Page 49 of The Last Heir of Elsewhere

Something between frustration and embarrassment washed over me. Had I truly never bothered to try the door until now? I’d assumed it was locked, but apparently the Dullahan had kept his first promise too: I was allowed to roam the ship, I was simply not allowed to leave.

I peered outside and took one cautious step onto the deck, then gasped. The sky was wider than I’d ever seen, every tiny star somehow brighter and more lovely than I’d ever noticed before. The rush of waves moving past the ship was almost soothing, and though the air was cold, it didn’t hurt my skin as I moved further out of the cabin.

The ship was massive, its deck stretching the length of several royal dining halls, and it stood completely and utterly empty. I’d thought I might need to sneak past a guard, or avoid the evening crew, but I was entirely alone in the middle of the star-filled darkness.

For a long moment, I simply stood, marveling at the beauty of the silent ship, then I shook my head. What was I doing? One only knew how long I would have before someone else came out to work, or because of the sounds of my feet. There was no better time than now to search for a way to escape.

I didn’t allow myself to worry about Ambrose Dullahan or his visions as I made my way around the edge of the ship. Either he would see me, and come running, or he wouldn’t. There wasn’t a single thing I could do about it either way, but I could do my very best to leave this cursed ship in the meantime.

The ship was long, with a deck reachable by stairs on either side. The cabin I’d been sleeping in must have been Ambrose’s personal cabin, as it was the only one accessible from the main deck. On the opposite side of the ship, below the huge wooden steering wheel, was another door that I presumed led to the lower levels.

As I passed the wheel of the ship, I had a moment of alarm, realizing there was no one up there steering. Then, I noticed that while the waves crashed against the sides of the boat, we didn’t appear to be moving much at all. I supposed the wind was not strong enough to carry on, and Ambrose had allowed the crew a brief rest, as we drifted softly on the waves.

That, or this was some elaborate ruse, meant to give me hope of escape only to snatch it back again when the crew emerged from wherever they were hiding.

In truth, both options seemed equally plausible.

Quickening my steps in case I had less time than I thought, I continued my inspection of the ship. I’d never been aboard one before, but I thought there must be some smaller boats somewhere, to escape in the case of a crash, or perhaps to row to shore when anchored.

Finally, tied to the edge of the ship with two long, thick ropes, I found what I was looking for. A rowboat, no larger than the bed I’d woken up in, hung ready to be lowered to the water below. It didn’t look large enough to carry more than one person, but that didn’t matter. I didn’t need a large vessel, only one that would not capsize.

Leaning my head over the edge of the ship, I took a quick survey of the water below and the distance to reach it. Immediately, it became clear that there was another problem beyond any monsters in the water. We must be very close to Nevermore, as large chunks of ice floated along the waves, bumping against the hull of the ship.

In a ship this size, the ice hardly mattered, but in the small rowboat…Well, I supposed I would just have to be careful to avoid it. Despite Ambrose’s warnings about the creatures that lurked beneath the oceans, I would much rather face them than the creatures aboard this ship.

Clambering up onto the side of the ship, I put one leg over the edge, and eased myself down onto the small rowboat.

Immediately, my heart flew into my throat as the boat sank several feet downwards before jerking to a halt. I froze, and my breath heaved, as I sat perfectly still for a moment, processing the realization that I had not just fallen fifty feet into freezing water.

I swallowed a fearful gulp, and looked up at the two creaking ropes that held the boat, and me inside it, suspended in the air. There was a pulley on one rope, clearly intended to lower one’s self down slowly, although after that fall I was not sure how much I trusted its strength.

Still, I had little other choice. Now, hanging midway between the deck and the water, I couldn’t pull myself back up onto the ship even if I wanted to. There was nowhere to go but down.

Gripping the rope in both hands, I took a deep breath and began to lower myself down into the waiting water.

There were no further problems as I slowly descended, and after a minute of straining my arms, I felt the bottom of the boat touch down. The water seemed more ominous from here, and the waves larger. I shivered when the salty spray hit my face, lapped against the edges of the boat, and sprayed over the sides to pool by my feet.

Looking out into the silent night, I suddenly became aware of the vastness of the ocean, and the empty skyline ahead. Had this been a fool’s errand, and now I would find myself sinking to the bottom of the ocean, just as Ambrose had warned? Perhaps, but if so, it was better than a death in the hunts in Nevermore, or whatever else the rebels intended for me.

Resolute, I reached for the oars on the bottom of the boat, and used one to push off from the side of the large ship.

* * *

I rowed for several minutes,and barely felt like I’d moved an inch.

Already my arms were aching, and my belly growling with hunger. I wouldn’t be able to keep this up for more than a night—perhaps two.

Judging from the cold, I supposed we were closer to the winter Island of Nevermore than even I’d thought, and therefore decided to row in the direction the ship had been traveling in hopes that I would reach the island faster than the mainland of Elsewhere.

That decision, however, presented its own challenges.

The ice was harder to avoid than I’d anticipated, and all too often I had to stop to go around some tiny, snowy iceberg, so that after what I thought was a full hour of rowing, I could still see the rebel ship in the distance.

I pulled my oars back into the boat, and flopped on my back to rest. The wet, wooden floor of the boat was hardly comfortable, but I didn’t care, my exhaustion taking over.

I would just rest for a minute…maybe two.

As soon as my eyelids fluttered shut, a loud thud echoed from the side of my small boat. My heart raced as I sat up and scanned the dark water.Shit!

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