by Vashti Hardy
“It’s going to be the first pink sky-ship in Lontown, Dora!”
“Vi, you can’t paint it pink!” Eudora found herself giggling along with Violetta who swiped pink paint confidently along the side.
“Can so, and just did!”
“Father’s not going to like it.”
“Father’s not going to sail in it. It’s ours.”
She lifted the small sky-ship above her head and began running through the grass with it. “Let’s go to Creal!”
“But Creal’s already been discovered!”
“I don’t care; it’s got spooky caves and bats. Pink bats, Dora!”
And she chased after her, so happy and laughing…
No, not laughing…
Screaming…
Smethwyck cried out, utterly petrified, as the darkwhisper whipped its head around to him.
Eudora snapped out of her momentary daze and bolted below deck.
The Aurora was tilting and swaying in the air, threatening to shift into a spin.
“Hold the wheel!” Eudora bellowed from below.
Arthur knew she was right; if Smethwyck let go of the wheel now, he’d lose all control and they’d crash, but did they have a choice? There was one certainty; if he went down, they all went down. Smethwyck had ducked back and was clutching the wheel, white-knuckled, as the creatures spiralled in.
There was a thud as the darkwhisper took a step towards the terrified henchman.
Smethwyck needed protection.
He needed the weather canopy.
Arthur peered through the gap and willed him to see the lever, but of course Smethwyck wouldn’t know what it was for. He’d become suddenly statue still, as though entranced by the creature. Arthur followed the chain link from above and started yanking it down manually. There was a clonk and a whirr, and the weather canopy began to rise. Smethwyck snapped out of his trance and looked around in amazement.
The wheeze of wind and the creature’s shrieks were deafening, and Arthur thought he caught sight of reptilian eyes, thick and milky and impenetrable, just before the canopy enclosed around Smethwyck.
There was a cry and the scrape of claws as the creature took flight.
The ship lurched from side to side for a while, throwing Arthur and Parthena about in the small hiding cavity. He could hear Smethwyck grunting with the effort to keep control before the ship finally levelled. Arthur clung on to Parthena and trembled until eventually the cries of the circling creatures faded, and the clouds cleared.
Peace was restored and Arthur slumped into unbidden sleep.
Several chimes later he was woken by a shout from above.
“Land ho!”
A segment of crystal blue sky cast a stripe of light across Parthena’s feathers. Arthur had felt the descent and knew from the snatches of discussions and commands being relayed that they had landed on high ground, and were preparing for an initial expedition. The Votary of Four had been right! What would Octavie say if she could see him now? There was more land to the east – possibly a whole new undiscovered continent.
Arthur could hear the busy sounds as equipment was gathered and preparations made to explore, and it made him furious at the idea of Eudora’s crew using the Aurora’s kit.
He needed a plan for what he would do next. Eudora was issuing meticulous instructions and Arthur gleaned that the whole crew was heading out.
The bustle continued for a chime or so as they got ready to leave, then suddenly several of the crew cried out in alarm.
Then he heard other voices, different to the crew’s, speaking in another language. There was a flurry of footsteps towards the edge of the ship and Arthur saw through the gap that the crew were hurrying towards the gangplank. He pushed the hatch up a little to peek.
Arthur caught a flash of someone dressed in tight green trousers. A woman’s voice said something that Arthur couldn’t understand.
“Who are you?” Eudora demanded.
There was a slight pause then the woman spoke again, this time in Lontonian. “This is our home. Who are you?”
The crowd of crew were gathered together, and Arthur could now only see the feet of the woman and her companions.
Then came more hurried talk in the different language.
“The swallow on your sky-boat… Are you … Culpiper?”
“Culpiper?” said Eudora curiously.
“Are you of the Culpiper family of Lontown? Are you the captain of this sky-ship … Harriet?”
“Yes, yes I am,” Eudora said.
Below deck, Arthur’s mouth dropped open. There was a pause and some hushed talking.
“Do you have the ring, Captain Culpiper?”
“Er, yes, back in Lontown. Please, do call me Harriet.”
Liar, Arthur thought, alongside the hundred other questions now buzzing around his head. First, there were people on this undiscovered land? Second, how in clanking cogs did they know about Harriet? Could they possibly mean Octavie’s ring, the ring with the bird on it?
“Captain Culpiper, we welcome you home.”
“Oh! Do you indeed… Thank you.”
“Although, we would not permit outsiders usually, in your crew. Did the ring-bearer not tell you?”
“I’m very sorry, but I wouldn’t have made it here without them and they are the soul of discretion. But I must say the ring-bearer told me very little about my, er … heritage, so perhaps you could fill in the gaps for me?”
“Please follow us, Captain Culpiper,”
“It’s Culpepper, actually; the name was adapted a little.”
As Arthur crouched in the darkness listening hard, he rolled his eyes at the nerve of Eudora. Not only was she taking on Harriet’s name, but she was also correcting them on it!
“We will take you straight to the Professus Excelsis. The water-wings are not far. You won’t need anything – we have plenty for you all.”
“Plenty? How marvellous.”
“Come, you must be hungry after your travels.”
Arthur’s stomach threatened to growl.
“Oh yes, thank you.”
The deck boards creaked above as the crew began leaving the ship.
He counted to thirty from when the last footstep left the sky-ship; he didn’t want to leave it too long or short a time, so thirty seemed a good gamble. He eased up the hatch, peered outwards at the empty deck, then climbed out. It was bright and green all around. His eyes ached from being in the dark for so long. He whispered to Parthena and told her not to take flight. “I’m sorry, girl, they would see you – it’s not safe.”
He needed a plan, and quick. Stay and reclaim the Aurora and fly back to the Stella Oceanus? But he couldn’t sail a sky-ship on his own, and there was no way he would go near those darkwhisper creatures again! He couldn’t stay here and wait; for what? Following them was the only option. But did he have time to grab food and drink? He didn’t want to lose them, and by the look of the dense green tropical forest all around, losing them wouldn’t be difficult.
Parthena hopped out of the hatch, the waterskin in her mouth. Arthur smiled. “Yes, water’s most important. Come on.” She flew up and landed on his shoulder and they hurried down the gangplank.
He wished he’d had more time to gather supplies, but if he kept up with them it would be all right. Perhaps he could declare himself as one of the crew? Eudora wouldn’t be able to say anything because he knew her bigger secret. He shook his head as though to dislodge some truth or sense from the situation, but it still made no sense to him. How did they know Harriet Culpepper? Harriet couldn’t have known about this place. Could she?
Their path was easy to follow, the vegetation having been trampled down by the crew ahead. He kept far enough back to not be seen, but close enough to not lose them. They were travelling uphill slightly; the Aurora had landed on a crater-like hilltop area, the vast ocean behind and a bank of lush green leafy plants ahead. As Arthur reached the ridge, he suddenly went still, paralysed, such was the be
auty of the scene before him.
The land was vast: a swathe of emerald forest as far as his eyes could see, with glimpses of silvery rivers and lakes among enormous trees, their tops taller than any he had ever seen, and in the east were colossal mountains also cloaked in green. He breathed in the humid air and felt the brilliant warmth of the sun on his cheeks. Birds chittered and insects trilled and buzzed all around. Parthena’s claws tightened a little on his shoulder.
“I know. It’ll be safe enough to fly soon, I promise.”
The path ahead seemed to go in several directions downhill. He strained to hear the voices, but suddenly there was nothing. Don’t dither, make a decision, he told himself, and took the path west.
Still he couldn’t hear any voices and the path disappeared.
Arthur was lost.
He could’ve sent Parthena up to look, but despite his increasing worry, he still didn’t want to risk Eudora realizing he was there. He trudged onward through a field of ferns; some of the fronds were now taller than him and it was difficult to see where he was heading.
There was one thing that he knew, that he remembered Dad saying: if you have no idea what to do, make the best educated decision you can and stick to it with total commitment. Ahead was where he was going, and so what if there was an enormous swathe of jungle in between? He would just keep moving – they couldn’t have got far.
“Eyes on the goal,” he said, and strode forward, smiling.
But after three steps, the ground seemed to disappear beneath him and he fell clumsily down, arm flying upwards as the earth swallowed him.
CHAPTER 14
SEA GODDESS II
None of the Culpepper crew slept that night again.
Maudie felt as though her soul had been overstretched like taut elastic, threatening to break at any moment. It had been four days. She’d never been separated from Arthur for this long, and she had no idea if he was even alive. If the Vane crew had been shooting at them, what would they have done to Arthur? She blocked out the hideousness of the thought and focused on the Acquafreeda ship as it sailed towards them.
The grave was indeed empty, but Gallus said that they’d found Ermitage Wrigglesworth’s shipwreck, not the body, so the grave was merely a mark of respect. It had proved impossible to get anything more out of the villagers. Maudie had told Harriet about the ring around Gallus’s neck, but he no longer wore one, and denied ever having done so.
When the Acquafreedas arrived, Harriet spoke hurriedly with Evelyn, who was dressed in an iridescent turquoise all-in-one suit, her hair plaited like a fish-tail over her shoulder. Maudie thought that although Evelyn was short, she had an air of fierce capability.
Then Harriet regrouped the crew. “The Acquafreedas’ larger ship carries a smaller vessel, and they’ve agreed we can use it to chase the Aurora. It’s faster, so it suits our cause better. But I don’t want to risk everyone going. Gilly, Meriwether, Barnes, Forbes, Cranken, Forsythe, Keene, Wordle, Hurley and Dr Quirke, I want you to all stay on Nova until we return. Evelyn has agreed to remain close by so that, should the worse happen and we don’t make it back, you can sail to Lontown with them.”
Queenie gave a sorrowful meow. Harriet picked her up and stroked her. “I’m sorry, dearest, you must stay here. Keep an eye on these islanders and watch over the crew for me.” She passed Queenie to Gilly. “And can you look out for Queenie, please. She likes you, but she might be a bit resistant to staying on the Victorious.”
Gilly nodded.
“Felicity, Welby and Maudie will come on the sea-ship with me. Maudie, I presume you want to come?”
Maudie nodded emphatically.
“Good. Then we set off immediately. We’re already several days behind.”
Harriet pulled Maudie to one side and looked directly in her eyes with absolute seriousness. “I’m taking the people I trust most in the Wide. But I want you to know that there is no shame if you want to stay behind. We don’t know what we’re heading into. The people on this island still know more than they are letting on about what lies out there.”
“I’m going.”
Harriet nodded.
“Should we bring the sky-ak?” Maudie asked. It was still on the beach from when they’d arrived.
“Yes, good idea. Now let’s get going.”
After loading supplies into a small boat, Harriet, Maudie, Felicity and Welby sailed from the beach to where the Sea Goddess, the Acquafreeda’s towering sea-ship, was anchored, Harriet and Felicity in the boat with Evelyn Acquafreeda, and Maudie and Welby in the sky-ak. The Sea Goddess had a great wooden hull, painted a deep midnight-blue, three sturdy masts and numerous sails of different sizes and direction. Tethered behind it was a smaller ship in the same blue with Sea Goddess II painted in gold on the side. It had two sails and a streamlined shape, which made Maudie hopeful of the speed it could travel.
They tied the sky-ak to the Sea Goddess and climbed the ladder aboard.
“We’ll hoist your small sky-ship aboard the Goddess II,” said Evelyn, “and load your supplies, although we have left what we can for you.”
“Thank you, Evelyn.”
“I’m glad to help you, Harriet. Your parents never looked down on me for sticking to my family tradition of the old ways, especially when others tried to revoke my family’s status at the Geographical Society.” Maudie didn’t have to guess who that would be. “The Goddess II has dual sails; did you say you were familiar with such a vessel?”
“It’s been a while, but we’ll be fine.”
“There is the pitch engine, of course, but we only use that in backup, if the winds drop.” She put her hand on Harriet’s shoulder. “Good luck.”
Then she smiled at Maudie. “I hear you have quite the head for heights. Let’s see how you fare at sea.”
Harriet, Maudie, Welby and Felicity climbed aboard the Sea Goddess II and set off.
The remaining crew waved from the beach and Maudie’s heart wrenched with the knowledge that they were now on different paths. She looked to the other three; Harriet at the wheel, Welby wrestling with the sails, and Felicity busily stowing equipment, and knew that she had to cling to them with everything she had. Her family. Except Arthur wasn’t here, and the separation was a physical pain in her heart. The only way to get through was to do what she did best, and that was to be practical and focus on solving what she could. “I’m going to check over the engine,” she called to Harriet. “I’ll make sure all the valves are clean and clear, in case we need it.”
“Excellent idea.”
By the time she was back on deck, the island of Nova was a small dot in the west, but Maudie couldn’t help but feel that if they’d been in a sky-ship they would have been much quicker. The waves were choppy and already Maudie hated the rolling and lurching rhythm.
Felicity passed her a cup of sweet tea and a marsh cake.
“I don’t think I’m well,” Maudie said, looking at the marsh cake and feeling the same colour.
“You’ll get used to it. Here, I still have some peppermints from the roamers. They might help.”
“Welby’s very quiet,” Maudie said, looking across at where he sat, holding on to a sail rope and staring blankly ahead.
Felicity put an arm around Maudie and pulled her into a hug. “I think he’s a bit lost without the certainty of his maps and charts, to be honest, and … well, I think he feels bad, you know … about Arthur. He said he was quite hard on him in the navigation lessons.”
Maudie looked up into Felicity’s dark eyes. “None of us wanted to listen to Arthur. He told me we should trust our instinct, but I thought he was just being his usual act first, think later self and that I needed to be the one to remind him and be practical, but…” She swallowed. “Do you think he’s all right?”
Felicity looked down at her feet and wiggled her toes. “I’m certain he is, deary.”
CHAPTER 15
ARTHUR ALONE
Arthur fell through ferns, then vines and rock and mud
and skittering debris, branches snapping and snatching at him. His clothes were torn and his skin clawed. Flailing, he tried to grab anything to slow him, and he nearly managed it, but then came the running water, and he slipped and tumbled.
When he could fall no further, he eventually came to a stop.
He groaned and grimaced at the pain in his backside, his shoulder, his ankle. Everywhere.
The jungle seemed to fall silent around him for a moment, but within seconds a bird chirruped, then another, and the full soundscape was back. He felt as though he’d become an invisible speck, absorbed into the belly of a great leafy monster.
He might have lain there and let himself sink away into the squelchy foliage, but he suddenly realized…
“Parthena!” But his voice merely croaked.
Had she been on his shoulder? Maybe she was injured too.
He peered up into the yawning green gloom. It was hard to believe he’d been in blistering sunlight moments ago. He grabbed a nearby plant to pull himself up and spines bit into his palm. “Argh!” He pulled the spines out with his teeth as best he could, then yelled, “Parthena!”
But there was no sign of her. A waterfall drenched the rockface not far away, seemingly disappearing into nowhere. His trousers were ripped, and he examined his ankle. It didn’t look broken, but it throbbed horribly. Something black was on his calf. He peered at it. It seemed attached. Realizing it was a living creature, he yelled, pulled it off and threw it.
Then a rasping cough-like sound came from nearby.
“Who’s there?” Arthur called. Could it be the Vane crew?
A strange, bent shadow moved through the trees. Arthur’s heart was still racing from the fall and it began to thrum in his ears. The figure was getting closer.
The creature was taller than him, with green fur and a large head. Please be good, like the thought-wolves, he wished, not like the darkwhispers, but fear mice ran up his back and beads of sweat trickled down his face. The ground squelched as the animal came closer, until it loomed above him. His heart pounded like churning pistons; darkness and fear suffocated him. Then it stroked its great whiskers and said, “My dear old thing, what the clanking cogs are you doing?”