‘Hold on! We’ll get you out!’ And dropping down I began to swing at the door with my axe. One of the sailors, a huge round-shouldered ape of a man, snatched up a Wolf’s axe and joined me with great swings that sent chips and splinters flying. On either side of the lock we struck, and deep gashes were opening up when a louder crash resounded from behind us, and a sullen yellow lantern-light flooded in. The sailor’s stroke faltered. Behind us another door had been flung wide, presumably leading from the hold. Wolves were crowding through it, and at their head the biggest I’d ever seen, a stubble-bearded sunken-eyed brute dressed in a filthy red frock-coat, embroidered breeches – even filthier – and a battered cocked hat with a red bandanna beneath. Round his neck hung a net of gold chains, and on one of them a heavy key. Beneath his breeches his feet were bare, and I saw why Wolves wore such massive boots; each elephantine toe was tipped, not with a human nail, but a narrow yellowish claw.
‘Keep at it!’ hissed Mall urgently, and skipped lightly back. The hulking creature growled something and behind him a dozen muskets were levelled. Mall laughed aloud, and flung wide the first door she’d tried. ‘Thou’d let fire down here? Go to, my buckie! Best lock thy magazine ere thou play’st so! One bullet there and we’ll to the angels, thou to thy black masters! Art in such haste for Hell?’
Even before she’d finished the Wolf gave one savage hiss of frustration in that horrible voice, and the muskets sank.
But more Wolves were pouring in from the hold, and the little corridor became a slow, struggling scrum. Sheer strength told, and inch by inch we were forced back towards the stairs. I felt my feet leave the floor, I couldn’t breath under the pressure and my hold tore free. I struggled frantically to get back, but a wolf slipped across it, blocking me, and I was borne away, still struggling, with the rest.
‘No!’ I yelled desperately. ‘Jesus, we can’t leave her! Not now –’
The edge of the stair caught me painfully across the calves; my legs slipped from under me and I slid down right into that deadly trampling crush. A hand grabbed my shirt and hauled me up onto the step.
‘Don’t be daft!’ panted Mall, shaking me. ‘What shall we do else? We’ve found her now, there’s small gain in getting gutted! An it go well on deck we may gather and sweep this rat’s nest clean i’seconds –’
‘We’re coming back! You hear? We’ll get you out –’ I was choked off, literally. With a howl of rage the giant Wolf plunged forward, hacked down one of his own kind who couldn’t clear the way, and struck over at Mall. Trapped at an awkward angle in the stair, she was slammed back into me, but she managed to get her arm up to block the blow and hold it a moment, no more. I decided fair play wasn’t exactly the burning issue round here, and with every bit of two-handed muscle I could manage I lunged out over her shoulder and brought the boarding axe down on the Wolf’s head. I half expected the blade to break; it didn’t. It split that fancy hat right down the middle and thumped into the skull beneath with a noise like split kindling, and stuck there. He screamed, a high shrilling sound, his sword dropped from convulsing fingers and he whirled about, wrenching the axe from my hands, and sagged down, gaping. I think he died there; but in the crush he couldn’t fall.
