Hunt for the Pyxis

by Zoë Ferraris

  Suddenly, the Queen caught sight of a woman at the back of the crowd—shabbily dressed, bright-red hair, someone she hadn’t seen in years. Captain Artemisia Gent. It disturbed her very much.

  Queen Virgo stood up then. Her work in the Royal Hall was complete, and Gent’s presence was annoying and unexpected. The entire room bowed as she strode off the dais, dragons in tow.

  Tucked amid a troop of Hercules servants, Emma and the others strained to see what was going on. During the Queen’s talk, they stood and listened, unable to see the Queen herself. They were too short, and the crowd was pressed too tightly together.

  Once the Queen had finished her speech, the crowd in the great hall broke into chatter. It only took a few minutes for Emma to become attuned to the important sounds. They reached her ears with the familiar whisper of memory water voices.

  “The Newton Eel arrived last night,” a voice said. “It’s hidden up the coast.”

  Emma broke away from her friends and ran into the crowd, pushing past one minister after another.

  “Emma!” Herbie called, running after her.

  She ran, straining to follow the voice before it disappeared.

  “Halifax is really here?” another voice asked. It was coming from a different direction. She quickly changed course to follow.

  The others came up behind her.

  “What’s she doing?” Santher asked.

  “I don’t know,” Herbie replied.

  “Shhhhh!” Emma said. “I’m listening…. ”

  “How can you hear anything above all this babble?” Laika asked.

  “I think this might have something to do with the memory water…,” Herbie suggested.

  “Yes,” a stranger said. “Although grace only knows where they’re holding her.”

  Emma was just about to reach the man she believed was speaking when the conversation died. It must have carried on, but the sounds of it evaporated into the crowd. She stopped, looking around, dizzied by the great array of people, while all around her rose the memory water whispers of the great Halifax Brightstoke.

  “That old pirate ought to be executed…. ”

  “I always suspected she was a fraud…. ”

  “Word is, she’s still sailing free on the Strands…. ”

  But Emma knew this wasn’t true. Mom was in the hands of the navy now.

  Frustrated, she took off in a new direction. She heard a faint voice, a whisper almost. It drew her attention precisely because it was so quiet, and yet it reached her ear as if it had been spoken there.

  “Go back to the ship and keep an eye on the doctor.” It was a woman who spoke. Emma froze in place, straining to hear more. Behind her, Herbie and the others waited in suspense.

  “Captain, she’s well watched,” came the reply.

  “I don’t care,” the woman said. “I want you to make sure that the prisoner is safe and that the doctor hasn’t done anything foolish. The Queen will be furious if anything happens to her.”

  “Did you hear that?” Emma asked.

  The others shook their heads.

  Emma bolted toward the sound. There was only one person the Queen would care about that much. Mom.

  “Take three of your best,” the woman went on. “And be discreet.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  Emma ran, knocking over two servants and pushing a minister aside. She reached the very back of the room and went tearing around a corner—but she stopped short. The hallway in front of her was empty. The woman was done talking, but Emma could just make out the clack of her boot steps. They seemed to be coming from a hole in the wall near her feet. It looked like an air vent.

  Emma climbed into the hole and began crawling.

  “Emma, where are you going?” Herbie called behind her.

  The passageway was long and made of stone. The deeper she went, the colder it became. She heard the others climb into the passage too, and only hoped they had the sense to stay quiet.

  Up ahead she saw a bright light in the passageway. She approached it with caution. The tunnel continued, but along the right-hand wall was a long grille that revealed a meeting room below. Emma crawled up to it and peeked through the metal slats. The Queen was there, attended by two handmaidens, who were adjusting her headpiece and straightening the back of her dress.

  Herbie came up behind her, followed by Santher and Laika. The three of them lined up along the grille beside Emma and watched the scene below.

  “It’s the Queen’s chamber,” Laika whispered.

  “Shhhhh.” Emma could see the Queen’s face now. It was surrounded by a high collar, but there was something very familiar in her eyes and her small, pointed nose. Emma realized that she looked a lot like Mom.

  A pair of boot clacks grew louder, stopping outside the door. A moment later, the door opened and a guard came in.

  “Your Grace,” he said, falling to his knee. “Captain Gent is here to see you.”

  The Queen didn’t reply, but her handmaidens shrank away. “Leave us,” she commanded. They scurried out. “Send in the disobedient Captain Gent.”

  The guard left.

  A moment later, Captain Gent entered the room. From so high up and behind, Emma couldn’t see her face. All she could see were the long blue coat of a navy commander and a pile of flaming red hair.

  Gent fell to her knees. “My apologies, Your Highness. We encountered some weather.”

  The Queen waited for Gent to rise before speaking. “I understand you have Halifax Brightstoke in your possession,” she said.

  Emma felt a desperate panic lumping in her throat. She grabbed Herbie’s arm.

  “Yes, Your Grace,” Gent replied.

  “And have you confirmed her identity yourself?”

  “Yes, Your Grace.”

  The Queen scowled at her. “That’s remarkable, Captain. I was under the impression that Brightstoke was dead.”

  “So was I, Your Grace.” Gent swallowed hard. “We did sew her into a Party Bag. There were thirty men watching when we threw her overboard. The only thing I can figure is that she must have found a way to get out.”

  “Obviously,” the Queen said drily. “And I believe I commanded you to take her to my prisons on Hydra.”

  “Yes, Your Grace…”

  “And you have failed in that duty as well.”

  “Your Grace, may I explain—”

  “You will leave Pegasus immediately. I am sending a fleet of Draconi ships to escort you. They will rendezvous with you outside Markab and guide you to Hydra, since clearly you are unable to get there by yourself.”

  Gent seemed to feel the sting, and she stammered. “You understand—Your Grace—that my delay—I mean, by switching course—was because of the possibility of finding the Pyxis.”

  The Queen glared at her. “And how exactly did you plan to do that?”

  “We have the vagrants who captured Halifax on Monkey,” Gent said.

  “Do they have the Pyxis?”

  “No, Your Highness, but I was hoping that their knowledge might assist me in—”

  “Captain Gent, I believe I gave you direct orders,” the Queen said. “Half the fleets in the galaxy will be searching for the Pyxis now. They may be able to find it, but the only person who truly knows where it is, is Halifax herself. So from now on, you shall leave the hunt for the Pyxis to other captains. It is of foremost importance that Halifax makes it to the prison on Hydra safely. That is the only place where we can extract the truth from her. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes,” Gent said grudgingly. From the sound of her voice and the way she squirmed in discomfort, Emma thought she was hiding something. “I will bring her there, Your High—”

  Gent was cut short by a pounding behind her. The door flew open and the guard burst in, apologizing while two men pushed past him. The guard made a feeble attempt to introduce Dr. Vermek and the loblolly boy, who were coming in on his heels.

  Vermek fell to his knees, prostrating himself. The poor lobl
olly boy stared in stupefaction before Vermek grabbed his coat and yanked him down.

  “Please forgive us, Your Highness,” Vermek muttered, his nose nearly touching the floor. “Please forgive us for this intrusion. We have important news…. ”

  “Get up,” the Queen commanded.

  Vermek climbed to his feet, once again dragging his loblolly boy along.

  “How dare you barge in here?” asked the Queen.

  Vermek fidgeted. “I’m so sorry, Your Highness, I was only looking for my captain. It is a matter of some urgency.” He spun nervously on Gent. “She’s dying,” he said. “We haven’t much time.”

  “Who is dying?” the Queen demanded.

  “Uh…Halifax Brightstoke, Your Highness.” He cast a worried glance at Gent.

  “What’s wrong with her?”

  Vermek gaped at Gent, hoping she would explain, but she was clearly in the mood to watch him writhe. “Er…she’s been infected by a squilch, Your Grace. She is extremely ill—”

  “A squilch!” The Queen looked surprised. “How did that happen?”

  “Uh…” Vermek looked helplessly at Gent, but she didn’t reply. “Er…she was kidnapped by Draconi mercenaries,” he said. “They traffic in all kinds of medicines, you know. And we believe that they were the ones who gave her the squilch.”

  “What’s a squilch?” Emma whispered.

  “It’s a virus,” Laika said. “It eats your memories.”

  Emma was thrown back to the kidnapping. She remembered Mom fighting like a ninja, and Caz and Laine getting the better of her. It made Emma angry to learn that they had poisoned her too.

  “But unfortunately,” Vermek went on, “the squilch they gave her was tainted somehow. It’s done much more damage than the average squilch.”

  The Queen looked skeptical. “This is very strange, Doctor,” she said. “Would you care to explain why two Draco mercenaries would give Halifax a squilch? They ought to have been trying to collect her memories, not destroy them.”

  The doctor fumbled for an answer. “Well, Your Highness, they weren’t the brightest criminals…. ”

  “They would have to have been incredibly stupid criminals. And how did you discover the presence of this squilch, Doctor?” the Queen asked.

  “Your Highness, we were looking for the memories of the Pyxis for you. The grisslin that we gave her came out infected with the squilch, and then it died.”

  “So you’ve learned nothing.”

  “No, Your Highness,” Gent replied.

  “And you’ve potentially crippled Halifax’s mind.”

  “I’m sorry, Your Highness—” Gent began.

  The Queen spun on Vermek. “Do you have a cure, Doctor?”

  “Uh…no, Your Highness. We only have memory water, but that can’t last much longer.”

  The Queen regarded him with a pair of icy-blue eyes. “If she truly is dying, then we’re going to have to take more drastic measures than memory water—and fast. I’m afraid we need that information, and you must do whatever it takes to get it from her. Do you understand me?”

  Vermek nodded vigorously.

  Gent managed to squeak, “I’m sorry, Your Highness. I did mention to Lord Whelp that Halifax was ill. I didn’t realize she was dying…. ”

  The Queen eyed her gravely. “Captain Gent, I am sick of your misunderstandings. You will change your course at once. Instead of sailing to Hydra, you will gather the Draconi armada and head to Draco immediately.”

  Gent hesitated, but she forced herself to say, “Yes, Your Highness. May I ask—”

  “There are sorcerers at the royal palace on Rastaban who will be able to get the information from Halifax before she dies. For them, grisslins are child’s play. And if Halifax is as sick as you say, then she won’t make it to Hydra.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  The Queen leaned menacingly over the kneeling captain. “I don’t trust you, Gent. You’re hiding something from me. But I am going to make one thing perfectly clear: finding out everything about the Pyxis is the most important thing in the galaxy right now. You will probe Halifax’s memories again, and you WILL get that information for me—I don’t care what you have to do. Can you do that, Captain Gent, or should I find someone else?”

  “I can do it, Your Grace.”

  “Good. Now get out of my sight.”

  “Yes, Your Grace,” Gent said with a bow that was designed to conceal the panic on her face. “I am your servant.”

  “And hopefully an adequate one,” the Queen spat. “Now get out.”

  Gent rose and went scurrying from the room.

  With astonishing speed, Emma and her friends crawled back through the passageway. Emma’s heart was thumping so loudly that she felt it in her neck. All she could think of was Mom. She was dying. Right now, probably on a ship at the docks. But she was here!

  Those stupid kidnappers had given her a squilch! How long before it killed her? Emma couldn’t stop thinking of the screechy panic in Dr. Vermek’s voice when he’d said, “She’s dying.”

  Reaching the end of the air vent, she scrambled out of it and saw her friends looking panicked.

  “We have to find her—now!” Emma said.

  She could still hear Captain Gent’s boot steps making their way across a marble floor, so she went running after the sound. “This way!” she cried. The four of them dashed back into the great hall, catching sight of Captain Gent’s red hair just as she strode out the door. They ran after her.

  Emma reached the main door and burst out, determined not to lose Gent in the crowd. The plaza in front of the Royal Hall was packed. Emma darted down the stairs and plunged into the fray. She was too short to see anything, but she knew the direction Gent had gone, so she pushed through the crowd ruthlessly, elbowing ministers and crushing the odd foot. She managed to cross the plaza before spotting Gent.

  Gent was standing by the water’s edge. She had been waylaid by a dignitary, who was fawning over her. Emma slowed and crept closer.

  Just then Gent happened to look around, and for the first time, they saw her face.

  “Nisba?” Santher blurted rather too loudly.

  Gent froze. She looked exactly like the Argh’s cook, Nisba, only more gaunt. Her red hair was longer, and most telling of all, she wore a calculating sneer.

  “It’s not Nisba,” Emma whispered.

  “I know, but who is it?” Herbie asked in amazement. “She looks just like—”

  They stared unabashedly. The woman’s resemblance to Nisba was extraordinary, and for a brief, horrifying moment, they imagined that it was Nisba and that somehow during the course of the past few days Nisba had changed.

  “They must be twins,” Laika whispered. “I guess Nisba’s from Gemini.”

  “Okay, let’s go.” Emma tried to draw her friends back into the crowd, but Gent’s guards came up behind them, and Gent herself swooped in.

  “Pardon me,” she said sweetly. “You called, but I didn’t hear what you said.”

  Herbie was unable to take his eyes from Gent’s face. “Sorry,” he said. “We thought you were someone else.”

  “Yes.” Gent put her finger on her chin. “But who exactly did you think I was?”

  “Oh, just this old friend. Really not important—”

  Something black and hairy poked out of Gent’s sleeve. It looked like an insect leg. They watched in horror as another leg slid out, then another. Finally a fat-bellied tarantula popped onto her hand. Emma stood back. The tarantula’s large, beady eyes gazed challengingly at her.

  “I am Captain Artemisia Gent.” She stuck out her tarantula hand for a shake, but no one took it. She tucked her other hand deep into her coat pocket and wrapped her fist around something. “And may I have the pleasure of your names?”

  “Uh…I’m Ragnar,” Herbie said.

  “And does this young lady have a name too?” Gent asked, motioning to Emma with a sickly smile.

  “Um, yes.” Herbie made to move away,
but Gent removed her hand from her pocket and opened it, revealing a jar of beetles. They came scurrying out and leapt onto Herbie’s shirt. Laika shrieked. Herbie jumped back and tried to swat them off, but the bugs held on fast, burrowing furiously into his shirt. One of the beetles ran up his collar and onto his neck, where it bit deep enough to send up blood. Herbie grabbed his neck, but another beetle latched onto his fingers.

  Emma tried to help him, but quick as a cat, Gent grabbed her arm. A dozen beetles leapt onto Emma’s neck and raced into her collar. They bit her viciously, and she let out a cry.

  It seemed as if the plaza had emptied. There was no noise but the terrible clicking of the bugs’ pincers and a ringing in her ears. She looked up and saw Gent’s cruelly familiar face looking down at her with gleeful, wicked eyes.

  “I know who you are,” Gent said. “You look just like your mother.”

  “I don’t”—Emma gasped—“I don’t know what you’re talk—”

  “Don’t deny it,” Gent said, drawing her closer.

  “Don’t…touch…me!” Emma sputtered. There was a ringing in her ears, and she couldn’t understand why it was so hard to speak. Her arm was hot with pain. She looked around for her friends. They were thrashing clumsily as beetles crawled over their clothing and skin. “Let me go!” she tried to shout, but her voice came out in a squeak.