The Curse of Mousebeard

by Alex Milway

  “Thanks,” said Indigo. “It’s nice to be on board—I’ve heard a lot of stories about you….”

  Mousebeard clasped the boy’s shoulder and squeezed tight.

  “You’ll have a few stories of your own to tell about me now, then,” he replied, and a wide grin crossed his beard.

  Mousebeard awoke to the sound of Fenwick banging at the door to his quarters. His hammock twisted as he slid from it, and with a thud his feet hit the floor. Mousebeard had a habit of sleeping in his boots.

  “There’s something strange goin’ on, sir!” said Fenwick, as Mousebeard appeared before him.

  “What?”

  “The sky, sir…”

  Mousebeard picked up his hat and pulled it tight down over his head. He looked upward, his eyes drawn to peculiar ribbons of colored light twisting their way across the heavens.

  “What time is it?” he asked, rubbing his chin through his beard.

  “Early morning, sir.”

  “Are we still on course?”

  “Aye, sir. The mice never lie.”

  Two Night-light Mice scampered past, the beams of light from their eyes passing over Fenwick’s legs.

  “And how close are we to Norgammon?”

  “The captain… sorry, Mr. Drewshank reckons we’re near—a week’s sailing at the most.”

  Mousebeard walked to the ship’s side and lifted himself up to get a look at the sea. The wind was whipping up the glassy, impenetrable water into choppy peaks, highlighted by the strange colors in the sky.

  “I’ve seen this before, Mr. Fenwick,” he said.

  “You have?”

  “A long time ago I sailed far south of Midena, and the days became much shorter, with just a few hours of light. The sun barely rose above the land. We saw these otherworldly lights twice on that voyage, and none of us could forget them. Some people thought they were the souls of sailors lost at sea, warning of treacherous conditions ahead.”

  Fenwick found himself thinking of shipwrecks and squalls.

  “What do you think?” said Drewshank, approaching with Scratcher at his side.

  “Let’s just keep our course, and we’ll see what comes our way,” said Mousebeard.

  “So what happened on that voyage?” asked Fenwick.

  “I encountered my first pod of Icefall Mice….”

  “The ones with those long spiraling tusks?” said Scratcher.

  “That’s them,” said Mousebeard.

  “And what happened?”

  Mousebeard smiled and gripped Fenwick’s arm.

  “They took a great chunk out of the front of the ship….”

  Fenwick’s face turned to horror.

  “But these things make you better sailors!” said the pirate. “We’ll reach our destination, I assure you!”

  The Icefall Mouse

  THE ICEFALL MOUSE IS A LARGE DEEP-SEA MOUSE, RENOWNED THE WORLD over for its long tusks that protrude from the sides of its mouth. These mice are found in icy waters near the Southern Pole, and they live in pods of up to fifteen. Icefall Mice have particularly poor eyesight and can cause great damage to ships when rising to the surface for air or when hunting. Unfortunately, because of this they are best avoided despite being one of the most graceful creatures in existence.

  MOUSING NOTES

  Too large for aquariums, these mice are not suitable for collections.

  The Gateway to Norgammon

  WHEN THE SUN ROSE THE NEXT MORNING, MOUSEBEARD surveyed his maps and called for a detailed position to be taken. It revealed that they were so near their destination as to be almost on top of it.

  “We’re almost there, then,” said Algernon, who was standing beside Mousebeard in his cabin.

  Drewshank walked in with Emiline and Scratcher and explained that the wind had eased, but they were concerned at their direction.

  “If it’s going to be around here, we’ll see it soon, won’t we?” said Drewshank hopefully.

  “We’d better,” replied Mousebeard. “Our water rations are running low.”

  “I have an idea, Jonathan,” said Algernon, referring to Mousebeard by his real name. “I’ve been working on this machine…”

  Scratcher groaned.

  “It utilizes whale sound,” he added. “I think it might be able to help us find it, if it’s there to be found.”

  “And if it works…” said Scratcher.

  “Have faith, please,” said Algernon.

  “It can’t hurt trying,” said Drewshank.

  “Your machines usually have some benefit,” said Mousebeard. “It won’t explode, though, like that mouse dryer you made? I still have nightmares about those poor Puff-tailed Mice.”

  “I’ll bring it up onto the deck, and we can find out!” he said.

  Everyone walked out of the cabin with trepidation. A new machine of Algernon’s was always an exciting moment, and when he returned with the metal box, an air of anticipation rippled through the ship. He placed it down on the floor and pressed the first button. The screen on the front of the box flickered to life.

  “A good start!” he exclaimed, pressing in the second button.

  A loud hum grew out of the machine, and Algernon watched the screen attentively as he twisted the knob on the side.

  “Close your ears,” said Scratcher ominously, as Algernon pressed the third button. “If it’s anything like last time, they’ll be bleeding soon.”

  Suddenly, the hum turned into a low-pitched buzz, and the deck shook. Everyone’s feet started to tingle. Algernon quickly twisted the knob again, and the buzz turned to a high-pitched squeal before dying away completely. As the ringing in everyone’s ears eased, a huge smile grew on Algernon’s face. It was being lit by the green light from the screen, and his eyes were focused on a large yellow blob at its top. He twisted the knob once more; the buzz sounded again and then died away, and his smile remained.

  “I don’t believe it!” said Algernon.

  “Did it work?” asked Drewshank.

  Mousebeard peered down at Algernon and the screen in front of him. Algernon pointed to the yellow shape that was glowing on the screen.

  “I think we’ve found Norgammon,” he said exultantly. “I think we’ve got it!”

  “That blob?” said Mousebeard.

  “That’s it! If my judgments are correct, we’re about a day away, full sail. That’s it, I’m sure!”

  “So what are we waiting for?” said Drewshank. “Let’s get a move on!”

  The first sign of Norgammon was a clump of low-lying clouds drifting on the horizon. Ever since he’d seen the yellow shape appear on his machine, Algernon had been glued to the spot, but for bathroom breaks and dinner. Over the course of the day, the strange shape had moved steadily down the screen of his machine until it was almost at the bottom. It was only a matter of time before the lookout called out from above, and as he did so, a massive cheer whipped around the ship. Mousebeard felt his hopes rise in an instant.

  The pirate stood at the helm and watched as the clouds drifted across to reveal Norgammon itself. He looked through his telescope and tried to understand what he was seeing. A massive black wall, which must have reached nearly a mile into the sky, grew out of the sea. There was no break along its length, which soon rose to fill the whole horizon.

  “It’s the most peculiar thing,” said Drewshank.

  Mousebeard passed him his telescope.

  “There’s a small island in front of it, straight ahead,” he said. “We should aim to land there!”

  Drewshank lifted the telescope to his eye. In front of the wall, poking out of the sea, was a low, rocky outcrop, whose crumbling black mass was falling apart. The remains of a castle, with little in the way of walls or battlements left to speak of, sat precariously on top. At its farthest side, a narrow, sloping causeway ran across the water, with foaming white breakers crashing at its rocky base. From humble beginnings, just a few meters above sea level, it rose higher and higher like a mountain path, winding in ser
pentine fashion until it reached the wall about a quarter of the way up its side.

  “That path leads to a huge gate…,” said Drewshank, pointing the telescope higher. Housed in an archway that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a grand cathedral, a pair of iron doors sat at the end of the path.

  “It’s a strange place, all right,” said Mousebeard. “We should be able to draw close enough to that causeway safely…. Without our launch, things will be a little tricky, but our hull should withstand a few scrapes.”

  “I’ll pass on the word!” said Drewshank. “Norgammon, here we come!”

  He called to Fenwick, and soon the orders were flying around the ship.

  The Silver Shark slowed to a snail’s pace and drew closer to the island. The first thing that struck them about it were the colonies of sea mice. There were Long-nosed and Yellow-belly Mice resting in the sun, and most prominent of all were the Saggy-necked Silt Mice, who performed airborne acrobatics as they dived into the sea seeking their next meal. They provided color to an otherwise very black rock, born of volcanic blood.

  “Drop the sails!” shouted Mousebeard.

  Without the wind’s aid, the ship floated along on its own momentum until its port side was a stone’s throw from the causeway. A cluster of menacing-looking rocks reared their heads as the swell died down, and Mousebeard ordered for the anchor to be lowered into the sea. Once the ship had slowed to a halt, Drewshank measured the situation by opening the ship’s armored gangplanks and peering over the side.

  “We’ll need to be in tighter than that to get across safely,” he said.

  The ship sat a few meters off land, and no one in their right mind would have risked the jump.

  “Captain!” said Indigo, pacing along the deck. “I’m a strong swimmer—I can climb up the rocks with a rope. I’m sure I could find a place to tie it so we can pull in closer.”

  “Sounds like a fine plan,” said Drewshank. “Fetch me a rope!”

  Indigo removed his jacket and mousing belt and laid them down on the deck.

  “Aren’t you taking off your shirt as well?” asked Drewshank. “You’ll ruin it!”

  Indigo shook his head and set about removing his boots.

  Fenwick passed him a rope, and the boy tied it around his waist. Taking a deep breath, he leapt headfirst off the starboard side and disappeared briefly beneath the waves. He reappeared at the foot of the black outcrop, his body revealed with the movement of the rolling sea. His hands grasped the rocks like claws, his fingers rigidly holding tight.

  “Good man!” shouted Mousebeard, impressed with his agility.

  Indigo scrambled up the sloping cliff and soon reached the top. With his clothes sagging and dripping, and water flowing down the small of his back from his ponytail, he looked around for a secure piece of stonework. He found the remains of the lower half of a narrow window, pushed it a few times, and finally assured himself it would do. With a sturdy looped knot, the rope was tied firm, and he gave Fenwick the signal.

  “Ease up the anchor!” said Fenwick. “Let us drift!”

  As the ship gently ebbed back out to sea, the rope grew tighter, and three sailors took the strain, using the anchor winch to pull the ship back in tighter to the rocks.

  “Excellent work, men!” shouted Drewshank, as the gap narrowed further, and with a running leap he jumped onto the causeway. There was only a meter between the ship and the land now, and with a few planks of wood they’d soon have a safe bridge onto dry land.

  More sailors leapt across with further ropes, and in a few minutes the ship was firmly secured and lined up along the path. It made an ideal quayside, running flat for a few hundred meters before climbing the long ascent to meet the wall.

  “So we made it,” said Drewshank, passing Indigo his things. “Norgammon…”

  “It’s so vast,” said Indigo. The wall dominated everything around, and its thick black blocks—each of them bigger than the Silver Shark—were joined seamlessly, without a sliver of light between their edges.

  Algernon jumped onto the land, followed by Emiline and Scratcher, and he walked along the causeway to where it joined the outcrop. He ran up its gently sloping side and came upon the rundown castle. The outlying ruined walls were all that remained. They were a meter thick in some places, although apart from a few remaining battlements, their height barely rose above his head. The walls were covered in a mixture of vines and mouse droppings, and the whole area smelled rotten. He kicked the dirt and realized the ground bore marks of where rooms once stood, with grassy lumps and hollows now in their place.

  “It looks really old,” said Scratcher, shooing away a gang of Yellow-belly Mice that had sneaked up on them to see what they were up to.

  “Doesn’t it just…,” he replied. “And look at what’s left of the stonework—it all fits together like a perfect puzzle!”

  Algernon removed a notebook from his pocket and drew a few lines while making notes of the mice that inhabited the outcrop.

  “What are you doing?” asked Emiline.

  “Always carry a notebook and pen!” he said. “Always! You never know what you might forget.”

  He continued drawing as Emiline wandered off to talk to Indigo. He was standing quite still, letting the sun beat down on his wet clothes.

  “That was a great dive,” she said, placing her hands in her jacket pockets. Portly appeared from under her hair and watched the sailors rush back and forth behind.

  “Thanks,” he replied coolly. He squeezed his hair, and a stream of water trickled down his hand.

  “You’ve made quite an impression on ship,” she said.

  Scratcher watched them from afar and decided not to approach.

  “Just trying to help,” said Indigo.

  “I can see,” said Emiline.

  “Hey!” shouted Drewshank from the Silver Shark. “Let’s get together everything we need! No time to waste!”

  “It should be an interesting ride,” said Indigo.

  Emiline agreed. “I’ve not had a dull moment since I met Captain Drewshank.”

  The sun vanished behind the immense wall as it passed over the highest point in the sky, and a shadow flew over the ship, sending the temperature much lower.

  Mousebeard stood on deck contemplating their discovery. He stroked his beard, and his fingers brushed over the Methuselah Mouse, which was awake and scratching its back. He had no idea what might lie ahead. For so long he’d pushed the curse to one side, almost to the point of forgetting about it. But here he was, with more reason than ever to be hopeful that answers were within his grasp—even if he could do little about it for himself.

  “Quite a find!” shouted Algernon, skipping back down onto the causeway with a spring in his step. He leapt back onto the ship.

  “Indeed,” replied the pirate, “but I’ve never felt so useless!”

  “Oh come on now, Jonathan. Drewshank loves doing all this stuff. He loves to be important and in charge again.”

  Mousebeard’s huge laugh boomed out, causing everyone to stare at him.

  “Aye, he’d make a good captain one day!”

  “Wouldn’t he just!” said Algernon, picking up a few useful items and shoving them in his pockets. “Say, do you think the Old Town Guard will catch up with us soon?”

  “Of course they will. They’ll be stronger and in greater numbers, but they’ll be no more determined.”

  “On those points I’d agree. But when we leave you, keep checking my machine. It seems to be working for the moment, and you should be able to pick up if a ship’s approaching.”

  “And I’ll use my old seadog eyes too,” the pirate replied.

  “Algernon!” called Drewshank, who was about to leave the Silver Shark. “You ready?”

  Algernon waved in reply.

  “Find the cure to this curse…,” said Mousebeard.

  “If it’s there to find,” replied Algernon, in high spirits. “I’ll not return without it!”

  He jumpe
d from the deck onto the causeway and bumped into Scratcher. He wasn’t his cheerful self; instead he was kicking his heels.

  “Do we have enough food?” said the boy.

  Algernon caught sight of Fenwick, who was laden with supplies.

  “I believe there’s plenty in those bags to keep us all for a week,” he said.

  “Judging by this weight around my shoulder,” said Drewshank, joining them, “I’d say two….”

  “So we’re all ready?” asked Emiline, as she approached with Indigo.

  “Yes, we are,” said Drewshank.

  “Any news,” boomed Mousebeard, “and I want to know!”

  “We shall return as soon as we find anything!” promised Drewshank.

  With that they set off up the long winding path. It narrowed as it grew steeper, and its length seemed never-ending as it rose higher and higher. The breeze turned into a gale as they neared the wall, and all soon became careful in their footing—the cliffs on either side of the path plunged straight into the sea, and a wrong step would end in almost certain death against the rocks and boulders at the cliffs’ base.

  They continued ever onward: the wall’s stones looked more massive and inconceivable as the climbers approached and, gradually, the path leveled out into a wider platform. They were so far up now that the Silver Shark became but a silver minnow upon the sea, and just a short distance in front was the ledge that held the gateway.

  Fenwick reached the entrance first, and he leaned backward, looking upward at the sheer scale of its construction.

  “Iron doors!” he said, slightly overwhelmed. “Not much left of ’em!”

  Algernon saw for himself the massive rusted iron doors that hung open: three imposing bolts lay on the floor, their brackets fallen to pieces through age. Their panels had long suffered the attack of the salty sea winds and were as ravaged as a moth-eaten old woolen sweater. He reached out and pushed one of the red-tinged, crusty squares that formed the door, and it crumbled in his hands.

  Emiline took the initiative and squeezed through the gap between the doors to enter the long, dark tunnel. She could see a distant white circle at its far end, and she realized exactly how thick the wall was.