City of Lies - Lian Tanner [73]
The cat flicked its tail and flattened its ears against its skull. “Drooooowned,” it wailed.
“No!” cried Smudge.
“Yer testin’ me patience, Smudge,” roared Cord from behind the deckhouse.
There was a squeal from the rigging. Goldie looked up. The mice were strung along the lines like little white signal flags. “Dreeewn, dreeewn, dreeewn,” they squeaked in chorus.
At the same time there was a clap of wings overhead and Morg dropped out of the clouds. “Dro-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-wned,” she cawed, and her great claws slashed at the air near Smudge’s head.
Smudge waved his sword wildly. Cord fired a shot, but the slaughterbird was already gone.
“Cord!” cried Smudge. “We gotta turn back. I’m gunna drown. The ghosties said so!”
“It’s not ghosties; it’s the snotties,” hissed Cord through gritted teeth. “Where are they? They gotta be ’ere somewhere.”
“I’m gunna drown!”
“When I catch ’em,” said Cord, “you can stick that stupid sword through ’em. Then you’ll see they’re not ghosties.”
Goldie crept up behind the big man. “Pooor Smuuuuudge,” she crooned. “Stabbed himself with a swooooord.”
Smudge spun around. He raised the sword, then stared at it uncertainly. His hand shook. On the other side of him, Toadspit whispered, “With a swoooord.”
“Swoooooooord,” wailed the cat, its tail thrashing from side to side.
A black feather drifted down and landed on the deck in front of Smudge. “Swo-o-o-o-o-o-o-rd,” cried Morg from inside the clouds.
“Sweeerd, sweeerd,” squeaked the mice, jumping up and down in the rigging.
“No!” cried Smudge, and he flung the sword away with all his strength.
As it hit the deck, someone screamed. Goldie swung around. While she and Toadspit had been tormenting Smudge, Cord must have crept past them and grabbed Mouse. Now the little boy teetered on the ship’s rail with his legs dangling over the side and his face as white as chalk. Cord held him by one arm.
Beneath him the sea boiled with heavy gray bodies.
“I know yez’re here somewhere,” shouted Cord. “Now git yerselves out into the open quick smart, or I’ll let go of ’im.”
Goldie stood frozen to the spot. Whatever she did next, Mouse would die. If she and Toadspit stayed hidden, he would die in the next few seconds. If they showed themselves, he would still die. They would all die—it would just happen a bit later.
In the back of her mind, Frisia whispered, As long as you are alive, the battle is not lost.
Goldie nodded. The princess was right. They must save the little boy now. As long as he was still alive—as long as they were all still alive—there was a skerrick of hope.
She took a deep breath and let the Nothingness slide away. A moment later Toadspit flickered into view close by.
Cord hissed with satisfaction. His pistol swung up to cover them. “Ya see?” he growled at Smudge. “No ghosties. Now git that sword.”
Smudge didn’t move. “Let’s take ’em back to the city, Cord, and let ’em go. You can tell Harrow they got away.”
“Shut up,” said Cord. “I’ve ’ad enough of you. In fact”—he shook Mouse until the little boy whimpered—“I’ve ’ad enough of everyone on this ship. I reckon it’s time to do the business. And we’ll start with this one.”
He shifted his grip on Mouse’s arm, as if he was about to push the boy overboard. Goldie took a quick step forward. “Wait!” she said. “There’s something you should know.”
She had no idea what she was going to say. Toadspit was standing a little way behind her, as helpless as she was. Neither of them could get closer, not without endangering Mouse. She did not know how they could save the little boy, or themselves.
“What?” growled Cord.
Goldie racked her brain. For some reason, she kept thinking about Frisia’s sword. But that was lying on the other side of the deck. If one of them tried to grab it, Cord would just shoot them.
There was Bonnie, of course. But what could Bonnie do? She was as helpless as Goldie and Toadspit.
Or was she?
Like a flash of light, Goldie saw herself standing on the docks at Merne, when she was still a princess and Bonnie was Uschi, a girl who longed