In the complete absence of anything else on the map, Michael thought he had to be right.
“Head for them?”
“Safest option. We can use them to navigate. Even moor up for a while if it looks like we’re going to run dry.”
There was no more discussion. Suddenly revitalized, the others held onto anything they could as Driver turned the boat and began to sail for the rocks, praying that more of them would come into view as they got closer. Michael said nothing, but he glanced around at the other faces here with him, and then at the ocean which seemed to stretch away forever. The vastness of the water brought home his individual insignificance. It didn’t matter a damn how smart or how lucky he’d been to get this far, how brave or how strong, his fate and everyone else’s now rested on this increasingly unsteady boat and the rolling waves through which they sailed. Even Driver was of little use now. He remained at the controls, valiantly doing all he could to keep the boat on course, but his actions seemed to be having little effect.
Jagged spears of rock began to spring up on either side of them. The water swirled and splashed the boat around with renewed vigour, dragging the hull down then forcing it back up again, at one point sending it spinning through almost a complete turn before seeming to change direction, then sweeping them back the other way. The bottom of the boat scraped along a rock.
“Is this the part where the boat gets smashed to pieces and we all drift off in different directions, hanging onto bits of wood?” Caron said unhelpfully.
“Shut up!” Lorna snapped at her, beginning to think she might be right. The hull scraped again, a loud, sickening noise, then the boat lurched as a tall wave crashed against the nearest rock and broke over them.
“There!” Michael yelled before ducking down as another wall of ice-cold spray crashed down over them. He’d been pointing at something, but the violent rolling motion made it impossible to see what he’d seen. More as a result of the movement of the water than anything Driver had or hadn’t done, the little boat was pushed away slightly, then sucked in toward the rocks again. But that brief moment was enough, and Driver saw it: a small outcrop with a narrow strip of shingle beach.
“Just aim for that,” Michael said, holding onto Driver’s shoulder and trying desperately to keep them both standing upright as the boat rolled. “Just get us ashore.”
The water level inside the boat was increasing, and not just as a result of the waves now. Harte saw that they’d sprung a slight leak, but he kept his mouth shut and covered it with his foot, knowing there was no point adding to the panic now. Kieran leaned over the side and looked down into the swirling waters, trying to gauge how deep it was and how strong the currents were. He was so desperate to stand on dry land again that, for just a second, he seriously considered jumping.
“Don’t do it,” Howard yelled, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. “If the waves don’t smash you against the rocks, the cold will kill you.”
“Recognize anything?” Driver asked Michael as he fought with the controls. The boat’s small, stuttering engine was having next to no effect now. It was going wherever the sea wanted it to.
“Not a damn thing,” he shouted back over the wind. “Just get us onto land and we’ll take it from there. Keep the last flare with you whatever you do. We should try and set it off when we’ve landed.”
Now, finally, they appeared to have circumnavigated the rocks and were getting closer to the shingle beach. And with unimaginable relief, they felt the direction of the boat change too. The waves and the engine combined to send them closer to the shore, forcing them into what looked like a small cove.
“What was that?” Kieran asked, and he leaned down over the side of the boat again until he was sure. And then they all heard and felt it: the bottom of the boat scraping along the seabed. Michael didn’t stop to think about what he was going to do next. He jumped over the side of the boat and fell into the surf, losing his footing and going under. The ice-cold temperature stunned him and stole the air from his lungs. He managed to get his head out of the water but cracked the back of his skull against the hull of the boat. Barely able to coordinate his movements now, he forced himself to try and swim, then managed to dig his feet into the shingle and start walking. Harte followed his lead, landing with a little more success, and between them they managed to catch the mooring rope and pull the boat to shore, the waves at last helping, not hindering, their progress.
And then, finally, they stopped. The boat listed over and became still. No more rolling or lurching. The waves continued to crash around them but the boat had at last come to rest. The others disembarked and immediately went to Michael and Harte’s aid, wrapping them in layers of their own slightly less wet clothes.
“We need to find some shelter, fast,” Howard said, scouting around the small beach, looking for somewhere they might be protected from the biting wind.
“Use the boat,” Driver suggested. “We can drag it further up the shore.”
“Do we have any food?” Caron asked. “Anything we can give to these two?”
“Nothing,” Kieran replied.
“Anything we can start a fire with, then?”
Harte dug a trembling hand into his pocket and threw Caron his lighter. He was shaking violently, blue with cold. Caron tried to flick it into life but it was dead, as wet and useless as everything else.
“There’s nothing we can burn, anyway,” she grumbled.
“Well, we need to do something,” Lorna said. “If we’re out here much longer we’ll all end up with hypothermia, never mind these two.”
“I’ll go and look around,” Kieran said. “I’ll try and get up onto the rocks and get a better view.”
He was gone before anyone could say anything. Lorna and Caron helped Michael and Harte to get as far as they could from the water, then nestled up with them beneath a slight overhang. Howard and Driver were close behind, Driver having fetched the last flare from the boat.
Kieran returned a few minutes later, clambering down the rocks, then running back down the beach toward them.
“Anything?” Howard asked. Kieran nodded as he struggled to catch his breath.
“It’s not much, but it’s something,” he explained, still panting hard. “There’s a wreck. Looks like a fishing boat or something. It’ll get us out of the wind for a while, at least.”
The seven of them began the unsteady climb up the rocks to find the wreck Kieran had discovered. Lorna had images of huge trawlers in her mind, and was disappointed when she saw that it was just a small vessel, and that it appeared to have been there for some time. It had crashed at the bottom of another rock face, and she hadn’t even seen it until she’d been almost on top of it. At first glance it appeared to be little more than a few scraps of corroded metal and wood.
“Is this it?” Caron asked.
“It’s better than nothing,” Kieran said. “It’ll have to do.”
“Wait…” Michael said, but his throat was dry and his body was shaking, and he couldn’t finish his sentence. They looked at him and he looked back, but still he couldn’t speak.
“What is it?” Lorna asked. He looked from her face, to the wreck, then back again. Barely able to function, he had to summon his very last reserves of energy to talk again.
“I know this … seen this before…”
Kieran immediately seized on the importance of what he was saying. The others took a little longer, but he didn’t waste time explaining. He raced up the rocks in front of them, then stopped when he reached the top. He gestured for the others to follow and they did, climbing up the slippery rock face painfully slowly, pushing and pulling each other toward the top.
Finally they were level with Kieran. They found him sitting on a low stone wall.
“Well, we’re either back on the mainland,” he began to say, “or…”
Michael stared up ahead, almost unable to believe it. He looked around in all directions, trying to get his bearings, and then he broke free of the others and started to walk. His legs were numb and he struggled to keep moving, but he knew this was it.
* * *
It seemed to take forever, but it was less than ten minutes later when he reached the door of the small cottage. It was locked. He hammered on it to be let inside. After a delay of a few seconds, it opened inward.
“You took your time,” Emma said.
