The timbers creaked as the ship rode a wavelet.They’d made anchor somewhere that morning, or was it evening?Pell couldn’t tell.The cockboat had been lowered, oars had slashed the water.Then all had grown silent.He had no clue what was transpiring.No clue how Cadan, Gabrielle, and Omphile fared or whether they were even still alive.No clue if anyone would bother to feed them in this cell, or if their emaciated bodies would be found weeks later.
But he knew the One who had a clue, the One who knew everything.
Sliding down the bars, he squatted and dropped his head into his hands.Father, I’ve been a fool.I blamed you for the deaths of my family.I blamed you for my pain.Yet I now see that Miranda and Michael are with You, happy and at peace.Perhaps God had taken them home early to spare them undue pain that He saw coming in their future.Pell had never considered that.He’d only felt the agony of their loss.
He gripped the cross around his neck.He should have known better!He was a preacher!I’m so sorry, Father.Please help me.Please be with my friends.Please deliver us from this prison.
He drew a deep sigh and rose to his feet, suddenly feeling like an anchor had been removed from his shoulders.The peaceful presence of the Almighty surrounded him, that familiar sensation of love and hope, of belonging and purpose.Oh, how he had missed it!Thank you, Father.
Still the darkness remained, crowding around him.
Yet somehow it didn’t seem so threatening, after all.
Two hours later, a shaft of light appeared in the distance, spiraling down the ladder from the hatch above.Moses, Soot, and Pell rose to their feet and approached the bars, yet none of them uttered a word.Without water, their throats were far too dry to speak.Another few days without a drink and they’d all be dead.Pell had resigned himself to whatever the Lord wanted.If he should die, he’d be with his family.If not, then God had more for him to do here on Earth.
But the light….it renewed his hope for the latter.
Soot gasped, and Pell stared back at the ladder where Hellfire leapt down each tread, making a clanging sound with every bounce.
The hatch closed.The light disappeared, but the clanging continued.
“Come ’ere Hellfire!”Soot managed to squeak out.“Over ’ere!”
The strange jangling grew louder.Pell heard Soot kneeling.
“There ye are, Helly!”Soot exclaimed, and the jingling ceased.
Pell scratched the stubble on his chin.Why would anyone send down Soot’s rabbit?
A screech of delight answered him.
“She’s got the key round ’er neck!”
Before Pell could process those words, the clank of a lock snapped, and the screech of the door echoed through the hold.
“We’s free!”Soot exclaimed.“Come on!”
“Huzzah!”Moses added.
“Wait!”Pell reached into the darkness and grabbed Soot’s shirt.“The ship is not ours.Not yet.But we have at least one man on our side.”
And God.
More than enough.
Chapter 32
Gabrielle clung to Cadan, her tears mingling with the sea water soaking his shirt.How could this have happened?Hadn’t she finally come to know the Lord herself?Hadn’t she finally submitted to the One who had died for her?Hadn’t she heard Him sayprecious daughter?
Then why had things gotten worse?Worse than worse.She’d lost Matthew again, and now she would die a slow, painful death in this cave.
The only consolation was that she’d be with Cadan, but even as the thought drifted through her mind, she chastised herself for her selfishness, for she didn’t wish him to die.She didn’t wish this on anyone.
She felt his body tense before he nudged her back.His face was all shadows and steel.“Nay!We will not die here!”He waded through the water, now at their waists, and moved hands over the jagged rock walls, pushing, pulling…cursing.“There must be a way out.There must be!”
Gabrielle joined him, starting on the other side.
The ocean gushed through the hole, sending foam bubbling across the surface.Moisture dripped from the craggy ceiling onto her face.
