened.

Cursing, I tried again.

Still nothing.

Had the water on my arrival damaged it? It had been wet before with no consequence. I tried a third time, fighting growing panic.

“I didn’t know,” Drusilla choked. “I swear, I didn’t know, not until they brought us here. Even then, I didn’t believe it, they don’t even really know what it is.”

“Didn’t know what?” I demanded. When she didn’t answer I shook her slightly. “Drusilla, you didn’t know what?”

“I told him about the compass,” she sobbed. “When you first arrived. I didn’t think—I didn’t know! He asked how you’d come here. I didn’t know you. I told him you had a portal, I thought that’s what it was.”

“It’s all right. Hush, hush now, don’t upset yourself.” I kept the expletives I wished to voice to myself, realising too late she’d hear them regardless. Whatever Axel said, I knew she heard more than the general gist of what I was thinking. She seemed to pick up on my thoughts almost word for word.

“It’s all right; it’s not your fault.” I told her more decisively. “You didn’t know. But how has he sabotaged it? It’s not been out of my sight. And if he thinks it’s a portal, that makes even less sense. They do not work in the same way at all.”

“Newt,” she hissed, “and Harrow, they did something. Something to do with the hull.” She sniffed. “And magnets? I don’t know, I know nothing of their science, only my own.”

I cursed again.

“I didn’t know!” she cried again. “Not until they brought us here, and Uncle thought about it; he’s better at hiding his thoughts from me than I realised. By then it was too late.” She resumed her sobbing. I patted at her absently, struggling to breathe.

I always had my compass. I always had a way out. No matter where I was, or what the situation, I always had an escape. But if those damnable scientists had magnetised the hull, the compass would never work. We’d have to get away from the Narwhal, and quite a distance, in order for it to function again.

My compass was broken.

There was no way out.

Chapter Fifteen

A
hollow scream startled me from sleep. I opened my eyes, squinting against a splitting headache. Against my chest, Drusilla barely drew breath. More noises sounded outside and suddenly the wheel lock on the door span before it was wrenched open. Air filled the room, and I suckled at it greedily.

“Thank the gods!” The ashen form of Horatio Drew stepped inside, followed by his son. “She still lives?”

I managed a feeble nod.

Drew somehow turned even paler at the sight of his daughter, and lifted her from my arms without another word. I stumbled out into the hall, almost falling over two downed sailors who had, presumably, been set to guard our cell. Several encante stood in the corridor, including the chef, Lefe, and two of his assistants. Dane, Piccolo and Orville, the farmers from the hydroponics bay were there also, with more I did not recognise. Most appeared to be fine, however several sported injuries. Vee appeared from behind Lefe, making a small series of clicking noises at the sight of Drusilla, before turning and running down the corridor. She got halfway, paused, and turned to beckon emphatically.

“I think she’s saying to hurry,” I told them.

“You think?” Drew’s voice could have corroded iron, but he hurried after Vee nonetheless. We encountered several more of the crew en route, but they were dealt with swiftly enough by the encante accompanying us. It would seem they were more than capable of rebellion when given a chance. I knocked more than one sailor out myself, including Reuben Williams, who seemed gleeful at the prospect of killing the man who had stolen his bunk. His hopes were soon dashed, and from him I acquired a black eye and a rather nice holster pistol. I gladly kept the latter, fearful of further trouble, but suspected the former would stay with me for some time.

“They’ve been communicating with the others,” Axel told me breathlessly. “The ship is under attack even as we speak, and it doesn’t look like it will survive. We must get out.”

“Is that even possible?” I asked. “Are we near the surface.”

“Near enough.”

We rounded another junction and came to an abrupt halt.

Minerva blocked our path, and from the look of the encante, they were unsure whether she was friend or foe. From the look on her face, I could not tell either. Truth be told I’d forgotten about the woman.

“Axel, what have you done?”

“What I must, Mother.” He stepped forwards. “You could not possibly think I’d allow my sister to slowly die.”

“It’s no more than she deserves,” Minerva hissed. “Treacherous bitch.”

“Enough, woman,” Drew growled at her. “Let us by. Better still, come with us! I would not see you die aboard this tin can, whatever may have passed between us.”

Minerva sneered at him. “Always so romantic, Horatio! Tell me, was that the best you could manage for that bitch’s wretched mother, or did you speak sweet nothings to her, as you did to me when we first met?”

“You’re the one who poisoned our marriage, Min. I turned to another for solace, not lust.”

“You lay the blame with me?”

“Entirely. Now I’ll say again, for the sake of the son we share,
please
Minerva.” He was utterly sincere. “Come with us.” I could see her waver; she was at least considering it.

“Please, Mother.” Axel held his hands out to her and she took them tentatively. “I can’t leave you here to die, come with us. We’ll build a new life, a better life.” He turned back to Vee who smiled shyly. “Together.”

It was a mistake. Minerva’s eyes narrowed as she looked from her son to the whore who pleasured her brother, and finally fitted the pieces together. She flew at Vee with such ferocity even I was startled. I’d thought her such a mouse.

“Mother!” Axel grabbed her by the waist and dragged her away, but not before Minerva’s fingernails had carved deep furrows into the poor girl’s cheeks. Her eyes puffed up in a strange version of tears and the noise she made ripped through me. Axel flung his mother to one side in his haste to reach Vee, and Minerva’s head hit a pipeline hard. She fell to the floor, dead or unconscious. Drew cursed, but stepped over her.

“Let her rot here then,” he said.

Without another glance he took his daughter off down the corridor, unwilling to waste more precious time on the very woman who had made Drusilla’s life such a misery. The rest followed. I remained with Axel, who vacillated between trying to get a good look at Vee’s scratched face, and dithering over what to do with the unconscious woman at his feet.

“We could try carrying her?” I ventured, although I was far from keen on the notion. He straightened suddenly and shook his head.

“No.” He stepped over his mother’s prone form. “She made her bed, let her bloody drown in it.”