Malspire (22 page)

It was still quite a drop, so I began to edge my way, hand over hand down towards the water that I could now hear lapping on the silent paddle wheels. Finally, reaching the water, I eased myself into it. It was far colder than I had expected, and the chill took my breath away. It may have been spring but this far north, the waters never truly warmed and to me it felt like ice. Letting go of the chain, I sank at once. My boots, jacket, breaches, book and knife all conspired to sink me. I kicked and waved my arms in desperation. It was exhausting and took every bit of strength I had left in my tired body to break the surface. I coughed and spluttered, half swam and half kicked just to stay above the waterline and made my way around the ship. The launch was still there, tied to the ship’s steps. The two ladies sat sullen and cold in the bow. The two seamen where just getting in. I made for it, but now my body was going numb with the cold and effort. My muscles where already giving way. I got closer and forced myself to be silent. It was near impossible, but I had to try. The two seamen undid the rope, and sat at their oars. They were grumbling and cursing as they did so.

“Don’t blame us,” I heard one of the girls say.

If they set off now, I would never make it. It was so dark that they probably would not see me but I had to swim silently for any sound would alert them to my presence. The damned clothes dragged at me. Obringer’s clothes. They were lead weights and I was not strong enough to fight them, but I kept trying. I kept going. My shoulders now burned with the effort. Swallowing water, I had to force myself not to cough and splutter. Keep fighting, keep going, but I was too late. The seamen put the oars in the water and pulled on them. I despaired, only yards away now but it was just no longer possible to reach them.

“You there!”

The men stopped rowing and looked up. I kept going as quietly as I could. I was sinking, but reached out.

“If any more officers try to bring a lady on board, you are to inform me at once. You know the regulations!”

This was the last thing I heard as he went under. My fingers brushed against the boat, and I grabbed the rear keel, holding it as hard as I could knowing it would be slippery, but I had it, and then was pulled forwards. Surfacing again, I gasped for air. The noise of the oars now covered my gasping breathes of sweet air. The grip was tenuous and slipping so I reached up with my spare hand for a ring that hung from the keel which held a rope. I hooked my finger into it and finally relaxed, spent, frozen, but alive, and I allowed the seamen to drag me through the waters, back to land.

It was only a short trip, and the men grumbled at the labour, commenting that the ladies should lose weight to which they received very indignant and un-lady like responses. The men were obviously in no mood to flatter the ladies having recently been chastised for their part in events.

As the boat neared the pier, I had to steel myself again for more swimming. I wanted to leave it as late as possible, but didn’t want to be too close to the seamen when they reached the pier for fear of being spotted leaving the boat. At was dark, but I soon saw some harbour detritus in the light of the few lamps on the piers. Amongst the rubbish was a bobbing barrel. Without a second thought I let go of the boat and swam for it. I sank at once, but swam as hard as I could. At least they would not see or hear me, and kept going as far as my breath would hold. The question was whether or not I would have the strength to drag myself back to the surface again. My body was exhausted and my arms and legs moved more slowly than I willed them. I fought hard, finally letting out the precious air in a cry of desperation, but made it, just breaking the surface again.

When I came up, I did not look back. I did not have the strength. Either they would see me or they would not. I could hear the launch not far off, but I swam for the barrel, and just hoped I was not seen or heard. So weak now. I was losing any ability to fight the sucking depths, but with a final desperate effort of will, I manage to reach the barrel, and hugged it for the dear life saver it was, gasping for breath. Now I dared look round and saw as the launch knocked against the pier. The grumbling seamen sent the ladies on their way, and went back to playing cards on a crate. I was near spent.

Kicking, hugging the barrel, I began the long swim back to my ship and crew. I kept looking east and feared the rising sun. It would both make me visible in the waters and ruin the final part of our plan. Time passed. I kicked and kicked. It was slow going. I just wanted to rest, wanted a soft cot, and a bottle of fiery wine and a big woman to warm me. I kicked and just kept going. Eventually I rounded a cargo ship, and there, saw the black silhouette of The Wraith Deep. Looking up, there was a thin line of grey on the horizon. Dawn was coming. With renewed purpose, I forced myself to kick harder, and finally I was spotted as I came up alongside the ship.  The men were all awake and keeping a weather eye. They sent rope ladders down, and men came down to fetch me and drag my spent body to the deck where I lay coughing up seawater.

“Captain?”

“Give him room, lads.”

I heard the voices but did not know who was talking.

“Captain?”

Drifting off.

“The dawn, Captain.”

Dawn. Dawn!

I looked up at Harl who was holding me.

“Hurry,” I coughed. “Hurry! Take the book.”

Harl looked through my inside pockets and found the book. Dr. Eebel then arrived and told the men to stand back.

“Copy the book!” I croaked. My vision was blurring. The last thing I saw before passing out were the doctor’s dark eyes.

***

Alone in my cabin, I was weak but rested. The engine was running. The paddle wheels churned the water. I heard seagulls, and stared at the deck above me. It was all slowly coming back to me. The brothel, the rebel officer, the blood. I had killed two men. The cold water and desperate fight not to drown. I had fought. It was all coming back to me now. The plan was to take a lectrocode book, copy it and then what?

I sat up in the cot. My body shook from fatigue and hunger. I was dressed in a white cotton overall. We were at sea. The plan was to return the book to the dead officer together with his uniform and signet ring. My finger had no ring. The signet ring was gone. Then the men were to take the body and a sailing boat out to the harbour rocks where they would shipwreck the boat with the dead officer, and leave him for the rebel navy to find. They would think that he had tried to make his way to an Imperial port where he was going to hand over the code book and become an Imperial hero. Thinking about it now, it was a weak plan. What if the rebel officer was beyond reproach? Then the rebels would know that something was amiss. What if they changed the code just to be on the safe side? The door opened and doctor Eebel stepped in.

“You’re alive,” the doctor remarked. He did not seem too thrilled about the fact

“I am.”

Mister Harl followed him in and smiled at me. “Captain.” He knuckled his forehead.

“Mister Harl. Tell me. What happened?” I gestured to one of the chairs.

“We did it as we planned it, sir,” Harl said, taking a seat. “We put the rebel in the sailing boat with the book in his pocket. I took it over to the rocks and smashed her there and left him on the rocks. Then I swam back.”

“And you weren’t seen?”

“No, Captain. I’m sure I wasn’t. It was getting light but I think we got away with it.”

“And the copy?”

“All copied, sir. Mister Olvan did it. Had to write quick, but you can make it out.”

I nodded and sighed with relief.

“So,” said the doctor. “They find this officer with the code book and reckon all is said and done and that’s an end to it?”

“Yes. At least that’s what I’m hoping.”

“You do realise they aren’t stupid. They’ll suspect foul play.”

“They might,” I admitted. “But will they consider it enough cause to re-write their codebook?”

“Quite a gamble.”

“War is a gambling man’s game, doctor.” I noticed a change in the doctor. He seemed less agitated. He wasn’t drunk and his hands weren’t shaking.

Mister Olvan now entered the cabin, and saluted. “Good to see you awake again, sir.”

“Thank you Mister Olvan.”

“How are you feeling?”

“I’ll live…”

“There’s more, Captain,” interrupted Harl.

“Go on.”

“I know you would have wanted to wait for the right time to leave and we should have asked you, but the doctor insisted that we let you rest, so Mister Olvan suggested we give it a couple of hours so as to not arouse any suspicion.”

“I see. We seem to be on our way, so I presume all went well?”

“It did,” said Olvan. “But we did hurry in the end. The whole harbour began to move, sir. There was a lot of commotion, and ships manoeuvring. We saw that the battleships were making ready to leave port and we wanted to be out of there before they clogged up the entrance.”

“Did anyone try to stop us?”

“No. All the rebel naval vessels were heading out. Nobody bothered with us, but that’s not the half of it. When we made the open seas, we saw a fleet, sir.”

“A fleet?”

“Yes, sir. A second rebel fleet. A grand thing in the morning light. You did say they were gathering, and they were to the south, closer to the mainland. I recon the rebel fleet is on the move, sir. So many ships! Umuron will be overrun!”

“I see.” I stood on shaking legs. “Did you take notes? Did you see what ships they had? Numbers and sizes?”

“Yes, Captain,” beamed the young officer. “I have it all noted down for you.”

“Well done Mister Olvan!”

This was important. We were now ahead of the rebel fleet that might now be on its way to attack the Empire. We had to get back quickly and warn Umuron.

“What time is it?”

“Late of the noon, sir,” said Harl. "It being six of the clock."

“And what speed are we making?”

“Cruising, Captain. Mister Perti said we would get nowhere if the engine breaks, so don’t push it - his words.”

“What! This is urgent! Full speed, Harl. That’s an order, and tell Mister Perti that his job is to keep the engine running whatever the cost.”

Minutes later, I was on the castle and spying the seas with my glass. I had only bothered to put on my boots and wrap myself in my long-coat. There were no ships but far to the west I could just make out the grubby haze of a lot of steam engines belching black smoke into the sky. I wished I knew where the enemy were off to. Perhaps we should have stayed in port to see if we could have discovered the fleet’s destination? But then we might have been too late to warn the Empire. No, it was best to get back as soon as possible and warn the High Admiral of a probable attack. The Empire needed time to gather its warships, and it might only have a few days to do so.

The Wraith Deep/Lady Ocean was running at full speed. The hull shuddered to an intense beat from the engine. The paddles wheels thrashed the waters. I went to the engine room tube and lifted the brass cone to my face. It was attached to a leather tube which led down to the engine room where hopefully Mister Perti would hear me over the din of the roaring machine.

“Mister Perti?” There was no answer. “Engine room!” I shouted down the tube.

“Captain?” It was Perti.

“Can we go any faster?”

“Faster? Not possible. The kettle’s straining as it is. The emergency release valve is popping away. She’s running at full speed.”

“I thought you could tighten the valve?”

“Of course, but I told you how that could end.”

“It is vital that we get back as soon as possible, Mister Perti. If there is any way of getting more speed without blowing us up then make it happen.”

“Will do, sir. I’ll give the valve a half turn.”

“Do that. What’s that noise?” There was a loud knocking coming through the pipe. I could also now feel it through my boots.

“Soft metal used on a joint and bearings. Hard to get it right, Captain. The joint needs a combination of hard and soft but Empire metallurgists just don’t do it right. It’ll hold... I think, but we need to get Calionvar parts when we get back. I can’t promise anything though. That joint could give at any time. I’ll say a prayer.”

“I see. Keep her running. Find more speed and say your prayers.”

I knew about bearings - small metal balls that were so damned hard to produce. One way was to drop molten metal into water but it was very much hit and miss to get them round and the right size.

“Should we keep this course, Captain?” asked Olvan.

I turned to him and grunted. “We keep close to land now. It’s the fastest route.”

“Aye, sir.”

A flock of gulls followed us. I noticed a pair of Fawl Whales further north, also heading east but at a much more leisurely pace, their white backs rising and falling.

I got little sleep. None of the crew got much. After one and a half days at full speed, the bearings finally gave with a loud crack and almighty hammering from the engine. Perti shut down the engine and I hurled myself down the steep ladders to the engine room. It was the middle of the night. I saw a circle of broken metal on the deck and the metal balls scattered round.