TWO WEEKS LATER:
Camus was woken earlier than usual this morning. Tros had been ordered to the Sanctuary in a letter and would be leaving in a little while and not come back for several days.
Before that, he would give instructions to him and Anja. It was not the first time, he left them alone because his duty called him to the home country of their Goddess. But this time promised to be a bit longer than usual. Tros had told them that he would be away for almost a week, but without telling them the reasons for his departure. Anja and Camus were used to not being told much about the Sanctuary and what Tros did there. Camus knew that he was not yet ready, to be informed about it, and he suspected that Tros was protecting Anja by not telling her. The Saints were earth's defence, and sometimes they were sent to eliminate or stop dangers. And those dangers often came from other Saints. So they were sent to kill or be killed.
Camus got ready for the day fast and joined his teacher and Anja in the main room.
"So you know, what to do in my absence daughter. There should be enough food for the time I'm gone. Otherwise you can go to the village to get supplies."
Anja nodded seriously.
"I told Anastasia to come see after you from time to time, to see if you need anything", Tros continued.
"But Papa. That's not necessary. Camus and I will get along just fine. I'm not a little girl anymore."
Tros gave her one of his rare smiles. "I know Anja. But I feel better, knowing that somebody looks out, so you won't mess up this whole place, while I'm gone."
Anja giggled, as her father ruffled her hair. Camus couldn't help but to smile a bit too. He still hadn't completely forgiven Tros for the destruction of the photo, but two days after he had been out in the storm, Tros had come to talk to him. Camus had still been weak, but on the way of recovering. Tros had entered his room and explained to him, what was expected of the cast of ice-Saints. He had told him that the emotions burned too hot in any human, so that no ice Saint could attain the great cold of their most powerful attack, if the emotions heated their soul. Camus had understood, but he was unsure if he could do that. He knew that Tros put a lot of hope in him, but he could not see how anyone could bury all feelings. Tros himself was not so cold as he showed on. He just hid it very well most of the time.
No. Camus was sure, that Tros was wrong. Nobody could bury his emotions completely.
He now at least understood Tros' actions, but he still could not approve of them and agree with his teacher on this. And he would prove it to his maître. He had loved his mother, but in a strange, respectful way, he loved his teacher just as much. And he would prove to him that he could become a great Saint, without loosing his emotions.
Tros addressed him now, his face serious. "I will not tell you to train all the time. But you will train."
Camus nodded. He would not go against Tros' orders again.
Tros threw them one last look, before he left the small house.
As soon as he was gone, Anja turned to Camus with a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "Finally free. What do you say, you want to come stroll the grounds with me?"
Camus shook his head. "No. Maybe later. I will spend some hours with training first."
Anja sighed exaggeratedly. "You're not gonna be the good little pupil and beat yourself up with training all the time, while Papa isn't here", she sulked.
Camus looked at her with a somber expression. "No not all the time. But I want to become the best Saint there is. There is something I need to prove to Tros."
"And what would that be?" Anja asked, now curious.
Camus didn't answer for a while, and then he simply changed the topic. "What do you want to do anyway?
"I will go visit Donut, Snowball and Flake."
"Snowball and Flake?"
Anja grinned at him. "The names I gave to Donuts pups."
Camus shook his head. "Why do you have to name everything after something. Can't you give them any normal names?"
"So you're coming or not?"
Camus seemed to think about it for a while. "You know what? Wait before you go to see them. I will train now, and then we can visit them together this afternoon."
"Great!" Anja exclaimed happily. "We'll have lots of fun this week, you'll see."
Camus grinned at her as well. "I doubt it. I'll have all hands full, keeping you out of trouble. Somebody has to keep an eye on you. You know."
"Smartass", she muttered.
Camus just laughed.
They ate breakfast together and were just putting the dishes away, when somebody rapped on the door. Camus looked at Anja questioningly. She shrugged her shoulders, as ignorant as him, to who might visit them yet.
"We better go to see who ventures out here at this time of the morning", Anja frowned and went to open the door. Camus, curious, followed her close by.
She opened the door and was face to face to a stranger, who was clad in a thick fur coat, his hands covered in gloves just as thick and a hat and ski glasses on his head and eyes.
As the girl opened the door, he startled, clearly taken aback. "Is your father here", he asked, as he had caught himself again.
"No, why?" answered Anja.
The man seemed to remember his manners suddenly and took off the glasses, which had until now hid his hard, green eyes.
"I was told that a man lives here, who knows the area very good, and I wanted to hire him to show me the surroundings."
"My father is gone for several days." Anja explained.
The stranger frowned. "And you two kids stay here all by yourself?"
"That is none of your business", Camus growled. Anja looked at him with raised eyebrows, at his unfriendly tone towards the stranger.
"There is an old friend of father's from the village looking after us from time to time", Anja hurried to explain. She didn't want to get into any trouble. The Sanctuary had lots of money to evade eventual problems, but they did not tell any outsiders the way, they treated the kids in training. No need to rise any suspicion if it could be avoided.
But the man didn't seem to think more about it and finally nodded.
"Anyhow. It's not my business. And I'm not here to interfere in things, which don't concern me."
"What do you want from my father anyway? Who are you?"
"My name is Andrej Dubwosky. I own a big oil company and we have heard that there are chances to find oil around here."
"Sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Dubwosky, but those lands are private property. Even if there is oil to find here, you will not be able to get to it. And there is no option to sale the land either."
"Oh. I didn't know that." Dubwoskys voice sounded disappointed, but his eyes were indifferent. "Than I think I better leave now."
"Yeah. Better you leave", Camus stated coldly.
The man nodded and turned to leave, but hesitated and turned again to face them. "Say, do you know, if there are any polar bears around here?"
Anja started to answer with a proud smile. "There are…"
"…No bears around here." Camus interrupted her, finishing the sentence differently than she had intended. At his words, Anja eyed Camus questioning, but Camus didn't leave Dubwosky out of his sight, staring at the man with obvious hostility.
"Well, I guess then I'll go now. Bye."
The man walked back to his motor sleigh, which stood a few meters in front of the cottage, surrounded by about ten thick clad men on identical motor sleighs. He mounted his vehicle, put the ski glasses back on and drove off, followed by his men.
After they had disappeared in a cloud of snow dust, Anja turned to Camus with a frown. "Why have you been so unfriendly with that man? It is rare enough that we get some divertissement. I could have showed him around a bit." Disappointment was heavily colouring her voice.
"I don't like this guy. Something isn't straight with this man."
Anja threw up her hands. "I don't believe it. You're being paranoid."
"And why did they carry guns when they were searching for oil? I didn't know, that you have to shoot that to get it."
"You can be so naive in your Saints thinking. Normal people can't freeze a polar bear to the ground. No one enters those grounds without protection, and walks out safely."
"And why didn't they carry any technical equipment with them? I don't understand much about oil, but I don't think you can find it under the ice and snow, without any equipment."
Anja sighed annoyed. "You're such a negative thinker. Maybe they just wanted to check out the lands now and get the equipment later."
Camus sighed. "Maybe you're right. I just didn't like that man."
"Of course I'm right. As always."
Camus rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I better go do something useful like training."
He turned and opened the door to leave.
"Don't forget to come back at noon. We want to go see the bears, remember?"
Camus turned and smiled at her. "Don't worry. I won't forget."
A few hours later, Camus came back trough the door. "Are you ready to go?" Anja asked, practically bouncing.
Camus startled. "Can I please come in first?"
"Why coming in, when we will depart right away?" she grinned.
"But I want to eat something first, and take a break. I've trained all morning", Camus protested.
Anja didn't listen to him and threw him a paper wrapped package, which he caught with one hand.
"You can eat while we walk. I made you some sandwiches. And for the break. It was your own idea to train. I've been waiting all morning, being bored to death. Now I want some fun. Maybe we'll go to the village afterwards. What do you think?"
Camus made a disapproving sound, but followed the girl, who was now walking out the door. "It was your father's idea to train, remember?"
"So what? If you want to become a Saint, you should be better than to quit after a bit of training. Now stop complaining and come."
Camus sighed, but caught up with her and started to fish for one of the sandwiches in the paperbag, while he walked besides her.
They were chatting amiably, as they reached the place where Donut had her cave. Soon she would start to wander with her pups. Since there was enough game around here to find, and she often found rests of food from the village people, she could afford to stay a bit longer. Also she would hardly ever wander too far away from such good hunting grounds.
"Shhh be quiet now", Camus whispered, as they drew near. "I don't want a repetition from last time."
Anja threw him a vicious grin but didn't say anything.
They took cover behind their small hill and glanced down to the cave. Nothing moved and the cave seemed deserted.
"Oh no. She's not here", Anja complained disappointed.
"Maybe we should have called ahead for a reservation", Camus said so seriously that Anja started to giggle.
Camus stood and grinned at Anja. "Seems like your polar bear doesn't want to sit around and wait for us."
Anja got to her feet too. "Then we can as well go to town. I got some money from Papa with me and we could go get some groceries at Anastasias shop. I'm sure she'll give us some sweets again."
Camus beamed at her. The shops owner, Anastasia, had known Tros since he had been trained here himself, and felt like a grandmother towards his daughter. The old lady had been the one to baby-sit Anja when she had been too little to stay alone, whenever her father had to train or go to the Sanctuary. She had always been the only one in the village who had not treated Anja or Tros like an outsider. And Anja knew, that Anastasia had grown very fond of Camus as well in the past two years.
The two children started to walk off in direction of the village. They hadn't walked more than ten minutes when Camus saw something on the ice some distance ahead. He stopped abruptly. "What is that?"
Anja followed his gaze. "What?"
Camus pointed at a black spot on the ice. "Over there."
"Let's go take a look", she grinned and started to walk in the pointed out direction.
As they approached, the dark spot became something big, laying on the smooth surface of the ice. Also it turned out to be red, not black. But still it was not recognisable as something specific.
Only a few meters before the big, bulking thing, did the two children see a form in the mass. Camus felt the blood leave his head, as he finally knew, what he was looking at. He suddenly felt dizzy and had to fight the bile, rising in his throat.
"Oh my God", Anja whispered in a choking voice. "This is -- Oh my God", she repeated.
Camus walked around what he recognized as the bloody skinned corpse of a big animal, without doubt the remains of a polar bear. A big pool of blood surrounded the cadaver.
"Please Camus. Tell me, this isn't Donut", Anja asked with a chocking voice.
Camus squatted down before what had once been the head of the great animal. After a Second he raised again with a start. He felt sick, at the obscenity he witnessed there.
"I don't think so. It could very well have been another straying bear. I mean – there is no trace of her cubs. If it was Donut, her pups would have to be here somewhere, no?"
Anja nodded sadly.
Camus gave her an encouraging smile before he took a look at the surrounding area. The Ice here was covered by a thin layer of snow, stamped down and displaced by whoever had killed the bear.
He turned, as he felt a presence behind himself. Anja had approached him and stood now a few steps behind him, her eyes hefted at him, refusing to wander to the carcass of the bear. "Who could do something like that?" she asked.
"Probably some poachers. They were only interested in the skin. And I do have an idea, who those poachers are."
"You mean the men who came to the cottage this morning?"
Camus nodded. "I asked myself before, why they only carried guns as equipment, and he did ask for polar bears." He reached his hand out to her. "Come. Let's go to the village. There we can tell somebody, who will call the authorities."
Anja stiffened. "No", she said with determination. "We are gonna get the sleigh and then we are going to search for them. I don't want to occur to Donut what has happened to this bear."
Camus sighed. "Those men came almost certainly with a ship, and we're not permitted to go in town and leave the cottage for so long. I promised to train."
Now Anja became real furious. "TRAIN?!" she yelled. "You still want to follow those stupid Saints rules when there are poachers out there? Next time they could as well get Donut and her cubs. We can't let that happen."
Camus sighed. Anja was very upset, and therefore lashing out, but he didn't want a fight with her this time. "Look Anja. Those rules may be stupid for you, but they are vital for your father and me. If I disobey him again I will be punished. And Donut will not be helped. We go tell the authorities. They are pretty severe with poachers and will lock them away before nightfall."
Anja bit her lower lip. She was worried about her polar bear, but she couldn't stand that Camus would again have to go trough such a punishment as he had two weeks ago. This time he may not survive it."
She nodded sadly. "Okay. But let's go tell them right away." She took his still extended hand and let herself be led towards the village. She swallowed a sob, as she thought that that corpse could very well have been Donut. Besides her father and Camus, the female bear was somebody she considered a dear friend. Even though she had never come close to the wild animal, it was one of the things that had become important to her. Often had she gone to watch the bear, when her father and later Camus had left her alone to go to train. Thank God there were no pups around, so they could be certain that it wasn't her.
They hadn't walked more than a few meters, as Camus stopped dead in his tracks. Anja, still in thoughts, startled at his sudden stop and gazed up at him questionably. But the look of pure horror on Camus' face, made her blood freeze. The French boy was looking straight ahead, his eyes wide and his face had lost all colour. With narrowed eyes, Anja turned to see what had upset her friend so much.
A bit further away, the snow had not been touched, apart from the traces of several motor sleighs and the trace of bear paws in the direction of the cadaver. Several motor sleighs must have chased the bear, before it was shot. But what chilled her blood was the trace of two smaller sets of paw prints close to the big one. Camus didn't say a word. And it wasn't necessary either. The traces were clear enough. The dead bear had been fleeing with two small cubs. Anja felt the surroundings spin and her legs threatened to give in under her. A sob escaped her and she turned back to the dead bear. "Donut", she whispered in horror.
"NO!" she screamed and turned to run back to the cadaver. But Camus didn't let go of her hand and held her back.
"Let me go!" she shouted.
Camus didn't ease his grip on her, and even put his other hand on her shoulder to hold her back. "No, don't. There is nothing you can do for her. You are only going to make it harder on yourself", Camus whispered painfully.
Anja struggled a moment longer against his hold, before the fight left her completely and she stood there, trembling slightly, trying to hold back her tears.
Camus stepped forward, pulled her towards his shoulder and held her tightly. "I'm so sorry Anja."
Anja tried to stay strong, but as Camus held her, his voice full of pained compassion, she lost her fight and begun to cry, hanging onto Camus. "It's Donut", she whispered under sobs. "It's Donut", she repeated, "They killed Donut."
Camus held her as close as possible, fighting his own tears and barely succeeding. He knew what the bear had meant to Anja. She had considered the animal something akin to a big sister. He didn't know what to say to ease her sorrow, but her pain hurt him too. So he just stood there and let her cry on his shoulder.
After a while she seemed to calm a little and her sobs weakened.
"We get them", Camus promised. "They won't get away so easily, I swear."
He felt Anja nodding slightly against his shoulder and pushed her back softly, holding her at arms length, looking deep into her tear-filled eyes.
"They will pay. I swear it to you."
"But Papa…", she asked, fearfully that he may still change his mind.
"We'll deal with Tros later, but whoever did this, made a big mistake. They hurt somebody close to me, and this I will not tolerate." He didn't tell, whom he was referring to. The bear or Anja.
Camus laid his arm around Anja's shoulders as they made their way back to the cottage, Anja leaning into his hold.
When they arrived at the small house, they wordlessly got the rest of the money Tros had left them and some clothes to change. Anja wrote a few words for Anastasia, to tell her where they went, leaving out the why. They would not drive through the village, so they didn't get into trouble with the old lady. Camus took one of Anja's coats, so he wouldn't raise any suspicions walking around in a T-Shirt. After closing the front door, they sorted the motor sleigh out of the shed.
Camus took the front seat, Anja mounting behind him, holding onto him with a strong grip, burying her face into his back.
As they drove trough the snow, Camus still could hear soft sobs coming from his friend.
It was a long, silent ride, until they arrived in front of the first houses of town. Camus slowed the sleigh and steered it to the small shed, belonging to them. Here they left the vehicle each time they needed to come to town.
They got off the sleigh and stored it in the shed, before they started to walk towards the shore.
"Do you think they killed Snowball and Flake too?", Anja finally asked with a subdued voice.
"I have no idea. But if they did, we would probably have seen their bodies too. Maybe they took the young ones alive to sell them to a zoo or something like that."
"I hope you're right", Anja said softly.
Camus threw her an encouraging look. "We'll get them, and if Flake and Snowball are still alive, we'll free them. Always remember. We're a team and nobody can take it up with us."
At his confident words, a slight, sad smile appeared around her lips. "And what are we gonna do now?"
"We go to the port. I guess that they either came by helicopter or ship. If it is by ship, we will see it right away; otherwise we'll ask around. Newcomers are rare here, apart from the monthly ship. The strangers must have been noticed by the people around."
They made their way to the port and as soon as they stepped out between the last of the houses, they saw the big freighter, towed to the docks.
"I guess this is it", Camus said. "Let's go check it out."
He hurried over to the freighter, where three sailors were talking.
"What ship is this?" he asked them, trying hard to appear just like an
ordinary, curious child of nine.
The sailors looked down at him with a disapproving frown on their faces. "This is no place for kids. Get lost boy."
Anja, who had heard the conversation, hurried up to him. "I excuse myself, sirs, but my little brother is too curious. He is dreaming to become a sailor one day. So he's bothering every sailor he meets with stupid questions."
Camus eyed her a bit annoyed about the 'little' comment but caught up on the act.
"Yes. For me, the sailors are the best, strongest and most courageous people in the world." Camus tried to sound as convincing as possible when in reality he had to work hard, not to sneer or laugh.
But it seemed to work, for the expression on the men's faces turned from annoyed to flattered.
"We surely are, kid," one of them beamed at him. "If you want to become a sailor, you will need to work hard. Not everybody is cut to do such a tough job. You will have to be strong and not feel either the cold or storm. " He leaned down a bit and made a face as if he would tell him a very big, impressive secret. "You may even be forced one time or another to swim in those arctic waters, with only a thin diving suit as protection."
Camus looked at the sailor with mock astonishment, clearly enjoying himself. "But wouldn't a man die in this cold?"
The sailor looked at them with self-sufficient eyes and proud voice. "Like I said. This job is only for strong men."
"Whom does this ship belong to?" Anja asked seriously.
"To the Cerberus-oil cooperation", the man answered after a split second of hesitation.
"And do you work on this ship?" she asked again.
The man nodded.
"Could you show us around?" Camus asked.
The sailor exchanged a quick glance with his companions, before he addressed the two children again. "I don't think my boss will allow that."
"Why, has he something to hide?" Anja asked somewhat defiantly.
"No, of course not", the sailor answered a little bit too quickly. "I mean. It is just dangerous on a ship for two children", he caught himself.
"We can talk to our boss. If you come back in an hour, we can give you an answer then", one of the other sailors threw in.
"Okay. We come back in an hour", Anja answered and walked off, followed by Camus.
************************
As soon as they were out of earshot, the first sailor turned to his companion. "What got into you giving them hope to visit the ship. If they get too close to certain areas, they may endanger our mission here."
"We can't raise any suspicion, you know that very well. Otherwise they may endanger the mission as well."
The third sailor sighed loudly, "We better go ask the boss. It will be his decision and thus his responsibility too."
The two others nodded and together they mounted the big ship.
***************************
Camus and Anja walked until some houses covered them. The French boy gazed over at Anja, grinning. "Self-sufficient Idiots. They are as stupid as they are big. I wish I could show them what it means to be able to tolerate some cold."
"You should freeze them through," Anja hissed. "It's all they deserve."
Camus sighed. "I agree, but I'm not allowed to use my powers against simple humans out of the Saints order."
"Those are no normal humans. They are monsters", Anja spat.
"Still, I can't use my power as a Saint against them and hurt them with it. And you know it."
"For once, this Saint bullshit would be good for something and you can't even use it. This sucks", she snorted.
Camus smiled at her with sympathy. "I know. But we will get done with them without me using my powers. I'm not allowed to use my Cosmo to hurt people, but with material it's different. I know they are hiding something, and if they don't show us around, we force our way inside that ship."
Anja nodded. "And I know what they hide. Those Idiots will pay for what they did."
They waited for the said hour, walking trough the streets in silence. After the time had passed, Anja seemed to have calmed down pretty much, only a furious Glimmer in her eyes was revealing how upset she still was. But Camus figured that it was a good thing, she could deal with the sadness by turning it into anger against someone. If they could make sure those poachers were put behind bars, she would feel like she had revenged Donuts death.
As they approached the ship once more, the sailor who had spoken to them earlier, stood at his old place, sided by the man, who had introduced himself as Andrej Dubwosky at the cottage.
Camus felt Anja stiffen besides him as she saw the man and he could practically feel the hate she radiated towards the man.
"Relax Anja", he tried to calm her down. "We have to play the act for now if we want to have him punished and the cubs freed."
Anja nodded, taking a deep breath to calm herself before they reached the two men.
"So you will show us around?" Camus asked as they stood before them, looking only at Dubwosky, and ignoring the sailor. The boss of the so-called oil-company was now wearing a slightly lighter coat, and no hat covered his hair. The man himself looked as much as the boss of an oil-company as Tros looked like a lawyer. The man in front of them had a wild red beard, unruly curls and some slight wrinkles around his green eyes. The guy made Camus think more of a Trapper he had seen the old western movies, back in France.
Dubwosky raised one eyebrow, as he recognized the two children. "You? What are you two doing here in town?"
"We come here quite often, to get supplies, not available in the village. And when we saw your big ship, we wanted to ask if we could take a look at it."
The man studied them intently for a while, before he nodded hesitantly. "All right. I will show you around personally. But only under the condition that you stay close to me at all times."
"Why? Afraid that we could break anything or maybe see some big secret?", Anja all but spat.
Camus threw her a warning look. If she didn't get a hold on her emotions for a while, she would spoil everything.
But Dubwosky didn't seem offended by her sharp tone and smiled at her, somewhat amused.
"No. But it can be dangerous on board if you get lost. There are big machines down there and you could get hurt easily."
Camus observed the man closely. Dubwosky's answer had come smoothly and not so hesitantly as the sailor's answers earlier, as they pushed him in the corner by their questions, but still, Camus was certain that the man was lying to them.
"Okay", he agreed. We'll stay behind you."
He wasn't sure if they would be doing that, but it would be the smartest thing to check the situation first and think about their further actions later. The only problem would be, if Anja would lose it and not stick to the plan.
Dubwosky turned and lead them up the gangway onboard the ship. Camus - who had himself travelled on a freighter, wasn't too urged to see one of those ships again, and Anja only had her hateful gaze glued on Dubwoskys back. But at least she tried to hide her open hostility, each time he turned back to them. Dubwosky showed them some parts of the ship, but Anja and Camus were looking hard at the things he didn't show them. However the ship didn't seem suspicious. Apart the fact, that Camus could nowhere find the brand name of Cerberus-cooperation, or even anything that proved the ship belonged to an oil-company.
In the contrary. This ship looked rather like the freighter he had arrived on here two years ago.
"Can we go see the cargo bay?" he asked their leader.
Dubwosky shook his head. "No. Too dangerous. The sailors are in the process of shifting our supplies right now. But I can show you the bridge."
Camus exchanged a knowing look with Anja. Of course they wouldn't be let in the cargo bay, for there would very probably the poached animals and skins be stored. Anja clenched her fists tightly, trying hard to hold her anger at bay at the thought of Donut and her pups, who would be down here too, and Camus lay one hand soothingly on her shoulder. She calmed a bit and nodded to him, assuring him by that, that she would control herself. Then the two followed Dubwosky again, who had already turned and walked the way further down, not seeing their silent communication.
Dubwosky led them to the bridge and as they reached the big room, Camus clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes in suspicion. The ship itself looked like an old freighter, but the bridge was a modern control-centre, with monitors, computers and about seven men sitting in front of them, reading and exchanging data.
"What do you need all the computers for?" he asked.
"Those computers are needed to calculate the most probable spots, where there may be oil to find. As you may know, a lot of money is involved in the oil-business. If you want to have a chance to succeed, you have to be prepared as good as possible.
Camus stared at the other man with big eyes. That was the biggest bullshit he had ever heard in his life. Okay, he was no expert, but there was no way a computer would find any oil. Otherwise, all companies would search like this. But the lie had come so smoothly over Dubwoskys lips, that it showed the man was used to lie. And a lot.
He certainly thought the kids were naïve or stupid. Camus was neither one, but he didn't say a word. But all he had seen here on the ship had hardened his assumption into certainty, that those were the poachers. And now he also knew what they would do next.
"Mr. Dubwosky. I thank you very much, for the tour on your ship, but it will be evening soon and we have to get home before night or our father will be furious."
Anja eyed him questionably, but didn't protest. She trusted him enough to know, he was not cutting short the tour for nothing.
"I thought your father was away?" Dubwosky asked in a suspicious voice.
"He had to come home earlier than we thought", Anja said fast.
"All right. Then I'll show you off the ship."
"That's all right. We'll find our way alone", Anja answered hastily.
"No, You're under my responsibility as long as you're on this ship and I don't want to have any trouble if something happens to you."
The man started to walk them back down the ship. Of course he wouldn't leave them alone of the ship, Camus thought. Would have been too easy this way. But they would find another way to come back on board and take a closer look around.
After Dubwosky had walked them back down to the port and had disappeared inside his ship again, Anja addressed Camus. "What is your plan?"
"We wait for the night, and then we will go check out the cargo bay. When we find the prove we need, we'll inform the authorities. And then we will hurt Dubwosky. People like him are not much impressed by the police. With the equipment he had on the bridge, he must be quite wealthy. He would be out of prison very soon and go on poaching somewhere else. No, people like him are hit by their wealth. I'll make sure that this ship will not carry any dead animal anymore. I'll sink it."
"And how do you plan to do that?"
"If we find what we are searching for tonight, we'll put the wheels in gear, so the people are arrested tomorrow morning at latest. Tomorrow night, I'll dive under the ship and freeze a hole in it. Big enough to sink it, but small enough, to leave anybody still on board enough time to escape. But that stupid poacher will loose his proud ship for good", Camus explained excitedly.
He glanced at Anja, expecting her to be as enthusiastic about his plan as he was himself, but his friend just nodded sadly her acceptance.
At her still subdued demeanour, Camus felt his own excitement leave him. "I know that no matter what we'll do, we can't bring Donut back. But we can at least avenge her death."
Anja faced him, forcing a sad smile. "Oh Camus, don't worry. I really appreciate all you're doing. It is just too fresh and simply looking at this man makes me mad and sad at the same time. I'm just happy that you're with me."
Camus smiled encouraging at her. "What else are friends for? I will always be here for you."
Anja's smile grew a bit broader and lost some of the sadness. She stepped forward, taking Camus in a tight hug. "Thank you", she whispered in his ear, before she let go of him.
"Let's go wait for the night somewhere, okay?"
She nodded and together they wandered off to find a restaurant to spend the next hours.
*****************************
It was already dark, when two small shadows stole themselves to the port.
Camus and Anja sneaked close to the ship and hid themselves behind a big crate from the single guard, who stood in front of the Gangway.
"That's the final proof", Camus whispered. "If they put a guard up, they must hide something."
"What are we going to do now?" Anja whispered back. "There's no way to sneak around that guard."
Before she could react, Camus had left the cover of the crate and strolled towards the guard openly, his arms easily crossed behind his back and whistling a tune.
"Who is there?" the sailor boomed, as he caught sight of him. Camus recognised the same sailor, to which they had talked to this afternoon. As he came closer, the man seemed to recognize him too.
"You? What are you doing here at this time of the night?"
"I forgot to ask you something about a sailor's resistance."
The man scowled at those words. "And you come out here at this time to ask me something."
Camus nodded.
"All right", the Sailor answered somewhat confused. "What do you want to know?"
"It's a secret. You have to lean down, so I can whisper it in your ear."
The sailor was now really confused, but he complied and leaned down to the boy.
"I just wanted to know, how resistant you are, if I hit you here." While he spoke, Camus raised his hand and hit the sailor hard in the neck. The big man's eyes opened wide at the unexpected pain for a split-second, before he fell to the floor like a stone and stayed there unconscious.
Anja hurried over to her friend. "Very effective", she stated coldly. "Lets go inside now."
The two friends ran up the gangway and jumped on the deck of the ship.
"Do you know, where the cargo bay is?" she whispered.
Camus shook his head. "No. We'll have to search for it. But after the tour Dubwosky did with us, we know where it is not. Let's go inside and search for it. The guard should be out cold for some time."
They hurried over to the first door visible and crossed the short distance towards it.
Camus took the handle and threw a sideways look at Anja. "Pray that it's not locked."
Anja nodded and Camus took a deep breath and pushed the handle of the door down. The door didn't move. "Zut," Camus swore in his mother tongue. "Wait. I'll try to break it by freezing it. Hopefully I'm good enough for that yet."
He reached forward, but Anja stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Maybe there's no need for you to exhaust yourself yet by using your Cosmo. I have an idea."
She turned and hurried back to the gangway, where she ran down to the port and disappeared from Camus' view. He looked questionably at the spot, where she had disappeared. What did she want to do? But he didn't have to wait for long, since she reappeared only moments after she had disappeared. She hurried over to him and showed him a set of keys on a metal ring with a grin on her face.
"It was more than probable that the guard had his own keys of the ship."
She sounded quite proud of herself and Camus answered her grin with a wide smile of his own. He was happier for seeing her smile again, than for the keys.
Anja inserted the first key into the lock, but it didn't fit. She took another, with the same result. Camus already started to doubt that they had the right keys, when the fourth let itself be inserted and turned easily. With a sigh of relief, she pushed the door open, withdrew the key ring again and stepped inside. Camus followed her.
They found themselves again in a small hallway.
"And now?" Anja whispered.
"Lets go search for stairs. I guess that the cargo is stored deep down in the ship."
"Sounds logical. I just hope we're not catching the wrong door, stepping into any sleeping quarters."
They travelled through the maze of corridors, having no clue what to look for.
"That's insane", Anja hissed after some time. "We have no idea where we are."
"You want to give up yet?" Camus, who had started to get annoyed too by the fruitless search, answered a bit too sharply.
"You were the one with this great plan, remember?" Anja spat back.
Camus wanted to answer something angrily, just as a booming voice behind them made their hearts skip a beat in fear.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON MY SHIP?"
Dubwosky's angry voice filled the whole hallway, echoing back from the narrow gangway.
Slowly, the two kids turned to face the furious, big man. But what threw their looks was the pistol, the red haired man had pointed at them.