22. In which there is a third hole in the ice
IN WHICH THERE IS A THIRD HOLE IN THE ICE
The night watch was in full swing. Charlotte shuffled her chair closer to the stove, where she sat with Rufus, Valerie and Arnold around the stove.
Rufus had eaten most of the biscuits already.
And they weren’t the dainty sugar dusted biscuits her mother would serve to guests at high tea, but enormous, savoury things that almost cracked your teeth.
“I don’t know where you put them all, Rufus. Eight was a little excessive, don’t you think? I’m surprised you have any teeth left,” Charlotte said, laughing.
“I’d eat another eight, easy,” he said, rubbing his stomach.
Valerie dunked half a biscuit into her warmed milk, the clumps of powder still floating around on the surface. “I’ve found ten seconds is perfect, if you wish to keep your teeth intact.”
Rufus sat forwards. “I found the limit to be sixteen. Then they fall into your drink and make a sort of grainy slurry at the bottom.”
“Of course you would have found the limit,” Valerie said, raising an eyebrow.
Rufus smiled, smug as a cat. “You can all thank me for my extensive experimentation efforts when you don’t have grainy slurry tea.”
Charlotte stood, Marjorie winding between her legs, ears pricked in anticipation of the night-time walk to inspect the ice.
Charlotte, however, hated going out to patrol the ship after they had found that second hole three months ago.
But needs must. “I shall leave you to your squabbles, children.” She pulled on her mittens and dragged her fur-lined coat on. “See you in half an hour.”
Arnold stood up. “I just need to grab my hat. Give me two minutes.”
“Alright. I’ll meet you down there.” Charlotte left the room, heading through the corridors and up the companionway steps, wrapping her scarf over her mouth and nose, pulling her hat low over her ears.
The wind blew strongly from the east, finding its way inside her clothing until she banished it by tucking her underlayers in more firmly.
“Come along, Marjorie. Let’s get this done quickly and then we can be back in the warmth again.” And the safety.
Together, they descended the ramp onto the ice. Charlotte strapped into her skis and Marjorie trotted ahead towards Dog Town, her tail high in the bitter night air. “Wait up, girl. We need to wait for Arnold. No going out alone, remember?”
Snow began to drift down. The wind picked up and blew strands of hair from her braid. With some difficulty in the mittens, she tucked the braid inside her coat and stamped her feet against the cold.
The dogs began howling, their breath misting from them like steam from the kettle.
It couldn’t hurt to go and say hello while she waited for Arnold.
Why, they’d wake the crew up if they carried on with that racket.
She set off down the rows of dogloos, patting each dog on the head as she went.
“Hello Sailor. My, your spire looks magnificent this evening. And how do you do, Romeo, you keep your paws off my Marjorie, won’t you?
” She passed down the line with a little greeting for each dog.
The wind whipped the loose snow and ice around, making it difficult to see. “Goodness. It wasn’t this windy earlier, girl.” She looked towards the ship. What was taking Arnold so long? He’d probably misplaced his hat again. He was always losing things.
A volley of high-pitched yips and the thud of paws came from behind, and then a black shape sped past. “Sooty?” Marjorie chased off after the black whirl.
“Wait! Marjorie!” But the two dogs had vanished into the growing blizzard.
Charlotte skied after them, calling their names.
White swirled all around, the cold creeping more thoroughly into her clothing.
Silly dogs, what did they think they were doing?
Sooty was normally so good. What could have scared her off like that?
“Sooty! Marjorie!” But her words were swallowed by the wind, which was now howling.
She stopped, unsure of what to do. She was terrified of being out on her own.
But would the dogs find their way back if she didn’t go after them?
It seemed unlikely in this weather. But if she carried on, would she find her way back?
Or would they find her clothing in a pile by a hole in the ice come morning?
Oh, if only Arnold hadn’t taken so long!
She closed her eyes. No, she couldn’t think like that.
She didn’t need a man to help her get the dogs back.
She could do it. And besides, it was only men who had been taken so far.
She would surely be fine. She clutched her ski poles and set off after the dogs again.
“Marjorie!” she shouted, skiing faster. “I have chicken! Tasty chicken.” It was a lie. She had no chicken, but Marjorie would have to forgive her. She could almost see her unimpressed face.
Tears threatened, but she reined them in. They would only freeze.
And then the awful thoughts started. What if Sooty and Marjorie were lost forever?
Marjorie, her one link left with Ernie, her faithful friend.
She still remembered the day he’d brought her home, after she had asked for a little lapdog.
But he was so besotted with the gambolling ball of fluff that she couldn’t bear to tell him a malamute wasn’t exactly what she’d envisaged.
Charlotte stopped again, biting back a sob. There was still no sign of the dogs. How long had she skied for? And which way was the Valour? She could see nothing in the snow.
She kept skiing into the blizzard.
Until she came upon a perfectly circular hole in the ice.
A banging on the door woke Hester from her sleep. It was absolutely not morning yet. How dare someone wake her? She grumbled, pulling her hat down over her face. “Go away. I’m asleep.”
“Hester? Charlotte is missing.” It was Arnold’s voice through the wood. And he sounded petrified.
Hester’s blood turned cold, and she scrambled out of her sleeping bag and stuffed her feet into her boots. There were feathers all over the bed again.
She opened the door. “When did she go?”
Arnold’s face was pale and drawn. “Fifteen minutes ago. And there’s a blizzard out there. I couldn’t find my hat and—I told her to wait for me! But she is nowhere to be found.”
“You let her go out there on her own—and in a blizzard? Good Lord!” She would never forgive him for this.
“There wasn’t a blizzard when she left.”
Hester pushed past him, pulling her coat on. It was an effort not to throttle him right then and there. “Get everyone up. Meet on the ice as quickly as possible. Every minute counts.”
She pushed past him and made for the companionway steps, crashing into Septimus as she turned the corner. “Ouch. Watch it.”
“Have you seen Sooty? Your blasted cat scared her off. I swear, that cat was the sweetest in the litter when I bought it.”
Hester blinked. What on Earth was he talking about? “When you bought it?”
“Yes. When I bought it.”
She gaped at him.
He had bought the kitten.
He had given her the kitten.
She shoved him back. “You?! You sent him?!”
He rubbed his chest, scowling. “I thought you knew. I put a card in the basket.”
“I didn’t see a card. What—WHY?”
“I felt bad that you smashed your tooth out. I wanted to apologise, even though it wasn’t really my fault.”
Hester dragged a hand down her face. It all weighed up—the kitten had arrived a week after that incident. She could have raged at him, but time was of the essence. “We have more pressing matters to attend to. Charlotte has been missing for fifteen minutes.”
“Fifteen minutes? That was about the time Sooty ran off.”
Hester let out a frustrated growl. “What a coincidence. Your damned dog has gotten our Boss lost.” Lost or…Hester couldn’t bring herself to think of what else might have happened. A hole in the ice. A pile of clothing. No, they had to find Charlotte. There was no other option. “Come. Quickly.”
She hurried out onto the deck and thudded down the ramp onto the ice, where Fliss, Rufus and Valerie were already waiting, skis on.
Hester tried to make eye contact with Fliss, who lowered her gaze. If they could not make amends at a time like this, when would they?
The others soon joined them, including the Intrepid’s men. Betty’s tears were falling and freezing on the end of her nose, and Arnold was beside himself.
Hester tried to calm her racing heart. She toyed with the idea of using her magic to calm the blizzard, but bringing the orca upon them all would hardly help matters.
It was an impossible choice. “We search in groups of three. Do not go out of sight of each other. I don’t want anyone else lost tonight, do you hear me? ”
“Yes, Captain,” came a chorus from the gathered men and women.
“Arnold, Betty, with me,” Hester said, setting out onto the floe. She would use her magic as a last resort. Perhaps they would find Charlotte quickly.
Her fingers were numb inside her mittens, and it wasn’t from the cold.
No, her heart would not settle as she skied as fast as she dared.
For Charlotte had nestled herself into her affections just as soundly as Mister Plumpkins had once done.
Well, before he turned evil, that was obviously where the comparison ended.
Charlotte, with her cheery demeanour, her daily greeting of ‘good morning sunshine’, how she sang without realising she was doing it, then chuckled to herself once she’d noticed, how she kept her secret.
Hester picked up the pace.
Charlotte stared at the hole in the ice, and then fell over as she backed away, landing in a heap of poles and skis.
A husky voice said, “My love, that was very unladylike. Let me help you up.” An elegant hand reached out of the white blur of the snowstorm. “I’m Odette.”
Cold dread flooded her, and Charlotte scrambled backwards. She couldn’t even find her voice to scream. All she knew was that she had to get away.
She staggered to her feet, then fell again, shaking uncontrollably. “Oh, God, no.”