“There’ll be a fight,” Phipps predicted. “A big one.”
“Yes. I think Cheng and Su Shun are counting on that. You British took Peking by sheer luck. Everyone knows that if General Zexu Lin’s war machines hadn’t broken down at Canton and let the English forces through, the Chinese would have thrown the British out quite handily. And even so, the British took huge losses at Peking before the emperor surrendered. If General Lin had not backed down, the British might have still failed.”
“Ancient history,” Phipps said. “The Chinese lost. They signed the treaty.”
“And now they have decided to fight again.” Al-Noor popped something blue and rubbery into his mouth. “Perhaps they have heard that the British are losing their clockworkers and they have decided to flex their muscles. It will be interesting to see how the British fare now that no new clockworker has been spotted in Europe for nearly two months and the ones they already have are dying out. Who will create and repair their engines of war?”
“So they’ve closed the borders to keep the cure out.” Alice sank to a pillow despite herself.
“It is what I would do were I ruling China.”
“But it doesn’t explain why you captured us,” Phipps pointed out.
“Ah, but it does. In a way.” Al-Noor checked the contents of a serving bowl, discovered it was empty, and made a face. A squid man snatched it up and hurried away with it. “I myself know quite a lot about the clockwork plague. I suffer from it.”
“Do you?” Phipps said without a trace of sarcasm.
“It was why my countrymen sent me here. This island is a men’s leper colony, you know. Up top, that is. They also send people who suffer from the clockwork plague here, but we, poor souls, are lepers among lepers and are forced to scuttle about down here. After nearly a year of hard work, I discovered how to alter the plague a bit, combine it with proteins from sea animals.”
“Squid,” Alice whispered in horror.
Al-Noor nodded with enthusiasm. “My process changes them. It slows the plague considerably but does not halt it. The two you cured, Lady Michaels”-he gestured at Phipps, and Alice remembered she had scratched the squid men before al-Noor boarded-“have died. Only my altered plague was keeping them alive, and you took that away from them.”
Guilt engulfed Alice, and she folded her arms across her stomach. The iron spider made a cold, dreadful weight.
“I still don’t understand why you captured me,” Phipps growled. “And I’m growing impatient.”
“My research is expensive,” al-Noor replied simply. “Do you have any idea how much I pay in bribes just to get a ship’s captain to land here, let alone bring me what I need? It is ungodly. Fortunately for me, a source of revenue skimmed across my little sea directly at me.”
“We don’t have much money,” Alice said, not quite lying. “We can pay a little-”
“Not you,” al-Noor interrupted. “The Chinese.”
That stopped Alice. “The Chinese?” she repeated.
“The emperor, to be specific. His Imperial Majesty Xianfeng is offering four hundred pounds of silver for the capture of Alice, Lady Michaels. Alive.” His eyes glittered. “I can breed a lot of squid with that much money.”
“Four hundred pounds of silver,” Phipps breathed.
“Good heavens,” Alice whispered.
“Wait-he wants me alive?” Phipps said. “So when you were threatening to drown me aboard our ship-”
“An excellent bluff,” al-Noor agreed. “I’m very good at them.”
Phipps closed her uncovered eye for a moment. “Why does the emperor want us? Me?”
“Rumor has it Xianfeng fears the clockwork plague. Perhaps he wants to ensure he avoids it forever. He’s also known for keeping pretty concubines, especially unusual ones. You can keep him occupied in any number of ways, I am sure.”
A chill slid over Alice, and her fingers automatically went to her spider gauntlet. Phipps caught her eye and gave a tiny shake of her head, which stiffened Alice’s spine.
“In any case,” al-Noor finished, “once I turn you in, I will have enough silver to buy everything I need for the next stage of my research.”
“And what is that?” Alice couldn’t help asking.
“A female squid.”
“Oh good Lord,” Phipps muttered. “Look, al-Noor, my maid is worthless to you. There’s no need to hold her hostage. Let her go as a sign of good faith, and I’ll do whatever you like.”
“No.” Al-Noor slurped more tea and held out his cup for a refill, which one of the squid men instantly gave. “I already regret letting that stunning young man go. This maid of yours will guarantee your good behavior. If you try anything strange, she will suffer for it.”
“I give you my word as a. . as a lady that I won’t-”
Al-Noor cut her off with a sharp gesture. “Your pardon if I do not accept your word. I will alert the Chinese border authorities by wireless transmission in a moment, but first I want a demonstration of this cure.”
A sour worm crawled through Alice’s stomach. Phipps glanced at her again, then said, “I don’t understand.”
“I want to see this cure at work. You used it on two of my squid men before I arrived on the airship, and I had no chance to study the reaction before the two of them died. I wish to see it now.”
Alice’s earlier guilt returned in a black cloud. Who had those squid men been? Did they have families? Children? Had they understood what was happening to them? It had been an accident-she’d had no intention of killing them, or even hurting them. But she had done it nonetheless, and they were dead because of her.
Phipps crossed her arms. She was still standing. “What do you mean by see it?”
“Cure one of my squid men. Now.”
Uh-oh. Alice licked dry lips. The masquerade was going sour. She cast about for something to say, something to do.
“I feel I should ask,” she said, trying to stall, “exactly why you sent that enormous creature out to capture us. My. . employer, Lady Michaels, is well-known for curing people with the plague. If you had sent her a message to say you had an entire island of plague victims who needed help, Lady Michaels would have sailed into this cave of her own accord and you could have betrayed her at your leisure, no squid necessary.”
“Oh,” said al-Noor. A long moment of silence followed. Then he added, “But that would have been dull.”
“Indeed,” Phipps said.
“In any case,” al-Noor continued, “I must insist that you show me the cure, Lady Michaels.”
“I am not a circus act, Mr. al-Noor.” Phipps’s posture stiffened. “And in any case, the cure kills your men. I won’t be responsible for more deaths.”
“They are all dying anyway,” al-Noor replied reasonably. “Fortunately, the mainland sends me a fresh supply of plague victims every few months. They do not even know what becomes of them-nor do they care.”
“And you don’t, either?” Alice burst out.
“As we already observed, they are dying anyway. Please, Lady Michaels.”
“No,” Phipps said.
Al-Noor snapped his fingers twice, and one of the squid men whipped the cover off a serving platter. On the platter lay an ugly brass pistol with a glass barrel. Almost languidly, al-Noor plucked the pistol from the table and aimed it at Phipps. A thin whine shrilled through the cavern, and the glass snapped with yellow sparks as the weapon powered up. “Cure one of my men or I will shoot.”
“No, you won’t,” Phipps sniffed. “The reward is to capture me alive. If I’m dead, you get nothing. And if you shoot my maid, I’ll be too upset to cure anyone, so don’t bother threatening her.”
“Oh, I will shoot you, all right,” al-Noor said. “And you, Lady Michaels,” he added to Alice, “will watch her die. Slowly.”
This caught Alice completely off guard. She sprang to her feet, not sure if she was more angry or afraid. “What?”