‘Don’t be like that, Bessa,’ Lex drawled. ‘Wherever are your manners-?’
He broke off rather suddenly as she whacked him across the chest with one of her sticks. For such an infirm old lady, there was certainly a lot of force behind that stick. He grunted in surprise and staggered back into the mirrored hallway, wincing because she had struck the tender bruises he had acquired just three nights ago falling from the roof of the museum. He ducked sharply, barely missing the stick that whipped past his head, and then jumped back with equal speed to avoid a vicious blow from the second stick.
‘I just want to talk!’ he exclaimed, holding up his hands in what he hoped was a pacifying manner.
He had expected her to be upset, to shout even, but this kind of viciousness was ridiculous. Who would have thought the old woman would be armed?
‘Get off! Get off! Get off my master’s ship you vile scourge!’ She was virtually sobbing. Lex was forced to back away from her as she kept coming at him, both sticks flailing.
‘Steady on,’ he tried. ‘You’ll dislocate a hip or something if you’re not careful.’
But she wasn’t listening. She wasn’t even speaking now, just shrieking at an earsplitting pitch. Lex turned and ran down the corridor back towards the door that led onto the deck. The dreadful wailing didn’t stop and when Lex risked a glance back over his shoulder he saw that the old crone was coming after him at a high-speed hobble, her long skirts flapping around her crooked legs, her many amulets getting tangled up together and the grey cat still draped over her shoulders. Her face was contorted into an expression of pure anguish as she pursued him as fast as her crippled body would allow.
Lex had always had rather a cruel sense of humour and the sight of the old woman trying to run after him made him burst out into helpless laughter so that by the time he neared the end of the corridor he was bent almost double with it. What on earth did she think she’d be able to do if she caught him? Whatever made her think that giving chase would be a good idea when he was probably at least ten times stronger than her? The image so amused Lex that he found he could manage no more than a stagger himself even though he was aware that the horrible old witch was catching up with him.
He almost crashed into Schmidt as he appeared in the doorway. ‘Get out of the way!’ he shrieked through his laughter. ‘She’s going to get me!’
The lawyer backed away from the doorway in obvious alarm. Lex was blocking his view of the old woman but her insane wailing made it sound like some awful, banshee-like monster was giving chase.
Lex broke out into the fresh air of the silver deck and tried to stop laughing. When the wild old crone appeared in the doorway, Lex treated her to a mocking bow. ‘I’ve had some high-speed chases in my time, Bessa, but yours was by far the most thrilling. I don’t know when I’ve ever been more scared for my life.’
The crone glared at him, angry tears rolling down her withered cheeks. Schmidt stared at the old woman and then back at Lex. ‘What in God’s name did you do to her?’ he snapped before turning back to the crone. ‘I am sorry, ma’am, if this boy said anything to offend you. Please allow me to-urgh!’
The lawyer, who had been walking towards the old lady, broke off abruptly as one of her sticks clipped him across the side of the head.
‘ Get off my master’s ship! ’ she screamed.
Lex dissolved into laughter once again at the delightful sight of his employer reeling back in alarm from the old lady with the decidedly deadly walking sticks. His laughter was short lived however, when she scuttled up to him and managed a well-aimed blow directly to the stomach. Lex bent over double, momentarily robbed of air, gasping for breath, his eyes watering. He was only saved from a second skull-shattering blow by Schmidt’s fortuitously timely recovery as he succeeded in wrestling the sticks from the mad old woman, whereupon she promptly lost her balance and fell over onto the gleaming silver deck.
‘Calm yourself, madam,’ the lawyer exclaimed. ‘No one is going to harm you. Are you all right, Lex?’
‘What do you think?’ Lex wheezed.
‘Serves you right!’ the old lawyer retorted.
Lex straightened up with an effort and took a step towards the sprawled crone. ‘All we want is the boat, you mad old bat!’ he snarled.
That last strike had evaporated Lex’s previous good humour. Who would have thought one old woman could have given Lex Trent so much trouble? His temper flared angrily at the thought. ‘How does the ship run?’ he asked.
‘Horrible boy! I’ll never tell you! Never!’ the crone wept. ‘Bessa is a loyal servant to her master!’
Lex looked down as something brushed against his legs. It was the crone’s grey cat. It must have fallen from her shoulders when she lost her balance. A thought occurred to Lex and a nasty smile tugged at his mouth. He picked up the animal and in a few strides he was at the edge of the ship, his arm outstretched over the side with the terrified cat dangling in his hand, so many feet above the ocean below.
The crone screamed in horror.
‘How does it run?’ Lex asked with an uncharacteristic maliciousness.
‘Piewacket!’ the old woman sobbed. ‘Don’t hurt him! Don’t drop him! He fears the water! He cannot swim!’
‘I won’t be able to help it in a minute, the way he’s thrashing around,’ Lex said, struggling to maintain his grip on the frantic animal. ‘For God’s sake, just tell me how to get the ship moving!’
‘That’s enough, Lex!’ Schmidt snapped. ‘Put the cat down!’
‘How does the ship work?’ Lex asked again, staring at the crone.
‘I will tell you. Only give Piewacket back to me and I will tell you!’
Lex slowly retracted his arm, bringing the cat back over the side of the boat. He had meant to maintain his grip on the animal but disgruntled cats are not so easy to keep hold of without being scratched to pieces and he dropped the creature instinctively as it succeeded in sinking its claws into his arm.
Lex cursed as it scampered back to the crone, jumping onto her humped back and draping itself round her shoulders once again, staring evilly at Lex with its ears flat against its ugly head.
‘It’s a magical key, down below,’ the crone said. ‘For all the good the knowledge will do you, nasty boy; my master has taken the key with him!’
‘Show me.’
Mr Schmidt protested most vigorously as Lex forced the old crone before them, down the maze of mirrored hallways within the great ship. Lex had given her one of her sticks back but the other he had snatched from Schmidt and thrown into the sea. She was unable to attack them with just the one stick for she needed it to keep her balance. Schmidt had protested about that, too, but Lex had cut him off short with a bit of timely truth: ‘We have to be in Khestrii by sunset tomorrow or else we’ll be too late to reach the Black Tower. There’s no way of getting there that fast without using magical means.’
‘Black Tower? What’s that got to do with anything? What are you babbling about?’ the lawyer asked, staring at him suspiciously. ‘I will not be made an accomplice in such reprehensible criminal activity!’
‘If you don’t come with me to Khestrii then you won’t ever be free of the bracelets,’ Lex said. ‘You’ll be stuck with me, Mr Schmidt, until the end of your days. However long that might be. Don’t worry about stealing the ship,’ he winked at him. ‘I won’t tell anybody you helped.’
He pushed the crone on down the corridor as she led them to the ‘Bone Room’, as she called it. It had been an enjoyable thing, watching Schmidt wrestle with himself over the problem. For Lex was right. Unless they stole this ship, right now, then they would not get to Khestrii for a very long time. It could take weeks — months, even. Mr Schmidt was a moral man. He was against crime. But he didn’t want to be stuck with a body that was not his own, joined to a person that he loathed, saddled with the company of a selfish, contemptible fool for the rest of his life. And they had come this far already…