The Curse of the Ice Serpent

by Jon Mayhew

  Georgia had scrambled to her feet and snatched up Dakkar’s rifle. She took aim at the final man on the deck and clipped his ankle, sending him limping back to the basket of the Cryptos balloon. He threw himself over the lip of the basket and untied the rope that held the two together. Slowly the Cryptos balloon separated from the Nautilus.

  A metallic clicking sound caught Dakkar’s attention and he looked at Borys, who was busy winding some­­thing.

  ‘I modified one of your little toys,’ he said, holding up the clockwork dog that he had picked up from his workbench days ago.

  Borys gave a chilling laugh and threw the dog after the retreating balloon. It landed in the centre of the basket.

  ‘Not a bad throw, if I say so myself.’ Borys nodded, watching the man in the balloon frantically trying to find the missile.

  The balloon erupted in a flash of light and fire. Dakkar threw his arms up to cover his eyes and then turned on Borys.

  ‘There was no need for that!’ he said. ‘The balloon was retreating.’

  ‘This is no time to be squeamish, Dakkar,’ Borys said, returning to the hatch. ‘Now I’d better get back to the helm. We’re drifting.’

  Dakkar spun back to the melee on the shattered castle wall. Oginski had cleared the knot of men behind him but a larger tangle of armed guards pushed at him, jabbing with bayonet and sword. Luckily for Oginski, the narrow wall would only allow his opponents to stand two abreast, making their numbers irrelevant. Oginski used their ungainly jostling to overbalance and trip the guards but they were overwhelming him.

  The Nautilus swung back, grinding against the rough stone. Oginski glanced at Dakkar and pushed the man in front of him heavily in the chest, which sent him stumbling back into the crowd behind him.

  Without hesitating, Oginski leapt from the wall. For a moment, he seemed frozen in mid-air, hovering almost, his jacket tails flowing out like strange wings and his arms held high. Dakkar held his breath. Then Oginski hit the side of the Nautilus with a loud thump, his fingers grappling at the various handholds that dotted the craft’s hull.

  ‘He’s made it!’ Georgia screamed. ‘Borys, draw away quickly, before …’

  But Georgia’s instructions turned into a scream. A musket cracked, spitting from the wall. Oginski’s eyes widened and a trickle of blood ran down his chin.

  ‘Oginski!’ Dakkar howled, leaping down the tower on to the deck of the Nautilus. He scrambled towards the side of the craft where Oginski hung, gasping for breath.

  ‘Dakkar,’ he panted, looking up with heavy eyes. ‘Find the Heart of Vulcan. Stop Tomasz.’

  ‘Oginski, no!’ Dakkar reached down to grab his hand.

  ‘I’m … p-proud … of you,’ Oginski said, giving a bloody grin, and his grip on the Nautilus slackened. Dakkar lunged forward but his mentor slid off the side of the Nautilus and vanished into the roaring darkness below.

  CHAPTER TEN

  A RACE FOR REVENGE

  ‘Oginski!’ Dakkar screamed, launching himself forward, but Georgia grabbed hold of him and Borys dragged him to the floor.

  Dakkar stared down into the swirling shadows at the foot of the cliff in mute disbelief. The gap between the cliff and the unpiloted Nautilus widened as the craft drifted away.

  A bullet whacked into the woodwork next to Dakkar, snapping him out of his nightmare. Borys and Georgia still clung on to him. Dakkar kicked and punched, desperate to get free.

  More gunfire cracked as the guards focused their attention on the submarine now that Oginski was gone.

  ‘Stop!’ Georgia yelled, gripping Dakkar’s face in her hands and staring into his eyes. ‘There’s nothing you can do. He’s gone. We have to escape!’

  ‘I’ll kill them,’ Dakkar screamed. ‘Let me go!’

  More guards charged to the cliff edge and formed a line, pointing their rifles.

  ‘Georgia!’ Borys shouted. ‘We need to leave. Go and steer us away. Now!’

  Georgia vanished down into the Nautilus. The sound of gas hissing into the balloons drowned out the roar of the sea and the flames and suddenly the craft rose high into the air. Bullets whirred around them, some smacking into the hull.

  ‘No!’ Dakkar yelled, lunging forward again.

  This time, Borys’s firm hand clamped a damp cloth around Dakkar’s mouth and nose, engulfing him in a sour smell. Then darkness invaded his vision. The spit of gunfire grew faint and all was black.

  Visions of Oginski falling tormented Dakkar’s dreams. Time and again he leapt, trying to catch his mentor, only to fail and see him tumbling to the waves below.

  Oginski’s voice would whisper from the raging waters. ‘Men are so consumed by revenge they become monsters,’ it said. ‘Are you a monster?’

  And then it was Dakkar falling, plunging down into a raging sea of blood.

  Dakkar woke with a start.

  ‘Whoa!’ Georgia said, placing a soft hand on his shoulder. ‘You’ve had a bad dream.’

  He glanced around. They were in his cabin in the Nautilus. The engine hummed and, from the pitch and roll of the craft, he couldn’t tell whether they were in the air or underwater.

  Georgia smiled at him, her eyes red and puffy with crying.

  ‘What happened?’ he said, groaning and rubbing his head.

  ‘Borys knocked you out with some kind of sleeping potion on a handkerchief,’ Georgia said. ‘You were all for jumping over the side of the Nautilus to your death …’ She gave a choking cough and fought back more tears.

  ‘I wanted to save Oginski,’ Dakkar said. He felt numb, guilty at not shedding tears for his mentor. ‘We should go back. He might have survived …’

  Georgia shook her head sadly. ‘Nobody could survive a fall like that,’ she said, sniffing back a tear.

  The cabin door swung open and Borys popped his head in. He looked pale and sombre.

  ‘You’re awake – good,’ he said and gave a sigh. ‘My apologies for the way I subdued you but it was for your own good. The potion is something Tomasz and I concocted from certain types of seaweed. Harmless in small quantities. The headache will pass.’

  ‘Where are we going?’ Dakkar said, rubbing his temples.

  ‘That is up to you,’ Borys said with a slight shrug. ‘Personally, I want to stop my brother from conquering the world. But maybe Franciszek’s peace-loving philosophy has taken away your stomach for vengeance …’

  ‘You underestimate me.’ Dakkar looked hard at Oginski’s brother.

  Borys stepped into the tiny room and leaned close, placing a hand on Dakkar’s shoulder. ‘My brother taught you well enough to be resourceful without him,’ Borys said in a low voice. ‘But this is Tomasz we’re talking about. He’s a wily adversary.’

  Dakkar felt a wave of anger. ‘I’m not afraid of him,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘We’re going to find the Heart of Vulcan. Then I’m going to stop Tomasz. It was the last thing Oginski told me to do.’

  ‘You think you’re a match for Tomasz?’ Borys raised an eyebrow. ‘I’m impressed. With an anger like that burning inside you, who knows?’

  ‘I know,’ Dakkar said, clenching his fists.

  ‘Good lad.’ Borys grinned, patting Dakkar’s cheek. ‘Keep that fire burning! Now, we must not dwell on the past. There’ll be time for grieving later but now things need to be done. This is a race for revenge!’

  ‘It’s a race to find the Thermolith,’ Georgia said, her arms folded and a guarded expression on her face. ‘And to save the world.’

  ‘Whether it’s revenge or a nobler cause, we’ll have to reckon with Tomasz sooner or later,’ Borys said, balancing his hands as if he were the Scales of Justice. ‘Maybe we can end his reign of terror before it begins. Rouse yourself, Dakkar – there is much to be done!’ He walked out of the cabin before either Dakkar or Georgia could question what he had just said.

  Dakkar climbed out of the small bed and stretched, his knuckles grazing either wall of the room. He looked across at Georgia, who stood, arms sti
ll folded.

  ‘So is that what it is? A race for revenge?’ Georgia said. She looked small and alone. Dakkar wanted to reach out to her but cold fury still seethed in his belly.

  ‘We must find the Thermolith,’ he said. ‘But I will make Tomasz pay for … what he did.’ Dakkar still couldn’t say out loud that Oginski was dead.

  ‘Borys sounded like the first Oginski brother we met, Kazmer,’ Georgia said. ‘He wanted you to be a monster.’

  ‘Are you a monster?’ Oginski’s words echoed through his mind. But Oginski wasn’t here now.

  Dakkar shrugged. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Let’s go and see what needs doing.’

  Borys sat at the controls of the Nautilus, making Dakkar clench his teeth. He stood close to the round man until Borys looked up at him.

  ‘You want to captain for a while?’ Borys said, his face a picture of innocence.

  ‘The Nautilus is mine,’ Dakkar said darkly, sliding into the captain’s seat as Borys vacated it.

  ‘I think you’ll find it belonged to the late Franciszek Oginski,’ Borys said quietly. ‘And, as his next of kin …’

  ‘The Nautilus is mine,’ Dakkar repeated through gritted teeth.

  ‘Very well, my prince,’ Borys said, a tight smile on his face. ‘So, tell me, what’s the plan? Do you know where you’re going?’ He folded his arms and leant back against the wall of the control room.

  The room felt very crowded. Dakkar’s face flushed red.

  ‘You have a map,’ he muttered, not meeting Borys’s eye. ‘I’ll use that.’

  ‘You saw the map,’ Borys said. ‘It was drawn in haste. But I have contacts who can guide us to the Thermolith. You need me, Dakkar.’

  ‘Very well,’ Dakkar said, throwing himself back in the seat. ‘What do you advise then?’

  ‘We fly as far as we can towards Greenland,’ Borys said. ‘When it becomes too cold for the balloons and we lose too much altitude, we shall take to the water.’

  ‘And once we’re in Greenland?’ Georgia said.

  ‘I have a contact in Guthaven in the west. An Inuit hunter called Tingenek,’ Borys said. ‘We’ll find him and prepare for the mission.’

  ‘Are you certain this Tingenek can help us?’ Dakkar said.

  ‘As certain as I can be,’ Borys said. ‘Tingenek is fond of drink, and quarrelsome, but he knows the land better than we ever could. He’ll be able to guide us. In the meantime,’ he added, ‘we need to be able to trust each other. You can’t pilot the craft all the time. Besides, certain repairs need to be carried out …’

  Dakkar clung to the hull of the Nautilus, screwing his eyes against the cold wind that stung his face. When they had first taken flight in the dark, he hadn’t had time to marvel at the view from this height. Now he tried not to stare down at the endless grey and white waves that rose and fell so far below. He looked over to Georgia, who seemed equally unhappy about where she stood at that moment.

  ‘Do we really need to be out here?’ she yelled above the gale.

  ‘There’s a lot of damage to the underside of the craft,’ Dakkar replied in an equally loud voice. ‘We need a dry dock to carry out full repairs but we don’t have the luxury of time.’

  They inched along the Nautilus, tying ropes to the grab handles and mooring points that studded her rear deck. Not daring to look down, Dakkar focused his attention on the knots that were becoming harder to tie as his fingers became colder.

  Georgia worked deftly and quickly had more rope secure than Dakkar as they shifted along the sub.

  ‘Hurry up! I’m freezing, waiting for you,’ she said, giving a tight smile.

  Dakkar grinned back and immediately felt guilty as the image of Oginski falling invaded his mind.

  Gradually, they built a web of ropes that criss-crossed the planks of the craft, giving them something to cling on to as they moved around. Dakkar’s confidence grew and he allowed himself a glimpse over the side. His stomach lurched. Ever since he’d ridden on the back of a giant flying reptile in the underground world ruled by Stefan Oginski, Dakkar had not liked heights.

  They picked out musket balls lodged in the wood and filled the holes left behind with hot tar. There was little chance for conversation in the battering winds. Clambering around the network of ropes holding on to a bucket of hot tar was tricky. Dakkar concentrated on digging the lead shot out, forcing his mind to be still and free from thoughts of Oginski.

  Glancing down again, he noticed a dark patch drifting in the sea. At first he thought it was the shadow of a cloud on the surface. Peering hard, however, Dakkar could see that it was under the water.

  Could it be the eel that attacked us at the castle? He shook his head. No – this shape is too big. Whatever it is, it must be massive to be visible at this height.

  The shape seemed to move with the Nautilus, tracking them. Dakkar couldn’t help feeling that danger was stalking them far below.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  MY ENEMY’S ENEMY

  The days wore on and the steel seas seemed endless. Dakkar wondered at how relentless and dull the water could be.

  The shadow still drifted along in their wake. Dakkar pointed it out to Borys, who merely shrugged.

  ‘It’s too big to be the eel. It could be the shadow of the Nautilus herself!’ Borys said, craning his neck to peer out of the window. ‘Or maybe a shoal of herring.’ He licked his lips. ‘Actually, that’s making me hungry!’

  Food was an issue. Their hasty departure meant that nothing more than a few dry rations had been stowed on board and certainly not enough for three people for over a week. Borys pulled terrible faces whenever he ate dinner, which was comprised of a few strips of salt beef and dry biscuits as hard as stone.

  ‘Who put this muck in the supply cupboard?’ he would grumble. ‘What I wouldn’t give for a decent glass of wine and a leg of roast duck!’

  They took shifts at steering the sub and Dakkar began to relax a little when Borys took the helm. While one steered, the others would sleep or eat.

  ‘I don’t feel safe sleeping while Borys is steering,’ Georgia said to Dakkar one day while Borys was asleep. ‘He’s still an Oginski.’

  ‘I don’t completely trust him,’ Dakkar said, folding his arms. ‘But I’ll side with anyone who can help me find the Heart of Vulcan and stop Tomasz.’

  ‘My enemy’s enemy is my friend,’ Georgia said sadly. ‘And don’t forget that I want to find this thing too. It isn’t me – it’s us.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Dakkar said, rubbing his eye with the heel of his hand. ‘But someone has to pay for what happened.’

  ‘Do they?’ Georgia said. ‘Do you think Oginski would want you to be hell-bent on revenge?’

  ‘Maybe not,’ Dakkar agreed, staring out of the window. ‘But he told me to find the Thermolith and stop Tomasz.’

  ‘There’s a difference between stopping Tomasz and killing him,’ Georgia said. ‘Just don’t let that temper of yours get in the way.’

  ‘My temper?’

  ‘You heard,’ Georgia snapped. ‘We need cool heads if we’re to accomplish this mission.’

  ‘I can control my temper,’ Dakkar said and scrambled down into the belly of the Nautilus before Georgia could reply.

  The Nautilus began to lose height. It was so gradual that it was hard to tell at first but Dakkar started to see the foamy crests of the waves more clearly and noticed the occasional pod of dolphins splashing by. The shadow that had dogged them for days wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

  Followed closely by Georgia, Dakkar hurried up to the helm to find Borys sitting there.

  ‘The air is becoming colder,’ Borys said, nodding out of the window.

  Dakkar peered out to see the balloons looking baggy and loose.

  ‘Now that it’s colder outside, the hot air cools by the time it reaches the balloons,’ Dakkar said, wiping his condensed breath from the glass.

  ‘You are a clever young man,’ Borys said, nodding. ‘We’ll save the gas. We have preci
ous little anyway – it’s so difficult to store. Soon we’ll land and take to the waves.’

  Dakkar wondered if ‘land’ was the correct word if they were surrounded by sea.

  ‘Then we’ll see if your furnace heats the submarine,’ Dakkar said, warming his hands on the pipes that ran around the cabin.

  ‘I hope so!’ Borys said. ‘The waters around Greenland are freezing cold. They would make life in the Nautilus even more uncomfortable.’

  Dakkar watched the sea come ever closer then heard waves bumping against the hull.

  ‘Hold on to something,’ Borys called out. ‘We’re about to set down in the water.’

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  DANGER ISLAND

  The waves rushed past, hissing against the sides of the Nautilus. The whole sub rocked and Dakkar and Georgia gripped the back of Borys’s chair tightly. With a loud thump, the Nautilus hit the waves and began to roll with the tide.

  ‘There,’ Borys said. ‘Expertly done, if I say so myself.’

  Dakkar couldn’t help but grin. ‘We should gather in the balloons,’ he said. ‘Perhaps we could moor on that small islet.’

  ‘What small islet?’ Georgia said, frowning.

  ‘There.’ Dakkar pointed out of the window. Some distance away, the waves splashed on a small outcrop of rock.

  ‘I didn’t notice that on my descent,’ Borys said, scratching his ear. ‘But it would be good to stand on some solid ground after so many days at sea.’

  He steered the Nautilus towards the islet. Dakkar climbed out on to the bow of the sub, rope in hand. As they drew nearer, it struck Dakkar that it was quite a large stretch of land. It looked as if a giant had dumped a huge pile of stones into the sea. Boulders and spikes of rock, crusted in barnacles and limpets, poked out of the thick seaweed that hung limply everywhere. He tied a loop in one end of the rope and managed to snag it on one of the stone slabs.