Mariah Mundi and the Ship of Fools

by G. P. Taylor

  There was a crack as a pistol shot rang out. It echoed from the high walls of the Manhattan buildings. Markesan instinctively pulled his arm towards him and span quickly over the side of the ship. Mariah ran to the railings and looked down.

  On the dark water of the Hudson River were the remains of Markesan’s flying jacket. They floated momentarily before sinking into the murky water.

  ‘Dead,’ he said as Charity stood beside him.

  ‘He would have done the same to you if he had the chance,’ Charity replied.

  ‘Then it’s over?’ Mariah asked.

  Charity turned and looked up at the Bicameralist tied high above them to the tallest building in the world. It reached up from the streets below as the mist swirled around its base.

  ‘Over?’ asked Charity in his relentless way. ‘It’s only just beginning.’

  [28]

  The Eulogian Tower

  THE smell of easy-over eggs and thin slices of bacon filled the stateroom. The Marquis DeFeaux and his daughter Biba sat at the oak table by the window. Madame DeFeaux was not to be seen. As soon as the ship had docked she had left by the private gangway reserved for the owner of the ship. She had taken a set of cases packed with clothes and had left a note to say that she would not return. Biba didn’t seem to care very much about the news as she sat close to her father trying to read his copy of the Tribune that had been given to him by Lord Bonham.

  Mariah sat on the long leather sofa in the window bay looking out at the streets below. He didn’t feel hungry, even though the sweet smell of hot eggs made him think of home. He had two preoccupations that erased the desire to eat or sleep. When he closed his eyes, he could still see Topher standing in his cabin on the Triton. That night he had been so real, more than a ghost or apparition. He had talked to him, followed him, and if he hadn’t been found would have gladly followed him into the sea.

  Captain Jack had told him that he had been poisoned and that the thoughts would leave him as the narcotic subsided. But now, as he sat looking at the vast buildings around him, he knew it was not the case. Topher seemed real, alive and still there. He was on the edge of dreaming, waiting for Mariah to fall asleep.

  The other thought that plagued him concerned Captain Charity. Since he had asked him if he was his father, Charity had grown distant. It was as if he no longer wanted to share those things which before had come so naturally. The mention of what Markesan had said had been a shard of ice that had cut into his heart. But Mariah knew he could not rest or be at peace until he had the truth. Even if it destroyed what they had, he would have to know.

  The room was comfortably silent. The Marquis ate his eggs and Biba read the newspaper. Mariah was envious of them. They were content with each other and even in their lament for the loss of Casper Vikash it was as if they still had hope.

  ‘The tower where the Bicameralist is – what is it called?’ Mariah asked, wanting to spoil their silence together.

  The Marquis looked up. ‘That is the Eulogian Tower. It is the tallest building in the world.’

  ‘Is that where Zane will be?’ he asked.

  ‘I should think Zane will be long gone. If he has found out that I am alive then he will flee to Greenland and take Mergyn with him,’ the Marquis said as he sipped his coffee.

  ‘Charity told father he was going after him,’ Biba said as she got up from the table, crossed the room and stood by the window. ‘Will you go as well?’

  ‘Forbidden,’ he replied tersely. ‘Too young to die for the Bureau of Antiquities, I’m told. Charity is preparing now. He says I have to stay on the ship until he returns. The Ketos is returning to England in the morning and we will be on the ship.’

  ‘Is that true, father?’ she asked.

  ‘It is so,’ the Marquis said reluctantly. ‘The life of Mariah Mundi has become a valuable thing. It would be too dangerous to allow him to go after Ellerby and Zane.’

  ‘Then we can stay together. Since mother has left, we will return also. My father wants to build a new ship, bigger than before. It’ll be called the Biba.’

  ‘A ship named after you?’ Mariah said, trying hard to sound enthused by the prospect.

  ‘He has promised to have a swimming pool of heated seawater to swim in and a circus without animals,’ she replied wickedly.

  ‘Who owns the Eulogian Tower?’ Mariah asked as he looked out.

  The Marquis wiped his mouth and neatly folded the napkin. He wrapped it in the silver ring embossed with a design of an old skull and two crossed bones.

  ‘Theodore Backus,’ he said calmly as he stood with Biba and looked up at the tallest building in the world.

  It stood to the height of a mountain and was made of slabs of granite. There was still scaffolding on the lower floors. The tower seemed to grow like the neck of a gigantic dragon from a squat building with four turrets on the thirtieth floor that looked like the carved heads of Greek warriors. They stared down at the street below. The windows in each turret shone in the misty sunlight like glazed eyes. The building reminded Mariah of a pyramid that looked as though it were built on another pyramid. Even at that quiet time of the morning, he could see men working on the scaffolding, taking it down piece by piece.

  It was impossible for them to see the full height of the tower. It had been shrouded in mist since the Ketos had docked at Pier 91. The Bicameralist appeared to be tethered to the side of the tower with several long ropes. It hung in the air, sometimes wrapped in grey cloud, sometimes completely invisible.

  Mariah was surprised by the throngs of people that bustled in the streets below the ship. To those below, the Ketos must have looked like a gigantic skyscraper. It overshadowed every ship in the harbour and was the biggest liner ever to dock in New York. Even now, many hours after its arrival, people still stood on the quay and stared.

  ‘Do they ever go away, the people down there?’ Mariah asked. ‘They have been on the quay for hours.’

  ‘When we first came here, they lit fires and camped on the streets,’ said the Marquis proudly. ‘They even sang for us.’

  The door of the stateroom opened and Charity stepped inside. He didn’t look at Mariah. He stood in the doorway dressed for war in his brown boots, twill suit and waxed overcoat.

  ‘I have made contact with our New York office,’ he said to the Marquis. ‘I intend to call on Lorenzo Zane. I shall not be alone. If you would be so kind as to care for Mariah until I return …’

  He said nothing more. Without saying goodbye he turned and left the room.

  ‘Thinks he’s going to die,’ Biba said strangely. ‘That’s what he means.’

  ‘Nonsense, Biba. He has a lot on his mind. He can’t take Mariah to a place like that. Not with Zane and Ellerby. It’s best if he keeps it to the men of the Bureau.’

  Mariah couldn’t speak. He squeezed his lips together and clenched his teeth. This was not the place for tears. His anger surged as his thoughts raged at being left behind.

  The Marquis seemed to know his mind.

  ‘It wouldn’t be good for you. Stay with us until he returns,’ he said.

  ‘And if he doesn’t? If he dies – what then?’ Mariah asked.

  They both looked at Mariah. A single tear broke across his cheek as he breathed deeply. He turned and looked out of the window. Charity crossed the deck at that moment to the outer gangway. He turned back, stopped for an instant and raised his hand. It was more of a gesture to stay than a goodbye. It hurt like a knife to the heart.

  ‘Go, you stupid man,’ Mariah heard himself saying. ‘Go and don’t come back, just like fathers always do. I lost you once – will it be different this time? Bureau of Antiquities – Honour and Blood – what does it all mean?’

  Biba tried to take hold of him. She put a hand on his shoulder. Mariah shrugged off her sympathy and ran from the room. He would not cry in front of them. It was not the way. He didn’t care, Mariah told himself as he stood on the deck and watched.

  On the quayside Charity met wit
h a man in a dark suit and got into an open horseless carriage. It drove off through the crowded streets towards the Eulogian Tower, which seemed to loom over him like a dark sword about to fall. Mariah hated this town, the stink of the streets, the people who ran this way and that like rats. All he wanted to do was go back to the Prince Regent Hotel and the beautiful town by the sea.

  ‘He will be back,’ Biba said as she came from the stateroom and stood on the deck with him.

  ‘That’s a lie. He’ll be dead. Charity against Lorenzo Zane and whoever else is in that tower – don’t kid me, Biba.’ Mariah started to walk away.

  ‘He’s left orders not to let you go from the ship. The deck guards will stop you – they know what you look like,’ she said as Mariah walked down the steps to the promenade below. ‘You’ll never get from the ship … but I know a way.’

  Mariah stopped and turned.

  ‘How?’ he asked suspiciously.

  ‘There is one door that is never watched. I used it all the time when I lived on the ship. It’s easy to find if you know the way,’ Biba said as she smiled.

  He knew she wanted to come with him. Mariah thought for a moment as he stared at her white face framed by the red curls of her hair that fell about her shoulders.

  ‘But only to the Eulogian Tower. No further. It would be too dangerous for you,’ he said.

  Biba beckoned for him to follow. Soon they were several decks below the promenade in the darkest part of the ship. It was cold, damp and smelt of the sea. Mariah felt as though the whole ship was pressing in on him and would not let him escape. It was like being in a vast cavern whose chambers were linked by intricate and dangerous passageways. On every corner was a dim electric light that shone meagrely into the darkness.

  ‘Soon be there,’ Biba said as she took him down another set of iron steps to an even narrower passageway.

  ‘I think you should stay here – what would your father say?’ Mariah asked.

  ‘I’m coming with you. I know you, Mariah Mundi. You will find yourself in trouble and I will raise the alarm,’ Biba replied.

  ‘But you won’t come into the Tower?’ he asked. ‘Promise?’

  Biba laughed.

  The door from the ship was not what he expected. It was a small hatch where the rubbish was dumped at sea. The floor was covered with discarded trifle and cabbage leaves. A rat sat on an empty box chewing the leg of a roast chicken. It didn’t seem to care as they got near, and continued to eat.

  ‘No one will be watching this place. When I open the door we have to be quick. There’s a ladder that will drop us onto the quayside. We have to keep our heads down and walk as if we are supposed to be there,’ Biba said quickly as she turned the wheel of the hatch.

  The door opened and the bustle and noise of New York billowed in like a breeze. Mariah climbed down the ladder and jumped the gap onto the quay. No one even bothered to look. A newspaper vendor shouted as he held up a paper with news of the sinking of the Triton. He read the headline: Heiress Saved from Sinking Ship … He looked at Biba and wondered if he would have to save her again.

  The streets of New York were full of people and it took time to walk the several blocks towards the Eulogian Tower. The lower west side of Manhattan smelt like a giant restaurant. There seemed to be a coffee shop on every corner. They filled the streets with the bitter aroma of coffee and the sweet smell of hot waffles. Gangs of men stood in the doorways in shirtsleeves and waistcoats. They ignored Mariah and Biba as they passed by, shouting to each other in Irish and Dutch.

  The road from Pier 91 took them up a slight rise. The Eulogian Tower loomed over them, visible from the corner of every street. Mariah and Biba stopped and stepped back into a doorway to let a cart go by. There was no pavement and the street was so full that it was hard for anything to move. Mariah looked across the street to yet another coffee shop. This one seemed different. It had English windows with bubbled glass and there were seats outside under a candy-striped canopy. The waiter wore a white shirt with a black waistcoat that was neatly pressed. He saw them and smiled.

  From inside the shop, just in the shadow of the canopy, Mariah could see someone waving to him.

  ‘Grendel,’ he said to Biba as he looked at the shady outline.

  They slipped through the hordes of people, horses and carts and crossed the muddy road. Once inside the coffee shop, Mariah shivered as the warmth from the fire in the corner took away the chill of the street. Grimm and Grendel were perched like two large black crows next to the fireplace. They squatted on tall chairs, their long coats falling to the floor like black wings.

  ‘A twist of fate,’ said Grimm.

  ‘An aberration of the ether,’ replied Grendel.

  ‘We have just seen Mr Charity. He came up this very street in a motor carriage. I take it you are on his track?’ Grimm asked.

  Mariah was reluctant to speak. He shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘We are taking in the sights,’ said Biba. ‘Mariah will be taking the Ketos back to England. I said I would show him some of New York.’

  ‘I love it when people tell lies,’ Grimm said as he tugged the waiter by his arm and ordered them two hot chocolates. ‘I don’t think Hell’s Kitchen is a place for sightseeing – do you, Mr Grendel?’

  Grendel nodded in agreement as he slurped his coffee.

  ‘You wouldn’t be looking for the Bicameralist, would you?’ he asked as the chocolate arrived in a large pot on a tray with two cups.

  ‘He is … I told him not to come but I knew he wouldn’t listen,’ Biba said as Mariah kept silent.

  Grimm and Grendel looked at each other and then drew very close. They spoke so quietly that neither Mariah nor Biba could hear them. They drank the chocolate and waited until the two men had finished their conversation.

  ‘I think it would only be wise to offer our services as detectives. It would of course be for free as we feel you should be repaid for your kindness,’ Grimm said as if he were addressing a judge.

  ‘We could offer you protection and an insight into the criminal mind,’ Grendel added.

  Mariah looked scornfully at Biba. If she had kept silent then it would not be like this, he thought.

  ‘On one condition. That when we get to the Eulogian Tower you leave me there and take Biba back to the Ketos safely,’ Mariah said as Biba tried to protest.

  Grimm and Grendel thought for a moment.

  ‘I think that could be accommodated,’ said Grimm as he sipped the last of his coffee from the cup. ‘Whilst we are travelling, Grendel and I shall make a plan. You can’t walk into such places without knowing what your enemies will do.’

  Grimm seemed to be pleased with himself. He smiled cheerfully and warmed his back against the fire until his coat smouldered.

  Outside the coffee shop, Grendel flagged down a taxi carriage. As it rattled through the streets towards Broadway, Grimm and Grendel were silent. Biba slipped her hand into Mariah’s and held it tightly. He couldn’t look at her for fear his eyes would give away his secret.

  Grendel looked on wistfully. For the first time he saw Mariah in a new light. It was a pleasure to his eyes.

  The carriage was soon on Broadway. The Bicameralist cast its shadow over the street. It clung to the Eulogian Tower like a broken branch swaying in the wind, caught only by the last tendon of wood. It was as if it would soon blow away and never be seen again.

  As they got out of the carriage, Grimm watched Mariah looking up. ‘You don’t know where you are going – how to get there or what to do … Is that right?’ he asked Mariah.

  ‘I need to find Charity. I know he will be in trouble,’ Mariah replied.

  ‘But you can’t be sure. He could walk out of the building at any moment with Lorenzo Zane under arrest,’ Grendel said.

  ‘We could wait,’ added Biba thoughtfully. ‘If he isn’t out within the hour then we could look for him.’

  ‘But you don’t have a plan – life never works without a plan,’ Grimm said furiously. ‘G
ormenberg always had a plan – so did Inspector Walpole – but Mariah Mundi just turns up not knowing what to do …’

  Biba laughed as Grimm jumped up and down like a frustrated child. His face was red with anger and he clenched his fists in rage.

  ‘Just let me go alone and you can take Biba back to the Ketos,’ Mariah said. He was watching the door to the Eulogian Tower, where one of the men he had seen Charity with stood by the motor carriage with his back to them.

  ‘Shall I go and ask his driver what time Captain Charity will be coming out?’ Grimm asked as he pointed to the man. ‘It’s obvious what he is doing – I am surprised the whole of New York doesn’t know.’

  Just as he spoke, two men walked down the steps from the door of the Tower. They wore long leather coats and small black hats. One of the men looked up and then down the busy street, then signalled the other to walk on. The man then talked to the Bureau agent standing by the motor carriage. Mariah could see that at first the agent didn’t want to speak. The man from the Tower kept talking.

  ‘Doesn’t look good,’ Grendel said. ‘Seen that thing before – just watch, any moment now and they’ll take him inside. If they do then Charity is caught – that’s for sure.’

  It was as if Grendel could see the future. All happened just as he said. The agent was led up the steps and back into the Tower. Mariah caught a glimpse of the man’s face, and suddenly he realised who it was.

  ‘It’s Isambard Black,’ Mariah said to Grimm, knowing what the name would mean to him.

  ‘Then you are in even more distress than I first thought. How do you expect to get into the Tower?’ Grimm asked.

  ‘Perhaps there is a way,’ said Grendel as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pistol that he cupped in his large hand.

  Grimm laughed.

  ‘Mariah Mundi, Biba DeFeaux – you are now our prisoners. Don’t protest. I am sure that Grendel would be very prepared to use it should all else fail …’

  ‘But –’ said Mariah incredulously. ‘You cheated us!’