Mariah Mundi and the Ghost Diamonds (22 page)

Mariah looked through the lens. The searchlight from the
Irenzee
lit the pier and cast dark shadows like black fingers across the water. There, on the steps just above the launch, was Zogel. Next to him was Sacha. She was with her father. They were both smiling. Lucius handed her a cork life jacket. She slipped it across her shoulders and tied it at the front. The dwarf squeezed her hand and laughed. It was as if they had been friends for a long time. Zogel shook her father’s hand warmly. He led them both to the launch. Soon they were on board.

‘They’re taking them to the ship,’ Mariah said as his mind raced to discover what could have happened. ‘I heard Walpole saying that the reason they had kidnapped Sacha was so her father would do what they wanted.’

‘Looks as if it is already done,’ Charity said as he watched the launch get nearer to the
Irenzee
.

‘Why would they do this – what is on the ship for them?’ Mariah pleaded. ‘She promised … I’m her friend.’

‘We don’t know what is going on. Zogel is a complicated man and can charm the birds from the trees. It could be believed that he has lied to them both.’

‘Then we have to tell her – get to the ship and tell her, bring her back,’ Mariah replied as he saw Sacha and her father step from the launch and on to the deck of the
Irenzee
.

Lucius and Zogel followed on. The launch was winched from the water and stowed beneath the enormous deck. The funnel and the masts slid back to their places until the ship lay in the water like a vast island in the bay.

‘First thing, Mariah, is to find the Ghost Diamonds – then we can look for Sacha and her father. But we shall have to break into the Prince Regent and all the doors are watched by Walpole’s men.’

‘I know a way,’ Mariah said as he remembered the
Piscis
humanis
. ‘I found a secret entrance. We should see Titus Salt. There is a tunnel from the Aquarium to the lagoon – it’s where Otto Luger bred strange fish.’

‘Then we shall visit the old dog and put an end to this skulduggery,’ Charity said as a smile spread across his face.

T
HEY
walked the length of the beach, covered by the shadow of the Prince Regent and the pall of mist that came in with the tide. As they reached the Aquarium, Charity saw two men by the museum. They stood in the doorway, huddled in their coats to keep out the night. He quickly realised that they were Walpole’s men – their porkpie hats and long black coats were what they all seemed to wear. Charity walked ahead, Mariah following silently and keeping to the shadows, out of sight. Soon they had left the beach and were on the short promenade that led to the Aquarium and Pleasure Palace.

The door was locked and bolted. Mariah could see a faint glimmer of light coming from the office where Titus Salt lived. He tapped as gently as he could so that the police would not hear him. The dog growled as it stalked from the room and looked through the glass at the two dark shadows outside. It eyed Mariah as if there was something about him that it knew. It sniffed the air as he came closer and then jumped up to the door, its front paws on the glass standing higher than a man.

‘Grub, Grub,’ Mariah whispered as the animal stared at them. ‘Go bring Titus!’

The dog seemed to know what Mariah had said. It dropped to the floor and ran off back to the office, only to return moments later followed by Titus Salt.

‘Who is it?’ he asked as he came closer, dressed in an overlarge dressing gown and Egyptian fez hat. ‘Can’t a man have his sleep without being disturbed?’

‘It’s Mariah and Captain Charity,’ Mariah said as Titus got to the door.

‘You’re early, always early,’ Titus chuntered as he turned the lock and hurriedly let them inside. ‘You weren’t supposed to be here for another hour. I saw it clearly when I had the dream – saw the church clock, and you’re an hour too soon.’

‘Do you want us to go and come back?’ Charity asked with a smile as they stepped inside.

‘You’re here now,’ Titus replied as he fiddled with the belt of the dressing gown, trying to tie it into a tight knot.

‘We –’ Mariah said, but Titus interrupted.

‘Want to use the tunnel to get into the Prince Regent?’ He sighed. ‘It’s already known to me. I’ve seen it all. Ghost Diamonds is it, Jack?’

‘That is yet to be discovered,’ Charity replied as Titus walked ahead of them and through the doorway to his office.

‘Tea first and then battle, eh, Jack? Wasn’t that the way it always was?’ Titus spoke happily as if recalling some fond memory.

‘Long time ago and many miles away Titus Salt,’ Charity replied as Titus put an old kettle on the stove. ‘Does the future offer you any surprises with that far sight of yours?’

‘It’s a dim glass and only comes when others are in need. It’s a Corinthian gift – I’m not your seafront diviner or charlatan. Wouldn’t want to see everything – too painful to know.’

‘But you saw we were coming and what we wanted,’ Mariah said as he sat by the fire with Grub wrapped about his legs.

‘You’re both in danger. All I’ll say as a warning is something I saw. Since I heard that you were arrested I could do nothing but think of you. Every time you came to mind, I could see a lion waiting to tear you to pieces. It was a dark creature with blood-red eyes. Something or someone wants you both dead. I’ve pleaded your case before the King of kings and for your sake I hope He heard my call.’

‘I fear the same, Titus. We battle not against flesh and blood, but powers and principalities that work through human form. Nothing is clearer in my mind,’ Charity replied as Titus poured the tea and stood by the fire. ‘I have to clear my name and prove to the world that I didn’t kill those people. The only way that can be done is if I find the true killer.’

‘He’s not far away, Jack. They have sent him for you. As we speak he searches the streets,’ Titus said.

‘Then we shall be about our business and the hunted shall become the hunter.’

‘Like old times, Captain? Outnumbered – the enemy on every side – and still prepared to fight?’ Titus asked.

‘Isn’t that when it’s at its best? A fight isn’t worth taking on unless there are seven of them and only one of you. It’s the only reason worth leaving this land for – and you were one of the finest, Titus …’

Titus Salt looked into his mug of tea and watched the swirling leaves go around and around. It was as if he were no longer there – not in a dream or trance, but standing in the past. He could hear the sound of a battle far away as his fingers trembled. Titus said nothing but in his mind the sun had set behind the mountains and a squall beat against the land in fury.

‘But when does it stop?’ he asked quietly without looking up. ‘I have left too many friends on foreign shores never to be seen again.’

‘
No foes shall stay his might; though he with giants fight, he will
 

make good his right to be a
…’ Charity sang softly as the fire light dimmed and Mariah stared into the darkening embers.

‘Listen,’ Mariah said as Grub pricked up his ears. ‘It’s coming from the Aquarium.’

From deep inside the Pleasure Palace came the faint echo of what sounded like singing. It wasn’t a voice that Mariah knew and he couldn’t understand the words, but he was sure it was singing.

‘Can’t be,’ Titus said as he walked from the room and into the vast arcade, followed by Charity and Mariah. ‘I can hear …’

Coming from the far end of the Aquarium was faint music. At first it sounded like the singing of a choir of high-pitched voices. As they got closer the sound changed to that of a shrill note pitching and falling.

‘Someone’s playing tricks,’ Titus said as he pulled Grub close to him.

‘Then they choose the wrong time,’ Charity replied as he took the pistol from his pocket and cocked the hammer. ‘I’ll go around the back with Mariah,’ he whispered.

Charity and Mariah slipped through the narrow gap between two large, dark glass cases that went from the floor to the ceiling. Each tank was braced with red-painted iron. Mariah stared inside. There in the murky black were the shapes of fishes and crabs swirling in the dark water.

‘That’s why I joined the army,’ Charity said as if he could read Mariah’s mind. ‘Never liked dark water. You can never see what lies beneath.’

They could hear Titus walking slowly along the stone floor between the avenues of fish tanks and kept pace step by step. Charity held the pistol ready to fire as Mariah listened to the faint music.

‘
Piscis humanis
,’ Mariah said as he thought of the fish. ‘Luger bred them. They look like people. It could be them.’

‘It’s the fish,’ cried Titus Salt as he stared into the glowing tank.

Mariah and Charity slipped back onto the avenue between the tanks and stood with Titus. There in the tank was the
Piscis
humanis
. It swam in small circles, its mouth out of the water. As it swam the fish glowed red, green and then bright blue. There was a gurgling sound that came from the large pipe that ran around the entire building. Mariah looked up at the large arches hung with vines. Small oriental birds danced silently through the leaves that wrapped themselves around each arcade. Before him the fish continued to sing.

‘Can’t be,’ Charity said, his brow raised in disbelief.

‘This is what was bred in the Prince Regent. Luger – or whatever he was called – brought them here. They change all the time. Sometimes I think they look even more human.’

‘
Hu … maa … naa
,’ said the fish eerily, as if it repeated what Titus had said, then it swirled from the surface to the glass and appeared to smile.

‘Did you hear what it said?’ Mariah asked, unsure he could believe his mind.

‘A clever trick, Titus Salt – don’t you get enough visitors here?’ Charity scorned.

‘That were no trick, Jack – that was the fish,’ he replied, his eyes showing his own disbelief. ‘I’ve seen them on a Sunday; they stay by the glass and listen to the visitors. It’s as if they listen to what they are saying. Sometimes wonder who is on display. Told you there was something wrong with these things. I have a good mind to have done with them and have them killed.’

‘You can’t,’ Mariah protested. ‘They know what we are saying. Look.’

Together they stared at the tank. For a moment they could see their own dark reflections against the glass and then in an

instant the water exploded in bright colour. All the fish began to sing. And as they called out they shone brighter, until the tank glowed so brightly that Charity and Mariah covered their eyes. The creatures rolled around and around, intertwining with each other as they sang. They seemed to be giving praise with a chorus of sound and uttering divine words that neither Mariah nor Charity nor Titus Salt could ever understand. The light grew even brighter as the fish swam around the vast tank of seawater and dived into the air above them.

Suddenly all went silent. The fish tank darkened and the
Pis
cis humanis
were gone. Mariah listened to the dripping of water from the roof and the chirping of the birds that lived in the vines. Titus looked at Charity as if they had been privy to something secret that should never have been beheld by the eyes of men.

From the look on his face it was clear that Charity didn’t know what words to say next. He pointed at the tank. There, as if just appeared by some magic trick, was a single
Piscis
huma
nis
. It was larger than the others, its face more human and its eyes dark and piercing. It had several long tentacles around its lips that touched the glass like a large catfish. It made the creature look like an army colonel with a waxed moustache.

The fish looked at them as if
they
were the ones on display. Its eyes searched each one of them as if it knew their hearts. Then it smiled and turned. In the second it was gone into the darkness of the vast Aquarium.

‘They are like men,’ Charity said. ‘What was that madman doing breeding such creatures?’

‘The
Piscis humanis
are just the ones that survived,’ Titus replied. ‘There were others that were so grotesque and wicked of feature that my eyes won’t let me believe what I saw.’

‘That man played with life and took on the Creator in his own task. I have a mind to bring the Prince Regent to the

ground and rid the world of its memory,’ Charity said angrily as he scanned the tank for another glimpse of the fish.

‘They won’t be back, not for a while,’ Titus replied as he saw Charity’s eyes searching for any sign of the fish. ‘They vanish for days. It’s as if they only come to the glass when they want to be seen. I once believed they could make themselves invisible and only appear when they wanted.’

Mariah ignored them both. He tapped urgently on the tank with his fingers and pressed his face to the glass. At first there was nothing. Then, as he tapped again, there was a faint glow that began to appear from the gravel bed of the tank. It came closer, translucent and pulsating like a ring of fairy lights. It then took shape. He knew this was the same creature that he had first seen when he had broken in to the Aquarium.

It came to the side of the tank and, just as before, stared him eye to eye. Mariah pressed his hand against the glass as if to touch the creature. The fish raised its long hand-like fin and mirrored his touch. The side of the tank began to tremble softly as if the creature purred like a gigantic cat. It then began to change in colour and slowly swam to break the water with its mouth.

‘
G … oooh …
’ it sung softly like a dove. ‘
G … oooh …
’

‘It’s telling you to go,’ Titus said.

‘Why?’ Mariah asked, not thinking he was speaking to a large fish.

‘
Da … ey … co … mm … fer … ya … ew …
’ it gurgled sweetly as it sang.

‘They are coming for you,’ Titus repeated. ‘It thinks someone is coming for you.’

The fish looked at Titus through soulful eyes and appeared to smile. It shone bright red and glowed dazzlingly, shaking itself as the gills behind its human-like ears trembled.

‘It knows something – perhaps it can sense the danger we are in,’ Charity said as the fish quickly disappeared.

Grub shivered by Titus’s side and then gave a low growl.

‘Someone’s near,’ Titus said urgently. ‘Go, Jack – Mariah knows the way. Lock the door behind you.’ He looked at Mariah and nodded for them to be gone as Grub growled louder.

There was a beating on the door of the Aquarium and Pleasure Palace that shook the air like thunder. It came again, louder, and the doors began to split open and the glass crack within the frames.

Titus ran with Grub at his side. He could see shadows of men outside beating against the wooden door. There was a splintering of glass as the panel smashed and the door was beaten open. The yapping of a bloodhound heralded the chase.

Standing in the doorway were the two detectives who had questioned Mister Quadlibett.

‘Titus Salt? It’s Greaves and Readman, your old friends,’ one of them shouted as he shone a lantern into the darkened avenue. ‘We know you have them here. The bloodhound followed a thief and his companion from the Market Vaults. So no lying, Titus,’ the man mocked. ‘You know what happens if you lie to the police.’

Titus knew both of these men. They had come to the Aquarium many times. He walked on as calmly as he could, holding Grub tight to his side.

‘There is no one here – you are wrong,’ he said as the hound bayed and growled.

‘Then you won’t mind if we let the dog search the place?’

Before Titus could reply, the two detectives pushed their way inside and walked across the broken glass and into the Pleasure Palace.

‘You’ll find nothing here. I don’t know who you are looking for.’

‘Jack Charity and Mariah Mundi,’ Readman, the smaller detective, blurted out without thinking.

‘Fool,’ cursed Greaves as he jabbed Readman in the chest with his fist.

‘Ah,’ Titus laughed. ‘You hunt for the dead with hounds? Whatever next – searching for the man in the moon with a Cheshire cat?’

A scruffy old man in a tweed coat pulling an overweight bloodhound on a long leather leash came in from the cold night.