Darkwhispers Read online

  The Victorious looked to be the first sky-ship to reach the island. The Armada was set to land on Ephemeral Isle and come together for a final briefing before heading off on their separate routes.

  When Arthur got a turn on the uniscope, what he saw quite surprised him. He’d read in one of Ermitage’s earlier books that it was a lush, green island, but there was barely a patch of green anywhere. Instead, it appeared to be a vast huddle of shack-like buildings.

  Gilly the botanist was standing beside Arthur, sketching the clouds in a tiny notebook. “Very lightweight, so I can always have it to hand to draw any new creatures I find.” He smiled and pocketed the pencil and book in his linen waistcoat. “Not that I’ll need it on Ephemeral.”

  “Why not?” asked Arthur.

  “It’s rich in pitch and has been mined to within an inch of itself. The reason it’s been chosen as a meeting point is because the pitch sky-ships all need to refuel here.” He gave a shiver. “Rather horrid place, really. Not much wildlife at all. Apart from the scaribeaus mettallium.”

  “The what?”

  “A tough insect. The gradual destruction of this island became its gain. It thrives on metal and dying trees.”

  “I can’t wait to see what that looks like,” Arthur said with a twinge of sarcasm.

  “You’ve already seen one,” said Gilly.

  “I don’t think so,” Arthur said, confused.

  “Back on the last expedition, and in Lontown. A sapient one, in fact.”

  It dawned on Arthur in a silver flash. “Miptera’s from here?”

  Gilly nodded. This was where Eudora had found her sapient.

  They landed at the docks. The island was stone grey and full of ramshackle buildings that looked as though they’d been put up temporarily, only to become permanent. The town bustled with small trade sky-ships and noisy crew members covered in soot using the sort of language that Felicity often let slip.

  Everyone had been invited across to the Victorious for refreshments. The idea of going back on that ship filled the twins with dread.

  “I’m not going,” Maudie said.

  “Me neither,” Arthur added.

  Harriet nodded. “I totally understand, but I have to go, and Welby can join me. But I’d very much like to take you both to show her that … well, that you won’t be intimidated by her, quite frankly.”

  Arthur and Maudie exchanged a glance which said they absolutely didn’t want Eudora to think they were in any way scared of her. Plus, another thought suddenly struck Arthur: it might be their only opportunity to find out what was in the journals Smethwyck took, as they were bound to have brought them along.

  “We’ll go,” they both said.

  “I’ll come too,” said Felicity. “For moral support and to check out their culinary offerings.”

  After making their routine checks, the Aurora delegation made their way across the docks, feet shuffling along the planks, which had the black soot of pitch engrained in them. Their route took them along warped, cobbled streets, past huddles of salt-weathered shacks, and stone dwellings with crumbling bricks and wooden shutters with flaking paint.

  The Armada had attracted much local interest and the streets bustled with people selling trays of seafood, machinery and painted shells.

  Arthur caught sight of a silver insect gnawing on the edge of a shack, and at first his heart skipped an uncomfortable beat as he thought it was Miptera. Then he realized there were dozens of them on the building. A man came out of the shack and started thwacking them with a broom until they all flew away.

  Soon, the group were walking along the jetty which led to the enormous hulk of the Victorious. The deck was already full of many of the other explorer families laughing and chatting while members of Eudora’s crew offered trays of expensive-looking canapés to passing guests.

  Harriet strolled confidently through the mass and began talking with Evelyn Acquafreeda, who had made it on time, and Welby took Maudie to introduce her to Samuel Fontaine, a useful person to know because he was on the engineering board at Lontown Universitas, while Felicity started speaking to one of the crew about the food they were serving.

  Arthur found himself alone on the deck. It was a balmy afternoon, so he loosened the necktie that Welby had insisted he wear. Everyone seemed to keep up the pretence of being fine in their formal clothes in the ever-increasing heat of the day – apart from Harriet and Maudie, who had worn loose cotton shirts. Not knowing what to do, Arthur went over to a table laden with exotic foods.

  “Does this have egg in it?” he asked a member of the Vane crew stationed behind the table. The man simply shrugged. Arthur decided it would be safe to go for a small pink fruit. “Typical. Even her canapés are pink,” he said under his breath, then popped it into his mouth. He almost spat it out again, such was the unexpected sickly sweetness of the fruit, which wasn’t a fruit at all, more a sugary, gritty concoction.

  Smethwyck was not far away, issuing instructions to a crew member. He looked over and grinned snidely at Arthur’s stifled choke.

  Felicity joined Arthur at the table. “I see you’ve discovered marchpane! Not to my liking either; far too sweet, but very popular among some of the uptown families.” She pulled her lucky spoon from her apron and fanned herself with it.

  The heat appeared to be getting too much for Smethwyck as well, who took off his stiff, neat jacket and looped it on his arm. That was when Arthur noticed the small journal in his jacket pocket. He squinted, and although he couldn’t be sure, he thought he caught a flash of the initials EW on the spine. Could it be a journal stolen from Ermitage Wrigglesworth’s house? Of course Smethwyck would keep it on him; he wouldn’t want to risk someone snooping around while they were on the Victorious!

  Felicity was busy tasting and examining the foods on the table, so Arthur sidled closer to her and whispered, “Do you think you could cause a distraction somewhere near Smethwyck?”

  She studied him curiously. “I don’t know what you’re up to, young Brightstorm, but I think I like it.” She grinned widely then picked up a plate of the marchpanes and drifted away towards the group Smethwyck was with.

  Arthur edged further behind them.

  “These really are quite exquisite; you must all try them. Oh my! Isn’t is a swelter of a day though? I feel rather … overcome … in fact, I think I might…” And with that, she fell back on the deck in Smethwyck’s direction, sending the tray of marchpanes and her lucky spoon skittering across the deck.

  People close by rushed over, and although Smethwyck made little attempt to help Felicity, the distraction was enough to focus his attention, so that Arthur could swipe the journal unseen from his pocket.

  Arthur ducked beneath the table and swiftly flicked through the journal: there were sketched maps, islands, some in detail, many with question marks. There was a small piece of paper folded inside, blank apart from the Vane symbol on it, an insect clasping a ring held by a winged serpent, but he didn’t care about the loose piece of paper – on the marked page was a drawing of the same triangle symbols, he’d seen on Octavie’s arm! Beside the last symbol was written an unfamiliar word – Erythea. He repeated it over in his head; he was sure he’d never come across it before. What did it mean? The next page had a drawing of an island marked “Nova”, but as Felicity gave an exaggerated groan, he knew he was pushing his luck and sneaked back out.

  “Oh, deary, it must’ve been the heat that overwhelmed me. Mr Smethwyck, would you be a treasure and fetch my lucky spoon?”

  As Smethwyck tutted and bent to retrieve the spoon, Arthur eased the journal back, unseen, into Smethwyck’s pocket.

  “I’ll take that,” Arthur said, putting his hand out for the large silver spoon.

  Smethwyck thrust it forcefully into Arthur’s hand. “Always making some sort of exhibition of yourselves, aren’t you?”

  Arthur scowled. Felicity brushed herself down and winked at Arthur.

  The rest of the assembled crews hadn’t seemed
to notice the commotion, as they were enthralled in their own discussions. A large group was gathered around the helm where Eudora Vane was handing out posters with Ermitage Wrigglesworth’s face, to help in the search. Maudie was some distance away engrossed in conversation with Welby and Evelyn Acquafreeda, her hands wildly describing something.

  “What are you two up to?” Harriet asked, approaching Arthur and Felicity narrow-eyed.

  Arthur pulled her to the edge of the ship with Felicity and pretended to point out something over the side. “I saw one of Wrigglesworth’s stolen journals in Smethwyck’s pocket, so I took it and had a look … temporarily.”

  “So that’s what you were doing!” Felicity whispered. “I just went along with the tingling in my toes.”

  Harriet rolled her eyes. “Arthur, there’s risky and there’s ridiculous. This errs on ridiculous. Smethwyck could have easily caught you.”

  “But he didn’t. And I did see something interesting.”

  They leant in closer.

  “I saw the triangles, the same as Octavie has on her arm, the secret club you told me about. And beside one of the triangles was the word Erythea.”

  Harriet frowned. “I’ve never heard that word before.”

  Maudie bounded over to them. “Evelyn Acquafreeda is fascinating! Do you know she’s building a sub-ship for exploring deeper in the oceans than anyone’s ever been before? And she was very interested in my—” She quickly stopped herself, seeing their serious expressions. “Never mind. What have you all been doing, and why are there canapés all over the deck?”

  “I’ll fill you in later,” Arthur said quickly, as Smethwyck walked past, squinting at them in a hot glare.

  CHAPTER 7

  ROAMERS

  The following morning the crew of the Aurora set sail early; Harriet said it would be wise to travel as far as they could before the mid-chime heat. She was right, because even by nine chimes the temperature increased suddenly, almost as though a great dial in the sky had been spun. The clouds disappeared and sunlight danced on the waves below in a scatter of radiance. On the Aurora, the rays reflected off the great balloon and scorched the deck. Dr Quirke handed out tinted eyeglasses with leather side-protectors, like an adapted version of Harriet’s flying goggles; she’d been working on them since their expedition south to protect from sun glare. Maudie thought they were ingenious and labelled them sun-blinkers.

  Their first appointed island, Montavo, was still at least eight days away, but the route took them past a large island that Harriet was navigating towards for a stop.

  “Ishia? But aren’t the Portendorfers meant to be searching there?” asked Arthur, searching with the uniscope for other islands.

  “They will be, but I’d like to take a swift scan of the grasslands as we need to stop for food supplies anyway. Gilly, could you tell Arthur about your previous research in Ishia? I’m not an expert, but Gilly will explain better.” Harriet beckoned to Gilly, who was nearby sketching Parthena, who posed with her wings outstretched as though in flight.

  “Don’t move, Parthena, I’ll be back,” Gilly said as he strolled over to Harriet and Arthur. Parthena saw her chance, ruffled her wings and flew away.

  Arthur smiled. Parthena was very obliging, but she had her limits of patience, and Gilly had been drawing her for almost a chime.

  “Ah, quite a curious island. There is great variation in climate owing to elevation and winds, so there is a wonderful diversity of wildlife.” Gilly was animated, waving his hands around whenever he got the chance to talk about nature. “The east coast has some dense, moist forest; there are the central highlands; and a river flows from the highlands to the east coast, so most of the population live there. The south of the island is arid grassland; it’s quite extraordinary an area of this size supports such a wide variety of life. Many years ago, I conducted research on some creatures there. Harriet and I are hoping we might see them in the grasslands.”

  After a chime the great island of Ishia came into view. They skirted the hilly western edge, then by the late afternoon they were flying over a vast, flat swathe of ochre.

  When the engine rumbled to indicate they would be landing, Maudie appeared from her hidden workspace.

  “What are we doing here?”

  Arthur shrugged. “Food supplies. And Harriet and Gilly are being a bit secretive. Something about research Gilly did years ago.”

  “Take her in as quietly as we can, Welby,” Harriet called.

  They landed in the mass of tall, sun-blanched grass.

  “I don’t understand,” Arthur said, looking out at the seemingly endless grassland.

  But no sooner had he said it then he saw something moving in the distance: not just something, many of them. Maudie was already looking through her binoscope, and Harriet had the uniscope.

  “Incredible!” Maudie breathed.

  “Let me see,” he urged. She passed him the binoscope. It took him several moments to steady the scope and then he caught one in his vision. It was enormous, even from this distance, and looked something akin to the deer often found in the pastures outside of Lontown, but with sandy stripes and at least twice the size, with flat antlers and a pointed upward horn at the tip of its nose.

  “Grandidium Spectaculus!” Gilly declared. “Or, as I like to call them, roamers.”

  Harriet smiled. “Fancy a closer look?”

  They all ran to the side where the gangplank was already being lowered into the grass.

  “Gilly swears he rode one,” Harriet said.

  Gilly nodded keenly. “They’re peaceful creatures – very approachable.”

  “Do we really have time for this?” Welby said, frowning at Harriet. “We’re straying from the plan.”

  “Oh, Welby, you know you want to check them out just as much as the rest of us. What’s an expedition without a bit of experience?”

  He frowned harder, but Arthur thought he saw a quick wink from Welby to Harriet.

  The crew set off into the tall grass. Tingles of anticipation bubbles in Arthur’s chest.

  “Grassland covers large areas of the Wide,” Harriet said as they pushed forward.

  “I’ve never seen grass this dry,” Arthur said.

  “The roots go deep,” said Welby. “There’s so much more beneath the surface.”

  The grass began to get taller, making it hard to see.

  Harriet led the way. “I know you say these creatures are docile, Gilly, but we don’t want to frighten them. We’d better proceed with caution.”

  Maudie coughed. “I predicted the grass might get taller than us, so I grabbed a couple of essentials before we left.”

  She took a mirror from her pocket and unhitched a thin metal stick from her belt. With a few clicks, she’d extended the stick and slipped the mirror to the end. “Now, if we angle this just right … that’s it…” She held it above her.

  “Then we can see what’s ahead!” Arthur finished.

  “Excellent thinking, Maudie!” Welby said and Harriet smiled widely.

  Welby patted Maudie’s shoulder proudly as they walked off into the grass.

  “I think he’d prefer her to be second-in-command to him,” Arthur said under his breath to Felicity as they walked behind the others.

  “Hush now, don’t be daft. It’s not like you to be jealous of your sister.”

  “I’m not!” he protested. “Just because he went to Lontown Universitas.”

  Felicity stopped and looked at him. “Arthur. Both you and I know that the course you take in life, your own achievements, are what makes you, not some piece of paper. We all have different routes.”

  He shrugged. “Then why are some valued more?”

  “Don’t you worry what other people think.” She tutted and took a marsh cake from her pocket and handed it to Arthur. “Here, I saved this one for you. Egg-free.”

  The others suddenly stopped ahead. The grass had thinned a little and dipped into a bowl of land. As Arthur caught up, he saw a grea
t herd of the creatures grazing before them. They were huge up close. Magnificent.

  One lazily looked up, then went back to chewing.

  “They don’t see humans as a danger to them. This area is uninhabited, so they are left to themselves,” Gilly explained.

  One looked up and lumbered slowly in their direction. It made a noise, something like the deep low of a cow and the purr of a contented cat. Arthur and Maudie glanced at each other and smiled widely at the strange, happy rumble.

  It set down its front knees before them and dipped its head, blinking long, thick lashes over brown eyes.

  “Did you bring the peppermint?” Gilly asked, looking at Felicity, who produced a paper bag from her apron pocket filled with little white discs.

  “Dad used to make that!” Maudie said excitedly to Arthur.

  “We discovered that roamers go wild for it – we think it aids their digestion.” The roamer stuck out a long black tongue and Gilly placed the white disc on it. “We found a peppermint for a ride was a fair exchange to them.”

  Arthur looked at the size of the antlers. “Are you quite sure they’re friendly?”

  “Absolutely. The antlers are only used when a rival herd looks to take territory, but mostly they just wander their own patch. There are watering holes closer to the mountains, but they will travel far for the grass.”

  Gilly put out a hand and patted the creature’s nose. Then he carefully put a foot on its haunches, pushed himself up, and swung a leg over the top to sit on it. Other roamers were heading their way.

  “They’ve got excellent noses; they love the smell of peppermints!”

  They passed the peppermints around, and Harriet fed one to a roamer then carefully patted it and climbed up, calling to Arthur and Maudie. They didn’t need asking twice. Maudie gave Arthur a bunk-up with her hands, then climbed up behind him. As the roamer stood, they lurched forward and cried out in alarm, thinking they would fall off, then as the front legs rose, they evened out and rose high above the grass.