The Demon Collector (21 page)

He smiled but his eyes didn’t join in as he extended a hand. ‘Silky McFarland’s me name. Able seaman.’

Somehow, his gentle voice made Edgy shudder. He shook the man’s hand but didn’t give his name.

‘Been to sea before, boy?’ Silky McFarland murmured.

‘No, Mr McFarland.’ Edgy shook his head, slipping his hand from the man’s cold grasp.

Silky grinned, showing a gold tooth. ‘Nothing to it,’ he said. ‘Once you get used to the roll o’ the waves, we’ll have ye up above.’

Edgy followed McFarland’s gaze upwards to where the tops of the masts loomed. His stomach swirled and he remembered his rooftop adventure. McFarland’s gentle chuckle snapped him to.

‘Ye not so good with heights, are ye, boy?’ he said.

Edgy frowned.
How does he know?
Or could he tell from Edgy’s pale face?

‘Seaman McFarland,’ a stern voice called from behind them both. A tall, fierce-looking man in a naval officer’s jacket stood scowling down at them. His black peaked cap shadowed his eyes, hardening his grimace. ‘You have duties down on deck, sir. I expect you to be earning your keep, not chattering to children.’

Silky gave a half bow and tugged at the front of his cap. ‘Aye, captain, beggin’ your pardon. I’ll see to it right away.’ He turned and gave Edgy a wink. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll be around, watchin’ over ye,’ he said and sauntered off to where men were throwing packing cases up from the dockside.

Edgy stared after him. There was something about the man he didn’t like.
Could he be working for Salomé?
Edgy shook himself. He shouldn’t be so silly. The man was just teasing him. All the same, Edgy made a note to mention it to Janus.

‘I’m Captain Boyd,’ he said. The man’s voice had softened, but his ruddy complexion still made him look angry. ‘Don’t worry about McFarland. He delights in teasing youngsters. A bit of a practical joker too, by all accounts. He means no harm. Welcome aboard. I’ll talk to you later perhaps. For now, I’d better check on your employer – he seems to be having problems down there.’ A brief smile flickered over Boyd’s face as he strode off amidships towards a growing crowd of dockers.

Edgy’s gaze followed him and he could see Janus waving his arms and gesticulating as the sailors threw the remaining cases to each other in a chain that led up the gangplank.

‘Careful, gentlemen, careful,’ Janus cried, pressing his palms to his temples. ‘They contain fragile equipment.’

Edgy smiled as the dockers made a pantomime of passing the boxes, almost dropping them but always catching them in time. He looked up. Straight into the eyes of Lord Mauldeth, who stood at the other end of the ship watching the same show. He smiled but there was no humour in his gaze. The captain barked a few orders, cuffed a couple of grinning dockers and soon all Janus’s precious cargo was on-board.

Janus bounded across the deck and up the ladder to the poop deck where Edgy stood. ‘Soon be off,’ he cried, rubbing his hands and beaming. ‘Just have to tow the ship into the Thames and then they’ll get the engine turning and it’ll be off to the open sea!’

‘I don’t think Mr Sokket is as keen to get away, sir,’ Edgy said and nodded at Sokket. The tall, dour-faced governor stood on the gangplank, a suitcase in each hand. He looked like a condemned man heading for the gallows.

‘Don’t mind him,’ Janus snorted. ‘He didn’t have to come. I’m surprised he did. Not really an adventurer, these days. More of an armchair collector, to be honest.’

‘What kind of demon does Mr Sokket collect, sir?’ Edgy asked. He realised now how Plumphrey was influenced by the demons of gluttony he kept around him. He wondered about Sokket.

‘Sokket? Oh, he’s interested in demons of wrath and envy,’ Janus said, waving a dismissive hand. Then he leaned a little closer to Edgy and said in a lower voice, ‘Some say he collects demons of despair too – which might account for his pessimistic outlook.’

‘Despair?’ Edgy said. ‘Is that one of the sins?’

‘Well,’ Janus sniggered, ‘it was until fairly recently but then the church replaced the sin of despair with the sin of sloth. Some demons adapted and changed but, as you can imagine with demons of despair, quite a few just gave up.’

‘Does the church control demons then?’ Edgy said.

‘Not really, Edgy, but demons generally revel in the downfall of humans. If the church begins to view those who give up on life with sympathy rather than criticising them, then that particular game is ruined for the demons. And for demons, the game is everything.’

‘The game, Mr Janus?’ Edgy frowned. The demons he’d met didn’t seem to be playing.

‘The more complicated the better,’ Janus explained. ‘The more deadly the better. But to them it’s a game.’

‘I don’t think I understand demons very well, Mr Janus,’ Edgy sighed, shaking his head.

‘Best not to, Edgy,’ Janus muttered. ‘Just remember, often they’re full of pride and bluster, devious but easily tricked, as you’ve shown yourself. If there’s a complicated way to do something, that’s the way they’ll do it and that is their weakness.’

‘It’s a wonder Salomé hasn’t tried to interfere with all the preparations, Mr Janus,’ Edgy said, glancing down at McFarland heaving on a rope with three other men.

‘Hmm, you have a point, Edgy. I’d have thought she’d have made an appearance by now.’ Janus stroked his wispy white beard. ‘I’d like to think that she hadn’t got wind of this little jaunt but somehow I doubt that.’

‘As you said, Mr Janus, if there’s a complicated way to do it . . .’ Edgy replied. ‘Perhaps she’s planning somethin’.’

‘Oh, you can count on that, Edgy.’ Janus nodded. ‘But we’ll soon be on our way. And then think, Edgy: every day takes us nearer to our goal!’

A crowd had gathered down below on the quayside. Women in grey shawls, scarves tied around their heads to ward off the cold. Ragged children quarrelled and bawled at their feet. A few of the younger seamen lingered with their sweethearts and then dashed up the gangplank just as it scraped across the cobbles back towards the ship.
Happy families
. Edgy watched some of the children waving, wives dabbing handkerchiefs to their eyes.
If I fell over the side now, who would miss me?
Edgy thought. He stopped and peered closer. A large, brown figure stood at the back of the crowd, hand half raised. Professor Milberry had come to wave them off.

Sokket appeared at Edgy’s shoulder and gave a long sigh.

‘Cheer up, Mortesque,’ Janus beamed. ‘We’re on the expedition of the century.’

‘We’re on a fool’s errand,’ Sokket said. His face looked longer and greyer than ever. He shook his head.

Smoke began to belch from the ship’s funnel and the great round paddles on either side of the boat began to thrash at the filthy water.

‘One of the sailors told me that we’ll get used to the sea,’ Edgy said, watching the sailors scurrying about the deck.

‘We won’t need to worry if our bodies are rolling to and fro at the bottom of it,’ Sokket muttered, staring wide-eyed into the water. ‘To and fro . . .’

The ship’s foghorn gave a blast, drowning out Sokket’s mournful grumbling. The mighty paddle wheels thundered through the water, sending smaller craft bobbing away on the waves. Edgy watched the city float by behind a curtain of masts and sails, and soon the river widened and the banks became shrouded in grey mist. The ship reached deeper water and headed out to sea.

A poor old man came riding by,

An’ we say so, an’ we hope so.

A poor old man came riding by,

A poor old man!

Says I, ‘Old man, your horse will die.’

An’ we say so, an’ we hope so.

Says I, ‘Old man, your horse will die.’

A poor old man!

‘The Dead Horse’, traditional sea shanty

Chapter Twenty
-
Seven

Danger in the Rigging

Edgy awoke not knowing if it was night or day. The ship groaned around him and his head felt light with the rolling of the sea. The vibration of the engine rumbled through everything. He wondered what the others were up to back at the Society. He imagined Spinorix sorting through the collection, sticking his tongue out as he checked off every item. Edgy dragged himself off the bed and stumbled out of his cabin, grabbing on to the doorframes and beams as he made his way to the deck. He missed Henry.

A cold wind slapped Edgy’s cheek and brought tears to his eye. The sky hung low and grey, stretched over the leaden water. The sails snapped and cracked. Edgy felt his stomach clench as the flat horizon swayed up and down. Now the sea surrounded them. He shuffled in a stumbling circle across the deck and fought the urge to vomit.

‘Not found your sea legs yet then, Mr Taylor?’ Captain Boyd called down to him from the poop deck, his red face screwed up against the spray. ‘Don’t worry, a few days at sea and you’ll be fine.’

Edgy staggered past the bustling crew towards the captain and clambered up the stairs. He tried to smile but a sudden swell brought his stomach up into his chest. He spun round and retched on to the deck. Straight on to a pair of fine black shoes. Edgy looked up into the unimpressed gaze of Lord Mauldeth. His pointed features twisted into a grimace of disgust.

‘I can tell you’re going to be such an asset on this expedition, Taylor,’ Mauldeth snapped. ‘I’ll have these dropped by your room later. You can make sure they’re clean.’

‘Sorry, your lordship,’ Edgy gasped, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

‘It still puzzles me why my little brother was so insistent that you come,’ Mauldeth continued. ‘Mind you, you’re not the only one whose presence I’d question on this voyage . . .’ Edgy followed his gaze across the deck to where Sokket swayed and stared off into the horizon, slowly rubbing his hands and muttering to himself. ‘Let’s just hope no ill befalls you.’

He doesn’t sound very sincere
, Edgy thought.

Captain Boyd handed Edgy a scrap of paper, an amused twinkle in his eye. ‘Take these bearings to Mr Janus, Edgy, then find yourself some food,’ he said. ‘A full stomach makes it easier.’

A full stomach?
Edgy took the paper from Boyd and crept around Mauldeth, avoiding his icy glare. He slipped and stumbled down the steps and back below deck. Janus’s cabin and those of the other governors lay beneath the poop deck at the stern of the ship. Edgy found his door in the gloom and knocked hard. There was no answer. Edgy waited and then knocked again. Taking a deep breath, he lifted the latch and pushed on the door. It opened with a creak.

Janus’s cabin was much bigger than Edgy’s but still cramped. An oil lamp swung from the low beams of the ceiling. A small pallet bed lay in one corner, a trunk was open and spilling clothes across the floor, and a writing desk was piled with books all huddled together, making the floorboards almost impossible to see. Janus wasn’t there.

Edgy was about to leave but something caught his eye. A book lay open on the desk – the book Janus had bought from Scrabsnitch.
The Legends of Moloch
. Curiosity drew Edgy back into the room. He knew the basic story of Moloch but what were the other legends? What else might the book tell them?

Edgy stepped carefully over the discarded clothes, and settled himself on the stool in front of the desk. An engraving of Moloch filled the left-hand page. Hatred burned in his feline eyes, horns spiralled above his frowning, wrinkled brow. He bared his teeth in a fierce snarl that emphasised the pointed features, the sharp nose, the goatee beard. Bat-like wings held him aloft in a boiling black sky and he brandished a cruel spear that seemed to point out of the page. Edgy tried not to look at the furious glare of the picture but read the caption:
My counsel is war
.

‘Edgy, what are you doing?’ Janus’s voice made him start and slam the book shut with a thump.

‘Nothing, Mr Janus. I mean, I saw the book – it was open.’

Janus stepped forward. ‘What did you read?’ he asked, his voice low. Edgy had never seen him like this – almost threatening.

‘Nothin’ much, sir, just somethin’ about Moloch wantin’ war,’ Edgy said, his words running together as Janus snatched the book up from the desk.

‘Yes, well. Isn’t that why we’re stopping Salomé from placing his heart back in his body?’ Janus seemed to relax but he kept the book hugged to his chest. ‘You mustn’t handle this book again, Edgy, do you understand? It’s very old and . . . fragile. If it were damaged, who knows what valuable information might be lost to the world.’

‘Yes, Mr Janus. Sorry, sir,’ Edgy said, looking down at the cluttered floor. How could he have been so bad-mannered?

‘That’s all right, Edgy, no harm done.’ Janus gave a tight smile. ‘Curiosity isn’t a bad trait after all. It’s what makes us go and find out about the world.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘In fact, your demon-spotting skills are needed right away,’ Janus said, placing the book on the bed, clapping his hands together and marching out of the cabin.

‘They are?’ Edgy said, scurrying after Janus.

‘Indeed, Edgy. Follow me.’ Janus was out on the deck and heading towards the bow of the ship. Throwing a glance over his shoulder every now and then, he continued, ‘Of course, the ship employs a lookout at all times. Have to watch for obstacles, whales, other ships, all kinds of things really. But they don’t have your talent for seeing demons.’