The Wrath of the Lizard Lord (12 page)

‘You still want to come along?’ Dakkar said, raising his eyebrows.

Mary nodded.

‘Then let’s get moving,’ he said, striding after Gog, who had set off back to the steps.

They accomplished the task of getting the
Liberty
down the cliff without further incident. Gog’s tribe had woven a net of vines and poked long poles through the netting. It amazed Dakkar that, giants though they were, these huge men could carry the submersible between them.

The jungle closed in on them and Dakkar felt a sense of unease creeping up on him. The shadows seemed darker and he would flinch at every snuffle or grunt from the undergrowth. He gripped his loaded rifle tightly.

Behind him, Mary trudged along with her gun slung over her shoulder. She was quiet but seemed more at ease as they walked.
I suppose she’s been down here often
, Dakkar thought.
She must be used to it
.

Sometimes the vegetation grew dense and Dakkar offered to hack through it with his machete. Gog nodded in solemn approval. Other parts of the route took in well-beaten paths – main thoroughfares for all manner of creatures, judging by the tracks.

After hours of marching and struggling through the jungle, they came to a clearing on the side of a wide river.

‘It must be deep,’ Dakkar said, looking across the smooth water. ‘It hardly seems to be flowing.’

Weeds and lily pads covered the surface here. Huge dragonflies, some the size of Dakkar, buzzed lazily across the water.

Gog led the way to the riverbank and wrinkled his nose at the water. Dakkar craned his neck to see what Gog was looking for.

‘Nakra!’ Gog said, extending his arms straight and smacking them together in a childish impression of a crocodile. Dakkar got the message.

‘There are crocodiles in here?’ he said, copying Gog’s sign. ‘Lots?’

‘One,’ Gog said. He stretched his arms wide. ‘Big. His river.’

‘Great,’ Dakkar muttered. ‘Let’s hope we don’t meet Nakra.’

‘Dari!’ Gog said to the men carrying the
Liberty
, and pointed to the water.

The giants waded into the river still carrying the submersible. Soon she bobbed in the water, not far from the bank.

‘We’d better test the
Liberty
before we go any distance in her,’ Dakkar said. He leapt from the bank on to the deck and pulled open the hatch. The
Liberty
suddenly seemed alive, rolling a little as as if to welcome him aboard as he climbed inside. It still smelt stale and dusty in the lower cabin. He climbed into the upper cabin and sat in the captain’s seat. He turned a dial in the centre of the steering wheel and the Voltalith began to whine. A dull thud shook the boat and Dakkar heaved a sigh as Mary’s voice rang up from the lower cabin.

‘Should I shut this hatch at the front?’ she shouted.

‘Yes,’ Dakkar called back, and slid the drive lever to
Full Ahead
. The engine hummed more loudly and he smiled as the
Liberty
began to push through the thick weeds that clogged the surface.

Mary appeared behind him. ‘Are you goin’ under­water?’ she said, a slight smile on her lips.

‘I might,’ Dakkar said, turning to look out of the front portholes.

The river stretched ahead of them, wide but overhung with trees and creepers. Here and there, a fish would suddenly leap, breaking the surface and snatching an insect from the air.

‘I’ve never been this far out,’ Mary said, pressing her nose against the glass. ‘I always stayed near the shaft.’

‘I don’t blame you,’ Dakkar muttered.

They were out in the centre of the river now. Looking to his left, Dakkar could see Gog and a couple of his men staring at them. He grinned and turned the ballast wheel. Immediately water gushed into the cavity in the hull of the craft and she began to sink. Mary gave a shriek as bubbles gushed around the portholes and they were plunged into a shadowy, green world.

‘We’re sinkin’!’ she screamed, gripping Dakkar’s shoulder.

‘I know,’ Dakkar said, smirking. ‘I thought you wanted us to.’

‘It’s beautiful!’ Mary gasped as she stared out at the silver fish that flashed past the
Liberty
.

Something snake-like squirmed through the mud on the bottom, sending up a brown cloud of sediment. Small crayfish landed on the deck in front of the porthole, threatening with their pincers before the current dragged them away.

Dakkar steered the
Liberty
round in a circle and then blew the water out of the ballasts. Soon they bobbed on the surface. Dakkar climbed out of the top hatch and sat on the upper deck. He raised his hand and waved to Gog, who waved back. Mary climbed up and popped her head out of the hatch.

‘It’s so quiet,’ Dakkar murmured. ‘If we were at sea now I’d feel relaxed, but here it seems like we’re waiting for the next thing to spring up and try to eat us.’

‘Can we get back to the bank now?’ Mary asked, glan­cing around.

‘You’re right,’ Dakkar replied, climbing inside the
Liberty
.

When they were both back inside he pushed the lever to
Full Ahead
and eased the craft into shore. The
Liberty
nosed the bank gently, rocking slightly as she did. Dakkar threw her ropes to Gog, who tied them round a tree trunk.

‘We rest,’ Gog said, pointing at the fire that his men had lit.

Dakkar grinned at the sight of freshly speared fish hanging on sticks over the flames.

‘Better than lizard,’ he muttered to Mary, who grinned back.

They ate and slept around the fire, two men keeping guard. Dakkar stared out at the
Liberty
sitting on the water and wondered about Georgia.
What brought her down here?
Dakkar shook his head. He knew how impulsive she was – and what a fighter too. Judging by the dust and cobwebs in the
Liberty
, some months had passed since she had left for the tower.

Dakkar began to doze but a deep splash snapped him to wakefulness. One of Gog’s guards had noticed the sound too and crouched near the water’s edge, spear at the ready. Dakkar rubbed his eyes and climbed to his feet. He crept to the riverbank.

Something splashed again. Dakkar thought he had glimpsed a tree trunk or a branch drifting downstream, but the surface of the water lay clear apart from the weeds and broad lily leaves. He shook his head. Gog’s guard shrugged his huge shoulders and went back to sitting on some giant tree roots that snaked into the water.

Dakkar went back to the fireside but sleep evaded him. He couldn’t escape the feeling that someone – or some­­­thing – was watching them.

Chapter Eighteen

Nakra

Fronds of river weed swayed in front of Dakkar as he steered the
Liberty
downstream. Here, the water was green with algae and vegetation. He feared the propellers would become entangled in the thick strands of plant matter that grew like a forest from the river bed.

‘Why are we goin’ so slowly?’ Mary grumbled at his side. She had insisted on travelling with him rather than following with Gog and his tribesmen on the riverbank. It made sense but that didn’t stop Dakkar from wishing her on the bank with the others.

‘I have to be careful here,’ Dakkar said through gritted teeth. ‘I can barely see where I’m going. Do you want me to run her aground or hit a rock?’

‘What’s this do?’ she said, ignoring his reply and turning the crank handle above his head.

‘Leave it!’ Dakkar snapped, pulling her hand away. ‘If you must know, it’s called a friction wheel and it creates an electric charge. If you turn it twenty times and then press that red button, it sends an electric current through the water around the
Liberty
.’

‘Oh,’ Mary said blankly. ‘What’s a lectrick?’

‘Electric,’ Dakkar said, emphasising the E at the beginning of the word. ‘It’s
.
.
. it’s like lightning.’

‘I was struck by lightnin’ when I was a baby,’ Mary said, giving a grin. ‘The two ladies with me died. I nearly did too but they say I came back to life. That’s why I’m so special, so my old mam says.’ Her voice trailed off.

They both stared out of the window. Dakkar pictured Oginski lying in his bed.
He’s getting better
, he tried to tell himself.
He’s not dead
.

‘We’ll get back to Lyme all right,’ Dakkar said, and gave Mary a brief, brittle grin.

She opened her mouth to say something but the
Liberty
lurched to one side, sending her tumbling into Dakkar and knocking him out of his seat. The two of them fell against the walls of the craft as she rolled on to her side. Dakkar threw himself back into the seat as the
Liberty
righted herself.

‘What was that?’ Mary said, staggering to her feet.

‘I don’t know,’ Dakkar replied, peering into the green soup that swirled before his porthole, ‘but there’s something out there.’

A dim shape receded into the distance ahead of them. Even in the green mist, Dakkar could tell it was huge.

‘It must have swept past us,’ Mary said, her voice barely a whisper. ‘D’you think it was that Nakra thing that Gog talked about?’

‘Very possibly,’ Dakkar muttered, watching the huge shadow vanish.

He brought the
Liberty
to the surface, where Gog and his tribesmen stood on the bank. Dakkar popped his head out of the top hatch. ‘Did you see anything?’ he called to the shore.

Gog just pointed, his eyes wide. Dakkar followed his gaze and gave a muffled oath.

The water further downstream boiled as something enormous slithered around in the river. He watched as what looked like a cross between a tree and a whale powered back towards the
Liberty
. Even from this distance, Dakkar could see it was a colossal crocodile.

He slid back down into the
Liberty
, slamming the hatch behind him. ‘Why does everything here have to have so many teeth?’ he spat as he slammed the craft to
Full Ahead
and steered her towards the riverbank.

‘What is it?’ Mary said, pressing her nose to the porthole. ‘Oh my.’

‘We should move into the bank,’ Dakkar said. ‘Hide in the weeds.’

But Mary had begun turning the crank handle. ‘Twenty times, you said?’ She grunted.

‘I don’t think that’ll work,’ Dakkar said, steering the
Liberty
through thick weed beds.

A shoal of silver fish rattled against the hull of the
Liberty
as they tried to escape the oncoming Nakra. Dakkar could see its gaping mouth and armoured body as it wriggled through the water. He’d seen crocodiles in his homeland but this had a large bulbous nose and its jaw seemed longer. It was also ten times as big as any crocodile he’d seen before.

‘Well, hidin’ isn’t goin’ to help,’ Mary said, giving the wheel a last turn. ‘It’ll ram straight through our side.’

‘Wait until the very last moment then,’ Dakkar said, his voice hoarse.

The water hummed with the power of Nakra surging through it. It seemed to fill the whole river now and Dakkar braced himself for the impact.

Then Mary hit the red button and the green world outside turned electric blue. The
Liberty
rocked over as Nakra suddenly swerved aside and its belly scraped against the hull, shaking the whole craft. Nakra reared up out of the water then plunged back below, sending a blast of water against the side of the
Liberty
and washing her to the riverbank.

Dakkar gripped the seat, trying to stop himself from being thrown around the cabin as they rocked back and forth in the wake. He just glimpsed the crocodile swimming away, its tail lashing at the water.

‘Did we kill it?’ Mary gasped, jumping over to the porthole.

‘I think we frightened it off for now,’ Dakkar said, catching his breath. ‘Let’s hope it keeps its distance.’

The sound of splashing sent Mary reaching for the crank handle again but Dakkar grabbed her hand and pointed towards the porthole.

Outside, the giants had taken to the water and were grabbing at the fish that lay dead on the surface.

‘I think you just provided dinner,’ Dakkar said, a grin cracking his face.

Mary grinned back and soon their laughter rang out through the
Liberty
until it brought Gog’s face to the porthole as he peered curiously at them.

Dakkar climbed out and smiled as Gog held up a fistful of fish.

‘We eat well today,’ Gog said.

They worked their way further down the river and paused to light a fire to cook the fish. The fish tasted good but their cheer from earlier had evaporated.

‘That crocodile swam this way,’ Mary said as they sat in a clearing by the riverside. Trees leaned over the clearing, catching the woodsmoke in their boughs. ‘It could try and get us again.’