by Jon Mayhew
‘Well, we should be here,’ Georgia announced as she brought the Liberty to the surface. ‘We just need to check we’re in exactly the right place.’
‘Bon!’ Lafitte declared, and began to climb the ladder for the upper cabin. ‘I will leave you here and swim ashore.’
He stopped abruptly as Georgia pushed a pistol against his nose.
‘Sorry, monsieur,’ Dakkar said, holding out the rope. ‘But I think we should tie you up again.’
Lafitte grumbled but extended his hands for Dakkar to bind his wrists.
The Liberty bobbed up through the mass of bubbles and Dakkar peered through the portholes. In the distance, he could see a tendril of smoke trickling upward from a cone-shaped peak. Dense jungle clustered around the volcano, finally giving way to rocky beach.
‘It doesn’t look inhabited,’ Dakkar muttered, wiping the condensation from the glass.
‘Believe me,’ Lafitte murmured over Dakkar’s shoulder, ‘the devil himself lives on that island.’
‘We have to believe you,’ Georgia called down from the captain’s cabin. ‘But, I swear, if you’ve taken us on a wild goose chase, you’ll be looking in from the other side of that porthole.’
‘I’m sure of it!’ Lafitte said, pulling a face at Dakkar.
‘We’d better submerge and see if there are any caves or tunnels we might use to get into the island,’ Dakkar said, turning away from the view and indicating to Georgia that they should submerge.
Dakkar couldn’t stop marvelling at the beauty of the seabed. Multicoloured fish danced in and out of huge banks of coral while seaweed swayed with the tide.
They skirted the island, getting closer and closer.
‘What’s that?’ Georgia called out.
Dakkar peered through the larger portholes of the lower cabin. This side of the island rose in a series of plateaux, like a stepped mountain, from the seabed. And a huge cavern entrance gaped in the side of the steps.
‘Let’s see what’s in there,’ Dakkar said quietly. Suddenly it felt very warm in the Liberty. A bead of sweat trickled down his back.
‘Do you think it is wise, mes amis?’ Lafitte whispered.
‘I don’t know,’ Dakkar replied. ‘But we’re about to find out.’
Georgia steered the Liberty towards the cavern entrance. Dakkar couldn’t help thinking about the fish-men he’d seen in the castle cave. They were a distant memory after all that had happened since then.
Georgia gasped. Clusters of stalactites and stalagmites lined the cavern’s entrance like rows of wicked teeth. Strange, brown coral twisted its way around the rocks, mottling the walls.
‘It looks like a huge mouth,’ Georgia said, shuddering as they drifted nearer.
Dakkar scrambled up next to her and peered through the gloom. There was something not quite right. A few air bubbles drifted up from the corner of the entrance. The seaweed didn’t grow out of it so much there as around the edge.
‘Pull back,’ Dakkar snapped.
The stalactites were close now, sharp and pointed. They weren’t jagged rock. They were bone.
‘What?’ Georgia said, frowning at him. ‘But we –’
‘It is a huge mouth!’ Dakkar yelled, snatching at the wheel and sending the Liberty careening to port. ‘Pull back now!’
At that same instant, the whole side of the cliff moved and the cave mouth widened. Two glowing eyes appeared through a cloud of swirling mud as a massive fish snapped down its teeth. Georgia screamed and rammed the lever to Full Ahead as the teeth grated down the polished wooden side of the Liberty.
‘Mon Dieu,’ Lafitte exclaimed from below. ‘It is some kind of monster.’
The colossal fish had obviously lain in the entrance to the cave, blocking it completely with its open mouth. Waiting. Dakkar could see its flattened, lumpy body, the bony fins lashing the water as it powered after them.
Georgia spun the wheel again, throwing Dakkar against the wall of the submersible. From below, they could hear Lafitte’s curses as he crashed about in the lower cabin.
‘Imbecile!’ he bellowed. ‘Are you trying to kill me?’
But the fish darted after them still, its glowing eyes filling the rear portholes.
‘It’s gaining on us!’ Dakkar yelled.
‘Use the sepia bomb,’ Georgia said, twisting the wheel again and sending the Liberty into a spiral that brought more curses from below.
Dakkar slid down the steps and opened the box containing the glass sepia globes. Two round brass hatches dotted either side of the back wall of the craft. He slid one open and pushed the glass ball in, then repeated the procedure.
‘Is this spring-loaded like the Sea Arrow mechanism?’ he shouted up to Georgia.
‘Yes, wind it and press the button,’ she called back through gritted teeth. ‘Only, do it quickly. This thing’s gonna take a chunk out of our tail!’
Dakkar wound the crank next to the sepia hatch and Lafitte copied him, cursing at the ropes that restricted his movements. Then Dakkar jabbed his thumb against the button and scrambled up to see if it had worked.
A brown cloud boiled in the water behind them, obscuring everything.
‘Uncle Robert mixed the sepia with an acid solution,’ Georgia explained, swinging the Liberty to face the fish as it emerged from the cloud of ink. ‘Its vision should be impaired now.’
‘Sea Arrows?’ Dakkar suggested.
Georgia grinned and nodded.
‘This is a formidable craft,’ Lafitte panted as he loaded a dart into one of the tubes. ‘The man who created it must be a genius.’
‘He is,’ Dakkar replied, loading a second missile. Then he corrected himself. ‘They are!’ He fired the arrow and peered out of the lower portholes.
Georgia had put the Liberty into reverse as the arrows had fired in order to escape as much of the explosion as possible. One arrow flew past the fish but the other struck home as the creature thrashed through the water towards them. A flash dazzled Dakkar and the surge of the blast rocked the Liberty, sending him and Lafitte staggering from side to side, bumping into each other.
‘Again I find myself on my derrière!’ Lafitte snapped as he landed on his backside.
Dakkar scrambled to the porthole. The sepia mist was thinning to reveal the smouldering bulk of the fish as it sank, trailing a growing cloud of blood.
‘The entrance is clear now,’ Dakkar said, peering beyond the sinking remains.
The cave stood open, waiting for them.
‘What if there are other such terrors lurking within it?’ Lafitte said, becoming pale.
‘Then we’ll deal with them,’ Dakkar said as Georgia powered the Liberty through the gory cloud of blood towards the cliff.
An uneasy silence fell over the Liberty as she crossed the threshold of the cave. Dakkar could see scales and fragments of coral where the fish had lain in wait. He suppressed a shudder and then gave a gasp.
The darkness of the cave gave way to a curious fluorescent light emitted by hundreds of glowing jellyfish. They drifted like ragged candelabra, a pulsing green and blue halo around each one. The columns and pillars of volcanic rock reaching up from the cavern floor reflected the eerie light, dancing with shadows.
‘They’re beautiful,’ Georgia whispered, dropping the wheel to stare out.
‘I’ve never seen anything like it,’ Lafitte whispered in French.
But Dakkar stared beyond and between the trailing fronds of the jellyfish. Dark shadows weaved in and out. Man-shaped shadows. Every now and then the light would shimmer on a scaly back or reflect on a milky eye. They had company.
Chapter Twenty
Cryptos
‘There are people out there,’ Georgia whispered, staring through the porthole into the illuminated cavern.
‘Sirènes,’ Lafitte gasped.
‘What?’ Georgia said, frowning at Lafitte. ‘Will you please speak English?’
‘Since when did you Americans speak English?’ Lafitte snapped, waving a
dismissive hand.
‘Mermaids,’ Dakkar said. ‘Though not the fairytale kind. These have legs, not fishtails.’
‘And they are not as beautiful as I have been led to believe,’ Lafitte said, pouting his bottom lip.
A scaly body flashed past the porthole, making Georgia scream.
‘I’ve seen these before,’ Dakkar said. ‘They were in the pool when I first set off in the Makara.’
‘You never mentioned it.’ Georgia scowled at him.
‘I wasn’t sure I believed it myself,’ Dakkar murmured, peering out. ‘They attacked me last time but they’re keeping their distance now.’
‘They must have seen the devastation this thing can wreak,’ Lafitte said, not taking his eyes from the fish-men.
‘They’re guiding us,’ Georgia said, shivering as two fish-men crossed in front of the Liberty.
Dakkar could see their huge pearly eyes and drooping mouths now. Loincloths of seaweed clung to their muscled legs and waists as they kicked with webbed feet away from the Liberty. The fish-men swam ahead, sweeping the water with their powerful arms, and gradually a channel formed in the mass of jellyfish. Dakkar stared in wonder at the pulsing wall of light as they followed.
‘Well, so much for sneaking up on Cryptos,’ Dakkar said, shaking his head at the sight outside.
‘Should we go back?’ Georgia asked, pulling a face at her own suggestion.
‘I don’t think we can,’ Dakkar muttered. ‘There are hundreds of fish-men out there. Besides, these creatures were at the castle, which suggests that Oginski will be here too.’
‘They are swimming to the surface,’ Lafitte said.
A sheer rock face loomed in the distance, marking the furthest edge of the cavern. Georgia emptied the ballast tanks and, slowly, the Liberty began to rise after the fish-men.
The scene above the surface was as breathtaking as that below. Above the light of the glowing water huge columns of rock rose high into the shadows. Pinks and greens shimmered on the walls until they vanished into the darkness. In the distance, across the cavern, shafts of dusty daylight broke in through several entrances. The sound of waves crashing echoed through them.
But what took Dakkar’s breath away was the craft that lay at the side of the pool. The sea lapped on to a small wooden dock that jutted from a rocky ledge, and lashed to this jetty was a huge submersible. A massive tube, it was almost as long as Blizzard’s frigate, with a tower in the centre of the hull. With its polished wooden boards and brass, it shone in the half-light of the cavern.
‘It’s incredible,’ Dakkar gasped.
‘Do you think Uncle Robert and Oginski built it?’ Georgia said.
But Dakkar could make out human shapes standing on the jetty. As they drew closer, fish-men leapt from the water and grabbed ropes to secure the Liberty.
Out of the water, the fish-men looked more or less human in shape. A fine sheen of scales coated their skin. Some shimmered green, others blue. Knots of green hair flowed down over their shoulders. The pouting lips and large glassy eyes gave them a look of sadness, which was exaggerated by the strange catfish barbel that hung like a moustache from the corners of their mouths.
‘I can see people,’ Georgia said. ‘Is it Uncle Robert?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Dakkar replied, slipping down to the lower cabin and heading for the exit hatch.
The Liberty bumped and banged as she was pulled alongside the landing stage behind the huge submersible. Dakkar could see the name Nautilus engraved on a brass plate on her hull.
Lafitte lifted his bound wrists in front of Dakkar. ‘The least you could do is untie me,’ the pirate said. ‘I have done what you asked of me. This could be dangerous and I may need to defend myself.’
Dakkar paused and chewed his lip. He couldn’t trust the pirate but he had a point.
‘Very well,’ Dakkar said, pulling a knife from his belt and cutting the ropes round Lafitte’s wrists.
Georgia appeared behind Dakkar and they looked at each other. She handed him a loaded pistol.
‘Ready?’ Dakkar said.
Georgia nodded. Lafitte gave a mocking bow and a flourish with his hands towards the ladder that led up to the hatch. Dakkar shook his head, indicating that he should go first. His heart pounding, Dakkar clambered up after him.
The warmth of the air in the cavern struck Dakkar first – that, and the smell of sulphur. A tall, gaunt figure sat in an ornate sedan chair, flanked by six fish-men, their milky eyes glowering, fins fanning the air at their necks. The man gripped the chair’s arms with thin fingers that ended in incredibly long, sharp nails. He wore silk robes that were so black they seemed to flow down into the smooth, glassy floor. A drooping moustache exaggerated the length of his pale face and the glow from the water gleamed on his bald head. Dakkar would have taken him for a Chinese nobleman but his sad blue eyes gave him away as European.
‘Welcome, your highness,’ the man said, nodding to him. ‘It is an honour indeed to meet you at last. I am Count Cryptos, ruler of this humble island abode.’
The blood pounded in Dakkar’s temples. The last time he had seen that slender figure, heard that voice, it had held the lifeless body of Mrs Evans.
‘You! I’ll make you pay for what you did,’ Dakkar snarled, taking a step towards Cryptos. ‘Where is Oginski?’
‘And my Uncle Robert?’ Georgia added, pulling the pistol from her belt.
The fish-men either side of Cryptos hissed and leaned forward, ready to spring at them. He waved them back.
‘All in good time,’ Cryptos said, his voice sounding distant and melancholy. ‘The death of Oginski’s housekeeper was regrettable, Dakkar, but you will come to understand that, in the grand scheme of things, a few lost lives is the price we pay for greatness.’
‘Her name was Mrs Evans and she was a sweet, harmless old woman,’ Dakkar growled, clenching his fists. ‘You killed her for no reason.’
‘I can see that Oginski has infected you with his sentimentality while you have been in his care,’ Cryptos sighed, shaking his head. ‘But when you learn the truth you will see who is right.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Georgia snapped, raising her pistol.
‘Please, Miss Fulton, put the pistol away,’ Cryptos said, holding his hands up. ‘All will become clear. Your precious uncle is quite safe, as is Oginski – for now. However, the Qualar despise firearms and would cheerfully drag you into the water for brandishing such a weapon.’
‘Qualar?’ Dakkar said, frowning and signalling for Georgia to put the gun away. ‘These fish-men?’
‘Ah! Fish-men, how quaint,’ Cryptos said, smiling. ‘And accurate, in a way. The Qualar are our undersea cousins, Dakkar. They breathe through gills and have lungs too. The Qualar, people of Qualarium – a great civilisation that is now under my control!’
‘You’re just plain evil,’ Georgia snarled.
‘We can trade insults later, my dear,’ Cryptos said. He smiled and gestured to the Nautilus. ‘You haven’t remarked on my other creation here. I copied the design from your uncle but he and Oginski have been helping to finesse it.’
The sound of the Liberty’s hatch slamming shut cut Dakkar’s retort dead. He turned to see Lafitte staring triumphantly from the porthole then glance down at the controls with a frown. Dakkar ran back as the engine began to whine, kicking up water from the stern of the craft.
‘Don’t trouble yourself,’ Cryptos said with another sigh. ‘The craft is still tied to the jetty. My Qualar will extract Lafitte from the submersible and he can join my workforce.’
Realising he was going nowhere, Lafitte gave a sheepish grin and shrugged through the porthole.
‘I want to see Oginski,’ Dakkar demanded.
‘And you will, my dear boy,’ Cryptos said. ‘But you have a lot to learn. For now, my guards will escort you to your chambers. We will all meet later.’
He clicked his long fingers and the Qualar lifted the sedan chair to their shoulders. At the s
ame moment, more Qualar came slithering out of the water to form a line between Dakkar and Cryptos.
‘Wait!’ said Lafitte, poking his head out of the Liberty’s hatch. ‘Your worship! Count Cryptos! I brought these children to you – I should be rewarded!’
‘I’m sparing your life,’ Cryptos said without turning his head. ‘I’m giving you the chance to work for me. Be thankful I don’t feed you to my jellyfish.’
‘Oh,’ Lafitte called after him as Qualar dragged him back out on to the jetty. ‘Then, thank you, your greatness.’
‘If you’d helped us instead of trying to trap us, you might be in a better position,’ Georgia spat, and stamped on Lafitte’s foot.
A Qualar guard pushed her along the jetty. Dakkar followed, giving Lafitte a dark look as he passed.
‘You’re all devils!’ Lafitte called after them. ‘How is a man expected to make an honest living with fiends like you blowing up his house and home?’
But Dakkar wasn’t listening. They entered a ragged doorway cut into the wall of the cavern and walked up a steep passage. More tunnels snaked off this main walkway. The whole volcano was honeycombed with shafts. Qualar marched back and forth, carrying boxes and sacks. Some were armed and clearly on guard duty outside heavily riveted doors. Human guards in black uniform accompanied them.
‘Look,’ Dakkar said, nodding at the crest on their jackets – a snake curling around a letter C and a trident poking up behind it.
‘The same badge as on the skeletons we found at the other island,’ Georgia said.
‘It must have once belonged to Cryptos,’ Dakkar added. ‘Like this place.’
‘It’s a maze,’ Georgia whispered to Dakkar.
‘And a fortress,’ he hissed back.
Burning torches flickered in brackets along the smooth walls, casting an eerie, dancing light on the scaly green faces of the guards. They stopped at a thick wooden door.