Sebastian Darke: Prince of Pirates (40 page)

The impact of the cold water hit him like a fist, driving all the breath out of his lungs, and he was sinking. At first he felt almost serene, as though he was descending into a silent, magical world where nothing could harm him; but then a lithe grey shape flashed through the water ahead of him, reminding him of the deadly danger he was in.

He panicked, attempted to snatch in a breath and got a mouthful of salty water for his trouble. He clawed his way upwards and broke the surface, gasping for air He bobbed around in the water for a moment, coughing the last of the seawater out of his lungs, and saw the
Marauder
moving away at considerable speed and the vast expanse of water all around. To his left he could just make out the distant line of the shore, but it was a greater distance than he could ever swim, even if he wasn't surrounded by kelfers.

And where was Cornelius?

As if in answer to his thought, the little warrior surfaced a few feet away, coughing just as desperately as Sebastian had. Cornelius was rarely at a loss, but he was in an unfamiliar element here and, quite literally, out of his depth. He saw Sebastian and swam closer, spitting out water as he did so. He got up close and said one word, his eyes glittering with malice.

'Trencherman,' he growled.

Sebastian nodded. 'If we ever get out of this . . .' he said.

Cornelius looked apprehensively at a great triangular fin cutting the surface a short distance to his left. 'It seems unlikely,' he said matter-of-factly. 'The best we can hope to do is sell our lives dearly.'

Sebastian nodded and threw another hopeless glance after the
Marauder
, but it was already dwindling in size. 'If only I had a weapon of some kind . . .' he muttered.

Cornelius sighed. 'I had a knife hidden in my boot,' he told Sebastian. 'I was hoping Trencherman's thugs wouldn't find it – but they did.'

Sebastian looked at him for a moment and then pointed towards the distant shore. 'What do you think?' he gasped. 'Maybe . . .?'

'We'd never make it,' said Cornelius flatly. 'It would take a champion swimmer to cross that distance. And we—'

He broke off as a huge kelfer cruised through the water to his right.

'They're getting bolder,' he said. 'Here . . .' He turned round in the water and pushed his back up against Sebastian's. 'Better get ready,' he said.

'I don't want to die like this,' said Sebastian mournfully.

'I have news for you. Neither do I. But sadly, you don't always get a choice in these matters.'

A kelfer came speeding up from the deep, straight at Cornelius. He threw back his arm and punched it in the nose, and it veered away, crashing the water into a frenzy of foam.

'Aim for their eyes if you can,' said Cornelius. 'It looks like the most vulnerable part of them.'

Sebastian nodded. 'It's been a honour and privilege knowing you,' he told his friend.

'I'm sure it has,' agreed Cornelius. 'You've had your moments too.'

'Remember when we—?'

Sebastian stopped talking as a great brutish snout ploughed through the water towards him. He remembered Cornelius's advice and aimed a punch at one of the kelfer's eyes. The creature gave an eerie shriek and lunged aside, its great tail churning the water. And then it was gone. Sebastian remembered to breathe and continued with what he had been saying.

'– when we first met on the great plain? When you turned up carrying that javralat? Max tried to convince me that you weren't to be trusted, but luckily I didn't listen to him.'

'I would advise anyone not to listen to Max,' said Cornelius. 'That creature has a habit of opening his mouth before his brain has—'

Suddenly the little warrior was pulled beneath the surface by a prodigious force.

'Cornelius!'

Sebastian didn't hesitate but snatched a breath and dived down into the clear water. He saw to his horror that his friend was being dragged down by a young kelfer, which had grabbed him by one leg. He was struggling helplessly in its grip and trying to punch at it, but could not even reach its head. Sebastian kicked out frantically and drove himself closer to the kelfer. He pulled back one arm and stabbed his index finger deep into one of its empty black eyes, feeling it sink to the knuckle in what felt like cold jelly. The kelfer's jaws snapped open, releasing Cornelius, and it swam off, twisting and thrashing in agony. Sebastian grabbed Cornelius and kicked back towards the surface, horribly aware that the little warrior's leg was torn open and releasing a thick cloud of blood. They came up together, gasping for breath. Cornelius's face was a white mask of pain.

'Is the leg off?' he asked through gritted teeth.

'No. But it's a deep wound,' Sebastian told him. He glanced around desperately, aware of more fins approaching from every direction.

'Make for the land,' Cornelius advised him. 'Maybe my blood will draw their attention away from you.'

Sebastian shook his head stubbornly. 'I'm not leaving you,' he said. He threw an arm around his friend, aware that the nearest kelfers were cruising about, seeking an opening.

'You must!' snapped Cornelius. 'There's no hope for you here. Get away, you fool! Escape while you can!'

'I know you wouldn't leave
me
in a fix like this,' said Sebastian. He glanced down, aware of a shadow below him; an immense white shape that seemed to be rising up from the depths to claim them. He steeled himself for the impact and hoped that the end, when it came, would be quick.

Cornelius had not noticed anything. 'It's my fault,' he groaned. 'I got us into this mess. If I hadn't bought that map, we'd be back in Keladon now, living like kings.'

The shape was getting closer and Sebastian began to appreciate how huge it was. He caught a glimpse of a fishy body, dappled by sunlight.

'I don't regret anything,' he said. 'And whatever fate comes now, I go to it content that I have known great adventure.'

Something fleshy pushed against Sebastian's legs and he closed his eyes, waiting for the teeth to tear into him.

'Farewell, old friend,' he said quietly.

And then something grabbed his shoulders and pulled him backwards. It was so unexpected, he cried out. An instant later, two pairs of hands were lifting him in over the side of a boat and he collapsed on the floor, gasping for breath. A familiar face was grinning down at him.

'That was a close one,' said the Kid. He turned aside and helped his father lift Cornelius into the boat which, Sebastian could now see, was made from a hollowed-out log. Cornelius slumped down beside him and the two of them looked at each other and laughed incredulously.

'I don't believe it!' cried Sebastian. 'We're alive!'

The makeshift boat shuddered as a heavy shape bumped against it, and Jack Donovan leaned over the side, wielding a homemade oar, and gave whatever it was a hearty whack.

'They keep on trying,' he said, 'but I made this boat good and strong.' He glanced at Sebastian. 'Well, had to pass the time somehow, didn't I? Thing was, I could never get up the courage to take it out into open water. Seemed like every time I thought about giving it a go, I'd see that big old kelfer cruising by the beach, looking for me, and I knew there was no boat I could make that would stand up to the likes of him.'

'He's not around, is he?' whispered Sebastian.

'Not yet, young sir. But that's only a matter of time. No, I kept this boat way up the coast in a little bay, where only small creatures could get over the reef. Used it for fishing, mostly.'

The Kid was examining Cornelius's injured leg. 'You're losing a lot of blood,' he said. 'We've got to try and slow it down somehow.' He shrugged off his jacket, then tore off a sleeve and tied it as tightly as he could above the injury, making Cornelius grimace with the pain.

'How's that?' asked the Kid.

'Better,' hissed the Golmiran.

'But . . . I thought you two were going back to the
Sea
Witch
,' said Sebastian. 'For a rest.'

'That was the plan,' said Donovan, 'until we approached the beach and happened to see the
Marauder
waiting in a little inlet further along the coast. So we dropped back into the trees for a bit, and after a while we saw a landing party leave the
Marauder
and set off after you lot. Well, it wasn't too hard to work out what was happening. I could see the
Marauder
was listing really bad – only a matter of time before she went down. So it was clear that Trencherman needed another ship.'

'And the only other one around was the
Sea Witch
,' finished the Kid. 'That was when Dad told me about his boat. We knew it was a long shot, but we had to give it a go.'

'Trouble was, we needed to go all the way back up the coast to get it. Then we had to paddle it back down to the
Marauder
. Half killed ourselves doing it.'

'We had this idea about trying to climb aboard her,' said the Kid. 'Grab a couple of weapons and take her captive before the main party got back. But they was already returning when we got closer, so we pulled into shore and decided to wait till dark. Only then the boat started moving along the coast and we could see what was going on – them making you walk the plank and everything. We came after you, but you was a good way out and we were half dead already.'

'You did brilliantly,' Cornelius told them. 'But there's more work to be done. We must get back to the
Marauder
. My guess is they'll slow right down when they come up to the
Sea
Witch
. If we can sneak up behind them, perhaps we can climb aboard and turn the tables on them.'

Donovan looked doubtfully at the little warrior. 'No offence, sir, but I doubt you'll have the strength to go climbing anywhere.' He pointed to the gathering pool of red in the bottom of the boat. 'You've lost an awful lot of blood.'