Free Fable: Edge of the World by Christie Golden Page A

calmness. “Aye, sir,” he said, and began to shout the orders. The
Queen Laylah
was sinking quickly, and staying upright was becoming nearly impossible.
    “We’re not going to leave you!” Ben shouted. He, Kalin, and Shan hurried up to their king.
    “No, you’re not,” said the king. “Because we’re all going to swim for it. The shore is due north! Come on!”
    And with that, he grabbed Kalin and Shan and leaped overboard.
    The water was freezing and black as pitch. The sinking flagship threatened to pull them down to the briny depths with it, and the king kicked and pulled furiously to escape. He sank for what seemed like forever, then his head broke the surface and he gasped for breath. Beside him, Ben, Shan, and Kalin surfaced.
    The ploy seemed to have worked. The flagship was partly submerged by now and was crawling with hollow men. “Go, go!” the king urged, setting action to word and striking out with all his strength toward a gap between two ships. If the
Queen Laylah
’s captain had made it to another vessel and relayed the king’s orders, they didn’t have much time.
    They had barely gone twenty feet when it seemed like chaos itself was unleashed. The nearly deafening sound of several cannons firing at once made the king wince and he dove, letting the water muffle the sound. He went as far as he could, his lungs burning for air, and when he surfaced he looked back.
    The
Queen Laylah
was nothing more than a pile of burning flotsam. So were most of the hollow men who had been on it. The cannons kept roaring as the royal naval ships slowly swung about to target the rest of the enemy.
    The king sucked in air, relieved, and was even more pleased when he saw so many survivors. He waved his arm, and gasped, “To shore!”
    A few minutes later, they drew close—and Ben swore. Quite colorfully.
    Not all the hollow men had been on the ships.
    Ben let out a yell and charged, wielding the soaked and useless Vanessa like a club. Running at full tilt, the king unsheathedhis sword. The wet hilt was slippery in his hands, but the blows he struck were true. He grasped the weapon and swung mightily, turning the hollow men into just so many body parts. Out of the corner of his eye the king saw Shan fighting desperately, and even Kalin, unfamiliar with swords, was doing the best she could. Several yards out to sea, the skies were lit with red and orange, against which rose plumes of smoke.
    They kept fighting. The sound of gunshots erupted behind the king, and he realized that some of the soldiers had made it to shore in small boats. More and more came, firing guns and charging with swords, until at last it seemed that they were finally outnumbering the enemy.
    The king continued to fight. Finally, the sounds of gunfire slowed, then ceased. A cautious cheer went up.
    “That should teach those buggers,” Finn said cheerfully. He picked up Vanessa, tilted the rifle muzzle down, and sighed as water poured out. Vanessa would be usable again, but not without some tender loving care.
    The king looked back over the ocean. The fighting was over there, too. The ships were approaching, and he realized sickly that there were several fewer of them. One of the men strode up to him.
    “Sir,” he said, touching his forelock, “we lost four other ships.”
    “Which ones?”
    “
Sea Lady, Good Boy Rex
, the
Sir Walter Beck
, and the
Tiderunner
,” the man said somberly. “Seems like many of the crew and passengers survived, but all the cargo’s at the bottom of the ocean.”
    “No,” breathed Kalin, who had stepped beside the king. She folded her arms closer to her chest, shivering.
    “Please don’t tell me those were carrying ballistae and catapults and other very handy siege weapons,” said Ben. “Or foodsupplies and ammu …” When silence from the king and Kalin was the answer, he grimaced and turned away. “How is that possible? They’re bloody walking corpses!”
    “Remember the scarecrow when we first