Mariah Mundi and the Ship of Fools

by G. P. Taylor

‘I never did such a thing. We brought you here and now we take you further. I am sure that Lorenzo Zane will be quite happy with what we have done and very financially rewarding.’

  [29]

  The Burning of Theodore Backus

  ON the thirty-eighth floor of the Eulogian Tower, Jack Charity sat in the office of Lorenzo Zane. It was minimal and neat, with a desk overlooking the window. There were three comfortable leather chairs spaced equally across the room. This didn’t include the one in which Jack Charity was tied to by his hands and feet. As he waited for Lorenzo Zane he could hear an elevator whir back and forth.

  ‘I have a friend of yours,’ Zane said as he stepped from the elevator and came into the room with three other men. ‘You left him in the street and we just picked him up – easy as that.’

  ‘I am sorry, Isambard, I thought that I could convince Zane to come with us,’ Charity said reluctantly.

  ‘It is no problem, Jack,’ he replied. ‘They were very convincing with their arguments to accompany them.’

  ‘We said we would throw you out of the window if he didn’t come,’ said the man in the long leather coat.

  ‘Including the chair,’ added his equally gothic companion.

  Charity smiled. ‘Then you have the upper hand,’ he said nonchalantly. ‘I suppose this is where we shall say goodbye to life?’

  ‘On the contrary,’ Zane said. ‘Now I am a wanted man I will take you with me to Isbrae. It is the only place I will be safe. If I have two of the most important agents of the Bureau of Antiquities then I know I will be left alone.’

  ‘Prisoners for life?’ asked Isambard Black as one of the men tied his hands with coarse, rough string.

  ‘Or until I can strike a deal with your employers. It would be far better in Isbrae than at the Prince Regent hotel. I stayed there once when it was owned by a man named Otto Luger,’ Zane replied as the telephone on his desk began to ring. He picked up the receiver and listened. Charity could not hear what was being said to him. ‘Tell her to go away and find someone else – tell her she is not wanted here.’

  ‘Trouble?’ Charity asked.

  ‘Just a woman who left everything to be with me but didn’t realise I only favoured her to get what I wanted,’ Zane replied arrogantly.

  ‘Mergyn DeFeaux?’ asked Charity.

  ‘Yes … an old friend of yours, if I am not mistaken. Were you not her beau?’ Zane asked.

  Charity said nothing as he looked at Black. He knew there was no way of escape. His hands and feet were tightly bound and he and Black were outnumbered.

  ‘It seems strange that you should be in this situation. Surely you were the world’s most celebrated inventor,’ Black asked to gain time.

  Zane shrivelled angrily.

  ‘You wouldn’t know what it is like to fall from grace, would you?’ he asked sneeringly. ‘I had everything I ever wanted until I was let down by a man falling into the generator. From then on the ship was destined to be a failure and that I could not accept. My career would be in ruins.’

  ‘But your plan with Markesan –’ Charity said.

  ‘Was a coincidence. I now know he had planned to try and steal the gold and that sinking the Triton would be an added bonus,’ he replied.

  ‘And did you scheme to kill the Marquis in the hot air balloon?’ Charity asked.

  ‘That was Markesan. I just wanted to sink the ship. It is quite amazing how things in life can become so complicated,’ Zane said as he looked at the man in the leather coat and smiled smugly. ‘Sometimes, Charity, the chase is often better than the kill.’

  ‘So how did you get Theodore Backus involved in your plot?’ asked Isambard Black.

  ‘There is no such person – it is me. I created him. He is a fiction, a front for all the money I stole from DeFeaux,’ replied Zane.

  ‘You sound quite pleased,’ said Charity.

  ‘I am. When I built the Triton and the Bicameralist I just added a few thousand dollars here and there. It soon adds up. Quite amazing how much you can steal. Enough to build the Eulogian Tower on prime New York real estate,’ Zane gloated.

  ‘And all with DeFeaux’s money?’ asked Charity.

  ‘Every penny,’ he replied as he nodded to the man in the leather coat. ‘I set up the account with the help of Rhett Piper – perhaps you know him as Dedalus Zogel?’

  ‘Skull and Bones?’ said Charity.

  ‘Precisely. This building is dedicated to our fine society. It is our grand tomb – a window on the world. It is our intention to provide the presidents of the United States and prime ministers of England for the next three hundred years. I am surprised no one has given you the tap,’ said Zane. ‘Zogel is the richest man in the world and gained that place through the Bones. He would be nothing without it.’

  ‘A dangerous club for boys,’ said Black sarcastically. ‘As my close friend once said, I wouldn’t be a part of any club that would have me as a member.’

  Zane did not reply. He looked at the guards.

  ‘I think it is time we departed to Isbrae. There is a storm coming and I would hate anything to happen to these fine men,’ he said as he walked towards the elevator.

  At that precise moment the doors opened and Ellerby threw two men into the room.

  ‘I found these on the ground floor. They said they want to do a deal over something they have found,’ said Ellerby as Grimm and Grendel got up from the floor and brushed themselves off. ‘They have brought Mariah Mundi and Biba DeFeaux – thought you might be interested.’

  ‘We kidnapped them – took them from the street by the ship and brought them here. Thought they might be of some use to you,’ Grimm gabbled quickly as if he were short of breath. ‘We met you once before, with Otto …’

  Zane smiled.

  ‘So it was you …’ he said. ‘I never forget a face. You are detectives.’

  Ellerby came back into the room dragging Mariah Mundi and Biba DeFeaux with him.

  ‘You may be detectives but you are also liars,’ snarled Charity. ‘You promised me and now you break that promise.’ Then he looked at Mariah. ‘I told you to stay on the ship.’

  ‘And I knew you would get caught,’ Mariah replied.

  ‘But I can care for myself,’ snapped Charity angrily.

  ‘Gentlemen,’ said Zane. ‘This is not the time or the place. My good friends have done me a great favour for which they will be rewarded.’

  ‘I will reward them with their eyes cut out on a plate,’ shouted Charity as he tried to tear his hands from the bindings on the chair.

  ‘Captain Jack Charity bound in a chair like a senile old man – what a sight for the world,’ sneered Grendel.

  ‘If I were not bound you would never dare speak that way. You are but a fat fool and a freak,’ he said.

  ‘Freak? Freak? Don’t call me a freak, you feckwit,’ screamed Grendel. He spat his words with bloodstained spittle and pulled a bear-blade from his coat. ‘I will cut your throat …’

  ‘Gentlemen!’ bellowed Zane just as Grendel leapt onto the chair and pushed Charity back to the floor.

  Isambard Black wasted no time. He kicked out at the guard, who crumpled to the floor. He dashed to Grendel, who was slashing at the chair with his knife. Mariah kicked Ellerby and ran to push Grendel from Jack Charity. He grabbed him by the waist but noticed that somehow the strands that had bound Charity had been cut through.

  Grendel span around, grabbed Mariah by the coat and lifted him into the air.

  ‘Do what I say,’ he whispered. ‘We will set Charity free.’

  With that he threw Mariah across the room. He collided with Ellerby, pushing him from Black whom he had by the throat.

  ‘Now,’ Grendel said as he threw the knife to Mariah, ‘cut him free.’

  Mariah grabbed the knife from the air. He slashed at Black’s binding just as Ellerby got up from the floor. Grendel picked Charity from the chair and pulled the cords from his wrists as Grimm gripped the man in the leather coat so he couldn’t m
ove.

  ‘Stop them!’ shouted Zane as he stepped back from the fight and searched the drawers of his desk.

  In the heat of battle Biba had picked a large bronze statue of the Eulogian Tower from the table by the lift and had somehow managed to give a blinding blow to the other guard. He sat in a crumpled heap by the doors of the elevator.

  ‘It was the only thing we could think to do,’ Grendel said to Charity. ‘Mariah had to believe he was our prisoner.’

  ‘I would have killed you,’ Charity said.

  ‘I know,’ said Grendel as the fighting went on and Ellerby tried to escape.

  Black lashed out, hitting Ellerby as he began to run. He turned to see Zane by the far door that led to a circular staircase set in the wall of the building.

  ‘You won’t follow me from here,’ Zane said as he pulled a brass lever by the side of the door. ‘Very soon you will all be burnt to a crisp.’

  Zane slammed the lever. All the doors and windows began to slowly close as lead shutters came down.

  ‘Get from the room,’ shouted Charity to Black. ‘Take them with you.’

  Black pushed Biba DeFeaux towards the open doors of the elevator. Grimm and Grendel ran to the stairs, managing to dive beneath the lead shutter before it closed. Sparks began to dance from the ceiling of the room. Just as the elevator doors closed, Charity saw Mariah on the floor. He realised there was no way of escape for them.

  Zane stood by the door laughing.

  ‘Lightning, my very own St Elmo’s fire. But this time it will burn any man who gets in its way,’ Zane said.

  ‘Is that what you did in Greenland?’ Mariah asked.

  ‘Precisely. And that is what now burns through the ice and causes the sky to blaze at night,’ replied Zane. ‘But it will not bother you now, as you will become its victims.’

  With that, Zane slammed the door. The room glistened with a radiant light that appeared to dance upon the furniture with a green glow. The was a dull buzzing that echoed as the balllightning danced about them. It floated around the room as if seeking them, growing more intense.

  ‘Stay close to the floor,’ Charity shouted. ‘Don’t let it touch you.’

  Mariah crawled as low as he could towards the door through which Zane had escaped. He reached up and pulled the handle. A shard of blue static shot across the room and seared through his fingers. Mariah screamed in pain.

  ‘Stay down!’ Charity shouted. He sheltered behind Zane’s desk as the corposant electricity fired at everything around him.

  ‘We’re trapped,’ shouted Mariah as a blue flash struck the wall above him and ignited the picture of Zane’s son.

  ‘It’s becoming more powerful – stay down,’ shouted Charity anxiously, now hiding under the desk.

  The lightning struck everything about him. As its power grew so it sparked the walls until they burst into flames. The room was slowly becoming enveloped in acrid smoke as the wallpaper dribbled like melting ice cream. The heat grew more intense as the corposants divided and divided, hovering above them like a hoard of baneful wasps.

  Charity looked from his hiding place and saw the lights begin to gather above where Mariah huddled near to the door. It was as if they assembled by conscious thought, as if they had the power to communicate and knew whom they would kill.

  One by one the glowing corposants joined together until they throbbed and boiled above Mariah. They became a blistering mass of fire that scorched the ceiling and shot bolts of lightning from their core. Charity watched as Mariah stared up at the core of fire above his head.

  ‘It can see me,’ Mariah shouted, covering his face with his hands.

  Charity broke cover from the desk and ran across the room as fast as he could. He dived against the door, smashing it from its hinges. Then, without turning, he grabbed Mariah and pulled him through the opening.

  ‘Run!’ screamed Charity as he picked Mariah to his feet and pushed the broken door back into the burning room.

  Mariah took to flight. The steps were steep and made of granite slabs tied into one another. Charity waited a moment before he followed. The acrid smoke was suddenly sucked towards the door as it found a way from the room. It was as if a ball of burning smoke rumbled towards him, flashing lightning as it rolled on.

  Charity ran up the steps as Mariah raced ahead. He looked behind as the smoke billowed behind him like the head of a giant snake.

  ‘Keep running,’ he shouted as the flaming, sparking cloud drew closer.

  Mariah pressed on, running for his life, too frightened to look back. He could smell the smoke. His coat and hair were singed from hiding below the fireball. Looking up he could see only a few feet ahead. The staircase spiralled out of sight. In the wall, every few feet were small leaded windows that allowed him to look at the city below. He cast a glance down. It was as if he were on a mountain. From behind he could hear Charity scream as he was engulfed in smoke. Mariah ran on. Then something inside him made him stop, a voice in his head screaming for him to go back. As he went on further, the voice grew louder. Mariah turned. The crackling ball of smoke and flame billowed towards him like a demon. He slipped down, pressing his face against the cold granite and covering his head with his arms.

  The fireball crackled over him. It singed his coat. All was silent.

  ‘Charity!’ he shouted.

  ‘Here,’ came the reply.

  Mariah ran down the steps. There was Charity. The smoke blackened his face.

  ‘Thought you were dead,’ Mariah said.

  ‘So did I,’ Charity replied with a laugh.

  ‘I’m sorry – I’m sorry for the way I have been,’ Mariah said as he gripped Charity’s hand. ‘It was because I thought you were my father.’

  Charity said nothing as he looked at him.

  ‘This isn’t the time or place. When we get to the Prince Regent I will tell you everything,’ Charity said. ‘But now we have to stop Zane from leaving New York. If he gets to Isbrae he will never be found.’

  They spoke no more. Mariah turned and began to run up the steps as fast as he could. Charity dragged on behind, unable to keep up with his pace.

  High above, Mariah could hear the whirring of the engines of the Bicameralist. Smoke began to be drawn up the staircase as the room below burned. Mariah looked out of a window and saw that the clouds all around them were tinged with soot. He knew the building was on fire far below.

  Mariah got to the open door that led to the roof of the tower. The wind gusted about him as he stepped out, gripping him like an icy hand. Above him the engines of the Bicameralist strained as it pulled against the building. Looking up, he could see Zane on a ledge outside the gondola struggling to untie the skyship in the wind. There was no one else on the craft.

  Zane pulled the final knot from the metal ring and dropped the rope to the floor. Flames exploded from the other side of the tower as Zane jumped quickly back through the door of the gondola.

  Charity burst through the doorway and saw the fire around them.

  ‘There’s only one way off this building,’ he said as the Bicameralist began to pull slowly away. ‘Grab the towing rope – quickly, Mariah.’

  Mariah could see the thick rope being dragged across the roof of the tower as the skyship floated slowly upwards, its tip trailing across the stone. He ran towards it with Charity keeping pace at his side. He reached out – his fingertips touched the rope. Charity grabbed the line to steady it. The skyship lurched backwards as an explosion below sent a thermal of hot vapour into the sky. It pulled the towing rope away from the roof and Charity, still clinging on, dangled high above the city as the skyship hovered, its engines straining.

  ‘I’m trapped!’ screamed Mariah as the flames ruptured through the granite slabs beneath his feet.

  ‘Have faith – you’ll have to jump for the rope.’

  ‘I can’t – I can’t do it,’ Mariah said as he felt the building begin to crumble beneath his feet.

  ‘Run for the rope,’ Charity s
houted as the Bicameralist revved its engines.

  Mariah paced back. His face was torn with fear. He looked to the rope. Charity held out his hand. The building began to shake and tremble.

  ‘Go on, Jack. Leave me here,’ he shouted to Charity.

  ‘Have faith …’ Charity replied.

  Mariah steeled himself. He could feel the building start to fall. He began to run. Just as he reached the lip of the ledge the stone gave way. He leapt out into the air as below him the Eulogian Tower fell to the ground like a deck of cards.

  It felt to Mariah as if he was in the sky alone. That he flew like an eagle. He reached out, his eyes fixed on Jack Charity. The skyship lurched towards him with the upward blast from the falling building.

  Charity grabbed his arm and gripped his coat as if to squeeze the life from him.

  ‘Thank God for your madness,’ Charity screamed as Mariah looked to the ground. What was left of the Eulogian Tower stuck up from the ground like a gigantic broken cross. The streets below were filled with dust and ash.

  ‘Will they have got away?’ he asked.

  ‘Isambard Black would have seen to that,’ Charity replied. ‘We need to get in the skyship.’

  Mariah climbed first. The rope cut at his hands. It was crisp with sea salt and burnt his skin. They were soon under the gondola and Mariah swung onto a small ledge with a narrow window. To his right was an inspection door used for mooring the skyship.

  Charity wasted no time kicking it in. The door splintered as it burst open and Mariah jumped inside.

  The gondola was empty. It smelt of leather and fresh oak, just as it had done on the night he and Biba were rescued from the sea. The ship rocked from side to side as the turbulence plucked it up and down and the engines churned faster.

  ‘I never thought you would get away,’ Zane said as he came through a hatch above them. ‘This makes things difficult …’

  Mariah saw he was holding a small harpoon in one hand.

  ‘Guns cannot be used on the Bicameralist for fear we would all be blown up. I only have one arrow and I don’t know which one of you I should kill,’ Zane said eagerly as he eyed them both.