Emily Rodda - Isle of the Dead

Finding that her guests were determined to make their journey, despite her warnings, Ava had shrugged and told them to take the boat if they wished. They would find it by the water, she said, tied to a post.

The hire fee, she had added coolly, was five gold coins. And for an extra gold piece she would store their packs until they returned, for the boat was too small to take extra weight. In silence she had held out her hand, her lips moving as Jasmine counted the coins into her gloved palm.

‘Robbery!’ Barda growled now, as he bent over the oars, water streaming from his cap, hair and beard. “Even if I had not known the woman was Tom’s sister, her outrageous prices would have made me suspect it. Five gold coins for a boat that is barely seaworthy! And one for keeping our belongings!’

‘It does not matter. There is still a great deal of gold in the bag the Dread Gnomes gave us,’ called Jasmine, who still cared no more for money than she had when she lived in the Forests of Silence. ‘Besides, Ava no doubt expects us to die on the Isle. She thinks she has seen the last of her boat.’

And indeed, as it turned out, Ava’s boat was destined never to return to its owner. Just past the centre of the channel, the companions suddenly found themselves ankle deep in water.

Ragged holes had appeared in the boat’s hull, and water was pouring in. Jasmine snatched up a small bucket and began to bale frantically. Lief and Barda redoubled their efforts, gritting their teeth and pulling with all their strength.

The boat drew closer, closer to the island. But every moment the holes in the hull were opening wider, and despite all Jasmine’s efforts the water was rising.

The boat began to settle. Waves lapped over the sides. Filli shrieked piercingly.

‘We are for it, I fear!’ Barda said grimly. ‘Lief—we seem to be making a habit of this. Pull your oar free and use it to keep afloat. I will take care of Jasmine.’

Lief did not argue. Barda was a far stronger swimmer than he was.

In minutes they were floundering in freezing water.

Again! Lief thought desperately. Clinging to the oar, he shook the wet hair out of his eyes and looked around for Jasmine and Barda.

He saw their heads bobbing just ahead of him. Barda was swimming strongly, pulling Jasmine with him. Filli was clinging in silent terror to Jasmine’s hair. Kree was flying above them, screeching encouragement.

The tide will aid us, Lief told himself, beginning to paddle slowly forward. And this time it is day. This time we can see the shore. And Barda and I are practised at surviving in the sea, after all.

The last thought made him smile, even as his teeth chattered with cold. How strange and ridiculous that his and Barda’s ordeal beyond Bone Point might be the very thing that saved them now.

And just at that moment, something made him look over his shoulder.

Far away across the water, Ava’s towering sign gleamed in the sunlight. But Lief could not see the cottage beneath the sign, or the waves foaming at the tip of the point.

His view was blocked—blocked by a dark ship with a broken mast and the rags of sails fluttering in the wind. Silently the ship rocked at anchor about halfway across the channel.

The Lady Luck. Waiting.

In terror Lief turned, cast aside the oar and struck out wildly. Fear gave strength to his arms and banished the cold that might otherwise have slowed him. His eyes fixed on the red blur ahead, he ploughed through the water, using the waves as he had learned to do, thinking of nothing but flight.

And sooner than he would have believed possible he was clambering onto dry land and falling, panting, beside Barda and Jasmine into a dense, fragrant mass of scarlet lilies.

Barda and Jasmine could not see The Lady Luck when they turned to look for it after Lief had blurted out his story. Lief could no longer see it either. But the ruby in the Belt of Deltora was palest pink, signalling danger. Lief knew the ship was there. Visible or invisible, it was there, anchored in the channel.

Barda groaned and ran his hands through his wet hair.

‘I sighted the cursed ship too, when we had almost reached Ava’s shop,’ he admitted reluctantly. ‘It was moving towards the point then. I thought my mind was playing tricks.’

‘As I did, when I first saw it,’ Lief muttered, clambering to his feet. ‘But it was no illusion, Barda. The Lady Luck has followed us. It has followed us all the way down the coast.’ His stomach churned at the thought.

Barda, too, looked sick.

Jasmine glanced uneasily from one to the other. ‘Let us move on,’ she said, jumping up quickly and tugging at Lief’s arm. ‘It would be better, perhaps, to be away from the sea.’

They began walking, carefully threading their way through the tall, blood-red flowers which seemed to grow thickly all over the island, clothing it in a rich mantle of scarlet.

The lilies bent and swayed around them, black-fringed petals cool and fleshy, golden stamens leaving trails of golden pollen wherever they touched. Not far ahead, rising high on the far side of the island, was the rocky outcrop that marked the beginning of the archway. Beyond that was the diamond brilliance of the Isle of the Dead.

But Lief hardly noticed his surroundings. His mind was still on the spectre of The Lady Luck. Nervously he glanced over his shoulder and as he turned back he saw that Jasmine was watching him in concern. He suspected that she thought he and Barda had been seeing visions.

‘We are not imagining this, Jasmine!’ he snapped. ‘The ship is real! You searched for us for over a week, and you could not find us—even in your dreams! Yet we were on the ship, within Deltoran waters, all the time.’

‘I know this!’ Jasmine shook her head. ‘But how could the—the crew—have known what happened to you after you jumped overboard? How did they know where to find you?’

‘Somehow they must sense us,’ Barda muttered. ‘Somehow…’ Suddenly he stopped, his face alert.

‘The gold piece!’ he hissed. ‘Lief! You won two gold coins when you played that game, but you only returned the one you had borrowed. Perhaps…’

Lief dug deep into his pocket and pulled out the gold coin he had won after playing the beetle game.

‘Throw it away!’ Barda urged. ‘Throw it into the sea! Perhaps, once we are rid of it, the ship will cease haunting us.’

‘If you throw it into the sea, it will be lost forever,’ Jasmine hissed. ‘Who knows what will happen then?’

She held out her hand impatiently. ‘Give the coin to me, Lief! I am unknown to the crew of The Lady Luck. I owe them nothing! I have never set foot on their accursed ship.’

Lief hesitated, then handed over the coin. Nodding with satisfaction, Jasmine put it away in the Dread Gnomes’ money bag.

‘There,’ she said, returning the bag to her jacket pocket. ‘Now, let us concentrate on what is to come. The guardian of the Sister of the West no doubt awaits us on the Isle of the Dead. We must—’

She broke off with a startled cry as Kree suddenly swooped at her head and wheeled away, screeching. Filli, clinging to her shoulder, gave a high, despairing squeal.

A curious expression crossed Jasmine’s face. She looked down and her eyes widened in horror.

Puzzled and alarmed, Lief and Barda looked down too. But there was nothing to be seen—nothing but nodding scarlet lilies, trembling golden stamens, a few green leaves and the deep, soft earth beneath.

‘Beware!’ Jasmine shrieked. She began to kick and stamp violently. Lilies toppled and fell around her, crushed beneath her feet. She bent amid the ruin of the flowers and began brushing wildly at her legs.