'Emily, come on!' Arthur's voice spoke in the distance. Suddenly, the cold came rushing back to her as she opened her eyes. She was lying on her back on a stoney beach, with Arthur kneeling on her right side. On her other side was Captain Caldwell, looking just as worried.

'What happened?' she muttered as she sat up, her head pounding when she did so. When she tried to grab the side of her head with her left hand, she felt pain shoot through it. Captain Caldwell put a hand on her shoulder, gently pushing her back down.

'The boat capsized,' he explained. 'When you didn't get to the shore, I found you a bit further down the beach; you must have hit your head. It looks like you've broken your arm as well.'

'Where's my bag?' she asked, looking around for it. She hadn't bothered to take the amulet out before they got in the boat.

Pulling on the chain around his neck, Arthur revealed the amulet that had been tucked down the front of his shirt. ‘I took it out of your bag when we got in the boat,' he said. Taking it off, he handed it to her.

'I thought I had lost it for good,' she said, trying to sit up again. Although her head buzzed, she fought through it this time, looking around her. They were a hundred or so feet from the sea, sitting on a higher ridge of the stoney beach. There was no one else in sight, though. 'Where are the rest of the crew?'

'We haven't seen anyone else since we got here,' Arthur said slowly.

'It's possible that they landed somewhere else on the beach,' Captain Caldwell said, although he lacked conviction. 'I told them that if we got separated, they should follow the coast south until they found a town and wait there.'

'So, where are we?' she asked. There were no landmarks in sight at all. On one side there was sea, and on the other was rough scrub land, the narrow beach separating the two.

'On a calm day, we probably would have been at sea long enough to get to Winterrock,' he said. 'With that wind behind us, I would guess that we're somewhere between there and Porthton. Either way, it is going to be a while before we get to civilization again.'

'Where's Winterrock?' Emily asked. She vaguely remembered seeing it mentioned in some shipping documents that had passed across Sebastian's desk when she had been a Sister to Tristan.

'It is on the edge of The North Mountains, sandwiched between them and the sea. If we went that way, it would be a more difficult trip than heading south to Porthton,' Captain Caldwell said. 'Let me take a look at your head.'

Pushing back her hair, she turned her head so that he could see. It was painful enough to tell her that it was bad. After a moment, Captain Caldwell sat back, tearing a piece off the bottom of his soaked shirt and bunching it up.

'I'm going to clean it up with this,' he said, holding up the fabric. 'The salt from the sea water should help to stop it from getting infected. This is going to sting a little bit.

When she nodded, he started dabbing at the cut on the side of her head. For several minutes, she grimaced, closing her eyes as the salt stung the open wound. As soon as he was done, she opened them again, looking up at him.

'How is it?' she asked.

'It isn't too bad; we should still get it checked out when we get to Porthton, though,' Captain Caldwell said as he unravelled the piece of blood-spotted fabric, fastening it around her head over the cut as a makeshift bandage. 'We need to make a sling for your arm, though.'

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'Use this,' Arthur said, removing his shirt and holding it out to Captain Caldwell.

It's not ideal, but it seems like all we have for now,' he replied as he took the shirt. With a surprising amount of care for a weathered sea captain, he took her arm, gently moving it across her chest as he fashioned a sling around it before tying it behind her neck. 'Let's get you up, and we can try and find some shelter nearby; it will be night soon.'

Between him and Arthur, they helped her to her feet. Sporting a white bandage headband and a green sling on her left arm, she allowed Captain Caldwell to lead the way up the beach in search of shelter. In her opinion, a fire couldn't come soon enough, she thought as she shivered. As she watched Captain Caldwell walk ahead of her, she even saw him shiver.

Are you sure you're okay?' Arthur asked, falling into step beside her.

'Sore,' she replied. She had no idea how long she had been caught up in the rocks before Captain Caldwell had found her, but judging by the number of bruises covering her body, the waves had thrown her around a fair bit. 'What happened to you two? I couldn't see you anywhere.'

'I came up on the beach just after Captain Caldwell,' Arthur said. 'He was already looking for you when I got to him. We split up to look for you. You were lucky he found you so quickly.'

'I know,' said Emily. Suddenly, it seemed like a very real possibility that she could have drowned and probably should have.

'Lewis would kill me if I let anything happen to you,' Arthur said.

'Where do you think he is now?' she asked.

'He's been gone for weeks,' said Arthur. 'He could be anywhere right now.'

'When we were on the ship, I felt something,' she said. 'A pain in my head.'

'Do you want me to check the cut?' he asked worriedly.

'No, it was before that. It was a really sharp pain, like a piece of elastic snapping against your skin,' she said, trying to explain it as best as she could.

'You think it had something to do with Lewis?'

'Could it? There's so much we don't know about the precursors,' said Emily.

'I don't know. I would have suggested Michael, but, well, you know,' Arthur said with a laugh.

'You don't think I killed him, do you?' She asked anxiously.

'I don't know, but it sounds like he was planning to kill you,' he replied. 'You did what you had to do to get out of there; that's all that matters.'

'It was so stupid; I can't believe I fell for the trap,' she said. 'I never trusted him from the start.'

'We all make mistakes,' he reassured her. 'But you're here and you're alive; that's what matters.'

'Barely,' she muttered, thinking about what had happened in the sea. She was lucky; she knew that.

'Over here!' Captain Caldwell called, interrupting her thoughts. He was standing in front of the entrance to a cave, waiting for them to catch up. 'I think this is the best we're going to be able to do tonight.'

'Ah, a nice cave with lots of potential. Within walking distance of the sea, in case you fancied a dip. A prize piece of real estate,' Arthur laughed.

'I think I'll give the swimming a miss, at least for now,' Emily said. After everything that had happened, she appreciated him trying to lighten the mood.

'It gets even better,' Captain Caldwell said. 'Not only does it come with a supply of dry drift wood, perfect for a fire, but it is just a three- or four-hour walk to Porthton.'

'You know where we are?' Emily asked.

'I've sailed from Porthton to Winterrock a couple of times before. North of Porthton there are a whole host of caves; you can see them from the sea normally,' Captain Caldwell explained. 'This is probably one of them.'

'Probably?' Arthur said, a look of concern spreading across his face as he watched Captain Caldwell gather up some of the smaller driftwood.

'Either it's one of the Porthton Caves or we're miles to the north and just stumbled across a cave no one has ever found before,' he said, more upbeat than he had been since Emily had woken up on the beach.

Before any of them could say anything, there was a crash from deep in the cave. As one, the three of them turned, peering into the darkness. 'What was that?' Emily whispered, shuffling slightly closer to Arthur. With one arm in a sling, she knew she was almost defenceless.

They didn't have to wait long for their answer, as the sound of running footsteps echoed through the cave. Out of the darkness, a man with scraggly black hair and a beard to match barrelled towards them. He scattered the three of them, and he seemed not to notice as he charged out of the cave and into the storm outside.

'Wait, was that?' Arthur asked, turning to Emily with his mouth hanging open.

'George,' she finished for him. Running back to the cave entrance, she peered out into the rain, but he had disappeared into the night.

'Clearly, we aren't the only ones here,' Captain Caldwell said. The words had barely left his mouth when a scream echoed out of the darkness deep within the cave. When she turned back to Arthur and Captain Caldwell, she saw Arthur grab the latter’s sword and charge off into the dark cave.