23 THE FLAGSHIP
THE THREE OTHERS followed the trade route, first north and then east in the direction of Macao. Less than an hour after leaving Xi’s island, they spied the Chinese fleet approaching, the sun rising behind them.
Dozens of vessels were sailing in a spearhead formation around the emperor’s huge ship. Its mass of yellow sails was so bright it was like a second sun.
‘Am I just imagining it,’ Nathan said, ‘or are there more ships than there were in Canton?’
‘At least triple the number,’ Yoyo replied. ‘It’s one thing impressing your own people; but now they’re heading for foreign shores and wish to display their might.’
‘And may one ask what all those boats are for?’ Nathan asked. ‘I like a decent entourage as much as the next man, but aren’t they taking things a little too far?’
‘Obviously the main vessel, the flagship we saw in Canton, is the command centre,’ Yoyo explained. ‘It houses not only the imperial suite and the rooms of the empress, but also the captain, the navigators, map-makers, translators, doctors and so on.’
‘And no doubt the royal wardrobe?’ Nathan chipped in. ‘That must be high on their list of priorities. We all know the three essentials of vacationing abroad: options, options, options.’
The two girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Yoyo continued: ‘Then you have ships carrying the horses; supply vessels for food, water tankers, troop transport and repair ships full of timber. There are boats carrying tribute gifts – silk, porcelain and ivory – and finally there are the patrol boats, which are much smaller and have oars as well as sails, so they can nip from one craft to another.’
‘Then we need to get to a patrol boat first,’ Topaz said decisively, her eye fixed on the horizon. ‘They’re hardly going to allow us onto the emperor’s flagship without a formal invitation.’
‘Good plan.’ Nathan nodded. ‘A patrol ship it is.’
They surveyed the approaching fleet in silence. It was one thing talking about it when it was at a distance; but the closer it got, the more terrifying it became. The Lantern was just a speck in the ocean, the Chinese fleet ploughing unstoppably towards them: forty ships carving their way through the waves, a thousand sails groaning, a million ropes creaking.
‘Any ideas?’ Nathan asked the others, with a gulp.
‘Cut the engine,’ Topaz ordered. ‘Yoyo, are there torches in the trunk there?’ Yoyo looked through the box by the helm and produced one, along with a flint lighter. Topaz took them from her, lit the tar-covered torch and used it to set light to the mainsail. It caught immediately.
Nathan held his hands up in disbelief. ‘Have you lost your mind?’
‘Topaz is right,’ Yoyo replied. ‘We are in their path, and we need to send out an SOS, give them a reason to stop – while showing ourselves to be vulnerable.’
‘And what if they don’t stop? What if they have better things to do? We’ll burn to death or drown while we’re about it.’
‘Shut up, Nathan,’ the two girls sighed in unison.
He looked from one to the other suspiciously. ‘And when did you two become such good friends anyway?’
They shared a sly smile. ‘Nathan,’ Yoyo remarked, ‘your coat seems to be—’
He looked round. The back of his new silk tunic had caught fire too. He tore it off and stamped on it. ‘Ruined already and we’d barely been introduced,’ he muttered under his breath.
The flames spread across the sails and licked up the mast, producing a cloud of black smoke that carried towards the oncoming fleet. Topaz opened her telescope, her eye on the wide rectangular prow of the flagship. She noticed a solitary figure dressed in gold and blue, standing dead centre, returning her gaze through his own telescope.
‘Is it just me, or is this getting out of control?’ Nathan asked; the inferno had now engulfed the stern, giving off an intense heat. They edged away towards the prow, and Topaz wondered if she’d been a little hasty.
Suddenly they saw one of the patrol boats shooting forward from the pack, heading towards them, oars splashing furiously. As it drew close, the bearded captain shouted over to them in Chinese. His tone was gruff: he clearly resented having to stop for the burning vessel. After a hurried exchange with Yoyo, he barked some orders to his crew: the oars on one side of the boat were drawn in and they came close enough for the youngsters to jump aboard.
With machine-like efficiency, the oars were replaced and the boat swerved round, just as the fleet arrived. The smaller boats dodged past the Lantern, but the flagship thumped straight into it, reducing it to matchsticks.
‘There she goes,’ Nathan groaned under his breath, as the Lantern disappeared for good. He looked around and, meeting twenty pairs of unfriendly eyes, tried one of his winning smiles. ‘British built,’ he commented. ‘Rather shoddy . . .’
Yoyo and Topaz wasted no time explaining to the captain that the fleet was in peril; that an enemy from below would attack at any moment – a monster from the deep. The captain stared at them in disbelief. When they insisted on speaking to the commander of the fleet or, better still, to one of the royal party, he let out an incredulous snigger. He told his crew, and they all laughed too.
At this, Yoyo produced the Lazuli Serpent and told him what it was. She tried to put it in his hand, but he was superstitious about it and shrank back, shaking his head.
‘The Lazuli Serpent?’ he said in Chinese, peering from one youngster to the other. They nodded in unison. He looked them up and down, then burst out laughing again, his crew joining in.
‘We don’t seem to be getting our point across,’ Nathan observed with a tight smile.
Topaz gazed across the sea, searching for any signs of Madame Fang’s monster. Over on the flagship, she saw the figure still standing in the prow, observing them through his telescope.
Yoyo made another determined attempt to make the captain understand the danger they were in, but he and his crew now seemed to find everything funny. Exasperated, she suddenly twisted the captain’s arm into a half-nelson, unsheathed her dagger and held it to his neck, threatening to cut his throat if he did not take her seriously. The laughter stopped dead, and there was a rattle as everyone drew their weapons at once. Then stalemate . . . hands clasping hilts, eyes darting back and forth.
All at once there was the blast of a horn, and a beam of light struck the captain’s face, flashing on and off. Someone on the flagship was tilting a mirror to and fro, sending a signal. The captain said something to Yoyo and she put down her weapon, whereupon he shouted out a series of orders, and the crew quickly returned to their oars. The boat swung round again, weaving her way through the flotilla.
‘It seems someone wants to speak to us,’ Yoyo explained to the others.
Topaz looked up once more at the prow of the flagship, but the figure had gone.
The patrol boat drew alongside, and the captain cupped his hands round his mouth and called out in a booming voice. A cargo door opened in the hull of the huge ship; inside stood a group of guards, along with a thin man in a black tunic. After some discussion, a wooden pontoon was positioned between the two craft and the History Keepers were pushed onto it.
For a second they froze as the ocean flew by beneath their feet, but the man in black shouted at them to hurry and they jumped aboard. Then the plank was whipped away behind them and the cargo door slammed shut.
The three of them turned to stare at the stern-looking man. He had beady eyes and a thin black moustache. He ordered the guards to confiscate all their weapons.
‘I suppose there’s no chance of a receipt?’ Nathan asked dryly. ‘I am rather attached to that sword.’
The dour man snapped another command and headed off along the corridor, while the History Keepers were forced to follow on behind.
They moved into the heart of the ship, up steps and along passages, from deck to deck: through the crew’s quarters, with its warren of compartments, up to the cannon decks – vast, low-
ceilinged chambers that smelled of sulphur. On either side stood rows of guns, while in the middle lay thousands of weapons: swords, rifles, axes, lances, along with piles of armour. Nathan looked around, trying to take it all in.
They came at last to a heavy door. The thin man took a key from a chain on his belt, unlocked it and led them into a long, red room. The walls were panelled in silk and it was laid out with gold furniture.
‘The imperial quarters, I presume,’ Nathan commented, peeking into an opulent suite of rooms. Inside, he saw a group of ladies-in-waiting, all silk and powder, with lips like rosebuds. They peered back at him, and when he flashed his smile and did an elaborate bow, knocking his head on the doorframe, they fell about giggling.
The man with the moustache slammed the door shut, shooting Nathan a stern look, and they continued up a last flight of steps, emerging on the bleached timbers of the main deck. It was buzzing with activity. An army of sailors manned the sails, while at the centre, under pale awnings, the im perial court was gathered: navigators, scientists, botanists and artists; some at tables, calibrating instruments and marking down numbers, others making sketches and diagrams or poring over books.
The History Keepers were ushered through the throng towards the prow, where a flight of steps led up to a screened platform. Topaz realized that this was where she had seen the figure in gold and blue watching with his telescope. Here, a line of men stood guard, each with a sabre gripped in his hand.
An older man barged his way through the guards and approached them. He was obviously of a high rank, as the man with the moustache bowed very low before him. The new arrival wore a silver robe that matched his sleek hair, and his finely plaited beard was knotted with jewels. His gaze was haughty and he addressed them in stern tones.
Yoyo translated for Nathan’s benefit: ‘He says that he is the imperial adviser and that the grand prince – that’s the emperor’s son – has asked to see us.’
‘Great.’ Nathan beamed. ‘Let’s go.’
As he set foot on the steps, the adviser barked out an angry order, at which the guards put up their swords.
‘He wants to know more about us first,’ Yoyo explained, adding under her breath, ‘I don’t think it was his idea to invite us aboard.’
‘Then explain to him that he’s about to die,’ Nathan suggested through gritted teeth.
Yoyo launched into her speech again, warning of the imminent danger. The man listened blankly, unmoved. She held out the Lazuli Serpent and told him what it was. Unafraid, he took the stone, inspected it briefly, and shrugged. Seeing that she was getting nowhere and fearing that time was running out, Yoyo tried again, even getting to her knees to make her point. Everyone within earshot craned to hear, but the imperial adviser clearly didn’t believe a word of it.
He was starting to reply in condescending tones when a high, bell-like voice called out from the dais, silencing him. He bristled with anger, but the imperial guards stood aside. Nathan and Topaz looked round at Yoyo.
‘It seems that the prince will see us now,’ she said.
24 THE EMPIRE CRACKS
THEY FILED UP onto the platform. It was quiet here, separated by screens from the rest of the deck. Under a single awning stood a throne, facing the vastness of the ocean. It was upholstered in royal yellow like the sails, but otherwise, unlike Xi Xiang’s, it was modest – if ancient. There was a figure seated on it, surveying the sea, but they could see only a padded crown of sapphire silk, studded with pearls and topped with a little orb of gold.
The silver-haired adviser bowed and spoke, and the figure in the throne stood up, turning to look at the History Keepers. He had a handsome, striking face that took both girls by surprise (in fact, even Nathan did a double take). He was roughly their age, but affected a stern expression – his chin high and his brow knotted – as if he had studied how to appear regal. It didn’t ring true: his eyes were those of any fifteen-year-old . . . uncertain.
The boy was dressed in a golden robe emblazoned with turquoise dragons. His belt was made of jet and his boots were studded with jewels. Tethered at his side was a live peacock, as regal as its master, peering out at the horizon.
‘Now that’s what I call dressing for the occasion,’ Nathan sighed as his companions found themselves smoothing down their hair and adjusting their torn and dirty clothes. The prince stepped towards them, making his adviser scuttle forward, annoyed by the breach of protocol. The boy snapped at him and he reluctantly withdrew.
Topaz sensed that a battle of wills was being fought between the two of them, and she offered a smile of encouragement to the prince. He merely pursed his lips, then spoke in Chinese. Yoyo replied, and he looked at Nathan and Topaz and waved at them, the jewels on his fingers flashing in the sun. ‘You are English?’ he asked with a strong accent.
Nathan and Topaz were about to explain that one of them was French and the other American, but for the sake of speed they both nodded. ‘English, yes.’
‘The best clocks from English,’ the boy replied, before adding grandly, ‘I am Zhu Chanxun, second son of emperor.’
The History Keepers each responded with a bow, and the peacock gave a piercing cry and opened its tail into a fan of turquoise and emerald.
Zhu spoke again: ‘I hear you talking. You say I am in danger. What danger is this?’
Yoyo explained for a third time, suggesting that immediate action should be taken.
Zhu waited for her to finish. ‘You want me to turn round? The fleet? Go back to land?’
‘That’s right,’ Topaz told him, ‘and prepare the cannon—’
The imperial adviser interrupted again, shaking his head, but the boy waved him away; then suddenly noticed the Lazuli Serpent in Yoyo’s hand. She passed it over and he examined it, running his fingers along the engraving.
‘Why do you bring me this stone? The stone is . . .’ He searched for the word, clearly frightened, and mimed an explosion. ‘The stone is destruction.’
Anxious that the attack might be coming at any moment, Topaz piped up in broken Chinese, begging him to return to port. Nathan eagerly seconded the motion, though his Chinese was far worse than his sister’s.
The adviser finally lost patience, insisting that these upstarts should be clapped in chains.
Zhu listened, but kept his eyes fixed on the three friends. For a moment they all exchanged a look that had nothing to do with the world of grown-ups and courtiers – a look of comradeship. Then Zhu turned and called to his captain, issuing orders.
Yoyo translated, her eyes sparkling with relief. ‘He has told them to change course, to head for the nearest port, and to prepare the gun deck.’
The courtier’s jaw had dropped open. His cheeks reddened and his face twisted with fury, but the angry young prince demanded the respect that he was due.
At Zhu’s command, a series of trumpet blasts echoed around the deck, and replies swiftly came from the other craft. There was a creak as a hundred ropes tightened at once, and the seven gargantuan sails angled round as one. Suddenly a shaft of sunlight lit up the four teenagers in a pool of gold. The flagship started to turn north towards the mainland. The other vessels, strung out in a crescent, followed suit.
Following the movement of the fleet, Nathan suddenly spotted a small craft at the back – one of the water tankers – list to one side, her mast tipping until it pointed at forty-five degrees. It carried on, seeming to right itself.
Then he heard a boom as it exploded.
The cargo of water sprayed up into the air like a fountain. Nathan cried out in shock, and the others turned to see the boat being pulled down into the sea by what looked like two giant pincers.
The prince gasped, eyes wide with horror, then looked down at the Lazuli Serpent before turning to the History Keepers. ‘Help me, please. What do I do?’ His face was pale.
Yoyo and Topaz explained that he must use the cannons to try and hit the submarine as it approached. He nodded, then swept through the guards down onto the
main deck, the others following behind. The peacock tried to hop after its master, but its golden leash held it back.
When the rest of the courtiers caught sight of their prince, they fell to their knees, heads bowed to the ground. Zhu had no time for that; he ordered them to get on with their business and sent a lieutenant to check that the cannons were ready. Nathan volunteered to go with him.
Just then, a cry went up from another part of the fleet. The prince and his courtiers swooped over to the rail to see what was happening. Now another supply boat was in trouble: the prow lurched into the air while the stern dropped sharply. Seemingly suspended in this unnatural position, it suddenly snapped in two, catapulting its crew in all directions and disgorging its load of timber.
The ship behind it, this one full of soldiers, smacked right into the wreckage, and the deck tilted crazily, tipping half the troops into the sea. Now a shout of alarm went up from every ship in the huge fleet; on the deck of the flagship, it was chaos.
Nathan charged down to the gun deck with Zhu’s lieutenant. It was humming with activity: three men were stationed at each gun, loading charge and ball, and preparing the fuses. At the lieutenant’s command, the guns were rolled forward, barrels pointing down through the portholes towards the water.
Nathan went over to the lookout window on the starboard side and scanned the sea for any signs of Fang’s metal squid. The water was still choppy where the fleet had started to turn northwards. Then he caught a glimpse of a dark spidery blur moving towards them. He shouted out, pointing, and signalled for the guns to take aim. The lieutenant immediately seconded his command.
Torches were touched to the fuses; there was a crackle, and everyone put their hands to their ears as half the starboard cannons fired, delivering an ear-shattering noise and a backdraught of sulphurous heat. As the missiles hit the sea, a curtain of water spewed up into the air, sending a great wave out towards the rest of the fleet. The lieutenant immediately ordered the second round of cannonfire.
There was a scurry of activity as the guns were reloaded, and Nathan waited with bated breath to see if they had hit the submarine.
History Keepers: Nightship to China Page 22
