Meanwhile, outside Topaz’s cabin, a guard was waiting with a tray of food. Holding the tray in one hand, he took a key from his pocket, unlocked the door and went in.
As he set down the tray, Topaz glanced fearfully towards the unlocked door. Feigning interest in her food, she approached the guard. In a lightning manoeuvre, she winded him with a thrust of her elbow, twisted his arm and brought him to the floor. She silenced his mouth with a firm hand as she took a small dagger from his belt.
‘Not a word!’ she commanded.
The guard looked sideways at the sharp blade, held an inch from his eye.
Jake burst into the room, quickly kicked the door shut behind him and threw down the crates he was carrying.
‘Help me, quickly!’ ordered Topaz. ‘The curtain ties – there!’
Jake whipped two lengths of cord from the window.
‘Tie him up,’ instructed Topaz.
With one of the cords he bound the guard’s feet. Topaz took the velvet belt from around her waist and fastened it over the man’s mouth as Jake used the other cord to tie his hands together.
‘Here!’ Topaz motioned for Jake to help her lift the body. They carried the wriggling, kicking guard over to an oak chest and shoved him inside. He was still struggling and protesting as she shut the lid.
Topaz turned to Jake. She was panting, her eyes glittering. ‘It was very brave of you to come here, but you must leave immediately!’
‘No. You’re not making any sense. We can both escape.’
‘It’s too late. I have already drunk atomium. It was an extremely strong dose. I have been sick for nearly an hour. That never happens. We must be travelling far – very far; possibly BC.’ Topaz looked at the clock above the mantelpiece. ‘We will reach the horizon point in less than thirty minutes, so you must leave immediately!’
Jake’s head was swimming with confusion. ‘Atomium? Horizon point? BC? What are you talking about?’
Topaz was losing patience. ‘I am travelling with Zeldt, wherever he is going: Mesopotamia, Assyria, Egypt – who knows?’
‘But you still have time to get out,’ Jake protested, shaking his head.
Topaz clapped a hand to her forehead, then took a deep breath. ‘This is a mission. I am on a mission.’
‘Wh-what?’ stammered Jake.
‘Before we left Point Zero, Commander Goethe asked to speak to me, Nathan and Charlie on a private matter – you remember? It was agreed that, if I was taken prisoner, I would not resist. Our organization has no idea where the Zeldt dynasty is hiding. It could be in any century, anywhere in the world. This is our first real opportunity in years to discover where it might be.’
Now Jake understood why Nathan had insisted that they should not go and rescue Topaz. ‘Then I’m coming with you,’ he said resolutely. ‘I have the atomium you gave me in Venice.’ He fished out the little vial on the chain around his neck. ‘I will take it now!’ He started to unscrew the top.
‘That’s impossible, Jake!’ Topaz took the vial and put it back inside his jacket. ‘All the doses must be of exactly the same ratio of atomium. Even if I had the slightest idea what Zeldt’s dosage is, or where we were going – which I don’t – it would be insanely dangerous for a first-timer to travel back more than a thousand years. You’ll end up killing yourself, not to mention the rest of us.’ Her tone softened once again. ‘Besides, I have to undertake this mission alone.’
‘But you’ve lost your mind! Zeldt’s not stupid. He’ll find out what you’re doing and he’ll kill you.’
‘He won’t kill me, I can assure you.’
‘How can you be so certain?’
‘I just can!’ said Topaz, so vehemently it made Jake a little frightened.
All at once Topaz felt bad. She reached out and stroked his hair. ‘It’s complicated,’ she said softly.
‘Complicated?’ Jake repeated. That was the word his mother had used. What were they all talking about?
There was the sound of a key turning in the lock. Topaz’s eyes darted over to the door. With lightning reactions, she bundled Jake into a closet. ‘Not a word, no heroics!’ she commanded, and closed the door.
Mina Schlitz, as brittle-eyed as ever, stepped into the cabin.
Jake knelt down and looked through a crack. He could see Mina’s black skirt and her red-backed snake wrapped around her forearm.
‘What do you want?’ asked Topaz coolly, displaying no fear of her adversary.
For a moment they stared at each other – two polar opposites: Mina in her tightly fitting uniform, granite gaze and jet-black hair as straight and severe as a guillotine blade; Topaz with her honeyed locks and wide indigo eyes that mirrored her ever-changing emotions.
‘The prince will see you now,’ said Mina in her passionless voice.
‘Am I permitted to eat something first?’ Topaz asked, feigning civility. ‘So much atomium on an empty stomach would be nauseating even for you.’
Mina’s snake had become restless. Its upper body was writhing towards the closet.
‘Five minutes,’ Mina spat as she turned back to the door. She stopped dead when she saw the crates of food on the floor. Then there was a banging from the oak chest.
In a flash, Mina had drawn her sword; she flew over to the chest and flung it open.
Jake acted on impulse. He sprang out of the closet and threw himself at Mina in an attempt to tackle her to the floor. She was too quick, blocking him with a sharp punch and bringing him down, then pressing her heel into his neck so firmly that it broke the skin.
‘Truly, your persistence is starting to annoy me,’ she said through gritted teeth.
Zeldt’s private sitting room on the Lindwurm was sumptuously, monstrously decorated. An entire wall was made of glass cabinets containing the embalmed heads of an assortment of enemies. There were trophies from every era of history – old and young, some with hats and headdresses, some with blood-matted hair – but the faces all displayed that frozen look of horror before a cold-blooded execution. The cabin was dark except for an occasional cluster of black candles.
Zeldt, almost invisible in the shadows, sat at a desk covered with nautical charts. His captain stood beside him, awaiting final instructions for the journey.
The prince did not turn round when he heard Mina and two guards push Jake and Topaz into the room. Mina came to whisper in her master’s ear. As he turned to listen, his pale face was lit by a sliver of light.
He remained expressionless as he turned back to the captain, passed him the charts and dismissed him. Dealing with a final piece of paperwork, he stood up and crossed the room until he was staring into Jake’s eyes.
Jake spoke first. ‘No luck in your mission, I’m afraid,’ he said defiantly.
Zeldt was silent.
‘Looks like the Renaissance is going ahead as planned,’ the boy continued doggedly. ‘Seems you can’t put a good world-changing-event-of-supreme-human-advancement down.’
‘Jake,’ said Topaz softly, ‘don’t make this worse for yourself.’
There was a knock on the door and a stern-faced guard announced, ‘Five minutes to horizon point.’ He left, closing the door behind him.
‘Usually I reserve places in my Compendium for truly worthy adversaries,’ Zeldt said in calm, velvety tones as he swept a hand around his wall of severed heads. ‘Enemies with a particular panache and intelligence. And although you clearly do not deserve that honour, it might amuse me for a while to see your pointless little visage there, with its misguided hope, frozen for all time. It will confirm my most resolute belief’ – his voice sank even lower – ‘that darkness will always prevail.’ He pointed to one of the heads, the gory remains of an eighteenth-century aristocrat. ‘That gentleman there is looking a little shabby – those Parisian embalmers leave so much to be desired … You will look very well in his place.’
Mina gave her evil smile as the prince opened a drawer laid out with exquisitely crafted weapons in silver and ebony. He ran his fi
ngers over the contents before selecting a pistol.
‘This is a clever device. As you may know, we are unable to travel with bona fide explosives, but this weapon discharges pellets of sulphuric acid through compressed air. It will rip a hole in your head and melt your brain at the same time.’ Zeldt passed it to Mina. ‘Set it to full velocity.’
Mina checked the gauge as she twisted the ratchet to its maximum setting, then passed the gun back.
Zeldt, in turn, passed it to Topaz.
She did not take it. He wrapped her limp fingers around the gun, then took a seat on a black ottoman in front of his diabolical wall of heads and crossed his legs.
‘Shoot him please,’ he uttered with chilling calm.
‘Non.’ Topaz shook her head. ‘Vous êtes fou. You’re completely deranged.’
‘Flattery will get you nowhere.’
Zeldt nodded at Mina, who took Jake’s left hand – it was already raw from the rope – and held it tightly by the wrist. Then she plunged a dagger into his palm. Jake screamed in agony. Bile shot up his throat into the back of his mouth and his fingers twitched uncontrollably.
‘He will die anyway. How painful do you wish it to be? It’s your choice. Shoot him,’ Zeldt insisted.
With the tip of her blade, Mina further explored the gash in Jake’s quivering palm. The sharp edge came into contact with solid sinew. Mina’s lips curled in delight as she pushed the dagger into the tendon, almost severing it. Jake choked; he felt sick with pain. He heard the red-backed snake hiss with delight.
‘Stop!’ cried Topaz, tears springing from her eyes. ‘I’ll do it. Stop hurting him, please!’
Zeldt raised his eyebrows at Jake. ‘If I’m not mistaken, the minx likes you. You can carry that memory with you to your watery grave. Shoot him.’
Topaz’s shaking hand held the pistol up to Jake’s head.
His eyes widened in horror. He felt the cold metal of the gun’s barrel touch his temple. ‘T-Topaz?’ he stuttered.
‘I’m sorry – I’m so sorry.’ A stream of tears poured from her eyes. ‘But the torture will be unbearable.’ Her finger tightened around the trigger.
Jake stopped breathing; electric pulses of fear paralysed his brain. A thousand images – of his parents, of his brother – flicked past at lightning speed.
Zeldt sat up in his seat. In the gloom, he resembled one of the frozen faces that lay behind him.
As Topaz squeezed the trigger, she suddenly swung the gun round, aimed and fired. The sulphuric pellet whistled past Zeldt’s head and hit one of the glass cabinets, shattering it into a thousand pieces. As the prince turned in astonishment, the case spewed the corrosive embalming fluid into his face. He gasped and flailed around desperately, blinded by the acid. Meanwhile the head of a Persian warrior fell out and landed on the floor with a wet crunch.
‘Run!’ Topaz yelled to Jake as she kicked the dagger from Mina’s hand. But Jake was feeling faint with agony, his head swimming; he could see the doorway, but he could not move.
Mina recovered herself, drew her sword and sliced it down at Topaz, ripping her cloak but barely grazing her skin.
Jake stumbled across the floor. It took all his strength to reach down, retrieve Mina’s dagger from the floor and throw it to Topaz. She caught it in one hand and thrust it towards Mina.
The girl advanced, her sword held out in front of her. Topaz edged back, jabbing with her dagger.
‘Run!’ she commanded Jake again.
‘I should have killed you when we were children,’ Mina whispered savagely. ‘The spoiled little princess. We would all have been better off without you.’
‘If you lay so much as a bony finger on me,’ Topaz replied with scorn, ‘your precious prince will not hesitate to cut you down.’
Zeldt, still blinded, heard Topaz’s words. He reached up his hand and hissed, ‘Mina, put it down! She is not to be harmed!’
Jake listened in bewilderment as he tore a strip of material from the sofa and tied it around his bleeding hand. Too late. Suddenly the pain engulfed him completely. He fell to the floor and lost consciousness.
As Mina hesitated, Topaz used the moment to seize a flickering candlestick and toss it across the room, igniting the pool of fluid that had gushed out of the broken cabinet. Flames spread across the floor. They licked around the embalmed head of the Persian warrior and up the wall.
Now Mina chose to disregard her orders; she let out a shriek and lunged for Topaz’s heart. The latter parried with her dagger, grabbed Mina’s snake by the neck and hurled it away. The serpent flew into the white-hot heart of the fire. It let out a screech as it writhed and twisted.
‘Noooo!’ Mina shrieked as she leaped across the room and thrust her hand into the inferno.
‘Wake up, wake up!’ Topaz commanded the unconscious Jake. There was no response.
Mina’s scorched hand retrieved the seared body of her beloved serpent. It hissed as it stretched this way and that until its black, blistered skin cracked away from its flesh.
‘It’s all right – it’s going to be all right,’ she pleaded desperately, gathering it in her arms. The creature tried to reach out its blistered tongue. Then it died, hanging limply from Mina’s hand. Her face filled with savage horror.
Even Topaz froze in momentary remorse, then turned back to Jake. ‘Wake up!’ she shouted once more. Jake’s eyes opened and she pulled him to his feet.
‘I will kill you! Kill you!’ Mina roared at Topaz.
There was an explosion as the glass of another cabinet shattered in the heat. Within seconds they were all bursting, their contents flying everywhere.
As Mina went to help her wounded master, Topaz dragged Jake through the flames towards the door. She caught one last glance of the other girl’s vengeful face before she yanked Jake out onto the deck.
The fire bell was sounding, and panicked guards were rushing down to help their master.
Topaz pulled Jake over to the main mast. ‘The horizon point. We’re approaching it.’ She pointed to the gleaming Constantor at the stern. The discs were almost in alignment. ‘Up is your only escape. Climb the mast!’
‘Wh–what?’ Jake stammered.
‘The horizon point! The ship is about to disappear. A vortex of water will drag you down. Now climb!’
Jake shook his head. ‘I can’t leave you here,’ he murmured helplessly.
‘Well, you have to!’ she shouted. ‘There are no choices left!’
The Lindwurm had started to shake and judder. Jake, utterly dumbstruck, started to clamber up the mast. The salt water searing into his wound was agonizing, but it was a greater, rawer pain that compelled him to jump back down again and throw his arms around Topaz.
‘I can’t leave you here! I can’t!’ he cried over the loud creak of timbers. ‘Mina will kill you.’
‘Mina cannot kill me.’
‘How can you know? How?’ Jake yelled over the tumult.
Topaz looked Jake straight in the eye. It was time to utter the terrible truth. ‘Because Zeldt … is family. He’s my family. He is my uncle!’
Jake’s eyes widened in horror, and he opened his mouth – but there was no more time. Every part of the ship was shaking now. Once more he climbed the mast, higher and higher. There was an extraordinary gathering of air from every part of the ocean. The Lindwurm shuddered to breaking point. The discs of the Constantor came into alignment.
‘Topaz, I love you!’ Jake yelled out to the small figure below.
There was a deafening explosion – and Topaz and the ship vanished beneath him. Jake cried out as he plunged into the sea below. He was sucked into the whirlpool. The ocean filled his lungs.
Jake tried to fight his way to the surface, but the current kept pulling him down, sending his limbs in every direction. Eventually he emerged above the waves. As he gasped for air, he became aware of the pain in his hand.
He looked around, and saw a wooden pallet, dislodged from the ship’s decks, floating by; he pulled himself
up, collapsing exhausted onto his makeshift raft. He stared around, wide-eyed. He was alone in the middle of the rolling ocean. The Lindwurm had disappeared without trace.
As the waves started to settle, Jake became aware of another living creature panting beside himself. A dog was paddling furiously to stay afloat. Jake recognized the scarred, war-torn face of the mastiff, Felson.
On seeing Jake, the dog swam towards him; he looked half dead.
‘You’ve been abandoned, have you?’ Jake said to him. ‘You want to be friends now?’
The dog’s brow furrowed; he whimpered and reached out his tongue to lick Jake’s face. The display of affection melted Jake’s heart. His lips trembled and tears streamed from his eyes. He pulled Felson up onto the raft and held him tight.
‘All right, we’ll be friends,’ he said softly.
30 PROMISES AND PROPOSALS
JAKE AND FELSON were picked up by some Flemish fishermen. Having trawled the North Sea for over a month, they were returning home from Dogger Bank with a hold full of salted herring when they spotted the raft. They threw out a net and hauled Jake and his companion aboard.
The ruddy-faced men, who spoke Flemish with a strong sing-song accent, offered them plates of delicious cured fish and wooden cups – a large bowl for Felson – of a curious lemonade. One of them bandaged Jake’s hand and showed off his own selection of scars.
The fishermen laughed and joked, drank from flagons and sang sea shanties all the way back to shore. They dropped Jake and Felson off at the harbour of Hellevoetsluis.
Jake found the Aal nestling amongst the many fishing craft in the harbour. Using some of the coins that Nathan had given him in Venice, he acquired fuel and water for the journey back and set off south again, back up the Rhine, steering his boat in the bright moonlight.
Jake’s mind now turned to the shocking events on the Lindwurm. A succession of haunting flashbacks played out in his head: Topaz’s strangeness, the showdown with Zeldt, the pistol, the fight, the fire, the fate of Mina’s snake – and, of course, Topaz’s astonishing revelation: that she was the niece, the very flesh and blood, of Zeldt himself.
History Keepers 1: The Storm Begins Page 26
