by Vashti Hardy
“How do we get over? How about this?” Arthur indicated a fallen tree that spanned the gap. It was perfect. He put his foot on it and Ermitage grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
“Not so fast, old thing. I know you seem to have a particular liking for falling, but take a closer look. The only living things there are the vines growing around it; that tree looks rotten to me.” He tore off a small chunk and it crumbled away.
“Oh, that was close! What do we do?”
Ermitage tugged on a nearby vine hanging from one of the great trees. “This seems quite secure.”
There was a sudden squawk from above.
Arthur looked up. “Parthena! You’re all right! You found me!” She landed before him and hopped into his arms.
“Ah, your sapient bird,” said Ermitage, impressed. “She’s a beauty indeed, pure white and what an impressive wingspan.” Then he took a run up and swung to the opposite side, shouting “Woohoo!” all the way.
Arthur shook his head. “I wish I could fly like you, Parthena.” He stroked her head and set her on the ground. “Here goes nothing.” He found a vine, made sure he gave it a great yank then took a run up and … “Wahoooo!” He couldn’t help himself.
He landed with a great crash on the other side.
Ermitage pulled him to his feet. “Up you get. Nothing damaged this time, I hope. Good.”
Parthena flew over with just one flap of her wings.
The water-wing was more of a narrow platform than a boat. “You pull up the steering column like so…” Ermitage pulled up a thin metal rod with a handle on the end. “It’s customary for the driver to stand, but passengers can sit. They have small, efficient engines underneath as part of the fin, or ‘wing’ as it’s referred to – hence the name ‘water-wing’. When you start to move, the momentum lifts the platform and it hovers a little above the surface of the water. The lack of friction means they are extremely fast. The propeller uses ion batteries powered by the falls. They stay charged for weeks!”
It struck Arthur that the water-wing was similar to Maudie’s sky-ak, although this wouldn’t be able to take off and fly away from the surface of the water for short bursts like hers could.
“Hop on,” said Ermitage.
Arthur sat behind Ermitage and held on to the narrow lip of the water-wing. “Have you done this before?” he asked.
“Absolutely! Well, once or twice on my own.”
Arthur gulped. “Parthena, perhaps it’s safer if you fly above.”
Ermitage twisted the handle at the top of the steering column and the engine started. As he pulled the column back, they were off, rising just a foot or so out of the water and speeding along the river with Parthena flying happily above.
“I think we should try and stay hidden from Eudora when we get there,” Arthur called. “We’ll say I was separated from the crew, that way we can observe what she’s up to from afar.”
Ermitage nodded. “If you think that’s best.”
Soon the river fed into an enormous estuary. Waterfalls cascaded into it all around, and at the far end was an unimaginably enormous waterfall that looked as though it could be as wide as the Uptown area of Lontown. As they neared it, Arthur saw that an enormous structure ran from top to bottom, part of the falls.
“Impressive, eh?” Ermitage called.
“What is it? Do people live there too?”
“It’s not a habitation as such, more a great engine.”
“Engine? Does it use pitch?”
“Great Wide, no! Erytheans wouldn’t touch pitch. They see it as quite an affront to nature to dig huge chasms in the ground to find a fuel. They only use what they can, and what doesn’t harm their land.”
“How does it work?”
“Turbines turn in the water flow and make power.”
“What’s it making power for?”
Ermitage gave another wry smile. “Come on. Time to go up!”
CHAPTER 22
VALIANT
Maudie woke to bright sunlight. The water-bear had gone. Tentatively, she peered over the edge of the nest and into the forest below. The water had subsided, although she couldn’t be sure if it had gone completely; it looked as though nothing much had happened. The leaves below were different shapes from during the rain, now full and flat, lapping up any splash of sun they could reach. She could see other water-bears in the treetops, some just swinging happily by their tails, others climbing up and down, but there was no sign of her water-bear, the one who had saved her life.
There was a pile of berries and nuts beside her. The creature must’ve left them for her. She ate them, leaving half because she didn’t want to presume it had left them all for her. In the daylight the pink jewels in the nest lost their glow and looked like ordinary gems – not that any gem was ordinary, but they’d lost the brilliant luminescence they’d held in the gloom.
She heard rustling below and her water-bear climbed inside the nest. It held out a bell-shaped flower to her.
“Well, that’s very pretty, and kind of you.” She took it, smiled, and tucked it behind her ear.
The water-bear frowned curiously at her. Then it took another of the flowers and put it to its mouth, drinking the contents.
“Oh!” Maudie said, feeling embarrassed. “I was meant to drink it!” She retrieved the flower and sucked from the end of the bell, just as the water-bear had. Nothing happened, so the water-bear gently took it and demonstrated where to squeeze so that the bell opened. Sweet nectar water ran down her throat. It was utterly delicious and felt almost more thirst-quenching than water. For somewhere with so much water, it struck Maudie that thirst still seemed ever present. She examined the flower and made a note that she could use it as inspiration for a valve in her sky-ak engine, to keep it in the air for longer.
The water-bear climbed on her shoulder again.
“Have you got a name?” she asked.
It didn’t answer, of course. The water-bears didn’t seem to make much noise at all. It took her hand and brushed the back of its hand across it.
“Is that a yes?” But then she realized this time it was in the opposite direction. The water-bear did it again as though to agree.
“So that way is yes and the other no?”
The water-bear made the motion for yes.
She put a hand to her chest. “My name is Maudie.”
It looked at her.
“Maudie,” she repeated more slowly.
It seemed to smile.
“I think you need a name. Someone as brave as you deserves a good name, a name fitting of what you are.” She thought for a while.
Then it came to her. “Valiant, I shall call you Valiant. Is that all right?” yes.
After a moment, it took her hand and motioned
“So, Valiant, the bravest water-bear in … wherever we are, how the clanking cogs am I going to find my family?” she said sadly. Her body ached terribly from being tossed around in the water and from fighting so hard to swim. Plus, she had no idea where she was in relation to the beach she’d washed up on. And she wasn’t sure if she wanted to head down just yet, in case the great razor-toothed water lizard was still lurking. She was safe for the moment, and again she imagined what Harriet would do or say: she would probably tell her to take a step back and analyse the situation. Look at what you have, where you are, the environment. Look for things that will help on the next part of the journey.
Maudie checked her toolbelt and sighed heavily at the broken compass. At least she’d fallen asleep with her toolbelt on in the cave, so she still had her strike-fire and knife. Perhaps the water-bears would let her stay here for one more day and she could watch the pattern of the sun from east to west; that would give her some sense of direction. She could eat, drink some more of the flower water and rest her aching muscles, then move on with strength. She peered over the edge of the nest-house once more. It was a long way down – she’d no idea how she’d managed to get this high – and she didn’t quite feel ready to attempt the cl
imb back to the forest floor. So that was decided.
There was no escaping the fact that rolled through Maudie’s mind all day: the only way to truly get her bearings was to climb higher into the canopy so that she could see what was out there. She’d roughly figured out the compass points by tracking the sun, but that would be difficult to follow down below in the deep undergrowth, and she wasn’t entirely sure how accurate she was, being in a completely different part of the Wide. Plus, if she was going to set off in the morning, she needed an idea of the shape of the land. She had decided to check on any incoming weather; the last thing she wanted was to get caught in another one of those awful deluges. Heights had never bothered her in the sky-ship or on the rooftops, but she wasn’t used to the treetops, so she’d spent the morning creating a safety hitch with the few items she had on her tool belt – she was certainly glad she’d divided the rope now. She could clip the hitch around a medium-sized branch that would comfortably take her weight.
Valiant disappeared for a while, along with most of the other water-bears, but when he returned, he carried fresh fruit in a stomach pouch that Maudie hadn’t even spotted earlier.
“That’s clever! I could do with one to keep my tools in,” she smiled.
Then Valiant took out one of the pink jewels from the pouch and handed it to Maudie.
“Thank you, it’s lovely.” Maudie noticed many of the other returning water-bears were carrying fruit and pink jewels.
Valiant took another gem from his pouch and pushed it into the side of the nest, then looked at Maudie. She found a space that looked fitting and pushed hers in too. “Well, that’s going to look mighty pretty this evening!”
What curious creatures they were. So happy in their life: they could breathe in water, climb, build homes in the treetops, and make them an even more magical place to be.
“Wait until I tell my brother Arty about you. When I find him, I’ll bring him here, if that’s all right?” Valiant took her hand and brushed her palm with a yes.
“Do you have a brother? They’re your parents in the house above, aren’t they?”
Valiant motioned no, then yes. Then he handed Maudie some fruit. She peeled it apart and shared it with him. It was refreshing and sweet, and she felt contented, but this couldn’t last for ever.
“I need to go higher into the canopy so that I can work out what to do next.” She had no idea how much Valiant really understood, but his eyes seemed to tell her that, somehow, he did. He also looked slightly concerned.
“I’ve made a safety hitch, so I’ll be fine. You probably don’t trust my track record, but usually I don’t get into too much danger … apart from when we crashed in the Ice Continent, and the time Arty and I sneaked on to Eudora’s sky-ship and Tuyok almost died … and then there was when Arty fell in the frozen lake … and then at the South Polaris when Eudora Vane was going to kill us … but apart from that.”
Valiant gave a small whimper.
“You can climb with me, if you like?”
Up she went, extremely slowly, being careful of the branches she chose, clipping her safety harness methodically from one to the next. With every movement up, the light was getting even brighter, until eventually she was almost at the top.
“One more branch,” she whispered to herself as she clipped on her harness, then took a step on to the branch. Carefully, she stood up.
Maudie wanted to call out to the wonder around her, but she had to control her breathing and stay focused. She was partway up the great jungle mountain range she’d seen from the beach. The treetops were a sea of emerald all around. In front of her was what she thought had been the tallest mountain when she was on the beach, but from here she could see that it had the shape of a volcano, although it was covered in foliage and looked totally dormant, thankfully; the last thing she needed was something else to worry about. The light was blindingly brilliant. There was a majestic view of turquoise sea to what she guessed was the west and she speculated that the beach she’d landed on was somewhere in that direction. In the distance she could just see a hazy mist and some jagged shapes which she surmised must be the islands of the darkwhispers.
She paused and gulped back the emotion that wanted to bring tears. Where were Harriet, Felicity and Welby? Were they even alive? But there had been that strange scarlet bird, the one that looked… She paused as the thought struck her. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t realized it before! Of course she’d not really had time to think about it, what with being washed up on shore, almost drowned, attacked by a water lizard, and rescued by an amphibian bear, but … the ruby bird with wings and tail as red as fire, it had been real, she was certain, and it looked exactly the same as the bird on Octavie’s ring. She put her hand to the pouch on her toolbelt where she’d put the ring when she’d argued with Arthur.
The mythical fire-bird!
She steadied herself. So why did the fire-bird come, then, and why had it gone straight to protect Harriet? These were questions that she knew she had no hope of answering, but it didn’t stop them rolling through her mind.
“Concentrate,” she told herself, then she turned a little to take in more of the view. Beach and mountains, higher ground, low-lying areas, thick jungle as far as she could see – and silvery streaks not far away.
Carefully, she detached her binoscope from her belt. “Rivers!”
If you’re ever stuck, follow the river. Rivers lead to people, her father had once said. If Arthur was here somewhere, she should follow the rivers. But she had to try and find Harriet and the others too. She drew her gaze back to the beaches and focused in as far as she could. Nothing looked irregular, but if Harriet and the crew had made it to shore this would probably be where they would have come in. Either that or they were stuck on the jagged rocks at the mercy of those vile creatures, and she doubted the fire-bird could have kept them at bay for long, and…
She shook the thought away.
She decided if the weather looked fine she could try and head back to the beaches, then follow what looked like a gap in the trees further south. A break in the trees would likely mean a river, although it was difficult to tell for sure from here. She looked back at the silver streams of light in the green far away. They were like great veins across the land.
Then she panned around and saw something that made her lose all concentration and footing – she slipped and fell!
In that moment she was certain that she would keep falling, but the harness bit and she wrenched to a stop, left swinging just beneath the leaf canopy. Her binoscope shot through the leaves and clattered horribly downwards.
The water-bear had let out a squeal and jumped to the nearest branch, as Maudie swiftly put her feet on to the branch below and righted herself. “Clanking cogs, that was close.”
She took several very long breaths because what she’d seen through the trees had seemed so clear. There had been a boy in the canopy, and he had been watching her.
CHAPTER 23
TEMPESTRA
The sounds of the jungle were drowned out by the roar of the huge waterfall. As the water-wing neared, the true enormity of it was clear to Arthur and he was having a job shutting his mouth, which had dropped open in awe. High above, a colossal tower teetered on the precipice and down over the edge into the constant stream, so that the stone was at one with the falling water. It was a thing of beauty, with curved angles, pillared archways, and what looked to be enormous wheels turning steadily with the flow. Arthur couldn’t imagine how such a thing would have been engineered.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” Ermitage said.
All Arthur could do was nod. After a few more moments of standing and staring he said, “I never imagined a building could look like this. I mean the Citadel of Nadvaaryn is amazing, but this equals it. The city must be close. Where is it?”
Ermitage simply pointed. “Up.”
“How are we supposed to get there?”
“See just beyond the veil of water, there’s movement up an
d down in places?”
Arthur nodded.
“That’s how. Come on, we need to get behind first.”
They steered the water-wing to the side of the falls and tied it to a jetty.
“Careful, it can get slippery.” Ermitage led him along the edge, close to where the waterfall hit the lake in a great tumultuous rush. “Of course, the Erytheans have highly adapted clothing for the environment. Microtechnology boots that grip the rock with hundreds of tiny suction pads. I must remember to ask for some while in the city; I lost my last pair in a deluge.”
Arthur cried out as he almost slipped.
“See? Take it slow, old thing.”
They edged along until they were in the space behind the falls. The noise was incredible; even with Ermitage shouting, Arthur wasn’t entirely sure what he’d said. Ermitage pointed to a doorway, and Arthur followed him inside.
Arthur found himself in an empty white room with a few doors leading off. “Where is everyone?”
“The power supply technology is quite self-sufficient, so you usually only get a few people up top, and there should be someone by…”
They passed into another room, where they found a lady standing, as if waiting. She was dressed in smart green trousers and jacket. The material looked light and airy, and it had an iridescent quality. She said something to them in a different language. Ermitage tried to reply, but the lady just smiled and shook her head. “You are the Vornatanian. They said you were heading this way.”
Ermitage glanced at Arthur. “I told you they keep a close eye on me.”
“Who is your companion?”
“He’s part of the Culpepper crew who landed several days ago. He got separated.”
Her eyes narrowed, then she gave a nod and gestured for them to go into what appeared to be a lift. They stepped inside, and after the woman pulled a lever, the lift began to rise. They were just behind the flow of water, making it look as though a shimmery filter had been placed on the world, but as they rose, the lift pod occasionally broke through the downward stream and they got brief glimpses of the great lake sparkling below. Arthur thought he could see beyond the jungle and the glistening of the sea. Eventually they reached the dizzying heights of the top and stepped out into a stone hallway. A man in similar green clothes nodded to them and took them forward.
