Vulture's Gate (25 page)

‘I can't leave him.'

‘If you want to save him, you'll do as I say. I need your help. We have to climb the ship's anchor to get on board. Then we can come back for him. The girls will take care of him. As long as they shelter him with their bodies, Flakie won't fire again. He won't risk hurting one of us.'

The little girls closed in around Callum, making a circle of protection over his body and Bo stepped away.

‘Mr Pinkwhistle will guard you too,' she said. ‘I'll come back for you, I promise.'

Callum didn't answer. His eyes were shut and his face was stiff with pain.

Bo followed Li-Li to where the minesweeper's anchor chain stretched into the water. Li-Li leapt from the dock onto the long chain and scrambled up towards the deck like a monkey. Once on board, they headed straight to the cabin on the forecastle. As they turned a corner, they came face to face with Flakie. He was still carrying his weapon but he stared at them as vacantly as if he was holding a teatray.

Li-Li held Bo back. ‘Watch this,' she said. She grabbed Flakie by the front of his uniform, snatched the gun from his hands and dragged him over to the edge of the deck where there was only a section of chain as a railing. Without letting go of him, she undid the chain and then leaned her face close to his – so close that it looked as if she was about to kiss him. Flakie teetered on the brink trying to avoid her lips, flailing for something to grasp other than Li-Li. Then he fell, mutely, into the dark harbour water.

Li-Li laughed and hurried back to Bo's side. ‘They make it that the boys they've trained for the Zenana won't touch you, no matter what. And they'll do anything to escape being kissed. If your face gets too close, they panic. They're morons. We used to make them fall in the pool all the time. It was such fun. As soon as they dragged themselves out, we'd do it again.' Bo leant over the railing, scanning the water for Flakie. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him scrambling up the side of the dock. At least he hadn't drowned.

Li-Li slipped her hand into Bo's and led her to the bottom of a small flight of stairs that led to the forecastle. At the top of the stairs, a sliver of light shone out from beneath a door. It opened, and as the light flooded down the stairwell, the shadow of a man fell across their upturned faces.

‘Two foundlings,' said Hackett. ‘How charming. I always said Misericordiae-brewed girls might be better breeders, but you foundlings are much more fun.'

‘Hackett,' said Li-Li. ‘I'm so glad to see you.'

She raised the gun that she'd taken from Flakie and fired a single shot to his chest. For a split second, Hackett looked surprised before he fell forward, tumbling down the stairs to lie in a heap at their feet.

‘What have you done, Li-Li?' said Bo, kneeling beside the body.

‘I hope I've killed him,' she replied. ‘He deserved it for what he did to me. And what he would have done to you, and the other girls, if he'd had the chance.'

Bo looked up at Li-Li as if seeing her for the first time. Li-Li gripped the pistol, her knuckles white. Gently, Bo pushed Li-Li's hands down, forcing her to lower the gun.

‘We have to bring the others on board. You lower the ramp and I'll check the boat for other men.'

Bo was relieved to find the cabins below deck were all empty. As soon as she'd finished her task, she ran down the ramp and onto the dock. The girls stepped aside and she fell to her knees beside Callum. He lay like a broken doll, his head at an odd angle, his body limp. She picked him up carefully, cradling his head against her chest. Warm blood seeped from his shoulder, soaking into the bodice of her torn and dirty dress.

Li-Li called to them as the girls ran up the ramp and boarded the
Bouboulina
. Mr Pinkwhistle let out a low, guttural growl and his eyes glowed a brighter red.

‘No, Mr Pinkwhistle, follow,' said Bo. But the roboraptor went skittering down the pier to where two squadrones were clumping onto the dock. Bo heard the men roar in surprise as the roboraptor attacked their legs. Struggling under Callum's weight, she staggered up the ramp. She laid him tenderly on a bunk in one of the cabins and covered him with a blanket.

‘I won't be long. I'll come back to you soon,' she said.

When Bo climbed back on deck, all the girls were clustered at the railing watching the ramp retract and squealing at something that was happening below. Down on the dock, Mr Pinkwhistle was slashing the soldier-drones' legs with his teeth. They tried to smash him with the butts of their guns but he was too nimble for them. He wove his way between their legs, snapping with such speed that the drones jumped to one side to avoid him, as if they were all caught up in a crazy dance. Bo put her fingers between her teeth and let out a long, shrill whistle. In an instant, Mr Pinkwhistle had raced to the end of the dock and launched himself into the air, landing neatly on the deck beside Bo. She picked him up and hurried to the forecastle.

‘They're coming for us,' she told Li-Li. ‘Can you really do this? Can you get us out?'

Li-Li kissed her lightly on the cheek and turned to the minesweeper's controls. The
Bouboulina
surged away from the dock.

‘Go and nurse your boy,' said Li-Li.

36

ONCE UPON A TIME

As Bo descended the stairs from the forecastle, the first
harbour mine exploded
and sent a shudder through the bow of the boat. She reached to steady herself and realised something was wrong. Hackett. He wasn't lying at the bottom of the stairs any more. A dark stain of blood on the floor marked where he had lain.

Outside, the first rays of dawn light were creeping across the water. Bo scanned the main deck anxiously. There was no sign of Hackett. Surely he couldn't have escaped?

The
Bouboulina
surged into the harbour, leaving a trail of white water in its wake. The girls stood at the rails, watching the shoreline and the Zenana receding from view. Against a lightening sky, columns of smoke billowed above the Colony. All along South Head, red-tiled roofs were collapsing. Rocked by explosions, the Wall continued to topple into a pile of rubble. Bo crossed the deck to join Lolly, who was clutching the railing, the wind blowing her curls out behind her. At the sound of Bo's footsteps, Lolly turned but the beginnings of her smile were replaced by a scream. Something clipped Bo hard across the back of the head.

‘Where's the other little slut?' asked Hackett, his voice slurred with pain. Bo didn't answer. Despite her throbbing head, she leapt at him, knocking him over with the force of her attack. She aimed a blow to his face but Hackett grabbed her arm and twisted it hard before she made contact. She let out an involuntary cry of pain, then sank her teeth into his wrist until she could taste his salty blood and he roared in wounded rage. Suddenly, Hackett was on top of her, both his huge hands around her throat, squeezing the breath from her body. As if from far away, she could hear the small girls screaming and, above the commotion, someone shouting. Hackett released Bo and turned to face Li-Li.

‘Where did you think you could run to?' sneered Hackett. ‘There's nothing out there for you. For you or your little girlfriends.'

Li-Li glared at him and pointed the gun at his chest but Bo could see that she was trembling. It would be harder to pull the trigger a second time.

Hackett took a step closer.

‘You were safe in the Colony, Li-Li.'

‘I don't want to be safe, if safety is what you gave me,' said Li-Li. ‘I want to be free.'

Hackett laughed and a little fleck of blood flew from his mouth and landed on Li-Li's cheek. Even though his chest was sticky with blood, he stepped towards her and reached for the gun.

‘Girls like you will never be free in this world,' said Hackett.

Suddenly, as if from nowhere, Callum appeared, swinging a pole with all the force left in his wounded body. He brought it down hard across Hackett's arm. Then he stepped in closer, wielding the pole like a club, beating Hackett around the head and shoulders. Man and boy careered across the deck, crashing into the railing. Hackett grabbed the end of the pole and wrenched it from Callum. Callum slumped, as if the pole was the only thing that had given him strength. For a split second, Bo thought Hackett would fling Callum from the ship. In the same instant, Li-Li and Bo ran to Callum's aid and with a mighty push, they forced Hackett over the railing and into the harbour. His pale face bobbed up and down in the water, washed with the first morning light.

‘Oh no,' said Li-Li. ‘Look.'

Speeding towards Hackett, their decks crowded with soldier-drones, was a flotilla of small speedboats, safe in the wake of the
Bouboulina
and the mine-free path it had cleared through the harbour.

The first speedboat slowed to haul Hackett on board and was quickly overtaken by the rest of the flotilla. There were six of them, racing towards the slow-moving minesweeper. Any minute they would come alongside and board the
Bouboulina
.

‘They'll take us back to the Zenana,' said Serene, stepping up to the railing. ‘They'll take us back and this time they'll really punish us,' she sobbed.

The girls crowded together in the bow of the boat, watching the speedboats draw closer. ‘I'd rather die than go back,' said Li-Li.

‘No one's going to die,' said Bo. She put two fingers between her teeth and whistled loudly. Mr Pinkwhistle scurried between the legs of the girls, searching for Bo, then jumped into her arms. ‘Stand back,' said Bo. ‘Keep away from the edge, big girls help the little ones and brace yourself for rough seas.'

Bo opened Mr Pinkwhistle's chest and began to make calculations. When he was primed, she positioned him carefully on the deck with his head tilted upwards. Then she ran to join Callum where he sat slumped against a pile of ropes and canvas.

‘What is he going to do?' asked Callum.

‘Something I've never made him do before,' said Bo. She put her arms around Callum and braced them both for the shockwaves.

Mr Pinkwhistle's jaw flipped open, so wide it almost looked as though it was dislocated. A gargling sound came out of his body and then suddenly, a tiny missile launched out of his mouth, shooting over the bow of the boat, directly into the path of the speedboats. One after another, miniature missiles released in lightning succession from Mr Pinkwhistle's open jaw. Sparks and smoke spilled from him as his body was racked by each release. A plume of seawater fifteen metres high rose into the air, showering the deck. The girls shrieked as they were drenched with cold water but when the turbulence had settled, they ran to the railing. The flotilla was in disarray. Four speedboats had capsized and the others had stopped to haul men from the water.

Mr Pinkwhistle snapped his jaw shut and spun in a circle three times, a dance of victory, while the girls gathered around him and cheered.

When they were sure they were safe, the children all climbed the stairs to the upper deck and crowded onto the forecastle. Bo helped Callum into a seat beside Li-Li and checked his wound. It had stopped bleeding. The bullet hadn't lodged in his shoulder but had cut through the outer edge, leaving a deep flesh wound that would heal with time.

Wearily, Callum pushed her hands away. ‘Stop fussing. I'm all right,' he said. ‘I'm more worried about what happens next. They'll hunt us down, you know, no matter where we go in the harbour. Even if we hide on the North Shore, there will be Sons of Gaia waiting to poison us. There's nowhere safe in Vulture's Gate.'

‘I know,' said Li-Li. ‘That's why we're leaving. We're not sailing across the harbour. I've sent the ROVs ahead to clear the mines all along the peninsula. We're going to sail through the Heads.'

‘Into the open sea?' said Callum. ‘But where do we go from there?'

‘To find a home,' said Bo. ‘Our own home in a faraway place.'

‘That sounds like one of your stories. What if there is nowhere safe? What if there's nothing out there?'

‘Before I met you, I thought all boys were idiots,' said Li-Li. ‘Don't prove me right.'

Callum smiled. ‘Before Bo, I thought all girls were extinct. I'm ready to be wrong again.'

Bo glanced from Callum to Li-Li and laughed. Then she looked out to the wide, open sea, to the vast, deep-blue expanse of ocean lying between the golden cliffs. In a matter of minutes, they would pass out of the harbour. Vulture's Gate would be left behind. She wanted to feel happy and free at last but there was a part of her that felt heavy with loss. All her old life was gone forever. Poppy, Tjukurpa Piti, the Daisy-May, Mollie Green, Roc and the Festers, even her time at the Zenana was over forever. Every moment of those other lives that she had lived was now only a story. She glanced from Li-Li to Callum. She wasn't alone. Each of them had lost so much. The weary faces of all the Colony girls were etched with hope and nervous anticipation. The future was an open book.

‘Will our story have a good ending?' asked Serene.

‘Yes,' said Li-Li firmly. ‘We'll find an island. But not like Mater Misericordiae. A new island where girls can be free.'

‘And they all lived happily ever after,' said Lolly, looking up at the older children.

‘But that's what you say at the end of the story,' said Bo, sweeping Lolly into her arms. ‘This isn't the end.'

‘What goes at the start?'

‘Once upon a time . . .'

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Writing
Vulture's Gate
involved breaking new ground, taking risks and venturing into dark places. Thanks to all the brave souls that believed in the story, the ideas behind it, and in my ability to stay with the project especially: Ruby Murray, Ken Harper, Julie Walker, Eva Mills, Sarah Brenan, Rosalind Price, Pam Saunders, Marcus Saunders, Nano Finch, Henry Paterson-Finch, and Elwyn Murray. Also many thanks to Ruth Grüner for her stylish design sense.