In between the ridges, the undergrowth was more tangled than Putty’s hair after a morning in Papa’s laboratory. Animal trails ran through the undergrowth, but it was so thick it sometimes grew over the top, turning them into tunnels. Clouds of tongue-bugs swarmed from the bushes, trying to lick the sweat from my skin, and tendrils shivered across the earth, snatching at my feet and legs. Once, an arrow-hawk plunged lightning-fast to spear some prey less than a hundred yards from me. Whatever had been attacked bellowed and writhed in agony, kicking down bushes and uprooting trees, before it finally fell still.
Here and there, great spikes of trees, like the one we’d crashed into, rose out of the undergrowth, looking like airship towers made out of wood and leaves.
It took me almost all morning, but eventually I got close to the smoke. The thick undergrowth had changed to finger-thick grass as high as my head. I struggled uphill toward the smoke. I’d almost reached it when I heard angry voices.
I dropped to my stomach and wriggled my way to where the grass ended. Just past where I was lying, the ground dropped steeply down. I’d come to the edge of a deep valley. It was full of great chunks of split red rock that looked like they’d been strewn across it by a giant in a really bad mood. On the opposite slope was the wreck of the airship gondola. Smashed wood and twisted metal had been thrown over hundreds of yards of rock. What was left of one of the great spring-powered propellers jutted into the air. The spring itself had unwound violently, scattering the pieces of broken airship and cutting a track through the ground. Smoke still rose in places from the smoldering wreckage. Just looking at it made me shudder. It must have hit with an almighty crash. I tried not to think about Freddie being caught in there when it smashed down. At least it would have been quick.
A group of men stood nearby, arguing. I recognized one of them straightaway. Dr. Blood’s face was red, and he was gesturing at the airship. He was probably worrying about his rock samples. I stilled my breathing and listened.
Dr. Blood’s voice drifted up to me from the valley. “I want his body found. If it’s not in the wreckage, you’ll search until you find it. Understand?”
I goggled at him. What was he talking about?
One of the other men mumbled something in reply. Dr. Blood’s hand whipped out, cracking across the other man’s face. The other man was far bigger than Dr. Blood, but he stumbled away, then dropped his gaze to the ground.
I pushed myself back behind the ridge. Why was Dr. Blood bossing those men about? Was he looking for Freddie’s body? That would mean that he’d been behind the attack on the airship. Wouldn’t it? Did that mean he was working for Sir Titus?
Sir Titus! I hissed under my breath as my brain reminded me, Ten days. Ten days until Sir Titus is done with your family.
He’d wanted to stop us from rescuing our family, so he’d crashed the airship in the middle of the wilderness. He hadn’t even cared that innocent people might be killed. Now we’d never even get close to the rescue airship with Dr. Blood waiting. How were we going to reach Lunae City?
The sun was burning hot, and my bottle was almost empty. I only had a single mouthful left. I’d crossed a small, dirty stream about an hour back and I’d filled the bottle there, but it was almost gone again. I swirled the water in the bottle. God, I was thirsty, but if I drank it now, I’d have nothing left.
As his men trudged across to the wreckage, Dr. Blood wiped his brow and walked over to a stand of umbrella trees a hundred yards away, and lowered himself into the shade.
“Good,” I muttered. I might be able to spot other survivors before Dr. Blood spotted me. Maybe one of them would be a doctor.
It was getting hotter. How was that even possible? I’d been in ovens that were cooler than this. My brain felt as if it was frying like an egg in the heat. And not even a nice egg. A pigeon-cat egg flavored with marsh-pepper. I fumbled for my bottle and drank the last of the water.
Yech! It was disgusting. How could water taste so vile? I licked at the rim of the bottle. If I didn’t get more water soon, I’d end up like one of those preserved Egyptian mummies. All I’d have to do was find some bandages.
Maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe the other survivors would stay in their own lifeboats and wait for the rescue airships to fly over. Signal them with fire and smoke. Maybe they were too far away or they hadn’t been able to get to the airship. Maybe they were all dead.
I shouldn’t be lying here. I should be out looking for them.
Dr. Blood seemed to have plenty of water. There he was, sitting under his great big tree, swigging away. If I could just crawl around behind him, maybe I could grab some …
A shadow swept over me.
If it was a cloud, maybe it would rain on me. I flopped onto my back and stared up, my mouth open.
There, in the sky above me, flying low, was an airship.
Rescuers! Rescuers had come and they’d found us. I could bring them to Putty. We could fly there. I staggered to my feet and waved.
The airship slipped over and past. They hadn’t seen me. How could they not see me? They must be looking at the wreckage. It didn’t matter. I would reach them there.
Wait! My brain might be more cooked than one of our ro-butler’s pancakes, but some part of it was still working.
We’d crashed last night. We hadn’t been due to reach Lunae City until later today. There had been no time for us to be missed and rescue craft dispatched.
Maybe this was the daily airship heading the other direction, from Lunae City to Ophir. Maybe they had seen the wreckage below and come down to investigate. Except this airship was too small and it didn’t have the mark of the Imperial Martian Airship Company.
So maybe it was a private airship. Lots of rich people had their own private airships. Just like the one Sir Titus had used to kidnap Mama, Papa, and Jane.
My brain gave me another kick. Sir Titus! He’d planned the attack on our airship. He’d crashed it. Now his airship had come to make sure we hadn’t survived. And here I was, standing in full view on top of the ridge, waving like an idiot. I dropped back, hitting the earth hard enough to make me wince.
The airship circled around. Its propellers tilted to push it down. Dr. Blood came out from under his tree and waved at it. I slid back down the slope, dislodging pebbles.
Maybe I could get around to the high, jagged red rocks to the east of the valley. Then I’d be able to watch the whole thing. If they were real rescuers, I could reveal myself, but if they weren’t, I could get away.
If only I had some water.
I stumbled away, cutting a wide arc to stay hidden.
By the time I reached the rocks, the airship was down and tethered, its engines stopped. A group of men were gathered beneath its belly, at the bottom of a lowered set of steps. Dr. Blood stood in front of them, talking to a man I would have recognized anywhere.
“Apprentice,” I whispered. I’d been right. Dr. Blood was working with Sir Titus. Now he had reinforcements. I dragged my eyes away from Apprentice’s horribly mutilated face with its tight metal mask.
Dr. Blood snapped an order. Apprentice bowed, and the men with him hurried over to lower the luggage platform from the bottom of the airship. Three large crates sat on it. I squinted. Why were they unloading luggage here? There wasn’t exactly a hotel around.
Apprentice turned to survey the surrounding terrain. I sank lower.
Men gathered around the crates with crowbars and quickly popped off the lids. Apprentice leaned into each and seemed to fiddle with something inside. I couldn’t see what he was working on. All I could hear were the inhuman clicks coming from the grille in his mask.
The men stepped back, clearing the area around the crates. Then, at a command from Dr. Blood, they all stopped absolutely still. What was going on?
Glinting metal shapes climbed out of the crates and strode into the Martian sunlight.
The shapes were far taller than a man. If I’d been standing under them, I’d have had to jump to touch thei
r bodies. They had three long legs, each with too many knees. Their bodies were squat and shaped like two plates, one turned upside down and put on top of the other. Three long, snakelike arms dangled from each body, ending in claws as wide and sharp as swords.
Apprentice said something again in his horrible clicking, and suddenly the tripods spread out, moving faster than a horse could run, racing up the slope.
16
Hunted
I stumbled, and my foot caught on a stone. The stone rolled away.
The machines snapped around. In a second, all three came angling toward me. Their long legs shot across the ground. Their bodies spun as they ran, their long, loose arms whipping around them. Their claws flashed in the sunlight.
I kicked back, scrambling down the slope away from them. But not fast enough. They’d be on me in seconds.
A hand closed over my face. An arm grabbed me and tugged me back. I hit the ground with a muffled grunt, and whoever had seized me landed on top. I bucked up, trying to throw him off, but the man was too heavy. I bit his hand.
Breath hissed past my ear, but the man didn’t shout out and he didn’t let go.
“Stay still!”
I stiffened with shock. Then I twisted around violently and stared up into the face of the man holding me. “Freddie?” I managed past his still-clamped hand.
Freddie shook his head. “Don’t move,” he mouthed. “Don’t make a sound.”
He’d been on the airship when it had fallen. I’d seen him. There hadn’t been any lifeboats left. He couldn’t have survived. But here he was. He looked a mess. His jacket was torn, and he had a long scrape across his left brow. But he was alive. It was impossible.
He held my gaze. Slowly, I relaxed. I had a hundred questions. But not now.
Freddie took his hand off my mouth.
Above us, only a few yards away, the first of the metal creatures appeared, silhouetted against the sky. I froze. It was so close. Its long arms snapped like whips just above my head. Its body turned slowly, like it was peering around. Why hadn’t it seen us?
A moment later, the other two tripods clambered onto the broken rocks. I was almost too scared to breathe. Their arms snapped out, cutting the air. What were they doing? Listening? Smelling? I could’ve stretched out my hand and touched their legs. Freddie was as still as a rock.
Sweat dripped down my dirty skin. My breath puffed up tiny clouds of dust. They must see us. All they had to do was look down. Suddenly, the machines burst into motion. I almost screamed. It took every bit of my willpower not to flinch. Metal feet smacked into the rock beside me. Then the machines raced away over the Martian rock.
I stayed there, unmoving, until Freddie relaxed.
“They’re gone,” he whispered. He offered me a hand and pulled me up. I wanted to ask him a million things—How had he survived? Where had he been?—but he held a finger up to his lips. Silently, I followed him away from the ridge. When we were out of sight, Freddie pulled me behind a boulder and slumped down.
“That was a near thing,” he said. “I saw the hunter tripods come out of the airship, but I didn’t see you until almost too late.”
“They saw me on the ridge,” I said, “but then…”
“They’re blind,” Freddie said. “They track their prey through sounds and vibrations. They can feel a footstep hundreds of yards away, and they’re deadly accurate, but if you keep quiet and still, they won’t find you. If you know they’re there. If you don’t panic.” He smiled wryly. “I know you’ve got lots of questions, but we’re not safe yet, and I don’t want to have to explain myself all over again to your sisters.” He frowned. “Where are they? Are they well?”
“Olivia’s fine,” I said. “But Putty’s hurt. Something bit her, and she’s unconscious.”
Freddie looked worried. “That’s not good. We’re a long way from civilization.”
“We need to find someone to help.”
Freddie shook his head. “We can’t. Sir Titus will have men on any rescue ship.”
I scowled at him. “We can’t just let her die!”
“I didn’t say that. We need to work out what bit her. She might recover by herself. If not, we’ll have to find help elsewhere.”
“Right,” I said bitterly. “Because the wilderness is just full of helpful physicians.”
Freddie turned on me. “What do you expect of me, Edward?”
I bit my lip. What did I expect of him? A few days ago, I’d thought he was an idiot. Now I expected him to deal with something like this. He wasn’t Captain W. A. Masters. He was just Freddie.
“I don’t know. I’m out of my depth.”
“That’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Freddie said, relaxing. “You’ve done really well.”
Really well? Was that supposed to be a joke? I snorted.
“I’m not lying,” Freddie said.
“My parents and Jane have been kidnapped. Putty’s injured. Olivia’s alone and helpless. You call that doing well? I’m supposed to protect them.”
Freddie squatted in front of me. I tried to look away, but he wouldn’t let me.
“You’re twelve years old, Edward. I know why you think you have to look after your family. I know they’re absentminded and chaotic. But have you thought that they might surprise you if don’t try to do everything yourself?”
“You don’t know them like I do.”
“Really?” Freddie said. “Shall we test that?”
I shrugged. “If you have to.”
He smiled. “Very well. Your father is a genius, and you see your little sister taking after him. Jane has her beauty and her swarms of admirers. Olivia uses propriety to mask her bravery and her quiet, vast compassion, which few of you notice. Your family is extraordinary and you’re afraid there’s nothing that makes you special. You think your father doesn’t respect you and your mother wants you to be something you’re not, so you’ve decided to be the protector of your family. There are things you want to be and things you want to do, but you’re ignoring them so you can fill this role. You’ve chosen it as a way of standing out. You hope your father will notice and be proud of you, and it hurts you that he doesn’t. You’re angry with me because you think I’m trying to take over your role. How am I doing so far?”
“How does Mama fit into this neat little scheme of yours?” I asked. I tried to make it sound like I was laughing, but it sounded more like choking.
“Ah,” Freddie said. “I think you’re most like your mother. No, don’t protest. You think your mother is vain, selfish, and self-deluding, and you’re right. She’s all of those things. But she wasn’t always. She was the shining star of Tharsis society, not just because her father was a viscount and she was beautiful, but because she was an accomplished intellectual in her own right. She hosted a salon that was the envy of British Mars. In fact, I believe that’s where she met your father, when she invited him to discuss his work at the salon. She hoped to host similar salons in Europe, but you know what happened. Her father gambled away their fortune, and she lost it all. Why do you think she shuns any form of intellectual discussion now? It’s because it hurts her to remember what she used to have. She decided to live her dreams through Jane instead, but your family doesn’t have the status that hers had, and her dreams haunt her. Now that Sir Titus has stepped back into her life, the ghosts of her dreams have stirred. Sir Titus will use them against her. He’s a cruel man.”
“And you think I’m like that?” I could barely get the words out.
“Not yet. But if you let your own dreams get buried under the responsibility you’ve given yourself, you’ll see them die, too, and you’ll grow bitter and lost. That’s what your mother did, you know. She married your father because he promised to pay off her father’s debts. She gave up her dreams for her family.”
I glowered at him.
“Oh, don’t look like that. She’s grown to love him, that’s obvious, just as she loves all of you. But her ghosts don’t allow her to sh
ow it as you might wish.” He smiled crookedly. “I’m a spy, Edward. It’s a spy’s job to see what other people want to keep hidden.”
“You’re wrong,” I said. “Wrong about me and wrong about my family.”
Freddie stood. “I don’t think I am.”
* * *
The sun was already low in the afternoon sky when we finally reached the spike of trees rising from the underbrush. I was exhausted, hungry, and thirsty, and I’d had to lean on Freddie’s arm for the last mile.
The lifeboat had broken its back when it had fallen, and it slumped below the stand of trees like a pliosaur washed up on a beach. All was quiet as we approached. Birds called from the branches and small creatures chirped and rustled in the undergrowth. I couldn’t hear any voices. My chest tightened. We’d been gone too long. I should never have left them.
Freddie laid his hand on my shoulder. Reluctantly, I let him go first. He hopped onto the body of the lifeboat and snuck up to the hatch. He lowered himself to his stomach and peered inside. A moment later, he jerked back violently. A splintered plank skidded past, almost taking his head from his shoulders. He swore. I scrambled up beside him.
Olivia crouched just below the hatchway, another plank in her hands. As I cut off the light from the hatch, she started to swing at me.
“Livvy!” I said. “It’s me.”
She lowered the plank. “Oh.” She shaded her eyes and blinked at me. “I thought…”
“I’m fine. Can we come down?”
“You brought help?”
“Kind of.” I dropped into the cabin. “Look who I found.”
Olivia stared openmouthed as Freddie followed me in.
“Freddie?” she whispered. Then she threw herself onto him. “Freddie! You’re alive!”
He staggered. “I…” Awkwardly, he embraced her. “I…”
“Are you hurt?” Olivia said, releasing him.
“No. No, not at all. I had feared…” He shook his head. “If anything had happened…”
I pushed past them. Putty was lying on the floor of the cabin, covered in a blanket. She wasn’t moving. Somehow, I’d hoped … I’d fantasized … that she’d be up and well and causing chaos when I got back, ready to laugh at me for worrying so much and explain why anyone who knew anything would know exactly why it was all fine. But she wasn’t. She was as still as a sack of grain.
Secrets of the Dragon Tomb Page 14
