World's End (18 page)

"Don't stick around here," warned the young woman. "Bad things happen in this quarter." With that, she spun around and took off at a brisk pace.

Alfonso was about to follow her when something caught his eye. It was a placard on the front gate of the mansion across the street. The placard read:
RESIDENCE OF THE ROYAL SCRIBE OF SOMNOS
. It was Josephus's house.

Alfonso walked across the street and passed through the wrought-iron front gate. The mansion, made of gray stone, was four stories high and quite imposing. Its windows were long and narrow, almost like the arrow slits on a castle, and the roof was adorned with an enormous brass weathervane that creaked as it swiveled in the wind. The overall effect was quite somber, the complete opposite of Josephus's office in the library.

The mansion was surrounded by an elaborate rock garden of large geodes, cracked open so that the blue-gray crystals inside of them sparkled in the early morning light. The geodes were surrounded by an expanse of fine black sand that had been neatly raked. Perched on the geodes were a number of emperor butterflies. These butterflies, like so many of the other living things in Somnos, were abnormally large. Some had a wingspan as long as a man's arm.

As he approached the front door, Alfonso was surprised to discover that it was slightly ajar. He stood at the entrance and called Josephus's name several times. His cries echoed throughout the four-story house. After a minute or so of calling, Alfonso began looking around.

Not surprisingly, the house was filled with books—novels, encyclopedias, atlases, almanacs, historical accounts, scientific studies, and quite a few picture books as well—all of which were bound in leather and smelled of mildew and stale pipe tobacco. The floors were covered with thick, ornately woven carpets. The air was speckled with dust and virtually every corner of the house boasted a vast array of cobwebs.

For the most part, though, the house appeared to be in perfectly good order. The only room that appeared to be in disarray was Josephus's study. A giant pile of clothing was amassed in the center of the room; books lay scattered across several desks; wall maps hung precariously from a coat rack. It looked like Josephus was packing for a long journey.

Alfonso looked carefully at the enormous maps that covered the walls of the study. There were maps of Mongolia, the Gobi Desert, the Laptev Sea, the Great Rift Valley in Africa, and the island of Papua New Guinea. Most of the maps dated back to the 1700s and were marked with the names of countries that no longer existed.

In one corner of the room, Alfonso noticed a peculiar wooden map hanging on the wall. It was smaller than the others, no more than six inches in length, and Alfonso only noticed it because it was illuminated by a shaft of light that was pouring in from a nearby window. This particular map showed the original eleven cities of Dormia. Alfonso looked closer. He found Somnos and Jasber and the others, as expected, but something puzzled him about Jasber. The dot showing Jasber was smudgy and faint, as if the ink here had simply evaporated. This reminded him of the time he was in the Motte-Picquet subway station in Paris with his classmates. He remembered walking over to a map of the system and noticing that the dot showing the Motte-Picquet station was worn away from the thousands of people who had put their fingers there. The city of Jasber was worn in the same manner, as if it had been repeatedly touched.

Alfonso pressed his index finger to the city of Jasber. He heard a small click. Across the room, the bottom drawer of a massive bookcase swung open on a recessed hinge. Alfonso found a candle on Josephus's desk, quickly lit it, and then crawled in through the secret doorway. It led into a small, square room no bigger than a walk-in closet. The walls of the room were lined with books and maps, all of which concerned Jasber. Lying on a desk were several fountain pens, a tall candelabra, and a small book with French writing on it. Alfonso picked up the book and began flipping through its pages. Its title was written in both Dormian hieroglyphs and in French. It read:

 

~ Un Destin Solitaire: Les Dormeurs Géant de Jasber ~

 

Alfonso had always been good at French and he grasped its meaning immediately. Roughly translated, the title read, "A Lonely Fate: The Great Sleepers of Jasber." Alfonso placed the book in his coat pocket and continued looking around. Moments later, he let out a soft, barely audible cry. Lying on the floor, in the corner of the room, was the rosewood box from Alexandria. The top was gone, and had obviously been ripped from its delicate hinges. There was no sign of the vial of dagár-gala. "My box," said Alfonso aloud. "He took it!" Alfonso grabbed the remains of the rosewood box and stuffed it into a small backpack that he was carrying.

Alfonso's investigation was soon interrupted by the sounds of voices coming from Josephus's study. For a moment, Alfonso panicked, but then he relaxed when he recognized them. He crawled out of the secret room and saw Hill, Bilblox, and Resuza standing in the middle of Josephus's study.

"Alfonso!" exclaimed Resuza.

"What on earth are you doing here?" Hill inquired.

Alfonso explained what had happened after he had woken up in the Delirium Quarter. Bilblox shook his head in disgust.

"It looks like ol' Josephus is in cahoots with Kiril," said Bilblox.

"What do you mean?" asked Alfonso. Hill told him about Kiril's escape, and his belief that Kiril had received help.

"If they have joined together, I think I know where they're headed," Hill concluded with a weary shake of his head. "You see, Kiril left a torn-up list of items in his cell. On the list was a numeric code. We've just come from the library. It turns out that the code corresponds to a book from the library that's now missing. It was checked out to Josephus; we came here to ask him about it. It's called
The Ancient Fault Roads of Dormia,
written by Kemal Spratic, Kiril's father."

They stood there for a moment, stunned by their discoveries.

Hill sighed and stood up straight. They looked at him expectantly.

"The Grand Vizier must be informed at once," he said. "Josephus and Kiril are headed for the Fault Roads—and Jasber. There's not a moment to lose."

L
ATE THAT AFTERNOON,
Alfonso found himself riding on Bataar, along with Hill, Bilblox, and Resuza. Directly behind them were two of Hill's diplomats on a smaller anteater. They were all headed down an old jungle road that led to the northern corner of the valley, where the old platinum mines were located. Birds called out from the shadowy depths of the jungle and, occasionally, oversized monkeys scampered across the road in front of them. A thin mist hovered just above the treetops. Bataar seemed unusually skittish, looking this way and that, as if expecting trouble at any moment. Resuza sat perched at the front of the riding cabin, aiming an Enfield rifle at the treetops. This was the rifle that once belonged to Bilblox's pilot, Snej. Bilblox had decided to give it to Resuza and she was now putting it to good use—making sure that nothing dropped down from the branches overhead.

The one thing that was conspicuously absent from the surrounding landscape was people. No one was in sight, no travelers on the road, no farmers in the field, no fishermen on any of the valley's rivers or streams. This was because the Grand Vizier had put all of Somnos on lockdown. No one was allowed to leave their homes until further notice. No one, that is, except Hill and his traveling party. They had been given explicit orders, from the Grand Vizier herself, to find an old passageway that led down into the Fault Roads, and look for a trace of Kiril and Josephus.

Under other circumstances, such a task would normally fall to Colonel Treeknot and her Expeditionary Corps, but they were nowhere to be found. Apparently, Treeknot had taken matters into her own hands and set off before dawn to find Kiril. This wasn't surprising. Colonel Treeknot liked to operate on her own. And perhaps she'd already found Kiril. But just to be doubly safe, the Grand Vizier turned to Hill and Alfonso to search for the entrance to the old Fault Roads.

Finding a way into the Fault Roads was much easier said than done. When the roads were shut down, hundreds of years ago, the leaders of Somnos went to great lengths to seal off all entrances. The official reason for this was that they posed a security risk. The year before the Fault Roads were closed, the city of Noctos was sacked by the Dragoonya. People feared that the Dragoonya would somehow find a way down into the Fault Roads and take Somnos by surprise. This was a valid concern. But there was another reason for keeping the Fault Roads sealed off. There were rumors that creatures known as zwodszay had come to inhabit the darkest nooks and crannies of these ancient tunnels. The miners spoke of these mysterious creatures with a mixture of awe and repulsion. There had been strange incidents where miners disappeared beneath the earth, and the zwodszay were blamed.

Of course, given the length of time since the Fault Roads had closed, no one knew a way back down. Josephus had claimed to know a way in, but that was of no help now. It was Resuza who provided the most promising lead. She recalled the strange encounter she and Alfonso had with Misty on the night of their gondola ride. At the mention of the Fault Roads and Josephus, the normally genial miner became enraged. Why did Misty care so much about the Fault Roads or about Josephus for that matter? Something apparently had happened between the two.

Hill knew Mistepha "Misty" Blazenska only vaguely, but he agreed she might be of some assistance.

Hill was sitting next to Alfonso, who was rearranging the scraps of paper taken from Kiril's cell to try to find something recognizable.

"Do you think Misty will help us?" Hill asked Resuza.

"Hard to say," she replied. "She's the most stubborn person I've ever met, but there was something about Josephus she really didn't like."

"Hey, I'm pretty stubborn," said Bilblox.

Kõrgu, who was sitting on Bilblox's lap, growled in agreement.

"Yeah," said Resuza, "But wait till you meet Misty—"

"Hey!" cried out Alfonso. "I think I put these pieces of paper together—have a look." Hill and Resuza drew closer.

"What are these things?" asked Alfonso. "I know what a slingshot and hooded robe are, but what's the rest of this stuff?"

"A kaval is a shepherd's flute," said Hill. "The nightshade, arrowroot, goldenseal, and Dormian milk thistle are all herbs."

"What's a khopesh?" asked Alfonso.

"I don't know," said Hill as he scribbled some notes on a piece of paper. "But I intend to find out." Hill tugged on Bataar's reigns and brought the giant anteater to a halt. He then called for his two aides. One of them, a young woman not much older than Resuza, dismounted the anteater and hastily climbed up Bataar.

"What do you need, Mr. Foreign Minister?" asked the aide.

"I want you to get me everything that's on this list, from the nightshade to the slingshot," said Hill. "And I want an update on what Colonel Treeknot is up to. Find out if she has returned or if there is any more information on where, exactly, she has gone."

"Right away, sir," said the aide. She scurried down and immediately ran toward her anteater.

"Why do you want those items?" Alfonso asked.

"Kiril obviously has everything planned out," replied Hill. "And if we are going to follow him, then we need everything that he has."

"How far do ya intend to follow him?" asked Bilblox.

Hill made no reply.

***

Just shy of sundown, Bataar entered a large clearing in the jungle and Misty's house came into full view. The old miner lived in a ramshackle cottage built on stilts about thirty feet high. One solitary skinny ladder provided access to the cottage. As Bataar walked closer, they all saw Misty open the door to the cottage and walk onto the wide front deck that was covered with all manner of potted plants.

"State your names and business!" yelled Misty.

Hill stood up and leaned out of the riding cabin. "It's me, Hill Persplexy! The foreign minister!"

Misty watched impassively as they climbed down from Bataar. They paused at the bottom rung of the ladder that ascended to Misty's house and looked up.

"I've got nothin' t'say t'the high 'n' mighty," Misty yelled. "But I'll let ya inside 'cause-a Resuza, who's got the only sense in this city. But I ain't toleratin' that wolf inside my house."

"She's not a wolf!" yelled Bilblox. "She's my seein' eye dog."

"No matter, she ain't a-comin' in my house!"

"Leave her here," said Hill. "She'll be fine. Bataar is here, in case anything happens."

Bilblox nodded.

They all climbed up the rickety, wooden ladder. When they arrived on the porch, they saw that not only was it covered with plants, it also had all types of mining equipment scattered about—ropes, winches, cranks, pulleys, torches, pickaxes, grappling hooks, and sledgehammers. There were also quite a few vats of a pungent-smelling liquid that could have been either kerosene or moonshine, it was impossible to say which.