Vulture's Gate (24 page)

The shrieks and cries were emanating from a golden terrace where a crowd of children clustered, watching the collapse of the South Wall. Callum stopped and stared, transfixed. They weren't ordinary boys. They were dressed in colourful flowing costumes, the kind he'd only seen in picture books of the olden times. The kind that only girls had worn.

Callum flung himself at the harbour wall and clambered upwards, forcing his way through more layers of barbed wire. He hid at the bottom of the garden, studying the figures of the girls on the terrace. One girl stood near the railing, dressed in a long turquoise outfit. Something in her stance sent a shiver of recognition through Callum. He put Mr Pinkwhistle down on the smooth green lawn. ‘Find her, Mr Pinkwhistle. If she's up there, find Bo.'

Bo watched as another explosion made the whole of South Head shudder. The girls of the Zenana ran about the terrace in a frenzy of excitement and distress. Serene began to scream again, pushing her hands against her pink cheeks, her mouth a perfect circle of horror. Several of the smaller girls joined in while Meera and Verity hurried from one child to the next, trying to comfort them and herd them back inside. Lolly ran to Bo, her face full of fear, begging to be picked up.

‘Who could have done that?' asked Li-Li, watching the plumes of black smoke and debris.

Bo stood at the cast iron railing with Lolly on her hip. ‘Perhaps its Festers, perhaps they've come to destroy the Colony at last.'

‘Then they've sent something strange in their advance guard,' said Li-Li. She pointed at a small creature charging out of the shrubbery. ‘What is that?'

Bo stared in disbelief, her heart in her mouth. Mr Pinkwhistle was scurrying across the lawn, making a beeline for the terrace. She put Lolly down and pulled Mr Pinkwhistle over the railing, holding his chipped and battered body to her chest.

‘Someone has come for me,' she said.

Li-Li gripped her arm. ‘The Festers? The Festers have come for us? Are there many of them? Have they come to take us all?'

Bo bent over the terrace railing and scanned the grounds. ‘I don't know. But there is one boy who must be out there, one boy at least. And I have to find him.' She couldn't bear to say his name, in case it wasn't true.

‘Take me with you,' said Li-Li, gripping Bo's hand.

‘I don't know where I'm going, Li-Li. It may not be safe.'

‘Nothing's safe. Wherever you're going, I want to come.'

‘I want to come too,' said Lolly, clinging to Bo's knees.

Bo knelt beside Lolly and hugged her tightly, breathing in the sweet scent of her body, stroking her long curls. ‘You'll be safe here,' said Bo.

‘No she won't,' said Li-Li softly.

They both looked back into the chaotic living room where Verity and Meera were trying to calm the smaller girls. ‘Not one of them is safe here, Bo,' said Li-Li. ‘They'll all end up on Mater Misericordiae.'

Bo felt as if the weight of the world had settled on her shoulders. She cupped Lolly's face in her hands and stared into her eyes. ‘I want you to go back inside, Lolly.'

‘But I want to come,' said Lolly, her bottom lip quivering.

‘Then you be good and wait for me. I promise I'll come for you,' said Bo.

‘How can you promise that?' asked Li-Li.

‘How can I not promise?' said Bo grimly.

Once Lolly was back in the house, Bo scanned the gardens. Nothing moved.

‘He's out there somewhere,' she said, as much to herself as to Li-Li. ‘He's out there waiting for me.'

Bo tore the skirt from her dress and then turned to Li-Li and ripped away the folds of fabric from the other girl's costume, shredding the cloth and knotting it to form a makeshift rope. ‘Are you ready?'

Li-Li smiled and tied the end of the cloth around the railing. ‘I go where you go,' she said.

Bo felt beads of sweat trickle down her forehead as she lowered Li-Li into the garden.

As soon as Li-Li hit the ground, Callum ran towards the terrace wall, stopping in surprise when Li-Li turned and smiled at him.

‘You've come to save us, haven't you?'

‘I've come for Bo,' Callum replied.

At that moment, Bo landed beside them. She grabbed Callum in an awkward embrace, squashing Mr Pinkwhistle between them. ‘Where are the rest of the Festers?'

‘There's no one else – only me. Aren't I enough?' said Callum, unable to wipe the grin from his face.

Bo laughed. ‘You are everyone and everything that matters. And you are crazy.' She ran her hand over the top of his head, feeling the roughness of his short hair. ‘But now what? Should we search for your fathers? Maybe they're somewhere in the Colony. Then they can help us, the way you always said they would.'

Callum's face grew dark. ‘They can't help.' He hung his head and stuttered as he spoke. ‘Ruff is dead. He died before we even reached Vulture's Gate. And Rusty's gone too. He was under the Wall with me. We loaded up a cave full of explosives that I was meant to detonate. But then he made me get out. He did it alone. He sent me ahead and waited. He died for me, he died so I could live.'

Callum's voice cracked as he spoke. ‘I had to see you Bo. I had to see you one more time before we both die too.'

Bo pulled him towards her and held him close. ‘It's all right now. We're together again.'

‘You two are so sloppy,' said Li-Li. ‘You may be ready to die. But I'm not.'

Bo stepped away from Callum. ‘Then we have to get off South Head.'

‘We can escape by sea,' said Li-Li, turning to Bo. ‘Hackett has a ship. He keeps it moored at the dock near the Zenana.'

‘But the harbour is full of mines,' said Callum.

‘I know,' said Li-Li. ‘But the
Bouboulina
is a minesweeper. She's indestructible. She's made of glass-reinforced plastic and she has a set of ROVs, little robotic boats that they send ahead to blow the mines. You can see her from the end of garden.'

Bo and Callum followed Li-Li to where the Zenana was separated from the harbour by a high barbed-wire fence. Callum stared dubiously at the grey minesweeper moored at the pier. Even Bo felt a flicker of uncertainty as she looked at the
Bouboulina
, heavy and forbidding in the approaching twilight. Behind it the harbour glowed blood-red and orange as the sun set behind the smoking city, an apocalyptic vision of hell.

‘I don't know how to use all the sonar and radar,' said Li-Li. ‘But I do know how to sail her. I was born on a boat. My mother's family were all sea people. And I've been out on the
Bouboulina
before. With Hackett,' said Li-Li. She looked down at her bare legs and blushed.

Callum frowned and looked from Li-Li to Bo. ‘I was thinking more a little boat,' he said. ‘One that three people can manage. I don't see how we can get away on that thing.'

‘Callum, there's something I wanted to tell you about,' said Bo. ‘We are more than three . . .'

‘Yes, we can't leave the others,' said Li-Li.

‘What others?' asked Callum.

‘The other girls in the Zenana. They don't deserve what will happen to them. Hackett and the Colony men, they'll hurt them the way they hurt me. Then they'll take them out to the island to die.'

‘We can't save everyone,' said Callum. His face look tired and drawn, as if in the weeks since Bo had last seen him he had aged years.

‘Yes we can,' said Li-Li ‘The
Bouboulina
can take thirty. There are only seventeen other girls at the Zenana.'

‘Seventeen!' said Callum.

35

FLIGHT

The gardens of the Zenana were eerily quiet as Bo, Callum
and Li-Li crept back up to the house.
Inside the lounge room, Meera and Verity had managed to settle the girls, forcing them to sit on the floor in three rows, their hands folded in their laps.

‘Wait here,' said Bo, stationing Callum and Mr Pinkwhistle beside the terrace doors.

‘But what are you going to do? They're big women. They look like men. You can't overpower them.'

‘No,' said Li-Li. ‘But if Bo follows my cues, we'll have all the girls outside within the hour.'

As soon as Bo and Li-Li stepped over the threshold, chaos threatened to break out again in the living room. All the girls began talking at once. Lolly pushed her way past Meera and Verity and threw herself at Bo.

‘Not now, Lolly,' said Bo, ready to fight. But Lolly wrapped herself around one of Bo's legs while Verity grabbed hold of Bo's arm and dragged her down the steps. At the same time, Meera gripped Li-Li by her hair and pulled her across the room. But Li-Li didn't resist. ‘Where have you been?' shouted Meera. ‘What's happened to your dress?'

‘There are hundreds of Festers and strange men outside! They tore our skirts off!' said Li-Li. Bo looked across at her in surprise. It hadn't occurred to her that lying would save them but Verity and Meera instantly released both girls and ran to lock the doors and draw the curtains.

‘Squadrones are on their way to defend us,' said Meera. ‘As soon as they are here, all the girls will be taken out to the island. The Pally-vals will arrive any moment. We must stay calm.'

Li-Li picked-up Ritisha, one of the smallest girls beside Lolly, and held her in her arms. Bo wondered what she was planning and a minute later she understood. Ritisha began to wail and writhe, hitting out at Li-Li with all the strength her plump little body could muster.

‘I'm sorry, Lolly,' said Bo, sweeping the toddler into her arms and then pinching her so hard that Lolly too began to howl. ‘Good girl,' whispered Bo. ‘Be loud. Be very loud.'

‘What are you doing! Settle those two now!' commanded Meera.

‘She's hysterical,' shouted Li-Li. ‘It's not my fault. And she's set off Lolly too. Should we put them in the Black Boxes until the squadrones arrive?'

Bo suddenly understood what Li-Li was planning. Only Meera and Verity carried the keys to the punishment rooms. When they reached the top of the stairs and Meera opened the door to the first tiny soundproof room, Bo and Li-Li acted in concert to push her inside and slam the door shut. Five minutes later they had Verity locked in the second room.

As they walked back downstairs, Bo kissed Lolly on the cheek and stroked the pink mark on her leg where she'd pinched her. ‘You were very brave. I'm sorry I had to hurt you but I needed your help.'

‘Helping hurts,' said Lolly, putting her thumb in her mouth.

‘Yes,' said Bo, ‘Sometimes being helpful hurts but it's a very good thing to do.'

In the living room, all the girls were talking at once. Li-Li stood on a chair and shouted for their attention.

‘There are no Festers outside,' she announced. ‘That was a lie. But there is one boy out there who is Bo's friend. A clever boy, not a stupid boy. He's like . . . the soldier in the “Story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses”. So I don't want any of you to be afraid of him or to treat him badly.'

‘But what is he doing here?' asked Serene.

‘He's come to rescue us. If we let Meera and Verity take us to the Island, cruel men will hurt us. Bo and I are the only girls who have been to the Island and come back, and we can tell you it is a bad, bad place. So we're all running away. Together. Right now.'

She jumped down from the chair and grabbed Serene with one hand and the snivelling Ritisha with the other. ‘That should do it,' she said, as an aside to Bo.

Callum looked bewildered as the girls poured out of the Zenana and surrounded him, their faces full of curiosity and admiration.

‘You've come to rescue us,' said Serene, smiling up at Callum.

‘I guess so,' he said.

They streamed down through the garden, their skirts and veils flowing out behind them. Li-Li led the way and Mr Pinkwhistle ran alongside, as if he were shepherding them towards the fence.

‘This is like a very strange dream,' said Callum.

‘Pray that when we wake up, we'll be far away from here,' said Bo.

When they reached the water's edge, Bo set Mr Pinkwhistle to work, using his titanium jaws to snap through the tangle of barbed wire that lay in great curling piles all along the waterfront. Once the roboraptor had made the way clear, they pushed through to the water, scrambling over semi-submerged rocks to the dock of the
Bouboulina
. Callum, Li-Li and Bo lifted the smaller girls onto the wharf one by one. Bo was the last to climb up onto the weathered timber. A premonition of disaster washed over her. It almost felt too easy as they walked along the dark and deserted pier towards the minesweeper. She glanced up at the side of the boat at the same moment as a small, pale face appeared at the rail.

Before she could stop him, Callum had cried out. ‘Flakie! It's us, Callum and Bo. Flakie, let down the ramp.' He raised one arm to wave. Li-Li tried to stop him but it was too late. Flakie bent over the rail, clutching a gun in both hands, and fired. Callum fell forward, one hand pressed against the bloody wound to his shoulder, his face blank with shock. Bo knelt beside him, his head in her lap as the girls crowded around him. She pulled his hand away from the wound and blood gushed across his shoulder.

‘No, this can't be happening!' she said, as she pushed her hand against the wound to stem its flow.

‘Why did he do that?' asked Callum, gasping in pain. ‘It was Flakie.'

‘He's a drone,' said Li-Li. ‘They do what they're instructed to do.'

‘You should run,' said Callum. ‘Leave me and hide.'

Li-Li snorted with exasperation. ‘We're girls. He can't hurt us. Only boys,' said Li-Li. ‘And if he's the only one on board, he won't be hard to get rid of.'

‘It will be all right,' said Bo, putting her cheek against Callum's. ‘Everything will be all right.'

‘We must go now,' said Li-Li.