Read Online The Princess and the Captain by Anne-Laure Bondoux - Free Book Online Page A

her breast.
    â€˜I can’t,’ she murmured.
    â€˜You can!’ Malva told her.
    At that moment the prow of the
Estafador
hit the first reef head on. The wood shattered with a dry cracking sound, and the whole vessel started breaking up.
    â€˜Now!’ cried Malva, and grabbing Philomena’s dress in her free hand, she flung herself into the void.
    They fell heavily into the tumultuous waves. The cold seized them and they swallowed water several times. Then, clutching their panels of wood, they kicked out to get away from the ship and the rocks.
    Their clothes were clinging to them, sticky as seaweed, making movement difficult. But fear gave them strength. By dint of encouraging each other, they managed to get out of the most dangerous area where the currents would inevitably have washed them against the rocks.
    When Malva thought she was far enough away she turned. The
Estafador
was taking in water everywhere. A great gash had opened up the hull from the rail to the hawse holes. The sails were sagging, the bowsprit was hanging inert from the end of the stays.
    â€˜What happened?’ asked the frightened Philomena. Contact with cold water had brought her back to her senses.
    â€˜Vincenzo tried to kill us,’ Malva replied. ‘He and his men left the ship while we were asleep. They must be far away by now.’
    The two girls were having a hard time fighting against the waves. Their fingers kept slipping on their improvised life-rafts, while the salt water got into their mouths and noses and stung their eyes.
    â€˜We’re going to die,’ said Malva after a while, shaking. ‘I can’t see land. No one will come to our rescue.’
    Philomena, though she was short of breath, kicked out and brought her raft up to the Princess’s. ‘You made me jump,’ she said. ‘Now I’m going to make sure you survive.’
    For two long hours they encouraged each other to keep going. Philomena thought it would be best to follow the direction of the rolling waves.
    â€˜Suppose there are counter-currents?’ said Malva, feeling discouraged.
    â€˜Don’t think about that,’ Philomena replied. ‘Keep swimming.’
    The sun rose in the sky, baking their salt-caked faces. Their throats were dry with thirst. Exhaustion was lying in wait for them. They took turns singing to keep themselves awake. Then they fell silent, overcome by thirst and weariness.
    Suddenly, just as she was falling asleep, Malva felt something gliding past her legs. She flinched.
    â€˜Philomena – did you feel that?’
    â€˜What?’ asked the chambermaid, waking with a start. She had collapsed on her raft, and had nearly fallen asleep.
    â€˜I could feel someth—’
    Malva had no time to finish her sentence. She let out a shrill scream, and her face twisted in pain.
    â€˜Malva!’ cried Philomena, kicking out vigorously to get closer.
    â€˜My leg!’ wailed the Princess.
    Philomena let go of her panel of wood and grabbed Malva’s. She tried to haul her mistress up on it, while Malva groaned in pain.
    â€˜Something bit me!’ she wept. ‘My leg … oh, my leg …’
    Philomena was breathing hard. She almost slipped and lost hold of the raft, but she recovered just in time and finally got Malva up and lying across the wooden panel. Blood was turning the water red around her right calf. Philomena’s stomach heaved.
    â€˜What happened to me?’ cried Malva in panic. ‘I can’t feel my leg!’
    â€˜You’re leg’s there all right,’ Philomena told her. ‘You’re bleeding. It’s nothing much – don’t move. A rock must have scraped it … only a rock.’
    As she uttered these reassuring words she stared in terror at the wound around the Princess’s leg: a deep wound in the shape of a pair of jaws, with the marks of two rows of teeth.
    Philomena put her hand on Malva’s forehead,