Hap had hesitated when he saw Occo climbing the walls of the Aerie. He knew he couldn’t do it again. He ran for the main hall, screaming, “Occo is on the causeway! He’s after Dodd!”
Oates rumbled down the stairs, and Hap followed. Balfour came behind, faster than Hap would have expected for a man with so many aching parts. Oates threw open the door to the gatehouse and charged outside.
Balfour called after Hap, “Happenstance, wait! You’re not to venture outside!” Hap pretended not to hear him and rushed after Oates. The wooden doors of the gatehouse were open, but the portcullis had been lowered. Hap looked out between the iron bars, afraid of what he might see. He felt one of Oates’s strong hands close over his shoulder.
Dodd was on the causeway, a stone’s throw away. Occo and his horse were nowhere in sight. Thank goodness, Hap thought, until he saw the way Dodd staggered toward the Aerie. His sword lay in the road behind him. Dodd wobbled and dropped to his knees, and started to crawl.
Wilkin and Barkin had already charged out the narrow door beside the portcullis. They put their elbows under Dodd’s arms, dragged him back to the gatehouse, and propped him in a chair. Wilkin’s face was purple with rage and anguish. “We didn’t see what was happening, Dodd—so sorry!”
Dodd’s teeth chattered and he struggled to breathe. Hap saw bruises on his neck. Streams of blood flowed from four punctures on one side. He imagined Occo’s long, sharp nails piercing the flesh.
“His … face …,” Dodd said hoarsely. “I pulled his mask to one side … saw another eye … like a cat’s eye … horrible …”
“Easy, Dodd,” Barkin said. “Don’t try to talk. Wilkin, get that medicine kit Umber gave us!”
Wilkin bustled away. Dodd looked at the faces peering down, and his gaze lingered on Hap for a moment before turning to Balfour. “He said … if we want Lord Umber back alive …” Dodd’s hand went inside his coat, probing, and came out clutching a folded parchment. With a trembling hand, he thrust it at Balfour. He coughed before he could speak again. “He told me … do as this says, or Umber dies.”
Balfour took the parchment and opened it. His gaze swept back and forth across the message. When he was done he shut his eyes and rubbed his palm across his face.
“What does it say?” Oates asked.
“Hap, come inside with me,” Balfour said.
They stood inside the Aerie’s first floor, where the rush of water turned the creaking paddle wheel. The note was at their feet, where Balfour had let it drop after reading aloud. The words were scrawled in a spidery hand, and the smudged, flaking ink was a color somewhere between red and brown. A lump formed in Hap’s throat when he wondered what Occo used for ink.
“What on earth can we do?” mumbled Balfour.
Lady Truden circled them, stomping. “Exactly what the note tells us to do.” She stabbed toward the note with her finger. “And soon! Within the hour, or Lord Umber will be thrown from Petraportus, onto the rocks!”
Hap looked up at her. Her mouth was clamped so tight that the color was driven from her lips. Over Lady Truden’s shoulder he saw Sophie watching from the bottom of the stairs, blinking back tears.
Balfour spoke with his eyes closed. “Tru—Umber would never let us surrender the boy. I can assure you of that.”
Lady Truden squeezed her hands, turning the knuckles white. “How else can we save Lord Umber?”
Oates’s voice boomed out. “Let me go. Let me try to rescue him.”
Lady Truden glared. “Read the note, you fool! Occo will be watching. If anyone but the boy comes, he’ll kill Lord Umber. And of course he’d see you—that’s why he chose Petraportus for the meeting place!”
Hap stared at the parchment. Lady Truden was right. There was no other way. Umber was being held in the crumbling ruins of Petraportus, in the last tower standing. Even now, a dim light could be seen at its pinnacle. There was only one way to get there: across the bridge of rubble that reached from the old castle to the foot of the Aerie. The bridge was in plain sight of the tower. Occo would see if anyone but Hap tried to cross. And with the storm raging, there was no way to use a boat to sneak someone over. It was a perfect trap.
“I have to go,” Hap said. “There’s no other way.” Balfour slowly opened his eyes. The others stared. Lady Truden sighed with relief and leaned on the table.
Balfour pushed his chair back and stood. “Happenstance. You can’t—”
“Please, Balfour,” Hap said, standing as well. “I haven’t been around here for long. Well … actually, I haven’t been around anywhere for long. I don’t know who I am, or what I’m here for. I know that Lord Umber’s important, though. I’ve seen all the good things he’s done. I know for sure the world needs him. I can’t say that about me.”
Sophie made a choking sound and stumbled up the stairs. Balfour looked like he wanted to speak, but no words came out.
“Who knows,” Hap said. “After the Creep lets Lord Umber go, maybe these legs of mine will help me get away.”
“I don’t believe that,” Oates said.
The last drop of moisture in Hap’s mouth evaporated. “I guess I should go now.”
“Wait—I’ll get you some of Umber’s trick bottles,” Balfour said suddenly. “Like the one he used on the tyrant worm, and the one he gave to the prince. They might give you a chance.”
“No!” cried Lady Truden. “No tricks. You’re risking Lord Umber’s life, you old fool!”
“And you’re trying to doom Hap’s,” Balfour snapped. His face darkened with a fury Hap had never seen. “He’s taking the bottles, Tru, like it or not.”
Lady Truden cried out in disgust. “What does it matter, anyway? It’s hopeless. How do we even know the boy won’t run off as soon as he’s outside, to save his own skin?”
Balfour gave Lady Truden a cold stare. She crossed her arms and turned away.
“I guess you’ll just have to trust me,” Hap said to her back.
There was a small door made of oak and iron in a corner of the first floor. Lady Truden had the key that opened it, and Oates heaved the door open. Behind it was a short tunnel through solid rock. It emerged outside the Aerie, where a narrow staircase descended to the foot of the pillar, and the bridge to Petraportus.
Hap turned before leaving. “Good-bye, everyone.” Lady Truden looked away, Oates squeezed his shoulder, and Balfour gathered him in a hug. Hap breathed deeply and stepped into the tunnel. Halfway through, he stopped. Sophie was calling, shouting his name. It was by far the loudest he’d ever heard her speak.
CHAPTER
28
Hap stepped into the howling gray blur of the storm, onto the slick stairs that were etched in the pillar of rock. The steps were barely two feet wide and slippery from rainwater cascading across them. A chain was the only railing, and he gripped the cold wet links, moving hand over hand.
The gale blew steady and strong down the mouth of the bay, and the waves obeyed it with a rhythmic assault. They rushed at Kurahaven like brigades, crashing thunderously on the shore. The harbor was crumbling under the attack. Piers tilted and splintered planks bobbed in the foam. Two of the largest ships had torn free of their moorings and hammered wildly against the docks.
At the bottom of the steps the crude breakwater that connected the Aerie to Petraportus was under the same assault. On a calm day it would be an easy stroll across those rocks, the remains of a fallen tower. But now the waves rose up to bow before engulfing the jumbled stone in tons of churning black sea. Foam and water hissed and drained into the gaps, just in time for another monstrous wave to pounce.
Sometimes there was scarcely one second between waves; sometimes there were a few. Hap started to gauge the timing, noting with a grimace that a longer delay between waves led to a bigger, more lethal wall of water. But I might be able to make it, he thought. Nobody else could, he knew; his grasshopper legs gave him a chance. Of course, Occo the Creep must have been thinking the same thing. He didn’t want any helpful frie
nds coming along. Especially not Oates, Hap figured.
He stood at the end of the bridge. With his clothes soaked by rain, he felt twice as heavy. Petraportus loomed, with its remaining tower listing at a frightening angle. The dim light still glowed in its topmost windows.
Across the span stood the broken foundation of the fallen east tower. There was a wide crack in the center where the wall had shattered. He’d be safe if he could make it that far.
Hap watched the incoming waves. The next two were close together. After that came a larger gap. That’s when I go, Hap thought. Before the third wave. His ribs clutched his heart. He imagined himself caught under one of those crushing waves, with tons of water driving him into the depths and holding him there until his mouth opened and black water filled his lungs.
The first wave shattered against the breakwater. The second rose and toppled heavily onto the rocks. Now!
Hap ran as fast as he could without slipping on the wet stone. He jumped for a large rock, landed with two feet, and hopped again. Pools of black water were everywhere, filtering into the crevices. One of his feet came down in a puddle and slipped between two stones. He pried it out, sensing a new mountain of water rising at the corner of his right eye. Don’t fall, screeched a voice in his head. And he knew he must not fall—another life beside his own was at stake.
The wave rose with a whoosh. When it reached full height, it seemed to pause. The wind ceased, and the storm fell strangely quiet. Because that wave is so big that it’s blocking everything, Hap realized. The crack in the foundation seemed a mile away. In the momentary lee of the wave that was about to drown him, he jumped. He soared across the wet stones. The wave toppled. Hap could have reached out with his right hand and touched it. His foot came down on another stone, and he pushed off again.
The wave slammed onto the breakwater. Everything was lost in a roar of inky water and gray foam. Hap flew through the crack in the keep, feeling the spittle of the wave lash his shoulders, and came to rest with his hands and feet on the floor. He felt every frantic thump of his heart. His hands went to the pockets of his coat, feeling for the precious items nestled within. Everything was still there.
He was in a round, roofless space surrounded by ragged walls. The rain still hammered down, but he was safe from the waves. Across from where he’d entered, he saw an archway that led into a larger space. He clambered across piles of stone and went through, into the legendary keep of Petraportus. Here, he knew, was the wonder of its age: a castle for a maritime empire, with a hall so vast that a ship could sail inside to the great pool under its dome.
The pool remained, but the dome had partly collapsed and littered it with blocks of stone. The marble columns that once supported the roof were shattered and broken. Still, the remaining walls offered some shelter, so the pool was surprisingly calm as the storm shrieked across the gaps overhead. Hap heard waves pounding at the other side, trying to complete the demolition. The stones grumbled against one another. Even as he stood there, a chunk rolled out of the walls and splashed into the pool.
As the ripples spread, something else sloshed in the water. Hap saw a dark thing just under the surface. The water bubbled, and a head emerged. It was a horse’s head, but with hard, plated skin and a spiny fin instead of a mane. Hap’s teeth pressed together. Occo’s horse, he realized. The beast’s neck craned sideways, and a brown eye stared. Beyond that, Hap saw something even more ominous: the prow of Occo’s ship, sticking out from behind a fallen pillar.
He put a hand to his cheek to stop his teeth from chattering and looked around the keep. The archway to the west tower was on the opposite side. He could get there by picking his way around the pool.
The sea horse swam in place, watching him. He grimaced at it, and then started his journey. A terrible fate seemed moments away. Either the rest of the dome would collapse on his head, or Occo would dart out and seize him. This is insanity, part of his mind screamed. How do you know Umber’s really alive? Get out of here! He ignored that voice. “Be ready,” he said aloud.
In a sheltered alcove halfway around the pool, he saw a pair of water barrels on the stone floor. There, too, were the ashes of a fire, a pair of hammocks suspended from the stones, a little stove and a few other meager belongings. The fisherman and his wife, he recalled, and at the same moment he saw their cold and lifeless bodies on the ground.
Hap didn’t know what had happened to them, but he was certain Occo was responsible. They were side by side on the rocks. Their faces were masks of terror, with eyes staring and mouths open in petrified screams. Rain spattered their waxen cheeks. Hap turned away and covered his eyes, but the faces remained inside his mind. Those poor people, he thought. He remembered his glimpse of Occo. All he’d seen was the top of the pale head.
What on earth did they see?
CHAPTER
29
Hap heard a splash in the water behind him. Occo’s horse had swum closer. He reached for a stone and flung it at the creature. It tilted its head to let the rock sail by and snorted at Hap. Jets of mist shot from its nostrils.
“I hate you. And your master, too,” Hap said.
The horse shadowed him as Hap leaped from stone to stone until he reached the tower. The room at the base was intact, except for some gaps in the walls where stones had fallen. A staircase curved up and out of sight. It took all his will to raise his foot to the first step. “Here we go,” he said aloud, and began his strange journey up the sagging tower.
Streams of water flowed down the stairs. There were rooms along the way. He’d enter one and cross to another flight of steps on the other side. The rooms had been stripped of furnishings long before, and now all he saw were nests in the cracks of the walls. The birds couldn’t see Hap, but they knew something was passing by. His gifted eyes saw them ruffle their feathers in the dark.
Occo must be crazy, Hap decided. Or, at least, the Creep did not understand what a precarious state the tower was in. Hap could feel the whole structure rocking in the wind.
A block of stone the size of a barrel fell inward. Hap had to press his back against the wall to keep from getting crushed. It tumbled down the stairs and smashed into the curving wall below, pushing another stone six inches outward.
“We’re all going to die,” Hap said. Before he could move on, he had to take three deep breaths of wet, salty air. He thought the top must be near because there were new sounds above. They were hard to understand at first, with the storm whistling through gaps in the walls. But the higher he went, the clearer the sounds became. And what he heard was completely unexpected.
Umber was talking. That alone was a surprise, but what astonished him was the tone of Umber’s voice. It sounded like the old, exuberant Umber, not the sad specter who haunted the Aerie for nearly two weeks. Hap smiled in spite of his fear.
“Come on, Occo!” he heard Umber say. “You can tell me. How did you follow us across the sea? It won’t do any harm to let me know.”
Occo’s icy voice replied. “I sent my steed to wound the leviathan. She could smell the blood in the water, and we followed the scent.”
“Clever,” Umber replied. “I should have guessed! Now, what sort of being are you, anyway? Are there many like you? And what is it you want from me? The curiosity is killing me!”
“I will be killing you if you do not hold your tongue.”
It sounded as if they were just a half curve of the stairs away. Hap wondered if he might be able to approach unseen and surprise the Creep. But that hope was dashed as another sound rose up from below, echoing through the walls: a whinny from Occo’s horse. A signal, Hap thought.
“Now, silence!” Occo hissed. “He is coming.”
“Who is?” Umber asked brightly. Hap heard a metallic whisper, like a blade being drawn from its sheath. “Absolutely, I’ll be quiet now,” Umber said next.
Hap curled his fingers into fists, steeling his nerve for whatever would come next. He pressed his back to the outer wall and crept up the re
maining steps. The teetering was more pronounced near the top of the tower. Bits of mortar fell from the walls and bounced down the stairs, tick tack tick. Something far below shifted and crashed, and the whole tower shuddered.
“Doesn’t feel safe, does it? Perhaps we should leave,” he heard Umber say. “Sorry,” Umber added as Occo snarled.
Hap saw orange light ahead. It grew with every step. Finally, he spied the edge of the threshold that led to the top. Two steps later he saw Umber’s legs, bound tight with cord. Another step revealed the rest of Umber, sitting with his back against the wall. Umber’s arms were lashed to his sides, and he had a cloth around his eyes. The tip of a saber hovered at his neck.
Hap paused while he was still out of Occo’s sight. There was something he had to do before he went farther, if he was to have any chance to save Umber and himself. When that was done, he took the final step, arriving at the threshold.
From there he could see the entire room. The space was round—or had been round, at one time, before a quarter fell away, leaving a sheer drop off a jagged edge. Beyond that gap, the elements raged.
Occo stood near Umber, holding the saber. His head was covered once more by the sack of gauzy material. A bright blue eye peered out from the single hole. “At lasssst,” Occo whispered when Hap appeared in the glow of the lantern.
“At last what? Who’s there? Wait—it’s not Happenstance, is it? Hap, tell me that’s not you!” Umber said. There was a hint of panic in his voice.
“It is me,” Hap said.
“Do my orders mean nothing?” Umber cried. “Get out of here!”
“I can’t,” Hap said. “Occo will kill you if I don’t do what he says.” He didn’t want Occo to know how frightened he was, but his quivering voice betrayed him.
“You’re too important, Hap!” Umber said, wriggling and leaning forward. “Don’t fret about me. Run, as fast as your legs can—”
“Enough,” Occo said, putting his blade under Umber’s chin and forcing his mouth closed. “Step into the room, child. Or I will put an end to this Umber right now.”
Happenstance Found (Books of Umber #1) Page 19