by Angie Sage
“Why not? It has to be someone,” Hagos remarked snappily.
The night captain locked the gates and turned to Hagos. “Strictly speaking, Mr. RavenStarr,” she said, “we should now be taking you to the dungeons for breaking your house arrest. But if you go home now, we won’t remember you were here, will we?” The night captain looked at the other guard inquiringly.
“Remember what?” he asked, and winked at Zerra. She smiled back.
As they walked back up the deserted street, toward Star Court, Hagos said, “Zerra. Do you have anywhere to go?”
“Um. No. Well, I could go back to the mews, but Bartlett doesn’t like me.”
“Come back to my rooms,” Hagos said. “You can have Alex’s bed.” He gave Zerra a quizzical look. “And before I forget, you can give me back her Hex card.”
Obediently, Zerra handed back the card, feeling oddly sorry to see it go.
Wearily, yet feeling oddly content, Zerra climbed the long spiral stairs up the Silver Tower. In less than five minutes, as the sun rose over the rooftops, Zerra was fast asleep under Alex’s frayed pink velvet cover with the appliquéd rabbits.
Chapter 33
Exchanges
THE SUN WAS RISING ABOVE the early morning mist as Benn rowed Merry up the river on the incoming tide. “Watch out for Stinger Eels,” he told Jay, who was trailing his fingers in the water.
Jay laughed. “That’s just a story, Benn. You shouldn’t believe all those fairy tales.”
Benn was rapidly remembering how much Jay annoyed him with his big-brother superiority. “It’s not a fairy tale, Jay. Stingers are real. Me and Alex got attacked by one when we came downriver.”
“Probably just a big fish,” Jay told him.
Alex wasn’t sure she liked Jay much. Silence fell and Alex sat in the stern watching the water, listening to the steady clunk-unk clunk-unk of the oars as Benn and Jay rowed easily along with the incoming tide. It was a cool morning, with a few wisps of mist hanging around the riverbanks, but the sky above was clear and Alex felt her spirits rise as she looked forward to arriving at the roundhouse. She longed to see Louie again, and for Nella to know that Benn was safe and well. It was so good to look forward to something happy for once.
Merry progressed along the meandering river with no sign of a Stinger Eel, and before long they were passing by the orange and lemon groves of Nella’s farm. They rounded the last bend and Alex gathered up the mooring rope. As Benn and Jay took Merry alongside the jetty, Alex jumped out and tied the little boat up to the post. Benn leaped out after her and then Jay. Their disagreements set aside, Jay put his arm around Benn. “Gramma will be so happy!” he said.
Alex followed the boys along the path and through the archway into the circular courtyard in which the roundhouse sat like the bull’s-eye in the middle of a target. It was an old fort, built for repelling pirates that had once raided the farms along the river, and that morning Alex thought it felt quite forbidding. But when she thought about Louie, who was probably sitting at Nella’s table eating his breakfast at that very moment, and also Nella’s warm and welcoming kitchen where she had felt so at home, she could hardly wait to be inside.
They crossed the courtyard, with its colored cobbles, and Benn and Alex hung back while Jay pushed open the door and walked in. “Hey, Gramma?” he called out. “Gramma? Oh, no! Gramma!”
Benn and Alex exchanged anxious glances and hurried in after Jay. There they stopped, horrified. The kitchen was trashed. Pots and pans were strewn across the floor, chairs upended, and the table lay on its back with its legs in the air. But the very worst thing of all was Nella. She lay sprawled upon the floor beside the stove, her hair sticky with blood.
“Gramma!” Benn raced over to his grandmother and fell to his knees beside her. Alex hurried after him, a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Jay looked up, relief on his face. “She’s alive,” he said. “I can feel her pulse.”
A faint moan came from Nella. Benn leaned down and whispered, “Gramma, are you okay?”
Jay rocked back on his heels. “That’s a stupid question. Of course she’s not okay.”
“Benn?” Nella pushed herself up on her arms and twisted around so she was sitting up. “Benn? Is it you?” She ran her hand across her face and rubbed her eyes.
“Yes, Gramma. It’s me. Oh, Gramma, what happened?”
“Help me up, Benn. There’s a good boy. Oh, Benn. My boy. You’re alive. But . . . oh dear . . . oh dear . . .”
“Sit down, Gramma,” Benn said and then realized there was nowhere to sit.
While Benn and Jay righted the chairs and table, Alex found a blanket and wrapped it around Nella’s shoulders, and then two boys helped Nella into her favorite chair by the stove. Now that she was seated, they could all see a big bruise on Nella’s forehead. Alex set about making lemon-and-honey tea, just as she remembered Nella doing it.
Nella reached out her hand and placed it over Benn’s. “It really is you,” she said. “I am so happy to see you. My dearest Benn. But so sad to lose little Louie. And Francina too.”
“Lose Louie?” Alex asked, a twist of fear in her stomach.
Nella nodded. “Oh, the poor little boy.”
Alex was horrified. “What happened? Oh, please, what has happened to Louie?”
Speaking very slowly, trying to control the trembling of her voice, Nella said, “Yesterday evening, three jackal-headed creatures in red coats came and took Louie and Francina away.”
“The King’s Jackal,” Alex whispered.
Nella looked up at Benn and Alex. “Oh. Of course that’s what they were. They had a paper saying they had come to take two ‘Beguiler children.’ A boy and a girl. I told them there were no Beguilers here. They didn’t care. They took their boy and girl anyway.”
Alex and Benn exchanged horrified glances. “It was us they were after,” Alex said in a low voice, feeling terrible. “We escaped. But I don’t understand. How did they know we were coming here?”
Benn groaned. “Because I told Ma Ratchet.”
“Who?” Nella asked.
“Ma Ratchet. It was her house we were in the night before last. She was all chatty and friendly, so I was trying to be nice too. She asked where home was. So I told her.”
“And yesterday morning we told the harbormaster we were going home,” said Alex.
“Well, I told the harbormaster,” said Benn.
Jay stopped cleaning up and turned around. “Idiot,” he told Benn.
“Jay, please. Don’t speak in that way.” Nella sounded weary.
“Sorry, Gramma,” Jay said. “But Benn’s done nothing but bring trouble to us. Ever since he . . .”
Alex knew what Jay was going to say. He was staring right at her, angrily. She finished his sentence for him. “Ever since he brought me here,” she said. “I know. I’ve brought trouble to you all. I am so sorry. This is my fault.”
“It is no one’s fault,” Nella said, getting the strength in her voice back. “Apart from that wicked, wicked king.”
Alex finished making the tea. They drank it in silence, listening to Jay angrily clattering pots as he tidied up. At last Nella spoke. “Well, at least Mirram wasn’t here.”
No one had given a moment’s thought to Alex’s foster mother until then. “She might have been some help,” Benn said gloomily.
“I doubt it,” said Alex tartly. “Where is she?”
“Mirram went to Santa Pesca yesterday, and she hasn’t come back,” Nella said. “I could see she was bored here, so I asked her to go see your father, Benn. To . . . well, to tell him that you . . . that you were lost. At sea.” Nella gave Benn a weak smile. “But you’re not. Which is so wonderful. But now we must get hold of Mirram and tell her the awful news about Louie and Francina.”
Benn and Alex both spoke together. “No,” they said.
“No?” asked Nella. “Why?”
“Because there will be nothing to tell. Because we are going to get Lo
uie and Francina back,” Alex said. “Aren’t we, Benn?”
“You bet,” said Benn.
Nella shook her head. “How can you possibly do that?” she asked.
Benn looked at Alex. He had no idea, but he could tell Alex had a plan.
“They can’t,” Jay said.
“We can,” Benn retorted. “You just wait.”
Jay laughed. “For how long?”
“Boys, stop it,” Nella said wearily. “Benn, whatever your plan is, I would like you and Alex to stay with me today. I just want to enjoy your company. We can talk things over, and Jay, I would like you to stay and talk too. I want you to be nice to your brother and not go rushing off like you usually do.”
Jay folded up the dishcloth and came over to hug his grandmother. “I’m not going anywhere, Gramma. I’m staying right here and looking after you.”
Benn felt suddenly wrong-footed. Usually he was the reliable one who stayed with his grandmother, but now Jay had niftily moved into his role. Benn wasn’t at all sure how he felt about that. But then he remembered how he had longed to be free, to sail Merry where he wanted. I guess I can’t have it both ways, he told himself.
Benn and Alex spent the day with Nella as she had requested. The time went quickly. While Jay set about mending a broken chair and, despite Nella’s protests, adding more bolts to the door, Alex and Benn told Nella all that had happened since they had left. Under Nella’s directions—because no one would allow Nella to do anything—Benn made cheese omelets for lunch and Alex perfected the art of making lemon pancakes. But soon the afternoon sun was getting lower in the sky and they reluctantly told Nella that it was time they were going.
Nella was resigned. “You take care on the river now, won’t you?” she said.
“We will,” Benn said, his face clouding a little as he thought of the Stinger Eel they had been attacked by the last time they had left the roundhouse. He’d taken care not to tell Nella about that.
“Will I see you tomorrow?” Nella asked. Benn glanced at Alex. Infinitesimally, Alex shook her head. But nothing was lost on Nella. “Ah, maybe not,” she said. She reached out for both their hands and held them. “Now, you two. I will not ask you what you intend to do because I do not think you will tell me. But I just want to say to you to consider everything very carefully. Make sure that whatever you are planning is actually possible and, if it is, do it with the utmost care and consideration of all outcomes. Do not risk everything for nothing.”
Alex nodded. It was good advice. “I think,” she said, “that we are risking something for everything.”
Nella nodded. “I suppose there is nothing I can do to help?”
“Help what?” Jay asked, coming back in from the shed with a large screwdriver and two flat iron bars for the door.
Nella sighed, releasing Benn and Alex’s hands. “Nothing, Jay, dear. Benn and Alex are off now.”
Benn, then Alex, hugged Nella tightly. “Thank you for everything,” Alex said. “We will see you very soon.”
“I do hope so, dear,” Nella murmured. She hugged Benn once again and wordlessly watched them go. Nella leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, and a few tears ran down her face. Determined not to let Jay see, she rubbed them away and got to her feet. “I’m going to rest a while, Jay.”
“Do you need a hand up the stairs, Gramma?” Jay asked.
Nella smiled. “Now don’t you go fussing over me, Jay Markham.”
Nella climbed the stairs more slowly than she had ever done before, and when she reached her room, she felt exhausted. But even so, she walked over to the little window and looked out. She watched the little white boat moving slowly down the river, with Benn and Alex at the oars, rowing together. She watched until they rounded the bend and she could see them no more, and even then she kept watching. At last she turned and went to her bed, where she lay down and closed her eyes. But she found no rest. All she saw were huge white jackal heads, baring their teeth. And all she heard were the screams of a terrified little boy.
Chapter 34
First Fire
THE TIDE WAS RUNNING IN their favor and Alex was surprised how soon they were heading into the narrow cut through the rushes. They poled Merry along, and as they drew near to the old Lemon Dock, they saw Danny sitting outside in the sun, eyes closed, smiling in the late afternoon warmth.
At the sound of the mooring rope hitting the stone, Danny leaped up like a coiled spring. Then, seeing Merry, he grinned and ran over to help. “Hey, guys. Had a good time? You’ll never guess what . . .” Danny’s voice trailed off as he saw their expressions. “Hey, what’s up?”
“The Jackal. They were there last night. They took Louie. And Francina.”
“Francina!” Danny dropped the mooring rope. “The Jackal took Francina?”
“And Louie,” said Alex.
Danny spun around on his heels as if it was all too much to take in. “But why? Why, why, why? What has Francina done to them? And what were they even doing out there?”
“Looking for me and Benn,” Alex told him.
Danny shook his head. “I don’t get it. I just don’t. Sheesh. She’ll be so scared.” He was crouching down now, tying endless knots in Merry’s mooring rope.
“Hey, take it easy, that’s enough knots,” Benn said, taking the rope from Danny. “She’s not going to escape, you know.”
Danny misunderstood him. He looked up at Benn, his face anguished. “I know. How can she possibly escape from those dungeons? No one ever does. It’s a terrible place. My . . . my mom and dad died there.”
Alex and Benn were both shocked—they had never given a thought to Danny’s family.
Danny read their expressions correctly. “Yeah,” he said bitterly. “I’m not just some evil kid who Flew the Hawke. I’m human too. Just like you. Sheesh.” He turned and walked away, striding off into the dark mouth of the tunnel, back to his den.
Alex and Benn followed slowly down the tunnel. Alex sniffed the air. “Smells weird,” she said.
“Yeah. What’s he been doing?” Benn muttered, speeding up. They arrived at the cavern to find the lanterns burning brightly. A bitter, sulfurous smell caught in the backs of their throats, but the strangest thing was a soft swishing sound, as though something big was breathing very slowly. Alex felt goose bumps run down her neck. “Benn, remember in Luma,” she whispered, “when I had my cards and you asked me if the monster would always be cold, if its joints would always hurt?”
“And if its heart would always be stilled,” Benn finished for her. “How could I forget? If I hadn’t asked you that, you wouldn’t be here now.”
And Louie wouldn’t be in a dungeon in Rekadom, Alex thought. She shook the thought away—getting upset was not going to help Louie right now—and looked up at the locomotive, sitting still and dark in the middle of the cavern. Something about it had changed. “Well, that’s what it feels like now. Big Puffer’s heart is beating. He’s breathing.”
“Fire,” Benn whispered. “He’s breathing fire. Just like you said.” He reached up and patted the locomotive’s nose. “It’s warm,” he whispered.
They walked along the length of Big Puffer, past its tubular body, past its domed copper water tank, heading for the driver’s cab at the back, from which an orange glow was emanating. There they found Danny kneeling on the footplate by an oval opening into the body of the engine. Into this he was feeding small pieces of wood one at a time, as though tempting a fussy baby to eat. Danny looked down at Benn and Alex. “He’s hungry,” he said.
“That’s not fair, Danny,” Benn told him. “Jay’s worked on the Puffer for years. He was always talking about making the first fire. You should have waited.”
“I thought there was no harm in testing it. You have to let the Puffer warm up slowly. Don’t want anything to expand too quickly. So I thought I’d just feed him a little tonight. I was going to let the fire go out again, and clean out the firebox. Jay didn’t need to know, did he?”
Fee
ling an unexpected surge of brotherly loyalty, Benn said, “That’s not the point, and you know it. Anyway, Jay will know. He knows the Puffer inside out.”
Danny shrugged. “There you go,” he told the Puffer as he fed in another tasty morsel of wood. “Anyway, turns out it’s a good thing I did start the fire, huh?”
Benn persisted. “It is not a good thing. Jay’s going to be really upset when he finds out you made the first fire.”
Danny gave a brief laugh. “Not half as upset as he’s going to be when he finds the Puffer gone.”
“Gone?” asked Benn. “What do you mean, gone?”
Danny left the embryo fire, came over and sat down on the footplate. “Gone to get Francina.” He looked at Alex. “And Louie. Gone to rescue two helpless kids from those disgusting dungeons beneath Rekadom.”
Benn and Alex were speechless. Benn spoke first. “You mean you want to go to Rekadom on the Puffer?”
“Not ‘want to.’ Going to.” Danny slipped down from the footplate, picked up his lantern and headed to the back of the cavern, where the tunnel that led beneath the mountains was shut off by the remains of the passenger carriage—once known as Old Wormy—now used as shuttering. He opened a carriage door and stepped through, disappearing into the blackness beyond.
Alex and Benn exchanged confused glances. “What is he doing?” asked Alex.
Benn shook his head. “No idea.”
A few seconds later, Danny stepped back through the door. His hands were clenched into fists and for a brief moment both Benn and Alex thought he was about to punch them. In fact, nothing would have surprised them—Danny’s behavior was increasingly strange. But at least he was smiling.
“I know why you looked so shocked when I said I was taking the Puffer,” Danny said. “It was because you didn’t see any fuel, did you? In fact, you probably thought I’d forgotten all about that, didn’t you?”
Benn and Alex shook their heads. The truth was, neither had given any thought whatsoever to fuel. “You mean coal?” Alex asked.