City of Lies - Lian Tanner [66]
Goldie swallowed. No time to think about it, not now! “Out of the way!” she cried, and half a dozen white mice leaped off the stern rope and dived into Mouse’s jacket.
As Goldie drew the sword from its sheath, heat surged inside her, so that she felt as if she were on fire. She raised the sword in both hands, then slashed downward. With a loud twang, the rope parted and the Piglet slid away from the wharf.
Too late! Cord and Smudge had leaped across the gap and were clinging to the netting.
“Morg!” screamed Goldie. “Toadspit!”
There was an answering shout as Toadspit ran toward her, with Morg flapping above him. Cord took one hand off the netting and fired his pistol twice. Morg squawked and threw herself high into the air. Toadspit dived for cover behind the deckhouse.
The fire inside Goldie burned from her heels to the crown of her head. Something roared in her throat, and a red mist descended upon her, so thick and murky that she no longer knew where she was. All she could think of was blood. All she could see was the enemy in front of her, flinging his leg over the side of the ship.
In a mad fury, she raised the sword again.…
Something brushed her arm. She swung around. Who DARES touch me?
She saw Mouse’s white, terrified face and tried to stop. But the sword had taken on a life of its own. It sliced through the air toward the little boy!
Goldie fought the sword with all her strength. She fought the fire and the red mist. She clawed her way toward the tiny speck of normalcy that still lay deep within her.…
The heavy sword stopped, a hairsbreadth from Mouse’s neck.
For a moment Goldie could not move. Inside her, Frisia’s voice hissed furious instructions. Kill the boarders! NOW!
With a cry of revulsion, Goldie threw the sword as far away as she could. As it clattered to the deck, Cord and Smudge surged over the rail.
Cord didn’t waste a second. He grabbed Goldie and held his pistol to her head. “Hey, Toadboy,” he shouted. “Come ’ere. And bring yer sister.”
There was a silence—a terrible silence. Goldie looked up in time to see Toadspit shuffle around the side of the deckhouse. His head drooped, his bandage was awry, and all the fierce stubbornness that made him who he was seemed to have drained out of him. Even when he was unconscious in the sewer, he had not looked so—so lost.
Goldie jammed her bruised knuckles against her mouth. Her legs were shaking uncontrollably. The ship rocked in the swell.
“I said, bring yer sister,” snarled Cord.
Toadspit blinked, as if he had only just realized that someone was talking to him. He raised a trembling hand. He pointed to the gap in the rail where the gangplank had been. “She fell,” he croaked. “The bullet—you missed me—and hit her. She fell—in the water. She’s—gone.”
His voice broke. A tear rolled down his face. He sank to his knees and began to sob. From somewhere in the clouds high overhead, a harsh voice echoed, “Go-o-o-ne. Go-o-o-o-o-o-o-ne.”
Goldie felt Mouse’s fingers slide quietly into hers. She stared at Toadspit, trying to see—
“No,” she whispered. “Not Bonnie.” And she too began to cry.
“Show me,” said Cord.
“There’s nothing to see,” mumbled Toadspit.
“I said, show me!” And Cord belted Toadspit across the head with the back of his hand. A trickle of blood seeped from under Toadspit’s bandage.
The three children stumbled along the deck at gunpoint to where Bonnie had stood a moment before. The cat crouched next to the covered dinghy, watching them. Cord scanned the deck, then bent down and peered suspiciously at a streak of blood on the boards.
“Could be yours,” he said to Toadspit.
“Don’t think so, Cord,” said Smudge, who was squinting over the rail at the water. “Look at that black thing floatin’ down there. It’s a shoe, a little ’un. Looks like the ones the girl was wearin’. Want me to fetch it up?”
“Nah, don’t bother.” Cord’s lips drew back from his teeth in a vicious smile. “So she’s dead, eh? Oh dear. What a pity.”
“My little sister,” whispered Toadspit.