Sebastian Darke: Prince of Explorers (23 page)

Cornelius nodded. He turned back and gave a theatrical bow. 'Ladies and gentlemen,' he said, 'I give you the lost city of Mendip!'

They walked slowly into the shadow of the buildings, gazing up at the dizzying heights that towered above them.

'What kind of a place
is
this?' whispered Galt fearfully.

'It's impressive,' admitted Cornelius. 'But at the end of the day it's just a city that men have built. Nothing more.'

Sebastian frowned. He tried to imagine it as it must once have been. He remembered the opulence of the king's palace in Keladon, with its towers and minarets and marble staircases – but the sheer scale of this place put that city to shame. However, it was clear that it must have been deserted for many years.

Here, at the edge, the jungle had made incursions: trees and ferns burst up through the surface of the road, jutted from broken windows, crowded up sheer walls as though trying to obliterate them. But as the explorers moved deeper into the heart of the city, so they left the jungle behind and found themselves in a wasteland of smooth grey stone and broken glass. Even in Keladon, glass had been a precious commodity, fitted by only the wealthiest merchants. Here, it had once graced every window.

Sebastian stepped closer to one of the buildings and peered in through the empty window frame. Within he saw nothing but a litter of fallen stones, mouldering furnishings and torn and tattered fabrics – nothing that might hint at who had created this city and why they had left it to fall into ruin.

Max came up to stand beside Sebastian. 'I don't like it here,' he said flatly. 'It feels . . . bad.'

Sebastian stroked the buffalope's head fondly. 'Don't worry, old shaggy,' he said. 'There's nothing to hurt us here.'

No sooner had he said this than he heard a noise from within – a sudden clatter, as though something had fallen over. He and Max exchanged glances.

'What was that?' asked the buffalope nervously.

'Not sure,' said Sebastian. 'We'd better have a look inside.'

'You are joking, I hope!'

'There's definitely someone in there.'

'Someone or some
thing
,' hissed Max. 'I think we should ignore it and move on.'

But Sebastian was already heading for an open doorway.

He gestured to the others, pointing through it.

Cornelius nodded and came hurrying back to him. 'What's wrong?' he whispered.

'I heard something,' Sebastian mouthed at him. He drew his sword and stepped through the doorway into the gloom, straining his eyes to see in the shadowy interior. Cornelius followed and Max would have gone too, but the doorway was too narrow to admit his huge body, so he had to content himself with staring fearfully into the darkness. The other two crept carefully across the rubbish-strewn floor. Every so often they stopped to listen. Now Sebastian heard another sound – a scraping. It seemed to be coming from beyond an open doorway up ahead. He gulped, took a deep breath and moved forward again, his sword held ready to meet any attack. As he approached the doorway, so the sound increased in volume and he knew with a cold and dreadful certainty that whatever was making the noise was just on the other side.

He paused a short distance away and looked down at Cornelius. The little warrior nodded grimly. Sebastian steeled himself and then stepped quickly through the opening.

There was a loud shriek and several ragged black things came swarming up from the floor, squawking and flapping their wings in his face. He gave a cry of terror and lifted his arms to shield his head, but they flew past him and out through the doorway, making for the exit.

'Birds!' laughed Cornelius. 'Pecking at something.' He gestured at a scattering of rodent bones on the floor. 'By Shadlog, they gave me quite a start!'

Sebastian nodded, then remembered to breathe. He returned his sword to its scabbard and glanced quickly around the room, reassuring himself that there was no other living thing in there. Then his gaze fell on the far wall. Words had been scrawled upon it in large black letters but in a language he had never seen before.

He glanced at Cornelius. 'What do you suppose that says?' he asked.

Cornelius shrugged. 'I haven't a clue,' he said, 'but that last bit means the same thing in any language.' He pointed to a picture beneath the words – a crude drawing of a skull, with empty black eye-sockets and grinning teeth.

'Charming,' observed Sebastian.

The two of them turned and headed back towards the exit. Max was still peering fearfully in through the doorway and had to step back to allow them out. The others were waiting just behind him.

'Well?' asked Max.

'Nothing,' said Sebastian. 'Just some birds.'

'Yes, I saw
them
! Nearly flew into my face. But nothing else? No . . . treasure or anything?'

Sebastian could only shake his head. They all stood in silence for a few moments, gazing at the maze of deserted streets.

'I had no idea it would be so big,' said Sebastian at last. 'It could take weeks to search it all.'

'What exactly are we looking for?' asked Galt.

Sebastian and Cornelius exchanged glances.

'We'll know when we find it,' said Cornelius.

Cal gave a snort of exasperation. 'I'm getting a bad feeling about this,' he announced. 'We've come all this way, all our equipment is at the bottom of the river and you two don't seem to have a clue why we're even here.'

'Cal, you don't question the Chosen One,' Keera told him.

He glared at her. 'I'll question whoever I like,' he exclaimed. 'I can't believe you still think there is something special about these people.'

'I know they are special,' she told him. 'They have saved the Jilith from the greatest threat they ever faced. And Galt wouldn't be with us now if it wasn't for Sebastian. Have you no gratitude?'

Sebastian felt shamed by her trust in him; part of him had begun to wonder about the prophecy. Supposing after all there was something in it? Could his journey here really have been foretold centuries ago? Was he just part of some great cosmic plan? The thought made him feel decidedly strange, so he shrugged his shoulders and turned away.

'Come on,' he said. 'Let's keep looking.'

And they went on into the heart of the city.

They walked around for hours and saw nothing of any value; just more empty buildings. From time to time they went inside to investigate a likely looking place, but found nothing but rubble, broken furniture and shards of pottery. It seemed as if the city had been systematically looted over the years until there was nothing of any value left; and the only signs of life were the ever-present black birds and the occasional rusa, wandering the deserted streets.

The sun began to descend in a splash of crimson and they decided it was high time they made camp somewhere; but that wasn't going to be easy. They had lost almost all their equipment when the raft turned over. Darkness was almost upon them and, as usual, they started squabbling.

'The next rusa we see, let's kill it and make camp in the nearest building,' said Cal.

'Kill it with what?' growled Cornelius. 'You lost your bow in the river, did you not? And I lost my crossbow. What are we going to use, harsh language?'

'I've got a knife,' said Galt. 'And we still have our swords. I could lie in wait somewhere and you lot could drive the rusa towards me. Then I'll jump out and give it what for.'

'But it's getting dark,' argued Sebastian. 'Even if we happened upon a rusa now, what are the chances of being able to drive it towards you?'

'If we found a straight piece of wood, we could tie Galt's knife to it and make a spear,' suggested Keera. 'Then at least we could throw it at the rusa.'

'Oh yes, and have the thing run off with the knife stuck in it,' said Cal. 'Good idea! No, I think we'll just have to wait it out until morning and then see about breakfast.'

'But I'm starving,' complained Max. 'And what do you suppose
I'm
going to eat?'

'That's all you think about,' sneered Cal. 'All I've heard on this trip is you moaning. I don't know how those two put up with it.'

'We do because we have to,' snapped Cornelius. 'And watch what you're saying about our friend.'

'Yes,' said Max, 'you're too lippy altogether.'

The argument was interrupted by Salah, who suddenly jumped into their midst and started making frantic gestures.

'What's she saying?' muttered Cornelius.

'Probably telling Cal to pipe down,' said Max. 'Probably sick of the sound of his voice, like the rest of us.'

'Sick of
my
voice?' roared Cal. 'Oh, that's a good one!'

But now Salah was leaping about, trying to get their attention, and Sebastian saw that she was pointing along the street.

'What's wrong, Salah?' he asked. 'What have you seen?'

Salah pointed again, her eyes imploring him to look. He gazed in the direction she was indicating and drew in a sharp breath.

'Wait,' he said. 'Look. Look there!'

Now everybody turned to see.

A long way off, a light was burning in a window at the top of one of the tallest buildings.

'Shadlog's teeth!' said Cornelius. 'There must be somebody living here after all. That's an oil lamp or something.' He looked around at the others. 'We must go and investigate.'

'Yes,' said Sebastian. 'We should—'

He broke off in surprise. Something had just scuttled past behind him. He caught a glimpse of a ragged flapping cloak.

'What's wrong?' asked Cornelius.

'I'm not sure. There was something—'

He broke off again as another shape flew across a narrow opening to his right. This time Sebastian thought he saw a pale, staring face.

'What in Okrin's name was that?' muttered Galt.

'I don't know,' said Sebastian. 'But whatever it was, it was no rusa.' He glanced around at the others. 'I think we should make our way towards the light,' he said. 'Right now.'

Nobody disagreed with him.

They set off along the street, pulling out their swords as they went, looking to left and right.

Now Sebastian became aware of a strange sound – a sort of high-pitched giggle that might have been made by a child, except that there was no joy in this sound: it was cold and empty enough to chill the blood in his veins.

Something flapped overhead as one of the cloaked things jumped from roof to roof above them.

'What are they?' whispered Keera fearfully. 'They look like men.'

'Not like any men I've ever seen,' said Cornelius coolly. 'And whatever they are, I don't think they're here to offer us the keys to the city. Come on, let's pick up the pace a bit.'

Everybody did as he suggested. The light burned enticingly in that high, high window, but it was a long way off.