Sebastian Darke: Prince of Explorers

by Philip Caveney

'Oh, you say that now! But everything was different before this . . . this jumped-up fancy pants arrived in the village.'

  'Jumped-up fancy pants?' cried Sebastian. 'Well, I've been called a few things in my time, but—'

  'Cal, you know the prophecy,' said Keera, her voice as cold as a field of Golmiran snow. 'Sebastian was sent by Okrin to help us. He and his companions have rid us of our greatest enemies.'

  'Yes – with the help of the entire tribe. And at the cost of eight lives.'

  'That doesn't matter. He fulfilled his part of the prophecy and it's up to me to fulfil mine. After everything he's done for our village, how can I not give him whatever he asks of me?'

  'Yes, but hold on,' said Sebastian. 'I wasn't—'

  'You shall never marry him!' roared Cal.

  'Look,' reasoned Sebastian, 'I don't even want to—'

  'My father has said that we must marry!' said Keera. 'Would you have me defy Maccan as well?'

  'You will wed this preening fool over my dead body!' yelled Cal and he got to his feet, reaching for his sword.

  'Preening fool?' gasped Sebastian. 'Well, that's just—' He broke off as something occurred to him – something so obvious he was amazed it hadn't come to him before. He pointed at Cal.

  'You . . . snake in the grass!' he cried. 'That's why you sent me into the jungle on my own. You knew it wasn't a rusa I'd be going up against. You knew it was a gruntag. You hoped I'd be killed and then you'd no longer have a rival!'

  'Nonsense,' said Cal; but he didn't sound too convincing.

  'You expect me to believe a seasoned hunter like you could mistake gruntag poo for rusa droppings? You knew exactly what you were doing. Oh yes, you thought I'd wander in there and be torn limb from limb.' Now Sebastian got up from his seat and reached for his own sword. 'I ought to teach you a lesson you'll never forget.'

  'You're welcome to try, elfling,' snarled Cal, stepping forward. Behind him, Galt threw aside what was left of his food and started up. Max came trotting back to stand by Sebastian. Keera and Salah sat regarding the scene in silent horror. In the brief silence that followed, the crackling of the fire seemed very loud.

  And then there was a sudden blur of motion whirling through the air from one side of the fire to the other. Sebastian received a powerful punch in the face that tipped him back over the tree trunk he'd been sitting on and left him lying with his skinny legs sticking up in the air. A fraction of a second later, Cal received a kick in the stomach that sent him sprawling into Galt and the two of them went down in a tangle of arms and legs.

  The blur came back to earth and into focus. Cornelius stood there, hands on hips, glowering around at his fallen companions.

  'What was that for?' gasped Sebastian. He was trying to get himself upright, but in his current undignified position it wasn't easy. In the end, Keera and Salah pulled him back up so he was sitting. 'What . . . what do you think you're doing?' he spluttered.

  'What are you doing, more's the point?' growled Cornelius. 'Shadlog's teeth, we've only been on this expedition one day and you're all at each other's throats. What chance of success do you suppose we have if that carries on?'

  'But' – Sebastian pointed at Cal, who was now being helped to his feet by Galt – 'he sent me in against that gruntag to get me killed.'

  'That's not true!' protested Cal. 'The droppings I found were from a rusa; I wouldn't send anybody to do a job I wouldn't do myself. Even him.' He somehow managed to make the last word sound like the worst kind of oath. He pointed back at Sebastian. 'Just tell him to stay away from my girlfriend.'

  'Your girlfriend?' cried Keera. She looked at Cornelius. 'You tell Cal that I'm not his girlfriend and never have been!'

  'Yes,' added Max, 'and you can also tell him to stop threatening my young master or I'll butt him from one side of this jungle to the other.'

  'PLEASE!' Cornelius lifted his hands to his ears and affected a tortured look. 'I can't listen to any more of this nonsense. Sebastian . . . Cal . . . I want you to shake hands and apologize to each other.'

  'You are joking, I hope,' protested Sebastian.

  'No I'm not. It's either that or I send Cal and Galt back to their village and we carry on without them. And as they're the only ones who have a clue how to find their way through this jungle, I don't think that's the best idea.'

  There was a very long silence. Sebastian and Cal glared at each other across the campfire. Finally Sebastian gave a sigh. He got up from his seat and approached Cal. At first it looked as though Cal wasn't going to follow suit but Galt pushed him forward and finally the two of them stood face to face.

  Sebastian extended a hand. 'I'm sorry,' he whispered.

  'Louder!' insisted Cornelius. 'And sound like you mean it.'

  'I'm sorry,' repeated Sebastian. 'And for what it's worth, I'm not after Keera. I mean, I like her of course, she's a very nice person. But . . . I have a sweetheart back in Ramalat.'

  'Oh,' said Keera flatly. She stood up. 'I'm going for a walk,' she announced.

  'Wait, I'll go with you,' suggested Cal. 'It's a jungle out there.'

  'I don't want any company, thank you,' she told him. 'And I can look after myself.' She walked away into the shadows.

  'Oh, well done, young master,' said Max, gazing after her. 'You handled that with your usual sensitivity. Like a blind rusa in a pottery shop.'

  'Shut up!' said Sebastian. He turned back to Cal. 'I don't want there to be bad blood between us. If you can honestly assure me that you didn't know there was a gruntag waiting for me, then I'm willing to accept that. Now, will you shake my hand?'

  Cal scowled, but after a moment's hesitation he put out his own hand and they shook.

  'Good,' said Cornelius. 'I'm glad that's settled. I can see that I've taken my eye off the ball for far too long. I've let my own worries cloud my judgement. But there's no sense in dwelling on past mistakes. What's done is done, and if we don't try our very best to carry out this mission, then we may as well just pack up and head back where we came from. From here on in, we're all going to pull together as a team. Understood?'

  There was a long silence and everybody nodded. One thing was clear. Cornelius was back in control.

  CHAPTER 13

  THE RIVER

  They set off again at first light, moving in single file along the narrow trail. Whatever had happened the previous night, it seemed to have revitalized Cornelius, and he was more like his old self, marching along briskly, shouting orders to whoever was leading the way and always ready with a solution to any problem. It was Keera who had gone all quiet. She trudged along at the rear of the column, her head bowed, looking sad beyond belief.

  'That poor girl,' whispered Max when Sebastian was walking just ahead of him. 'You've cut her to the quick, you know. She obviously had her heart set on marrying you. I thought she was going to burst into tears when you said those hurtful things last night.'

  'Well, what was I supposed to say?' hissed Sebastian. 'I didn't want to get her hopes up, did I?'

  'Oh, is that why you sat there holding her hand? No wonder she's confused.'

  'For the last time, I wasn't holding her hand; she was holding mine.'

  'Well, you weren't exactly fighting it, were you?'

  'How could I?' argued Sebastian. 'I didn't want to insult her. It's all because of this daft prophecy thing. I'm sorry now that I went along with it. She thinks she has to marry me to keep Okrin happy. That's the only reason she brought up the subject.'

  But Max shook his head. 'It's nothing to do with the prophecy, young master, believe you me. That young lady has set her sights on you and she isn't going to settle for anything less.'

  'Nonsense! She'll soon accept that it's not going to happen.'

  'I wouldn't bet on it. If I was you, I'd try to—'

  He broke off as Sebastian quickened his pace and moved up along the column.

  'Now where are you going?' complained Max.

  'I'm sorry,' said Sebastian, 'but I absolutely refuse to ta
ke romantic advice from somebody whose first and only love is a big bucket of food.'

  He slotted himself in behind Cornelius. 'We're making good progress today,' he observed.

  Cornelius glanced back and nodded. 'I want to be at the river before nightfall,' he said. 'If we keep up this pace, we should be fine.'

  Sebastian studied the little warrior for a moment as he marched along. 'So what snapped you out of your mood?' he asked.

  'Listening to you lot arguing,' replied Cornelius without hesitation. 'It made me realize that what's done is done and there's not a blessed thing I can do to change it. I shall always have the blood of the Gograth on my hands, but now we have to get on and do the best we can to achieve what we set out to do. We must find the lost city and the evidence we need to prove its existence.' He was silent for a moment, and when he spoke again, it was in a quieter tone. 'I felt very sorry for Keera last night,' he murmured. 'Did you see the poor girl's face when you said you had no intention of marrying her?'

  'Don't you start!' snapped Sebastian. 'I've already heard all this from Max. What would you have me do?'

  'I don't suppose there's anything you can do. It's just unfortunate, that's all. The thing is, Maccan expects you to marry her. I wouldn't like to be the man who has to tell him you're not interested.'

  'Let's cross that bridge when we come to it,' said Sebastian. 'I'll tell you something. That lost city had better be where Joseph said it was. If all this turns out to be a pointless exercise, I am never embarking on one of your mad missions ever again.'

  'That makes two of us,' agreed Cornelius.

  They marched all that day, taking only a short break to wolf down some chunks of gruntag they had brought along with them, wrapped in fragrant leaves to keep it fresh. After a quick gulp from their water canteens, they set off again, walking till every muscle ached.

  Towards late afternoon, just when Sebastian was telling himself he could go no further, he heard an excited shout from up ahead. It was Galt announcing that he could 'smell water'. Sebastian tried sniffing the air but was aware of nothing except the odour of his own sweat; however the idea of being close gave a little extra spring to his step. Everyone quickened their pace, eyes fixed on the way ahead; soon they were aware of a distant roar, and then, quite unexpectedly, the trail widened out to reveal that they were standing on the bank of a mighty river. Sebastian gave a gasp of astonishment. When Joseph had told his story, he had pictured a fastflowing stream, but this was on a scale he couldn't have imagined – a vast stretch of dark water, the other bank so far away it would be impossible for even the strongest of archers to fire an arrow across it.

  Sebastian was just wondering if they had got the right river when Cornelius pointed out a huge tree some distance downstream, the roots forming a series of hollows in the ground.

  'Just as Joseph described it!' he cried. 'That must be where the herd of rusa were resting.'

  Everybody threw down their packs and took the opportunity to grab a few minutes' rest. Sebastian pulled off his boots and allowed his feet to enjoy a little fresh air. Cornelius sank down beside him, removing his helmet and unbuckling his breastplate. Max looked hopefully around at his companions, no doubt waiting for somebody to come and untie the equipment weighing him down, but for the time being at least, nobody made a move to help him. Cal and Galt sat together as always, their eyes darting this way and that, always on the lookout for trouble. Salah, who never seemed to tire, started collecting bits of dry timber to make a fire. Keera, meanwhile, sat a short distance away, her pretty face marred by a sullen look.

  Cornelius glanced at the group for a moment, as though gauging their strength. 'Tonight we rest,' he told them. 'First thing tomorrow morning, we start building the raft.'

  Everyone stared at him.

  'What raft?' asked Cal. 'Nobody said anything about a raft.'

  'That's because I only thought of it last night,' said Cornelius. 'Actually, it was Galt who gave me the idea.'

  'Really?' Galt looked around proudly. 'Hear that? The little warrior wants to use my idea.'

  Cal seemed decidedly unimpressed by this news. 'We'll spend two days building a raft,' he said.

  'Yes, we will,' agreed Cornelius. 'But think for a moment. To find the lost city we have to follow the course of the river. Those are the only directions we have.' He pointed towards the dense undergrowth that crowded both banks. 'Imagine how long it would take us to hack our way through that lot! Yes, we'll lose a couple of days, but we'll make it up in no time – and we'll be doing exactly what Joseph did, heading straight down the river. That way we can be there in doublequick time.'

  'And back again,' said Galt, who still didn't seem to understand that you couldn't sail a raft upriver.

  Sebastian considered explaining this to him but decided that after all that walking, it was simply too much effort. He gave Cornelius a questioning look. 'You know how to build a raft, do you?'

  Cornelius shrugged. 'How hard can it be?' he asked. 'We've brought axes with us and there's no shortage of wood around here. We'll use lengths of vine to tie it all together. You'll see, it's going to save us weeks.'

  Max snorted. 'After our last adventure, I said I'd never travel on water again,' he said.

  'No,' said Cornelius. 'You said you'd never go on the ocean. This is just a river – it's not the same thing.'

  'It looks deep enough,' said Max. 'And I'll wager the water's just as wet.'

  'You needn't have any worries on that score,' said Cal dismissively. 'We won't be taking you with us anyway.'

  Now all eyes turned in his direction.

  'What do you mean?' asked Sebastian.

  'Well, we're not going to put a great fat brute like that onto a raft, are we?' reasoned Cal. 'He'll just capsize us.'

  'Don't spare my feelings,' said Max.

  'Of course we're taking him,' retorted Sebastian. 'He's a valuable member of the team.'

  'What, him?' Cal sneered. 'All he does is moan and fart. How is that valuable?'

  'If I started to list the reasons why I'm valuable, we'd be here all day,' said Max. 'And I'll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head. Don't forget, my best mates are the Chosen One and the little warrior. One word from me and they'll smite you; and you won't like being smitten!'

  'If you knew anything about rafts,' Cornelius told Cal, 'you'd realize that Max is the best thing we could ask for.'

  'Yes!' said Max, then looked at Cornelius. 'And that would be because . . .?'

  'He'll provide ballast. A great big heavy lump right in the middle of the raft – that's just what we need.'

  'Thanks,' said Max. 'I think.'

  'But he must weigh tons!' protested Cal.

  'Yes, but that's good. A huge hulking lump like that is exactly what will prevent us from tipping up.'

  'Did you have to use the word "hulking"?' asked Max.

  Cal scowled. 'Well, I don't know,' he said. 'I've made canoes before, but never rafts.' He looked at Galt. 'What do you think?'

  Galt just beamed. 'A raft,' he said. 'That was my idea!'

  'So we're agreed then?' said Cornelius, clapping his hands together. 'Tomorrow we start building the raft and Max comes with us.'

  Everybody exchanged glances and most nodded, though Cal was clearly unhappy with the decision.

  'Tonight we'll rest, get our strength back,' Cornelius told them. 'I see Salah has already got a fire going. What about dinner? Perhaps our hunters would like to go out and rustle up something tasty?'