Secrets of the Dragon Tomb (22 page)

“We've got less than seven days,” I said.

“I know,” Freddie said. “But we'll get there.” His eyes hardened. “And when we do, I will deliver justice to that man for what he has done.”

*   *   *

It took us seven days to reach Lunae City by boat, and I knew it was too long. Every day was another day closer to Papa finishing the water abacus and my family becoming expendable. I knew I should be resting and preparing, but I could hardly sit still.

For the first four days, we sailed along the canal with a steady breeze behind us. Occasionally, we passed other native Martian boats heading in the other direction, tacking backward and forward across the wide canal against the wind.

The canal was amazing. It went straight through the hills and mesas without changing direction. It looked like someone had picked up a giant axe and sliced through even the hardest rock. Where the land dipped down into valleys, great embankments had been raised to support the canal, and while these had crumbled in places, the canal had survived. It had been built thousands of years ago, but it was still there. I couldn't imagine that anything we'd built on Mars would still be around two thousand years later.

I'd never spent any time with a native Martian before. Whenever I'd seen them, they'd only been passing by. Sometimes the Martians on the boat would stop for no apparent reason to sit together on the deck and sing strange, quiet songs. At others, they would work nine or ten hours straight through without even breaking for food. I couldn't figure out why. It certainly wasn't because of anything Captain Sadalius Kol, the owner of the boat, said, but he seemed happy enough to join in even if it meant the boat drifted to a stop or if everyone went hungry. The captain spoke only a few words of English, and I didn't speak any native Martian at all, so I couldn't ask him what was going on.

For some reason, the native Martians didn't use any technology from the dragon tombs, either, even the things that were so cheap they must have been able to afford them. They did everything by hand, although it took twice as long.

“How are we going to pay for this?” I asked Freddie one evening when we were alone. We'd lost most of our money in the airship crash.

“We're not,” Freddie said. “No native Martian would dream of charging us. I said they were generous.”

“If they trust us, you said.”

“Well, wouldn't you trust someone you pulled drowning out of a canal?” Freddie laughed. “Anyway, I'm good at this.” He winked. “Spy training, don't you know?”

“You must be,” I said, “if they're feeding and carrying us for free.”

“You still don't get it, do you?” Freddie said. “They're grateful to us. Native Martians believe it's a privilege to offer someone hospitality. You shouldn't expect everyone to think and act like an Englishman. We're their guests for as long as we want.” He stretched his back painfully. He was still covered in bruises from the airship crash and the hunter tripod attack.

“It's interesting, isn't it?” he said. “That the poorest people tend to be more generous than the richest. Imagine what would happen if a group of lost, bedraggled native Martians appeared on your family's doorstep.”

I didn't need to imagine. Mama would turn the automatic servants on them. If they came back, she would have them arrested. I'd have been so worried about protecting my family, I might have done the same. It made me feel guilty.

The sailors had set up a canopy across part of the deck so that we could rest in the low, slung-back native Martian chairs and recover. Within a couple of days, Putty had picked up enough native Martian to chat away happily with the sailors. I was still trying to figure out the difference between “yes,” “no,” “thank you,” and “please may I have a bucket for my head.”

When I'd first seen the desert, I'd thought we were going to die there. I'd been shocked and scared by just how big, bleak, and threatening it was. Now that we were sitting comfortably beneath a cool canopy, I realized the desert was also beautiful, particularly at nightfall and sunrise.

Great red and yellow sand dunes stretched like the backs of mile-long whales, but there were so many of them they looked like ripples on a lake. Putty wanted to stop and search for the sandfish she'd once been obsessed with, but the captain just laughed and kept on sailing.

Between the dunes, there were a thousand different colors of rocks, delicately layered and bent into vast curves. Putty told me the native Martians thought that once, millions of years ago, this had all been beneath the sea and it had been pushed up by the working of unimaginable forces. It was a strange superstition. I agreed with Olivia that it was really evidence of the hand of a Creator.

*   *   *

It took me a few days to realize that some of the sailors were women, but Putty certainly didn't miss it. By the time we reached the end of the canal, she'd decided to become a sailor. I'd expected Olivia to be horrified when she found out, but she simply said, “Their lives are so different from our own,” and spent the next hour staring in silence at the horizon.

The canal joined the Martian Nile at an ancient, heavy lock that looked like it'd been repaired a hundred times. It was large enough to carry several boats, and a couple were waiting when we arrived, so we descended through the lock together.

Once on the Martian Nile, we sped up. The strong current helped us, and although the crew had to watch out for sandbanks, we were making much better time. I still didn't know if it would be enough. We had less than three days left, and the Martian Nile was a long river.

Within a day, we caught sight of the first ruins of the Ancient Martian civilization. A single giant column rose from the middle of a lush green field. Pictures and ideograms were carved all the way up it, although we were too far away to make them out properly. At the top, the column twisted and became the head of a vast dragon, leering out in the direction of the river. Olivia let out a gasp of horror when she saw it.

“Did they really keep tame dragons?” she said.

“It was a great empire,” Freddie said. “Even if we don't know much about it.” He laid a reassuring hand on Olivia's arm. “The dragons are long gone, and it's possible they weren't as fierce as their statues make them look.”

Soon we were passing more ruins, each more elaborate than the last. Massive stone walls jutted from the ground, still speckled here and there by fragments of red, gold, or green paint. Whole temples or palaces—Putty said historians were still arguing about which they were—sprawled over enormous areas, bigger than some towns. Strangely, none of the native Martians who lived and farmed along the banks of the river seemed to build their villages close to the ruins. Superstition, I supposed, or maybe they just realized how far they'd fallen from the glory of their ancestors.

*   *   *

We came into sight of Lunae City at midday, seven days after we'd started our trip on the boat. I should have been relieved, but if Putty and Freddie were right, Papa would already have finished the new water abacus. We were out of time, and we still had no idea where in the city Sir Titus was. We couldn't even be certain he
was
in Lunae City. What if he'd gone somewhere else?

We'd passed an increasing number of boats in the last day, ranging from cargo boats as large as ours, down through smaller versions used by visitors to sail between the ruins of temples and palaces, to tiny paddleboats ferrying the locals back and forth. The city docks stretched for nearly a mile along the river. Stone wharves stood high above the water, and the boats formed a gay confusion of brightly colored sails, flashing oars, and shouting sailors. At least Sir Titus wouldn't be able to spot us here. There were too many boats and too many people. He'd need a hundred men to watch everything.

Lunae City loomed over the river. Native Martian architecture, developed in the low gravity of Mars, looked completely different from that of Earth. The buildings were tall, narrow, and elaborate, often twisting in spirals or overhanging so far they looked like they'd topple over. Delicate spires competed for height above the buildings. Here and there among the Martian buildings were a few squat, bulky buildings of Earth design: a grand white hotel with neat lawns, a Turkish mosque, a long building in the Chinese style.

“We'll need to be careful in Lunae City,” Freddie said as we prepared to climb off the boat. “It's not part of British Mars and it doesn't have the same laws. The council likes to play countries off against each other. It's how they keep control. If we get in trouble, we can't rely on the British-Martian ambassador to help. We'll be on our own.”

“It is enormous,” Olivia said quietly. “I hadn't guessed it would be so big.”

“It's been a city for thousands of years,” Freddie said with a smile. “It's the oldest city on the planet, and in the time of the Ancient Martian Empire, it was the most important. Then, when the dragon tombs were discovered, people flocked here and it expanded again. Now it's full of glory hunters like Colonel Fitzsimmons, and a good proportion of British Martian society maintain houses here. If you're interested in Ancient Martian artifacts, you'll spend time here. Add to that the tourists, and you've got a city almost as big as Tharsis.”

Even though I was desperate to look for my family, I hadn't realized how sad I'd be to leave the boat. We'd been scared and in such danger until the crew had rescued us, and they'd been so kind and friendly, I couldn't stop a few tears from springing up.

Freddie booked us into the Grand Hotel, the enormous white building we'd seen from the boat, giving false names at the desk.

“Isn't this a bit—I don't know—obvious?” I said when we'd settled into our luxurious suite of rooms and I had him alone. “I mean, we're not exactly hiding.”

“Sir Titus has his hands full trying to decode the map,” Freddie said. “Don't forget that when he disappeared he was in disgrace. He won't want to be recognized. He'll have gone to ground, and his men won't come to a place like this. Sometimes the worst thing you can do is try to hide. People notice someone trying to hide.”

“Freddie, we've run out of time,” I said. “Sir Titus must have his water abacus by now.”

“Unless your father delayed him.”

I shook my head. “Papa would never risk it.” I glanced around and dropped my voice. “Can't you get help from the British-Martian Intelligence Service?”

“Intelligence services are banned in Lunae City,” Freddie said. “The council doesn't like them. They're here, of course, but in deep cover. I'll have to meet with the British-Martian ambassador, but it'll take time for him to check my identity.”

“We don't
have
time,” I said.

“I know.”

Right this moment, Papa's abacus would be whirring and clicking and gurgling as it deciphered the ideograms. Every second we delayed, Sir Titus got closer, and Papa's miracle machine was supposed to be
fast
.

The door opened behind Freddie, and Putty walked in, followed by Olivia.

“Where are you off to?” Putty said.

“Don't you ever knock?” I demanded.

“No. So, where are you going? You're obviously going somewhere. I can tell.”

Olivia had washed her face and arms and fixed her hair. She was still dressed in the loose, slightly transparent gown the sailors had given her, but she'd found a belt for her waist.

“Freddie's going to make inquiries,” I said.

“I want to go,” Putty said.

“Oh, yes,” Olivia said. “I wouldn't feel safe left here alone.”

I scowled. “You'd hardly be alone,” I said. “I'd be here.”

“What if those men came back?” Olivia said. “Or those hunter tripods?”

Putty sighed. “I'd love to see the hunter tripods. Perhaps we should stay here, Livvy.”

“They think we're lost in the wilderness,” I said, “or dead. There's no reason for them to come here.”

“I still wouldn't feel safe,” Olivia said, widening her eyes.

Freddie looked around desperately. “Well…”

Good grief.
Freddie was supposed to be smart now, wasn't he? Couldn't he see she was playing him?

“Excellent!” Putty said. She grabbed Freddie's hand. “So, where are we going first?”

Freddie's shoulders sagged. “Ah … I suppose Cousin Olivia needs something to wear. She can't appear in public in that outfit.” He paused for a moment, staring at Olivia's oddly belted contraption, until I cleared my throat. “Um. First some new gowns and boots. And while you're doing that, I have to visit the British-Martian ambassador. It'll be horribly boring, I'm afraid, but when we're all done, there's a museum of Ancient Martian antiquities nearby. It's got the largest collection of items recovered from the dragon tombs anywhere on the planet, and the curators are some of the greatest living experts on dragon tombs and ideographic writing. If Sir Titus went to them for help, we may be able to pick up some clues as to where he is.”