The Ark of Dun Ruah, Book 1

by Maria Burke

  ‘So what’s the connection?’ asked Kerry.

  ‘Well, we saw how the Giant Eagle attacked the man with the grey cloak in Kilbeggin. And pretty savage it was too! We know that Pod was tormented by the same eagles. Now one of them is on this ship and he may still be after Pod. He might even have got to him already and hurt him. We’ve got to do a proper search for Pod. Let’s go back up and check the two top decks properly. Timmy and Dot, you search the rest of the ship and the seas around it. And keep an eye out for eagles. We’ll meet back here in an hour.’

  The little group of friends all went their separate ways, searching for Pod and asking everyone they met if they had seen him. An hour later they were all back on the top deck. And no one had any news.

  ‘This isn’t like Pod not to turn up,’ said Kerry. ‘He always arrives exactly when he says he will. Something must have happened to him.’

  ‘Maybe we’re overreacting,’ said Timmy. ‘It’s possible that he just nodded off to sleep somewhere.’

  ‘Pod doesn’t nod off to sleep,’ said Dot. ‘He is very fussy about where he nests and he always sleeps with one eye open. No, I think something’s wrong. He’s been gone for hours. Maybe he flew in through one of those tinted portholes on the lower decks and got into trouble.’

  ‘Well, I can hear the lunch bell’, said Simon, ‘and that means the dining room is open. I’m going to have a chat with the two cooks and see what’s going on around here. They might know something about what happened to Pod.’

  ‘We’ll keep an eye out while you’re gone,’ called Timmy.

  When Kerry and Simon arrived at the dining cabin the three Frumpets were already fighting to get first place in the queue for lunch. They were stirring up a noisy racket. The cook’s voice could be heard over their cries.

  ‘I’m going to ban you three from the dining cabin if you don’t behave yourselves right now and that means you will get absolutely nothing to eat for the entire voyage. Now get yourselves back down to the end of the line. You can wait until everyone else has been fed.’

  Looks of disappointment began to register on the Frumpets’ faces. Their mouths were open, ready to protest when the cook picked two of them up by the ears and shook them violently.

  ‘Do what you are told, or no food,’ he said, dropping them at the end of the line.

  Kerry and Simon sat at a little table near a porthole and tried to eat some lunch. Simon waited for the cooks to finish serving and for a chance to talk to them alone. Kerry looked out at the deep blue sea. She could see an island off in the distance. It looked very mountainous and rugged. Scores of birds circled above it in the distant grey skies.

  Finally the serving finished and Simon approached the head cook.

  ‘Have you seen Pod, the owl?’ asked Simon.

  ‘I take it that you’re talking about the unusual looking Blue Owl that was with you at breakfast. No, I haven’t seen him.’

  ‘He’s been missing all morning,’ said Simon, ‘and we can’t find him on the upper decks. We want to go down to search for him in the lower decks. He’s old and may have got stuck somewhere. Will you tell us how to get down there?’

  ‘The lower decks are private. And they’re completely out of bounds for passengers. I’ll keep an eye out for him. But I have to warn you that there have been a lot of disappearances in these waters. We are crossing the Sea of Sorrows right now and passing very close to Eyrie Island. It’s an evil place. Bad things are happening there. Your owl may have got mixed up with some of the eagles who come to spy on us. He may have had a mishap.’

  ‘What kind of a mishap?’ asked Simon.

  ‘These waters are terribly dangerous,’ said the cook.

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Simon.

  ‘Eyrie Island,’ said the cook in a low voice. ‘I know things about that island. Once it was a great place. There was an abbey there and lots of villages. Now the place is deserted. The waters are cursed and only eagles live there. It’s ruled by their tyrant warlord.’

  ‘Come on, Chef,’ called the cook’s assistant. ‘We’re finished here.’

  ‘Keep searching,’ said the chef to Simon, ‘and I’ll put the word out that the owl is missing. I promise you I’ll search the lower decks myself.’

  ‘But why aren’t we allowed down to the lower decks and what’s all the secrecy about?’ asked Simon.

  The chef stared hard at Simon, his lips firmly sealed.

  ‘Chef, it’s time to go,’ persisted the assistant who was now standing inside the elevator.

  ‘Now just you hold on!’ demanded Simon. ‘Take me to your captain, that’s if there is a captain on this ship.’

  ‘I’m not taking you anywhere, boy,’ replied the head chef. ‘And take a piece of my advice. Mind your own business or you’ll find yourself under ship’s arrest.’

  The chef spun around and charged off through the elevator door. It slid shut and they heard the sound of it descending. Simon looked at Kerry in bewilderment. Suddenly, he clapped his hands.

  ‘I have it,’ he said and then lowered his voice. ‘There’s got to be a way into that elevator and down into the lower decks. All I have to do is find it and then I’ll go down there and search for Pod myself.’

  ‘You’re not going down on your own,’ said Kerry. ‘I’ll come with you. It was me who arranged this trip. And I don’t want you getting arrested.’

  Timmy and Dot circled the ship and checked the portholes of the lower decks. They found no trace of Pod or the eagles. They were back waiting on the open air deck when Kerry and Simon returned from lunch.

  ‘I’m so worried about poor old Pod,’ said Kerry. ‘This is my fault. He never wanted to come with us in the first place. And I talked him into coming on this trip. I’ll never forgive myself if anything has happened to him.’

  ‘Don’t be a dope, Kerry,’ said Simon. ‘We all wanted to come on this trip. And we will find him. I’ve just got to find a way into that elevator. It’s the only way down to the lower decks. I’m going back to the dining cabin now to check it out.’

  Kerry hurried after him and watched as he examined the walls around the elevator doors for switches and buttons. Then he searched under the food counter.

  ‘There must be a way of calling that lift up,’ said Simon.

  ‘Maybe it’s operated by remote control,’ said Kerry. ‘The cooks must have taken it with them.’

  ‘What’s this?’ Simon asked, ‘It looks like a tunnel of some kind.’

  ‘That’s the rubbish chute,’ said Kerry. ‘It’s where they throw the waste food.’

  ‘Perfect,’ exclaimed Simon. ‘I’m going down. I’ll just about fit in there. You wait for me here. I won’t be long.’

  ‘But, Simon, this chute is not for humans. It’s for waste food and plastic bags. You could get stuck on the way down or mangled in a shredding machine at the bottom.’

  ‘OK I’ll throw something down,’ said Simon, rooting in his trouser pockets. He found a few coins and tossed them down the chute. They rustled as they hit the bottom.

  ‘I don’t hear any shredding machine,’ said Simon.

  ‘A few coins wouldn’t be enough to set it off.’

  Simon pulled a large bag of white serviettes out from under the counter. He pushed it down the rubbish chute and leaned in to watch it fall. It landed with a faint thud.

  ‘I can still see the white serviette bag,’ said Simon. ‘There is no shredding machine.’

  ‘Well, if you do go down that rubbish chute,’ said Kerry, ‘have you thought about how you’re going to get back up here?’

  ‘I’ll come back in the elevator, of course.’

  ‘But anything could happen to you, Simon.’

  ‘I’m going down there, Kerry, whether you like it or not. Something has happened to Pod. And we’re not going to find him talking about it up here. The only way to go is down.’

  ‘I’m not letting you go on your own, Simon. If you go down there I’m coming with you. Just call
me when you hit the bottom of the chute and I’ll follow. If you’re brave enough to go down that dirty, old chute then so am I.’

  Simon squeezed into the rubbish chute. Kerry heard him sliding down and landing with a crunch at the bottom.

  ‘Come on, Kerry,’ his voice echoed. ‘It’s perfectly safe.’

  Kerry followed him into the rubbish chute and let herself go. She felt the downward pull as she descended into the darkness of the ship. Finally, she hit the bottom with a soft thump. She had landed on a bed of rubbish bags and serviettes.

  CHAPTER 6

  Church Bells

  ‘Come on, Kerry, let’s get out of this rubbish dump,’ said Simon.

  Kerry scrambled off the large pile of rubbish bags under the chute. They had landed in a dark room with a crack of light coming in beneath the door. She was feeling a bit nervous now. What if they were discovered in the secret part of the ship? Would they be thrown overboard like in the pirate days, and forced to swim to Eyrie Island? Kerry shuddered at the thought. She was beginning to feel apprehensive about where this search for Pod was leading them.

  ‘Kerry, are you alright?’ asked Simon. ‘Come on. If Pod is down here we’ll find him.’

  Kerry thought about her friend Pod, nervous and lost somewhere on the ship or, worse still, in the clutches of the Giant Eagles from Eyrie Island. She took a deep breath and prepared to follow Simon. He opened the door and stepped out of the rubbish room.

  ‘All clear,’ he said.

  Kerry followed Simon out onto a long passageway. They stood at the end of the passage looking around them. Lanterns hung intermittently along the walls, casting a dim light down to the other end of the narrow corridor.

  ‘We’d better hurry before someone finds us,’ Kerry said in her bravest voice.

  As they crept down the passageway Kerry heard the ship creak. There was a lack of fresh air in the passage. The vessel heaved against the waves outside and made her stomach lurch. A sudden chiming of bells, somewhere in the distance added to the mounting tension she felt. She wondered if this journey to the Land of Fire was a good idea after all. Perhaps she should have heeded Pod’s warnings and stayed at home in Kilbeggin.

  They reached the end of the passageway and found that it took a sharp right turn. The bells echoed louder as they crept cautiously around the corner.

  ‘Why are those church bells ringing in the middle of the ocean?’ whispered Kerry.

  ‘Look straight ahead,’ said Simon. ‘It looks like we’re approaching some kind of a chapel.’

  They hurried on along the passageway until they came to the pointed arch. Here the walls rose to support a wooden vaulted ceiling that stretched before them towards a second arch. Under it stood two large, heavy, wooden doors. They paused for some moments gazing at the intricate images of biblical scenes delicately sculpted into the dark wood. The bells stopped ringing.

  ‘This is Noah’s Ark,’ said Kerry, running her fingers over the carving. ‘All these creatures were on board while it tossed in the waves during the great flood.’

  Pictures of pairs of lions, elephants, tigers, snakes and birds of many kinds were carved into the dark wood.

  ‘And look, that’s Jonah in the mouth of the whale ready to be devoured.’

  Somewhere below them the ship groaned. The bells started ringing again and Kerry felt faint. Simon pushed one of the doors open and pulled her through. They found themselves standing in dark shadows at the back of an ornate chapel. The sound of the bells came from directly above them and echoed around the walls. A long nave led to a marble altar decorated with elaborate golden statues. The aisles on both sides were lined with wooden carvings, crammed into niches and side altars.

  ‘I don’t understand it,’ said Simon. ‘This is a full-scale church, floating in the middle of the ocean.’

  ‘And it’s really old,’ said Kerry. ‘The wood carvings must have been brought here from a very ancient church.’

  ‘Shhhh … I think I hear someone coming,’ whispered Simon. ‘Stand still.’

  They stood in the shadows and listened as the footsteps approached. The sounds were coming from the very same door they had just entered. It opened and there stood a tall figure in a dark grey, hooded cloak. Kerry knew it was the man who had been attacked by the eagle in Kilbeggin. She couldn’t see his face, which was hidden under the deep cowl of his cloak. Without looking left or right the man moved swiftly up the aisle and crossed the altar. Simon made a move to follow him but Kerry pulled him back. Then the man turned into a side altar and quickly disappeared out of sight.

  Suddenly, the bells stopped ringing and a deep chanting floated towards them. A procession of monks wearing brown habits entered the church from behind the main altar. Each one carried a candle and a prayer book. They filed into the pews at the top of the church. The sound of the monks rhythmic chanting and the beauty of the church’s stained-glass portholes and painted altars filled Kerry with a sense of awe.

  At last the chanting stopped and the monks knelt to pray. It was then that Kerry felt they were being watched. She turned to see a pair of flashing green eyes staring at her through the dark shadows of the altar. She gasped loudly. Simon caught her by the arm. Some of the monks looked around at hearing the noise and one of them got up and began to shuffle towards them with his candle held high. The only way for Simon and Kerry to go was back in the direction they came from. They slipped through the tall wooden doors, ran through the archway and back down the corridor to the second arch. They stood into the shadow behind it. Nobody followed.

  ‘Did you see those green eyes?’ asked Kerry. ‘Somebody was watching us in there. We’ve been seen.’

  But before Kerry had a chance to say another word an enormous Giant Eagle stuck his beak over an archway and looked down on them with a cold, glassy stare.

  Kerry and Simon froze. The eagle’s large, pointed beak was almost touching their heads. He was over three feet tall with brown and golden feathers. His eyes were yellow. Leaning over, he looked at them sternly.

  ‘No need to go any further,’ the eagle ordered. ‘I’ve got you covered. Now, what exactly are you doing snooping around here. This part of the ship is strictly private.’

  ‘We’re not snooping and we have a good reason for being here,’ replied Simon.

  ‘Let’s hear it then,’ commanded the eagle.

  ‘Tell me who you are first,’ said Simon.

  ‘My name is Grinwick,’ said the eagle, ‘I’m a security guard on this ship and you shouldn’t be down here. Only the monks are allowed in the lower decks. I’m placing you under arrest and bringing you before the Abbot. He will probably throw you into the ship’s jail for trespassing on private property.’

  ‘No, please don’t,’ pleaded Kerry. ‘We were just looking for an owl. He is our friend and he has been missing all day. I’m very worried about him. We just thought he might have come down here hunting for rats. We don’t want to disturb anyone.’

  The eagle widened his golden eyes and stared at Kerry for a moment. ‘Is this owl of yours an unusual shade of blue?’

  ‘Oh yes. Have you seen him?’

  ‘No. But I’ve heard what happened to him and unfortunately it’s not good. The owl has been captured by Red Beak, King of the Giant Eagles, who lives on Eyrie Island.’

  ‘What? Pod captured by the King of the Eagles! How do you know?’

  ‘I know about most things that go on over there. I once lived on Eyrie Island myself. It wasn’t called Eyrie Island back then, before Red Beak and his army took it over. It was called the Isle of Dun Ruah. When Red Beak banished the monks from their abbey on the island, they took refuge on this ship. They gave the name of the island to their floating monastery. That’s why this ship is called “The Ark of Dun Ruah”.’

  ‘Does this eagle – Red Beak – have red eyes that send out beams of light?’ Simon asked.

  ‘That’s him. He’s an evil bird. Those eyes see everything.’

  ‘We saw him last
night as we boarded the ship. He was up on the mast.’

  ‘I knew it,’ said Grinwick. ‘There was something in the air last night, a terrible presence.’

  ‘How do you know that Pod was captured?’ Kerry asked.

  ‘I have many friends and family on the island. Some of them keep me informed. There are many good eagles living out there still. They’re forced to work for Red Beak against their will.’

  ‘But what do they want with Pod?’ said Simon. ‘He’s just a harmless old owl.’

  ‘Feathers,’ said Grinwick. ‘That owl has beautiful bright blue feathers. They are very valuable. Eagles love them. I’ve heard that Red Beak is planning to make himself and his Queen a pair of matching royal-blue cloaks. He’s been searching for the perfect shade of blue feathers for years. Your owl has got them. He’s flown straight into their clutches. And when Red Beak’s got his first pair of cloaks finished, he’ll make more of them to export to Royal Eagle families all over the world. That’s how he operates. He’s greedy. He loves an opportunity to make money and blue feathers are more valuable than diamonds to the Royal Eagles.’

  ‘When he’s got enough feathers, will he let Pod go?’ asked Kerry.

  Grinwick laughed.

  ‘He’ll never have enough feathers! They tell me that Red Beak is developing some formula. He plans to inject it into the owl to make him grow more feathers and then he’ll pluck him alive. After that he’ll wait for your friend Pod to grow another crop so he can keep harvesting them.’

  ‘This is an outrage. He won’t get away with this,’ exclaimed Simon. ‘We’ve got to get onto the island. And we have to get there now. We need a boat. You must have an inflatable one on board or we could take one of the lifeboats.’

  ‘It’s not as simple as that,’ said Grinwick.

  ‘But Pod will have a nervous breakdown if they pluck his feathers.’

  ‘Red Beak is a dangerous warlord. He is a dictator and capable of terrible cruelty. You don’t know what you’re getting into. My advice to you is to keep out of Red Beak’s way.’