The Unmaking (The Last Days of Tian Di, #2)(45)

“And so you must,” said the Boatman, with a short laugh that sounded like somebody taking a knife to a window.

“Give him your watch, lah,” Nell said to Ander.

“My da’s watch?” Ander looked appalled.

“Charlie’s dying,” said Nell in a hard voice she had never used before. “You’ll nay waste time wondering if his life is worth your watch.”

Ander took off his watch and handed it to the Boatman.

“Passage for him,” said the Boatman.

Nell reached into her bag and handed him her mathematics medal and the Cherry Swanson album.

“Here’s for me and Charlie,” she said.

The Boatman grinned and wagged his head at her. “But you have brought me more than you are giving me.”

Annoyed, she took out the fossilized baby dragon and thrust it towards him. He took it.

“You paid more last time,” he said.

“I overpaid last time,” said Nell levelly. “I thought you’d be glad I’m nay asking for credit.”

At this, the Boatman threw back his head and rasped out his unspeakable laugh once more. Then he gestured that they could board.

“Is it true we can bring any inanimate object in our possession?” asked Nell, for Charlie had said something like this once.

“There is no price for a thing that has no will,” conceded the Boatman.

Nell looked at the broad deck.

“Can you land the helicopter there?” she asked Ander.

He gaped at her. “You want to take a helicopter to Tian Xia?”

“How else are we going to get around?”

The Boatman watched with great amusement while Ander went back and started up the helicopter, hovering it over the boat and putting it down squarely on the deck. Nell pulled Charlie to the stern of the boat, wanting to stay as far as possible from the Boatman. Now that they were all on board, she began to feel better. Although she had told Ander that she remembered the Crossing and the hideous Boatman, her memory had kindly blurred just what an awful sight he really was and she was very annoyed with her knees for going wobbly on her. She hoped neither Ander nor the Boatman had noticed. The sails caught the nonexistent wind and they sailed fast through one of the caverns and out into the misty sea of the Crossing.

~~~

One of the things Nell did remember was being ill on the Crossing. It was the last thing she remembered before becoming exhausted and dehydrated and confused on the way back. Charlie had said that the first time was the worst and she hoped he was right. She was worried about Ander, too. But she could not dwell too much on how the journey might affect them. She had to look to Charlie. Cold sweat beaded on his skin and his breath was a slow, uneven rasp. She tried to prop him up comfortably and held his hand tight.

“You have to hang on, Charlie. I know the journey is hard but you have to stay with me. Can you hear me?”

He wheezed slightly in response. Ander sat with his back against the gunwale, hands clasped loosely between his knees, his expression fixed. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Since he was not forthcoming, Nell ignored him. She talked to Charlie, feeding him brandy in small doses and telling the most entertaining stories she could think of, inventing wildly whatever she thought might hold his interest. When his head began to drop she lifted it up and held it between her hands. He barely responded, except once when she mentioned Julian’s name in passing. He made a sound like a gurgle. She paused and then tried again.

“Julian invited me to the Autumn Fire Dance last term,” she told him. “He’s a surprisingly good dancer, lah. I guess that comes from being athletic and coordinated.”

Charlie’s eyelids fluttered. Nell began to describe the dress she had worn to the dance and his expression went dead again.

“We danced and had punch,” she tried desperately. “Julian looked very handsome, aye.” She thought she saw a frown. “He kissed me when we were walking back to the dormitories.”

At this, Charlie made another gurgle and one of his hands twitched.

“We kiss all the time,” said Nell excitedly. “Even in a supply cupboard one time.”

“What are you on about?” muttered Ander, frowning.

There was a crease between Charlie’s eyebrows.

“Kissing and kissing,” babbled Nell. The white mist closed over them.

“What’s this?” came Ander’s voice, a growl. “Cannay see a thing.”

Nell squeezed Charlie’s hand. It was cold and clammy and felt not altogether hand-like, as if the bones were going soft. She let go with a shiver. “I wish Eliza were here,” she said. “It’s funny, lah, she’s so different in some ways from when I first met her but in other ways she’s exactly the same. I remember her very first day at the school in Holburg; she corrected Mentor Frist’s geography. I’ve loved her ever since. I dinnay think he ever forgave her, though.”

Charlie made a sound that might have been a laugh. She stroked his face. His skin was dry and didn’t even feel like skin. She was glad she couldn’t see him. She set about repeating every amusing anecdote she could think of from Eliza’s pre-Sorceress days, punctuating the stories by slipping a taste of brandy into his mouth. She stopped giving him brandy after she bumped one of his teeth with the edge of the bottle and it fell right out. Whenever she paused in her storytelling, she heard the hiss of the water under the boat. She was not sure how long they had been travelling when a wind swept down and the mist parted. She heard Ander draw in a sharp breath. The lake beneath them was a brilliant green, the sky above the colour of fire. In the distance, the dark shadow of the cliffs. Tian Xia. She felt nausea swirling up within her and she forced it down. She wouldn’t get sick. She had to take care of Charlie.