by Vashti Hardy
It didn’t bear thinking about. In her heart, she felt that Arthur was all right. Or was that simply false hope she was clinging on to?
They all stopped talking as they approached the lake plateau because they’d realized it wasn’t a small mountain, but a great city.
“Well, just when you think you’ve seen it all!” Felicity called. “Welby, you’ve travelled a fair bit, but I bet even you’ve not seen anything quite like this!”
“Miss Wiggety, I have not.”
The structure was incredible; the archways and pillars were mathematically precise and symmetrical, and looked like part of it was below water! Maudie marvelled at the incredible engineering involved in keeping it water-tight.
Something caught Maudie’s eye in the sky above: a “V” shape over the lake. Her heart filled with elation and relief. The water-wing wobbled as she lost focus for a moment, but she regained it and squeezed the handle even tighter in the joy of what she was seeing.
“Parthena!” she shouted. Then she called to the others, “Arthur must be here!”
CHAPTER 27
TRUTH, LIES AND
On the jetty they TATTOOS were greeted by a lady dressed in elaborate green robes. She said something in her own language to Florian, and he replied at length.
“Can you work out what they’re saying?” Maudie whispered to Welby, who was standing beside her.
“This language is different to any other I have heard. I’m afraid I have no idea.”
Florian turned from the woman and said to them, “We need to wait here.”
“But Arthur’s here!” said Maudie, trying to get past, but the woman barred their way.
Maudie sighed and resigned herself to waiting, her attention caught by the incredible structure in front of her with its sweeping curves and twists, elegant archways and domes. But there were also elements of technology cleverly concealed, like tracks in the wall made to look like decorative carving, but she could tell they were guides for the jetties to rise and fall with the water level, connecting them to different archways.
After a while an elegant woman and man walked up the jetty towards them.
“I am Tauria Verada, Proffesus Excelsis of Erythea. This is Cassea Sigart, my assistant.”
Harriet stepped forward. “I’m Harriet Culpepper, and this is Felicity Wiggety, William Welby and Maudie Brightstorm, all of Lontown, Vornatania.”
The woman looked taken aback for a moment. She began whispering to Cassea.
Maudie looked at Welby, also taken aback. She had no idea his first name was William! To them he had always simply been Welby. She couldn’t believe they’d never thought to ask!
When Tauria had finished, Cassea nodded, then Tauria turned to them again. “We are peaceful people. We don’t look for trouble; in fact, we actively protect ourselves from it.”
Harriet held her hands up. “We don’t bring any trouble. We have no weapons, and we mean no harm to you. We are simply here looking for someone. A boy, Arthur Brightstorm.”
Tauria Verada’s mouth was clamped shut in thought for a while. Then she said, “We are honest in Erythea, honest with our land, honest with each other, so I will be honest with you. We already have a Harriet Culpepper in the city.”
“Pardon?” Harriet said, quite in shock.
The four of them exchanged glances of disbelief.
Then Eudora Vane appeared, striding forward as though she owned the jetty, pink scarf blowing in the breeze… “Did you call for me, Tauria? I thought we could go over the—” She stopped dead at the sight of Harriet.
Maudie rushed forward, but Harriet pushed past Tauria first and stormed towards Eudora.
Felicity grasped Maudie’s hand. “Let Harriet deal with it.”
“Where’s Arthur?” Harriet demanded. “What have you done to him? If you’ve harmed so much as a hair on his head, I’ll—” She shoved Eudora in the shoulders, making her totter backwards.
“Miss … er … other Culpepper, we are peaceful here,” said Cassea, pulling her back.
“There is only one Harriet Culpepper,” Harriet said calmly but firmly. “And I can assure you that it’s not this woman.”
“We can all vouch that this is the real Harriet,” Welby called.
“And the other Harriet has a crew who will vouch for her,” said Tauria. “Can you show me your family mark?”
“Of course,” said Harriet wrenching up her sleeve.
“Exactly the same as the other,” said Tauria, shaking her head.
Two of the Erytheans pulled Harriet back forcefully.
“That’s impossible!” said Welby.
“Too right it is,” Maudie muttered then charged up the jetty and launched herself at Eudora. Eudora screamed as the two of them hurtled into the water.
Eudora kicked away from Maudie, swimming back to the jetty. Cassea hoisted her spluttering, out of the water, while Florian put his hand out to Maudie. “You certainly have spirit.”
Welby grabbed Eudora’s arm and Felicity pulled up her wet sleeve. Ink smeared as the fake tattoo dripped away to reveal Eudora’s real symbol.
Tauria stood open-mouthed. “Arthur Brightstorm was right.”
“Please, he’s my brother. I need to see him!” Maudie said, tears welling in her eyes.
Felicity put an arm around her.
“Cassea, ensure this woman—” Tauria gestured towards a soaking and fuming Eudora then looked to Harriet. “What is her name?”
“Eudora Vane,” Harriet said flatly.
“Cassea, ensure this Eudora Vane and every member of her crew is accounted for and locked away.”
The lock turned.
“About time, too!” Arthur said, jumping up from his bed. “You can’t keep me prisoner here. I thought you were meant to be peaceful people. Holding me hostage in a room is…” He whipped the door open.
Arthur’s heart exploded with surprise and a joy so huge he couldn’t believe it was happening.
“Maudie!”
They jumped into a tight hug, and clung on to each other, neither wanting to be the first to let go in case it broke the spell, in case it made it not real. Eventually they stood back and looked at each other, their eyes wet with tears.
“You look like you’ve brought half the jungle with you!” Arthur said. “Where’s your ribbon?”
She felt her hair at the place she usually wore it.
“Oh, I forgot. I used it to boil water.”
“What? Another invention?”
“More improvisation. You look rather at home here.” Maudie looked him up and down.
“Er … yeah, after several days in the swamps my own clothes ponged, and these are rather nifty, don’t you think?”
She laughed. The tension in her heart had lifted; the awful taut feeling since they’d been separated was gone.
“What’s that pink stone around your neck?” he asked. “It kind of glows!”
“A water-bear gave it to me. Long story.”
“Like the creature I saw in Nova?” he said.
“Yes, I think so. And the one I met was sapient!”
“No way!”
Cassea, who had been standing back in the hallway, coughed. “I’ll leave you to update each other. Tauria Verada would like to see all of you soon.” He turned and walked away.
Arthur stared at Maudie. “All of you? Wait, how the clanking cogs did you actually get here? Who’s here, Maud?”
“Harrie, Felicity and Welby. They’re waiting to see you. They let me be first.”
“Harriet’s here? That means…”
“Arthur, the strangest thing happened when we arrived, this Professor woman—”
“Tauria Verada – I’ve met her too.”
“Yes, her. Well, she said Harriet Culpepper was already here! You should have seen Harriet’s face when Eudora appeared!”
“She’s been in the city pretending to be Harriet.”
“Why would she do that?”
“It started when
we landed the Aurora here…”
“So the Aurora’s here?”
“Well, not here in the city – it’s back in the jungle near the coast somewhere.”
“And it’s in one piece?”
“Yes. Stop interrupting, Maud, or I’ll lose my thread.”
“Sorry.”
“We landed, and the Erytheans found us, and they saw the swallow painted on the Aurora and they said Culpiper, and their attitude suddenly changed from hostile to friendly, so she – Eudora, that is – she said, yes, that’s me, I’m Harriet Culpepper!”
“Wait a minute. How the clanking cogs do they know Harriet?”
Arthur dropped into a chair. “Exactly! That’s what I’ve been wondering.”
“But Harriet said she knew nothing about this continent.”
“Do you think she was telling the truth?”
“Harriet would have told us if she knew more. Wouldn’t she?”
“Have you still got the ring?”
Maudie took it from her pouch and passed it to him.
“It’s something to do with this, I just know it.”
“Harriet is the most truthful person we know, Arty.”
“Ermitage says the fire-bird is real.”
“It is! I’ve seen it. The Erytheans call it the Aeterna.”
His mouth gaped like a guppy.
“I saw it at the darkwhispers.”
“No way! You saw them too? Those creatures are terrifying!”
“Florian said if they catch you, they take every last memory you have.”
“Who’s Florian? Wait, never mind, just tell me about the fire-bird and the darkwhispers.”
She told him about the storm, about the darkwhispers’ attack; how the fire-bird arrived and protected Harriet; how Maudie herself had been thrown into the sea and the sky-ak had saved her.
“Could Harriet be … one of them? An Erythean?”
“If she is, I’m certain she knew nothing of it.”
“There’s more to this ring than we’ve figured out.”
“Do you know where Harriet is now?”
“I told you, they’re waiting to see you!”
He grabbed her hand. “Let’s go and find them!”
Maudie pulled him to a stop. “Hold on; just now, did you say Ermitage?”
“Oh yes! He was here all along, and I kind of fell into his path.”
“Fell?” Maudie tilted her head and put her hand up. “What did you do? You clearly weren’t looking where you were going, again.”
“Maybe, just a little,” he laughed. “Come on.”
“Hold on, one last thing before we go.”
“What?”
“Did you know that Welby’s full name is William? William Welby!”
Arthur’s heart pinged a little. He couldn’t believe how much he’d missed Welby, for all his nagging and annoying corrections and eyebrow judging.
“Will Welby,” he said. “Just when you think you know someone, eh?” They looked at each other and there was a moment of total contentment. Both felt back home even though they were thousands of miles from Lontown.
Then they heard an unmistakable voice: “Now listen here, I can’t wait a moment longer. If you don’t take me to Arthur Brightstorm this instant, I shall take my spoon and—”
“Felicity!” Arthur called.
She suddenly appeared at the door and stared; her eyes swollen with tears. “Oh, my blessed bunions, I knew that tingle in my toes wasn’t for nothing!” She ran to Arthur and scooped him in her arms, then pulled Maudie in. “Together again,” she sobbed.
Then Harriet was there, and Arthur called out in happiness, and she joined their huge embrace, and a cacophony of chatter ensued in which no one could hear what anyone was saying because everyone was speaking at once. Eventually they all had to pause for breath and were interrupted by a gentle cough behind them.
“Welby!” Arthur smiled. And Welby’s eyes were wet with tears too, and they all hugged again.
CHAPTER 28
REVELATIONS
That evening, the Culpepper crew were invited to dine with the professors. Ermitage joined them.
“My dear old thing, it’s a delight to meet you!” Ermitage said to Maudie. “And my, you are one and the same, aren’t you, with your matching freckles and your hair like iron left to rust. And who’d have thought two people could carry that same determined fire in their eyes!” He explained to Arthur that Eudora and her crew had managed to convince the Erytheans that Arthur had poisoned his mind with fanciful stories, until Harriet and the others had turned up. “I may be getting on in my years, but I’m not that impressionable!”
Tauria Verada directed them to chairs around the rectangular table in the large domed room. Harriet sat beside Tauria, Ermitage opposite, then Welby and Felicity, with Arthur and Maudie at the end beside Cassea and a spare place.
“Well, Ermitage Wrigglesworth lives after all,” Welby said dryly.
“Thank you for inviting us to eat with you,” Harriet said respectfully.
Tauria nodded. “I am sorry about what has happened. The imposter, this Eudora Vane, has been taken with her crew to a secure zone.”
“A secure zone?” Arthur said, wondering if any place with Eudora near it could be classed in that way.
Tauria smiled. “We rarely have to use it. As I have told you, our people are peaceful. We live a fortunate life, away from the difficulties of the Wide. The darkwhispers see to that.”
“Do you not feel you are missing being part of the Wide, though?” Harriet asked.
“It is the way it has always been,” Tauria said.
There was the soft thud of footsteps, then Florian entered. He took the spare seat beside Maudie.
She grinned at him.
“We owe you thanks for helping these people, Florian,” said Tauria. “Florian is one of our brightest young scholars. He shows an incredible aptitude for languages. I suspect he may become Proffesus Linguis one day.”
He smiled shyly and glanced at Maudie.
Arthur observed him suspiciously, then whispered to Maudie, “How do you know him?”
“He helped me, I mean, us, in the jungle.”
“I don’t like him.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Arthur. I wouldn’t be here without him.”
“He keeps smiling at you.”
“What a crime,” she teased.
“As I was saying about the secure zone,” Tauria continued, “we have never had reason to use it, but as proven by the arrival of Mr Wrigglesworth and two more crews in succession, it was justified.”
“Please tell me why you recognized the Culpepper symbol,” said Harriet.
“Our agents are mostly within what you call the Stella Oceanus, keeping watch for any who would try to go further. Of course, we’d prefer that they didn’t make it to the darkwhispers – it’s not something that we would wish on people, even those from Lontown.”
“But I don’t understand why you welcomed Eudora when she pretended to be me?”
“We thought perhaps it was time.”
“Time for what?” Harriet looked more confused than ever, and Arthur and Maudie exchanged a look that told each other that they were convinced she knew no more than them.
“That you had brought back the ring.”
Arthur took the ring from his pocket and put it on the table. “This one?”
“Why, yes!” said Tauria, surprised.
“Is that…?” asked Harriet.
“We have an agent in Lontown,” said Tauria.
“Octavie!” Harriet, Arthur and Maudie all said at once.
“The Erythean Culpiper – I mean, Culpepper – heritage goes back generations. Usually our agents prefer to stay close, but many decades ago when Lontown exploration was reaching new heights, we sent an agent named Argentia Culpiper. She is very famous here. She met a young explorer and had two children, Octavie and Leviah.”
“It appears that you know more about my family
than I do,” Harriet said quietly. “I have Erythean heritage?” she added in disbelief.
Tauria nodded. “It was decided that the ring of the guardian, the Aeterna, would be passed on to the next generation, along with the knowledge of our lands. As Octavie had no children of her own, she would pass it to her brother Leviah’s bloodline.”
“My grandfather?”
“As the youngest generation of the Culpepper line, the knowledge and the ring would pass to you. Octavie must have decided it was time, just as Argentia decided it was time when Octavie and her friends had nearly discovered us.” Tauria looked pointedly at Ermitage, who looked dumbfounded. “It’s why the Aeterna protected you at the darkwhispers. We don’t understand how it knows, but it will always bring true Erytheans safe passage home. Argentia decided on the swallow as a symbol that she could always find her way home, back to Erythea, if she needed to. The swallow migrates from here to Vornatania every year, so it seemed fitting.”
“And when the people here saw the swallow on the sky-ship, they knew it meant a Culpepper had returned home,” Arthur said.
“Then why didn’t Octavie tell my grandfather, Leviah? Or my mother? Why didn’t I know?” Harriet sounded doubtful.
“Because secrets can be hard to keep; they are a great burden to place on someone, and Argentia knew her decision to stay and settle in Lontown was the hardest she would have to make. She wanted to protect Erythea by binding the knowledge to just one person at a time.”
“Pardon me for butting in,” said Felicity, “but protect you from what?”
Several moments passed as Tauria carefully formulated her words. “We didn’t go out of our way to keep our land a secret. At first, many years ago, when our sea-ships reached the many islands of the west, we observed and learned, but the further we went the more wary we became of some of the dangers. Your sky-ships and their polluting pitch, for example. And some of the people, obsessed by title and possession, apparently like this Eudora Vane.”
“We’re not all like that,” Maudie said.
“The darkwhispers became a natural barrier for us, as though meant to be there to protect us. At first, only sea-ships ventured our way, and they would encounter the darkwhispers and disappear, or crash – if any survived, they had no memory of what had come to pass.”
