by James Roy
‘Unless what?’ Tab said. ‘Verris? Have you had another idea?’
Finally Verris shook his head. ‘No, Tab, I don’t think there’s another way. I know it’s a terrible price to pay, but we’re in no position to argue. Our lives are forfeit, no matter what happens. I’m sorry, Tab.’ He looked at Danda then and nodded once, while Tab felt her heart breaking.
In a moment the scout-pod was surrounded with swarms of the Yarka. The water was thick with them, swirling and crowding, their legs paddling madly, their antennae waving about and their eyes staring with glassy intensity.
‘The gems first,’ Verris said, and Danda translated.
The Yarka parted like a crowd would for a king, and two of the larger individuals turned and swam towards the nearest orb. They were briefly silhouetted against the light from the portal as they entered, and a short time later they reappeared, carrying between them a blue-green gem, brighter even than icefire, so bright that Tab had to turn her eyes away as it was carried forward.
‘Here,’ Verris said, opening the small wooden case. The Yarka lowered the gem into one of the little recesses, then turned and swam towards another of the orbs. As they went, Tab saw that the orb from which the gem had come was now dark, with no light at all visible from within its portal.
The two Yarka were back with another gem, leaving the second orb dark and empty. As they went for the third, the Yarka nearby began to bustle and fidget, as if their impatience would spill over.
‘Tell them to wait,’ Verris growled to Danda.
The third gem was arriving now, and Tab felt dread rising within her as it was lowered into the case. She saw Verris close and latch the lid, leaving a thin crack of glowing turquoise along the edge. The dread continued to rise when the Yarka moved like a clot towards her friend Torby, and she choked back her cry and turned away. Whatever they were going to do, she couldn’t bear to watch.
‘Wait.’ Even underwater, Verris’ voice was full of stern authority. ‘Tell them to hold back.’
Danda translated the command, and the Yarka hesitated.
‘Tell them to come right away from the boy. Quickly. There’s been a change of plan.’
The Yarka drifted as Danda interpreted, and swarmed forward a little closer as she reached the end of the translation.
‘Assure them that there’s no treachery here,’ Verris said. ‘Tell them that there’s to be a substitute. They can’t have the boy.’
‘Who, then?’ Danda asked, fear tinging her voice.
‘Not you, Danda. Tell them.’
Danda spoke in her bubbling, squeaking way, and the Yarka hovered uncertainly.
‘Verris, what are you doing?’ Tab asked quietly.
‘It’s all right, Tab. Danda, tell them that they can take me.’
Tab’s mouth fell open. ‘What?’
‘Tab, don’t say anything. Danda, tell them.’
‘Are you sure?’ Danda asked.
‘Tell them. If they need convincing, tell them there’s more meat on me than there is on him anyway.’
Danda turned back to the Yarka and told them what Verris had said. As one, and without hesitation, the creatures surged forward with bubbly squeals of delight, and then, flashing past as fast as minnows in a pond, they set upon Verris, knocking him to the deck. Their semi-transparent bodies swarmed and pulsed over him, and then they were lifting him, carrying him out over the unplumbed depths below towards the nearest empty orb.
‘Verris!’ Tab cried, and Danda stood with her, clinging to her arm.
The Yarka pulsed around the figure of Verris as he was passed end-on through the dark portal. Then, in huge numbers, they began to pour in, following him into the orb.
‘Your spell,’ Danda said quietly to Tab. ‘Say what you have to say and get us out of here before the rules are changed again.’
***
Tab cried all the way back to Quentaris. The pod rose slowly into the early morning sky towards the great hulk of the city above. Somehow – she wasn’t at all sure how, with the sobbing – she’d been able to read the diagrams and incantations in the book, and had managed to choke out the sounds needed to get the pod moving up through the water towards the underside of the nearest pockmark in the ocean’s surface. Then, in a strangely un-wet kind of way, the pod broached the surface and continued to rise towards the dark hulk of Quentaris.
‘Are you all right?’ Danda asked Tab, who was by now sitting quietly against the railing with Torby’s head on her lap.
Tab sniffed back her tears. ‘Verris was the nearest thing to a father I ever had,’ she said. ‘Like he said, we did a lot together. Once I even locked him in a fortified room while the city guard were coming.’ She smiled weakly. ‘I did help him get out, though. He thought that was so funny. I think he admired me for it.’
‘He was a good man,’ Danda said.
‘Good isn’t even close,’ Tab replied. ‘To do that for Torby…’
‘It was a noble thing to do.’
‘He’d be dead by now, wouldn’t he?’
‘I don’t know…’ Danda said tentatively.
‘I know he would be. You won’t make me feel worse by saying that he is.’
‘Then yes, I expect so.’
Tab couldn’t speak.
AMELIA SEES SENSE
‘Stelka may not be easy to find, Amelia,’ Dorissa said. ‘If she is trying to mind-meld with you as you say, then she’s using magic that is quite new to her.’
‘And to me,’ Amelia said. ‘But I thought you might be able to teach me.’
Dorissa shook her head. ‘I can’t mind-meld, Amelia. I’m not sure that I can even show you how to do it. Besides, it’s not something you can just learn, like juggling.’
Amelia smiled, remembering how she’d used almost those exact words herself.
Dorissa went on. ‘But there is one fact in your favour.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Stelka has reached you, so your chances of reaching her are good.’
‘So can we try?’
Dorissa smiled. ‘Of course we can try, but as I say, I can’t promise anything…’
Amelia nodded. ‘I’m ready.’
‘And I don’t want you to feel discouraged if it doesn’t work straight away.’
‘I’m ready.’
‘Then close your eyes and do as I say.’
***
Stelka’s voice was horribly harsh in Amelia’s head, but she persisted, shifting the sounds around like boxes in a room until they made more sense and order.
›››Amelia? How you found me?
›››Dorissa
›››Dorissa? Dorissa alive?
›››Yes, she’s alive, in Skulum Gate››Where are you?
›››They came and take me different place. Bad magic is come soon
›››What kind of bad magic?
›››Bring fire-crystal from Yarka
›››They’re getting icefire?
›››No! Fire-crystal! Different! Very powerful! Darker magic. Stronger magic
›››Magic that you know how to do?
›››Yes! No more vortex with this magic
›››Well, that’s good… isn’t it?
›››Gives power to city can appear to kill and steal and disappear very fast
›››Can appear to kill and steal?
›››No, I said wrong. Can appear, then kill and steal, then disappear
›››So with this magic Quentaris can appear in a world, take what it wants, kill who it wants, and disappear without waiting for a vortex?
›››Yes! Yes!
›››Stelka, it’s very simple, isn’t it? You can’t do this. You can’t let Florian have this magic!
›››Torture. Terrible torture
Amelis had no response. She couldn’t imagine what kind of torture could be dealt out to Stelka. Enough to make her do this dreadful thing? It must have been truly horrifying. Physical torture? No, Florian wou
ldn’t stop at that. He’d use the magicians that he’d corrupted, working in darkly enchanted cells to torture Stelka in the worst ways their magic could conceive.
›››Stelka, do they have the fire-crystal yet?
›››Not yet. They say come soon. They send party to Yarka
›››A party?
›››Verris in charge
›››Verris is alive?
›››I was with surprise too
›››Who else is in this party?
›››Verris leads party with Navigator and
The connection was gone. The voice had vanished.
›››Stelka?
›››Is the Navigator Tab? Stelka!
The voice was still there after all.›››Caught me melding with her. Me let slip who it was. Was accident. Feel so bad, want to fix but can’t. Am bad person now. You should not meld me any more
›››Stelka, who else is in this party?
›››Navigator, interpreter and someone must leave behind. Someone weak
It was as if Amelia’s veins had suddenly filled with ice. ›››Torby? They’ve taken Torby with them? They have, haven’t they?
››I go now››I hate what I become. Don’t look for me
This time the connection really was gone, and Amelia felt Stelka’s presence drain away like water from a broken pot.
She opened her eyes. Dorissa’s room had gone blurry, and she wiped her tears away with her sleeve. ‘They took Tab and Torby,’ she said. ‘And they’ve got Stelka doing terrible, terrible magic.’
Dorissa reached out and took Amelia’s hand. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry you went to all this trouble to find me, only to leave with bad news.’
‘Is there any way to find her? I mean, to find where she is?’
Dorissa shook her head. ‘Unless Stelka wishes to be found, she won’t let it happen. She holds powerful magic, but she’s been to the evil side of magic now, and will never come back. How could she? How could she come back and face everyone now?’
Amelia bowed her head and let the tears flow freely. ‘So that’s it, then? Verris is gone, Tab is gone, Torby is gone, even Stelka is gone, or she might as well be.’
‘If they do their job well, Verris and Tab will be back,’ Dorissa said. ‘But they might be changed forever – it’s impossible to know.’
‘And Stelka?’
‘Stelka is strong, but stubborn. If she says she won’t return, then we should believe that to be true. I’m sorry.’
‘And Torby?’ Amelia asked in a low voice. ‘How about Torby?’
‘I’m sorry.’
***
Amelia strode from the archway without any disguise. The make-up was wiped unevenly from her face, the clothes discarded back in the endless lamplit street of Skulum Gate.
Reaching the end of the lane, she turned left and marched towards the palace, barely noticing how bright the light seemed after the dimness of Skulum Gate’s heavy winter sky.
‘Hey! You’re back!’ Philmon dropped down off the ledge he’d been waiting on and trotted alongside Amelia. ‘How did you go?’
‘They took Tab. And Torby. Verris is alive. But Stelka is…’
‘What? Dead?’
‘No, but she might as well be. She’s gone over with them.’
‘So where are Tab and Torby?’
‘On a mission. They were press-ganged. But Torby’s not coming back,’ she said, furious tears stinging her eyes.
‘So where are you going now?’
‘To have words.’
‘Whoa! Whoa!’ Philmon grabbed her. He gripped both her shoulders and turned her to face him. ‘Now it’s time for you to see sense. What can you hope to achieve by going up there?’
‘I’m angry, Philmon,’ she snarled. ‘Can’t you see?’
‘Yes, I can see that. So can the rest of this street.
***
You almost knocked over a stall back there. You need to calm down.’
‘How can I possibly calm down?’
‘Listen, the play starts in a couple of hours.’
‘I can’t go to a play now!’
He shook his head. ‘No, listen to what I’m trying to say. If you go up to the palace, even if you get to see Florian – which I doubt – he’ll either laugh at you, or worse, you’ll be sharing a cell with Stelka, or sharing the ocean with whatever lives down there. Besides, by now Florian would be up on Tarquin’s Hill in his fancy tent, eating until he’s sick. So instead, we go back to your place, you clean yourself up, we go to the play, and if you must confront Florian, you do it there, on your terms.’
‘What do you mean, on my terms?’
‘I mean you confront him in front of hundreds of his own citizens, on his birthday. What’s he going to do then?’
Amelia sighed, and looked back over her shoulder towards the playhouse. Then she glanced in the direction of the palace. Finally she nodded. ‘You’re right. You’re right. Nothing can be fixed by going to the palace.’
‘Good. So, let’s go and get ready for the play.’
FONTAGU PRESENTS…
With a loud rattle of chains and a heavy grinding groan, the rock opened. The scout-pod, still operating entirely under the magic that Tab had invoked, adjusted its course slightly and headed into the cave-like door that had appeared in the cliff that comprised part of Quentaris’ hull.
Tab barely noticed. She was still weeping for Verris as she half sat, half lay beside Torby.
‘Tab. We’re back,’ Danda said, placing her hand on her shoulder.
‘I don’t care,’ Tab replied, but she looked around anyway. The pod had risen through the tunnel, coming to a stop beside a kind of pier, inside a barn-like room. In the gap between the edge of the pod and the pier she could see the tunnel stretching down, and beyond that the blue of the ocean, far below. The ocean that Verris was still in.
Two men stood waiting, both large, muscled and armed. One looked like he might have had some troll blood in him, several generations back, judging by his wide jaw, low forehead, and stocky legs. The other was an albino, with pure-white hair, freckled skin and pink eyes. Tab didn’t recognise either of them, until they spoke.
‘You’re back,’ said the albino, in a coppery voice. ‘Did you get what you went for?’
‘In the chest,’ Tab spat. ‘Your filthy jewels are in the chest.’
‘And the book? We will need the book back. Can’t leave orders like that lying around the place,’ the albino said.
‘Hold on, where’s the pirate?’ asked the troll, frowning as his eyes scanned the pod. He pointed at Torby in disbelief. ‘You idiots! You left the wrong one behind! You were meant to leave the weakling behind and bring the pirate back!’
‘Is that how you saw it happening?’ asked a familiar voice.
Tab supressed a surprised squeal of delight as she saw Verris appear from the shadows behind the two men. He was armed with a long piece of timber, which he brandished like a quarterstaff.
The men turned, gaped, and drew their swords.
‘What’s this treachery?’ said the albino. ‘Did you get the gems like you were told to?’
‘Oh yes, they’re there all right, in the case, just as Tab said.’
‘And the Yarka let you just… have them, did they?’
‘Not exactly. The thing is, they’re rather more accommodating than we’re led to believe, those Yarka. Very big on honour.’
The men glanced at one another, confused. ‘What are you talking about?’ the half-troll asked.
‘Well the thing is, they’re actually quite trusting. You see, if you promise them something, they tend to take you at your word.’
‘What’s he going on about?’ the albino asked his partner.
‘Let me make it simple for the less intelligent amongst us,’ Verris said, his eyes twinkling. ‘I offered myself up to the Yarka instead of the boy. They were happy with that arrangement. After all, there’s a lot more meat on me tha
n there is on him. But then I got to thinking, there must be someone up in Quentaris who has more meat on him than there is on me.’ Verris’ eyes settled on the half-troll. ‘You’re a big chap, aren’t you?’
‘You’re not serious,’ the albino said.
‘Oh, I’m quite serious. Fortunately the Yarka knew I was quite serious as well, because they took me at my word when I promised them a feast before the sun went down tonight.’
‘You’re wasting time, pirate. Frankly I don’t care what promise you made to that seafood buffet down there, but we’ve got work to do, so get out of the way.’
‘Oh, but I do care about the promises I make,’ Verris said. ‘It’s just the way I was raised.’ Then, with a movement so fast that it was a blur, he sprang forward, disarmed the half-troll with a twist of his quarterstaff, sending him staggering backwards towards the pod. The half-troll’s footing slipped, and he fell between the railing of the pod and the side of the pier, struggled for a moment as he continued to slip, then slid screaming down the tunnel that led to the open air, and the enormous fall to the ocean’s surface.
‘The thing is,’ Verris said as the albino cowered at the edge of the pier, ‘the Yarka can get awfully hungry. It can be weeks or more between meals, and sometimes, when they do get to eat, they like a second helping.’
With a whimper, the albino dropped his sword and bolted from the room.
Tab leapt out of the pod and threw her arms around Verris. ‘How did… Where were you?’
‘I rode up on the underside of the pod. I wanted my appearance to be a surprise.’
‘But the Yarka… They took you into their big round black thing.’
‘I negotiated, like I said. They really are very honourable creatures, once you talk to them as equals.’
‘Talk to them?’ asked Danda. ‘How did you talk to them?’
Verris shrugged. ‘You don’t follow the pirate career path for as long as I have without picking up the odd foreign word here and there.’
‘So you can speak Yarka? Why didn’t you say so?’
Verris smiled. ‘I wouldn’t call myself fluent. I could say what I needed to to escape, and that’s about it. Besides, let’s face it, Danda, if you’d been sent all the way down there only to discover that your presence wasn’t actually required, you’d have been pretty annoyed, wouldn’t you?’