The ship lurched and she slid along the floor toward the sound, landing on another door. With aching arms, she pried it open but could see nothing in the pitch blackness. “Garlain!”
She drew back and swallowed down a sob. Who knew what was in there? But if it was him, he might be hurt. “Garlain?”
A head appeared out of the doorway and Bree fell to the side against a bag, holding her heart with her hand to stop it leaping out of her chest.
It wasn’t her father. It was some kid.
“Who are you?” Bree asked.
“A seaman who wished he’d never signed up for this voyage.”
“Is there someone else down there?”
He scrambled through the doorway. “No. The ship is sinking, isn’t it?”
“Yes, and quickly, I think. Are you sure no one else is down there?”
“No one. A knight was, but I think he’s been drawn out of a hole in the ship. He’d be fish food on the bottom of the riverbed by now.”
“No.” Hot tears burned her eyes. Bree couldn’t lose her father now. She hadn’t even had time to talk with himproperly. No. She wouldn’t believe he was dead. “How, how do you know?”
“The master’s man sent me to get him to safety but when I went in there, he was gone, and the hold was full of water. The door closed and I couldn’t get out. If you hadn’t come upon me, I would have died as well.”
He nudged Bree toward the stern.
“If we don’t hurry, we’ll both drown.”
The water crept up to her waist as Bree stared down into the watery darkness. If Garlain wasn’t there, there was no point in her staying. She could only hope he got out somehow.
She wiped the tears from her eyes. “Let’s go,” she said.
Once out of the first door, they stood up and waded through the water. Using the hammocks for balance, they made it to the passageway. The water was only knee deep there but was rising rapidly. Thankfully, the passage was narrow, and Bree could push her hands against both walls and clamber up the hall to the stairs.
Once up the stairs and through the hatch, Bree had to hold on to the hatch door to stay upright. The ship was sinking fast and half the back end had already gone under. Her feet were in river water even at the hatch.
Men were diving into the river, swimming away from the suction of the ship as fast as they could. Drimpal jumped in and immediately disappeared under the water. He came back up again and spluttered.
Bree bit her bottom lip. The idiot was going to drown. Good riddance, she thought, but immediately felt bad. She harrumphed. Why should she feel guilty? The man was prepared to keep her as a slave. His head disappeared under the water.
“Drimpal’s drowning,” Bree said.
“Every sailor should know how to swim,” the youth said, shaking his head at his captain.
Bree snorted. “He probably does, but the idiot has bags of coins on him and the weight of them is pulling him under.”
The young man hurried to the side of the ship and grabbed a man, who was about to jump. “You there. Come with me. We must rid Drimpal of the bags of coins before the halfwit drowns himself.”
The men jumped and Bree stumbled through the water, holding anything she could as she headed to the railing. More men must have seen Drimpal go under, because they were already pulling his head above the surface.
Once the youth retrieved the first bag of coins, he immediately shoved them into his shirt. Bree let out a puff of air. She hoped he wasn’t stupid enough to try to take more than he could safely swim with.
The other men soon realized what was dragging their captain down and hands accosted Drimpal, freeing him of his burden, until he was able to tread water by himself.
The ship’s sinking hull began pulling them into its wake. They swam hard and as far as Bree could tell, they all got out of harm’s way, swimming downriver and to freedom.
Morla’s keening filled the air above Bree.Why, why, why?was all that ran through Bree’s mind as she searched for the gangplank. Realizing it was no longer attached to the ship, she leapt over the rail and swam the short distance to shore. Morla’s wailing pushed her on and she hauled her sodden self out of the water and trudged up the two wide stairs to the veranda.
She stopped beside Morla, and grabbing the woman’s wet sleeve, pulled the princess around to face her.
