Phoenix Rising (17 page)

At the pile of crates, Toby unpacked all but the weapons, then Ayla laid the cloth back on top. Hiko skidded to a halt at their side. “Is it time?” the boy asked, his face screwed up against the sun’s glare.

Toby nodded and caught a flash of Polly’s wings in the sun as she flew skywards.

At that moment, the pirates on the
Phoenix
began beating their shields on the gunwale.

“Toby…” Hiko’s eyes were round and Toby followed his pointing finger. Every dock rat on the pier, D’von included, had stopped what they were doing and watched as a squad of grey-uniformed militia, elite Greymen, jogged over the cobbles. In their hands were blackened pistols.

Toby gaped. “We’re running out of time. The
Phoenix
can’t defend against them.”

“They can and they will,” Ayla snapped.

“Get off the jetty.” Muscular overseers started yelling and waving their arms. “Soldiers only, now. Dock rats back to your cages. You’ll have to do double work tomorrow.”

Toby placed a palm on Hiko’s shoulder. “This is our
chance. No one is watching us.”

Ayla picked up the barrow again. “Let’s go.”

D’von, who had started to move with the rest of the rats, looked at them, his big face creased with concern. He hesitated, then broke away from the main body of queuing, grumbling rats.

“I’ll take you.” D’von spread his big arms and herded them towards the end of the pier. “I’m big – overseer-size almost.”

“You’ll get in trouble.” Toby objected.

“Dock rats off the dock with no overseer telling them what to do? That’s not normal. I’ll have to be your overseer.” D’von nodded.

“He’s right, let him help.” Hiko scurried beside D’von.

A flash of colour above him made Toby look up. Polly was gliding close by. A gunshot rang out behind them and he gasped.

“Don’t look,” Ayla said. “First lesson from the
Banshee
. Keep moving forward, don’t look back.”

Four dock rats proceeded towards the castle. Two of them pushed a barrow, the littlest walked to the side holding a crate, and the biggest harangued them in low tones.

As the front wheel bumped over the cobbles and threatened to overturn its cargo, Toby mused that the important thing was to look as if you knew where you were going and what you were doing.

He glanced sideways at Hiko and tried to emulate the way the smaller boy moved – head low, feet quick, steps small.

Ayla grunted as the barrow wobbled dangerously. “Stop that,” she snarled, righting it and gripping her handle more tightly.

“I’m trying not to get caught.” Toby gritted his teeth.

“Well, a barrow of weapons spilling on the cobbles will be a wonderful disguise,” Ayla retorted.

“Shut your mouths,” D’von rumbled. “You don’t talk, I talk. You’re not allowed.”

Toby pressed his lips together and glared at the girl by his side. Her face was sticky with sweat and fish innards and the scar on her lip stood out against the sunburn on her hollow cheeks. He realized that she hadn’t eaten since she’d arrived on the
Phoenix
, yet she made no complaint.

Toby looked up. They had left the promenade now and were passing houses. Every other one looked derelict, but there was a smithy and a bakery, both lit by the glow of large fires within.

Spicy cooking smells tinged the air, making Toby’s mouth water and his eyes caught the flickering of bulbs in dark rooms.

A little girl peered from between curtains in one house and pulled a face at him. “Yuck, dock rats!” she squealed.

A boy grabbed her by the shoulder and swung her around. “It’s your turn to be the volcano,” he shouted. “An’ I’m the lava.”

“Boom!” she shrieked. “Get Mama.”

They ran out of sight and Toby stole a look at Ayla.

“What are they doing?” she murmured, half to herself.

“They’re playing,” Toby said, surprised. He caught her disgusted expression. “You don’t get much leisure time on the
Banshee
, huh?”

Ayla looked resolutely away from him. “Waste of time,” she muttered. “She should be learning to fight.”

“Shut your mouths.” D’von clipped Toby around the ear.

Toby clamped his mouth closed and shook his head, then glanced across at Ayla. She was staring back at the house with the little girl in it. He set his face forward. The castle was straight ahead now, the portcullis open. More soldiers were emerging from the entrance. The officer called to someone then jogged forward, sword at the ready, towards the four dock rats and their barrow. It seemed to Toby that Tarifa had an endless supply of soldiers.

“Hold it,” D’von grunted and Toby, Ayla and Hiko froze.

Toby’s hands closed tight around the barrow. If one of the soldiers kicked it the weapons would be spilled to the ground.

“Out of the way, rat,” the officer snarled, aiming a swipe at Hiko. The boy hopped sideways and Toby and Ayla laboured to move the barrow off the street. The sweating men pounded past, ignoring them.

A gust of wind brought the sound of gunshots and yelling to their ears but Toby set his jaw, refusing to look back. They were running out of time.

As soon as the last of the soldiers passed, Toby dragged the barrow back on to the cobbles and stepped up the pace.

Just ahead Polly swooped through the portcullis and
was swallowed by the gloom. As the wheel of the barrow reached the castle’s shadow Toby hesitated. He glanced at Ayla just as she raised her head. Their eyes met.

“The mission,” she said, like a vow, and he nodded.

D’von was first beneath the portcullis. Hiko tiptoed anxiously at his side, and Toby and Ayla followed into the darkness, balancing the barrow between them.

Toby stood, blinking, forcing his pupils to adjust to the shadows. After seconds that seemed to take hours, he was able to look around. He tensed, waiting for someone to shout at him, but the courtyard in front of them was deserted.

Suddenly D’von gestured. “Back, back.”

Toby and Ayla retreated into the shadows. Hiko crept under Toby’s arm.

D’von, however, was ahead of them, and didn’t have time to follow them into shelter.

A man dressed in a long red jacket with a high collar appeared from the archway to the right of the courtyard. His hair was braided in a low plait at the base of his neck. Toby guessed this was the portmaster.

He spotted D’von. “What are you doing, rat? Sent to help with those pirates? Get down to the dungeons and ask for instructions. We’ll be doing the first hanging in –” He consulted a gold watch that dangled from a chain in
front of his chest – “twenty minutes.” He rubbed his hands and looked at the sky. “What a serendipitous day, Ford falling into my hands like that.” He glowered at D’von. “Still here? Are you stupid?
Go to the dungeons
.”

“Should I take a key?” D’von asked. He held his hand out to the man and Toby’s heart filled with affection.

“No, idiot. The keys are in my office. Why would you need keys? Just go and find the officer in charge.” The man shook his head. “Those overseers spend too much time hitting you rats on the head. You’re good for nothing once they’re done with you.” He looked D’von up and down like hanging meat. “Although you’d probably make a half-decent soldier. If I remember, I’ll mention it to your overseer when the cages are next cleaned out.” D’von ducked his head. “Why are you still here?” The portmaster almost shrieked.

“Which way?” D’von asked.

The portmaster rolled his eyes. “Past the kitchens and keep going down. When you can’t go down any more, you’ll be at the dungeons. You’ll like it in there, it’s just like home.” His moustache squirmed as he sniggered.

D’von marched in the direction of the portmaster’s pointing finger. Open-mouthed, Toby watched him go and then the portmaster swept past them, never suspecting that even more rats were hidden in the shadows.

When he was gone, Ayla stepped into the light. “Quick.” She gestured in the direction the portmaster had appeared from. “His office has to be this way.” There was a small staircase.

Claws closed around Toby’s collarbone and he nuzzled his head into Polly’s familiar weight. “Glad you’re here.”

Ayla rolled her eyes. “What are you waiting for?” She ran up the stairs, already unsheathing her sword. “We have less than twenty minutes.”

Toby swung the weapons pack on to his back and tipped the barrow on its side in an attempt to hide it.

“Let’s go.” He motioned for Hiko to follow him.

Toby stepped into the office and shut the door quietly behind them. There was a narrow window that overlooked the straits, but it was too small to allow much light in.

“Here, Toby, you can do the honours.” Hiko stood by the wall. Toby looked quizzical and Hiko gestured again. To his left was a dented plastic panel with a dirty switch.

Polly hopped off his shoulder and flew on to the desk, her left eye on Toby, her right swivelled towards the door.

Toby put a finger on the plastic switch and pressed. There was a crackling hiss then a bulb flickered and lit with a fluorescent glow. “Electric light.”

“All right, all right, twenty minutes, remember? Let’s find those keys.” Ayla was already rifling through a box on a shelf against the wall.

Toby was looking at the room. In front of him there was an actual wooden desk covered in what looked like a lifetime’s supply of precious wood-pulped paper.

“That’s a month’s wages there, right enough.” Ayla was next to him. “I’m tempted to take them for Nell.”

“Keys?”

Ayla shook her head. “Let’s try in the desk.”

Toby yanked at the top drawer, but it didn’t move. “Locked.”

Ayla elbowed him out of the way, shoved her sword into the top of the draw and levered her weight down on the end. Polly skittered off the desk and the draw opened with a splintering of wood and popping metal.

Toby peered in. “No keys.” Then his eyes widened. “But look what we do have.” He grabbed a handful of yellowing paper.

“What?” Hiko ducked under his arm and Ayla leaned in, her eyes sparkling.

“Maps,” she breathed. Then she shook her head. “Not the mission.”

“But look. Planned trade routes, suspected shipwrecks, desirable salvage. Everything we need to last for years at
sea. No wonder the portmaster wants the
Phoenix
. He could use these maps and be rich. Gods, Dee will go wild for this.” He stammered to a halt, remembering his last vision of her, bloodied and crumpled on the deck.

As he hesitated, Ayla swept up a handful of maps and shoved them into his pack. “Here, then, take them. We don’t have time to read now.”

She dropped a curled map on to the desk. Hiko rolled it open.

The boy’s eyes saddened. “Hey, I haven’t seen this writing since I was sold. This is my father’s first language. He taught me some before he died.” His fingers stroked the ink. “Look, someone’s been trying to translate it … badly.”

Toby leaned closer, interested. “What does it say?”

Ayla rolled her eyes and started pulling out more drawers.

Hiko pointed at what to Toby’s eyes was a bunch of scribbled shapes. “Island.” Hiko stroked the word.

The second word looked to Toby almost identical.

“Volcano,” Hiko said.

Ayla froze and Toby’s lungs stopped taking in air. “Volcano island?” he whispered. “Are you sure?”

Hiko nodded. “Island – volcano.”

“It’s a map to the island.” Ayla exploded into action. “Give it here.”

Toby blocked her. “You can’t read it. It’s no use to you.”

“It bloody is.” Ayla’s hands turned into claws and Polly flew into her hair with a screech.

Ayla batted the parrot back and stepped away from Toby, her hands formed into fists. “Give. It. Here.”

“I found it.” Hiko clutched the map to his chest. “You’re not having it.”

“We don’t have time. I’m putting the map in with the rest. We’ll sort it out on the
Phoenix
. We have to find those keys.”

Ayla took her fists to her sides. “Fine, we’ll sort it out on the
Phoenix
.” Her eyes tracked the map as Hiko rolled it tighter and slid it between a sword and hammer on Toby’s back. The small boy looked at Ayla as he did it, narrowed eyes warning her that he would know exactly where the map was at all times.

She turned her back on him. “Where are those damn keys?”

The keys were in the last drawer. Gathered on a giant ring, there was no way to tell which were for the dungeon and which were for the kitchen cupboards. Toby pocketed the whole ring and made to leave.

Hiko, standing in the doorway, waved frantically. “He’s coming back.”

“Ashes.” Toby and Ayla glanced at one another then,
as one, they grabbed Hiko, shoved him through the door and ran down the short stairwell with his feet tripping between them. They flattened themselves against a side wall, just as the portmaster put his foot on the bottom step.

The portmaster paused on the second tread and checked his watch. He muttered to himself and then proceeded to climb.

Toby exhaled. They had only moments before the alarm was raised.

“The dungeon, quick,” Toby gasped.

The pack bounced on Toby’s back and the keys jangled in his pocket as he ran. Ayla kept pace with him, and Hiko sprinted just behind.

His nose told him they were approaching the kitchen and his heart slammed as he saw figures beyond the open door. But steam billowed outwards as they approached and no one saw them run past.

His ears rang with the pounding of the blood in his veins, but he was certain he could hear shouting in the courtyard. An opening beside the kitchen led on to stairs that disappeared into dank dullness. It had to be the way to the dungeon.

Without missing a beat, Toby grabbed the lintel and swung on to the top tread.

The staircase was narrow and twisting, lit by flickering bulbs that buzzed in the darkness, and finally Toby was forced to slow. His feet slipped on the uneven spiral stone
staircase and, as they climbed lower, Toby found that his hand was coming away from the brickwork slimy and damp.

He could hear the sound of banging from the floor above. Someone was on their tail.

Finally the stairs stopped at a gaping archway and the stonework dripped into slimy puddles that pooled around his toes. To his right was an alcove packed with metal slop buckets, brushes and shovels and through the archway Toby could see what appeared to be a large storeroom filled with crates. Beyond was a series of thick doors striped with bars.

His heart rose – D’von stood in the corridor, his face turned to one of the doors, his eyes fixed to the dusty grille.

Toby jerked as if to run towards the captive pirates, but Polly nipped his ear. At the same time Ayla put a hand on his shoulder, holding him back. His eyes found the sitting area at the end of the corridor. Crowded with guards, it was open and would easily allow them to be seen if they moved into a bulb’s guttering light.

“What do we do? There’re too many of them,” Hiko whispered.

“We don’t have time to mess around. Be ready.” Slipping from shadow to shadow, Ayla vanished into the storeroom.

“What’s she doing?” Hiko tried to follow her, but Toby shook his head.

“Stay here.”

Hiko looked at the stairwell, the pounding footsteps and echoing voices getting louder. “We’ll be caught.” He sounded terrified.

Polly hopped off Toby’s shoulder and into the alcove. She perched on a shovel handle, head cocked. Swiftly Toby dragged Hiko inside. He stepped over mops, almost tripped in a grating that was set into the floor and pushed the two of them flat to the wall.

The smell from the grating gave away the sewers below his feet and Toby covered his mouth. He was so close to his father, but time was running out. How could they fight ten guards, plus however many more that §were coming down the stairs?

“Move over, quick.” A figure appeared in the entrance to the alcove – Ayla. She put a finger to her lips.

Suddenly the light in the corridor jumped. A yellow glow swayed on the wall. Hiko coughed and Toby felt his throat start to close up.

“You set a fire,” Toby whispered.

Ayla nodded. “A distraction.”

The first of their pursuers appeared at the bottom of the steps and Toby crushed Hiko against the wall. They watched as the guards spotted the flames. They yelled and the guards at the other end of the corridor looked up.

Cards scattered and tables rolled as the men sprung to their feet. The two groups converged on the storeroom, feet clattering over the grates. D’von didn’t move from his post.

As soon as the last of the men vanished into the storeroom, Toby flung himself towards the locked door and his father.

“I watched them for you, Toby.” D’von nodded his head vigorously.

“Thank you, D’von.” Toby didn’t even look at the bigger boy. He closed his fingers around the bars and pressed his face to the gap. “Captain?”

The room beyond was dark, lit only by the bulb that swung in the corridor, but Toby knew his father’s figure.

“Toby, is that you?” Barnaby’s hands closed around Toby’s. “Get out of here.”

“Not without you. We’ve got keys. Weapons, too.” He shrugged the rucksack from his shoulders and started to empty it. Hiko helped, passing the weapons to Toby as Ayla watched the blazing room, making sure the guards remained within.

The captain closed his hands around a giant hammer. “Let them try and hang one of us now, eh?”

“Is Nisha all right?” Rahul’s face appeared beside the captain’s.

Toby nodded as he pulled the ring of keys from his pocket. “I don’t know which it is.” The keys jangled as he passed them into Rahul’s palm.

“Toby, you’re a wonder.” The captain hefted his hammer. “Can I smell smoke?”

Toby nodded. “We set a fire to distract the guards.”

“In that case, get the hell out of here. We’ll follow.”

“Works for me.” Ayla nudged him. “Let’s go.”

Metal rattled as Rahul tried the first key in the lock. The sound echoed around the corridor.

Two guards emerged and Toby realized they would be spotted.

“Prison break!” The guards’ screams brought others running.

Ayla’s sword appeared in her hand and Toby groped for Nix with one hand, shoving Hiko behind him with the other.

“Grab the bag, Hiko,” he snapped. “And get behind us.”

Polly cawed and focused on the guards running down the corridor.

“Polly! No!” Toby yelled, but she was already launching.

“Get back in there and fight that fire, or we’re all dead.” The officer shoved half his men back inside and turned face first into the parrot that was coming for him.

D’von banged on the wooden door. “Give me a weapon,”
he shouted. “Quick.”

The pirates returned a crowbar through the grille – D’von closed his hands around the weight and swung experimentally.

Polly had inflicted bloody claw marks down the officer’s face and now he covered his ears, leaving her free to rake him across one eye. A lucky swing and he knocked her off, but Polly glided back round to strafe him again.

“I’m not letting your bird have all the fun.” Ayla ran to meet the lead guard.

As he saw her coming and lifted his sword, she dropped and spun into a rear leg heel-sweep that put her head below the level of his swing and knocked his feet out from under him. As he fell with a surprised grunt, Ayla jumped forward. She landed with her legs on either side of the guard and stabbed downwards. He died with a choking cry and a look of shock.

Toby stared. She had killed the man without a second thought and was already moving past him towards the next.

With a yell of his own, Toby threw himself forwards.

“No! Toby, get back.” The captain rattled the grille. “Open this door, Rahul.”

“I’m trying.” The ring rattled again as Rahul tried another key.

D’von looked anxiously at Hiko, who cowered against the door with the paper-stuffed pack clutched in his fists. Then the large dock rat ran forward, swinging his crowbar like a club.

Ayla faced two guards; the rest were trapped behind her in the bottleneck of the corridor. She glared from one to the other, waving her sword in a figure of eight. The one on the right rushed her, while the other shouldered past to reach Toby.

As Ayla’s sword crashed into the guard’s, Toby ducked under a swipe aimed at his head. He raised Nix and their weapons clanged. The vibration of the guard’s sword against his shook his arm.

He found himself back to back with Ayla, both of their arms hampered. “Swap,” he cried.

Without missing a beat, Ayla spun around him and drove her sword into the side of his opponent, while Toby twisted around her to complete the same move.

Nix sliced easily through the guard’s shirt; then stuck. As the man screeched and swiped wildly downwards, Toby sidestepped. He retched, but forced Nix to keep cutting. Peel was right, this was truly horrible.

The man Ayla had stabbed was down, clutching his bleeding stomach. “Finish it, Toby.” Ayla was already rolling into the legs of the soldier beside the officer, using
her heels to deliver a vicious double kick to the groin.

Toby twisted Nix and pulled. The sword came free with an arc of blood. Warmth splashed his face and lips and he gagged again as the guard fell to his knees. D’von smashed his crowbar across the man’s head, finally putting him out.

The officer slashed a sword at Polly, but the parrot swooped on to Toby’s shoulder.

“Are you all right, Toby?” Polly nipped his ear and Toby shook his head, staring at the blood coating his hands.

The officer and guards were more wary now, lined up across the corridor. Blood dripped into the officer’s eyes and he wiped it with his sleeve.

Toby stood next to Ayla, panting. Smoke entered his lungs and he coughed, his eyes welling up. The corridor grew dark, filling with smoke.

D’von stood just behind them, his crowbar swinging in one hand.

Toby straightened his back and curled a lip. “Come on, then,” he rasped.

The officer gestured and the three guards stepped forwards as one. Again Ayla went low, so Toby went high. She threw herself into a slide, slashing at knees, wrecking the guard’s careful formation. As they hopped and slashed downwards, Toby whipped Nix across the corridor at neck height, forcing them to duck and scatter.

Breaking through the line, Ayla attacked the officer, leaving Toby and D’von to press the three guards at the front.

D’von smashed a sword with his crowbar, snapping it at the hilt. The guard stood, shocked, and stared at the dock rat.

“B-but you’re rats!” he shouted, as he retreated. He met the officer and they both ran towards the stairs.

Only two guards faced the pirates now. One limped on an injured leg and the other held his throat where Nix had cut him.

Toby’s lungs tickled again and he almost doubled over with a cough. Behind him he could hear Hiko’s higher-pitched hacking. Ayla held the collar of Peel’s shirt up over her face.

“Polly want a cracker!” Polly squawked.

Inside the storeroom the fire leaped higher.

“Do you know what you’ve done?” the officer shouted from the stairwell. “If that fire doesn’t get put out…”

“What do I care?” Toby coughed. He slashed downwards. His sword caught and he yanked as he landed, pulling it free to the noise of an injured howl. The guard whose shoulder he had sliced staggered into the wall and D’von hammered the crowbar into his stomach, then brought down the bar once more on his head.

The single remaining guard called out towards the storeroom. “We need help here.”

The reply was panicked. “We can’t put out the fire! Get out!”

The guard turned, wide-eyed, then sprinted away from them.

Toby rested with a hand on his knees. The guards fighting the fire were running into the corridor now and heading for the stairs. “Why are they running?” he whispered.

The cell door slammed open and the crew of the
Phoenix
appeared.

“Captain.” Toby turned.

Barnaby strode down the corridor and wrapped his arms around his son, forcing Polly into the air. Toby felt the prickle of his beard and his father’s brass compass pressing against him.

“I’m all right,” he said. “We’ve got to get back to the
Phoenix
.”

Rahul limped to Toby’s side, clutching his torso. Behind him Callum was trying to move Rita, but struggling with his own injury. Hiko dropped the pack and put his arm around her. Rita’s chin rested on her chest and her legs dragged. Blood dripped from her arm to the floor.

“Simeon needs a hand with Harry.” Rahul coughed.
D’von tossed the crowbar with a clang of metal and walked to the cell. He lifted the injured pirate over his shoulder.

Simeon nodded and staggered into the corridor followed by Oats, who was bent over his arm, his face deathly white.

“What about Dee?” the captain asked.

“She made it back.” Toby blinked sudden tears. “It’s bad. But the
Phoenix
would’ve been boarded if—”

“Toby, we need to move,” Ayla interrupted.

“Is that…?” Barnaby stared at Ayla.

“Later.” Toby strode towards the stairs.

Suddenly the flames in the storeroom jumped. Fire spurted and lit up the corridor and a bulb exploded above Toby’s head, raining broken glass and forcing the pirates to duck.

Toby found himself and Ayla bundled towards the archway, Polly flapping wildly in his face.

“Move,” Barnaby roared, as Ayla tried to free herself.

Rahul turned and put his arms around Hiko, Rita and Simeon, forcing them forward. D’von broke into a run and Oats and Callum lurched after, bumping from wall to wall as fast as they could.

Flames licked at their feet, catching on anything that would burn. In the alcove, metal buckets spat.

As they reached the staircase, Hiko was shouting.

Toby couldn’t work out what he was saying. Then Ayla twisted out of reach.

“You dropped the maps?” Her face was furious. “You stupid little…” She leaped down the steps, shouldered past the others and ran back through the archway into the corridor. Toby’s pack lay smouldering against the cell door.

“Ayla,” Toby yelled. “Leave it! There’s no time!”

As Ayla’s hand closed around the pack, the smoke seemed to be sucked back towards the storeroom. Barnaby threw himself over Toby, closing his arms around his son’s head.

“Ayla!” Toby screamed.

Polly flew towards the girl, wings pumping and Toby wriggled, trying to see.

An explosion slammed into him, forcing him downwards. Stairs punched him in the gut as a sun-bright flare burned his eyes. A squawk penetrated the ringing in his ears and his heart stuttered as Polly’s feathers were seared to nothing. She flapped once more and tumbled to the ground.

“Polly!” he screamed, but all he could hear was the endless rumble of collapsing stone as the corridor vanished. A second, more-muffled explosion was followed by the rattling of brick and a final deep thump.

Then silence, broken only by the fizz of electricity inside a single swinging bulb.

Toby raised his head. The staircase above was completely blocked. He turned with difficulty. Behind him there was no corridor, no Polly, no Ayla – only a pile of broken masonry and a single dusty hand reaching out from under the brick.