'Where's Galt?' the warrior asked anxiously. 'Did you see him?'
Sebastian shook his head. 'Not yet,' he said. 'But I'm sure he'll turn up.'
Cal stumbled a short distance up the bank and collapsed onto the shingle, gasping for breath. Now Cornelius came within reach and Sebastian extended a hand to help him ashore. Something bumped against his foot as he did so and, looking down, he saw a piece of maluba cane, snapped to half its length during the fall. He picked it up and examined it.
'I thought this stuff was unbreakable,' he murmured, showing it to Cornelius. 'Must have been quite an impact when we hit the water.'
But the little warrior was gazing about excitedly. 'I think this is it!' he said.
'What are you talking about?' cried Sebastian.
'I think it's the place where Joseph found the city.
Remember, he mentioned a big pool and a bank of shingle?' Sebastian stared at Cornelius, amazed that he could think of such a thing at a time like this. 'Yes, he did mention a shingle bank,' he agreed. 'A pity he didn't think to mention the waterfall.'
'Hmm.' Cornelius stared back as though he had forgotten about that part of it. From here they could see just how far they had fallen – Sebastian realized they had been extremely lucky to survive such a drop.
Cornelius looked at the others. 'Everyone accounted for?' he asked.
'Everyone except Galt,' Sebastian told him. They turned to survey the pool, where pieces of flotsam were still bobbing up from the deep. 'Do you think he's all right?'
Cornelius was about to answer when a familiar figure came thrashing to the surface, gasping for air and holding a dagger in his right hand. Galt looked around in bewilderment; but then he spotted his comrades on the bank and began to splash towards them.
'You all right?' Sebastian asked him, wading into the shallows to help him ashore. 'You were a long time down there.'
'Got tangled up in some weeds,' Galt told him. He waved the dagger. 'Had to cut myself free.'
'Thought you'd decided you preferred it down there,' shouted Cal, from further up the bank.
'Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to stay,' said Galt with a grin. He stood up in the shallows, slicked his long hair back out of his eyes and began to wade towards the bank. 'I tell you what, though: I thought I saw—'
His words were cut short as a huge greenish shape suddenly lunged up out of the water beside him. He froze in mute terror, staring into the water dragon's open jaws as they closed on him. Sebastian acted on pure instinct. He threw himself forward and thrust the maluba cane he was holding vertically into the creature's jaws. They attempted to snap shut but were stopped by the length of cane. Sebastian grabbed Galt's arm and pulled him away. They fell heavily into the shallows, while the water dragon, issuing strange choking sounds, thrashed wildly to and fro and crashed back into the deeper water, its jaws wedged open. There was just a flick of its tail to mark its passing.
Sebastian lay there, staring at the diminishing ripples on the surface of the pool. Behind him, he heard Keera cry out in disbelief and Cal uttered an oath. Then there was a silence so deep, the smallest noise would have sounded like a thunder-stick.
Galt turned his head and looked at Sebastian. He swallowed. 'You saved my life,' he said.
Sebastian could only nod. It was true enough, he decided, but it had been sheer luck that he had been holding the maluba cane. The only other thing he could have put into those open jaws was his own body. He let out a long exhalation of air.
'Well done, lad!' said Cornelius, slapping him on the shoulder. 'Now that's what I call reflexes.'
Cal came running down the bank and helped Galt to his feet. The big warrior looked at his friend and they embraced.
'I thought you were gone,' he said.
'So did I.' Galt pulled away. 'It was the Elf Lord. He—'
'I saw,' said Cal. He turned and extended a hand to help Sebastian back to his feet. 'You did good,' he said grudgingly and Sebastian smiled, thinking that this was high praise indeed, coming from Cal.
'It was . . . I just happened to be . . .' He gave up and shrugged his shoulders.
'I owe you one,' said Cal and threw an arm around Galt's shoulders.
Sebastian and Cornelius exchanged looks.
'Young master, that was positively heroic.' Max had observed the scene from a distance. 'It happened so quickly, otherwise I would have been there to back you up.'
Sebastian smiled. 'I know,' he said.
The three of them turned and followed the others up the shingle. Keera was sitting with her arms around Salah. They were both gazing at Sebastian so reverently that he began to feel a little uncomfortable.
'Now who can say you weren't sent to save us?' asked Keera. 'Okrin sent you to us, and once again we are in your debt.'
'Oh, please,' Sebastian insisted. 'I just did what anyone would have done.'
'Forgive me,' said Keera, 'but I know better.' She glanced at Cal, who was sitting with Galt a short distance away. 'Now do you accept that he is the Chosen One?' she asked him.
Cal grimaced. 'I accept that he's brave,' he said. 'I accept that he saved Galt's life. But that doesn't mean he's the one written about in the old stories.'
Keera was exasperated. 'I don't know what it would take to convince you!' she cried.
'Listen,' said Sebastian. 'It really doesn't matter. Let's just forget the whole thing, shall we?'
'Yes, let's,' said Max. 'We don't want the young master getting a big head, do we?'
'It was a brave thing he did though,' said Cornelius. 'And courage should be acknowledged.' He seemed to remember something and lifted his head to stare thoughtfully up into the trees beyond the shingle. 'Now, I was just saying before that water dragon popped up . . . this looks very much like the place that Joseph described.' He continued up the bank and Sebastian followed, his boots clunking on the loose stones.
Max trailed along in their wake. 'But the waterfall,' he reasoned. 'He would have mentioned that surely?'
'It was a long time ago,' said Cornelius. 'An old man's memories can play tricks on him. And I seem to remember that he was unconscious for the last part of his time in the water.'
'Yes, that's true,' said Sebastian. 'But he would only have had to glance upstream to see it.'
Cornelius shrugged. 'Nevertheless, it feels like the right place.' He came to the edge of the jungle and reached up on tiptoe to pull aside a screen of ferns. Beyond were more ferns, so he took out his sword and began to hack them aside.
'Oh, so now we're trusting everything to your instinct, are we?' asked Max. 'I said from the beginning, I wasn't even convinced we had the right river. What are we supposed to do now?'
'That rather depends,' said Cornelius, swinging the sword from side to side.
'On what?'
'On what we find in the next few moments.' Cornelius gave a particularly fierce swipe and a huge fern crashed to the ground in front of him. There was a long silence. 'There now,' he said quietly.
Sebastian stared. Rearing above the dense vegetation some distance ahead was the top of a gigantic stone building. It soared some thirty or forty storeys into the air, its many windows staring sightlessly down at the desolation around it.
'Is that what I think it is?' muttered Max, overcome with awe.
Cornelius nodded. He turned back and gave a theatrical bow. 'Ladies and gentlemen,' he said, 'I give you the lost city of Mendip!'
PART THREE
THE CITY
CHAPTER 17
INTO THE LIGHT
They walked slowly into the shadow of the buildings, gazing up at the dizzying heights that towered above them.
'What kind of a place is this?' whispered Galt fearfully.
'It's impressive,' admitted Cornelius. 'But at the end of the day it's just a city that men have built. Nothing more.'
Sebastian frowned. He tried to imagine it as it must once have been. He remembered the opulence of the king's palace in Keladon, with its towers and mina
rets and marble staircases – but the sheer scale of this place put that city to shame. However, it was clear that it must have been deserted for many years.
Here, at the edge, the jungle had made incursions: trees and ferns burst up through the surface of the road, jutted from broken windows, crowded up sheer walls as though trying to obliterate them. But as the explorers moved deeper into the heart of the city, so they left the jungle behind and found themselves in a wasteland of smooth grey stone and broken glass. Even in Keladon, glass had been a precious commodity, fitted by only the wealthiest merchants. Here, it had once graced every window.
Sebastian stepped closer to one of the buildings and peered in through the empty window frame. Within he saw nothing but a litter of fallen stones, mouldering furnishings and torn and tattered fabrics – nothing that might hint at who had created this city and why they had left it to fall into ruin.
Max came up to stand beside Sebastian. 'I don't like it here,' he said flatly. 'It feels . . . bad.'
Sebastian stroked the buffalope's head fondly. 'Don't worry, old shaggy,' he said. 'There's nothing to hurt us here.'
No sooner had he said this than he heard a noise from within – a sudden clatter, as though something had fallen over. He and Max exchanged glances.
'What was that?' asked the buffalope nervously.
'Not sure,' said Sebastian. 'We'd better have a look inside.'
'You are joking, I hope!'
'There's definitely someone in there.'
'Someone or something,' hissed Max. 'I think we should ignore it and move on.'
But Sebastian was already heading for an open doorway.
He gestured to the others, pointing through it.
Cornelius nodded and came hurrying back to him. 'What's wrong?' he whispered.
'I heard something,' Sebastian mouthed at him. He drew his sword and stepped through the doorway into the gloom, straining his eyes to see in the shadowy interior. Cornelius followed and Max would have gone too, but the doorway was too narrow to admit his huge body, so he had to content himself with staring fearfully into the darkness. The other two crept carefully across the rubbish-strewn floor. Every so often they stopped to listen. Now Sebastian heard another sound – a scraping. It seemed to be coming from beyond an open doorway up ahead. He gulped, took a deep breath and moved forward again, his sword held ready to meet any attack. As he approached the doorway, so the sound increased in volume and he knew with a cold and dreadful certainty that whatever was making the noise was just on the other side.
He paused a short distance away and looked down at Cornelius. The little warrior nodded grimly. Sebastian steeled himself and then stepped quickly through the opening.
There was a loud shriek and several ragged black things came swarming up from the floor, squawking and flapping their wings in his face. He gave a cry of terror and lifted his arms to shield his head, but they flew past him and out through the doorway, making for the exit.
'Birds!' laughed Cornelius. 'Pecking at something.' He gestured at a scattering of rodent bones on the floor. 'By Shadlog, they gave me quite a start!'
Sebastian nodded, then remembered to breathe. He returned his sword to its scabbard and glanced quickly around the room, reassuring himself that there was no other living thing in there. Then his gaze fell on the far wall. Words had been scrawled upon it in large black letters but in a language he had never seen before.
He glanced at Cornelius. 'What do you suppose that says?' he asked.
Cornelius shrugged. 'I haven't a clue,' he said, 'but that last bit means the same thing in any language.' He pointed to a picture beneath the words – a crude drawing of a skull, with empty black eye-sockets and grinning teeth.
'Charming,' observed Sebastian.
The two of them turned and headed back towards the exit. Max was still peering fearfully in through the doorway and had to step back to allow them out. The others were waiting just behind him.
'Well?' asked Max.
'Nothing,' said Sebastian. 'Just some birds.'
'Yes, I saw them! Nearly flew into my face. But nothing else? No . . . treasure or anything?'
Sebastian could only shake his head. They all stood in silence for a few moments, gazing at the maze of deserted streets.
'I had no idea it would be so big,' said Sebastian at last. 'It could take weeks to search it all.'
'What exactly are we looking for?' asked Galt.
Sebastian and Cornelius exchanged glances.
'We'll know when we find it,' said Cornelius.
Cal gave a snort of exasperation. 'I'm getting a bad feeling about this,' he announced. 'We've come all this way, all our equipment is at the bottom of the river and you two don't seem to have a clue why we're even here.'
'Cal, you don't question the Chosen One,' Keera told him.
He glared at her. 'I'll question whoever I like,' he exclaimed. 'I can't believe you still think there is something special about these people.'
'I know they are special,' she told him. 'They have saved the Jilith from the greatest threat they ever faced. And Galt wouldn't be with us now if it wasn't for Sebastian. Have you no gratitude?'
Sebastian felt shamed by her trust in him; part of him had begun to wonder about the prophecy. Supposing after all there was something in it? Could his journey here really have been foretold centuries ago? Was he just part of some great cosmic plan? The thought made him feel decidedly strange, so he shrugged his shoulders and turned away.
'Come on,' he said. 'Let's keep looking.'
And they went on into the heart of the city.
They walked around for hours and saw nothing of any value; just more empty buildings. From time to time they went inside to investigate a likely looking place, but found nothing but rubble, broken furniture and shards of pottery. It seemed as if the city had been systematically looted over the years until there was nothing of any value left; and the only signs of life were the ever-present black birds and the occasional rusa, wandering the deserted streets.
The sun began to descend in a splash of crimson and they decided it was high time they made camp somewhere; but that wasn't going to be easy. They had lost almost all their equipment when the raft turned over. Darkness was almost upon them and, as usual, they started squabbling.
'The next rusa we see, let's kill it and make camp in the nearest building,' said Cal.
'Kill it with what?' growled Cornelius. 'You lost your bow in the river, did you not? And I lost my crossbow. What are we going to use, harsh language?'
'I've got a knife,' said Galt. 'And we still have our swords. I could lie in wait somewhere and you lot could drive the rusa towards me. Then I'll jump out and give it what for.'
'But it's getting dark,' argued Sebastian. 'Even if we happened upon a rusa now, what are the chances of being able to drive it towards you?'
'If we found a straight piece of wood, we could tie Galt's knife to it and make a spear,' suggested Keera. 'Then at least we could throw it at the rusa.'
'Oh yes, and have the thing run off with the knife stuck in it,' said Cal. 'Good idea! No, I think we'll just have to wait it out until morning and then see about breakfast.'
'But I'm starving,' complained Max. 'And what do you suppose I'm going to eat?'
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