In a world of steamships and Progress, no one who sails due south across the Wild Sea ever returns.
No one knows why.
Dale Mortensen intends to solve the mystery. With the help of an old sailor and a reformed playboy searching for his missing sweetheart, he locates a captain and crew ambitious—not to mention crazy—enough to undertake the journey across the Wild Sea.
The Infinity and her crew sail south, but the truth of what really lies on the other side of the horizon is more amazing—and terrifying—than anything they can imagine.
It’s the adventure of a lifetime—and it may just get Dale and his friends killed.
Find out how this Young Adult steampunk adventure unfolds chapter-by-chapter every Thursday! Click here to start from the beginning. Or if you want to read it at your own pace, buy the ebook for $6.99 from Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords or Sony, or get it as a trade paperback from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Book Depository.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HORIZON
E. R. PASKEY
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
DALE DREAMED HE WAS BACK IN THE ocean, in the wreck of the Infinity. He had a death grip on a plank with one hand, and a death grip on Raphael with the other, but instead of floating, the plank was sinking like a brick. Worse, Dale could not let go…and the plank was sucking him down into the depths with it. Water covered his mouth, and then his nose, and he could not breathe.
He really could not breathe.
It was too real.
With a start, Dale awoke to find himself underwater—and his hands tied behind his back. A rough gag had been tied around his face. Panicked, and completely disoriented, he kicked his feet and surged upward. His head broke through the water and he heaved in a gasping breath through the gag. Only then, when his burning lungs had been granted oxygen, could he take in his surroundings.
Dale was up to his neck in deep water—deep enough that his feet did not touch bottom. A rope led from his bound hands up to a protrusion on what looked like a wooden deck behind him. As he blinked up at the railing, recognition struck and his blood ran as cold as the water in which he floated.
We’re on the river. That’s what Sivak meant by staking us out for the Streamers. A thick tendril of fear curled through his gut. Standing on the deck looking down at the water was one thing, but actually being in it? If this is where the Disappeared go, then the Streamers probably think there’s a regular feeding time.
Hawk was somewhere off to his left, ranting in a constant—if muffled by his gag—stream. It took Dale a moment to be able to distinguish words—cursing Sivak’s very existence seemed to be foremost in Hawk’s mind.
Raphael was muttering too, but just one word. Elena. He kept saying her name through his gag, over and over.
Confused, Dale looked over at Raphael—and his blood chilled further. There are too many bodies out here. Where there should have only been four men staked out for the Streamers, he saw six heads bobbing in the dark water. And the figure on Raphael’s other side was far too slight to be anything but a woman.
Elena.
Shock coursed through Dale, followed quickly by fury. How dare they? To dispose of himself, Raphael, Hawk, and Corwin was one thing; they had been caught. But to kill Elena and—Dale squinted through the darkness—her father? They weren’t even there!
He jolted again. If Elena was here… What about Naya? Frantically, he peered up and down the waterline where they had been staked out to die, but he only counted six bodies—and the head bobbing in the water at the end of their line definitely belonged to Corwin. Hawk was staked out beside him, and the man between him and Elena was having a great deal of difficulty staying afloat.
As one might expect from a man with only one working leg, thought Dale in horror. Denied the use of his arms, which would have more than made up for the lack of one leg, Mr. Mountebank could barely keep his nose and mouth above the water.
Dale tried to say something, but whoever had gagged him was very proficient at the job. He could only utter muffled sounds. Frustrated—and scared; he could have sworn he felt something brush past his leg—he worked frantically to loosen his bonds. We have to get out of the water.
This had to be feeding time for the Streamers—and he did not want any of them to become a meal.
Beside him, Raphael was struggling to free himself so he could save Elena, who was kicking valiantly to keep herself afloat against the waterlogged layers of her dress weighing her down. Dale knew, with icy certainty, it was only a matter of time before Elena was too exhausted to keep fighting. When that happened…
Raphael will have to watch her drown. He swallowed; the gag made his throat and mouth exceedingly dry. Ironic, considering he was swimming in liquid. And that’s if the Streamers don’t get to us first.
That was why Sivak had not just killed them outright. He wants us to suffer first. Briefly, Dale wondered what had possessed the man to have Elena and Mr. Mountebank killed as well. But even amid his horror, he felt a twinge of relief. Naya isn’t here. Sivak had apparently either not connected her to Dale, or else he had another reason for not making her Disappear too.
Whatever the reason, Dale was profoundly grateful.
Something else brushed past his leg, and then, four yards away, Elena loosed a terrified, muffled squeal. Raphael, her father, and Corwin all redoubled their efforts to free themselves.
The ropes, while wet, had been tightly bound. Dale could find no purchase to gain even a little leeway. He found it extremely difficult trying to stay afloat while attempting to find some way out of the ropes. If the ropes had been keeping them partly suspended in the water, it might have been easier, but as it was, Sivak had given them just enough rope to drown themselves.
Elena squeaked again, though she tried her best to contain it.
Dale’s heart thudded frantically in his chest. He had yet to see a Streamer for himself, but this was most certainly not the time to get acquainted with one.
They’re good at this, a distant corner of his mind noted distantly. Arms tied behind our backs, which means we can’t get to the gags, and there’s not enough rope to give us room to try to bring our hands around to our fronts. He tested the length of the ropes by swimming toward Raphael, but he had barely made it halfway to his friend before his rope tautened. We’re too far apart to untie each other.
Discouragement threatened to crush him. Even if we could shout, it wouldn’t matter. No one comes out here—they’ve all been trained to avoid the water like the plague. Dale tried to swallow, resisting the urge to close his eyes and just sink down into the cold depths of the river. It’s not over yet.
It was not over until they escaped or else a Streamer tore them limb from limb.
Raphael was still trying to talk to Elena through his gag, doing his best to encourage her to keep treading water. They had floated toward each other as far as their ropes permitted, but a good three feet of space still separated them. The sounds of splashing water carried up and down along the river surface, but nothing else appeared to be moving.
Dale struggled to breathe; his chest felt like it was being crushed under the weight of utter helplessness. We’re all going to die.
And then he heard it. A soft, frightened, “Dale?”
For an instant, Dale thought he was imagining things, that his mind had conjured up Naya’s voice to torment him in his last moments alive.
But then, above Raphael’s increasingly panicked, incoherent mutterings and the frantic splashing of six people fighting to stay above the water, he heard it again.
“Dale? Is that you? Are you—are you out here?”
It was Naya.
A surge of mingled joy, relief, pride, and fierce love welled up in Dale’s chest. Somehow, Naya had found them—and she was braving her own crippling fear of the water to attempt to help. This was good. That thought was followed just as quickly by a sucker punch of horror. If Sivak had someone watching the river, watching them to make sure the Streamers disposed of them as intended, then Naya had just placed herself in incredible danger.
He struggled to call out to her, to warn her to be careful, but his mouth was too dry and the gag too constricting. All he could do was grunt her name.
A dark, curly head popped over the wooden railing above them and peered down. “Dale?”
“Naya!” he answered through his gag.
“Oh, my God.” Her voice wavered, fear audibly creeping in, as she realized how many people had been put out here to die.
Dale wanted to tell her to calm down, that she just needed to take a deep breath and everything would be all right. He wanted to ask her if she had a knife—something deep in his gut told him they were running out of time. That he could not was pure torture.
Naya knelt beside the railing and thrust her hand down through the slats toward him, but she could not reach. The deck and river were too far apart. As Dale watched, his brave girl lay down on the deck instead and stretched her entire arm down toward him. Her trembling fingers brushed his gag and yanked it aside.
“Naya!” croaked Dale. “I’ve never been so happy to see anyone in my entire life!” Even in the darkness, he could see how impossibly wide her eyes were. “Have you got a knife?” He wanted to ask how she had found them, but that could wait. Escaping is more important.
“I—I have a knife.” Naya audibly swallowed. “But I can’t reach you.” Panic threaded through her voice.
Raphael raised his still-muffled voice, trying to get their attention. He wants Elena out of the water.
Dale’s mind raced, frantically running through—and promptly discarding—all of their options. We have to get out of the water. Now. As soon as possible. Before the Streamers came, attracted by their flailing legs in the water. Naya would probably be able to help Elena out of the water, but he doubted it was possible for her to pull a man’s dead weight from the water.
I only have one choice.
He looked up through the railing slats at Naya. “Cut my rope.”
She squeaked in protest.
“We don’t have time, Naya,” he said firmly. If she cut his rope, he could swim over to the others and help them. “Cut it.”
With shaking fingers, Naya complied.
It felt like it took an eternity for her glitterglass blade to saw through the rope. Dale wanted to urge her to hurry, but he held his tongue. She was frightened enough without him making it worse. And if she drops the knife… Well, it would sink to the bottom of the river in a hurry.
The severed end of his rope plopped into the river, setting him adrift, and Dale immediately tucked his knees to his chest and brought his bound hands around through the water to the front of his body. Once that was accomplished, he surged upward again and set to work loosening his bonds with his teeth. There has to be some give in there somewhere.
Naya had moved on to Raphael and was industriously sawing away at his rope. She had taken her life in her hands and leaned over the railing, risking getting closer to the water in order for Raphael to have some rope to grab onto when she finished. Raphael’s rope finally dropped into the water and he disappeared for a second as he performed the same acrobatic maneuver.
Elena moaned in distress at his disappearance.
The knots in the ropes around Dale’s wrists were tight and slick from the water, but they were no match for his sheer determination. He worked the first knot free with his teeth and the rest followed. As soon as the ropes fell away, he shot through the water toward Naya, who was about to start freeing Elena.
“Naya!” Dale reached Elena and reached up a hand for the knife. “Give it to me.”
Naya passed it to him through the railing slats. “What do I do?”
There were too many of them to cut free all at once. Dale swallowed, his heart racing in his chest. Other than Elena, who goes next? How do I decide that?
“Dale!” Raphael had lost no time in ripping off his gag, but his head nearly went under several times from his inability to use his arms properly. “We must get Elena out of the water before she drowns!” He did go under this time. When he came back up, he spluttered, “And her father!”
Dale was already working on saving Elena. Even in the dark, he could see the strain in her muscles from the weight of her dress dragging her down. He cut the ropes binding her hands and pushed the gag down. “We’re going to get you up.”
She jerked her head toward her father, too far away for her to reach. “My father!”
“We’ll get him,” promised Dale. He looked up at the dock. “Naya!”
She dropped to her knees beside the railing again and stretched out both hands for Elena. It was difficult, but between the two of them, they managed to get Elena out of the water and heave her up over the railing onto the deck. Elena lay there for a second, panting for breath, before she grabbed onto her father’s rope and pulled as hard as she could, hoping to help him stay above the water.
It was not easy. The rope tugged against his bound arms, which brought them up into a very uncomfortable position, but Elena just barely managed to keep Mr. Mountebank’s head above the water.
Dale, meanwhile, had set about cutting Raphael’s bonds before his friend drowned himself. He nicked Raphael in the process, drawing blood, but it was not a deep cut. As soon as Raphael was free, he swam over to his future father-in-law to release him from the gag. Dale immediately sliced through the water toward Hawk.
He shoved his friend’s gag down first to help him breathe and sawed through the ropes as quickly as he could. Hawk’s muttered stream of imprecations did not stop. As soon as his hands were free, Hawk started hauling himself up out of the water.
Dale then moved on to Corwin. He freed the other man from the gag and set to work on the ropes binding his hands.
The muscles in Corwin’s jaw were taut from tension; his skin was pale. “They put us out here to die.”
“This is how people Disappear.” Dale cut through the last few strands and Corwin was free. “We’ve got to help Mr. Mountebank.”
Both men struck out for Raphael and Mr. Mountebank. “Give me the knife,” said Raphael quickly.
Dale did not argue. He passed his friend the knife and reached for the remains of Elena’s rope hanging down from the railing along the deck. Urgency thrummed in his veins. We need to get out of the water.
The muscles in his arms corded as he hauled himself hand over hand up the rope. As soon as he could reach the railing, he grabbed it and pulled himself up from the water. He immediately swung his legs over the side and laid himself out flat on the wooden planks of the deck to stretch a hand through the railing slats toward the water. “Come on, come on!”
By this time, Raphael had succeeded in freeing Mr. Mountebank, but the older man was clearly having a great deal of trouble staying afloat. “Helps to have all four limbs,” he said through gritted teeth.
Raphael slung one of Mountebank’s arms around his neck. “You can make it.” He looked up at Dale. “Get him out!”
Corwin, meanwhile, was hauling himself up his own rope as though the very monsters of the deep were after him. Had Dale had time to think about it, he would have laughed. Young Hamper, after all, went about rescuing shipwrecked sailors off the shores of this island before they were taken by Streamers, but the very idea of actually being in the water seemed to terrify him.
Hawk dropped to the deck beside Dale to help. Mountebank reached up to grab hold of Dale’s hand, but at that moment, something grabbed hold of him. One second, he and Raphael were both above the water; in the next, they had both been pulled under.
Elena and Naya both screamed.
“NO!” Elena lunged toward the railing, intending to fling herself off into the water again. “Raphael! Daddy!”
Corwin caught her in time, wrapping his arms tightly around her flailing body. “Elena!”
“No!” she shrieked.
Heart pounding, Dale shot to his feet and peered into the water as though he could penetrate its murky depths through sheer willpower and find his friend and Mr. Mountebank. He leaned out over the railing as far as he could without falling in, ready to grab someone—anyone—the moment a limb emerged from the water.
Seconds passed like hours; time seemed to have slowed down in order to magnify the horror of what was happening literally under his nose. Elena was crying out and Corwin was answering her, but Dale heard not a word of it. Every bit of his attention was focused on the rippling surface of the river.
There.
Raphael’s head broke through the surface; Mountebank came with him. Raphael still had a hold on the older man, but they were just beyond Dale’s reach. “Dale! Help us! It is dragging—”
Raphael vanished beneath the water again—and Dale knew what he had to do.
Untying two of the mostly intact ropes Naya had cut, he knotted them together and threw one end to Hawk. “Don’t let go.” Looping the other end of rope around his hand, Dale grabbed the knife from Corwin, climbed up onto the railing, and dove off into the river where his best friend had just been.
As he hit the water, he heard Naya scream his name.
Find out how this Young Adult steampunk adventure unfolds chapter-by-chapter every Thursday! Or if you want to keep reading right now, buy the ebook for $6.99 from Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords or Sony, or get it as a trade paperback from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Book Depository.
Copyright © 2013 E. R. Paskey