The Witch Watch by Shamus Young

Author:Shamus Young [Young, Shamus]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Published: 2012-02-16T07:00:00+00:00

Gilbert was pacing the room. Alice and Simon had only been gone for a little more than half an hour, but the lack of news and the uncertainty made the minutes long.

The door banged open. Gilbert turned, expecting to see his companions. Instead he saw an older man, dirty, with an unkempt beard and a crooked smile. He was holding a lantern.

He was struck with an abrupt flash of recognition, “Soot!”

“Morning, Maypole,” the man replied, and then he hurled his lantern into the room. He fled the doorway before it even landed.

The lantern burst and burning oil spilled over the bed. Without hesitating, Gilbert scooped up the blankets and lifted them away. He charged out of the room with the fiery bundle and hurled it overboard. Then he beat out the flames on his chest and head. He was glad that he didn’t have a face, since this would have just burned it off.

Soot was running aft. Not to Steerage, as Gilbert expected, but towards the cargo area of the ship. Enraged and still smoking slightly, Gilbert gave chase.

Soot intensified his flight when he saw that Gilbert was in pursuit. He kept better pace than Gilbert would have thought possible for a man his age, but he wasn’t fast enough to escape. Gilbert was tireless and had longer strides, and quickly closed the gap. The early morning quiet was broken with the heavy pounding of their footsteps on the deck.

Gilbert saw that the door leading below was curiously unguarded. Their chase led down into the ship, through the twisting corridors, drawing closer to the cargo area. Gilbert was pleased with this. He could corner and kill Soot in the cargo area without worrying that the deed would be discovered. Sadly, he realized he’d have to perform the killing with his bare hands, since there hadn’t been time to put on his sword before the chase began.

Gilbert had nearly caught up to the man while they were up on deck, but Soot had begun to pull away again amongst the confusing dark turns below. Gilbert couldn’t take advantage of his greater strides in such tight spaces.

“He’s coming!” Soot screamed as he ran. He shouted this again and again, his voice faltering near the end from his desperate panting for air. Soot was stumbling as his strength ran out.

At last Soot jumped down a ladder into the hold. It was a long drop, but Gilbert saw there was a net at the bottom to break his fall. Soot was still gasping, “He’s coming. He’s behind me! He’s coming!”

Gilbert followed, and on the way down he saw the net wasn’t there to break anyone’s fall. It was lying slack on the floor, which was a very strange thing. No self-respecting crew would leave something like that unsecured.

Gilbert landed in the middle of the net and realized too late what a profoundly stupid thing he’d just done. There was a loud bang and the net gathered him up and pulled him into the air. Gilbert found himself suspended from the ceiling of the hold.

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