The Eye of Neptune (22 page)

‘My Qualar will escort you as far as they dare,’ Cryptos called down. ‘After that you’re on your own. Do not fail me.’

The hatch slammed shut and Dakkar heard the ropes being cast off. Georgia climbed up, grimacing at Blight, who shuffled out of the captain’s seat with a grunt of displeasure. He planted himself next to her, watching every move closely.

They began to move and Dakkar felt calmed by the whirr of the engines. Outside, the shadowy forms of the Qualar flitted among the glowing jellyfish. Soon they crossed the cave threshold and Dakkar remembered the moment when they had arrived. So much had changed in only a few days.

Dakkar tried hard to catch Georgia’s eye to communicate to her that she could trust him, but Blight glared at them both.

‘We basically follow the seabed down,’ Georgia said, lifting the chart up and squinting at it. ‘If you imagine the island to be the peak of an underwater mountain, then we’re just travelling down the side of it.’

‘Let Blight steer for a while and help me check that the pincers work,’ Dakkar said.

Blight gave a grunt and frowned.

‘Don’t you want to captain the sub?’ Dakkar said, looking surprised. ‘Your master trusts me and so should you.’

Blight was torn, Dakkar could tell. The man’s piggy eyes flitted from Dakkar to Georgia and the wheel. He licked his slug-like lips and then gave one curt nod.

Georgia swapped places and followed Dakkar down to the lower cabin.

‘Don’t say a word,’ Dakkar whispered. ‘Just listen and answer my questions. If the captain’s cabin floods, what happens?’

‘I don’t know. The ship might capsize.’ Georgia frowned. ‘Why? What are you . . . ?’

Dakkar put a finger to his lips. ‘Trust me. Can it be pumped clear of water?’

‘No, but if the top hatch were shut the water in the top cabin could flow into the bottom, making it –’ Georgia began.

‘Right, listen,’ Dakkar said in a low voice. ‘Once we’ve got the Eye of Neptune and we’re in shallower water, I want you to open the hatch and flood the captain’s cabin.’

‘What?’ Georgia stared at Dakkar in disbelief.

‘If Blight and I are in the lower cabin, we’ll have to shut the hatch and seal ourselves in or risk sinking the sub,’ Dakkar said. ‘You’ll have the chance to swim free. I’ll smuggle a Sea Arrow into the top cabin. You escape with it and make your way to the top of the volcano crater.’

‘But I thought –’ Georgia began.

‘I know you thought I had joined Cryptos, but I haven’t. Now listen,’ Dakkar continued. ‘In two days’ time, I’m going to try and get the Qualar slaves to revolt. I need you up above to drop the arrow on to the huge machine that sits in the middle of the volcano. You can’t miss.’

‘But the sea will be crawling with Cryptos’s Qualar guards,’ Georgia said. ‘What if I get caught?’

‘Cryptos will never let us free,’ Dakkar said, shaking his head. ‘Do you want to take this chance or go back to the eel tank?’

Georgia looked pale. ‘You’re a strange one, Prince Dakkar,’ she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. ‘I’m sorry I doubted you.’

‘Will you do it?’ Dakkar asked.

‘Nnngh!’ Blight shouted from above. Clearly there had been too much whispering.

Georgia nodded her head and Dakkar gave her a genuine grin.

Georgia scrambled back up into the captain’s seat, leaving Dakkar to stare out at the shoal of Qualar that escorted them. The seabed sloped downward; coral and seaweed swept past seemingly at angles with the sub.

They sank deeper and the Qualar began to fall back. Soon the water darkened and the planks of the
Liberty
creaked ominously as the water pressure increased.

Dakkar felt as though he had something blocking his ears and his head ached. He lit oil lamps and placed them at the viewing portholes down below.

The seaweed thinned out, revealing skeletal coral stalks that looked like dead hands reaching for the distant surface. Strange, luminous fish glared at them through the portholes, all teeth and eyes.

Up in the captain’s cabin, Blight dabbed his brow with a handkerchief and Georgia peered ahead as she negotiated rocky outcrops and thick branches of coral. A tense hush descended on the
Liberty
.

In the distance, a blue light began to glimmer. Dakkar and Georgia stared in wonder as shoals of the glowing fish swarmed around their boat, lighting up the side of the volcano.

Up ahead, something else added to the blue glow.

A vent poked out of the side of the volcano, spewing boiling black gas up into the sea. Around it lay hundreds of colossal, wide-open, white clams. Each was the size of the
Liberty
, at least, and they dotted the seabed as far as Dakkar could see.

The largest sat at the very base of the vent with what looked like an electric blue pearl snapping and fizzing at its heart. Arcs of electric blue charge leapt and curled around it like whips of lightning. The light bounced off huge pearls in the other shells, dazzling Dakkar and making him shield his eyes with his hand.

‘The Eye of Neptune,’ Dakkar said. ‘It’s beautiful.’

‘It’s deadly,’ Georgia replied, slowing the
Liberty
right down. ‘How are we going to pick it up?’

‘The pincers are coated with rubber from the Americas,’ Dakkar said. ‘Apparently it neutralises the electric charge.’

‘Nngh!’ Blight grunted, pointing at the Voltalith.

‘I think he wants us to get on with it,’ Georgia said, curling her lip at Blight.

They drifted towards the glowing shell. Dakkar hurried down to the lower cabin to prepare the grippers. The alien world of the seabed looked even stranger cast in the blue light. He grimaced. They were over the outer clam shells now and he could see bones scattered around them, some complete, some fragmented. The water outside was deadly.

Perhaps the clams live off the dead remains
, he thought, shivering at the thought of the molluscs filtering the rotten slivers of flesh through their bodies.

The light became more intense as they drew nearer to the Eye. The downy hair on Dakkar’s arm stood up and he felt his scalp prickle.

Georgia had killed the engine and they drifted gently. Dakkar watched through the front porthole as the two pincers glided either side of the Voltalith. Dakkar staggered slightly as they stopped with a bump. For a second, he stared at the intense blue light that crackled and fizzed around them, mesmerised.

Shaking himself, Dakkar jumped forward and gripped the inside handles of the pincers and shut them. His fingers tingled as the arms closed round the blue rock. The well-oiled joints slid and clicked into place, and Dakkar turned the screw that locked them.

‘Take it away,’ Dakkar called up.

The engines whirred but a sudden lurch sent Dakkar stumbling to the stern of the cabin. A metallic thump vibrated through the front of the
Liberty
and Dakkar watched in horror as a clam closed round the pincers, shrouding the light of the Eye of Neptune.

‘We’re held fast,’ Georgia yelled.

Blight clambered down and squinted through the porthole at the bone-white teeth of the shell that had clamped the arms tight.

‘Give it full power,’ Dakkar said, looking over Blight’s shoulder.

The whole sub shuddered as Georgia tried to back away from the clam. The engines whined and clanked but nothing happened.

‘Ack!’ Blight shouted, waving his arms at Dakkar in frustration.

Georgia pushed the
Liberty
forward and then rammed her into reverse, sending Blight and Dakkar tumbling across the floor of the cabin.

‘It’s no good,’ Georgia gasped. ‘We’re trapped.’

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Death Grip

The
Liberty
’s engine clunked and grumbled as Dakkar and Blight wound it to full power. Georgia reversed again, twisting the wheel to make the sub jag from side to side. The planks of the
Liberty
groaned.

‘Stop!’ Dakkar cried.

Water had dribbled from the prow, where a combination of rubberised leather and oiled cloth waterproofed the holes that allowed the pincers to move and be controlled from inside the ship.

The air had become stale and the crew’s breathing shallow. Sweat trickled down Dakkar’s temples. The stink of Phoebus Blight filled his nostrils as the man stood next to him.

‘We could let the Eye go and see if it releases us,’ Dakkar panted.

‘Could we blast it with the last Sea Arrow?’ Georgia asked.

‘We’d blow ourselves up,’ Dakkar murmured.

‘Nah!’ Blight growled, shaking his head. He tapped the side of his nose and lowered his hands up and down in a calming motion.

‘You think if we keep still the clam will open again?’ Dakkar said, pouting his lip.

Blight nodded enthusiastically. ‘An pah!’ he yelled, skidding his fist across the palm of his other, open hand.

‘Then we back out quickly?’ Georgia interpreted.

‘But how long do we wait?’ Dakkar wondered aloud.

He sat down on the floor of the
Liberty
and stared out of the porthole.
If I just set the last Sea Arrow off here and now, the Eye might be destroyed and Cryptos would be foiled
, Dakkar thought.
Maybe Oginski can find some way to escape and defeat his brother on his own.

He shook his head.
No, I can’t sacrifice Georgia too. I have to get out of this and stop Cryptos myself.

The heat grew stifling. Dakkar felt dizzy with the pressure. His head ached and he was losing track of time.

‘Aah!’ Blight whispered, bringing Dakkar to.

The clam’s shells were beginning to part. It was opening. The blue light of the Eye of Neptune crackled to life once more.

‘Georgia, can you see?’ Dakkar hissed up to her.

‘I can,’ she said quietly.

‘Wait for it to open fully,’ Dakkar said, watching the shell edge lift. ‘Wait, wait, wait . . . Now!’

Georgia rammed the
Liberty
into reverse. Bubbles frothed around the portholes and the engine whined and clunked. Dakkar was thrown on to the floor as they were catapulted back. They were free!

The Eye of Neptune hung before them in the grip of the pincers, lighting the way as they turned and began to climb back to the surface.

Blight sat staring at the Voltalith from the cabin below while Georgia steered them over the sloping seabed. Dakkar glanced at the Sea Arrow box. It was behind Blight and out of his line of vision. Dakkar eased over to the box and lifted the lid. It creaked horribly and he froze. Blight seemed engrossed in the flickering deadliness of the Eye. Lifting the explosive out of the box, Dakkar slid across the lower cabin and crept up the steps.

He placed the missile to the side of Georgia’s seat.

‘When we get to a depth you can handle,’ Dakkar whispered, ‘shut the bottom hatch and swim out with the arrow.’

‘But I can’t get out with water pouring in!’ A thin sheen of sweat covered Georgia’s brow. ‘I’ll have to wait for the water to fill this cabin before I can get out, and that may capsize the sub.’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll handle that,’ Dakkar said in a low voice.

‘And what about the Qualar?’ she said, her knuckles white on the wheel.

‘I don’t think they’ll come near the Eye of Neptune,’ Dakkar reassured her. ‘Just don’t swim near it yourself! Good luck.’

Dakkar climbed back down and glanced at Blight but he still sat hypnotised by the electric storm flickering in front of him.

The water grew lighter and Dakkar felt a little less thickheaded as they came nearer the surface. His palms felt slick and he couldn’t stop glancing up at the hatch to the captain’s cabin.
When will Georgia make her move?

Blight was preoccupied, watching the death throes of fish that swam too close to the Eye of Neptune. He grinned as they writhed and twisted in agony. He turned and pointed at a small squid that floated by, its legs rigid. Then his eyes widened.

Dakkar turned just as the hatch slammed shut. He dived over in a feigned attempt to grab the handle to the hatch and ended up tripping Blight, sending them both into a heap on the floor.

‘Rarrgh!’ Blight yelled, clambering up the ladder and grabbing the hatch handle.

‘No!’ Dakkar cried, pulling him back down to the floor again. ‘Listen. She’s opened the outer hatch. You’ll flood the sub.’

Blight looked on in horror as the sound of water hammering on the hatch door subsided. The upper cabin was full. Dakkar listened and was rewarded by a second thud as Georgia closed the outer door. Now the
Liberty
listed as the weight of the water above them began to drag the sub upside down.

Dakkar scrambled for the inside door before they were completely capsized and dragged the handle open. Blight gave a bellow of rage as gallons of seawater roared in from above, soaking them both and sending the
Liberty
rolling upright again. They tumbled from one side of the sub to the next, bumping and banging into things. A chair clipped Blight in the temple and the table slammed into Dakkar, knocking the wind out of him. He crawled across the wet floor, dodging cases and tubes of sea charts as they clattered around. On the third or fourth roll of the boat, Dakkar lunged forward and heaved himself into the captain’s cabin. He settled the ship but there was no sign of Georgia or the Sea Arrow.