by Perry Aylen
The others shook their heads knowingly, and murmured agreement. Aulf found his drink suddenly tasted bitter. He thanked the landlord and made his way out into the darkening street.
He didn’t know where else to go. He had asked at all the inns, and talked to all the traders and people he knew in the town, but no one had any knowledge of the twins’ whereabouts. He looked up the hill, through the deepening gloom of the approaching night, and thought about the town hall. Tomorrow, he decided, he would go there and speak directly to the mayor and Gabriel. Maybe they knew something more.
Despondent and tired, he returned to the Aurora, unable to hide his disappointment from Ingar. Together they ate a desultory meal in the cabin while they scraped around for a plan of action, but there seemed little more they could do. Aulf knew, too, that he couldn’t stay indefinitely on Quayven. The delay in Orking Do had already cost him business and if he was going to survive, he needed to get on with delivering mail.
‘If we don’t get anywhere with this tomorrow,’ he told Ingar, ‘it’s going to have to wait until after the next mail run.’
He knew from her face that Ingar found this decision as hard to accept as he did.
‘Let’s get some sleep,’ she suggested. ‘You look exhausted.’
Chapter 19
Aulf woke early the next morning to the sound of someone whistling a tune outside on the quay. Quickly he pulled on his clothes and drew back the curtain around his bunk. Ingar stuck her bleary face through the join in her curtain and looked at him questioningly. He jerked his head towards the cabin door and the sound that had woken him.
‘Noah,’ he told her.
Recognition dawned on Ingar’s sleepy face. Aulf was already out the cabin door.
The sun had barely peeped over the horizon, and the air was still bitingly cold. Aulf, fresh from his warm bed, shivered and pulled his scarf closer around his chin.
‘Morning, Aulf,’ called a cheery voice from the quayside. ‘Did I wake you?’
Aulf grinned back. ‘I presume you meant to.’
Noah Shanks was leaning against the side of the Aurora. He held a cloth bundle in his hand, and he was grinning too. ‘Brought some warm seed cakes with me,’ he announced, holding up the bundle. ‘Tomas and I are on duty this morning, but I thought you might like some breakfast.’
Aulf jerked his head towards the cabin. ‘Come inside. I’ll make us some tea.’
The expression on Noah’s face didn’t alter one fraction as he replied. ‘I think we should stay out here on the deck, where everyone can see us.’
Aulf looked at him, puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’
Still grinning, Noah jumped lightly aboard the Aurora and sat down on a locker.
‘You’re being watched. Didn’t you know? No, don’t look around. Just pretend we’re having an innocent chat, like we usually do. There are a couple of sheriff’s men posted up on the hill, in two places, to keep an eye on your boat, and on you.’
Aulf paled slightly. ‘Why?’
‘Presumably they think you might lead them to those pesky twins everyone’s trying to find.’
Something in the way he said this made Aulf look at him more closely. ‘Do you know something I don’t, Noah?’
Ingar appeared in the cabin door. Noah greeted her with the same wide grin. ‘Morning, Ingar. Smile and look pleased to see me. You’re being watched.’
‘Do you know something about the twins?’ persisted Aulf, as Ingar came out to join them, closing the cabin door behind her.
Noah nodded and unwrapped the bundle of cakes in his lap. ‘Here, sit down and eat one of these, and look like we’re doing nothing more than having some breakfast and swapping boat stories, and I’ll tell you what’s happened. I wanted to come down yesterday, when you first arrived, and tell you everything, but Tomas said it would only attract attention if I did that when we weren’t on duty. He persuaded me to wait till we had our shift here this morning.’
He passed each of them a cake and they perched on the lockers while they ate.
‘Jacob and Elya are in our boat shed,’ he went on, without preamble. ‘They’ve been there for five days now, since the trouble blew up.’
‘In your boat shed!’ echoed Aulf in disbelief.
Noah shrugged. ‘They needed somewhere to hide, and we couldn’t think of anywhere better. Our house is too small, and our Ma might easily have let it slip without meaning to. Besides which, she’s as scared as everyone else by all the stories. The boat shed’s cold, but there’s a brazier there, and nobody thinks it’s strange if Tomas and I go there every day, because that’s normal.’
Aulf nodded. Noah and Tomas had lost their precious boat in a Horde attack a few years back, and they were now trying to build a replacement from scratch. With very little money, the task was a challenging one. Their shifts as harbour gatekeepers earned them the money to buy materials, and all their free time was spent working on their new boat.
‘We thought it would only be for a day or so, until you got back,’ went on Noah, ‘and you could get them away from here on the Aurora.’
‘But we got stuck in Orking Do,’ Aulf finished for him.
Noah nodded. ‘Poor kids! They’ve been holed up in that shed for days!’
‘We need to get them down here to the boat,’ Aulf agreed. ‘Ma will happily have them back on Jakir Chine if we can get them there.’
Noah handed them each a second cake. ‘Not a good idea. The harbour is being constantly patrolled, and every boat that leaves is stopped and searched. Someone is very keen to find those two.’
‘Proctor,’ said Aulf, his voice heavy. ‘He’s had it in for them since they arrived here.’
‘Or Gabriel,’ said Noah. ‘He’s supposed to be building those wizard towers everyone’s so excited about, but nothing’s happened since Jacob disappeared. I don’t think he knows what to do without Jacob.’
‘Really?’ For the first time in days, Aulf’s mood lightened.
‘So how are we going to get them on board and away from Quayven without anyone finding them?’ asked Ingar.
‘I’ve thought about it and I’ve got a plan,’ Noah told them. ‘Nothing must look unusual, so you need to collect the mail, Aulf, like you normally do, and set off as usual. You’ll be stopped and searched. We’ve all got orders not to let anyone through unless they’ve been searched, so you won’t avoid that, but it won’t matter because all you’ll have on board is a mail bag. Once you get out of the harbour, head round the island’ He paused to chew a mouthful of cake, then went on. ‘Do you remember that creek where we used to go climbing when we were small?’
Aulf nodded. ‘With the caves in the rocks? Where we found the dead sheep?’
Noah grinned. ‘That’s the one! We called it Skeleton Cove. Do you think you can find it from the ice? ’
Aulf nodded. ‘I think so.’ He frowned as he cast his mind back more than twelve years.
‘That’s where we’ll take the twins,’ Noah said. ‘Tonight, after everyone’s asleep. You find somewhere to wait out of sight on the ice, then head for the inlet as soon as the breeze comes up in the morning and we’ll be there waiting for you.’
He pushed the last piece of his cake into his mouth, and rose, grinning broadly.
‘Nice having breakfast with you,’ he said in a loud voice. ‘Have to dash. I’m on duty.’ He leapt nimbly over the Aurora’s side rail and gave them a cheery wave as he ran off in the direction of the harbour gates.
Chapter 20
Darkness hung over the island, and beneath the clear sky, the air close to the ice was bitterly cold. So cold, thought Elya, it sliced into her lungs like a sharp blade every time she yawned. It felt as though she had not been warm for days. There had been a small brazier in the boat shed, but the rough wooden walls, so close to the ice, had provided little protection against the harsh temperatures. There had been rugs, and plenty of sacks, and these they had piled around themselves, huddling together miserably to keep warm, gr
owing ever more anxious as the days passed and no news came of the Aurora.
Elya yawned again and shivered. They were crouched uncomfortably in a prickly thicket on a steep cliffside overlooking the ice. She had no idea what this place was, or how Tomas and Noah had found it. It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. No roads, no houses, no lights.
She was very tired. Cold and scared as they had been, they had not slept properly for nights, and tonight, they had not slept at all. Tomas and Noah had arrived at the boat shed in the early hours of the morning, and together they crept furtively across the island to this place. Somewhere out there in front of them, where the darkness was paler, the Aurora was waiting to come and meet them; to rescue them a second time. Elya looked hopefully at the horizon for any lightening of the sky that would signify dawn, and shivered again.
Jacob reached out and put his arm around her to warm her up. They did not speak to each other. They had not spoken much at all over the last few days, both conscious how easily their conversations turned into arguments. But she was glad he was here with her now.
Someone pushed something solid into her hand, and Tomas’ voice said, ‘Have some cheese.’ She gnawed gratefully. Eating made her feel warmer, though her hands and feet still ached with the cold.
After that, she must have drifted into a doze because suddenly Noah was saying, ‘Come on then, let’s go,’ and she realised that she could see details of the gorse and heather around her, and make out the edge of the rocky cliff against the pale ice below.
Her feet had grown so numb they didn’t want to move.
‘Watch where you tread,’ Noah said. ‘It’s only a rabbit path and it’s very steep. Try and follow where I go.’
Jacob was in front of her, Tomas brought up the rear. Now the sky was beginning to lighten, she could see they had been perched high above a rocky inlet. A tumble of boulders and scrubby thorn bushes formed high walls on either side of the icy creek below. It looked like they were expected to scramble down these sheer banks.
Jacob turned his face to look at her. His eyes were dark and wide in the pale smudge of his face. ‘Just don’t look down,’ she whispered. She heard him draw a deep breath, and gave his arm a reassuring squeeze. Down they went, slipping and sliding along the dangerous trail. Overgrown brambles snatched at their clothes and scratched their faces, and the earth was treacherous underfoot. Invisible rocks and roots snagged at their boots and threatened to send them tumbling down onto the unforgiving ice below.
At least the climb helped get their circulation flowing again. Elya could feel her toes throbbing, and see her breath rising in thick clouds in front of her face. And all the time it was getting lighter. By the time they reached the rocks bordering the ice, it was unmistakably morning, and the first tendrils of gold were feeling their way over the distant rim of the ice. Tomas produced more cheese and some chunks of dried apple to chew on, and they huddled together on the rocks, all eyes fixed hopefully on the point where the inlet opened onto the ice.
‘The breeze is up,’ said Noah, hearing the whisper in the bushes overhead. ‘Feel it?’
‘Come on, Aulf,’ murmured Jacob, impatiently.
Moments later, they all saw the Aurora at the same time, her unmistakable outline dark against the deepening gold of the sunrise as she sailed into view at the head of the creek.
‘Get your blades on,’ prompted Tomas, but Elya and Jacob had already retrieved their skates from their bags and were strapping them swiftly to their boots.
On an impulse, Elya hugged Noah, and then Tomas. Almost instantly, Jacob did the same.
‘Thank you both!’ Elya told them fervently.
Noah grinned at her and shrugged lightly, as though it had all been no trouble. ‘Glad we could be of assistance,’ he replied.
In the early morning light, with their fair tousled hair and their wide grins, Elya could see the distinctive family resemblance between these two brothers and Aulf.
Tomas said, cheerfully, ‘Any friend of Aulf’s...’
‘And we won’t forget,’ put in Jacob, ‘about the boat spares. I’m sure there’s plenty you can use from Gem in Ma’s barn. We’ll get Aulf to bring them over to you.’
Then they were away, skating down the narrow creek towards the open ice.
Chapter 21
Jacob and Elya sat on the deck together and watched the unchanging expanse of flat ice shooting past on both sides of the boat. They were heading back to Ma’s house. The sun was high in the cloudless sky, and the vast whiteness of the ice was like a great mirror reflecting the dazzling glare of the sunlight back at the flawless blue sky. It was easier to look out behind the boat, back the way they had travelled, because the glare ahead was so intense it made their eyes water. Tears froze uncomfortably on their cheeks in the chill of the air that rushed past the sleek Aurora.
They had not had time yet to catch up. Aulf had taken one look at Jacob and Elya, at the dark shadows under their eyes, and their thin white faces and decided the priority was to get them back to Jakir Chine, a warm house, a good meal and a comfortable bed. Explanations and decisions could wait for another day.
At a shout from Aulf, they turned their eyes forwards. He was pointing into the sky. When they looked up, there, incongruously in that vista of unbroken blue, was a delicate white cloud.
‘It’s beautiful!” breathed Ingar. ‘Quickly, you must hold your collar and make a wish.’
Jacob and Elya laughed, but did as they were told. Looking over, they could see Aulf doing the same. The cloud soon scurried by on a high wind.
‘Where do they come from?’ wondered Ingar, as the little cloud faded from sight.
‘My father said we should search for the clouds,’ Elya told her. ‘He said, if we could find where the clouds gather, we’d find a new world.’
‘A new world,’ repeated Ingar, inspired by the words. She gazed around her at the world she knew, the familiar, yet alien, world of the ice. ‘There are so many things I don’t understand,’ she murmured wistfully.
She had spoken softly, half to herself, but Elya caught her words and felt the yearning behind them.
‘Like what, Ingar?’
Ingar stirred and roused herself back to reality. ‘Oh, I don’t know. Just about everything really. There are so many big mysteries.’ She indicated the blank whiteness that surrounded them as far as the eye could see. ‘All this ice, for example. And yet, our islands are warm? How does that happen? Why aren’t the islands frozen too.’
The wind in their ears could easily drown out conversation, but Jacob had overheard Ingar’s musings.
‘That’s not a mystery.’ He grinned at her. ‘Our island’s the same. The explanation’s simple. Underneath the ground, there’s a huge fire burning, deep in the earth. Up here, the ice acts like an enormous quilt, trapping the heat beneath it. But the heat builds up and has to escape somewhere, and the only way out is through the rocks sticking up through the ice. That’s how your islands stay warm. The heat escaping through the solid rock warms them.’
He stopped, suddenly aware that both Aulf and Ingar were staring at him in amazement. He looked embarrassed.
‘It’s just basic geology,’ he added hastily.
Aulf was fascinated. ‘So where does the water come from?’
A little more self-consciously now, Jacob continued with his explanation.
‘Well, the ice is too thick to melt completely, but the bottom layer, which is nearer the fire, gets melted into water by the heat from below. The weight of the ice above puts the water under great pressure, forcing it into fissures in the rock, and up to the surface. That’s how the plants grow.’
‘How do you know all that?’ asked Ingar, astonished.
Jacob shrugged dismissively. ‘I learnt it at school, that’s all. It’s nothing special.’
* * *
Ma was delighted to see them all again. Jakir Chine was a very small island, consisting entirely of three modest homesteads, and news from Quayven often
bypassed them completely. Ma had heard nothing of the troubles on the main island, so once they had all sat down together around the big stove with steaming mugs in their hands, Aulf began with his account of what had happened in Orking Do.
‘And we couldn’t find out anything about what had happened to the two of you, except gossip and rumours,’ he explained, finishing his tale and looking to Jacob and Elya to hear their story.
Jacob looked at Elya, but she was staring hard at the floor. Unusually, he seemed reluctant to speak, but as it was apparent that Elya was not about to say anything, he cleared his throat and said, ‘We had a bit of a falling out with Gabriel over the towers.’
Aulf raised his eyebrows. ‘That much we gathered. What happened, though?’
‘Well...’ began Jacob, and stopped. A faintly desperate expression passed over his features. Elya’s dark green eyes flicked him a scathing glance.
‘He doesn’t want to say it but he thinks it’s all my fault!’ she burst out, taking them all by surprise.
‘Did I say that?’ protested her brother.
‘You didn’t have to! It’s what you thought, though.’
Jacob looked exasperated. ‘Well, you have to admit, it was all going fine until you threw a rock under the runners. We had a house to live in, and money coming in, and some promising prospects. What have we got now?’
‘And that’s more important than doing the right thing?’ Elya’s eyes were flashing.
Jacob opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it. Elya looked at Aulf, Ma and Ingar.
‘Gabriel was using us. He had no intention of using the towers to help Hexult. He only wanted to build them to gain points over the other islands. I told him we needed to have cooperation between all the islands before we went ahead with the project, and that the first tower should be built on Orking Do, not on Quayven at all.’