until I find what I’m looking for—a flint box.
“Wait outside,” I tell Faustina.
She finally understands, and her eyes widen. “You’re going to blow up the ship?” she asks.
“Yes, and unless you want to go up with it, I’d move.”
Faustina gathers her skirts, and I kneel beside the end of the rope and light a spark, bringing it down in cupped hands. The silk sets alight easily and the flame fizzes and hisses slowly along its length.
“Time to go!” I drag Faustina after me. Above our heads the cannons are quiet for a moment. We must be maneuvering into position. Voices call out desperate commands.
We head in the opposite direction, not towards the lower gun deck, but towards a leaning stepladder. Through an open hatch, I see smoke in great drifting swathes overhead. I go first, poking my head through. Dead and injured men lie everywhere, the planks slick with blood. A mast hangs at an awkward angle, the sail in shreds. One man rushes past, missing an arm, but hardly seeming to care. For the first time since this battle began, I feel a well of horror swell in my chest.
“Come on!” I hiss to Faustina. My limbs are trembling as I climb into the open. The deck pitches and judders as the keel smashes through rolling waves. There is one remaining mast at full sail, but still she’s fast. I run to the railings, over an injured man whispering a prayer, and see another ship—yes, Il Castigo—in pursuit.
“You!” cries a voice filled with fury. I swivel round to see Halim glaring at me. “Do you know what you’ve cost me?” He lunges and I shrink back. At the same moment, the ship gives a massive shudder. An explosion rips through the air. The gunpowder.
Halim staggers to one side, his mouth hanging open with terror. Splinters of wood erupt into the air, and I cower, shielding my head with my hands. The ship lurches heavily to one side and water swells over my feet. I grab the mast and cling to it as a man slides past me, crying out. His body plunges through the broken railings and disappears over the side of the ship, flailing into the waves.
There’s the hiss and roil of water gushing into the lower quarters. It’s as though the sea is sinking its jaws into our ship. Faustina cries out in terror, clinging to a barrel that’s slipping down the deck. I reach out and just manage to pull her to me as the barrel crashes through the railings and goes the same way as the sailor, into the watery depths.
“Here. Hold on.” I wrap her arms around the mast and grab her chin, forcing her to look into my eyes. “You have to be strong. You have to save yourself.”
The glint of metal catches my eye. Halim has drawn his sword and is climbing slowly to his feet. “It should not have been this way!” he shouts, staring at me, his nostrils flaring. His turban is streaked with blood and the gold sash has been torn from his body so that his tunic hangs in rags.
“Your fate is no one’s fault but your own,” I hiss back.
I spring away, past the main mast, and try to pick my way up the sloping deck. I can hear his grunts of effort as he climbs and slides after me. I clamber over a fallen mast and find myself trapped between the ship’s wheel and a rearing section of the broken deck. Any other men still here ignore me, too busy trying to save their own lives. They hang on to smashed rigging or leap into the water.
I twist round on my backside and come face to face with Halim. He’s been scrambling on his hands and knees, but now he straightens up. His mouth twists in a jubilant smile as he raises his sword in a bloody hand above me. There’s no way out, but I’m not scared anymore.
“Just do it!” I shout.
As I brace myself, there’s a soft thud, and something happens to Halim’s face. The smile of victory softens and slides. His brow creases in confusion. His sword hand falls, and the weapon clatters to the deck; then Halim follows it. He crashes onto the planks at my feet, face-first. A huge splinter of wood emerges from between his shoulder blades, blood spreading over his tunic. And behind Halim, gasping for breath, stands Faustina. She’s soaked through from lying in the water that floods