The navigator (4 page)

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hot stew. There were roast potatoes, cheese sauce, and all sorts of pickles that Owen didn't think that he would like and then discovered he did. They ate without talking, finishing up with two bowls of a delicious substance that was something like custard and something like cream. Owen lay back on the bus seat feeling that suddenly life did not look so bleak after all. But Cati leapt to her feet again.

"Come on," she said briskly. "We have to go to the Convoke."

"I'm too full for a Convoke now, whatever it is."

"I think you'd better come," Cati said, suddenly serious. "You need to know about your mother, apart from anything else."

His mother! Owen sprang to his feet and hurried after her. Outside, it was a cold, crisp night and he could see his breath hanging in the air. He hurried after Cati through the shadows of the trees.

"We've got time," she said. "There are two parts to this Convoke ... and you're not allowed into the first part."

"Why not?"

She hesitated, then spoke softly, as if she was afraid that she might be overheard. "Well... it's actually about you."

"About me?"

"Yes. It's about whether you should be allowed to attend or not. And other things."

"Why wouldn't I be allowed to attend?"

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"You'll find out."

Owen was puzzled. What was so special about him that they would waste time talking about whether or not he could attend the Convoke?

"Do you really want to hear the first bit?" Cati asked. "Really?"

"I suppose," he said. "If it's about me, maybe I'd better."

"There's a secret way into the chamber," she said. "I found it ages ago. Come on."

Cati turned onto a path that seemed to lead under the hill. Owen had noticed a gully there before, but it had been choked with trees and undergrowth. Now it had been cleared and the path was smooth underfoot. The path sloped downward and high walls reared on either side, their ancient stones covered in moss and ferns and lichen.

"Where are we going?" Owen said, suddenly aware he was whispering.

"You'll see."

Cati moved swiftly on. It became darker and darker but she did not falter, and Owen began to wonder if she could see in the dark.

After what felt like a long time, Cati stopped so suddenly that Owen ran into her. As his eyes became accustomed to the dark, he saw that they were standing in front of a vast door made of brass and wood, so old and gnarled that it looked like stone. Again, it was decorated with spidery shapes that looked like a child's drawings of boats and planes. As Owen examined it, he realized that

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the drawings glowed faintly with a blue light he had seen everywhere that day.

Cati took a key from her pocket, a tiny key for a door so vast, but as she held it up he could see that it was ornately worked with complicated-looking teeth. She fitted it into a tiny aperture and turned it, once, twice, three times. There was a sound like heavy, oiled bolts being drawn and then the huge door swung silently open. Cati stepped inside and Owen followed. As they did so the door closed soundlessly behind them. They were now standing in a narrow passage lit by faint blue light coming from the opening at one end. There was an odd smell, musty and old, but sweet as well.

Cati slowly stepped through the opening. Owen hesitated, then with a backward glance at the closed door stepped forward also.

He found himself in a vast chamber, stretching off as far as the eye could see. The ceiling, high above them, was speckled with points of blue light, so it seemed that they stood under a clear night sky. But that was not all. The chamber was filled with innumerable flat couches, each with a single sheet and a pillow. Most of the beds were empty, but as Owen's eyes got used to the dim light, he saw that some of them were still occupied. He looked for Cati, but while he had been standing lost in awe she had moved quietly off. He watched as she moved slowly among the occupied beds, which were scattered among the empty ones. The sleepers seemed to be of all ages, young and old, fair and dark. She stopped by one

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bed as Owen went toward her. He saw that the figure in the bed was a young man, a little older than him. He had curly dark hair and his breathing was deep and even. Cati reached out and touched his hair, smiling sadly.

"What is this place?" Owen asked.

"The Starry, where we sleep until we are called."

"Who are these people, then?"

"Friends, most of them. When we get the call we are supposed to wake, but some do not wake and we do not know why."

Owen saw that the black-haired boy and two other children--girls with brown hair--were lying in a circle round a woman with work-worn hands and a pleasant face that seemed to be smiling even as she slept. Cati put her hand on the woman's shoulder and bent to kiss her. Owen wanted to ask who she was, but Cati seemed to be almost in a dream and he didn't want to disturb her. He noticed that each pillow had a small blue cornflower placed on it.

"It is our sign of remembering," Cati said. "A sign that we do not forget our friends."

The sweet, musty smell in the air seemed to be getting heavier. If sleep had a smell, this is what it would smell like, Owen thought. His eyelids felt as if there were weights attached to them. The empty beds began to look very inviting.

Suddenly he felt Cati shaking his shoulders. "The Convoke," she said urgently. "Come on. If you stay here, you'll sleep."

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She led him toward a small doorway that opened onto another one of the winding staircases that were a feature of the Workhouse. The staircase was dark and apparently unused; cobwebs brushed their faces as they climbed, but there must have been a window to the outside world, for Owen felt cold fresh air on his face, chasing away the sleep that had stolen over him in the Starry.

"What is the Starry for?" he said. "Why are they all sleeping? They look as if they've been asleep for years."

"They have," said Cati, sounding sad, "but that's another thing that needs to be explained." And she would say no more about it.

At the top of the staircase was another corridor, then another staircase, then they were under the Workhouse roof. Owen ducked his head to avoid the huge timber beams supporting the roof, half choking on the dust, which rose in great clouds under his feet. Just as he was about to ask where they were, Cati turned and put her fingers to her lips. Following her, he got onto his hands and knees and crawled forward. He saw light coming through a gap in the stone wall in front of him. Cati disappeared into the light and he followed, finding himself in a tiny wooden gallery suspended, it seemed, in midair over great buttresses that went down and down until they reached the floor far below. Owen gasped and grabbed Cati's arm. She made a face at him to be quiet and pointed. Far below them, the Convoke had started.

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It was a while before Owen's eyes adjusted to the light and he could make out the scene below. The first thing he noticed were the banners that hung from the ceiling, enormous cloth banners in faded colors that seemed hundreds of meters long. Then he saw that the banners framed a great hall of flagged floors and pillars and stone walls. Massive chains hanging from the roof held globes of blue light and in their glow he could see figures on the ground, some standing, others sitting on a raised dais, and many more standing in a circle around them. He could see that one of the standing figures was the Sub-Commandant and even from far above Owen could tell that the small man was pleading with the figures on the dais.

To the right of these figures was a fireplace where great logs burned, and in front of the fireplace a figure sprawled in a chair. It was too far away to see who it was and Owen was distracted just then as the Sub-Commandant began to speak. His voice was low and even, but there was an intensity to it and Owen guessed that there was some dispute going on.

"You are talking about history in this, Chancellor, but we aren't certain about what took place," he said. Owen could just see Chancellor shake his head as if in sorrow.

"I think that you are the only one who doubts what happened, Sub-Commandant," Chancellor said. "We had the Mortmain and with it the security of the world, or at least as much as was in our power to guarantee. But the Mortmain is gone." His voice was mellow but full of

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authority, a leader gently rebuking a much-loved but erring lieutenant. Even from his perch in the rooftop, Owen could feel that the crowd in the hall was swayed by him.

"We cannot judge the future by the past," the small man said. "There are many things that we don't know."

"I agree that there are many things we do not know," Chancellor said, "but we have to work with what small knowledge we have. I feel that the boy should not be admitted to our counsel."

The crowd began to murmur this time. Glancing sideways, Owen could see that Cari was worried. Chancellor leaned back in his chair. He looked weighed down by the gravity of the situation. Suddenly Owen heard a woman's voice--a ringing voice with a tone of harsh amusement to it.

"The boy should be allowed in," the voice said.

"You have been listening to our arguments, Pieta?" Chancellor asked.

The woman made a scornful sound. "I have no need to listen to your talk, Chancellor," she said. "I know what is right and so does the man who has watched for us these long years. The boy is allowed into the Convoke by right of who he is." Owen realized that the voice was coming from the chair by the fire.

"Would we leave him outside, parentless and confused?" the Sub-Commandant said softly.

"Is that your final position, Pieta?" Chancellor asked. His voice was low and there was a hint of anger in it.

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There was no reply from the chair, but Owen heard a bottle clinking against a glass and there seemed to be a kind of finality to the sound.

Chancellor sighed. "You have the right to ask much for your defense of us. ..."

"Yes. I have the right, Chancellor."

"I appreciate your reservations, Chancellor," Contessa interjected gently, "but I think justice demands that the boy be brought before us."

"You appeal to justice, Contessa, but are you certain that the boy does not appeal to another part of you?" This new speaker stood up. He was a long-haired man dressed in a uniform of somber but rich red. As he spoke, he swept his hair back over his shoulder. A silence fell over the hall. Contessa did not reply, but Owen could feel a chill stealing through the air.

"That settles it," the woman they called Pieta said. "Bring the damn boy and bring him now. If our resident peacock starts scheming about the thing, we'll never hear the end of it." The man in the colored uniform glared at Pieta and made to speak again, but Chancellor held up his hand.

"Sub-Commandant." His tone was stern.

"I sent Cati to get him," the Sub-Commandant said. "In case he was required," he added smoothly. Chancellor turned his gaze to the Sub-Commandant. Owen shivered. He could only imagine the scrutiny of those piercing eyes.

"While we are waiting," Contessa said, "we should

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discuss those who will not wake. The numbers have risen. We're desperately weak, Chancellor." Owen realized that she must have interrupted in order to break Chancellor's searching gaze at the Sub-Commandant. He felt Cati's elbow dig him in the side.

"Come on," she hissed. "Quick!"

Owen and Cati crawled back through the gap in the stone wall. They ran as fast as they could down the staircases, Owen's clothes covered in cobwebs and his hands and elbows grazed from the rough stone walls as he tried to keep his balance. Disheveled and filthy, they practically fell out of the stairway into a brightly lit hall. A young man in the same richly colored uniform as the longhaired man grabbed Owen under the arm and lifted him to his feet. His face seemed friendly but serious.

"Hurry," he hissed. "You do not keep the Convoke waiting."

The wooden door in front of them swung open and Owen was propelled into the hall.

Owen stopped dead. Every eye in the hall was fixed on him. He could see Chancellor standing on the dais. The young man gestured to him impatiently. Somehow, Owen managed to put one foot in front of the other, the crowd parting for him as he did so. He felt his heart beat faster and faster, and as he approached the dais, his foot caught the hem of a woman's cloak. He would have fallen had not a hand reached out and grabbed his elbow. Owen turned and found himself looking into the eyes of a tall older man with a beard and a terrible scar that

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looked like a burn on one side of his face. The man grinned and winked at him, managing to look both villainous and friendly at the same time. The sight gave Owen heart. At least he wasn't without friends in the hall. He pulled himself upright and strode to the dais, where the Sub-Commandant addressed him.

"You are welcome to the Convoke, young Owen. Have you anything to ask us?" But before Owen could open his mouth the man with the long hair broke in.

"He'll have time enough for questions. For the moment I want to ask him a few things about himself and how he got here."

For the next ten minutes Owen answered questions about where he came from, his school, his friends, his age, and how well he knew the area around the Workhouse. Such was the piercing quality of the man's eyes and his air of command that it was impossible not to reply.

Chancellor was particularly interested in Johnston's scrapyard. Contessa asked him about his home and about his mother, and listened sympathetically as he tried to make things with his mother sound better than they actually were, while feeling that he was letting her down with every word.

"Do you have any great fears, things that terrify you for no apparent reason?" Chancellor asked. His voice was casual, but Owen could feel that the whole Convoke was intent upon the answer. In his mind the image of a deep, still pool of black water formed, and he saw himself