From up forward somewhere Jyp’s shouts rang across the deck. ‘Sic’em,
Defiants! That’s the style!
‘Hush!’ she hissed, as the others came clattering after. ‘To the walls,
and flatten! They can see better than us in the dark – yet they’d need a
little light – aha!’ Metal clattered and chinked, a red spark winked and
swelled to a yellowish flame, and suddenly we were gaping wide-eyed at
one another in a narrow corridor of rough timbers painted a dull red all
over, floor and ceiling included. Mall gestured to the various doors on
either side, held her lantern high and hefted her sword as seamen kicked
them open. They were all nothing but storerooms, mostly half empty and
incredibly messy, and she padded quickly down towards the shadowy stairs
at the end, casting monstrous shadows on the walls. Overhead the deck
throbbed as the fighting swept astern again, and sounds rang suddenly
through the muffled furore, that horrible bark, a falling blade singing
in the planking, Jyp’s voice cracking with excitement. ‘
Mall moved fast, but she was still on the stairs when the Wolves padded forward, swift and silent as their namesakes, out of the shadow-pool below. They caught her on the bottom step, sword-arm encumbered by the rail, and while one dared his cutlass against her long blade another swung around to the side and jabbed at my legs with a great spear-headed pole-axe. Still only a few steps down, I ducked below the deck, snatched the forgotten pistol from my belt and tried to cock the hammers with a rake of my hand as Pierce had. The springs were so stiff that the metal tips gouged right across my palms, so painfully I almost dropped the gun. But there it was, cocked; I leaned out, levelled it – and in my hurry pulled both triggers. The priming hissed and sizzled, but for an instant nothing happened; the powder had got damp. I was just about to throw the gun at the man’s head instead when with a loud pop and a dazzling flash one barrel went off. The gun bucked madly and wrenched itself out of my unpractised grip, but at three feet I could hardly have missed. The Wolf’s head exploded and he was flung back into the shadows, just as Mall twisted her opponent’s guard around and passed her blade through his throat. She sprang down over him, slashed another across the belly and ran him through the back as he doubled over; a fat Wolf hacked at me with a cudgel and hit the sailor behind me as I dodged. Then a loud bang went off behind his feet; that damn pistol had only been hanging fire. He skipped and stumbled, I hit him clumsily with my axe and he vanished with a yell, tumbling down yet another ladder. We went rattling down after him, but he was sprawled silent at the foot.
‘We’re below their waterline here,’ panted Mall, holding her lantern up. ‘Abaft the hold. So those’ll be the charge and shot magazines down here – still open, we caught ’em napping! And maybe – aye, a lazarette!’
It was a heavy door, brassbound and barred across the little window at wolfs head-height. I caught the bars and hauled myself up to peer in. There was another door with a wider window, and as Mall held up the lantern –
There she was, blonde hair straggling and face smudged, smart office blouse hanging in strips, crouched away on a narrow cot and staring at me with utter horror. Then her jaw dropped and her voice came out as a dry croak.
‘St –
‘Hold on!’ I shouted, trying to fight down a weird hysterical play of feelings. Seeing her there like that, so familiar from my ordinary, everyday life, filled me with a shocking sense of dreaming, of unreality, so strong that the solid timbers around me seemed to turn misty, the threat they contained to lose all meaning. The temptation to ride with the dream was overwhelming, to just let things happen and wait to wake up. But I reached out to her, and could not come. Whatever was between us, door or dream, was all too real.
