Her mother, who had a great belief in the power of experts, wrote: We’ve got the best people looking for you, darling.
Will, who was looking over her shoulder, chortled, ‘They can’t be that good!’
‘Do you want them to find you?’ Annalie asked.
‘Of course not,’ Essie said. ‘I’m sticking with you guys until we finish this thing.’ But the messages made her feel sad; they reminded her of how far she had drifted from her parents in a relatively short time. At the start of the year, when she’d left for school, her parents had been happily married, and her father was a rich, successful businessman. Now, her father was about to go on trial (any day now, in fact—the trial date had been brought forward) for the collapse of an apartment block designed and built by his company, Tower Corp, and his fortune had been frozen. Her parents’ marriage had disintegrated and her mother was now involved with a shipping magnate. (The magnate was building her a house; Essie’s mother had sent floor plans and the interior designer’s mood boards to show Essie what her new room would look like. Essie was still angry with her mother for betraying her father and would not be bribed, not even with a walk-in wardrobe and a four-poster bed.) And Essie knew that if her parents could have seen her on that island killing seagulls with a slingshot, they would hardly have recognised the daughter they sent off to boarding school just six months earlier. She wrote back to them both, trying to sound reassuring: I’m okay, I’m happy, please don’t worry about me. I’ll come home soon.
Annalie and Will decided to compose one more message of their own, even though they’d had no replies to any of the messages they’d sent. They wrote: Dear Spinner, we are coming to find you. We know where you’re going. If you get this message, please let us know that you’re all right, and BE CAREFUL. Graham misses you. Love Annalie and Will
That done, it was time to weigh anchor once again and embark on the next stage of their journey: to the frozen north.
North
The Moon Islands occupied a great crescent across the southern part of the globe; a large stretch of open ocean lay between the archipelago and the many lands of the northern continent. Sujana Kieferdottar lived in one of the most northerly countries of all. Although spring would be arriving when they got there, it would still be very cold.
It would be a different kind of sailing from now on; they were leaving behind the wild waters of the archipelago with its pirates, cannibals, reefs and currents, and heading into the civilised world of the north. There, the Admiralty would pose the greatest risk. Their names, their faces, their vessel would all be on watchlists, and a new coat of paint for the Sunfish might not be enough of a disguise. It would only take one sharp-eyed sailor on an Admiralty patrol boat, one cautious harbourmaster checking a list, and a message would be fired off to Beckett: I’ve seen them. They’re here.
And then Beckett would be coming for them.
Avery Beckett was their nemesis: once Spinner’s friend and colleague, he was now part of the Admiralty’s Department of Scientific Inquiry & Special Projects, which seemed to exist primarily in order to hunt down Spinner and his friends. He had already crossed paths with Will and Annalie several times, and come close to capturing them both. So far, they’d managed to escape him, but their luck could not hold forever.
They sailed through the open ocean for some weeks, never seeing another vessel. The winds were mostly in their favour and they took care with their water and their rations so they would need to put in to port as infrequently as possible. As they travelled north, the sea and air and sky changed around them; the warm, soft air of the south gradually cooled and sharpened. The wind grew teeth and the ocean turned darker. The nights were cold now.
One day, Pod shouted to them from the deck. ‘What is that?’ he cried.
A huge object, brilliant blue and carved into a strange organic shape, was floating off their starboard bow.
‘That’s an iceberg,’ Will said.
‘An iceberg,’ Pod repeated, gazing at it in amazement. He’d never seen such a thing. Annalie couldn’t tell whether he’d even heard of one.
‘Now we’re really in the north,’ Will said.
The coast of Norlind rose up before them: dark, craggy, rising up to mountainous peaks dusted with snow.
For the first time in many weeks, Essie’s shell chimed—they were in range of the links again. As the Sunfish cruised towards the shore, Essie read all her messages then began idly looking through her newsfeeds. A headline caught her eye; she linked to it, and began to read with growing horror.
Kang stronghold smashed
The Admiralty has struck a major blow in the fight against international piracy with the destruction of a Kang Brotherhood stronghold on the remote island of Dasto Puri, in the Moon Islands.
‘Following new intelligence, we were able to locate one of the Kangs’ most important bases in the Moon Islands and destroy it,’ said an Admiralty spokesman. ‘This base was an important centre for all their criminal operations in the south, and we believe we’ve struck a real blow at the heart of this criminal enterprise. They’ll find it difficult to recover.’
The Kang Brotherhood are known to be involved in a range of serious crimes, including attacks on ships and the theft of their cargoes, kidnapping, the international trade in stolen weapons and technology, smuggling, and people smuggling, as well as a range of other violent offences.
‘We will continue to fight piracy on the high seas for as long as we encounter it and do everything in our power to smash the pirates and secure the safety of the waters for all,’ the spokesman said.
Two photos accompanied the article. One showed the Kang fleet burning merrily in the foreground, while the town that climbed the cliff burned in the background. At the very top you could just see Dan Gari’s tower, also burning.
‘It’s all gone,’ Annalie said.
‘There were a lot of people on that island,’ Pod said. ‘What do you suppose they did with them all?’
‘Probably arrested them,’ Essie said.
‘Even the kids?’ Pod said.
‘It’s not like any of them can stay there now,’ Will said. ‘There’s nothing left of the place.’
‘No,’ said Annalie. She hadn’t especially enjoyed her time on Dasto Puri, but the Kangs had treated them decently enough once they’d paid their way. It was horrible to think of all those people’s homes going up in flames. Had they had a chance to rescue anything before it all went? The marines probably emptied the town and then sent in the flamethrowers, whoomph.
‘There’s another photo,’ Essie said.
The second photo, presumably taken before the town was set on fire, had been taken on the docks, and showed picturesquely dressed Kangs in handcuffs, fighting and snarling as they were taken to an Admiralty patrol ship.
‘Can you make it bigger?’ Annalie asked, leaning in to look closer.
Essie expanded the photo as big as it could go.
‘Look!’ Annalie said. Behind the foreground pirates, other figures were visible. One, a portly shape in shorts and a novelty T-shirt, hands pinned behind his back, had been caught with his mouth agape. Was he roaring in fear? Protest? Despair?
‘That’s Dan Gari,’ Pod said.
‘They got him,’ Annalie said, dismayed.
‘And his research?’ asked Will.
‘He did say he had a plan to keep it safe,’ Pod said.
‘I bet he didn’t get a chance to put it into action,’ Will said. ‘It looks like they were all caught by surprise, him and the Kangs. This is bad. Very bad. Did he know where we’re going?’
‘Yes,’ Annalie said.
‘Do you think he’d give us up?’ Will asked.
‘I don’t think he’d want to,’ Annalie said uncertainly.
‘But he’s not exactly a tough guy,’ Pod said. ‘If they put pressure on him . . .’
Essie was still looking at the photo. ‘Hey, is that who I think it is?’
Behind Dan Gari was ano
ther figure, tall and male, dressed in black. His image was blurred by movement and his face was turned away from the camera, but there was no mistaking the barrel chest, the shape of the jacket.
Will and Annalie looked closer.
‘It’s Beckett,’ Annalie said. ‘He was there, at Dasto Puri.’
‘He only missed you by a matter of days,’ Essie said.
For a moment they were all silent, looking at each other. ‘What do we do?’ Annalie asked finally. ‘Do we keep going, knowing he could be coming after us?’
‘What choice have we got?’ Will said. ‘We still have to find Spinner. We’ll just have to try and stay ahead of Beckett.’
Sujana
Norlind had never been a populous country, even before the Flood. It was very far to the north and buried in ice in the winter. It had a long, crinkly, folded coastline with a lot of coastal towns that the Flood had simply washed away, leaving only a few lonely spires and bell towers behind. But Norlind also had a central spine of mountains, the northernmost end of a great mountain range that ran through three or four different countries, and there were several large towns and cities nestled on the lower slopes of the mountains.
Sujana Kieferdottar did not live in any of these, however. Her home lay further up, high on a mountain pass which had once led to a glacier, when there still were glaciers, far away from anywhere. The address Spinner had for her was not even an address precisely: she lived near, but not in, a village so small it took Essie quite some time to even locate it on the links.
The remoteness of Sujana’s house presented them with a problem: Did they all travel together up the mountain? Or did they leave someone behind to watch over the boat?
‘I don’t want to split up again,’ Essie said.
‘But I don’t want to leave the boat unprotected,’ Will said. ‘What if somebody steals it?’
‘This isn’t the Moon Islands,’ Essie said. ‘There are rules here. People must be able to leave boats unattended, right? Otherwise how would anyone with a boat ever get anything done?’
‘True,’ Will said, ‘but if you want to keep your boat safe in harbour, you need to have papers and register with the harbourmaster, and we’d rather keep a lower profile than that.’
‘I definitely think we need to avoid anything too official,’ Annalie said.
‘Someone needs to stay with the boat then,’ Will said, looking around at the others. ‘I can do it.’
‘You can’t stay here,’ Essie said. ‘You have to go up the mountain. What if Spinner’s there?’
‘I’ll stay,’ Pod said.
‘Are you sure?’ Annalie asked, relieved.
‘I can protect the boat,’ Pod said.
‘Graham protect Pod,’ Graham said, and rarked.
They agreed Essie would accompany Will and Annalie up the mountain. Essie’s linking skills might come in handy, and besides, she was the only one who could speak a language other than Dux.
‘I don’t actually speak Norlind, though,’ she reminded them.
‘But you do speak Hesh,’ Annalie said. ‘And Hesh isn’t far from here.’
‘You know they’re not the same, right?’
The only way to get there was via three buses, which were all quite slow and left infrequently. The last of the three buses was an overnight bus. Essie had asked the driver to tell them when they reached the village, but it was so late when they finally got there, and his accent was so thick, it took a moment for her to understand that he was saying, ‘Kliefenligt!’
They stumbled off the bus into total darkness.
‘This is the right place, isn’t it?’ Will said.
The village slumbered. The stars were bright. It was very, very cold.
Essie flicked open her shell and checked their location. ‘Yep.’
‘So, now what?’ asked Will.
‘According to this, we can pay someone to take us up to the next village, or we can walk.’
The darkness and silence were absolute. ‘I don’t see anyone we can ask. Do you?’ Will said.
‘Looks like we’re walking,’ Annalie said. ‘But let’s wait until the sun comes up.’
They searched for somewhere to rest out of the bitter cold. There were not a lot of places to choose from. Eventually they found a largish building with a porch that cut some of the wind.
‘We should huddle up,’ Annalie said. ‘Share our body heat.’
‘It’s not that cold,’ Will said, embarrassed.
The three of them curled up in the doorway and snatched a few hours’ very uncomfortable sleep before the dawn light woke them again.
‘I’ve had worse nights,’ Will said, sitting up and rubbing the crick in his neck, ‘but that would have to be in the top ten.’
‘I can’t feel my toes,’ Essie said.
‘We’ll all feel better once we start walking,’ Annalie said.
‘We really won’t,’ Essie said. ‘And I’m starving.’
‘It’s been one night,’ Annalie teased. ‘I thought you went six days without food on that raft.’
‘I’m in civilisation now. I shouldn’t have to be hungry in civilisation,’ Essie said as they began to walk.
The path led upwards, always upwards, and their legs soon began to burn. Will was in front, setting a cracking pace; Annalie was next, with Essie trudging in the rear. At first they could see very little; thick mist hung over everything, making it difficult to see more than a few metres in any direction. But then the sun came through the mountain pass and the mist began to melt away. Essie stopped to catch her breath and look around, and she cried out to the others, ‘Hey, look at this!’
Will and Annalie stopped and turned, and saw that the path they were on emerged from a great soft, billowing sea of pearly cloud.
‘It’s like we’re on another island,’ Essie said.
‘An island in the sky,’ Annalie said.
‘Yeah. Cool. Shall we keep going?’ Will was impatient.
They trudged on. The sun kept rising. The mist and cloud burnt away and the great vista of Norlind was revealed below them: the mountains falling to foothills, foothills falling to fjords, the distant glimmer of the ocean. Snow still lay in all the hollows, but the land was emerging—bare, dark, ready for the coming of spring.
‘Shouldn’t we be there by now?’ Will asked.
Essie checked her shell. ‘No signal,’ she said.
‘Typical,’ Will said, rolling his eyes.
A jingling sound echoed up from below them. Essie heard it first. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘a horse and cart.’
It was the sort of thing you’d see on a postcard: a little wooden cart laden with boxes of groceries, colourfully decorated with floral folk art, pulled by a pair of sturdy short-legged horses with bells on their harnesses, driven by a young woman. She reined in her horses as she drew level with them.
The young woman greeted them in Norlind, and Essie replied in Hesh. The woman, hearing her accent, switched to Duxish. ‘Where are you three going?’ she asked.
‘Oeferklikken,’ Essie said.
‘Really? Are you sure you haven’t made a mistake?’ She laughed heartily.
‘Do you live in Oeferklikken?’ Annalie asked.
‘All my life.’
‘We’re looking for someone who lives near the village—she’s an old friend of my father’s.’
The young woman raised her eyebrows. ‘You mean Sujana?’ She poked a thumb at her cart and said, ‘You’d better hop on.’
Papers
Pod was in the saloon playing a board game with Graham. Graham liked playing board games, and he often won. Pod suspected he’d somehow worked out how to cheat at rolling the dice, since he always had suspiciously good luck. Today Pod was slightly ahead and feeling confident about his chances when Graham cocked his head to one side and said, ‘Engine.’
As usual, Graham was right. ‘You think they’re coming towards us?’
Graham gave a non-committal squawk, so they both went
up on deck for a look.
A motorboat was coming towards them, an efficient-looking vessel with a big engine and writing on the side. Pod’s mouth went dry. He didn’t need to be able to read to know who it was.
‘It’s the police,’ he said. ‘What do we do?’
‘Stay cool,’ Graham said. ‘Be nice.’
The motorboat came to a halt at a safe distance and an officer spoke to him through a loudhailer. The words were all in Norlinden.
Trying to hide his panic, Pod called, ‘Sorry! Don’t speak Norlinden! You speak Duxish?’
The officer spoke to him again in Norlinden. His tone was not friendly.
‘I’m sorry,’ Pod called back. ‘I don’t understand.’
He had a strong desire to pull up the anchor and try for a quick getaway, but he knew they’d easily outrun him and he’d just make himself look guilty.
A different voice came over the loudhailer. ‘Attention vessel. You must identify yourself. How many people on board, please?’
‘Just me,’ Pod called.
‘Under maritime regulation 27.3.45a we are authorised to board your vessel. Please move to the railing and keep your hands where we can see them at all times.’
Act innocent, Pod reminded himself. Innocent people don’t try to chase the police away or stop them from coming aboard. ‘Okay!’ he called. ‘Sure! No problem!’
He stood and watched as the police officers manoeuvred closer. Two of them came aboard; a third remained at the controls of the police vessel.
‘What is your business in Norlind?’ asked the Duxish-speaking officer, who wore a badge on his uniform identifying him as Tomasson.
‘Don’t have any business,’ Pod said.
‘Then why are you here?’
‘I’m just passing through.’
The Castle in the Sea: Quest of the Sunfish 2 Page 10
