Dark Stars (The Thief Taker Book 3)

by C. S. Quinn

  ‘He’s trying to dislodge the Eye,’ said Charlie, slipping faster through the beams and weaving parts. He placed a foot on a moving dial and launched himself free just as another turned in on him.

  Below them, Thorne’s longitude clock shook towards the edge of the beam. It dropped on to a turning cog and began revolving downwards. Lily raised her knife arm just as the Eye was about to drop out of sight and the blade hit metal. The cog reverberated, then stopped turning, Lily’s knife twanging between its teeth. Thorne’s clock was balanced precariously on top.

  ‘Go!’ Lily shouted. ‘You can still get it.’

  Splinters of wood were raining freely from the structure now, and a terrible shrieking sounded from the shaking cogs. The pressure of the breaking mechanism was splitting the tower apart. Lily’s knife blade was already buckling.

  Charlie dodged moving parts and leapt across beams as fast as he dared. For a moment it seemed the dark man had vanished. Then Charlie saw him in a different part of the tower. Automatically he followed the path of the cogs from the man to the Eye.

  It was only a few feet beneath him now. But as the pieces connected in his mind, Charlie realised with a sinking feeling what the man was engineering. The dark figure made an expert adjustment, and the cog on which the Eye lay began turning in the opposite direction. Lily’s bent knife dropped free, and Thorne’s clock began moving away.

  Charlie lunged, narrowly missing a fragment of sharp metal firing out from a disintegrating cog. His fingers brushed the Eye, but he was too late. Thorne’s longitude clock dropped from sight. Then a gloved hand reached out in the dark below and caught it.

  Charlie saw the clock disappear into the figure’s shadowy grip. A masked face came into view, wearing a black handkerchief, like a highwayman. But before Charlie could identify who he was seeing, the man vanished.

  Charlie knew in a moment it was him.

  ‘It’s Janus!’ he shouted to Lily. ‘He has the Eye!’

  ‘Deptford Docks is the nearest harbour,’ said Charlie. ‘It’s less than a mile away.’

  Lily’s face was grim. ‘If he escapes the city by water, he can take the Eye direct to the Dutch navy.’

  Charlie was trying not to dwell on the birthday he’d entered into Thorne’s box. The planetary positions that had unlocked the Eye. It could only mean one thing.

  His brother was in greater danger than he’d ever imagined.

  Chapter 97

  Charlie and Lily were running full pelt for Deptford Docks. They rounded the bend in the river, where the blood-red moon cast an eerie light on the moored ships.

  ‘We’re too late,’ panted Lily as they slowed to take in the scene. ‘Janus came by horseback,’ she said, pointing to a sweating steed tied to a nearby post. ‘He must already be on a ship.’

  Charlie’s eyes were trained on something further out in the harbour. It looked like a naked flame gliding towards them. It was only when he smelt the fumes that Charlie’s brain adjusted to what his eyes were telling him.

  ‘There’s a flaming ship,’ he said, ‘heading for the dockyards.’

  Shouts sounded. A few half-awake dock guards had noticed the blaze and were pointing uncertainly towards it. Smoke curled from its prow, and as they watched, flames burst upwards from the deck.

  The dockers were moving into action now, racing to protect ships and secure the harbour.

  ‘A fireship,’ said Lily. ‘It must be Janus’s doing. Why does he not escape with the Eye?’

  ‘It’s a diversion,’ said Charlie. ‘Look how slowly the ship moves. She is drifting. There’s no pilot.’

  Something about the strategy was so obvious to him. Charlie tuned out the shouts of the panicked dockers moving to protect the harbour.

  What was it someone had told him long ago?

  All magic is a trick. Looking here when you should be looking there.

  Charlie forced his attention away from the burning ship, out to where Janus didn’t want to draw attention. He saw it immediately. A small ship was sailing straight out of Deptford Docks, and no one had even noticed.

  He’s always been there, whispered a voice. He’s always been just a few steps away.

  ‘Janus fired that ship,’ said Charlie with surety, ‘but he was on another vessel when he did it.’

  Lily followed his gaze. ‘Janus diverts the dock guards,’ she said, understanding, ‘so he can get out of Deptford with the Eye.’

  She was looking at the triple gates that guarded the docks. They stood empty and unmanned. Janus’s ship was sailing towards them. Charlie made a quick calculation. The gates were several hundred feet away. He set off at a run.

  ‘We can get to the gates,’ he shouted. ‘Close in on Janus before he leaves the docks.’

  In a moment Lily was running beside him.

  His eye suddenly caught something fluttering high on the fireship. A flag. Charlie slowed to be sure. Then he knew.

  ‘What is it?’ asked Lily, seeing his ashen face.

  ‘The flag,’ said Charlie. ‘It’s a prisoner-of-war flag.’

  ‘There are men on that ship?’ Lily’s eyes widened in horror.

  ‘I think Janus signals that Rowan is on the fireship,’ said Charlie grimly. ‘His final trick to be sure of escaping.’

  Lily’s mouth dropped open in horror. ‘He means to burn your brother?’

  Charlie nodded. ‘Janus wants me to choose,’ he said, ‘between my brother and England.’

  Lily was silent.

  ‘And he thinks he knows,’ continued Charlie, ‘which I’ll choose.’

  ‘Your brother,’ said Lily, a flat expression on her face. ‘He knows you’ll choose your brother.’

  Charlie uncurled his clenched fist. Inside was Rowan’s copper talisman. The face of Neptune glittered up at him.

  He hadn’t been sure before. Now he was certain. The birth chart to open Thorne’s box. It all made sense.

  He let out a breath.

  ‘What will you do?’ asked Lily.

  ‘I’m going to surprise Janus,’ said Charlie. ‘Because I know who he is.’

  Chapter 98

  Amesbury’s horse was charging down the uneven dirt track to Chatham. The Thames was out of sight, and he knew he must still be miles away.

  How could De Ryker have attacked so boldly? The possibilities lurched in Amesbury’s mind. He’d assumed Thorne’s Eye would never be found. Had his apprentice lived after all?

  ‘A false birthday?’ said Amesbury. ‘That is how you mean to hide the Eye?’

  Thorne nodded. ‘I’ve taught him the stars and the old gods. When he discovers his birthday was my last gift to him, he’ll understand.’

  ‘His birth chart will open the box,’ said Amesbury. ‘Saturn to represent time. It is ingenious,’ he conceded, ‘but carries great risk.’

  ‘It is the only way to keep him safe,’ said Thorne. ‘No one will ever suspect my apprentice carries a code to unlock the Eye. Not even him.’

  ‘And if he never discovers his birthday is false,’ pushed Amesbury, ‘he’ll believe his disposition evil.’

  ‘I’ve made a contingency,’ said Thorne. ‘Nineteen years from now a prophecy will be published in a public almanac. I must hope I’ve taught him enough to understand it.’

  ‘You rely on too many uncertain factors,’ said Amesbury.

  ‘It’s the only choice I have,’ said Thorne. ‘The King wants me killed. He may succeed. Better the Eye is destroyed than falls into unworthy hands.’

  Amesbury cursed his mistake. He should have expected Thorne’s apprentice could turn traitor. Now he was faced with defending England from the greatest navigational power known to man.

  Naseby’s horse drew up beside Amesbury, matching his pace.

  ‘I’ve ordered as many soldiers as I could from nearby towns,’ Naseby was saying as the horses bolted along the dirt track. ‘They’ve been instructed to bring two pounds of shot and a yard of match cord a piece.’

  ‘Matchlock
musketeers can’t touch De Ryker’s ships from land,’ growled Amesbury. ‘We need cannons. And there isn’t time.’

  ‘Where is the Duke of York?’ asked Naseby. ‘I’d hoped to see him at Landguard, fortifying the defences. Without a royal presence it’s more difficult to rally the men.’

  Amesbury rubbed the sweat from his brow. He’d wondered the same thing.

  ‘It makes no difference,’ he said, evading the question. ‘De Ryker will sail right past our pathetic excuse for a fort,’ he predicted, ‘before we have time to arm ourselves. Our only hope is to get to Chatham docks before De Ryker sends in a fireship.’

  ‘We’ll never get the ships out of harbour in time,’ said Naseby.

  ‘We won’t,’ agreed Amesbury, ‘but our fleet has better cannons than the Dutch. If we can rig the sails in time, we might make a stand.’

  Chapter 99

  ‘If Janus is who I think he is,’ said Charlie, ‘he wouldn’t risk my brother on that ship. He couldn’t.’

  ‘Which means?’

  ‘Which means my brother is somewhere else,’ said Charlie. ‘And we can still get the Eye back. Come on!’

  They raced towards the triple gates as Janus’s boat neared the edge of the docks. There was an iron lever to release the wheels to turn the gate. Charlie grabbed it and pumped. Slowly the gates began to close.

  Janus’s ship was gliding towards them, so close they could almost touch the towering sides.

  ‘They’re not closing fast enough!’ said Lily, running to help Charlie at the lever. ‘He’s getting away.’

  The escaping ship was at the gates now, fair wind driving her through.

  Charlie pumped harder. Slowly the wheels gathered speed. The prow of the ship was level with the gates now, but the huge wooden barriers were closing painfully slowly.

  They pushed and pulled the lever with all their might, arms burning with the strain. The wheels were turning faster now, the momentum building. Suddenly there was an enormous crack of wood on wood.

  ‘It’s working,’ said Lily, pumping furiously. ‘The gates have trapped him.’

  But Charlie had stopped.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘He’s got away.’ Janus had expertly piloted the ship through the narrow gap, the gates scraping at the side. ‘I doubt one in a thousand pilots could have done it,’ added Charlie with begrudging admiration. He was taking off his coat.

  ‘What are you doing?’ asked Lily.

  ‘There’s netting hanging at the side of his ship,’ said Charlie, judging his distance from Janus’s escaping craft. ‘I can still get aboard and stop him.’

  The bow was only a few yards away from where they stood.

  ‘Wait!’ Lily grabbed his arm. ‘If you die out there,’ she said, ‘I want you to know I think of you as more than an associate.’

  He smiled at her. ‘What do you think of me of?’

  ‘Just don’t die.’ She bit her lip. ‘The birth chart – the one you entered to open Thorne’s box. It was yours, wasn’t it? Is that why you think you can stop Janus? Because Thorne left you the Eye?’

  But Charlie had already dived into the dark dock waters.

  Climbing the side of the ship was harder than Charlie had anticipated. After his long swim out, his waterlogged clothes pulled him down, making every clambering movement twice as difficult. There was a swathe of thick rope netting overhanging one side, and he aimed for it.

  Charlie gritted his teeth, shot out a hand and grasped the thick net. For a moment he held fast, breathing heavily. A sudden gust of wind blew out the sails of the ship. Charlie lost his hold and slipped. Then a wave crashed against the netting and Charlie twisted up into it. He had just enough time to realise he was caught fast when another wave crashed. It smashed his head against the side of the ship, wrapping the net tight around him.

  As he slipped into unconsciousness, Charlie’s thoughts scattered.

  The dark man was there again, a few steps behind him.

  He is your fatal flaw, he heard a voice whisper. You are his.

  Chapter 100

  ‘Put more flammables down near the stern,’ commanded De Ryker. ‘That’s where the main flame should catch. The serpentine gunpowder is very good,’ added the admiral.

  They’d finished laying barrels of pitch and brimstone across a honeycombed network below deck. Now the men were strewing brush and straw across the top. De Ryker took an armful of tinder and began laying it.

  ‘Janus will be here soon,’ said De Ryker, looking approvingly to the sails, painted with tar so flames would race up them. ‘Ready to sail his fireship into the heart of England.’

  He looked out at Landguard Fort, retreating in the distance.

  ‘Who would have imagined,’ said De Ryker, ‘the English defences would be so poor? The very entrance to their country has hardly a cannon.’

  ‘Their attempt at fire didn’t come anywhere near our ships,’ agreed Cornelius, ‘but they rely on their tricky river to deter us.’

  De Ryker smiled.

  ‘I see a light!’ shouted Cornelius. ‘It’s a sloop, rigged with the colours Janus promised.’

  ‘He has the Eye.’ De Ryker could hardly contain his excitement.

  ‘Janus did well,’ admitted Cornelius, ‘navigating out of Deptford.’

  ‘The English had no reason to suspect a boat leaving their waters,’ said De Ryker dismissively. ‘That was the simple part of the plan.’

  He looked out to the small ship bobbing on the Thames.

  ‘All my life,’ said De Ryker, ‘it’s been near misses. We are the same in that, Janus and I. Not this time. This time we take England or die trying.’

  De Ryker’s eyes moved to the last barrel of serpentine gunpowder. Then he took out his pistols, emptied them one by one and filled them with the superior gunpowder.

  Weapons loaded, he raised his spyglass again, and in the growing dawn light De Ryker suddenly noticed something amiss.

  He strained his good eye to see. There was something tangled in a fishing net slung over the side of Janus’s small ship. As he looked closer, he saw it was a man. Dead or at least unmoving.

  Does Janus know he has someone tangled in his net?

  ‘Get Janus aboard the Lucifer,’ growled De Ryker, dropping his spyglass. ‘Along with whatever’s in his net.’

  Chapter 101

  Amesbury and Naseby had paused a few miles from Chatham and were looking out to sea. The general heard hoof beats behind him and turned.

  A familiar horse was making fast towards him, the muscular body powering across the dockyard. Amesbury’s mouth lifted.

  It was the Duke of York.

  ‘Amesbury!’

  The Duke of York reined in his speeding horse moments from the mounted general. Behind him a small retinue of soldiers took the rear.

  ‘I’ve been at the local towns,’ he said, ‘requisitioning cannons and shot. They’re not built for taking down ships,’ he added apologetically, ‘but they’re something.’

  Amesbury nodded, though deep down he knew such measures would be nowhere near enough to deter a Dutch invasion.

  ‘It’s too late to defend the Thames mouth,’ he said. ‘De Ryker is coming straight for us with everything he’s got. Have your men send arms upriver. Fortify the approach to London.’

  The Duke of York nodded. ‘Thorne’s apprentice,’ he said. ‘You think he turned traitor?’

  Amesbury nodded. ‘I fear Janus has turned traitor and successfully found the Eye,’ he said. ‘We should have done more to keep him loyal. He is clever. Just like his father.’

  Chapter 102

  Charlie awoke to a mouth full of sea salt and an ache in his head. Strong fumes rolled over him. He could barely breathe, he realised. The reek of sulphur and pitch was choking.

  Two eyes were looking down at him. They weren’t kindly.

  ‘Well, well,’ said a man speaking in Dutch. ‘Janus has brought an unexpected gift.’

  Charlie tried to stand and realised
his hands were bound in front of him. With difficulty he shuffled to a sitting position.

  The man had a brace of pistols slung over his chest. He removed one and trained it on Charlie.

  ‘Lucky I saw you there, knotted up in the netting,’ continued the man. ‘Who knows what you might have been planning?’ He frowned.

  Charlie was putting things together now. The man wore a ragged-looking wide-brimmed black hat ornamented with sun-bleached feathers. His face was sun-lined, and one of his eyes was almost opaque.

  ‘You speak Dutch?’ continued the man. ‘You know me? I am Admiral De Ryker.’

  Charlie tried to swallow, but his mouth was parched. ‘I’ve heard of you,’ he managed. ‘I never wanted to meet you in person.’

  De Ryker smiled at this. ‘I’m not as bad as your English propaganda tells it,’ he said. ‘I only execute prisoners if absolutely necessary.’ He smiled, revealing surprisingly white teeth. ‘And not,’ he said, ‘if I decide they’re useful.’

  Charlie was silent.

  ‘You came to retrieve the Eye,’ decided De Ryker.

  Charlie said nothing.

  ‘There was a prophecy,’ continued De Ryker. ‘Saturn would eclipse Jupiter. London will fall.’

  ‘No,’ said Charlie, managing to pull himself a little more upright. ‘That wasn’t the prophecy. Saturn and Jupiter don’t represent planets. Thorne meant them to symbolise the old gods. The purpose became muddled.’

  ‘Oh?’ De Ryker cocked his head, intrigued.

  ‘Saturn is the God of Time,’ said Charlie. ‘Jupiter is the God of Luck. What Thorne meant was that if the Eye worked as he hoped, time would beat luck. The Eye would navigate the waves rather than hope and fortune.’

  ‘Tell me,’ said De Ryker, ‘do you think Janus will be pleased to see you? Particularly when you look so much like one another.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Charlie truthfully.

  ‘What is your relation to him?’ asked De Ryker.

  ‘We grew up together,’ said Charlie. ‘The man you call Janus is my brother, Rowan.’