Page 36 of Valour

She fell down, down.

She did not fall onto the ice, or the orca.

She could hardly make sense of the world as she hit freezing water.

Charlotte’s heart almost stopped.

The entire crew screamed as one.

The ice floe spun upside-down.

Their captain was trapped underneath it.

This couldn’t be happening.

“NO!” Fliss screamed, the emotion in her voice sending chills up Charlotte’s spine.

Winston stilled, the rifle in his hand dropping with a crash to the deck. “Hester.”

Across the floe, a figure jumped from the deck of the Intrepid.

Cold, cold, cold. Burning, searing cold pressed in on Hester from every side. She swam upwards, but her fingers met ice. She thrashed this way, then that, under the ice floe, not knowing which way would take her towards air faster. She picked a direction and struck out, her lungs already burning, her mouth clamped shut. She spun around, trying to find the orca, but in the rush of bubbles she could only see a dark shape swimming away, a red, undulating creature swimming after it.

The cold was so all-encompassing she could barely function, thoughts slowing, hardly able to move her limbs. She clawed along the underside of the ice, knowing her body would soon betray her and attempt to take a breath.

Not like this.

There seemed no end to the ice, the pain in her lungs reaching unbearable levels. She had always wondered how she would die. Drowning would be a fitting end for a sailor.

Her body shuddered, convulsing from the lack of air, and her mouth flooded with saltwater as she made one last futile attempt to swim.

And then she knew no more.

Shouts rose from the Intrepid as the figure dived and hit the water with a splash.

Fliss was wailing, a high keening sound that Charlotte wanted to cover her ears against, so forlorn and absolute was the grief in it. Charlotte’s eyes welled with tears that rolled down her cheeks. She turned to press her face into Arnold’s shoulder as sobs wracked her body. His hands pressed into her back, but otherwise he stood stock-still and silent, his muscles tensed.

“Someone from the Intrepid just jumped in,” Arnold said, voice strained. She could barely hear him over Fliss’s wails.

Was this some awful nightmare she was about to wake up from?

“Surely it’s not possible to save her under there,” Rufus breathed, clinging to the rail. “Surely she is⁠—”

“Don’t say it,” Mei begged.

Charlotte turned to watch the water and the ice. The figure from the Intrepid disappeared under the floe. They all watched, breath held, Charlotte clinging to Arnold’s coat so hard that her hands ached. Hester couldn’t be—she just couldn’t be gone.

She closed her eyes and prayed. To God, to the albatross that wheeled overhead, to whoever would listen. “She can’t—” Charlotte sobbed, and Arnold pressed her closer. That life, that spark, brighter than anything she’d known, couldn’t be gone.

Long moments stretched out.

“Look! What’s that?” Valerie shouted, pointing to the edge of the ice closest to the Intrepid.

Charlotte whipped her head around. She squinted against the glare of the sun and the ice, shielding her eyes.

A figure was swimming, dragging another behind it.

“Could it be?” Arnold murmured, squinting into the distance.