Page 107 of Crossbones
Caspian has a frown on his face. “I’m not sure whether it’s us causing the disturbance or something else, but this crack is slowly getting bigger.”
Van runs a hand over his face. “Eventually the water pressure will get to be too much and it will break open. I’m not sure how much water is behind this, but I don’t think we should be around to find out.”
“How much time do we have?” I ask.
Caspian shrugs. Van shakes his head.
One of my crew runs a hand along the fissure and turns to me. “Few hours. Few days—”
“So we don’t know,” I state.
I look back at the progress. We’re not even making a dent and the ship isalready nearly full. I’d hoped to be able to come back here, but it appears as though nature is going to take the rest of it.
“Alright, get this last bit loaded—we only need about another hour or two to fill the hold—” My words are cut off as a massive tremor shakes the ground under our feet. The four of us watch in horror as the crack snakes up the wall at a terrifying speed.
“Everyone out!” I yell. “Everyone out now!”
Water that was simply dripping out before is now gushing, telling me whatever is behind that wall is worse than we thought. We run through the gold with the water rising under our feet until we’re splashing through it.
I yank one of my crew to a stop by their collar. “Find Harrison—tell him to get everyone to the ship now!”
Caspian and I stand at the doorway, ushering the crew through. As soon as the last one crosses the threshold, I grab Caspian and we run. The tremors don’t stop when we enter the passageways and tunnels, and debris and dust rain down on our heads. Everyone ahead of us panics when water starts to collect under our feet.
Caspian and I are the last to run through the giant pillars at the entrance and we see Harrison standing on shore, holding the row boat. A look of relief crosses his face when he sees me.
Water is seeping up from the ground or the ice is sinking, I’m not sure which, but the rumbling is worse out here. I can hear the ice cracking, a sharp, haunting sound that echoes across the water. Caspian and I sprint for the boat and we row back to the ship.
Once back onboard, I turn at the rail to see the pillars collapsing and everything falling in on itself. It seems too cliche to say we got out just in time, with a boatload of gold, but it’s the truth. Regret stabs at me as I watch a millennia of history sink into the water—not to mention all the gold still in that vault, now claimed by the sea.
“Get us back out into open ocean,” I bark.
I head down to my cabin with Caspian and the others following me.
“I think it’s time to talk about that plan for Anders now, Captain,” Caspian says. “Best case is he’s not waiting for us, but on the off chance he is…”
“We’ll have to sneak past them at night,” I answer.
“Navigate the Straights in the dark?” Harrison states incredulously. “That’s a death sentence.”
“It’s a death sentence to sail straight into an enemy fleet too,” Caspian says.
Harrison glares at him but doesn’t say anything. There’s a fifty-fifty chanceAnders has ships waiting for us on the other side of the Straights. Although, another part of me thinks he’d be stupid to wage a naval battle so far from a safe port with so much at risk. If he sinks theTempest, he sinks the gold.
“We sail out in the dark and hug the Straights until dawn.”
“Our supplies are dwindling,” Lan says. “We have enough for a week, two if we stretch.”
“Stretch it,” I order. “We’ll take the long way around to Foxhollow.”
Van looks to Caspian but the Prince only nods. “It’s the nearest safe port.”
“It’ll be close,” Harrison says. “Real close.”
“We’ll be sitting low with all this gold,” Flynt reminds us. “We won’t have the same speed as before.”
“What’s the weapons situation like?” Caspian asks.
“All cannon are ready to go,” Flynt answers. “Enough to hold our own, but not against a fleet.”
