Where The Black and Grey Wolves Kiss (eBook)

2. The Helmsman of The Card and the Dog

Still unaware of what was happening, Sabienn watched on as Jossack’s fists pounded the deck. He eventually came to his feet and faced Sabienn and his friends. “Look on, boys. Look on at this shit,” Jossack said, referring to the guards around him still on his deck. Some pointed their weapons with their full clips at him as a demonstration of their present superiority. “You may know Turrs. But the Turrs of Cajj Cajj are the most miserable, the most sickening and evil people on the planet. Mark my words.”

Jossack walked up to a guard with his rifle pointed at him, “You are shit.” He walked to another and repeated his comment. The guards were detached and blank units who ultimately held the upper hand.

The oil can man offered to Jossack, “Plug away old man. We won’t kill you. We wouldn’t want you to miss out on what’s coming.” His comrades giggled.

It was at that moment an explosion occurred on the other side of the patrol boat hull. The shock of the noise made Sabienn and the boys drop to the deck and look to where it came. Above the idle cannon turret of the patrol boat he could see a cloud of flame and smoke rise into the air and die. The smell of burning filled their nostrils mixed with the salt air.

It was followed by a noise Sabienn knew all too well. There was a shrieking and crying of people. It was the anguished voices of men, women and children.

“Move!” Jossack was screaming to his deckhand to get to the wheelhouse. “Get us out of here!” As if sensing this, the oil can man lit a piece of paper and dropped it on to the flammable vegetable oil he had been spreading on the deck.

The guards then scrambled back to their boat leaving Jossack with two problems, a quick escape or a burning boat. The Turr captain offered a parting comment, “Enjoy!”

Jossack screamed back at the laughing Turr as the patrol boat pulled away, “What the hell did I do to you?” His immediate attention came back to the fire. “Put it out!” he shouted to Stork.

Without thinking and in the grip of a panic, Stork picked up a bucket of water that had been there for cleaning and threw it on the flame. He succeeded in spreading the fire further much to Jossack’s ire. “You idiot!” Realizing his mistake, Stork tried to kick the flames away from him.

The patrol boat had moved away enough now to reveal the full horror that had been concealed. The sickening shock of it made Sabienn’s jaw drop.

An old ramshackle boat was sitting near them spitting flames and smoke and Turr people were still jumping from it into the water between them. There must have been a hundred people treading water and moving toward them. They were alive with sickening cries of men and women calling for children and loved ones that they couldn’t see. The filthy shardee sensing a feast moved in and started gleefully tearing at the flesh of the weak within the pack.

The hairs stood on the back of Sabienn’s neck. He’d seen it all before. No. Not again, he thought. At least I can help this time. He moved in to help Jebbo, Bray and Deep put out the flames on the deck. They spread some fire blankets while Sabienn took control of an extinguisher which he applied till the fire was out.

“Get to the wheelhouse,” shouted Jossack to his deckhand. “We’re wasting time.” He then moved up to Sabienn and passed to him a fish knife. “Use this. If anyone gets aboard, kill them.”

In disbelief, Sabienn looked down at the knife and then at the screaming masses in the water. He turned back to Jossack and dropped the knife on the deck. “No.”

To the side of him, he saw a man had scaled the rear of the boat using the tow rope for the pirate craft and a swift boot from Jebbo saw him fall back in the water. But he was replaced by two other men who were a worthy match for the deckhand.

Sabienn allowed himself a quick glance at the hundred people in the water slowly making their way towards him. He also saw the D-Boat slow down and come to a standstill at a safe distance away. Some people on the deck were casually filming the horror before them.

It was at that moment that the now empty ramshackle boat that had carried all these people this far appeared to have a new lease on life. The fire and the smoke as if by magic were turned off like a tap. The boat’s battery came alive and it pushed its way towards the D-Boat. A man carrying a bag jumped from the old boat and climbed a rope ladder to board the Turr patrol vessel. Another guy made his way down the ladder to the deck of the old craft which then turned tail and hummed on its way back to Hayddland.

Sabienn looked on in sickened awe. I thought I’d seen every act of bastardry but something always come along to top the last one. The captain on the D-Boat offered a quick wave goodbye before the patrol boat turned and continued on its way east.

Meanwhile five men were on the back deck fresh from the water. Sabienn saw they were wild and confused and pushed through the resistance of the deckhands that had come to repel them, fired with a strength that comes with the legitimacy of hopelessness. When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose. Do we cut our losses and jump?

Like a blur of light, Jossack had passed by Sabienn and picked up the fish knife from where it had been dropped. He had gathered his two other deckhands and was about to collar Jebbo when he was stopped by a wild wet man. “Who’s in charge?” said the intruder.

Jossack looked back and pointed with an accusatory finger to Sabienn, “He’s the captain. That’s the man.” With that he and his three cohorts ran to the back of the vessel and jumped over the side into the water.

Out of nowhere a woman’s face appeared in front of Sabienn and she pushed his back on to the deck. “How much does she take?” she said, perched on top of him.

“What?” said Sabienn surprised at the power of this woman.

“How many people?” she said.

“People?” said Sabienn. “How would I know?” He got up in time to look out over the side of the boat and see Jossack and his three hands speed away in the pirate vessels they were towing. As if sensing that Sabienn would be looking at them, the old man offered his middle finger in salute. “Ask him,” said Sabienn to the woman, indicating the retreating Jossack.

“What good are you?” She slammed his head back on to the deck. “Throw him over the side,” she called to her people.

“Wait!” Sabienn had to think quickly. “We have maps.”

“So have we,” said the woman.

“Not the ones we have,” he said. “With supply depots from the war.”

She balked. “Show us.”

“When we get to Cajj Cajj,” said Sabienn.

The whole dynamic of the situation was changing as they had been speaking. As more and more people were pulled up over the side to find boards to grip on to, the security of their presence became less of an issue. It was by sheer weight of numbers and the sheer wave of the helpless spilling forth to sit stunned with shock on the deck that they’d won their right to occupy. It became apparent to Sabienn that the woman wanting to throw him overboard was a low-level player. When the numbers swelled she retreated to her people.

As this was happening, Deep, Bray and Stork moved closer towards him until they were in a huddle.

“That’s about fifty so far. And growing,” said Stork nervously. “This is not good.”

“It’s like a seething organism,” said Bray looking to the crowd. “Wet, tired and hungry. It’s in pain, it’s hurting and it’s angry.”

“What do we do?” said Deep to Sabienn.

“Tactical kindness might work,” said Sabienn.

With a quick rush, Sabienn entered the wheelhouse and retrieved a medical kit that he’d seen there. The others took the lead and followed him into the crowd. The four of them singled out children with their mothers, dabbed their wounds with medicine and wrapped them with bandage. Sabienn watched as a little girl came from behind and removed the beanie from the head of Bray. His springy curls of hair bounced out also to reveal his human ears.

“Look, Mummy,” said the girl Sabienn was wrapping the feet of. “A short ears.”

Someone came from behind to remove Sabienn’s cap to reveal his ears. The mother recoiled in horror. Sabienn looked into the dark eyes of the mother and child. But she reacted as if she had just let her child be touched by an agent of hell trying to destroy them. “Get away!” cried the mother.

Sabienn turned to see the glaring stares of large and desperate survivors. Enough’s enough, he thought. It’s time to take control.

Standing to his full commanding height, Sabienn took the lead. “Listen up!” he shouted as the crowd kept calling in disgust. “We need to strip this ship for what we can. I need you and you.” He pointed to two Turr men sitting against the side. “Come with me to the hold.” Sabienn then turned to his friends, “Deep, Stork, jump in the water. Look for stragglers. Bray look after the children.” He then turned to the mothers, “Let your kids be touched or let them get infected. There’s no short ears, no sharp ears. We’re all in the same boat. Let’s move. Move!”

Within seconds Sabienn was down in the galley followed by the two Turr men he selected and another Turr guy who tagged along for the ride.

Along the shelves, Sabienn saw stuff they would need. There were dry biscuits and bottles of water which would be helpful. His eyes looked around at some office gear and a cash box under a shelf. There were some hotplates but he thought it...