“That’s what you said last night,” Erra replied. “No one came.”
“Why you keep her?”
“A hunch. My da used to say you can find something useful in everything that comes out of the sea.”
“How she useful? You think sea folk trade for her?”
“Maybe. I have another idea. Silse said he saw her taking the bells. Said she must have been there for a while.”
Kanyer looked at the girl with interest. “It true they breathe water then.”
Erra shook his head. “Nah. She hasn’t got gills. See the size of her chest. Big lungs. Prob’ly means she can hold her breath a long time.” He rubbed his stubbly chin. “That’d be useful to us.”
“You want her get bells for us?”
“Yes.”
“She won’t.”
“She will if we give her a reason.”
Erra strode across to the girl and cut the ropes around her ankles. She didn’t wake up so he nudged her with his foot. Her whole body jerked as she came awake and she turned her head to stare up at him. Her lips were cracked and the film across her eyes was red. He guessed that being out of the water was doing her harm and felt a small pang of guilt.
He reached over to the lamp ring and untied the end of the rope that tethered her.
“Get up.”
She moved slowly, her expression wary and sullen.
“Come over here.”
He tugged her to the baskets of sea bells and waved to the last empty one. He indicated the level of the full one next to it, then held his hand over the empty basket at the same place. She watched him intently. He pointed at her, then at the sea, then indicated the full level of the empty basket again. Finally he pointed to the ropes and made a cutting motion, then pointed to her and then waved out at the sea.
She glared at him, obviously understanding but not liking what he was proposing. Nevertheless, she did not resist as he tugged her over to the side of the boat. The crew watched, still chewing on their morning meal.
He turned her around and untied the rope binding her wrists. Then he tied a long length of new, dry rope around her neck. It would swell when it got wet, and be impossible to untie. He nudged her and pointed at the water.
She stared at him resentfully for a moment, then jumped into the water. At once she began struggling with the rope.
“Silse,” Erra called.
The swimmer strolled over.
“Get in the water and keep an eye on her. If it looks like she’s going to get free, let me know. We’ll haul her back out.”
The man hesitated. Using the girl like this probably pricked the fool’s conscience. Or was he worried about losing his share of the profits?
“What are you waiting for?” Erra growled.
Silse shrugged, then jumped into the water. The girl’s struggles stopped. She looked at Silse floating nearby. After staring at him for a long time, she suddenly dove into the gloom, the rope running into the water after her.
Silse watched her. After a moment he raised his head out of the water.
“She’s doing it, but she’s cutting them one by one.”
“Let her,” one of the other crewmen said. “It’ll save us some work.”
Erra nodded. There’d be less trouble later, when it came to dividing the profits, if the others couldn’t claim Silse had done less work than them. He pointed to one of the bags the swimmers had used to haul up the sea-bell plants.
“Give me that.”
They tossed it to him. He dropped it into the water beside Silse.
“When she comes up again, give her that,” he told the swimmer. He sat down to wait.
She reappeared sooner than he expected, but her hands were overflowing with sea bells. Silse awkwardly began trying to explain to her about the bag’s use. She ignored him. Tipping the bells onto the deck, she grabbed the bag and disappeared into the depths again.
Silse looked up at Erra and shrugged.
The crew began to lounge about. A few started a game of counters. The girl came to the surface about three or four times to take another breath. Each time the bag was emptied into the basket and handed back.
After the fourth time, Erra decided his idea was working well. He may as well have a drink and enjoy himself. He looked for the youngest of his crew, Darm, and found the boy was at the top of the mast.
“Darm!” he bellowed.
The boy started. “Yes capt’n?”
“Get down here.”
The boy uncurled his thin legs from the mast and began to climb down. Erra reached into his pocket for some smokewood.
“Capt’n?”
Erra looked up. The boy had stopped halfway down the mast and was pointing toward the bluff at one side of the bay.
“Sails,” he said. “Someone’s coming.”
At once all the crew were on their feet. Erra moved toward the mast, determined to have a look himself, but he didn’t need to. The bow of a ship was now gliding into sight beyond the bluff.
It was a battered but sturdy trading vessel, larger than the fishing boats. Erra narrowed his eyes. He could just see men on board, lined up along the side. As the rest of the ship came in sight, the strangers all raised their arms and waved.
Erra felt his stomach drop. They were waving swords.
“Raiders!” Darm yelled.
Erra cursed. Even if the sails had been hoisted and they hadn’t been cornered in the bay, his boats could never have outrun the ship. They would have to abandon them - but perhaps not their hoard. He turned to the crew. They looked pale and ready to bolt.
“We’ve got to swim for shore!” one cried.
“No!” Erra bellowed. “Not yet. We’ve got a bit of time before they get here.” He pointed to the baskets of sea bells. “Bind them closed, tie on weights and throw them in.
A flurry of activity followed. With heart pounding, Erra grabbed anything that would do as a weight and roped it to the baskets. He bullied the crew with feigned confidence. Two baskets splashed into the water, then another. They sank into the depths.
“They’re coming fast!” Darm wailed. “We won’t make it to shore!”
Erra straightened to look. The ship was approaching quickly. He judged the distance they had to swim.
“Right. Leave the rest. They’ll want to feel they got something, or they’ll come after us for sport. Swim!”
Not waiting for the others to follow, he dove into the water. Fear lent him strength and speed. When he finally reached the sand he dragged himself upright and glanced back. The ship was bearing down on the boats. His crew were emerging from the water. He cursed then started running toward the forest.
Only later, when he stared down at the smoking hulls of the boats from a rocky bluff, did he remember the sea girl. Had she been smart enough to hide or escape, or had they found her? He sent Silse back to look, but the swimmer found no sign of her. Only the cut end of the rope.
The small pang of guilt Erra felt was easily brushed aside. He had more important things to worry about now.
Like how he was going to get off this island.
