A wave splashed on the sand to Sallina's right and washed up the beach. Garibaldi hopped and limped through the foaming water. Sallina's boots splashed behind him. A light shone out ahead and to her right, out on the water beyond the breaking waves. The light shone upon the backs of six men in a rowboat. At the back of the boat, a man sat with his hand upon the tiller. Sallina saw his white beard.
"Stroke!" the man with the white beard said. It was Otis.
Another man was standing in the front of the boat. He was a fat man. He held the lantern above his head and looked forward towards the beach.
"Ahoy there!" he called. It was the Captain.
Sallina saw movement on the beach in front of her, and heard Chimeg's voice shouting. Chimeg and Boli were standing at the top of the waves, waving at the rowboat. A moment later, Garibaldi stopped next to Boli. The lantern shone upon his face.
"Ahoy Captain!" he said. He leaned upon Boli with his left arm and waved with his right.
Sallina stopped beside Garibaldi and stood panting.
"Garibaldi!" the Captain said.
"Stroke!" Otis said.
Sallina looked back along the beach, the way they had come. Dan and Baat were standing with their backs to her. Beyond them she saw the flash of metal helmets and spear-tips. Dan turned, held his hands upon either side of his mouth, and shouted.
"Enemy on the sand!"
He walked backwards towards Sallina. Baat came with him. The Captain put the lantern down in the bottom of the boat. "Full stop!" he called. The light of the lantern went out.
"Back it up!" Otis called.
A wave crashed upon the sand. The rowboat's oars splashed in the water. To one side of the rowboat, and a little farther from the shore, there was a clunk, and a thump. Sallina stared at the moving gray surface of the sea. There was a black shape on the water near the first rowboat, and about the same size.
"Jacqueline!" the Captain cried, "On shore!"
Someone jumped off the second large black shape and into the water.
"Another rowboat," Garibaldi said.
A voice called loudly from the direction Sallina and Garibaldi had come. "Lay down your weapons! We are the Independence Island Police."
By now, Dan and Baat were standing only a few steps from Sallina. She stared past them and into the darkness. The man's voice came again. "Lay down your arms!" Sallina guessed that the man was still fifty paces away.
"Are you ready for this, Baat?" Dan said.
"I am ready," Baat said, "You have sticks?"
"I have mine in my hands," Dan said.
"I have sticks," Baat said.
The Captain shouted from the boat, "Come on! Sallina, Garibaldi! In the water!"
Garibaldi took hold of Sallina's left hand and pulled her towards the waves. She looked once more at Baat and Dan and put her arm around Garibaldi's waist. They walked and hopped down the wet sand and into the water. Sallina heard Boli and Chimeg splashing on the other side of Garibaldi. A wave washed around their knees, and cold, salty, water rushed around their waists. The wave fell back into the sea, pulling them with it.
"Form up archers!" the policeman said.
Sallina looked back towards Dan and Baat. She could hardly see them. They were crouching on the beach. There were men running towards them along the sand. Where were the archers? Who were they going to shoot at? She pushed forward into the water. Another wave washed past their tummies. Sallina felt herself picked up off her feet and moved backwards. She held on to Garibaldi's waist. Boli shouted. He was floating backwards. Chimeg held his hand and stopped him.
"Take aim!"
A white shape rose up out of the water in front of her.
"Anyone need help?" the white shape said. It was Jacqueline.
"Garibaldi's wounded," Sallina said.
"Come with me, handsome," Jacqueline said. She lifted her hands up out of the water. Her bare shoulders shone in the starlight. Behind her, another wave coming, not a big wave, but the top of it was still higher than Jacqueline's head.
"Quick now, turn around," Jacqueline said.
Garibaldi turned around. Jacqueline reached under his left armpit, across his chest and grabbed his right shoulder. "Lie back!" The wave washed over Jacqueline's head, then Garibaldi's.
Sallina was alone above the water. The wave rushed up her chest, into her ears, and over her head. Her feet left the sand. She reached out with her arms to pull herself through the water. But her boots were heavy. The wave turned her sideways, or so she thought. She tried to swim upwards, but there was no light above the water to tell her which way was up. She kicked with her feet, but her boots slowed her down. She pulled hard with her hands.
Her head came out of the water. Her feet found the sandy bottom and she stood up. She wiped her face and looked around.
"Garibaldi!" she called.
The Captain's voice came from behind her. "Jacqueline's got him!"
She turned around. The wave had carried her along the beach, in the direction of the policemen.
"Come on, girl, swim for the boats!"
She pushed herself off the sand and started swimming. She tried to keep her head above water. She looked up at the stars and tried to swim in the right direction. A wave rolled towards her. When it passed by, her head was in the water, but then she was free of it. She kept swimming. She swam like her mother taught her. She pulled hard with her hands and breathed at the right time.
A wave lifted her up. In front of her, there was a rowboat. To her right was another rowboat. She did not know which one Garibaldi was in. She swam towards the first one. The wave let her down, and she could see nothing but water all around. The beach was somewhere to her left. She heard sticks clattering against metal and wood. That must be Dan and Baat fighting with the policemen. What happened to the arrows the policemen were going to fire? How were Dan and Baat going to get to the boats?
"There she is!" the Captain said. "Grab her!"
The side of the rowboat was a black wall in front of her. She heard the clunk of oars and the movement of sailors on their benches. Two hands grabbed her under the shoulders.
"Back up!" the Captain called.
Oars came down from above and stretched out from the boat. Two sailors pulled her out of the water and over the edge of the boat. She fell forwards onto her hands in the bottom. She sat up. "Where's Garibaldi?"
"He's in with the ladies, Miss," Otis said.
Sallina looked around. She was in the back of the boat, sitting in front of Otis.
"Back-stroke!" Otis said. The oarsmen pushed upon their oars to move the boat backwards.
"Captain!" a woman's voice cried from the second rowboat. It was ten paces away. "We have a boy in the water, do I take him aboard?" It was Natasha's voice.
"Yes!" Sallina shouted, "Boy and girl are with us!"
"Take him aboard!" the Captain called.
"Aye, aye, Captain," Natasha said.
The boat moved farther from the shore. Sallina looked at the other boat. She heard someone call, "Back-stroke!" Oars dipped into the dark water, and the other boat moved backwards as well.
"But what about Dan and Baat?" Sallina said.
A wave splashed on the beach. She stared into the darkness. Clack! Thump! Clang! The sounds drifted across the water. The Captain's voice called out loud and clear.
"All aboard!"
Sallina heard a short thump on the side of the boat, then another.
"Not too fast, boys," the Captain said. "They may be tired."
There was another thump, this time right next to her, on the outside of the boat.
"They're shooting at us, Captain," one of the rowers said.
"Hold true, boys," the Captain said.
Sallina felt weak. The thumping noises were arrows hitting the side of the boat. Any moment now, an arrow might fly out of the darkness and stab through her chest, or her arm, or maybe her eye. She ducked below the edge of the boat.
She heard the twang of a bowstring nearby. A moment later she heard it again.
"That's it Captain," a sailor said, "Keep them down."
"I'm doing my best," the Captain said. "But I can't see much and I don't want to hit our people."
Sallina wanted to know what was happening outside the boat, but she did not want to put her head up over the edge. She might get shot if she did that. She crouched as low as she could. A strong smell filled her nostrils. It was the smell of the black stuff the sailors used to fill the gaps between the timbers of their boats. The black stuff mixed with the water in the bottom of the boat. It was sticking to her hands and soaking into her trousers. She did not mind. The smell was better than being shot.
She listened to the sounds in the boat and drifting from the beach. So far as she could tell, the Captain was in the front of the boat, firing arrows at the policemen on the beach. Meanwhile, the policemen were firing at the boats. Dan and Baat should be in the water, swimming towards the boats, but she did not know that for sure. The boats were moving away from the beach.
A voice called from the water outside the boat. "Where you are?" It was Baat.
"Over here!" the Captain said. "Turn about, rowers!"
"Turning about starboard!" Otis said.
The rowers pushed and pulled on their oars. Sallina felt the boat turning. She kept listening. She did not hear any more arrows striking the boat. She felt ashamed that she was hiding, while the sailors were sitting up and rowing.
"Give me a hand, Miss Sallina!"
Sallina sat up. Otis was reaching over the side of the boat. She leaned over and looked down at the water. Baat was swimming next to the boat. She could tell it was Baat by the way he turned his head and spat before he reached up and tried to grab the side of the boat. He missed, but Otis caught Baat's hand and pulled him half out of the water. Baat put his other arm over the side and held on. Sallina grabbed his leather shirt and pulled. Baat tumbled into the boat and landed in the bottom just as she had done.
"Where is Dan?" Sallina said. Baat did not answer. He spat water out of his mouth and tried to wipe his eyes.
Sallina looked across the water. The boat had turned. The breaking waves were behind Otis. The Captain walked back from the front of the boat. She saw a glimmer of light in his hands.
"Take this, Miss," the Captain said, and handed Sallina the lantern. She took it, and one of the little covers on the lantern glass swung open. Light poured out of the lantern and onto Baat's face. There was blood all over his cheeks and forehead.
"Baat!" she said.
"Keep it covered!" the Captain said. He stepped between Baat and Sallina, and sat down next to Otis on the bench at the back of the boat. As Sallina pushed shut the cover on the lantern, she saw the Captain pull an arrow out of a quiver with one hand. In his other hand, he had a short-bow.
There was a thump on the side of the boat. A second later there was another thump, but this one did not sound exactly the same.
"Ah!" one of the sailors said, "I'm hit!"
"Otis, take his oar," the Captain said. Otis got up, stepped on Sallina's leg, and went up between the sailors.
"Blast it!" the wounded sailor said. "I'm hit, Captain!"
"Shut up," Otis said, "Or they'll hit you again."
The Captain turned sideways and put one leg over the bench so he could look back towards the beach. He held the tiller in place with his knee. He strung his arrow and stared into the darkness. Baat sat up. Sallina looked in the water for Dan, but she could not see him. Up on the beach, above the foaming waves, dark shapes were moving.
"Where is Dan?" she said.
"There," the Captain said, "Up on the beach, with his back to us."
Sallina looked at the dark shapes on the beach. One of them turned and ran into the waves. It was Dan. She knew him by the way he ran.
The policeman called, "Archers!"
The Captain fired his bow. Sallina did not see where the arrow went. He strung another arrow and fired it in the space of a few heartbeats.
"Get down, boys!" the Captain said. He fired his arrow. The sailors slid off their benches and hid behind the walls of the boat. Sallina did the same and pressed herself down into the smelly water. Baat stayed sitting up, staring at the sea. The Captain took out another arrow and strung it in his bow.
"Fire!" the policeman called.
Sallina waited for the sound of arrows striking the boat, but she heard none. She sat up.
"They missed!" she said to Baat.
"They fire at Dan," Baat said. He pointed at the water.
"Raise the lantern, Sallina!" the Captain said. "Give Dan some light!"
Sallina held the covered lantern in her hand and did not move. If she held the lantern up, the archers on the beach would be able to see her and shoot at her. She might get killed. She did not want to be killed. She was only eighteen.
"Sailors, ready to pull!" the Captain called. He strung another arrow in his bow. "Endeavors!" he shouted, at the top of his voice. "Pull for home!" He pulled the arrow back and took aim at the shadows on the beach. "Sallina! Uncover the lantern!"
One of the sailors had already been shot, Sallina thought. He was shot because he was rowing. The only reason they were going to get away was because the sailors were brave enough to row, even though they knew they might get shot. Did she want to be like them, or did she want to hide in the bottom of the boat?
She took the cover off the lantern and held it up. Her hand was trembling, but the lantern's light shone out clear and bright across the water. They were forty paces from the beach.
The Captain fired an arrow, and another. "Got him!" he said, even as he reached into his quiver for the next arrow.
A wave rolled under the boat and towards the beach. Dan's head and shoulders came out of the back of the wave ten paces from the boat. He shook his head. He was standing up. For some reason, the sandy bottom of the sea was shallow, even though Dan was thirty paces from the beach. He put his arms out in front of him and bent his knees. Sallina expected him to dive into the bottom of the next wave and swim for the boat. But instead of diving, Dan stood still and fell sideways towards the water. As he fell, he turned, and the lantern light shone upon the straight, glistening shaft of an arrow.
The arrow was sticking out of Dan's back.
Sallina stood up and reached out with her free hand towards him.
"No!" she screamed.
The boat gave a sudden lurch. Sallina fell backwards and sat down in the bottom. She saw Baat's legs disappearing over the side and heard a splash as he went head-first into the water. She held the lantern high with one arm, and pulled herself up to the edge of the boat with the other.
"What the devil did he do that for?" the Captain said.
"Dan's been shot!" Sallina said. "Baat jumped in to save him."
The Captain dropped his bow and quiver in the bottom of the boat and picked up a coil of rope. Sallina watched him. In the light of the lantern, he checked that the coils of the rope were not tangled. His hands were shaking. An arrow struck the side of the ship beside him, but he paid no attention to it.
Sallina held the lantern up high. The boat had turned again when Baat jumped out. The side she looked out from was facing the beach. She stared at the water. She saw Baat's head. The waves were all about him. He stood up. He had Dan in his arms. He must have found the same shallow place that Dan had been standing on, and when he reached it, found Dan too.
There was a tall wave behind Dan and Baat, moving away from them. The tall wave hid the two men from the archers on the beach so that they were, for the moment, safe. Baat turned Dan sideways. The arrow was still sticking out of Dan's back. Baat grabbed the arrow and tried to pull it out. His hand slipped.
He grabbed the arrow again. The wave behind Dan and Baat crashed upon the beach. In a moment, the archers on the beach would be able to see the two men standing among the waves, and they would shoot. Baat pulled hard on the arrow, and this time, it came right out of Dan's back. Even above the splash of the wave on the beach, Sallina heard Dan scream.
Baat pulled Dan forward and pushed him into the water. A wave rolled over them. Their heads came out of the water on the other side. An arrow hit the boat. There was a splash in the water nearby. Sallina guessed that the splash was an arrow missing the boat. The archers could not see Dan and Baat. But they could see her lantern. Why where they missing the boat? The archers were no more than fifty paces away. Surely they could hit the boat easily?
The boat moved down suddenly as a wave passed by, and then up again.
Baat was trying to keep Dan's head above water. Dan was moving, but he was moving slowly. The Captain stood up and threw the coiled rope towards them. The boat rocked. The rope landed in the water next to Baat. Baat reached for it with one hand and grabbed it.
The Captain looked down at Sallina, "Cover the light!"
She lowered the lantern quickly and closed the cover. It was suddenly dark. She could see nothing at all. She closed her eyes and waited.
"Stroke, boys! Stroke!" the Captain called.
The oars knocked together. Sallina felt the boat turn.
"One, two, three," the Captain called, "Stroke!"
The sailors pulled on their oars and the boat pushed forwards. Sallina put her hands on the bottom to stop herself from falling over. She opened her eyes. She could see the stars. The Captain was a dark shape behind her. He had his hand upon the tiller.
"Where's the rope?" Sallina said.
"Right here, Miss," the Captain said, "Cleated off, secure as can be. As long as our young hero does not let go, we'll tow him and Dan clear away from shore."
Sallina took a deep breath. The Captain was taking her back to the Reliant.
"Thank you Captain," she said.
She had been wrong about Dan. Instead of Dan leaving them behind, he had fought alone on the beach while they swam away to the boats. Now he had been shot in the back. He was their doctor. Who would look after him, now that he was hurt? Would he survive?
"Captain, I'm so sorry," she said.
"So am I, my dear."
Sallina put her face in her hands and started to cry.