Alistair Grim's Odd Aquaticum (18 page)

“You didn’t very well think they’d look like actual gates, now, did you?” asked Professor Bricklewick, and the gentlemen and I joined Father at his desk.

“Listen up, everyone,” he said into the talkback. “According to my calculations, the Gates of Avalon should be approximately one hundred yards directly ahead of us. Please stand by for further instructions.”

Father flicked off the talkback and raked his fingers through his hair. Something was bothering him.

“What is it, Alistair?” asked Professor Bricklewick.

“Given everything that I’ve told you about Prince Nightshade, doesn’t it seem odd to you that, for nearly a month now, we’ve seen neither hide nor hair of him?”

“I’m afraid I don’t follow you.”

Father crossed to a chessboard that he kept on one of his bookshelves. The pieces, I noticed, were in the same position as they were the day before—a game between Father and Lord Dreary, Nigel had informed me, that had been going on for ages. I hadn’t the foggiest idea how to play chess, but I gathered it took a lot of strategy—especially when it came to guessing your opponent’s next move. On the other hand, I couldn’t imagine that the game was much fun, what with all the time it took to play it.

“We’ve been running from Prince Nightshade for weeks,” Father said, fingering one of the pieces, “but what if he hasn’t been chasing us?”

“I’m afraid I’m with the professor,” said Lord Dreary. “What are you talking about?”

“If you’ll recall, given the fact that the Thunderbirds played a pivotal role in our rescue of Grubb and Cleona, Prince Nightshade most certainly would’ve gone looking for their lair once he regrouped his forces. Fortunately, as you know, the Thunderbirds migrated to another location immediately after our departure, so what do you think the prince did when he found them gone? What would have been his next move?”

“I should think he had only
one
move: to come looking for us.”

“I thought so too at the time, Lord Dreary. And yet, as it’s been nearly twenty-four hours since Mad Malmuirie opened McClintock—an event that, in theory, would not only attract the doom dogs but Prince Nightshade himself—don’t you think it odd that we haven’t run into any of his minions? Not a single Shadesman or even one of those bloody doom-dog-tracking crows?”

“You almost sound disappointed,” said Professor Bricklewick.

“On the contrary, old friend. However, I just can’t shake this nagging suspicion that I’ve missed something.”

“Good heavens, Alistair,” said Lord Dreary. “Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts about this Aquaticum of yours.”

“Certainly not,” Father said, and he replaced the chess piece on the board. “However, doesn’t it seem just a bit too easy? After all, one blast from the Sky Ripper and”—Father snapped his fingers—“just like that we’re in Avalon.”

“Might I remind you that you still have to convince the Lady of the Lake to give you Excalibur once you get there,” said Professor Bricklewick. “I guarantee you there’ll be nothing easy about that. Not only is she a sorceress, but also, according to legend, one who has lived for over a thousand years.”

“To be sure,” said Lord Dreary. “From what I remember, even Merlin the Magician was no match for her. Queen Nimue is said to have imprisoned him in a tree when he tried to take Excalibur for himself.”

“Once again, your knowledge of Arthurian lore is impressive, old friend,” said Professor Bricklewick. “However, if you’ll recall, the nature of the relationship between Nimue and Merlin differs greatly from one legend to the next. For instance, in the Lancelot Grail Cycle, the Lady of the Lake actually
learns
the art of sorcery from Merlin, who in turn falls in love with her.”

“True,” said Lord Dreary. “However, if
you’ll
recall, in Sir Thomas Malory’s version of events, there are actually
two
Ladies of the Lake, the first of whom…”

As the gentlemen entered into a lively debate, Father sighed and went back to his charts. Clearly, the exchange with his friends had done little to ease his mind. And I suppose I couldn’t blame him. After all, I too often wondered what exactly had become of the prince following his fall from the sky. Given the strength of his armor, there was no doubt in any of our minds that he had survived, as well as no doubt that the shinobi warrior who’d fallen with him had not.

Kiyoko,
I said to myself, and a wave of sadness gripped my heart. I’d only known her for a short while, and yet I missed her as if we’d been friends forever. She had saved all of us from Prince Nightshade, and although my gratitude was boundless, the guilt that came with surviving was sometimes more than I could bear.

At that moment, Nigel’s voice on the talkback startled me from my thoughts. “You might want to have a look at this, sir,” he said nervously.

“What is it?” Father replied.

“I don’t know, but it’s coming for us fast at two o’clock.”

The gentlemen and I rushed out onto the balcony. The waters were eerily still, and all the fish that had gathered around the Odditorium were gone.

“There,” said Professor Bricklewick, pointing, and far off in the distance I spied what looked like the shadowy form of another conger eel snaking its way toward us. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but the eel was actually much farther away than it appeared. Only when it kept getting bigger and bigger did we understand why.

“Great poppycock,” Lord Dreary gasped. “It’s enormous!”

“Yes, but what is it?” the professor asked. But before Lord Dreary could answer, the creature’s massive reptilian head became visible in the searchlight—its eyes glowing yellow in the glare, its jaws smiling back at us with hundreds of copper daggers for teeth.

“Merlin’s Map said nothing about a sea serpent!” Lord Dreary cried, and Father heaved a heavy sigh.

“I should have anticipated this,” he said. “Even the most amateur of fortune hunters knows that magical gates are always guarded by
something
. Why should underwater gates be any different?”

“Yes, but—”

“Take heart, Lord Dreary. At least we know now for certain that the gates are nearby.”

As it drew closer, the sea serpent veered sharply, and my pounding heart leaped into my throat upon seeing it from the side. The giant snake had to be at least two, perhaps even three hundred feet long, with four webbed flippers and a fronded tail that rippled behind it like a silken flag.

“It’s circling us!” Nigel cried out from the talkback, and the sea serpent’s head disappeared round the side of the Odditorium. Its body, however, was still visible from the balcony, and trailed behind as if it would go on forever.

Lord Dreary dragged his handkerchief across his head and said, “What was that you were saying about this being too easy, Alistair?”

Father ignored him and began flipping switches on his pipe organ. “I’m diverting all power from the Eye of Mars to the gunneries,” he said into the talkback. The searchlight turned off and the water around us was green again. “We’ll need to get this monster out of the way before we fire the Sky Ripper. All right, then, gunners, train your lightning cannons on its—”

Out of nowhere the sea serpent’s dagger-filled jaws rose up in front of the balcony. Lord Dreary yelped with fright, and the creature bit down on the energy shield as if it meant to gobble us where we stood. The yellow window crackled and flashed—and for the briefest of moments I could see down the entire length of the monster’s throat—but then the serpent let out a roar and jerked its mouth away.

“The dust bubble has shocked it,” Father muttered, and the serpent’s head disappeared around the Odditorium again. Its body, however, now flush against the window, blocked our view entirely—its scales scrolling past us in a single slithering wall of green.

“Nigel, is Gwendolyn back in the flight sphere?” Father asked. “We’ll need all her power to fortify the outer bubble.”

“She’s already there, sir,” Nigel replied from the talkback. “But this slimy bugger’s wrapped himself clear around the Odditorium. I can’t get a clean shot at him!”

“Neither can I!” said Mrs. Pinch.

The scrolling wall of scales in front of the balcony suddenly stopped, and a low grinding sound echoed through the walls.

“The devil means to crush us!” Father cried. He furiously pressed the button for the levitation shields. The floor buzzed and the energy window flashed, but the sea serpent would not let go. “Blast it! We’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way.” He flicked on the talkback. “Attention, all samurai. Report to the control room at once. Cleona, get into the Sky Ripper and prepare to fire upon my command. I’m setting the proper coordinates now.”

The walls creaked and groaned with the sickening sound of twisting metal. The sea serpent was tightening its grip.

“Good heavens!” cried Lord Dreary. “It’s going to pop our bubble!”

“On the contrary, old friend,” Father said. “The antigravitational properties of the fairy dust will make our bubble impervious to the serpent’s pressure.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, the fairy dust will conform to the Odditorium’s shape until the outer walls are crushed or the levitation system is destroyed. Whichever comes first.”

Lord Dreary and Professor Bricklewick exchanged a terrified glance, and then the whole lot of Father’s samurai poured into the library behind us.

“Everyone off the balcony!” Father cried. As we scrambled out of the way, the samurai began hacking at the serpent’s flank, their swords passing through the window of fairy dust as if it weren’t there.

Lord Dreary cried out in protest, but Father quickly shushed him. I understood why the old man was afraid. The samurai’s animus-infused swords could slice through the yellow shield because animus and fairy dust cancel each other out. At the same time, however, I also understood why our bubble wouldn’t burst. The continuous stream of fairy dust through the levitation shield’s expulsion vents meant that any tear made by the samurai’s swords would instantly seal itself up again.

The monster roared in pain, but the samurai kept at it, the window flashing with every slice of their swords, until finally the giant serpent relaxed its grip. The entire Odditorium seemed to sigh with relief, and the serpent, its flank slashed and flayed, pulled away from us in a trail of streaming bloody ribbons.

Father commanded the samurai to fall back into the library and sat down again at his pipe organ. And as the gentlemen and I took up our positions around him, I could see no sign of the monster anywhere.

“Gunners, do you have a visual?” Father shouted into the talkback.

“The creature’s below us now and slithering its way back up!” Nigel replied.

“Quickly!” Father cried. “If the serpent wraps around us from top to bottom, the samurai won’t be able to get at it from the balcony. Fire at will!”

The water flickered orange for a moment, and then Mrs. Pinch’s voice came over the talkback. “Something’s wrong, sir. All I’m getting up here is a bunch of bubbles!”

“It was necessary to recalibrate the lightning cannons so they wouldn’t tear open the levitation shield,” Father replied. “What you’re witnessing is a pulse of red energy surrounded by a bubble of fairy dust which, in theory, should fire like a cannonball.”

“Well your theory is wrong, sir,” said Mrs. Pinch. “I can’t get these silly orange bubbles to go anywhere!”

Craning my neck, I gazed up through the energy shield and saw for myself what the old woman was talking about. The orange bubbles from her lightning cannons seemed incapable of traveling for more than a few yards before bursting apart completely in a shower of tiny exploding suns.

At the same time, I caught sight of the sea serpent heading upward. It was clear that Father’s prediction was correct. The creature meant to wrap itself around the Odditorium in such a manner as to avoid the balcony. And as its massive head slithered up behind one of the spider legs to our left, Father shouted, “Fire, Nigel, fire!”

Nigel obliged, but almost immediately his orange bubbles burst apart just as Mrs. Pinch’s had done.

“What now, Alistair?” asked Professor Bricklewick, but Father ignored him.

“Mrs. Pinch!” he screamed into the talkback. “Is the serpent close enough to the gunnery for you to get your muzzles flush with its body?”

“I can’t, sir! It snapped off my starboard cannon and wedged its neck against the turret. I can’t even turn round!”

Just then, the Odditorium’s walls began to creak and groan—the monster was squeezing us again!

“Cleona, are you there, love?” Father shouted into the talkback.

“Where else would I be?”

“We’re being attacked by a giant sea serpent.”

“Yes, I gathered that from all your squawking.”

“Open your porthole and tell me if you can see the creature’s body. The bubble of fairy dust will prevent the water from entering your chamber.”

“I’m afraid I already did that,” Cleona said guiltily. “I wanted to get a look at the beast for myself but couldn’t see a thing from this angle.”

“Good heavens, we must be able to shake it off somehow!”

Father played some quick flourishes, causing the Odditorium to rock back and forth, but still the serpent would not let go. It was just the opposite, in fact. The monster tightened its grip on us, and underneath the endless screeching of straining metal, I heard something snap deep within the Odditorium’s walls.