“We won’t tell anyone, Miri,” he said. “We’ll keep your secret. We’ll take any oath you ask of us.”
She smiled bleakly and hurriedly dashed away the tears. Dag fished out his handkerchief and handed it to her. His big, ugly face was soft with concern. She blew her nose and cast Dag a grateful glance and, slightly flushing, squirmed out of Stephano’s grasp.
“Swear by our friendship,” she said. “That will be good enough for me.”
Each of them made the promise. Miri gazed around at them and swallowed. “There’s not much to tell. My sister and I were away visiting my uncle and his family. He has children our age and all of us cousins grew up together. We lived as much on his boat as we did on ours. When it was time to join up with our parents’ houseboat, we knew immediately something was wrong.
“Our boat wasn’t at the meeting place. We waited, but our parents never came. My uncle, thinking there might be a problem with the boat, sailed out to search for it. We came across our boat not far off, adrift in the Breath, like we are now.
“Our father and mother should have both been on deck, working to fix whatever was wrong. But they weren’t. There was no one. The deck was empty…”
She was shivering. It was cold out here on deck, with the mists of the Breath closing in. Dag draped a coat about her shoulders, and she drew it around her. The coat was huge on her and the shoulder yellow with cat fur. She nestled into it and found the courage to finish her tale.
“My uncle guessed that something terrible had happened, and he tried to stop us from going aboard. But we were kids and didn’t know anything. The world was all sunshine to us then. Before he could catch her, Gythe had jumped from his boat onto ours. She was light as a bird and seemed to almost float through the air. She landed on the deck and shouting, “Mam” and “Pap,” she ran down into the hold.”
Miri paused, then said in a low voice, “I will hear her scream until the day I die. She only screamed once and then she never spoke a word after. My uncle tried to make me stay on board his ship, but I would have fought a bigger man than him to reach Gythe, and at last he let me go with him.
“Our snug cabin, where we all had lived so happily, was awash in blood. The blood was so deep it sloshed back and forth with the movement of the boat. Gythe was standing in it, staring. Just staring. We never found the bodies. Not whole bodies. Only… pieces…”
“I guess we know the reason for the protection spells,” said Rodrigo somberly.
Dag awkwardly patted Miri’s shoulder. She gave him a wan smile of thanks. “Pirates,” he said.
Stephano shook his head. “Why would pirates attack a Trundler houseboat? It’s not like they’re stuffed with gold…”
“It wasn’t pirates,” said Miri. “I told you before. It was something terrible that came out of the Breath. There were marks on the walls-like giant claws. The bodies had been ripped apart. And the magic was gone.”
“What do you mean, the magic was gone?” Rodrigo asked.
“The magic on the boat. It was just gone,” said Miri.
Rodrigo shook his head. “But that’s not-”
Stephano elbowed him in the ribs. “Let it go.”
Her story had unnerved them. They looked into the thick mists and then back at Gythe, shivering under the table. They thought about the protection constructs she had laid down, layer upon layer upon layer.
“You swore you wouldn’t tell,” Miri reminded them.
“I won’t,” Stephano said. “But someone should. The navy could help
…”
Miri snorted her disbelief. “Help Trundlers?”
“There have been rumors,” said Dag. “I’ve heard them. The sailors talk about ghosts in the Breath.”
“We now know why Gythe worked her magic,” said Rodrigo. “She can’t help me while she is still under the table.”
“I think Dag should talk to her,” said Miri.
“Me?” Dag looked astonished.
“Gythe loves you. She trusts you,” said Miri simply.
Dag’s face went red. He shook his head, embarrassed, and mumbled, “Don’t leave it up to me.”
“We’re starting to sink,” Rodrigo warned, looking up at the balloon. “We don’t have much time.”
“Dag,” said Stephano. “Miri’s right.”
“But what do I say?” Dag asked helplessly.
“Whatever is in that big heart of yours,” said Miri softly.
Dag’s face went redder than ever. He stood for a moment, looking uncomfortably at Gythe. Her head was buried in Doctor Ellington’s fur. She was shivering with fear. Dag’s expression softened. He managed, with considerable effort, to sit down awkwardly on the deck and, by means of scooting and scrunching, squeezed his way beneath the table.
The Breath dampened sound. All was eerily silent.
“Girl dear, I want you to look at me.”
Gythe very slightly raised her head to peep at him over the Doctor. Her fair hair straggled wetly around her face.
“I was born ugly,” Dag said cheerfully. “Came by it naturally. Neither my pa nor ma were anything to look at. But God made up for my ugly face by making me big and strong. I’ve been shot at by every conceivable type of gun. I’ve had cannonballs thrown at me. I’ve been stabbed with swords and cut with knives and struck with fists. I’ve even been attacked by our captain and his dragon.” Dag glanced at Stephano, who smiled at the memory of their first encounter.
“And I’m still here, Girl dear,” Dag said simply. “Nothing’s been found that can kill me yet.”
He rested his hand on her hand and said quietly, “Anything out there that wants to do you harm will have to go through me first. You know that, don’t you?”
Gythe nodded and lifted her head to smile at him. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Miri, turning away, wiped her eyes. Stephano looked at her. He looked at Dag, and something seemed to strike him.
“Miri loves him! I’ll be damned,” he said to himself, and he didn’t know if he liked that or not.
“It seems that Master Rigo is having trouble sorting out what you’ve done with the magic. He needs your help to fix it, or the boat won’t sail. Let me take the Doctor.” Dag reached for the cat, who was loath to leave and, with much yowling, had to be pried loose. “While you go help Master Rigo. He’s not very bright, you know.”
Gythe smiled tremulously at that. She hesitated only a moment, then slid out from beneath the table and stood up, smoothing her skirt. She indicated with a little nod that she was ready to assist. Miri went to her sister and hugged her.
“I am in awe of your work, Gythe.” said Rodrigo. “Truly in awe. What you’ve done is quite marvelous. But your magic is causing a bit of a problem. If you could just show me what you did, we might be able to fix it.”
He steered Gythe to the helm. The two bent over it, Rodrigo explaining and Gythe listening with grave attention. Miri hurried over to assist Dag, who was floundering about on the deck, unable to stand up.
“Damn leg went to sleep on me,” he grumbled.
“Let me help,” said Miri.
She managed to hoist Dag, grimacing, onto his feet. She stood a moment with her arm around his broad back. She smiled at him. “Thank you, Dag.”
He blushed and lowered his eyes and mumbled something, then he hobbled off, trying to get the feeling back into his leg. Doctor Ellington flounced across the deck, tail flicking angrily. He turned up his nose at a piece of smoked fish Stephano held out as a peace-offering, and ran down the stairs into the hold, determined to punish them by depriving them of his company.
Stephano ate the smoked fish himself. Miri was gazing after Dag with a fond, exasperated look.
“So it’s that way with you, is it?” said Stephano.
“What way?” she asked, startled.
“You’re in love with Dag.”
“I suppose I should blush, but I’m too old. Yes, I love the big lummox.” She paused, then faltered, “Do you mind?”
“A little,” Stephano admitted.
“You know we always said we would just be friends.”