Brightstorm

by Vashti Hardy

  Once outside, the sky was cloudless, as though nothing had happened, and the sun so bright he had to cover his eyes for a moment until he got used to it. He saw Harriet had dug a hole and was making a fire.

  “Felicity took two watches, she didn’t wake me. But I must admit I slept like a baby!”

  Arthur was drawn by her great energy. She was so assured in everything she did. Little had phased her, apart from being penned in the caves. He hoped one day he would be like her.

  Together they dug a bigger hole out for the others and set some snow over the heat to melt into water for cooking and drinking. The others soon woke.

  Felicity stretched her arms. “I feel as though I’ve been shaken up by nature’s great hand itself and thrown into a heap of frozen bones which have gone back all wrong.” She cooked porridge flavoured with dried berries she had gathered in the forest, while the others warmed by the fire.

  Maudie insisted on polishing Arthur’s iron arm. “You must look your best for the Polaris,” she said.

  Then they ate, and even though it was a tiny ration, it took away some of Arthur’s hunger and warmed him from the inside.

  Harriet checked their direction, and they packed quickly. “Well, here we are – the last stage. I think things are going to be a lot easier today,” she said with a smile.

  They started walking, but Felicity paused.

  “What is it?” Arthur asked.

  “I’ve a strange tingling in my toes and I don’t like it.”

  “Keep moving, you need to get your circulation going.”

  “They’re not cold. It’s that feeling I get.”

  They’d only been walking for a few moments more when an enormous boom thrummed through the mountainside behind, stopping them dead.

  “What was that?”

  They looked behind as another boom punched through the air.

  “What’s going on?”

  “It’s stating the obvious, but I think something exploded,” said Felicity.

  Another huge crash sounded, and snow and rock shot into the air in the distant mountains behind. The explosions kept coming. Parthena took flight and flew away screeching.

  “Where are you going? Come back!” Arthur called.

  “The noise is likely scaring her,” said Felicity.

  His calling whistle was lost on the wind. He watched helpless as she flew north-east.

  Then everything fell quiet again.

  Harriet was glued to the uniscope. “I don’t believe it.”

  She passed the uniscope to Arthur. The crammed mountains now had a narrow slice of sky between them lower down. He swallowed hard. “How far to the Polaris, Harriet?”

  “Half a day,” she said faintly.

  “No wonder they weren’t hurrying to chase us under the mountain. She’s making her own path straight through; it must’ve been her plan all along. Which is why we caught up with her more quickly than we expected – it wasn’t just the pitch she was carrying; it was a huge amount of explosives,” said Maudie.

  “But it’s not big enough to get the Victorious through yet,” said Arthur.

  They stared as another explosion echoed across the land.

  Felicity took her lucky spoon from her fur coat and jabbed it angrily in the air. “It’s an abomination, doing that to a giant of nature! Who does she think she is?”

  “Someone who thinks she can do whatever she wants and get away with it,” Harriet said.

  Arthur whistled once more for Parthena, but she’d flown from sight.

  “She’s probably just finding a safe place to hide. That bird has traversed continents; she’ll be back,” Maudie said.

  Arthur took a deep breath and nodded. “We have to go – right now. There’s no way we’re going to let Eudora Vane get to South Polaris before us, Harriet,” he said.

  “That’s one heck of a look of determination you’ve got in your eye, Brightstorm.” Harriet smiled at him. “And please, call me Harrie. I tell everyone to call me Harriet rather than Captain, but my dearest, closest friends call me Harrie.”

  A warm glow filled him inside.

  “We’ll make it first, even if we have to run the whole way.” Maudie took Arthur’s hand and gave a defiant nod. Then she reached for Harriet’s hand and Felicity grasped Arthur’s iron fingers. They stood for a moment then let go and trudged onwards.

  Arthur no longer felt the vicious bite of the frozen South. The burning need inside of him to make it to South Polaris drove him forward at a relentless pace. They maintained a fast and steady trek through the deep snow, with Arthur calling out the rhythm if they slowed.

  After two chimes, they paused for Harriet to check co-ordinates with her way-finder. The explosions had stopped and a new sound buzzed in the distance.

  The Victorious was gaining on them. Arthur could no longer feel his toes or the fingers of his left hand. The relentless pace and no stopping for rest or to warm themselves was taking its toll. But they had to carry on. There was no choice; they had to get justice for Dad. His entire crew had died because of Eudora, and they couldn’t let her go down in history for succeeding. They were so close now – one last push.

  It was then the great shadow of the Victorious loomed behind them.

  As the darkness overtook him, Arthur ran, not knowing where the strength came from, his muscles burning, and his ears throbbing with the engine noise. He increased his speed, but the Victorious edged in front and he was chasing its shadow; like water through his fingers, it was slipping away. He pushed harder, his lungs on fire, but the ship was too far ahead. His boot caught in the snow. He tripped and rolled, then watched, utterly helpless as the Victorious hovered and lowered, landing directly on the flat indent of South Polaris a short distance ahead.

  He sank his face into the snow. The feeling of failure gouged at him. He’d never felt so helpless.

  The others were soon with him. They sat in the snow, their shoulders sagged, faces sullen and disbelieving.

  No one spoke for a long time.

  Anger churned inside Arthur. He fought every urge in his body telling him to run onwards to Eudora and confront her, to find out why she had killed his father’s crew. But Arthur knew his rash decisions had cost him before; it had cost Tuyok more. For once he had to stop himself. He pounded the snow with his fist.

  Then the crumple of hurried footsteps in snow sounded beside him. It took him a moment to realize what was happening.

  Maudie was hurtling towards the Victorious.

  CHAPTER 28

  SOUTH POLARIS

  Arthur rushed after her. “Maud, stop!” But she was too fast. He could hear Harriet and Felicity not far behind. The figures of the Victorious crew were growing closer with every moment. Eudora posed for a photograph, holding up her instruments and a time-piece as proof.

  Maudie was almost there.

  “Stop!” he shouted, but it was too late. They’d seen them.

  Maudie was shouting. Eudora’s crew quickly surrounded her.

  “Get your hands off her!” Arthur called.

  “Why?” Maudie shouted at the captain of the Victorious, while struggling in the grip of two crew members.

  A cruel smile spread across Eudora’s face. “Well, if it isn’t the little orphans. You quite surprise me, again and again. You’ve somehow managed to scurry through the mountains. Well, I’m sure Daddy would be so proud of you and your upstart natures. And here comes Miss Culpepper. You’re a credit to your family name, but I’m afraid you still haven’t beaten the Vanes.”

  “Don’t hurt them!” Harriet called, running to stand beside them, closely followed by Felicity.

  Smethwyck stepped beside Eudora, his gun pointed at them.

  Eudora thought for a moment. “Search them.”

  Her crew emptied their bags. Arthur’s explorer’s journal fell in the snow, Harriet’s camera, the remains of the poisoned cake, and Dad’s diary.

  “Why did you do it? It wasn’t just about the challenge, was it?” A
rthur said.

  “Your instincts serve you well. It was never only about getting to South Polaris first. Although the prize is the destiny of the Vane legacy and not one I’m prepared to lose.” She rooted through the contents of their bags scattered on the ground, making a pile of their evidence, then said, “Burn it.”

  They watched helplessly as it was destroyed.

  “But you still have something that belongs to me.” She held out her pink gloved hand.

  Arthur frowned. “The locket? It belongs to our Mum and Dad. You stole it from Dad.”

  Eudora took a step closer. With a soft tilt of her head, she said, “So, little crime solver, let me pose a new mystery – how could I steal a locket from Ernest Brightstorm if an avalanche and an uncrossable broken lake was between us?”

  The words weighed like a rock inside of him.

  Eudora looked to the sky and laughed, shrill as the biting air around them. “Why, you didn’t even think to open it and look inside.”

  Arthur’s trembling hand took the lockets from his neck. Maudie wriggled from the crew member holding her and held out her hand. Arthur placed them in her palm. She helped him click open the first. There was the picture of their parents. They opened the next – inside was a photograph of two little girls.

  “Who are they?” Maudie said.

  Arthur saw the resemblance instantly. The girl on the left was the younger version of the woman beside Dad in the other locket – the broad smile and dimples below her cheekbones, the slant of her eyes the same as Maudie’s. It was Mum. Every muscle in his body tightened – the other girl with elaborately plaited hair and a confident close-lipped smile, looked adoringly at the older girl. It was undoubtedly a young Eudora Vane. He put his finger to the picture of his parents in the other locket and pulled. Sure enough, hidden behind was the same picture of the two little girls.

  The bottom fell out of his world. “The initials VE – they are for Violetta and Eudora. The lockets belonged to you – you were sisters,” he said.

  “Your father was no one. Violetta was a Vane – I couldn’t believe it when she said she was marrying an outsider nobody, a wannabe explorer without an ounce of true explorer blood in his family. She degraded herself, she dishonoured our name, but she was so under his spell she wouldn’t listen to sense. Violetta had such a bright future, then she met your father, and all she cared about was building their sky-ship together. Your father brainwashed her, turned her against me. It wasn’t long before she completely disowned our family, saying our greatest achievements were a source of shame to her. Imagine! Disowning the Vane legacy! Well, she got her due: you two disgusting Brightstorm brats came along, killing her at your birth.”

  “Don’t you listen to a word from that repulsive mouth of hers,” Felicity said, pulling them both close. “Your mother’s death was an accident – bad things happen, but it isn’t your fault.”

  Eudora glanced at Arthur’s iron arm. “One look at you and it was proof she was punished for her choices.”

  “Don’t you dare speak about my brother like that.”

  “A half-formed boy, a constant broken reminder of their mistake.”

  Maudie lunged for Eudora but the rest of Eudora’s crew were poised. Harriet grabbed her back and held her firm – Smethwyck’s gun was on her.

  “Arthur is already a hundred times the person you’ll ever be – they both are,” Harriet said.

  “Ernest Brightstorm had to pay for taking my sister from me. But I play the long game, and I hid my animosity towards him, made him think he was being accepted by the explorer families of old. And when the first South Polaris challenge came along, I knew it was my chance. In the quiet south away from all eyes, no one would question a disaster. I had an opportunity to bring down his upstart family name once and for all.”

  “They loved each other and you will never kill that fact, Eudora,” said Harriet.

  Eudora straightened her body and lifted her chin. “Love? Love is loyalty, love is knowing where you are from and your duty to legacy, love is family name. The Brightstorm twins have a broken family name which meant nothing before and means even less now.”

  “You’re wrong. Love isn’t about bloodlines. Love is what you decide to do – the choices you make,” said Arthur.

  Felicity waved her lucky spoon at Eudora. “You’re wrong about family. You might have taken their father from them, but he’s still living on, right inside of them, stronger than ever and fighting back against the terrible injustice put on them. They have family – they have me and Harrie and every other member of our crew waiting back in the forest. Family isn’t always what you’re born into. It’s what you do for each other and the experiences you go through together that makes a family.”

  “How very touching,” Eudora said in a bored tone. “But I’m afraid I have to get going now. Your disappearance will be just as easy – I shall enjoy making up the story. I must admit it gives me quite the thrill seeing all their gullible faces. Although, it seems such a waste of true explorer blood with you, Harriet. However, you are clearly more ambitious than your years, and Lontown will shake their heads at your naive attempt on South Polaris with an untested, higgledy-piggledy ship, and marvel at the Vane crew’s attempts to save you on our return journey – such a shame we were too late.”

  “You’re deranged,” Arthur said.

  “Who first? I’d leave you to freeze, but I think a little insurance is needed. The rest of your crew will perish; that is, after we stop to retrieve some of your water technology, Miss Culpepper. You should consider yourselves lucky – it’ll be over before you know it, whereas your crew will suffer long, painful, cold deaths.”

  Smethwyck pulled back the trigger. “Oldest to youngest,” he said, then pointed the gun at Felicity.

  She swallowed hard. “I’m not afraid of you and I’m not afraid of dying. But you don’t need to harm these two – they’re your niece and nephew. Like it or not, they’re your blood too.”

  Arthur had to think quickly. Time hung, just as the sun poised in the sky at the same point in the Polaris, the light flickering, crisp and bright. That’s when he knew what to do, but he needed Maudie’s help. But how could he let her know?

  “Wait!” he said.

  Eudora narrowed her gaze. She raised a hand a little, enough to pause Smethwyck.

  “I need you to answer one thing for me first.”

  “Go on.”

  “Maudie and I need to know something before you shoot us. Only you can tell us.” Arthur knew he’d got her attention and had bought the valuable time he needed.

  “I’ll indulge you. What do you need to know?”

  He glanced at Maudie. “What do moths do?”

  Maudie looked puzzled.

  Eudora’s brow creased. She let out an ugly laugh. “What a silly question!”

  The bright sun blinked off his iron arm. “Tell us, what do moths do?” he repeated.

  Smethwyck stood in front of them, gun wavering, a confused expression. Some other members of the crew laughed.

  Arthur saw a smile edging in the corner of Maudie’s mouth, and he knew she’d realized.

  “They seek the light,” she said. Swiftly, she grasped his iron hand and raised it.

  The glare of the sun was fierce and bounced off his iron arm, reflecting a stream of light from the flat metal panel with the moth back towards Smethwyck. Quick as a blink, Maudie adjusted the angle so that sunlight flashed straight at Smethwyck’s eyes.

  “Shoot!” Eudora shouted.

  The gun fired.

  Arthur’s body jolted back as it hit, and he fell backwards. He looked down – there was a scorch mark where the bullet had ricocheted off his iron arm, missing him by a whisker.

  A member of the crew cried out as Maudie kicked them away, then more shouts and scuffles as another of the Vane crew wrestled with Felicity. Harriet tussled with Smethwyck and knocked the gun out of his hand. It landed in the snow a distance away. Eudora was nearest and she ran towa
rds it.

  “Quick, behind that snow ridge – it’s our only chance!” Harriet shouted. “Grab whatever you can!”

  Felicity and Maudie pulled Arthur up and the four ran for their lives. Shots fired behind them but Eudora wasn’t as sharp with a gun as her tongue, and missed.

  They ran up the sides of the bank, adrenaline the only thing making it possible, and rolled over the top and behind the snow ridge before collapsing, panting for breath.

  They heard Eudora calling her crew back to the ship.

  “She’ll take off and shoot us from above!” Harriet cried.

  “What do we do? We’ve got nothing!” said Felicity.

  “Arty, are you all right? We need to think of something!”

  But Arthur couldn’t hear properly. His brain buzzed and his thoughts jumbled.

  “He’s in shock,” said Felicity.

  “We need a plan and quick.” Harriet looked around and pointed to another ridge. “Come on.”

  They ran again, but the rumble of engines vibrated the snow as the Victorious rose. Soon it would be above them and they’d be exposed.

  Arthur looked around, the noise in his head was intense. He suddenly realized it wasn’t from the gunshot. There were concerned thoughts bombarding him. “Where, where?” they were saying.

  It was the thought-wolves.

  Parthena’s call pierced the cold air as she flew from behind a ridge followed by three thought-wolves, their feet thundering through the snow. Then a fourth appeared – a great white beast. Arthur shook his head, certain he was dreaming, or hearing the thoughts of a ghost. There was no doubt in his mind – the huge white wolf heading straight for him was Tuyok.

  “Tuyok?” Arthur barely dared to think.

  “Cub,” Tuyok replied.

  “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

  “I’m glad you are too!”

  An explosion sounded and snow erupted a short distance away.

  “Cannons!” Harriet shouted.

  “We must go.”

  Climbing on to Tuyok’s back was like coming home. In an instant, the thought-wolves were charging faster than any living creature he’d ever seen, back towards the mountains. Arthur looked over his shoulder at the Victorious, but it was no match for the thought-wolves. With every second, they were getting further away from the black smear of pitch trailing across the perfect sky.