The Curse of the Ice Serpent (6 page)

A groaning sound reverberated through the planks and Dakkar was thrown to one side again.

‘It won’t let go,’ Georgia yelled.

Dakkar hurried through the submarine and up the steps. Georgia looked pale. She was cranking the friction wheel again and trying to steer the
Nautilus
at full speed at the same time. She jagged the wheel left and right, sending Dakkar lurching from side to side. Peering out of the rear tower window, he could just see the eel wriggling beneath their rudders.

‘It must be clamped on to the lower hull of the sub,’ Dakkar said.

‘If it keeps biting into the hull, we’re done for,’ Borys said, mopping his brow with a handkerchief.

Dakkar saw the creature’s body twist and the
Nautilus
juddered again, listing slightly.

‘It’s going to tear us apart,’ he muttered, glancing down at a lever by Georgia’s left foot. It ran into the pipes that snaked all over the
Nautilus
. He’d never seen it before. One of Borys and Oginski’s new additions, no doubt. ‘What does this do?’ he said.

‘That?’ Borys said distractedly. ‘It inflates the balloons, I think. I hardly see –’

‘Surface – quickly!’ Dakkar said.

‘What’s the use in that?’ Georgia said, still wrestling with the wheel.

‘Just do it,’ Dakkar said. ‘At least we can jump out if we’re on the surface. Besides, I have a plan.’

‘Jump out? With those savages in the water and this eel?’ Borys said, but Georgia turned the ballast handle and bubbles began to boil around them.

They bobbed up to the surface, the sea lit with the blazing castle up on the cliff. Dakkar dragged the lever back. The
Nautilus
rocked again and he watched through the portholes as the balloons burst from their pods and began to inflate.

‘What have you done?’ Borys gasped.

‘Taken desperate measures,’ Dakkar said, grinning grimly and watching as the
Nautilus
changed into something new and untested.

CHAPTER NINE

THE JAWS OF DEFEAT

The balloons surrounding the
Nautilus
rose, becoming gas-filled clouds of silk and sail. The ropes attaching them to the craft tightened and gradually the craft began to tilt. Dakkar held his breath.

‘The weight of that critter is holding us down,’ Georgia exclaimed. ‘the
Nautilus
will never get out of the water!’

The submarine shook again as the eel thrashed, gripping to the splintered hull with its razor teeth.

‘We’ll see,’ Dakkar murmured, not taking his eyes off the writhing eel. They tilted upward now as the
Nautilus
hung half in, half out of the sea. He could see the exposed body of the eel churning the water around it.

‘It might work,’ Borys said calmly. ‘I’ll go and see to the furnace. Perhaps some extra hot air will help matters!’ He struggled along the side of the cabin and slid carefully down the ladder.

Dakkar looked up at the balloons straining at the ropes and the tubes leading to them.
I just hope it works
, he thought.
We’ve got to get Oginski!

A hiss and a clanking through the craft told them that Borys had the furnace working. Slowly the balloons swelled even more. The cabin became uncomfortably warm. Sweat trickled off Dakkar’s brow.

Then the stern of the submarine began to lift, the eel dangling from her, its teeth embedded in the hard planks of the hull.

‘It’s working!’ Dakkar said, slapping his hand against the wall.

Slowly, they rose, the glimmer of the flames from the castle reflecting on the receding waves. They gained height and the eel’s wriggling became more urgent. The whole craft swung from side to side on the ropes.

Borys rejoined them, stumbling as the
Nautilus
rocked. Below, Dakkar could see the tiny Qalupalik in the water, shaking their spears.

‘Our invention works!’ Borys said, grinning. ‘The
Nautilus
is flying!’

‘Yeah, but we still have an eel attached to our tail!’ Georgia said sourly.

‘It can’t hang on for ever,’ Dakkar said. ‘It needs the water. It must let go soon.’

‘Well, I wish it would hurry up and drop off,’ Georgia grumbled. ‘We could go up to the top of the tower and shoot it.’

‘And if you hit one of the balloons by mistake?’ Borys said, raising his eyebrows.

The eel thrashed about even more, throwing them around the cabin. Dakkar gripped the back of Georgia’s chair and watched behind him as the eel let go suddenly.

Dakkar’s stomach lurched as the craft swayed, righted herself and began to rise. He glimpsed the Qalupalik scattering below as the wriggling eel plummeted towards them and hit the sea with an explosive splash.

The
Nautilus
drifted closer to the cliff face.

‘If you turn that valve there,’ Borys said, pointing to a valve in the wall, ‘you can release some of the gas and hot air from the balloons. That way we won’t carry on rising. In theory.’

Dakkar turned the valve and was rewarded with distant hissing. He stopped it, nervous of venting too much gas.

Their ascent slowed down and the cliff face vanished as they rose over a scene of horror. Dakkar’s heart thumped against his ribs as he looked at the blazing castle. This wasn’t the first time that Cryptos had tried to destroy his home but it was still terrible to see. Explosions burst from the outhouses where fire had taken hold of the volatile ingredients of Oginski’s various experiments. The castle had been blown in half and flames rose from the shell that survived.

Oginski stood at the top of what remained of the tower, blood soaking the sleeve of his left arm. In his right he held a sword and he parried the relentless blows of a huge man in black Cryptos uniform. The guard lunged at Oginski with his own sword. Oginski was a big man but this man was taller and stockier still.

‘We must get out and try to save Oginski,’ Dakkar said, snatching up a rifle. ‘Borys, you take over from Georgia. Get the
Nautilus
as close to the wall as you can. We’ll do the firing.’

Dakkar climbed up the ladder, not waiting for Georgia. They were so close now that the heat from the blaze hit him as he opened the hatch. Smoke filled the air, making them cough and splutter. The
Nautilus
swayed on her ropes as the thermal currents from the burning castle pushed her around.

Oginski looked pale and exhausted as he hacked back at the guard, who didn’t seem to be tiring. Dakkar took aim at Oginski’s opponent and fired. The submarine lurched at that moment, sending his shot wide. The guard’s attention was drawn though and he stared at the floating submarine in disbelief. Oginski took the chance to slam the hilt of his sword into his opponent’s face, knocking him off the narrow fragment of wall and down into the darkness below.

Dakkar grinned but a bullet zipped past his ear as two hot-air balloons drifted towards him, men aiming from the baskets.

Georgia popped her head up out of the tower and fired back, cutting through one of the ropes that held the basket to the balloon. The basket swung down, leaving the men gripping its tilting sides as it drifted away across the cliffs.

Oginski desperately parried blow after blow as more guards scrambled up the wall of the castle to attack him. Dakkar cursed, firing a shot at the crowd, but more men edged their way to Oginski’s other side.

‘Dakkar!’ Oginski yelled. ‘Flee! Get away from here. There are too many of them. Save yourself!’

‘Never,’ Dakkar cried back. ‘Not without you!’

The
Nautilus
swung nearer so that only a few feet lay between Oginski and Dakkar but the dark sea swirled and snapped at the bottom of the narrow chasm between them. Sweat streamed down the big man’s face, mingling with the blood from cuts and minor wounds.

‘Bring her closer!’ Dakkar yelled down to Borys.

‘I’m trying my best!’ Borys shouted back.

Some of the men on the wall slashed out at the hull of the
Nautilus
.

‘Oginski, jump!’ Dakkar said, holding out his arms.

Oginski half turned then swung the hilt of his sword into a guard’s face and stabbed another in the arm.

‘Dakkar, look out!’ he bellowed.

Another hot-air balloon loomed around the ruins, its bullets splintering the planks that partly sheltered Dakkar. The
Nautilus
swung back, carried on a sudden updraft caused by one of the outhouses collapsing in a shower of sparks, but the smaller, lighter Cryptos balloon flew straight at them, bumping its basket into the bow of the submarine.

A rope with a grappling iron swung from the basket and snagged the foot of the sub’s ladder. Three men leapt on to the front deck of the
Nautilus
. Dakkar’s ears rang as Georgia fired her rifle over his shoulder. He saw one of the men fall to the deck, clutching his shoulder, but as the craft pitched with the new weight, he slid and fell, screaming to the sea below.

The second guard rushed forward and tried to scramble up the ladder to the top of the sub’s tower. Dakkar waited for him to get closer then jabbed with the butt of his rifle. The man slipped back and pulled a pistol from his belt. Dakkar hurled himself back as the pistol roared. His momentum threw him into Georgia, who was about to shoot at the third man on the deck.

Seeing his chance, the guard on the ladder clambered on to the top of the tower and stood triumphantly over Dakkar. Borys appeared at the hatch into the tower. He flicked his hand and the guard looked down in disbelief as the handle of a knife appeared in his stomach. Borys lunged forward and grabbed the handle, retrieving his blade and pushing the man off the sub at the same time. Dakkar shuddered at Borys’s cruel grin.

Georgia had scrambled to her feet and snatched up Dakkar’s rifle. She took aim at the final man on the deck and clipped his ankle, sending him limping back to the basket of the Cryptos balloon. He threw himself over the lip of the basket and untied the rope that held the two together. Slowly the Cryptos balloon separated from the
Nautilus
.

A metallic clicking sound caught Dakkar’s attention and he looked at Borys, who was busy winding some­­thing.

‘I modified one of your little toys,’ he said, holding up the clockwork dog that he had picked up from his workbench days ago.

Borys gave a chilling laugh and threw the dog after the retreating balloon. It landed in the centre of the basket.

‘Not a bad throw, if I say so myself.’ Borys nodded, watching the man in the balloon frantically trying to find the missile.

The balloon erupted in a flash of light and fire. Dakkar threw his arms up to cover his eyes and then turned on Borys.

‘There was no need for that!’ he said. ‘The balloon was retreating.’

‘This is no time to be squeamish, Dakkar,’ Borys said, returning to the hatch. ‘Now I’d better get back to the helm. We’re drifting.’

Dakkar spun back to the melee on the shattered castle wall. Oginski had cleared the knot of men behind him but a larger tangle of armed guards pushed at him, jabbing with bayonet and sword. Luckily for Oginski, the narrow wall would only allow his opponents to stand two abreast, making their numbers irrelevant. Oginski used their ungainly jostling to overbalance and trip the guards but they were overwhelming him.

The
Nautilus
swung back, grinding against the rough stone. Oginski glanced at Dakkar and pushed the man in front of him heavily in the chest, which sent him stumbling back into the crowd behind him.

Without hesitating, Oginski leapt from the wall. For a moment, he seemed frozen in mid-air, hovering almost, his jacket tails flowing out like strange wings and his arms held high. Dakkar held his breath. Then Oginski hit the side of the
Nautilus
with a loud
thump
, his fingers grappling at the various handholds that dotted the craft’s hull.

‘He’s made it!’ Georgia screamed. ‘Borys, draw away quickly, before …’

But Georgia’s instructions turned into a scream. A musket cracked, spitting from the wall. Oginski’s eyes widened and a trickle of blood ran down his chin.

‘
Oginski!
’ Dakkar howled, leaping down the tower on to the deck of the
Nautilus
. He scrambled towards the side of the craft where Oginski hung, gasping for breath.

‘Dakkar,’ he panted, looking up with heavy eyes. ‘Find the Heart of Vulcan. Stop Tomasz.’

‘Oginski, no!’ Dakkar reached down to grab his hand.

‘I’m … p-proud … of you,’ Oginski said, giving a bloody grin, and his grip on the
Nautilus
slackened. Dakkar lunged forward but his mentor slid off the side of the
Nautilus
and vanished into the roaring darkness below.

CHAPTER TEN

A RACE FOR REVENGE

‘Oginski!’ Dakkar screamed, launching himself forward, but Georgia grabbed hold of him and Borys dragged him to the floor.