Where was he? He should be here by now. Though there were no such things as clocks in the undersea world, he had always been on time before. Was something wrong?
She waded into the sea until she was waist-deep and the waves were breaking around her. Maybe Kes was playing a joke – she wouldn’t put it past him to be waiting under the water not far from shore, ready to dart out and startle her when she least expected it. All right, Lizzy thought, grinning to herself. We’ll see about that!
A bigger wave broke and she let it lift her off her feet, then began to swim further out. One quick glance to make sure the lifeguards weren’t looking… the next wave rolled towards her, and Lizzy launched herself towards it and dived under the water.
She couldn’t see much at first, for the rolling waves were churning up the sand and making everything murky. But, as she reached deeper, calmer water she left the swirling grains behind and the sea became clear, translucent blue-green. Lizzy took a breath, watching bubbles stream from her mouth and up to the surface. A shoal of silvery phosphorescent fish – mackerel, she thought – dashed past in the opposite direction, and patches of drifting seaweed rolled and flowed in the current. Weed would make a good hiding place. But when she plunged in among the strands she found only a small crab and several bright yellow periwinkles hitching a ride.
Lizzy was starting to worry. If Kes couldn’t meet her for some reason, surely he would have asked Arhans to come in his place, and though she hadn’t learned to understand the dolphins properly yet, she would have got the idea. Something must be wrong.
Lizzy didn’t know what to do for the best. Probably the most sensible thing would be to go back to the beach and hope that either Kes or Arhans would eventually turn up. But just sitting around and waiting didn’t appeal. She wanted to do something.
While she tried to make her mind up, the current was carrying her further out to sea. The sandy bed was a long way below her now, and all around she could hear the more powerful sound of the deep ocean. There were fish everywhere, but nothing big enough to be Kes or a dolphin – until in the distance she saw a much larger shape swimming across her path.
Hope sprang up and Lizzy called eagerly, ‘Arhans?’
The shape slowed and then turned towards her, but it gave no answering whistle as Arhans would have done. Uncertainly Lizzy watched as it came towards her. Then her eyes widened in alarm as she saw it more clearly.
It was a conger eel – but never in her life had Lizzy imagined, let alone seen, such a giant. It must have been five metres long from its blunt, ugly snout to the tip of its writhing tail. Its skin was dark grey, almost black, and its cold, fishlike eyes stared at her in a way that was hypnotizing. Lizzy wanted to scream – but what would be the use, when none of her friends were here to help her?
Then to her astonishment the eel’s mouth opened, revealing rows of ferocious teeth, and it said in a husky, hissing voice, ‘Please don’t be afraid of me!’
It could speak! Lizzy was so stunned that she forgot her fear. The eel wriggled, sending ripples down the whole length of its body. ‘Please,’ it repeated, ‘I mean no harm, but I must talk to you. Are you the one called… Lizzy?’
Lizzy’s mouth worked, but for a few moments she couldn’t answer. At last she managed, ‘Y-yes…’
‘I am so glad to have found you! I have been looking for you. I am a friend of your father.’
Lizzy’s blue eyes opened wide. ‘My father? But – but he disappeared! No one has heard of him for years!’
‘I know this. Now, though, there is news. I heard it from another friend; I did not believe it at first, but there is proof. Your father is alive.’
A choking feeling came into Lizzy’s throat. Her real father, Jack Carrick, had been a local fisherman. Lizzy now knew that she had been stolen as a baby and that her father had gone in search of her, leaving Morvyr and Kes behind, and had never returned. Now, suddenly, this creature claimed to have news of him!
‘Wh-where is he?’ she asked, barely able to get the words out.
The giant eel dipped its head. ‘I do not know. But the friend I spoke to claims to have seen him. I can take you to that friend, if you wish it.’
Though Lizzy was starting to feel wildly excited, a scrap of caution warned her to be careful. How could she be sure that this creature was telling the truth? There were enemies in the sea, as well as friends…
‘If your friend knows about my father,’ she said, ‘why didn’t he tell us himself? And why did you come to me? Why didn’t you go to Morvyr?’
The eel made a sound that was almost like a sigh. ‘The merfolk find me hideous. Whenever they see me, they drive me away. I know I look hideous to you too. But I thought… I hoped… that you might overlook my ugliness and talk to me. As for my friend… he is even uglier than I am. So we are both too afraid to go to Morvyr. Afraid and…’ His voice dropped almost to a whisper. ‘… ashamed.’
Lizzy’s kind heart was touched. The eel was ugly, certainly. But, as she listened to his sad confession, her fear and revulsion melted. The creature couldn’t help his appearance. And if he and his friend had news of her father, and were willing to tell her what they knew, then as far as she was concerned they were her friends too.
The eel had lowered his head again, as if he couldn’t find the courage to look her in the eye. Lizzy reached out and, very gently, touched the top of his head.
‘Poor eel,’ she said sympathetically. ‘I understand. Thank you for being brave enough to talk to me.’
The eel’s head came up, and though his eyes were fishlike and expressionless she thought he looked hopeful. ‘Then – will you come and meet my friend?’ he asked.
‘Yes, I will!’ Lizzy forgot Kes and her worries. The eel’s story had convinced her, and all she could think of was this incredible chance to learn more about her long-lost father. ‘When can we go?’
‘Now!’ The eel wriggled eagerly. ‘Why not? I will lead, and all you have to do is follow me!’
He writhed his long body round and set off. For a moment Lizzy hesitated. Then, with excitement spinning giddily through her mind, she swam after him.
Chapter Three
Despite his size the giant eel moved very swiftly, and at first Lizzy thought she was going to be left far behind. But after a minute or so he looked back, saw her and slowed down to wait for her.
‘I am sorry,’ he said as she caught up. ‘I had forgotten that you have lived on land for many years and are not yet used to the sea.’
Lizzy smiled at him. ‘I’m learning fast.’
‘So I see. Your father will be proud.’ He swam on, but more slowly, and Lizzy kept pace beside him. They seemed to be heading out to sea rather than along the coast, and she wondered where he was leading her and how long it would take to get there. She was beginning to feel nervous, for she had never ventured this far out before. The water was colder than she was used to, the current stronger and the sunlight didn’t seem to reach so far down, so that the colours around her were strange and dark and just a little menacing. She asked how much further they had to go, but the eel didn’t seem to hear. He was forging ahead again, and as he swam he frequently turned his head from side to side, as if he were watching for something.
Lizzy didn’t see or hear the intruders approaching. The first she knew of it was when the eel suddenly coiled and turned, swirling the water around him, and uttered a furious hiss.
‘What is it?’ Lizzy called.
Ignoring her, the eel hissed again. It was a terrifying sound, savage and cruel. His mouth opened, revealing his ferocious teeth – then above the sounds he was making Lizzy heard whistling cries, and five streamlined shapes appeared out of the murk. Dolphins – and the leading one had a line of silver along its back. They streaked towards Lizzy and the giant eel, and in relief Lizzy cried, ‘It’s Arhans! Don’t be afraid, eel! Arhans – Arhans, it’s all right! The eel’s a friend; he’s got news of my father!’
She hardly had time to finish be
fore a backwash set her spinning as Arhans hurtled past and headed straight for the eel. His tail thrashed; he tried to dart out of the dolphin’s path, but he wasn’t quick enough and Arhans’s snout slammed into him, sending him reeling and twisting backwards.
‘Arhans!’ Lizzy screamed. ‘Stop, oh, stop it! He’s my friend!’
Arhans took no notice, and now the other dolphins joined the attack. They were all whistling shrilly. The eel snarled, his teeth snapping at them, and for some moments Lizzy could see nothing but churning water and flailing fins and tails. Then suddenly the eel broke free from the struggling group. He looked, once, in Lizzy’s direction, and his hideous face seemed to twist with fury and hatred before, with a flick of his powerful tail, he swam away at top speed. Two of the dolphins surged in pursuit, while the other three, with Arhans in the lead, came to Lizzy. Arhans was chittering urgently; the sounds she made seemed to form a word in Lizzy’s mind. Tullor, Tullor… It was something to do with the eel, Lizzy was sure. His name, maybe? If only she had learned more of the dolphins’ language!
‘He was trying to help me!’ she protested. ‘He was taking me to meet someone who knows where my father is!’
There was anger in Arhans’s answering whistle, and Lizzy felt as if she were saying, No, no, that’s wrong! The other dolphins nosed Lizzy anxiously as though making sure she wasn’t injured, and Arhans rubbed her face gently against Lizzy’s cheek. Though she couldn’t understand most of Arhans’s words, Lizzy began to realize what she meant. The eel wasn’t a friend at all, but had been trying to deceive her. Danger! Arhans seemed to be telling her. Great danger!
‘Danger to me?’ Lizzy was alarmed. ‘But why should that eel want to hurt me? Oh, if only Kes was here! Why didn’t he meet me like he promised?’
All three dolphins answered with a chorus of agitated noises. Danger again – but this time they weren’t talking about Lizzy. Kes and Morvyr were in danger too!
‘What kind of danger?’ Lizzy cried. ‘Where are they?’
Again she didn’t know exactly what Arhans replied, but she understood enough to get an idea of what had happened. Morvyr was afraid of something; she had gone into hiding and taken Kes with her. Whatever happened, Lizzy must not try to find them. As she communicated this warning Arhans started to nudge at Lizzy, gently but very firmly. The others joined in, and she realized that they were trying to urge her back to the shore. They were saying it was dangerous for her to stay here. They were saying it was dangerous to visit the undersea world at all.
There were three of them, they were much stronger than she was and they were determined to make her do what they wanted. Though she desperately wanted to start searching for Kes and Morvyr, Lizzy had no choice, and went with them. They surfaced near the lighthouse, out of sight of the beach. Lizzy climbed on to the rocks – it was an easy scramble from here to the top – and looked back at the three dolphins in the water.
‘I’ll be on the beach every morning,’ she said. ‘If there’s any news, anything at all, come and find me. Please, Arhans! Please!’
Arhans gave a clear, piercing whistle. Then, swiftly and smoothly, the dolphins dived under the water and were gone.
There was no one in the house when Lizzy got home. Mr Baxter was being shown round the college where he was to teach after the summer holidays. Mrs Baxter was a part-time administrator at the hospital in Truro, and this was one of her work days, and Rose was probably out with Paul.
Lizzy ran upstairs to her bedroom. On a shelf among her ornaments was a large, tapering spiral shell. Kes had given it to her the first time she had ventured under the sea, and he had told her that she could use it to communicate with him or with the dolphins when she was on land. ‘All you have to do is hold the shell to your ear, and we’ll be with you,’ he had said. Eagerly Lizzy snatched up the shell and put it to her ear. But though she could hear the hissing, roaring sounds of the sea, there was nothing else. No distant voice, no sense that anyone was there at all. Wherever Kes had gone, he either could not or dared not call to her. And she, in her turn, didn’t dare try to call to him.
She put the shell back on its shelf and went downstairs again, her feet dragging and her shoulders slumped. The house suddenly felt empty and lonely, and she would have given anything to have someone to talk to. But then she thought: if anyone had been here, what could she have said? Even Rose didn’t know her secret; she thought Kes was just an ordinary local boy. There was no one she could tell. No one she could share her worry with. All she could do was wait.
Chapter Four
Tullor was tired, angry – and frightened. The two dolphins had chased him for more than an hour, and by the time he finally managed to give them the slip and get away, he was exhausted. He had always hated the dolphins, but now that they had foiled his plan to lure and capture the girl-child, he hated them more than ever. And when Queen Taran found out what had happened, her fury would be terrible.
He would have to tell her soon, and he dreaded it. But the longer he waited, the greater her rage would be. It would be better to gather his courage, go to her now and get it over with.
Cautiously he poked his head out from under the rock ledge where he had been hiding. The dolphins had lost sight of him when he’d wriggled under here and he felt sure they must have swum away by now. But it was wiser to be careful, so he peered through the underwater gloom in case they might still be lurking nearby. There was no sign of them, and, relieved, Tullor wriggled out from his hole and tried to work out where he was. The chase had taken him many miles out to sea, and the gateway by which he usually reached Queen Taran’s cave was a long, long way off. But there were other gateways, and his instinct told him that one of them was nearby.
He soon found it: a great, solitary rock on the seabed, with a deep hollow gouged in the top. Tullor swam to it, hovered above the hollow and waited. A minute passed, then a voice whispered coldly out of the hollow, ‘Who is there?’
Summoning all his nerve, Tullor replied, ‘It is Tullor.’
‘Ah!’ The voice was full of satisfaction. ‘You may enter!’
The water started to swirl and bubble, then the hollow became a tunnel with an eerie green light glowing from deep inside it. The light shone on Tullor’s face, and a shiver of fear ran through him. But it was too late to turn back now.
He gave a writhing squirm, and dived into the hole. For a second or two he saw only the green light, then it changed, becoming all the colours of the rainbow, and moments later he surfaced in the perfectly circular pool inside the mermaid Queen’s lair.
Taran was lying on her rock couch. Her eyes were brilliant with excitement and there was a triumphant smile on her face. But when she saw that Tullor was alone, her expression changed.
‘Where is the girl-child?’ she hissed.
‘Majesty, I – I found her, and I spoke to her as you commanded, but –’
‘But what?’ Taran snapped. ‘What went wrong? Were you stupid enough to give the truth away?’
‘No, Majesty!’ Tullor protested. ‘She believed my story! She was coming with me! But the dolphins saw us, and they attacked – there were five of them, and I had no time to call for help!’
‘You mean the child escaped?’ Taran’s voice rose shrilly. ‘You fool! You stupid, useless, worthless fool!’
‘There was nothing I could do!’ cried Tullor desperately. ‘Three of the dolphins took the girl to safety, and the other two chased me. I barely escaped with my life!’
Taran let out a shriek of rage that echoed around the cave. ‘They should have killed you!’ she screamed. ‘It’s no more than you deserve!’ She raised a hand high above her head, as though about to throw something, and Tullor cried, ‘No, Majesty, please – I did my best! Truly, I did my best!’
Taran was too furious to listen. Her hand came down with a violent gesture and the water around Tullor erupted into a seething, churning whirlpool. The huge eel was flung about, thrashing and struggling as the water battered him against the poo
l’s rock edges. He howled in terror, then with a tremendous effort he dived deep, deep down into the water, desperate to escape.
Taran saw him vanish. She made another gesture and the water calmed. In moments it was as still and quiet as a mirror again. The Queen stared down into it. She knew that Tullor was cowering at the bottom of the pool, and her beautiful face turned ugly with anger.
‘I know where you are!’ she snarled. ‘And you can stay there until I give you permission to return – if I ever do!’
There was no answer, but Taran was certain that the eel had heard her. Suddenly she reached to a rock shelf behind her couch and snatched up her golden circlet with the seven pearls set in it. The circlet was more than just her crown: it gave her power. She set it carefully on her head and felt the power begin to flow through her. She wouldn’t punish Tullor any more. He was too useful and, besides, the dolphins were really the ones to blame for his failure. Very well, then. She would vent her fury on them, and on all the wretched creatures who had helped Morvyr and her children to escape. She would show them the price of defying their Queen, in a way they wouldn’t forget for a long time!
Taran spread her arms wide, drew a deep breath and closed her eyes. Darkness. Rage. Peril…
The water in the pool churned again, and a wind sprang up from nowhere and began to moan through the cave…
Rose had brought Paul home for tea, and they were all in the middle of the meal when Mr Baxter peered out of the sitting-room window and said, ‘Whew, I don’t like the look of that sky!’
Mrs Baxter and Rose got up from the table and went to see too. ‘Wow!’ said Rose. ‘Your dad was right, Paul. There is going to be a storm!’
‘And soon, I should think,’ Mrs Baxter added. ‘Whoever would have thought it, after such a sunny day.’
‘I think Dad must smell them coming,’ said Paul with a grin. ‘I’d never have guessed, either, and there was nothing on the forecast.’
The Black Pearl Page 2