The Silver Swan (8 page)

Carlo scampered down the drainpipe like a sewer rat, much faster and more certain than me. I heard the shouting when he dropped out into the tunnel and into Moggia's arms. It took me a few minutes more to get there myself, but they were still jumping up and down and laughing together.

Moggia grabbed me in a great hug. It was like cuddling a rather smelly bear. ‘My little chimney-sweep!'

I gently disentangled myself and peered down the tunnel. The torch had long since burnt out, and it was hard to see.

‘What's been happening?' I asked. ‘Where are the others?'

‘Bah! Everything has been happening,' he said. ‘Your Papa tried to shoot me when he heard I had let you climb up the drain.'

‘Surely he's shot enough of my friends for one evening,' I said bitterly.

‘That's what I told him. Then Jem and Miller got angry and tried to blow up the Frenchmen.'

‘Did they make that explosion?'

He nodded enthusiastically. ‘It was so loud I thought my ears would burst.'

‘Have they attacked the walls?'

‘No, no.' Moggia waved his hands about like a magician. ‘They just wanted to explode something, because they were worried about you and too fat to climb up the hole. So they set fire to Ebenezer's boat and threw the gunpowder in there.'

He hugged Carlo again. ‘It was so exciting.'

‘Where are they now?'

‘They are running up and down opposite the moat, shooting in the air, pretending to be hundreds of men, so the French think they are being attacked by an army of demons.'

Good thinking. It would give the monk and the other men more time to find somewhere to hide, and give the Maltese rebels a chance to break in through the gates at the other end of town.

‘Thank you for waiting,' I said. ‘I'm sorry you got the boring job of sitting here in the dark.'

Moggia laughed. ‘I am safer in this tunnel, where your father cannot see me. He is more dangerous than the French.'

‘We'd better go join our army of demons.'

We fumbled our way through the dark towards the gate. A dim light showed at last — the dying flames of the gondola, half-sunk and engulfed in smoke. The three of us emerged from the tunnel to find the boys sitting about on the quay, out of musket-range, laughing. You'd never have guessed they'd just attacked the world's best-fortified city. Papa, I noticed, was standing to one side in the
shadows, staring at the flames.

‘I haven't laughed so much since we got drunk in Syracuse,' Miller was saying.

‘Hello,' I said. ‘Glad to see you're having so much fun.'

‘Cygno!' Ricardo and Francesco leaped up together. ‘Carlo!' They pushed one another out of the way, trying to hug him first. Everyone else jumped to their feet, talking at once.

‘Don't you think,' I said at last, ‘we should get out of here?'

‘You know best,' said my father sourly.

I matched his tone with my own. ‘How's Ebenezer?'

He winced.

‘Back to the boat,' said Jem.

‘What a night,' said Miller.

My uncle was still where we'd left him, lying in the shadow of the great wall. I knelt at his side.

‘Uncle? We're going to take you to our ship now.'

His eyes flew open. ‘What happened? Are you safe?'

‘All's well,' I said. I looked up at Papa. ‘But we couldn't open the gates, and I'm afraid the rebels won't be able to break into the city. There are soldiers everywhere, almost as if they knew there would be an attack tonight.'

‘I didn't tell anyone, I swear,' said Ebenezer breathlessly. ‘But half the archipelago knew of the attack plan — if not your own part in it. Someone has squealed. Or perhaps the French spies are better informed than we realised.'

‘Perhaps,' said Papa. ‘These boys have kept the French busy, though, pretending to attack from the seaward side, so let's hope that created enough of a diversion for the others to break through.'

Ebenezer nodded.

‘What are you telling him for?' asked Gideon. ‘He's the one who tried to stop you.'

‘Because he cares,' I said.

‘Yes,' said Papa, quietly. ‘He cares a great deal.'

Then I understood that Papa wasn't angry with me at all, only angry at himself for losing his temper, for shooting without giving Ebenezer another chance to back down. He was angry at the worlds that had exploded into warfare on this little rock in the ocean; that had brought two friends face to face in the dark, both armed and desperate and set on opposite courses.

He leaned over and squeezed his arm under Ebenezer's shoulders. ‘Come on, old son,' he said. ‘We'd better get you home, so your wife can shout at me.'

In spite of his pain, Ebenezer laughed. ‘She won't shout at you, since she's long feared you were dead. She'll shout at me for not bringing you home sooner.'

Gideon reluctantly helped carry my uncle to the waiting boat. Random gunfire still ricocheted around the city high above us, and we could hear shouts echoing through the narrow streets.

Carlo smiled up at the ramparts. ‘I think they have realised all their birds have flown the coop.'

Miller laughed. ‘Birds in fine plumage, too.' He
flicked at Carlo's fancy breeches. ‘Although perhaps more a bantam than a rooster.'

Gideon, too, was smiling. ‘I have heard a great many stories about your adventures, Miss Cygnet,' he said. ‘I always thought the boys had exaggerated, but perhaps they were telling the truth all along.'

‘We never exaggerate,' said Francesco.

‘No, never,' agreed Ricardo.

It was a long slow haul against the current back to the ship. We called out in plenty of time, so our watch didn't shoot us by mistake. There'd been enough shooting for one night.

‘Weigh anchor,' Jem called to those on deck. ‘Ready to make sail.'

The boys tied a rope under my uncle's arms and hoisted him very gently on board. Papa laid him down on the deck as Mama came running up the companionway to greet us.

‘Ebenezer!' cried Mama. ‘What have they done to you?'

‘A difference in political outlook, my dear, that's all.'

Mama stroked his face, and then looked up urgently at Papa.

‘It was me,' Papa said with a groan.

‘Don't plague yourself about that, Rafe,' said Ebenezer. ‘You were only defending your own.'

‘But —' Papa's face betrayed his anguish.

Mama was having none of it. ‘Quickly,' she interrupted. ‘Get him down below. He's lost a lot of blood.'

‘If you don't mind, Frances, I'd like to stay on
deck,' said Ebenezer. ‘The stars are so glorious tonight.'

It was a very strange thing for him to say. The sky was clouded over and threatening. Not a star to be seen. My parents exchanged a glance that made my stomach turn over. I grabbed my uncle's hand.

‘You'll be all right,' I whispered. ‘I can sew you up. I fixed Papa once when he was shot.'

His fingers gripped mine. ‘Just sit here with me awhile, Lily. Tell me one of your stories.'

Papa got to his feet. ‘Set a course for Dingli, Jem.'

‘Set mainsail,' Jem shouted.

Papa looked down at my uncle. ‘We'll have you home by dawn.'

‘I'm not sure there's time,' said Ebenezer.

‘We'll make time fly,' said Papa. ‘We'll find a surgeon. I owe that to you, and to my sister.'

Ebenezer gazed up at my father's face. ‘Rafe, all these years we thought you were dead. Then one night this child appeared, this image of you, holding a gun to my head.'

‘She did what?' Papa snapped. ‘Lily, I told you to harm no-one.'

‘I was a pirate, remember?' I said. ‘Anyway, he held the gun to my head, thank you very much.'

‘Lily!' said Mama. ‘You never told me about that.'

‘Never mind,' said Ebenezer. ‘She arrived like a winged messenger in the night. I realised later it was no coincidence.'

‘I'm sorry I stole your books,' I confessed. I'd been meaning to say that for ages.

He didn't hear me. ‘You had sent her to me as a signal, Rafe,' he went on. ‘I knew you were alive. And I knew Diablo had returned.'

The
Mermaid
was finally under way; I could feel the pull of the swell under her hull.

But none of the crew came near. This was Swann family business.

Papa dropped to his knees on the deck.

‘I should have come myself. If I had talked to you before tonight, this never would have happened.'

‘No matter now.' Uncle Ebenezer tensed in pain, squeezing my hand so tight I thought the bones would break. His breath, when it came, brought a bloody bubble of air to his lips. ‘There's something Diablo knows …'

‘Damn Diablo!' Papa spat it like venom.

My uncle's eyes seemed to falter a little, his gaze wandering across the sky, up into the rigging, down at his own blood-soaked shirt, and at last to my face.

‘Lily, listen to me,' he whispered.

‘I'm here.'

‘The map you took from me, with the chalice.'

‘It's no use, that map, it's stupid. We tried to follow it, but it led us the wrong way. We can't make head nor tail of it.'

Ebenezer shook his head as if trying to clear his ears of water. ‘No, no. It's not that. Diablo knows. He knows it's not Valletta.'

He clutched at me, pulling me even closer.

‘It's not Valletta!'

I tried desperately to see into his eyes, to
understand what he meant, but his face seemed to be crumbling, as if he'd lost control of his muscles.

‘Uncle? What do you mean?'

Mama put her hands on his chest. ‘Ebenezer, rest easy now.' She motioned to Papa, who reached under my uncle's sagging shoulders and lifted him up. He lay in my father's arms, still holding my hands, as Mama gently stroked his hair.

‘Rest easy,' she murmured.

‘But Diablo …' Ebenezer's voice was a soft gasp.

‘You wait till I get my hands on that toad,' Mama said. ‘He won't know what's hit him.'

So at least my Uncle Ebenezer died smiling.

 

It was nearly dawn. Huge black storm clouds crowded the sky, and wild winds tore at the sails. I stood on deck with my arms wrapped around me against the cold and an almost unbearable feeling that something was dreadfully wrong. Uncle Ebenezer's body had been carried below, into the cabin. The storm forced us to sail clear away from the coast, but Papa asked us to circle back towards Dingli. The least we could do, he said, was to deliver Ebenezer home to my Aunt Lily and their family.

It sounded like just about the worst thing we could do, although I knew we must. But I dreaded the horror it would bring to them, and I wished with all my heart I could vanish and avoid the moment when my aunt realised that he was dead. A terrible guilt crept through my body like hot lava.

I should have known, I told myself over and over,
even if it didn't make sense. I should have stopped it; I should have saved him. What was Ebenezer thinking, trying to stop a whole gang of cut-throats all by himself? Which side was he on? Which side were we on?

I should have told him that all I really wanted to do was rescue Carlo. He would have understood that. It made more sense than all that talk of Ireland and Malta and India and China. Perhaps saving one frightened boy didn't matter much to the King or to Napoleon, or even to the patriots of Malta. But it mattered to me, to the Duchessa, to Moggia, and to all the boys much more than the strategies of any king or admiral.

I had known, deep down, that Ebenezer wouldn't have shot me — it never occurred to me that Papa would take his threat so seriously. If only I'd had time to explain everything, to both of them.

I wanted to throw my head back and howl like a lost dog. I wished I could curl up in the corner and never speak again. But instead I stood there staring at the mounting waves as if something even worse was just over the horizon.

It was.

Miller, as always, saw her first, in spite of the darkness.

‘Sail ho! It's
Gisella
, hull down but gaining fast!'

His cry chilled me to the gizzards. There was another desperate, hoarse shout from the bows.

‘Jem! It's Diablo!'

Francesco was suddenly by my side, one arm circled tight around my waist. ‘We will not let him have you this time,' he said, his mouth close to my ear so I could hear him clearly above the building gale.

Then everyone was shouting at once.

‘All sail!' Jem hollered.

‘It's Diablo!' Ricardo shouted. ‘The devil has found us.'

‘All hands on deck,' called Max.

I'd never seen the men like this. I could almost smell their fear and it scared me too, but not as much as the sight of those sails heaving towards us.

Papa and Jem were near the tiller, both leaning out over the rails to get a better view.

‘Hell hath no fury,' Papa murmured.

He raised the telescope to one eye. ‘We can't escape her,' he said. ‘Not in this blow.'

‘We can damn well try,' said Jem, with a bottomless wrath in his voice.

‘We'll have to turn and fight,' I said, even though the very thought made me feel like throwing up over the side.

Papa sighed. ‘She's right, you know, Jem.'

Jem hung his head. ‘I know.'

He slammed his fist into the woodwork. ‘God's hounds! What I wouldn't give for a few more cannon.'

‘You can out-manoeuvre Diablo, Jem,' I said, trying to sound like my whole insides weren't melting. ‘You're twice the sailor he is.'

He tried to smile. ‘Thank you, Cyg. I just wish I could out-shoot him as well.'

He sighed, the same awful noise as Papa had made. They exchanged a glance, and Jem nodded. ‘This is it.'

‘Clear for action,' cried Papa, and his words were echoed by dozens of voices all over the ship.

Miller ran the length of the deck towards the forward cannon, thundering, ‘I'll kill him myself — just let me get the slimy, filthy, poisonous sea-snake in my sights!'

Cookie, Mama and Lucas came scrambling up on deck, Mama's face pale in the feeble dawn light.

‘What is it?' she asked, her eyes searching the horizon until she found the cause of the alarm. She knew straight away.

‘Oh, no,' she whispered. ‘Not now.'

‘I'd best get the galley stowed,' said Cookie, in a resigned voice. ‘Dearie me, dearie, dearie me.' He shuffled off below to prepare for the inevitable wounded. For once his fears of disaster were justified. Diablo would not let him escape again.

‘Lucas,' Papa called out, ‘take your mother below. The deck's no place for a woman during battle.'

I couldn't help but laugh, in spite of the terror that bubbled through me.

Gisella
was closing the gap between us, and Papa didn't take his eye from his telescope. He didn't notice how my Mama's face darkened in defiance. It was a hell of a moment for my parents to have their first serious fight. Mama stepped forward, with her hands clenched tightly together.

‘Captain Swann,' she began, in the don't-argue-with-me-I'm-your-mother voice so familiar to Lucas and me.

‘Frances, don't start, for God's sake.' Papa ought to have known there was no point arguing, but he wasn't concentrating.

‘I'm a pirate's wife,' Mama said. She grabbed his sleeve and turned him about to face her. ‘For that matter, I'm a pirate's mother. My place is here on deck with you.'

‘But there's nothing you can do,' Papa argued. ‘You'll only get in the way.'

‘That blasted Diablo's not going to take my family prisoner again,' said Mama, rolling up her sleeves. ‘Now, someone hand me a musket and show me how to fire the damned thing.'

Papa's head dropped to his chest, whether in fear
or resignation I couldn't tell. But when he raised his face and turned to us, he was chuckling.

‘I beg your pardon, ma'am.'

He bowed stiffly and snapped his fingers at Lucas. ‘Midshipman Swann, kindly escort your mother to the fighting tops to commence her career as a sharpshooter. Midshipman de Santiago, you may as well climb up there too, and try your own hand at musketry.'

‘Aye, aye, sir,' said Lucas, fear cracking his voice.

‘I am a brilliant marksman,' said Carlo. ‘I will shoot down Diablo with my first shot.'

‘Thank you, Captain,' said Mama, in a formal tone, and then rushed to throw her arms around Papa's shoulders. She kissed his face hurriedly. ‘Be safe, dearest.'

Papa watched for a moment as she tucked her skirt into her drawers and began scrambling up the shrouds, with Lucas and Carlo racing to catch up. Mama had found a dagger somewhere and thrust it into her waistband.

‘Diablo doesn't stand a chance now,' said Papa. ‘Nobody's ever won an argument with Frances Swann. Believe me.'

He snapped the telescope shut. ‘Lily, if all goes well, you'll take command of the
Mermaid
— Jem and I will be with the boarding party.'

I knew he was trying to keep me out of harm's way, but I didn't mind. Given that our boarding party would be everyone but me, Cookie, and our new sharpshooters, somebody had to keep a hand on the tiller.

Papa called out to Jem. ‘McGuire, bring her in as close as you can. We've nothing to lose now. Ram right into
Gisella
if you have to.'

He raised his voice even louder, so everyone on deck could hear. ‘Listen, men. If we can't outgun Diablo, we can at least outsmart him. Gunners, aim for the rigging. If we get past, have a go at the steering gear. The
Mermaid
may not have as many cannon as
Gisella
, but she moves like the wind, and her crew are smarter. Uglier, but smarter!' There was a cheer from the men. ‘We can get two passes in to their one, so starboard guns stand ready. We'll give her a decent blast and board when we're able. Quick about it, then. You know what to do.'

They did. They all ran to their stations, a cutlass in each belt, bandoliers slung around each shoulder, and muskets at the ready. Cannon-balls were already stacked in the monkeys, ready to be loaded. Gunpowder cartridges were being brought on deck, and every gun crew had its cannon primed. Through it all the wind rose, screaming now through the rigging, and splashes of rain hit me in the face.

Papa kept
Gisella
in his sights, looking around only briefly to make sure all was in order. He motioned me close. ‘Lily, there's one last thing.'

He grabbed my hand and spoke in a quiet urgent voice, just like the Hussein Reis of old.

‘If things don't go well, I want you to get your mother and Lucas away in the boat.'

‘I will not,' I exclaimed. ‘I'd never leave the
Mermaid
.'

‘If it becomes necessary, I'll give you a signal.'

‘No,' I said, more firmly.

‘It's an order.'

‘You're not the boss of —'

Suddenly Papa clasped both of my arms, hard enough to hurt, and leaned down to look me right in the face. ‘I'm your father and the captain of this ship, and I'm ordering you, Navigator Swann, to do what I say.'

I was silent for a moment. ‘Mama won't go anywhere without you,' I said.

‘You'll have to make her.'

‘I won't go either.'

‘Then Diablo will kill us all,' said Papa, grimly. ‘He won't make the same mistake again.'

‘So be it.'

‘Lily, we don't have time to argue. You must save your brother and your mother. Imagine what Diablo will do to them if he captures them alive.' He looked around and waved to Brasher to come close.

‘Brasher, get the
Swallow
ready — Gideon will help you. I want it rigged and tied astern so the children and Frances can escape if need be.'

‘Aye, sir,' said Brasher. Gideon was already standing by.

‘Pack food and water, too. You see to that, Lily. Ask Cookie for provisions.'

‘No, Papa, please.'

He straightened up, his hands still around my wrists. ‘Promise me.'

I looked up at the tops, where Lucas and Mama had wedged themselves into position, braced against the wind and the sudden bucking of the ship. Mama
was sighting down the barrel of a musket as if she'd been a sharpshooter all her life.

Lucas laughed at something she'd said.

I nodded.

‘But only if it looks really bad,' I conceded. ‘I'm not deserting the
Mermaid
unless it's an emergency.'

‘You wouldn't be deserting us, love,' said Brasher, kindly. ‘Everyone has their own job in a battle — this time, yours is to take the others to safety. That's what all the boys would want, honest.'

‘But —'

‘You must never be a slave again, Lily.' Gideon's voice was bleak. As I looked up into his eyes — they were edged with tears — he put one hand gently on my shoulder. ‘For me, for Ahmed, for all of us, you must escape. Swear it.'

I nodded again, but this time I bowed my head so nobody could see my face. ‘I swear,' I said.

‘That's settled, then,' said Papa. ‘Boys, get the boat ready.'

‘What about you, Papa?' I asked, my voice catching in my throat. ‘What about the
Mermaid
?'

Papa straightened up and glared across the water at
Gisella
. His eyes burned blue and fierce.

‘This time, we fight to the death.'

 

Gisella
fired first. The long bronze chasers mounted in her bow sent out cannonballs to find the range, well before the
Mermaid
had any chance of firing back. Great spouts of water spewed up across our bows. All along her sides, the gun ports were open and the muzzles of forty huge cannon stood ready
for action, waiting for us to sail across their line of fire.

‘If we can keep out of the way of those big guns, we might stand a chance,' said Papa. ‘Their aim's not bad, but their broadsides will be all over the place. I hope.'

But the very next salvo hit home. A ball thudded into the
Mermaid
's prow, splintering the rails and shattering our beautiful mermaid figurehead.

‘Curses!' shouted Miller. ‘I loved that girl.'

‘Hold your fire,' Papa called down the deck. He nodded to Jem.

Jem took a deep breath and held it for a moment.

‘About ship!' he shouted with all his might.

Nobody hesitated, even for a moment. If we'd had a second to think, we might have argued against bringing the tiny
Mermaid
right up under the nose of
Gisella
, but we all reacted instantly. The boys and I ran to the sheets, and at Max's call we let go and hauled so fast that the ship spun around towards
Gisella
as if she were a shark closing in for the kill.

Gisella
flinched. You could see it, as if the ship herself was shocked at this impertinent pup yapping and snapping in her path. The helmsman must have started, instinctively, to steer away to safety. But there was no escape. We were about to cut across her path and leave her huge guns no chance of hitting us, while we blasted
Gisella
head-on. At this speed, in these mounting waves, there was little room to manoeuvre.

‘Stand ready, now,' Papa called to the gun crews.

‘Take her up a bit,' Jem called to Max. Even I gasped. He was going to sail right under
Gisella
's bows.

Max nodded, and our prow turned again, just a little, to point straight at the great ship. The gap between us closed, faster, always faster.

‘Hold her there,' said Jem. ‘Steady now.' Our bowsprit was aimed like a spear, pointed deep into
Gisella
's belly.

Closer.

Another shot slammed into the woodwork. I ducked down, but it hit the deck-hatch and spun harmlessly into the water beyond.

‘Stand firm, lads,' cried Miller.

Papa raised his arm. ‘Starboard guns, ready to fire as she bears!' he shouted.

Closer. I could make out Diablo now, red scarf wrapped around his head, waving his arms on the quarterdeck, probably screaming abuse at his crew, and at us.

I wondered if Mama had him in her sights yet. He'd be a dead man if she'd seen him.

We seemed too close now. I could see the planks in
Gisella
's hull, the belaying pins, the sheets coiled tidily. A few men clustered forward around the chasers, firing muskets raggedly at us. A
crack!
from aloft told me that the Swann family sharpshooters had swung into action. I looked up, but they were hidden in a cloud of smoke. Still, I could hear Lucas's delighted laugh and Carlo shouting curses at Diablo in one of his several languages — or perhaps in all of them at once.

Even closer. Just as I felt I'd scream for us to turn around, Jem said quietly to Max, ‘Take her down a point or two, would you, son?'

The
Mermaid
swiftly changed course — not much, but enough to swing her around so that our guns were aimed right at
Gisella
. Then Papa shouted the order.

‘Fire!'

They took it in turns, as each gunner got
Gisella
in his sights. Miller's gun exploded first in a fiery rage. His shot smashed
Gisella
's bowsprit, and a tangle of lines and canvas dropped into the sea. He followed it up with a tirade of curses and blasphemies that ought to have sent her to the bottom. The Vella boys were next. They lined up the gun and blasted a gash in the mainsail so we could see the sky beyond. They stopped cheering and dancing only long enough to reload.

Papa was in charge of our third gun. His face was as drawn and pale as I'd ever seen him — his eyes fixed on
Gisella
, on Diablo, with pure disgust. He licked his lips, and leaned over to check the sight. Ahmed lit the fuse, the men jumped back, and the cannon spat all of Papa's fury towards Diablo in one blistering explosion. The shot splattered through the hull, splintering timbers and smashing its way into the hold.