The Toymaster's Castle

Chapter Thirty - Boat Trip

The river was incredibly beautiful, lit by a quarter moon, but everything felt really intense... and quite scary... driving at night for the first time... and with no lights... and running away from a mob who were basically trying to kill us.

The vast bulk of the dome loomed away to our right as we followed the river in a loop around it. The whole of the city was in darkness except for the top of the dome and the support towers for the cable car across the river which, for some reason, still had their red warning lights glowing.

Daniel put on his own onesie suit and lifejacket. Then he hunched over the chart screen. But he pulled some sort of cloth - I think it was a coat - over his head before turning it on. "All clear ahead, as long as you stay well out in the channel," he reported before turning it off again.

Once we were past the barrier, Daniel eased open the throttle for me but only to about four pips. Every once in a while, he checked the chart but, otherwise, his eyes were glued, with mine, to the river ahead.

"Steer left! Floating obstacle!" George called from his position in the bow. I eased around it then brought us back on course.

Then, for hours, I drove on into the night. It felt a bit funny that they were getting me to do the driving but I suppose that left Daniel and George free to do the more important jobs.

At one point, Daniel offered me a bottle of water and a tablet. I looked at it suspiciously.

"It's just caffeine," he reassured me. "It'll help you to keep going."

So I swallowed it and took a slug of water and, for a while, I felt a bit better.

We had rounded the corner of Kent into the English Channel so, when the first grey traces of dawn appeared on the horizon, they were behind us. But, with that, I'd had enough. "I'm sorry," I said to Daniel. "I'm completely done in. I'm going to have to rest soon."

"You've done really well," he said, giving my back a reassuring rub. "We were going to stop soon anyway. The plan is to travel at night and keep under cover during the day."

He took over at the wheel and I just collapsed into the bench seat at the stern of the boat, next to Susan. She was half asleep but she pulled me into her shoulder, muttering stuff about me doing really well.

Next thing I knew, it was full daylight and the boat was tucked up under some trees in a little river estuary. George was offering me a mug of something warm, sweet and milky. "Royal Marine grade tea!" he told me.

I managed the drink but wasn't interested in the jam sandwiches that were on offer and, in no time at all, I was back asleep again.

When I next woke, the sun was fully up but it was doing a funny dappled thing and I realised that, whilst I'd been sleeping, they must have pulled some sort of camouflage netting stuff over the top of the boat. I guess they really did want us to stay hidden.

The men were asleep, up at the front, but Susan was sitting in the cabin... on lookout duty, I suppose. She offered me one of the sandwiches that was left over from breakfast but, when I explained that I had more pressing issues, she giggled and offered me a bucket.

Because we were on a boat, everything was wobbling about and so I needed a hand to steady me as I performed. "Think yourself lucky," Susan said when I got embarrassed. "When I needed the bucket, you were asleep so I had to let George help me!"

When I was done, I emptied the bucket over the side, rinsed it and then cleaned my hands with some wet wipes. And, once that was sorted out, those jam sandwiches sounded really good.

We spent the day in that secluded little backwater... mostly sleeping. At one point, the tide went out, dumping us on a mudbank but, apart from the fact it put us at a bit of a funny angle, it didn't make much difference.