by Susan Moore
“Oh, all right then, let’s get this over with.”
She stepped on to the ladder and headed back down below.
The throne was so heavy that the two of them, plus Poxo, could barely move it.
“Come on, put some oomph into it, Saskia!” said Mater, giving it a shove across the planked floor.
“It’s got gold in it, Mater. We should have bought more people to help!”
“More people would have meant slower speed. That Junko is super-powered and as it was we could barely keep up. Come on, push!”
They got it to the hatch. Saskia tied the ropes underneath it, while Mater and Poxo climbed back up on deck. She passed the ropes up to them.
“Push from the bottom, Saskia, while we pull up. One, two, three!”
The ropes strained taut and the throne lifted off the floor. Saskia pushed up with what little strength she had left. She gritted her teeth, closed her eyes, thought about how angry she was with Natalie, and with one last shove the throne popped on to the deck with a THUD!
“Crown!” called Mater.
Saskia growled, grabbed her carpetbag from underneath one of the Viking robot seats and chucked it up through the hatch.
“Careful, darling. There are precious jewels in there!” snapped Mater.
Saskia couldn’t have cared less.
Chapter Forty-One
THE CAVE
Nat and Henry took the double kayak, while Zixin paddled the single one. They were moving across the dark-green water at a fast clip towards the mouth of Durmaw Creek.
Thick rope-like trunks and branches twisted up out of the water at the creek’s edge. The whistling wind on the river ceased. The water stilled to a glassy calm until they found themselves enveloped in an eerie silence.
A white egret came flapping out of a cluster of low-hanging branches covered in plate-like green leaves, making them all jump.
“Stop here,” said Fizz.
Nat dug her paddle into the water, bringing the kayak to an abrupt halt. She looked across at the water’s edge. A thicket of bushes and trees hung low over a white stone bank.
“Here?”
“Yes. This is the location your mum gave.”
“Where’s the cave?” said Henry.
“It’s bound to be hidden,” said Nat, rowing towards the bank.
She pulled up alongside an overhanging tree. Zixin parked his kayak right up against the bank itself.
“I’ll climb out and check the bank above, if you want to do the water bit. You’ll be better at that than me,” he said.
Nat nodded and started using her paddle to shift vegetation out of the way.
“It smells like old socks,” said Henry, wrinkling his nose.
“That’s all this stuff rotting in the water,” Nat said, breaking a dead branch off.
The tangle of branches and vines was so thick, she wished she’d brought a saw with her.
They searched until Nat’s arms were scratched and aching from pulling and weeding out the bank area. Vesperetta had helped by slithering into places that she couldn’t reach, but apart from a few cracks and crannies, there was no sign of a cave.
“You know what this means?” said Zixin, joining them again and pointing below the water’s surface.
Henry gulped. “Looks dark and scary in there. I bet it’s full of eels and water sna—”
Nat held up her hand.
“Stop! Don’t say anything else about that. When’s low tide?”
“In three minutes,” said Vesperetta.
Nat took off her lifejacket and pulled her goggles out of the pocket.
“Are you really going in?” said Henry, frowning.
“Unless you have a better idea, yes.”
Zixin began to take off his lifejacket.
“No, don’t. Stay here and look after Henry. I’ll be fine with Fizz.”
“I can’t swim!” exclaimed Fizz.
She scooped up the little dragon.
“But you’re waterproof and I need you to light the way. I’ll hold on tight to you. I promise I won’t let you go. Eyes on, please.”
Fizz activated his torch mode. Nat stood up, took a deep breath and dived in. The water was ice-cold, even in her wetsuit. Worse still, it was dark and murky. Bits of leaves and branches hung in the water. It was like some primeval soup.
She rocketed up to the surface for air.
“Anything?” said Zixin.
“Not yet, it’s a jungle.”
“Dismal,” said Fizz.
She dived down again. And again. And again…
“I think you should get out and we’ll get scuba tanks,” said Zixin when she surfaced.
“Once more, then I’ll officially give up.”
She took the biggest breath she could and dived down to where some old tree roots were growing out of the bank. They were thick and trunk-like. She swept Fizz’s beam over the biggest one, left to right. She stopped and focused the beam on a mossy, square shape that stood out against the grey stone of the bank.
She swam up to it and brushed the moss away, revealing dark, planked wood. Nat ran her fingers across the surface until she came upon a metal handle. She pulled. It didn’t move.
She put her feet up against the bank and tugged hard. Nothing.
She clenched her hand into a tiger claw, pulled back her arm, focused on the handle and punched through the water. Her clawed hand grasped the handle and she snatched it back. The handle gave way and the door opened.
Nat’s lungs felt as if they were going to burst. She pushed off to the surface.
“A door!” she said between gulps of air. “There’s a door!”
She didn’t wait for a reply. She just breathed in and dived down again.
The doorway was just big enough to swim through. Fizz’s beam arrowed into the thick, dark void ahead. Nat swam inside and pushed her way along a narrow stone tunnel.
Just when she thought she’d have to turn back, it opened out. A faint pinprick of light was hitting the water above. She kicked with her feet, up and up, until she came bursting out to the surface.
“Ai yah!” she cried, sucking in the metallic, salty air.
She lifted Fizz above the water and stuck him on top of her head while she trod water.
They’d come out in a cave, lit by a thin shaft of light coming through its roof.
Fizz spread his wings and shook them, spraying water in a fine mist. He moved his eyes from where they were illuminating a grey cave wall and started scanning to the right.
“Stop!” cried Nat.
A ledge – there was a ledge above the waterline! She swam over and hauled herself on to it. There was just enough room for her to lie face-down on the slate and catch her breath.
She closed her eyes for a moment…
“Nat, Nat, look!”
Fizz was tapping her on the head.
“Zoinks!” she gasped, pushing herself up.
Across the emerald-coloured water, in the middle of the cave, loomed a large stone. And embedded in the stone’s centre was a long sword.
Nat dived into the water and swam over, clambering up koala-style until she was on top, next to the sword. It was double-edged and rusty, just like the one that Ivy had bought at auction.
“It exists!” she said. “It really exists, Fizz!”
She put out her hand and grasped the hilt. A buzz of pure energy flowed up the blade, lifting the sword cleanly free of the stone. Nat held it aloft, waiting for something else to happen, but the energy flow had stopped. She turned it over, this way and that, but it remained a rusty, ancient sword. Suddenly she started to shiver uncontrollably. She’d been in the water too long.
“We must leave now,” said Fizz urgently. “The tide is coming in fast. You will not be able to hold your breath for long enough if the water gets any higher.”
He flew across the cave to her. She gripped him in one hand, the sword in the other, and jumped.
Nat broke through the surface and gasp
ed for air. A mist had settled over the water and the daylight was fading. Henry was huddled in one kayak, Zixin was sitting cross-legged in the other.
The second he saw her, Henry clapped his hands together, his eyes glistening with tears.
“Heya, Nat! I was so worried.”
She threw Fizz into the kayak and grasped the side with her free hand.
“Zoinks, I’m soooooo cold,” she said, her teeth chattering. “But look what I found!”
She lifted the sword out of the water, holding it up in the air.
“It’s real, it exists!”
Henry whooped. Zixin reached over to give her a hand.
“Nice work, heiress. Here, let me help you with that.”
“Thanks,” she said, passing him the sword.
Nat turned back to the kayak and started to haul herself out with Henry’s help.
“Hey!” shouted Henry.
Nat collapsed into her seat, trying to catch her breath.
“Hey!” shouted Henry again, louder this time.
She turned to see Zixin paddling away fast, disappearing into the mist with the sword.
“Zixin!” she shouted.
No answer. She and Henry looked at each other. She’d trusted him. Fizz had trusted Vesperetta.
“Fizz, find him, now!”
Fizz took off like an arrow. Nat and Henry began furiously paddling after him.
Chapter Forty-Two
BATTLE
Fizz swooped out of the mist to land on Nat’s shoulder.
“I’ve located his kayak. It’s empty, but tied up to a Viking longboat. It seems that Ivy and Saskia are holding him prisoner inside.”
“What?” she and Henry said in unison.
“They must have followed us. Ivy has the sword and she’s on her throne. Over there, two hundred metres away.”
He was pointing his red-tipped snout into the thick fog.
“Get paddling, Henry!”
Nat dug her oar tip into the water and pulled. The kayak moved forward with Fizz lighting their way like Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer.
How did Ivy and Saskia know where to find them? What was Zixin doing? The sword, they had her sword! More than anything else, she needed the sword back. She’d have to sneak on board.
“Are—” started Henry.
“Shhhh!” Nat whispered, turning and putting her hand over his mouth. “Quiet, or they’ll hear us.”
The boy’s eyes were as wide as saucers. He nodded and she removed her hand.
“When we get there,” she explained, “you stay here while I go in. Got that?”
He nodded.
“If I’m not back in fifteen minutes, go straight back to the Junko. NutNut will lead you there. Got it?”
Henry nodded again. Nat turned and carried on paddling until she saw the dark shadow of the longboat looming up ahead.
She glided up alongside. Up on deck she could hear voices. Fizz landed back on her shoulder.
“Zoula!” she whispered.
She squeezed Henry’s hand, gave him a thumbs-up and grabbed on to one of the round shields along the top rail. She pulled herself up and peeped over.
Ivy was sitting on her massive throne with her back to Nat. Saskia was standing in front of her, holding the crown up in the air, about to place it on her mother’s head. Poxo was sitting to one side, next to Zixin, who had been tied up with ropes.
A bearded man was standing at the very back of the boat, arms folded, watching.
Nat’s sword was grasped in Ivy’s meaty hand.
“Boÿuÿdika rigani jowant briga,” chanted Saskia.
Zixin spat on the ground. “The sword won’t help you, sad old woman,” he said. “There is no sword that can make you youthful and all-powerful.”
Ivy tittered.
“Oh come now, you’re just bitter because you didn’t get away with your little plan. I know your grandfather is desperate to get his hands on this sword. And I know that he was the one bidding against me at the auction.”
Zixin spat again, this time directly at Ivy, hitting her cheek with a gob of saliva.
Ivy stood up, brandishing the sword. Nat could hear the swoosh of air as she swiped it close to Zixin’s ear.
“I don’t like people getting in my way,” she hissed. “I should do away with you, just like I did with that girl’s guardian.”
Nat froze. Saskia’s hand flew to her mouth. “Mater! Don’t say silly things like that!”
Ivy spun around, cocking her head to one side. “Darling Saskia, how else do you think I’ve got ahead in life? By being a nice person? How do I afford all your finery, our lifestyle and our feasts? I get what I want through sheer force of will and cunning. I take harsh measures at times. I punish, and I take out my enemies…”
Saskia stepped back, away from her mother. Nat didn’t hesitate. She came running across the deck, leapt on to the throne and executed a perfect flying kick straight at Ivy’s head.
Ivy swayed but righted herself, and swung the sword in Nat’s direction. Nat ducked as it sliced through the air.
She crouched down and whipped her leg out in a tiger-tail kick, wiping Ivy’s legs out from underneath her. Ivy crashed like a felled tree on to the deck.
Poxo bared his teeth and was about to lunge at Nat when Saskia yelled, “Down, Poxo!”
Ivy rolled over, lashing out wildly with the sword. She staggered to her feet. Nat crouched, ready to pounce, but before she could, the bearded man came running across the deck. He launched into a butterfly kick, spinning his legs up into the air at Ivy’s head, like a windmill of death.
There was a sharp CRACK! as his foot met her skull. Ivy let out a half-strangled scream and collapsed on to the deck. The sword fell from her hand. Quick as a flash Nat shot out her hand in a tiger-claw and grabbed it by the hilt, just before it landed.
Saskia let out an ear-piercing scream. Ivy’s head was twisted at a right angle, her neck snapped, her eyes bulging out, unseeing. The Cementer layer had cracked across her face, revealing red, raw skin underneath.
Poxo growled and leapt at the man, his jaw wide, his “Sharper Than The Sharpest Samurai Sword” teeth bared. The man spun around, lightning fast, and one-inch punched Poxo in the chest. Poxo yelped and went flying across the deck, over the side, splashing into the water below.
“Poxo!” shrieked Saskia, running to the side.
“Yavakh!” said the man, turning to Nat.
She stood glued to the spot. He was speaking Mongolian.
“Yavakh!” he said with such force that she jumped back.
Nat looked across at Zixin but he was no longer there. Just a pile of rope showed where he’d been. She glanced down at Ivy’s prostrate, gold-armoured body. Dead, she was quite dead.
“I deal with this. Yavakh!” said the man.
Nat turned and ran to the side of the boat. Her kayak was gone! Henry, what had happened to Henry?
“I told NutNut to take Henry to the Junko when we got here and fetch Ah Ping,” said Fizz, coming in to land on her shoulder. His snout flashed red. “Junko approaching.”
“Where?”
He activated his torch mode. The bow of the Junko was cutting through the fog ahead. She’d never been so glad to see it.
Ah Ping was leaning over the front rail with a coiled rope in her hand. The Junko slowed. Ah Ping dropped the rope and Nat grabbed on to it. Ah Ping activated the autowind, whisking Nat up and on to the Junko’s deck.
“Henry in galley. I get MaxEdge full-power London?” said Ah Ping.
Nat nodded. “Fizz, help Ah Ping.”
“Aye aye, Captain,” he said, landing on Ah Ping’s shoulder.
Ah Ping gasped and froze. She turned to Fizz, her jaw dropping in shock. Fizz opened his right wing and wrapped it around her narrow shoulders.
“Full steam ahead!” he said.
Nat sprinted across the deck, in through the main hatch and down to the galley. She found Henry sitting wrapped in a blanket, drinking a steaming
mug of hot chocolate.
“Heya, Nat. Ku! You got the sword back!” he said, grinning.
She sighed with relief that he hadn’t seen anything that had happened. She’d have to explain it somehow … later.
“I did. Back in a minute. I’ve got to get changed.”
Nat walked into the corridor and strode straight past her own cabin to her parents’ old one that stood at the end. She opened the door and flicked on the lights.
It was kept just as it had been on the day that they died, with the blue silk blind drawn over the porthole. The bed was made up with fresh sheets every week, although no one had slept in it since.
She lifted the edge of the dragon-patterned silk rug that covered the floorboards and peeled it back. A thin brass handle was set into the middle board. She knelt down and wrapped her fingers around it. There was the clicking sound of locks opening. “Access: Natalie Walker” announced a digital voice.
She pulled the handle and the board lifted to reveal a long case with moulded spaces for two swords. She was about to lay the sword down in one when she remembered the secret code, which her mum had told her would be on the hilt.
“Knock, knock. May I enter?” said Fizz, sticking his snout round the door.
“Yes, I need you. Please can you find the code that’s embedded on this hilt.”
He clacked across the floor and scanned the handle.
“07734.”
“Thank you, Fizz,” said Nat. Then her hand flew to her mouth. “Zixin! We must get after him! He knows how to get into Bean Invaders and BlackCod! He knew about the sword all along. Ai yah, I should never have trusted him!”
Fizz’s wings drooped. “And I was charmed by Vesperetta. I hope I have redeemed myself a little though. I alerted Philippe the moment Zixin paddled off with the sword. He and Mangetout have reported back that they are evacuating the lab. There are procedures in place. He will let us know when he is in his new safe location.”
Nat sighed with relief. “Tiger’s teeth! Thank you, Fizz.”
She placed the sword into one of the storage slots and closed the lid. The locks whirred into action. “System armed,” said the voice.
Nat got to her feet and rolled back the rug. Fizz flew up on to her shoulder and rested his snout against the side of her head.