Beside a Burning Sea (26 page)

“Is the worst over?” she asked when a sudden lull in the wind quieted the world about them.

He started to lie but realized that she always dealt in truths and always sought truths. “The worst is yet to come,” he said simply.

“Oh.”

“So we need to get to our cave. Everyone needs to get to our cave.”

“What can I do to help?”

Despite his pain and fear, Joshua felt a sudden sense of pride at her strength. “Hand Ratu that canteen by your feet so that he can bail out the water we’re taking on. It’s slowing us up.”

Within a minute, Ratu was ridding the lifeboat of water almost as fast as the storm was dumping it in. Seeing that Ratu couldn’t keep up, Isabelle stuck a finger down her throat, made herself vomit over the side of the boat, and then picked up another canteen and started to help.

SCARLET AND JAKE finally appeared at the banyan tree. A few words were uttered, and the group headed into the jungle with Roger leading the way. The storm followed them into the foliage, beating against their backs. Trees writhed as if being tortured. Coconuts dropped like bombs. A parrot tried to fly into the wind and was sent backward, exploding in a burst of green feathers against a boulder.

“Watch out for them darn coconuts!” Jake shouted, after one narrowly missed Nathan’s head.

The storm gathered its strength and truly began to assault the island. Trees bent like grass. Branches, nests, and animals tumbled from the jungle’s canopy as if the world had been turned upside down. Streams that had been inches deep now flowed like small rivers, cascading over rocks and fallen branches. The ground was littered with debris or occasionally was nothing more than a deep layer of mud.

Scarlet had already climbed up and down the hill, and now moved slower than everyone else. Jake held her hand. He used his strength to pull her up rises, to lift her over obstacles. The deeper they got into the jungle, the harder it became to make progress. Storm-generated water-falls tumbled from heights above. Rain and debris pelted them with alarming intensity.

Roger, who walked at the front of the group, debated leading everyone astray. They were blindly following him, and he doubted that any of them remembered the captain’s instructions on how to find the cave. How easy, he thought, to lead the pigs to the island’s center and to leave them there. And how wonderful to watch them from afar and listen to the screams of the skirts as the typhoon descended upon them. They’d be scattered like insects.

Immediately behind Roger, Akira helped Annie forward. Though his leg was still slightly stiff, it didn’t hamper him. Akira had survived typhoons while in the woods of Japan, and knew how to navigate the jungle, knew which trees were unduly stressed and would likely fall. He ushered Annie ahead, somehow simultaneously staying aware of dangers above their heads and at their feet.

Though such a scene would have once overwhelmed Annie with fear, she wasn’t unreasonably afraid of the storm. On the contrary, with Akira leading and protecting her, she felt rather safe. She’d never felt so secure with a man, even with Ted and his seemingly infinite talents. The difference, she knew, was that some friends and loved ones would sacrifice her before themselves. Even Ted might. However, such self-preservation was not the case with Akira. He’d never leave her when she needed him, and that belief was of great solace to her.

At the rear of the group, Scarlet stumbled, banging her knee into a slick rock. Wiping blood and dirt from a deep cut in her flesh, she began to cry. Without a word, Jake picked her up and gently draped her over his shoulder. “It’ll be fine, miss,” he promised, carrying her as carefully as he could.

Though Jake was strong and sure, maintaining the pace of the rest of the group soon became impossible. He started to lag, which prompted Nathan, Annie, and Akira to slow. Seeing that everyone was falling behind him, Roger cursed and hurried back to the group. “What the hell’s wrong with you?” he shouted at Scarlet, enraged that someone’s weakness could put his life in danger.

“She’s hurt—”

“That’s nothing but a scratch!” he yelled, interrupting Nathan.

“She’s already climbed to the lookout point and back,” Annie replied, her fists on her hips. “She’s tired and hurt!”

A tree groaned beside them, fighting the strength of the wind. “Don’t you maggots see what’s happening?” Roger shouted. “A typhoon’s coming! If she can’t keep up, dump her! We’ll be better off without her anyway! She’s a worthless old hag!”

Annie put her hand on Scarlet’s back. “You leave her alone!”

“We all know it’s true!”

“Get away from her!”

“Scarlet is coming with us,” Akira said, lifting her from Jake’s shoulder so that he and Jake could carry her between them. “We are much better off with her.”

“You’re a fool, monkey man,” Roger said, roughly bumping into Akira. In a few seconds, Roger was back at the head of the column. Akira and Jake each put an arm around Scarlet and helped her move forward. Annie walked behind them, hating Roger, trying to protect Scarlet from falling limbs.

Still furious that their progress was being hampered by nothing more than a split knee, Roger continued to set a brisk pace. He decided that if the others couldn’t keep up with him, so be it. He’d leave them to fend for themselves, and if they all died, he’d have to forgo the pleasure of Annie’s company, but otherwise would be rid of five stones in his shoe. “I won’t wait!” he shouted, not bothering to listen to their replies. “So you’d better start to drag the old hag!”

THE SEA HAD MUTATED into some kind of wet inferno. The wind whipped up waves that rocked the lifeboat to and fro. As the waves crested, their tops were gathered by the wind and sent flying horizontally. The sky was the shade of coal. The air was so laden with rain that it seemed a mere extension of the sea. Like the salt water, the rain sailed almost horizontally, pelting the side of the lifeboat so ferociously that the noise produced was almost as loud as the shrieking wind.

Turning to eye the distant shoreline, Joshua looked for the break in the cliffs that marked the entrance to the cave. Though visibility was too poor for him to see their destination, he knew he was headed in the right direction. Now that he’d rounded the tip of the island and was rowing toward the eastern shore, the wind was directly behind him and pushed the lifeboat forward as if it were a leaf.

“Ratu!” he shouted. “Ratu, get to the bow and warn me of any reefs!”

Ratu stumbled forward, the rain stinging his exposed flesh. “What do I do?”

“Tell me how far the reefs are ahead, and whether they’re on the port or starboard side!”

“Starboard?”

“Right or left! Tell me if they’re on the right or left!”

Lightning cracked overhead, and Joshua cursed himself for putting them in such danger. He’d been foolish to think he could outrun the storm. Wiping salt water from his eyes with a bloody hand, he continued to row, staring straight back behind the boat, watching the storm grow closer. Like most seamen, he considered storms to be living things. He knew that this one was feeding off the warm waters of the South Pacific, feeding and growing larger. How far away is the eye? he wondered, trying to fight his way through his panic. How much time do we have?

“What can I do?” Isabelle shouted.

“Watch for rocks! Help Ratu watch for rocks!”

Joshua tried to row as upright as possible, for with the wind blowing them straight into shore, his body acted as a sail. “Must be a sixty-knot wind,” he muttered to himself, knowing that it would grow stronger. “Oh, Lord, please let me get them to safety. Please protect them.”

“A rock to the right!” Ratu screamed.

Joshua stuck his right oar deeply into the sea and pulled his left oar from it. The lifeboat immediately turned from danger.

“Brilliant!” Ratu yelled. “Bloody good work, Captain!”

A new roar grew to fill his ears, and Joshua realized that they were approaching the surf. “Find a channel!” he shouted. “Find a channel free of rocks and get us to the beach!”

Thunder boomed, causing each of them to duck lower. “There’s a way!” Isabelle announced. “When I tell you, go to the left!”

Joshua glanced at the bottom of the lifeboat and saw that it had a good four inches of water in it. He started to ask Ratu to bail once more, but decided that he didn’t want him leaving the bow.

“Now!” Isabelle shouted. “Go left!”

Joshua did as she commanded and the lifeboat slowly changed course.

“And now straight!” she said.

He put his weight equally behind both oars, pulling hard.

“And now right! Right, Joshua, right!”

Hearing the panic in her voice, he furiously worked to get the boat to change direction again. The waves were growing larger as they approached the shore, and each swell rolled the boat forward. He knew that if a wave picked the boat up and dropped it on a reef, they’d be swimming for their lives.

“That’s it!” Ratu yelled. “Ha! Good job, Captain! Cracking good job, I tell you!”

“Yes!” Isabelle added. “Yes, now just go forward! We’ve a straight shot to the beach!”

“Keep looking for rocks!” Joshua shouted, blood dripping from his palms. “Ratu, start bailing! Get that water out of here!”

Wishing that his father could see him, Ratu jumped to the floor of the lifeboat and began to dump out water as quickly as possible. The wind screamed in his ears and the rain stung his eyes. He looked behind and saw a large wave rolling toward them. “Captain!”

“Hold on!” Joshua yelled, frantically trying to keep in front of the wave. The lifeboat managed to for an instant. Then the wave lifted it up and carried it ahead. Joshua felt the bow of the lifeboat tipping too far forward and he instinctively leaned back to try to counter the movement under him. Miraculously, the bow didn’t disappear beneath the sea, but struck sand. Everyone and everything was thrown forward. Fortunately, Isabelle and Ratu had been holding on to the benches and succeeded in remaining in place. Joshua’s grip slipped from the wet oars and he tumbled toward the bow, careening into the bench beside Isabelle. The air was hammered from his lungs, and, struggling to breathe, he rolled out of the lifeboat and into the shallows. His chest still throbbing, he dragged the craft behind him toward the beach. Isabelle and Ratu joined him, and the three of them pulled the boat as far as possible out of the water.

“You two . . . take the food and supplies . . . inside the cave,” Joshua said, still trying to catch his breath. Worried that the typhoon would destroy the lifeboat, he ran twenty paces to a boulder the size of a small pillow. He wrenched the boulder from the sand and carried it to the lifeboat, setting it on the floor of the vessel. He repeated the process at least ten more times. At that point, he felt he had enough weight in the boat that no wind could carry it away.

“Thank you, Lord,” Joshua whispered, making a sign of the cross. He grabbed whatever supplies remained in the boat and followed Isabelle’s tracks to the cave, flying sand stinging his exposed flesh as he moved ahead. He hoped that the rest of the party would already be there, but upon entering the cavern saw that it was empty save Isabelle and Ratu. Groaning, he said a quick prayer for their safety and hurried to Isabelle. Putting his hands against either side of her face, he asked anxiously, “Are you alright? Is the—”

“Shhh,” she said, placing a finger against his lips. “Everything’s fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

He hugged her tightly. “I’m sorry to have put you through that,” he said, feeling her belly, weak with relief that she and their child were safe.

She kissed his cheek. “I’m fine, Joshua.”

“I can’t believe how bloody big this place is!” Ratu exclaimed, gazing about in wonder. “It’s like the inside of an old church!”

Ratu’s enthusiasm had a slightly calming affect on Joshua, who reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “You were a wonderful first lieutenant.”

“I was?”

“You most certainly were,” Isabelle added. “I don’t think we’d have made it without you.”

Ratu fingered the tooth on his necklace. “Would you . . . would you call me that, Captain?”

“First lieutenant?”

“Yes, please.”

Despite his throbbing hands and fear for the other party, Joshua tried to smile. “I certainly will.”

“Thank you, Captain. I tell you, my father will be so happy about that.”

Joshua turned to Isabelle and shook his head. “I don’t know why they’re not here. They should be.”

“You’re going after them, aren’t you?”

“Wouldn’t you?”

Isabelle nodded reluctantly. “But come back. I need you. We need you. So for goodness’ sake, don’t do anything foolish out there.”

He pulled a metal vial from his pocket. “Here are the matches,” he said, attempting to slow his breath, to gather himself to again face the elements. “There’s wood in the back. Get a nice fire going and get yourself warm.”

“You promise to return?”

He kissed her. “I love you.”

She reached for him as he stepped outside and was swallowed by the storm.

THE WIND HOWLED. It screeched and panted and wailed. Its fury bent trees to impossible angles and ripped branches from trunks the way a child pulls petals from a flower. Objects of every size and shape pelted the six figures as they stumbled through the jungle. Faces and arms bled from a variety of cuts and scrapes. Voices were strained from trying to shout above the storm. Visibility was almost nonexistent.

A coconut flew toward Roger and he spun away from it, so that it only grazed his shoulder instead of breaking it. Knowing that he could make it to the cave in a matter of minutes by himself, he took one final glance behind him and started to run. After he’d taken no more than a few strides, a tree split and fell before him. A small sliver of wood flew through the air and embedded itself in his thigh. The primeval scream of the wind assaulted his ears. He began to tremble in fear, his teeth chattering, his legs growing weak. He stumbled forward, fighting the wind.

Akira saw Roger leave but said nothing. Avoiding dead or dying trees that would surely fall, Akira led the party forward. He was unafraid. As long as he made no mistakes, no one would die. He could hear the distant surf, and knew they were close to the sea. Stopping next to a boulder, he looked for potential dangers and planned their route. A cluster of bent trees would be avoided. An open space that might draw lightning would be circumvented. A stream swollen to ten times its normal size would be forded, with everyone holding hands.