Pleasure Island [The Chronicles of Lidir] Read Online Free PDF Page A

her to fall. She could hear other shouts from directly above her. Her legs felt weak and her fingers ached; she was afraid to move; she was unable to look either up or down now for fear of falling.
     
    'Anya!' Her heart stopped altogether. It was his voice. 'Hold on!'
     
    She forced herself to turn her head round and looked back along the hull. How could it be? The faces at the pantry porthole were not pirates at all but the Prince and his lieutenant. They looked battle-weary, but unhurt. 'It is safe now,' the Prince cried. 'Do not move. We will come to get you.'
     
    So Anya clung there, trembling, her terror allayed at last by tears of sweet relief. She knew that she had only to hold on until she felt those strong arms round her waist, sweeping her back to safety. She closed her eyes as the ship rolled with the deep swell of the sea.
     
    'Look out!' His cry was almost drowned by the belly-churning grinding noise. Her eyes snapped open; the ships were being pressed together by the swell. They touched in the middle, then began to swing, nose apart, and the point of contact was travelling rapidly towards her. Anya watched in horror as the buffer beam of the larger ship rubbed ever closer at belly height, accompanied by the squealing protests and knocking snaps of slowly tortured timbers. 'Quickly - give me your hand!'
     
    Somehow, she unfroze, but it was too late. She was in the jaws of a giant, ridged vice and it was closing. Her belly would be squashed to a pulp; her body would be cut in two before she reached him.
     
    'Jump! Jump across!' She did not understand. The entreaty was echoed from above, from both ships. The pirates watched with fascination. She twisted her head and stared behind her at the ledge of wood that fast approached. Jump!' At the very last second she turned and took a giant upward leap across the space, landed on one knee, almost toppled back again, then grasped the rebate, clawed her way upright and managed to balance, pressing her body hard against the pirate ship's hull. The point of contact reached her, seemed to pause, then very slowly began to pass. Out of the corners of her eyes, she could see the vast expanse of moving hull behind her; she could almost feel it as a pressure against her back, preventing her from breathing. She felt light-headed. She heard the debris of the topmast trap, then splinter between the hulls. She felt the judder of grating friction through her feet. Then suddenly, the danger was past. The cheer went up from both ships.
     
    She balanced awkwardly, waiting for the ships to steady. But they carried on moving apart. The chasm opened up behind her and quickly widened. She turned her head and saw her Prince, immobile at the porthole, his arms outstretched towards her. He could not save her now. Nobody could. Then she heard the weighted rumble of the swell. She gasped and held on for her life as she watched the slow broad wave approach. It rose, freezing, up her legs, then waned, then surged again up her body, up inside her jacket, sucking her breath away with the shocking cold. It kept rising, over her shoulders, over her head, and squirted up her nose. She fought against the urge to cough and the urge to let go, though the water lifted her as if she were weightless, tugged her gently, silently, as the bubbles streamed round her face, then slowly lowered her. Suddenly, she could hear and splutter and cough and breathe, but her body just got heavier and heavier as if it were weighted down with stones. The muscles in her arms screamed out for mercy; the tendons in her wrists felt like burning strands of wire. The sea sucked slowly down her body, then, as her feet found the ledge again, reluctantly released her, leaving the saturated tunic sleeved tightly to her skin and the water cascading down her body to her boots. Her head was pulled back by her copper hair - no longer tied, but drawn down by the weight of the water into a smooth straight fan across her shoulders. There