by Alex English
‘—down,’ she panted, as the propeller slowed to a halt and they found themselves askew in a snowdrift.
Once they’d got their breath back, Echo clicked open her safety harness and jumped down from Cloudcatcher, almost losing her footing as she skidded on the icy ground.
Horace got down warily beside her. ‘I really don’t think we should be doing this, Echo.’
‘I need to make sure she’s all right.’
‘But you said we were just going to look.’
Echo sighed. ‘I know – I’m sorry. But we’re here now and I can’t just let her disappear. What if she needs us? Bulkhead said she was tricked before. What if it’s happening again?’
Horace shook his head and pressed his lips together in a tight line.
Echo turned away, guilt settling in her belly, and gazed up at the fortress above. What would be waiting for them up there? Flora had said there were seven sky-pirate clans, but other than that Echo didn’t have a clue.
She frowned. ‘Now, how are we going to get up there?’
‘Echo, please. We can’t!’ Horace folded his arms tightly across his chest.
‘We just need to go a little closer.’
Horace huffed. ‘Well, I’m waiting here.’
‘Fine.’ Echo left the cave and set out up the slope, but the surface was so icy her feet slipped backwards two paces for every one she took forward. After a few minutes of struggling, she still hadn’t made much progress. She paused for a breather and glared up at the fortress.
In the distance, there was the howl of a wolf and a sudden scrabbling behind her made Echo jump. She turned to find Horace hotfooting it towards her. ‘Changed my mind,’ he puffed. ‘We should stick together.’
After several more minutes of slipping and sliding, they hadn’t got much further. Echo looked up at the fortress again, but it was still just as far away as ever.
‘I can see why they don’t bother guarding this side,’ puffed Horace. He stopped for a moment, steadying his hands on his knees, and gazed up in defeat at the fortress clinging to the rock face above them. ‘We’re never going to get up there at this rate. Are you sure you don’t want to turn back?’
Echo shook her head, refusing to be beaten. ‘There must be a way. We need something to pull ourselves up with.’
Horace rolled his eyes. ‘I’m afraid I didn’t bring my crampons.’
‘There has to be something we can use.’ Echo looked back at Cloudcatcher, but the little vehicle was bare and empty.
There was a flicker of lightning somewhere in the distance, followed a few seconds later by a rumble of thunder that reverberated through the mountains. Thunderclouds! That was it! Echo scrambled and slid back down the slope to Cloudcatcher.
‘What are you doing now?’ said Horace.
‘Just getting this,’ said Echo, reaching under her seat to grab the bag of aethernets. She couldn’t see them, but, as she dug her hand in, she could feel the tingle of invisible fibres running through her fingers. She lurched her way back to Horace. ‘The aethernets,’ she said. ‘We’ll throw one out and hook it on to something.’
She glanced up at the snow-covered slope, squinting against the icy wind. Several metres above them, some greyish rocks thrust out through the snow. ‘There.’
‘Do you think it’s strong enough?’ Horace eyed it warily.
‘If an aethernet can hold a thundercloud, it can hold two children,’ said Echo in her most convincing voice.
Horace cast an anxious glance behind them. ‘What if it snaps or something?’
Echo tried to push down the worries that niggled at her. She needed to know that Lil was okay and, if she thought too long about it, she’d never be brave enough. She set her jaw. ‘It won’t,’ she said firmly, whirling the net round her head.
Once, twice… and throw.
She couldn’t see where it had landed, but, when she pulled the net tight, it held. It must have caught on a rocky outcrop up ahead.
‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Hold on to me.’
* * *
‘Are we nearly there?’ whimpered Horace. ‘I don’t think I can hang on much longer.’
Echo’s feet scrabbled for purchase on the ice as she hauled herself up the slope, hand over hand. Her flimsy layers of Sleepy Palms clothes suddenly felt insubstantial in the biting wind and she began to shiver. Worry crept through her. Were they out of their depth? She grimaced. Yes, they were, but they were here now and she couldn’t let Horace know how scared she was. Echo gazed up at the rocky outcrop, which still seemed impossibly far away.
‘Not much further,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘Come on, we can do it. One step at a time.’ The muscles in her arms burned as she pulled herself up the rock face with new vigour.
A sudden gust of wind almost knocked them both off balance and blew an icy flurry of snow into Echo’s face. But she screwed her eyes shut against the cold and kept moving, slowly, one hand after another, up the slope.
After what seemed like a lifetime, Echo finally managed to grasp hold of the jutting rock. She heaved herself over it and lay panting on the ice as Horace dragged himself up beside her.
‘We made it,’ she gasped, rubbing the ice from her eyelashes and looking around. The fortress wall lay up ahead of them. ‘That’s where we need to go.’
Horace followed her gaze. ‘But, Echo…’
‘What now?’ groaned Echo in exasperation. ‘I do wish you’d stop complaining.’
‘But, Echo, look.’ Horace held out a shaking finger.
She looked up. ‘Oh.’
Four guard dogs were hurtling towards them across the snow, teeth bared.
‘Oh no…’
‘Aaagh!’ squeaked Horace, edging backwards and almost toppling down the icy slope.
‘Wait,’ said Echo, telling herself to stay calm, despite her thudding heart. She took a deep, shaky breath. ‘Shouldn’t we stand our ground or something?’
‘I don’t know!’
‘You’re supposed to be the zoological expert.’
‘I study insects, not… not wolves!’ Horace clung to her sleeve tightly. ‘Oh, we’re going to die – I just know it! We’ll be savaged! We’re—’
‘Shh!’
The dogs slowed to a trot, then slunk forward, snarling. Echo saw shark-tooth collars round their muscular necks and a horrible thought occurred to her. Shark’s Fin Peak. Shark-tooth collars. Could the fortress be the home of the Thunder Sharks? The worst of all the sky-pirate clans, with a tank of hungry sharks in the hold of their ship? Terror swirled in her stomach and she froze.
‘Echo,’ squeaked Horace, clutching her hand. ‘They’re coming closer.’
‘Nice doggies,’ she said, her voice trembling. ‘Easy now.’
She glanced sideways at Horace. ‘Any ideas?’
Without taking his eyes off the dogs, Horace gave a quick shake of his head.
The lead dog snarled, its grey pelt bristling, and Echo caught a glimpse of sharp yellow teeth and lurid pink gums. She swallowed and stepped back, teetering on the edge of the outcrop. If they dropped down the slope, would the aethernet hold them? Perhaps, but then what? The dogs were bound to be more sure-footed than she and Horace were. What if they followed? Would running away make them attack? She glanced around in desperation.
‘Hey! Lucas, Zephyr, Mungo!’ A figure appeared round the fortress wall, indistinct in the snow.
The dogs all turned their heads.
‘What you got for me, lads?’ As the figure jogged towards them, Echo realized with relief that it was a boy not much older than her and Horace.
He put something small and metallic to his lips and blew. There was no sound, but the dogs stopped in their tracks, cocking their ears towards the boy.
Inside Echo’s jerkin, Gilbert squirmed.
The boy ran forward, pushing his way between the dogs and stopping before Echo and Horace. ‘You’re… you’re children!’
Echo licked her lips and nodded.
Echo thought quickly. The boy was about as tall as she was, with bright blue eyes and curly ginger hair. He wore a coat of raggedy blue furs, navy leather boots and a shark-tooth collar round his neck. More shark teeth! She swallowed. He had to be one of the fearsome Thunder Sharks, or one of their minions. Was he dangerous? She took in the shiny little whistle that he still held close to his lips. The dogs certainly were.
Echo thought quickly. Telling the truth wasn’t an option – she’d just have to make something up.
‘We’re lost,’ she said finally, gesturing back down to where Cloudcatcher lay askew in the cave mouth. ‘We crashed our machine.’
The landing had been pretty shaky, so it was almost true, she thought, crossing her fingers behind her back.
The boy narrowed his eyes. ‘On the night of the alliance meeting? Bit of a coincidence.’
‘We were searching for thunderclouds,’ said Horace, his voice squeaking.
Echo shot him an admiring glance. Good old Horace! She knew he’d come in useful.
Horace went on. ‘We have this special net, you see. It’s made of spider silk—’
‘You got an aethernet?’ The boy stepped forward, his blue eyes wide. ‘Show me!’
Horace looked at Echo nervously. She frowned. This could be bad. ‘Why are you so interested?’ she said, folding her arms.
‘I ’eard about ’em, but I ain’t ever seen one,’ said the boy. ‘My dad told me about ’em once, before I came here, of course.’ His face dropped a little at the memory.
‘Don’t you like being here?’ asked Echo, sensing a way in.
‘Don’t get no choice,’ said the boy, shrugging, his veneer of toughness suddenly looking thin. ‘My dad lost me in a game of grog rummy. They say the Thunder Sharks are card sharks too, and they’re right!’ He gave a hollow laugh. ‘So now I work for ’em.’
Echo nodded slowly. So she was right: this was the Thunder Sharks’ lair. ‘If we show you our aethernet, what will you do for us? Will you help us get inside?’
‘Inside?’ The boy stared at her. ‘What do you wanna do that for? You know all seven of the sky-pirate clan leaders are in there?’
‘Of course I know.’ Echo squared her shoulders, forgetting she was supposed to be lost for a moment. ‘I’m a sky pirate too.’
‘Yeah, right!’ The boy grinned, then his smile slipped as he took in Echo’s fierce expression.
He licked his lips and nodded. ‘I suppose I could show you the way in.’
‘We just want to hear what’s said at the meeting,’ said Echo. ‘Do you know where they’re gathering?’ Or who they all are, she thought, though she didn’t want to give away how little she actually knew about the alliance.
The boy nodded and looked up at the fortress. ‘The septagonal hall,’ he said, gesturing up at a circular room at the top of the main tower, where lights flickered from the high, arched windows. ‘That’s where all the meetings of the Seven Skies Alliance are held.’
‘And could you get us in there?’
The boy bit his lip. ‘It’d be difficult.’
Echo nodded. ‘What if we give you our aethernet?’
‘Echo!’ Horace nudged her. ‘We can’t give it to him.’
Echo silenced him with a look. ‘It’s very valuable, I know,’ she said. ‘But so is getting into that room.’
‘But—’
‘Trust me, Horace.’ Echo reached into her left pocket and drew out her empty hand. ‘See this?’ she said.
The boy squinted at her hand. ‘N… no.’
‘Exactly. You can’t.’ Echo smiled. ‘Aethernets are so fine that they’re invisible to the naked eye. But you can feel them. Put out your hand.’
The boy uncertainly thrust out a dirty palm and shuffled closer to her. The dogs looked from Echo to him expectantly, still drooling and looking like they might pounce at any moment. Echo held her nerve. She dropped the imaginary net into the boy’s hand.
‘Feel that?’ she said.
The boy frowned. ‘No, not really…’
‘Concentrate,’ said Echo. ‘It’s incredibly fine, so fine you can barely sense it. In fact, only the most sensitive people can.’
‘I don’t know.’ He frowned again.
‘Well, I might as well take it back then,’ said Echo, folding her arms. ‘If you can’t tell when you’re holding it, there’s no point me giving it to you.’ She reached for the boy’s palm, but he closed his fingers and snatched his hand away.
‘No, I can feel it. I definitely can.’ His brow furrowed with uncertainty.
‘Really?’ Echo said. ‘Because if you’re not sure I’ll have it back.’
‘I’m sure.’ A grin spread across the boy’s face. ‘Thank you, er…’
‘Echo,’ said Echo. ‘And this is Horace.’
‘I’m Grub,’ said the boy, carefully depositing the imaginary net into the pocket of his breeches. ‘Come on. There’s a back door. Follow me.’
Grub blew his silent whistle again and the dogs ran on ahead. Echo and Horace followed them along a narrow ledge that curved round the mountain, keeping pressed close to the cliffside and not daring to look down to their right at the sheer drop.
As they rounded the corner to the rear of the fortress, Grub suddenly stopped and took out a glowbug-powered lantern.
‘This is the emergency exit,’ he said, pointing to what at first appeared to be a blank white wall. When Echo looked closely, she saw the outline of a small door cut into the ice. ‘Any trouble, and we slip out here to the sledges.’
‘Sledges?’ said Echo, looking around.
Grub raised his lantern and pointed to a heap of wooden sledges that lay higgledy-piggledy by the icy mouth of a tunnel cut into the rock. ‘Goes right through the mountain to the aerodock. Perfect if we’re ambushed.’ He took a bunch of keys from his pocket, unlocked the door, which opened silently, and ushered them inside.
Echo followed him into a dimly lit corridor with walls of gleaming ice. It was almost as cold inside as outside and she huffed out a white cloud with every breath. White torches hung from the walls and in the strange blueish light the floor glistened with frost.
‘We’ll need to be quick,’ said Grub. ‘Old Gus is on the aerodock, receiving the guests, but once they’re all here they’ll gather upstairs in the chamber.’
Old Gus! Echo recognized that name. Was he the one Bulkhead had warned her mother about? A flicker of fear ran through her.
‘Show us where it is,’ said Echo, trying to stop her teeth from chattering. She didn’t know if it was the cold or the sense of dread creeping through her bones that was making her hands shake, but she clenched them into fists and stuffed them into her pockets until they were almost steady.
‘This way.’ After leading them down numerous winding passages, Grub opened another door, this one carved of ice, and ushered them up a narrow spiral staircase. Their footsteps rang out as they hurried upwards and followed Grub to the top of the tower, where a wide door of gleaming crystal barred their way.
‘In here,’ whispered Grub, pushing it open and ushering them through. He looked over his shoulder and Echo saw his face was pinched with fear. ‘I’ve gotta go. If Old Gus catches me, I dunno what he’ll do.’
‘Thanks,’ whispered Echo, but Grub had already scuttled back down the stairway, his blue furs flapping, leaving Horace and Echo alone in the entrance to the septagonal hall.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Echo turned and entered the circular room, her eyes widening as she took in the seven-sided table inlaid with a shimmering mother-of-pearl map. ‘Look,’ she breathed, stepping forward and running her hands over the smooth surface in wonder. Everything was there – Port Tourbillon, the Violet Isles, Dark Nordland. Gilbert scuttled down her arm and landed neatly on the table, cocking his head to look. The map was divided by pearly lines that criss-crossed the surface from each corner of the table.
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�What do you think this means?’ Echo counted seven sections dividing the map. Seven sections for seven sky-pirate clans. ‘Perhaps this is how they divide the territory up between them?’ she said.
‘There’s no time to look at that,’ said Horace, glancing anxiously round the room. ‘There’ll be here any minute. Where are we going to hide?’
‘They won’t be here just yet. Old Gus is still at the aerodock.’ Echo examined the table further and took in an inscription: THE SEVEN SKIES. She stared at the shimmering map. But which part belonged to the Black Sky Wolves?
‘Maybe we could hide here if we drew the curtains?’ said Horace, gesturing to a window seat carved out of the icy walls and covered in rough sackcloth cushions.
Echo looked over and nodded, then turned back to the map, still unable to tear herself away. This was real sky-pirate business! Each of the seven places at the table had its own ebony-dark wooden chair and, as she looked closely, she saw that the back of each one was carved with a different emblem. There was a shark – that had to be for the Thunder Sharks – a snake, a bolt of lightning. She circled the table, looking at each one in turn. ‘This must be where my mother sits,’ she said, running her fingers over the snarling wolf’s head carved into the back of the furthest seat.
Gilbert raised his crest in warning as the faint jingle of many pairs of sky-pirate boots echoed up the icy stairwell.
‘Echo! They’re coming!’ hissed Horace.
Echo took one last glance at the map before running round the table and slipping in beside Horace on the window seat. They shrank back behind the curtain as the footsteps grew louder. After a moment, Echo heard the door creak open and a mixture of rough voices spilled through. She dared to inch back the curtain a fraction. In the blueish light of the flickering torches, she saw the seven pirate captains enter and take their seats.
Lil was at the far side of the table, in the chair Echo had identified. Her face was an eerie mask, almost unrecognizable, with thick stripes of indigo clay smeared on her cheeks and her tricorne hat casting strange shadows on her features. Next to her was a man with a shock of spiky hair as yellow as his jerkin and one mechanical eye that zoomed in and out as he gazed about the room. On her other side was an almond-eyed woman in bright orange robes, with armfuls of jangling golden bangles and red-painted lips, her black hair drawn into a tight knot atop her head, a jewelled dagger skewered through it.