Sebastian Darke: Prince of Explorers

by Philip Caveney

  'Ramalat is a great distance,' said Cornelius. 'The Jilith village is just a few days upriver.' He thought for a moment. 'Actually, we're not the first from the village to come here. A man called Joseph visited many years ago when he was around your age. He only spent a few hours here but he told us he didn't meet anybody else. Perhaps there was nobody living here then.'

  Phelan shrugged. 'It's a big city – there's no reason why he should have met anyone. Did he . . . stay here after dark?'

  'I don't believe he did,' said Sebastian.

  'Then he was lucky,' said Phelan.

  'Does this place have a name?' asked Keera.

  'We call this house Sanctuary,' replied Phelan. 'At least, that is what Aaron calls it.'

  'Yes, you mentioned him before,' said Cornelius. 'What is he – a king, a general? And when do we get to meet him?'

  'When he is ready,' said Phelan. 'One thing you learn about Aaron is that he cannot be hurried.' He looked at Salah, who was gulping her food down hungrily. 'You don't have much to say for yourself,' he observed.

  'Salah cannot speak,' explained Keera.

  Sebastian had expected Phelan to look embarrassed but his smile never wavered.

  'Of course she can speak,' he said. 'She just hasn't chosen to yet. Isn't that right, Salah?'

  Salah looked up from her bowl of stew and smiled at the boy. Then she nodded and went on with her meal.

  'Where are all the adults?' asked Sebastian.

  Now the boy's smile did falter. 'You have already met them,' he said.

  Sebastian was puzzled for a moment; then realization hit him. 'Oh my . . . you don't mean to say . . . those things out there are . . . ?'

  'My parents are among them,' said Phelan. He gestured around the room. 'Most of their parents too. Not that we would be able to recognize them now. You can for a few days, when they have first turned, but then they become like all the others.' He shrugged. 'You grow used to it.'

  'But how do they—?'

  'Aaron will explain more when he sees you,' repeated Phelan. 'He has made a study of it. He knows many things.

  We call him Aaron the Wise.'

  Sebastian frowned. 'Is he a child?' he asked.

  This seemed to amuse Phelan. 'Aaron is not a child,' he said. 'You will understand when you meet him—'

  'Ow, stop that! Don't you know it's rude to poke somebody?' Max's voice sounded muffled. Sebastian looked up to see that the buffalope had his head down in what looked like a bucket of fruit; however, some of the younger children were still creeping up and prodding him to see what kind of reaction they could get.

  'Stop taunting the beast,' said Phelan; and, amazingly, the children did exactly as they were told, returning to their places around the room and getting on with whatever they had been doing before Max arrived. They all seemed to have jobs. Over in one corner of the room, a couple of girls were binding vines together to make rope. In another, a group of young boys were fashioning arrows.

  'You clearly command obedience here,' observed Cornelius.

  Phelan nodded. 'They understand how it works,' he said. 'Perhaps in some places they could afford to make the odd mistake. I'm sure it is how most children learn. But here, life is different. Disobeying an order might be the last thing you ever do.'

  He smiled benignly but Sebastian felt a chill go through him. Something about Phelan didn't feel right. Sebastian's elf-sense was tingling – he had never encountered a boy like this before; one who smiled and was polite, yet underneath his genial mask was as cold and ruthless as any assassin. Sebastian remembered that the boy had been quite prepared to kill any of the strangers who had been bitten. He wondered what terrible experiences had made him like that.

  Phelan regarded their empty bowls. 'I would like to offer you more,' he said, 'but as you can see' – he gestured towards the other children – 'we have many mouths to feed.'

  Sebastian waved a hand dismissively. 'Oh no, that's fine, I'm full as a tick.'

  'How do you manage to forage for food,' asked Keera, 'with those things roaming about out there?'

  'Oh, that's easy,' said Phelan. 'They only come out at night. By day they sleep in the dark shadows of the buildings. They are not a danger then. Unless you're stupid enough to go inside.'

  Sebastian remembered how he had entered one of the buildings to investigate the noise. Happily he had encountered nothing more frightening than a flock of birds.

  'If they sleep, then they are vulnerable,' said Cornelius. 'You need only find their resting places, go out by day and slay them while they slumber. It might take you a little while, but soon enough you would be rid of them.'

  Phelan shook his head. 'You cannot kill them,' he said.

  'Why ever not?' argued Cornelius. 'I understand that some of them were once your parents, but they are hardly the same thing now.'

  'No, you misunderstand me,' explained Phelan. 'You cannot kill them because they are already dead.'

  CHAPTER 19

  A VISITATION

  'What did he mean, they're already dead?' Max couldn't seem to get Phelan's last words out of his head. 'Dead people don't generally hop about like great big spiders, do they?'

  Sebastian and Cornelius groaned. A short while earlier, Phelan had led the three friends to another room, where a collection of hides were piled in one corner. He had taken Keera and Salah to a smaller chamber further along the landing, while Cal had elected to stay where he was, in the communal room, staring moodily into the fire. Sebastian and Cornelius had dutifully stretched themselves out with the intention of snatching some much-needed sleep, but Max was having none of it. He was clumping nervously up and down the chamber, his hooves clunking on the stone floor.

  'I mean to say,' he continued, ignoring the resentful glares from his two companions, 'most dead things I know lie still and don't make a sound. So these Night Runner things can't really be dead, can they? Can they? Well, can they?'

  Cornelius gave a groan of irritation. 'It would explain why our swords had no effect on them,' he said. 'And why their blood is that horrible greeny-black colour. Now shut up and go to sleep!'

  'I will not!' Max continued pacing. 'It's always like this, isn't it? Wherever we go we encounter horrible, creepy, nasty things that want to kill us. Why can't you take me somewhere nice for a change? A sunny meadow with plenty to eat and pretty butterflies flapping around my head.'

  'We'll keep that in mind for our next adventure,' Sebastian assured him. 'Now please, can you settle down? We haven't slept properly in ages and I for one could do with some decent shuteye.'

  'Oh, it's nice for those who can sleep, isn't it?' protested Max. 'I shall probably never sleep again. Every time I shut my eyes I see one of those hideous things swooping down at me. It's a miracle I wasn't bitten. I could have been like Galt, reduced to going around like some great big zombie for ever.'

  'So no change there then,' murmured Cornelius and Max gave him a wounded look.

  'Go on, mock!' he said. 'I don't like it here. As soon as the sun comes up, we should walk out of this ruddy city and follow the river all the way back to the Jilith camp. It might be a bit rough there, but at least the people in it know that when they're dead, they're dead. I don't care how long it takes, we should go.'

  'We're not going anywhere until we've met this Aaron character,' Sebastian told him.

  'Oh yes, I can just imagine what he'll turn out to be! A giant man-eating frog with a kelfer's head . . . or perhaps some ruddy great spider with ten eyes and twenty mouths.'

  'Don't be ridiculous!' said Sebastian. 'I have no reason to suspect that he's anything other than an ordinary human being.'

  'No reason to suspect . . .? Forgive me, but that gives me no reassurance at all. Whatever happened to your famous elfsense, eh? I can't begin to count the number of times it's let us down.'

  'Will you please belt up!' roared Cornelius.

  'You'd like that, wouldn't you? All three of us fast asleep while unspeakable things come creeping up on us
.'

  'Those things are out there,' said Sebastian, pointing to a solitary window; the glass had long since shattered, allowing the night wind to come gusting through. Sebastian could see that it was protected by a series of thick metal bars – a fact that Max was quick to pick up on.

  'What are the bars for?' he cried. 'Bars in a bedchamber? This is some kind of prison!'

  'The bars are obviously to keep the Night Runners out,' said Cornelius through gritted teeth. 'All the windows in the building are like that; and it's not a very effective prison if the door is left ajar.'

  Max sniffed and paced over to the window. 'Just the same,' he said, 'you won't catch me going to slee—' He broke off as a familiar voice rose on the night wind.

  'Cal! Cal, help me!'

  Max's eyes grew big and round. 'That's Galt's voice!' he gasped. 'Ooh, I don't like this! It's getting all creepy again!'

  In an instant Sebastian and Cornelius were up on their feet and peering down through the gaps in the bars. Sure enough, Galt stood far below, his big figure dwarfed by distance. He was gazing up at the window. It seemed incredible that his voice should carry such a distance; but even from up here, they could see how horribly white his features were.

  'Cal, it's me, Galt. I'm all right, but you must come down and open the door for me before those things come back!'

  Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps on the landing and Cal went racing past the doorway, closely followed by a frantic Phelan.

  'Wait!' he yelled. 'Cal, hang on a moment!'

  Cornelius and Sebastian exchanged glances and then went in pursuit.

  'Wait for me!' yelled Max, but his hooves slipped on the stone floor and he went over onto his side with a grunt of surprise. Sebastian and Cornelius didn't hesitate. As they started down the first staircase, Phelan looked back at them over his shoulder.

  'It's a trick,' he said. 'They always try this. I told your friend but he won't listen to me.'

  'Cal!' shouted Sebastian. 'Wait, don't go down there!'

  But Cal ignored them. He was racing down the steps three at a time, already nearly a whole flight ahead of them.

  'Is there a lock on the main door?' shouted Cornelius.

  Phelan shook his head. 'Only bolts,' he said.

  'Right,' said Cornelius. He seemed to concentrate for a moment, then threw himself up into the air and went somersaulting over Phelan's head. He landed lightly on the next level, flung himself round the corner and whirled down the staircase in a blur of motion. Cal didn't have a chance. The little warrior's boots hit him square in the back, flinging him off balance, and he went down the last few steps on his chest like a human toboggan. He crashed into some railings at the end and lay still.

  When Sebastian and Phelan reached them, Cornelius was turning the warrior over onto his back. Cal looked dazed and a trail of blood trickled from a gash on his forehead. He sat up and glared at Cornelius.

  'Let me go,' he snarled. 'I heard Galt out there – he needs help.'

  Phelan shook his head. 'I know that's how it seems to you – but I have seen this so many times before. Countless Night Runners lie in wait for you should you open that door. If only one of them gets in here, we would all be doomed.'

  Cal shook his head. 'But his voice sounds the same!'

  Phelan sighed. 'I already told you. It takes time for them to turn fully. In the passing of one moon, he will be like all the others. He will look and sound as they do. In the meantime, the Night Runners are cunning – they make use of the fact that your friend's appearance has not changed much. He is bait, nothing more.'

  Phelan sat down on the steps and his expression became troubled. 'It was like this with my parents when they were first taken,' he said. 'For many nights they stood under the window calling out my name. I was just a little boy – what did I know? I wanted to go to them and open the doors, and had to be restrained by those around me.' He reached out a hand and placed it on Cal's shoulder. 'Take it from me, the man you knew is gone. There is no way anybody comes back once they have been bitten. He is a Night Runner now, doomed to wander the streets of this city for eternity. Come.' He stood up and helped Cal to his feet, then began to guide him back up the steps. 'You need sleep, my friend. In the end that's the best medicine of all.'

  Cal didn't protest. He trudged back up, head bowed, all the fight gone out of him. Sebastian gazed up after him, sorry for the warrior despite himself. Cal had taken every opportunity to be mean to him, but it was evident that he carried a terrible burden of guilt for what had happened to his friend.

  Sebastian looked at Cornelius. 'Perhaps Max is right,' he said. 'Perhaps we should just get away from this place the first chance we get.'

  Cornelius frowned. 'That would be foolish,' he said. 'The hard work is done now. Against all the odds we have found the lost city. Now all we need is proof of its existence and Thaddeus Peel will pay us a small fortune for it. Enough to finance another trip to the treasure island of Captain Callinestra!'

  Sebastian stared at him in surprise. He had quite forgotten why they taken this job in the first place – to finance another trip to the island where they had found an incredible treasure hoard, only to lose what they had taken shortly afterwards.

  'Oh, yes, the treasure. I knew there had to be a reason why we were putting ourselves through all this.' Sebastian gazed at his friend for a moment. 'But ask yourself, Cornelius: is it worth it? Even if we do eventually end up rich beyond our wildest dreams, will the price we have to pay for it outweigh the rewards? Three good men have already died on this trip. Karl and Samuel, back before we found the village, and now Galt. Tomorrow it could be one of us.'

  'But that's the risk any adventurer takes,' Cornelius assured him. 'If adventuring were easy, everyone would be doing it, wouldn't they?'

  Sebastian looked down at him, baffled by this logic.

  'Come on,' said Cornelius. 'Let's get some sleep – it's too late to be doing so much soul-searching.'

  They returned to their chamber and found a comical sight awaiting them. Max was trying to get back to his feet, but his hooves kept slipping on the stone floor, sending him sprawling again. A few of the younger children were doing their best to help him up, without much success. He glared at Sebastian and Cornelius.

  'Well, don't just stand there,' he said. 'Come and give me a hand.'

  Sebastian smiled. 'On one condition,' he said.

  'What's that?'

  'That you promise to stop talking and let us sleep.'

  Max grunted, clearly not happy with the deal, but reluctant to spend the night on a cold stone floor. 'Oh, very well,' he said. 'I'm wasting my breath talking to you two idiots anyway. In the end you'll do exactly what you want. You generally do.'

  CHAPTER 20

  AARON

  Sebastian was woken from a deep sleep. He had been dreaming that he was creeping through the deserted city at night, making as little noise as possible because he knew that, out there in the shadows, the Night Runners were stalking him. He had never been so grateful to be shaken awake.

  He blinked at the person who was crouched over him. It was Phelan, and he was looking down at him with an urgent expression on his face.

  'Aaron wishes to see you,' he said.

  Sebastian looked around and realized he had been lying with his head pillowed against Max's shaggy flank. He shook his head to try and dispel the last shreds of sleep.