When they came on deck, the atmosphere was strange. A few of the crew looked at Coll as he arrived, and their mouths twisted when they saw his arm. He pulled his sleeve down. But it wasn’t just that. Repair teams were working all over the deck, applying anthryl patches and steel braces to fix the worst of the damage, but they were moving even faster than usual, running from place to place. At the head deck, the senior crew spoke in urgent tones.
He saw Luna dragging barrels away from a damaged area. “Luna, what’s happening?” he asked. “Is it Raven? Is Raven moving?”
Luna shook her head. “Not Raven.” She pointed over the side to the north-east.
Gazing out, Coll saw a shimmer on the horizon. It was too small to make out properly, but he knew what it meant.
“What is it?” asked Fillan, peering.
Coll swallowed. “It’s another Construct.”
Coll and Fillan worked with the others, repairing Wolf, heaving and fetching. The atmosphere was tense, and the crew looked up often – at Raven, still nearby, and at the dot on the horizon. The new Construct was still too far away to identify, but coming closer.
As he worked, Coll thought about Rieka and her strange comments. He’d heard Intrick’s sermon before. He had faith in Wolf – he did. He believed in Wolf. He believed in Alpha…
Stupid, Rieka had called it. What had she meant?
“Coll?”
Coll looked down, and Fillan pointed.
“Should we go?”
Coll realised Alpha was standing at the head deck, ready to talk to the crew. He nodded, and he and Fillan joined the others.
“Wolf,” said Alpha in a clear, strong voice. Her face was calm.
“Wolf,” echoed the crew. They were united but low, and Alpha nodded.
“It’s been a hard few days,” she said. “Our fight with Hyena was glorious but with little reward. And Raven is still out there.”
There was silence. Then a voice muttered, “Yeah, and we know why, eh?” A few of the crew glanced at Coll and he felt his face go red.
Alpha stiffened. “Something you want to say, Mingan?”
The crowd opened round the man. He scowled. “Kid lost the net, Alpha,” he said. “Lost our chance, him and that arm of his – you saw it!”
Alpha didn’t answer. Coll stared down at the deck, hardly breathing.
“I saw,” said Rudy suddenly. “I saw you, Mingan, cowering in your seat while Coll ran for the net. I saw him pulling harder than half of you. That kid was showing you what it means to be Wolf!”
Coll looked up in surprise. There was steel in Rudy’s voice, and Mingan seemed startled.
Then Rudy laughed. “What happened, you get tangled up in your harness again?” The crowd laughed too, and Mingan subsided, his face dark with anger.
Alpha nodded. She still hadn’t looked at Coll. “We’re here now,” she said. “And we have a new guest.” She pointed over the side to the dot on the horizon.
“Who is it?” asked Luna.
Alpha turned to Rudy, who nodded. “Bit far away to be sure,” he said. “But I reckon it looks like Dragon.”
There was a pause. Then someone in the crowd sniggered. “Dragon?” They turned to each other and grinned.
Fillan whispered, “Who’s Dragon?”
“An old Construct,” muttered Coll. “Very weak.”
He shook his head. Dragon? He’d only ever seen it once before. They’d fought, though it had hardly been a real fight. Dragon was a silly creature, bright green and gold, with a round body and stubby wings that could hardly lift it. Mostly it only ever used them to fly away from danger. It had no real territory, no settlements under it. Rumour was it had eventually collapsed and been abandoned.
Rudy grinned. “Yeah. I don’t think we need to worry too much about them.”
But Alpha looked more serious. “Dragon is from the north. Hyena and Raven are from the north. None of them are strong enough to think they could take Wolf territory, but they came anyway. Something is driving them south.”
The crew grew quiet. Alpha pointed towards the strange metal doorway of the cache a few hundred metres away.
“That’s a supply cache there, and we need it. We’re low on anthryl and equipment for the Tocks, things we can’t get from the settlements. Raven wants them too.” She spoke with authority. “We can take Raven. And Dragon could never be a match for us. But fighting both will be hard.” She gazed round the crew and grinned. “But we are Wolf. We are strong, we are fierce … and we are cunning.
“So here is what we are going to do.”
Dragon arrived an hour later. It wasn’t as brightly coloured as Coll remembered – some of the green and gold seemed weather-worn and patched and had been repaired with dull grey plates. But the wings were the same, webbed like a bat, and the long neck and wide flaring nostrils. It looked ridiculous, but it took up position as if ready for a fight. The three Constructs stood in a triangle around the cache, each watching the other two.
“Why’s it here?” asked Fillan, staring at it.
Coll shook his head. “Don’t know. It must have guessed there was a cache. Or it’s been driven down like the others, like Alpha said. Come on, give me a hand here.”
