Having satisfied himself that the ship wasn’t going to sink any time soon, unless that fool Baror ran her under the waves, he made his way aft to the surgeon’s quarters.
A cry, loud and inarticulate, pierced through the noise of the storm.
Colfet raced back to the surgeon’s quarters. Inside he found Lorana, sprawled across her desk. Two fire-lizards chittered inside, their tone changing to anger as he entered.
“There’s trouble!” Colfet said. Lorana looked up at him: Her eyes were full of tears. “Lass, what’s wrong?”
“He’s gone,” she replied. “J’trel and Talith have gone between forever.”
Wind Rider bucked abruptly as it plowed into a wave and rolled sharply as it paid off, throwing Lorana across the table and Colfet out of the cabin.
Colfet let out a curse as his full weight crashed against his broken arm.
“You’re hurt!” Lorana exclaimed, trying to reach him.
“No time for that,” Colfet said. “We’ve got to get to the captain’s cabin.”
“Why?”
“We’ve got to get you off this ship,” Colfet said. “Baror’s left Captain Tanner behind, and I can’t think he means you well.” He made a face. “Baror’s got a nasty way with women. If you don’t leave now, while he’s distracted, you may not leave at all.” He looked at the fire-lizards. “Can you make them wait by the launch?”
“What’s that?” Lorana asked.
“That’s the boat we used today to get to shore,” Colfet explained. “Baror’s going to lower it astern.”
“Why would he do that?”
“I asked him,” Colfet said, grinning. “In case anyone fell overboard in this blow.” His grin widened. “We’ll just ‘fall overboard’ right now.”
“Oh.”
“Can you make them wait?” Colfet asked again.
“I can try.” Lorana said, turning to the two fire-lizards. Garth and Grenn both chittered obstinately before Lorana overcame their disagreement and they disappeared between.
“Good, now let’s get to the captain’s cabin before Baror has a chance to send some men after you.”
Lorana paused at the doorway. “What about you? Why are you doing this for me?”
Colfet gave her a measuring look. “You might say that I owe you, for fixing this arm. Or you might say that I won’t let anyone be taken against their will. But mostly I’m thinking of my daughters.”
Lorana didn’t know what to say.
Colfet shrugged. “Come on, then, off with you.”
The captain’s cabin was the next cabin aft. The door was unlocked and they made their way through the fore cabin and into the after cabin. Colfet opened the shutters quickly and peered out. Seeing what he wanted, he grunted affirmatively and then looked around the cabin.
“We’ve got to find something to grab the line,” he said.
“Grab the line?” Lorana echoed, looking at the opening. All she could see was rain and pitch-darkness. “What line?”
“The one for the launch,” Colfet answered, upending the captain’s chair. He reached out through the opening and hooked the rope with the seat of the chair, carefully angling to keep the rope from slipping off. Dragging it into the cabin he turned to Lorana.
“Now all you’ve got to do is climb down this rope into the launch.”
Lorana eyed the bucking rope. “All?”
Colfet nodded. “It’s that or wait until Baror and his mates have time to deal with you. You can’t stay on this ship, they’ll turn it upside down looking for you.” He saw her blanch and added, “Look, all you have to do is grab it with your feet and your arms and scale on down. Don’t let go until you’re in the launch. The wind’s fierce enough that it won’t drop you in the water, I hope.”
“And if it does?”
“Keep hold of the rope and climb aboard the launch,” Colfet said. “But don’t capsize it.”
“All right, and then what?” Lorana demanded. “What about you?”
Colfet thought about that. “It’ll be too tricky with my bad arm.”
Lorana shook her head. “I don’t know where we are, how to get back-anything.” She looked frantically around the cabin, finally coming back to him. “Your belt! How about you tie on with that and come on down after me! It’d help when you have trouble with your arm.”
Colfet smiled. “It would at that. You’re right, it could work. Very well then, you first.”
Lorana swallowed and reached for the rope. She climbed out the opening and jumped up, looping her feet desperately around the rope. For one sick moment she hung there, suspended by hands and feet on a wildly swinging rope, and then she gripped it tighter and started climbing down into the darkening sea.
It seemed to take forever. Suddenly a wave swept up at her, dowsing her backside with frigid water. She clenched the rope tightly, for fear of being pulled off. Then the wave was gone and she started down again.
Beyond her legs she caught sight of a blob in the distance. The launch. It seemed dragonlengths away.
Another gust came and a wave crashed around her, burying her in water. She held her breath, frantically hoping that she could hold on. Finally the water parted around her.
Her feet felt the hard wood of the launch.
Colfet’s glib description of how she would get in the launch turned out to be completely inaccurate. Lorana had to pull her feet over the gunnels and into the cockpit of the launch, and then she had to grapple with the prow with her hands and turn herself over before she could kneel into the launch. It was a hideous maneuver and she nearly lost her last meal as her stomach roiled from the exertion and her fear.
Two encouraging chirps told her that she’d made it, and that the fire-lizards were nearby.
She waited for what seemed forever before she realized that she and Colfet had not agreed on any way to let him know that she was safely aboard. Hastily she grabbed the rope and gave it two sharp tugs. She waited and felt two answering tugs-Colfet must have got the signal.
Or was Colfet still there? What if Baror had gone searching for her and had found out their plan? What if it wasn’t Colfet but someone else coming down the rope?
Lorana eyed the rope and studied how it was tied to the launch. She looked around and found a knife in the stores locker. If she had to, she could cut the rope in a moment.
Looking across the bucking sea to the high stern of Wind Rider, she saw the outline of a form climbing down toward her. Was it Colfet? She thought she saw his bandage, now hopelessly soaked. She peered forward, squinting. With a sigh of relief, she realized it was Colfet.
A wave crashed over him and he lost his grip on the rope. Lorana stifled a cry as he hung by his feet and his belt. In an instant Garth and Grenn launched themselves toward him, each grabbing an arm and flapping frantically to help him reach the rope again. A wave engulfed them.
For a long, terrible instant Lorana was afraid all three had been swept away. She imagined countless days adrift in the small launch with only that horrid memory to dwell upon. And then the wave broke and Colfet had his good hand back on the rope, and the two fire-lizards were circling above him, chirping encouragingly.
Lorana bit her lip as Colfet’s legs came within reach. Belatedly she found some rope and tied herself to the launch. Then she moved forward and did all she could to help Colfet clamber aboard.
“There, that wasn’t hard, was it?” Colfet said through gasps as he finally righted himself in the bow of the launch. “Have you got a knife?” When Lorana nodded, he said, “Then cut that line and let’s be out of here.”
C’rion turned at the sound of feet entering the meeting room. The dragons had only finished their keening. J’lantir, ashen-faced, stood in the entranceway. Silently, C’rion gestured him in.