Sebastian Darke: Prince of Explorers

by Philip Caveney

  Max looked affronted. 'Judging by some of the people I've met,' he said, 'that's not saying very much!'

  Joseph cackled again, as though this was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. 'Do you hear him? The brute clearly has quite an opinion of himself.'

  'Brute?' echoed Max. 'Well, really!'

  Sebastian spoke in a hasty attempt to defuse any argument. 'Thank you for taking the time to speak to us,' he said. 'You clearly know quite a bit about us.'

  'Oh, Salah here brings me all the news of the village,' said Joseph. The girl grinned self-consciously and stirred the brew with a length of stick. 'She's my niece. Her parents both died in a Gograth raid some time ago and she hasn't uttered a single word since that day. I'm afraid I'm all she has left in the world.'

  Sebastian was about to ask how Salah could tell Joseph any news if she couldn't speak, but at that moment she turned to the old man and made some swift gestures with her hands.

  Joseph nodded. 'She asks if you would like to partake of a cup of chai,' he said.

  'We'd be delighted,' said Sebastian.

  Salah nodded and began to ladle dark-green liquid from the cooking pot into clay cups, which she handed round to everybody.

  'I drink ten cups every day,' said Joseph. 'That's why I've lived to be as old as I am.'

  Max looked hopefully at the others. 'Couldn't I have a little drop?' he asked pitifully. 'I'm parched.'

  'You know the effect it has on you,' warned Cornelius.

  'Yes, but my back end's not even in the hut. And I need something to take away the taste of that medicine. Surely it can't do any harm?'

  Salah looked enquiringly at her uncle and the old man smiled and nodded.

  'Pour the beast a hot sup,' he told her. 'Since he seems to think he's the equal of any man, we'll see what he thinks of our chai.'

  Salah took a bowl to the doorway, set it down reverently in front of Max as though he were some kind of sacred cow, then backed away. He fell to, making loud slurping noises as he drank.

  'That's very good,' he observed, between slurps. 'Quite the nicest I've tasted.'

  Joseph laughed. 'I never dreamed I would live to see the day when a buffalope congratulated me on my chai,' he observed. 'What a world we live in!' He settled himself back against his cushions and studied Sebastian and Cornelius with interest. 'So . . . you wish to know about the lost city of Mendip?'

  'Yes, please,' said Cornelius. 'We have been sent here to find it – and Keera tells us that you have actually been there.'

  'That's true enough,' Joseph said, 'though it was many, many summers ago. I was but a boy then, not much older than Salah. My father used to tell me stories about the place, but I never dreamed that there was any truth in them. Then, one day . . . I went out on a hunt with some of the warriors of the village.'

  'Yes, but which village?' asked Sebastian. 'I know that you move around from time to time, so . . . would you be able to find the place again?'

  Joseph smiled. 'I believe so. You see, I think it was this village.'

  Sebastian looked puzzled.

  'We often return to former sites,' explained Keera. 'It means that we have very little work to do when we get there: we just patch up the huts we made before. We have lived in this place many times.' She turned to Joseph. 'But how can you be sure?' she asked him. 'This happened when you were a boy and you must have lived in so many different places. How do you know it's this one?'

  'I'm pretty sure it was here,' he told her. 'I may be long in the tooth but there's nothing wrong with my memory.' He returned to his story. 'We set off along a rusa trail heading west and walked for the best part of two days. Then we reached a place where a fast-flowing river crossed our path. It was wide and rapid and we stood there, wondering how we would ever get across it.'

  He paused for a moment and lifted his cup to his lips.

  Sebastian saw that Salah was listening intently, her eyes on the old man's face. She was smiling knowingly – this was no doubt a familiar story.

  'Then one man noticed something a short distance down river,' continued Joseph. 'He lifted a finger to his lips and pointed. We looked and, to our delight, we saw a huge tree. It had thick black roots coming up out of the ground, forming deep hollows, and amongst the roots lay a family of rusa – a big male, several sows and their babies. It was like a gift from Okrin. The men turned and began to creep forward, spears raised. I did likewise.'

  He pointed in front of him as though he could actually see the animals waiting there for him. 'The boar rose up, squealing with anger, tusks glittering in the sunlight. It saw the ring of men advancing upon it and searched for the weakest point.' Joseph smiled. 'I was head and shoulders shorter than the others, so of course it went for me. It moved fast for such a heavy beast. Before I knew it, it had slammed into me and was swinging its head to try to get its tusks into my flesh. I didn't have time to think. I grabbed two fistfuls of hair and hung on for dear life.'

  Sebastian stared at the old man, trying to imagine him as a young, inexperienced boy plunged into such a desperate situation.

  'I heard the yells of the other men as they turned in pursuit, but I didn't dare let go, lest I be trampled underfoot. Of course, I had forgotten that behind me was the river. In its rage the rusa had forgotten also. Suddenly the ground was gone from beneath my feet and we were falling, the rusa and I.' He shrugged his skinny shoulders. 'I had expected to hit the ground,' he said; 'to have the life crushed out of me. When we splashed down into freezing water, the shock made

  me cry out in terror; and the next instant the rusa was gone and I was being swept along at incredible speed, held in the chilly embrace of the water.'

  Joseph shook his head and his ancient eyes mirrored the terror he must have felt at the time. 'I was not a good swimmer – far from it – and I panicked every time my head went below the surface. The warriors pursued me along the bank for some distance, but they could not keep up and were soon left behind: I was quite alone . . .'

  There was a long silence, during which the tiniest sound would have seemed like an intrusion. That was Max's cue to break wind with incredible ferocity. Everybody turned to look at him indignantly.

  'Sorry,' he said. 'Must have been the chai.'

  'Please ignore his behaviour,' hissed Sebastian, his face reddening. 'Go on with your story.'

  The old man nodded. 'I do not know how long I was swept down that river,' he said. 'I was bounced off rocks, tumbled through rapids, dragged deep under the surface. At one point, just as I was grabbing a tree branch, the rusa came hurtling down the river and crashed into me. Its tusks snagged in my clothes, and for a moment I feared it would drag me down, but then it was carried away and I never saw it again. I came close to drowning many times, but at last a fallen tree trunk came down the river. Darkness fell and I was exhausted but I clung onto that tree all through the night as the waters dashed me here and there. When the dawn came, I was still hanging on. I kept trying to kick my way towards the bank but the current was strong and I was exhausted. I dared not release my hold. Finally . . . finally I blacked out and I knew nothing. I had fully expected to die.'

  'You didn't though, did you?' asked Max; everybody glared at him. 'I was only asking,' he said.

  'When I next opened my eyes,' said Joseph, 'I found myself lying on a low bank of shingle that extended down into a big pool. I was battered and exhausted, but grateful to be alive.'

  He smiled, reliving the joy he'd felt at escaping death. 'I lay there for a very long time – I must have slept for several hours. When I awoke, my strength had returned and I felt able to rouse myself. I realized, of course, that I could follow the river back until I either found my comrades or located the trail that would take me to the village, but as I stood there and looked around, I saw something through the trees that made me stare in astonishment.'

  There was a long, pregnant silence.

  'What was it?' asked Cornelius at last, trying not to show his impatience.

  'It was a b
uilding,' said Joseph, sounding as though he still could hardly believe it. 'Right there in the middle of the jungle; a building overgrown with vegetation. Not a simple hut like the Jilith would make, but a great grey stone edifice, the like of which I have never seen before or since. Of course I had to go and investigate. I was young and fascinated by the unknown. So I walked through the trees until I came to the building, and then I saw that it was only one of many, stretching away into the jungle before me. I stood there, looking around me in astonishment for I had never seen such things. They were like . . . the temples of the gods.'

  'And was anybody living there?' Sebastian asked.

  Joseph shook his head. 'I walked amidst them for what seemed half the day, but I saw no human life, only the occasional javralat and rusa wandering through the desolation. It was as though whoever had lived there had fled suddenly in the middle of the night and never returned.'

  'Did you go into any of the buildings?' asked Cornelius.

  The old man shook his head, his expression sheepish. 'I . . . I was young and inexperienced. I wanted to go inside but I was afraid to. I thought that there might be ghosts or demons waiting for me, just as my father's old stories had said. I looked in through doorways and windows, but there were dark shadows and I was fearful. And I had the uncanny sensation that someone or something was watching me the whole time – something powerful and evil. So after a while I turned round and retraced my steps. Eventually I found my way back to the river and began the long walk home, following its course. I did not reach the village until many days and nights had passed; then there was dancing and feasting in my honour, because of course my parents were sure that I had perished.'

  'And you never returned to the city?' asked Sebastian.

  'Never.' Joseph smiled. 'Oh, I thought about it many times and I even told others about what I had seen, but they all advised me never to go back. Most of them thought that the place was cursed – returning there might direct the curse at us. But I wasn't sure. I think if I'd managed to persuade a group of warriors to come with me, then I might have returned. Now, of course, it's too late.'

  'You . . . perhaps might have brought something back with you?' ventured Cornelius. 'A memento of such a great adventure?'

  The old man gazed at him thoughtfully for a few moments before replying. 'There is something,' he said, and gestured to Salah, who went across the hut to a large clay bowl. She lifted its lid and revealed something wrapped in a piece of cloth. She withdrew the bundle and brought it back to Joseph, who began to unwrap it, handling it gingerly as though afraid it might burst into flames. Everybody leaned forward, eager to see what it contained; and even Max tried to press in closer, making the flimsy doorway creak in protest.

  Joseph finally revealed what looked like a glass dome with a flat base. Within the dome was a tiny city, carved in intricate detail from what looked like smooth wood or bone. Sebastian caught his breath: he had never seen such craftsmanship before. Then he noticed that the city was covered by water.

  'It reminds me of the Angels' Lair,' he whispered. Joseph gave him a quizzical look and he elaborated. 'A sunken city we saw beneath the waves on the way to Lemora.'

  'Yes, but watch this,' said Joseph. He gave the globe a quick shake, and suddenly the water was full of tiny white flakes.

  When he stilled his hand, the flakes came drifting down onto the city.

  'Shadlog's teeth!' cried Cornelius. 'It's snow!'

  Joseph stared at him. 'What's that?' he asked.

  'Oh, I've heard of it,' said Sebastian, 'but I've never seen any.

  It's supposed to be cold, isn't it?'

  'Oh yes. Snow is little flakes of frozen water that fall from the sky,' Cornelius told him. 'Like rain, but . . . firmer. Where I come from in Golmira, it snows all the time. It gathers in great drifts on the ground and you have to wrap yourself in fur in order to go out in it. You can pat it into shapes and even make houses from it. It's marvellous stuff.' He gestured at the globe. 'Mind you, I've never seen anything like this.'

  'What's it for?' asked Sebastian, puzzled.

  'I have no idea,' said Joseph, handing the object to him. 'I found it lying on the ground – just waiting to be picked up. You see, it fits in the hand very well – almost as though it was meant to. But it doesn't really do anything. It just . . . looks . . . interesting.'

  Sebastian took the globe and examined it carefully. He tried to imagine the kind of skill it would require to craft such a thing, but he wouldn't have had the first idea how to go about it. He couldn't even see an opening where the water had been poured in.

  'Does it feel cold to the touch?' asked Cornelius.

  'Not really.' Sebastian passed the globe to him and the little warrior gazed at it intently.

  'Why doesn't the snow melt in the water?' he muttered.

  'I've no idea,' Sebastian told him. 'What do you think it's for?'

  Cornelius frowned. 'It can't be a weapon,' he surmised. 'It's heavy enough, but it looks like it would shatter if you smashed someone on the head with it.'

  'Be careful,' Joseph advised him. 'You might break it. I've kept that for many years.'

  Cornelius nodded and handed it to Keera. 'I have seen this many times,' she said, gazing into it thoughtfully. 'When I was a child, I used to think that it was some kind of magical world, and that if I wished hard, one day I might shrink until I was small enough to go into one of those tiny houses. I wished and wished every day, but alas, Okrin never granted me my wish.'

  'I don't suppose you'd be interested in selling the globe . . .?' asked Max, and everyone turned to look at him. 'Well, if Joseph would sell it to us, we could take it back to Thaddeus Peel as proof and save ourselves the trouble of a blooming long trip into the jungle.'

  'What does he mean, sell it?' asked Joseph, mystified. Clearly this was not a word he understood.

  'Oh, ignore him,' said Cornelius. 'As usual, he's just trying to get out of work. The globe is a wonderful thing, but it could have come from anywhere. It's not the proof we seek.'

  'But none of us can say what it is,' reasoned Sebastian. 'And if Joseph says it comes from the lost city, I believe him.'

  'So do I! I'm merely saying that it will not be proof enough for Thaddeus Peel. No, we have to try and find the city for ourselves and obtain something more conclusive.' Cornelius looked at Joseph. 'If you are right about your journey starting from this village, then it would simply be a case of finding the river and following its course.'

  Joseph nodded. 'It would seem so,' he agreed. 'But listen – when you undertake this trip, I would be obliged if you would take Salah with you.' He waved a bony hand at his niece. 'She has always been fascinated by my story and would like to see the city for herself. I have warned her that it may be a cursed place, but the young care nothing for such thoughts. She will be able to guide you as far as the river and she's a fine hunter – as good as any boy in the tribe.'

  'But who will look after you while she is away?' asked Keera.

  Joseph waved a hand. 'I have any number of friends in the village who will be happy to fill in for her. What do you say? She has pestered me about this ever since she learned of your plans.'

  'Pestered you?' Max snorted. 'She hasn't uttered a sound since we arrived.'

  'Yes, but she does the most energetic sign language you've ever witnessed. Will you take her?'

  'Why not?' agreed Cornelius. He studied the girl for a moment. 'You would work hard and do as you are told?' he asked.

  Salah smiled and nodded eagerly. She pointed to the cooking pot and gestured wildly with her hands.

  'She is telling you that she will do the cooking,' explained Joseph.

  'Well, thank goodness for that,' said Max from the doorway. 'Neither of these two have the first idea about how to make decent food!'