‘Where are they going?’
‘There’s a hollow, where fresh water collects. There are huts too, and fire pits. And before you ask, no.’ Simeon looked sour. ‘We can’t settle here. One or two, perhaps, but there are no native trees here, and nowhere that’d grow houses or boats. The people who stayed would be marooned. That, Singh, is our problem in a nutshell. Everywhere we might rest our weary heads is so frightfully dangerous that we daren’t so much as close our eyes.’
‘You’ve got several of these secret anchorages, dotted about the coast?’
‘And in time, you’ll learn how to find them too. We use them for rest, mainly. This is no pleasure cruise, but a hard life, marked out in leagues and fathoms. I wasn’t always captain of the Ship, and I won’t be captain for ever. Someone else will pick up this hat one day, pop it on their noggin, and there’ll be a new captain to guide this motley crew.’
Dalip had wondered about that, and saw his chance to ask. ‘So how do you do it? You don’t have a compass, or a clock, or a sextant even.’
‘Well, how do mariners in your age find safe passage to port?’
‘I don’t think you’d believe me even if I told you.’ But perhaps he was underestimating the man. ‘It’s a box, and it tells you where you are to within a few metres. Or feet. It talks to… artificial moons that circle the Earth far beyond the atmosphere. That’s how.’
‘There are,’ and Simeon smiled wistfully, ‘older ways that serve just as well. One is to simply know the coast, and recognise where you are. There’s the sun and the moon to help with the cardinal directions, and if you don’t stray too much off your patch, then you don’t stay lost for long.’
‘And if there’s a storm?’
‘You beach the boat if you can, run before it if you can’t.’ He slapped the ship’s timbers. ‘The tub’s good and seaworthy, and floats like a cork. It’ll take more than a storm to sink her.’
The one storm Dalip had lived through had been a vicious, living thing, intent on taking a life. He didn’t want to face another any time soon, but the thought of being at sea while it raged was…
Simeon saw his sceptical face. ‘Oh, it’s batten down the hatches and all hands on deck, splice the mainbrace and tighten the lines. But we’ve done it before, and we’ll do it again. Blow wind, and crack your cheeks!’
‘King Lear,’ said Dalip. ‘Act three. Scene two. Did it for an exam.’
‘Did you not do it for the love of it?’
‘There wasn’t really the time for that, I’m afraid. My loss, I expect.’
‘Come on, man. We’re here jawing, while the company makes merry without us. Over the side and to shore.’ Simeon launched his hat like a three-cornered frisbee on to the beach, and vaulted the side. He splashed down and waded ashore.
Dalip, like Mama before him, frowned at the distance, but eschewed the rope and lowered himself down, arms, elbows, fingertips, then let go. He was wet up to his knees, that was all. The water was cool, and the sand soft.
Simeon shook his hat out and settled it back on, and they walked the path trodden through the grass inland.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ said the captain, ‘about what you said.’
‘You should forget about it.’
‘There’s plunder to be had, and what sort of pirates would we be without a treasure chest to chase?’ He snapped off a spiky length of grass and chewed its fat, moisture-laden end. ‘I’m tempted.’
‘It’s just a bunch of maps. How long have the geomancers been trying to open a portal back to London?’
‘For ever. Since the first Adam stepped foot in Down. Here’s the rub, though: they’ve singularly failed because they fight each other rather than share their precious knowledge. This is our chance to steal a march on every man Jack of them, and put those damnable maps to work. Take them somewhere out of their reach and study them at our leisure.’
‘And as soon as word gets out, every geomancer in the land will be breathing down our necks.’
‘We won’t be on land.’
‘Some of them seem to be able to fly.’
‘They won’t find us, Singh. Do you know of any geomancer who’d willingly share the location of every single map in Down?’ He snorted. ‘They’d kill each other first. And if we’re quick, they’ll never even know.’
‘We’d have to fight Crows.’
‘We have to kill Crows,’ corrected Simeon. ‘But you’re forgetting one thing: the White City is the one place where magic doesn’t work. A gang of bloodthirsty pirates can overpower him as easily as they could you or me◦– easier, I’d say, because the dastard isn’t used to honest violence.’
‘He doesn’t like fighting. He does anything to avoid it.’
‘Then we have him. No mercy, a bit of cold steel, and his treacherous ways are over.’
‘You make it sound simple,’ said Dalip.
‘It’s a good deal less complicated than bearding the King of Spain.’
Below them was the hollow Simeon had mentioned, where rainwater collected and crude circles of stone were spaced around it.
‘What will they think?’ Dalip nodded down at the crew. ‘Will they follow you?’
‘I can put it to them. The question they’ll put to me will be “is it worth it?” What do you say, Singh? Will any good come from taking the maps, or will we be engaging in such folly that we’ll be truly worthy of our ship’s name?’
‘I can’t answer that,’ said Dalip, ‘but the geomancers think so.’
‘Say I was a gambling man. Say I was willing to stake everything on this. Tell me what would happen if they were wrong.’
Dalip puffed out his cheeks. ‘If they’re wrong, proving them wrong will mean, at the very least, they won’t be able to hold the idea of going home over people’s heads. On the other hand, if they’re right, we can offer a trip back to London to everyone who wants one.’
‘Those sounds like odds I can live with.’
‘But are they odds you’ll die for? And ask other people to die for? Look, I don’t know anything about the White City, where it is, how dangerous it is, who lives there, who runs it, or anything. I’m guessing you know a little more than me, but that doesn’t mean much.’
Simeon wasn’t to be dissuaded. ‘I know how to find the White City, though I’ve spent half a lifetime avoiding it. In fact, I’ve spent so long running away, I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have a mission, a purpose in life. And by George, my dander’s right up. Maps or nothing. Death or glory.’
‘Tell me again how you got into debt?’
‘Pish. That was entirely different. I’m older and wiser now, and a damn sight more careful. I’m a captain by election, not some greenhorn lieutenant straight off Eton’s playing fields.’
‘And were you?’
‘Yes. As a matter of fact, I was.’
‘And Mary thought I was posh.’
The men glanced at each other, both with one raised eyebrow.
‘Are you sure about this?’ asked Dalip.
‘I’ll treat the others, see what they say. But you have to appear to be of firmer mind than you are if this caper is to be put in motion: if I call on you, you’ll have to have your powder primed and ready to discharge. How’s your flint? How’s your steel? How’s your resolve? Ready to bring Crows to book, or will you neglect natural justice?’
Dalip held his hands up in surrender. ‘I’ll do it, I’ll do it. Against my better judgement, but okay.’
‘Good man.’ Simeon slapped him on the back, making Dalip stumble forward. ‘We’ll do it tonight, when the fires are lit and their bellies are full.’
They walked down into the hollow, and while Simeon made his way around the crew, Dalip found Mama and Elena by the side of the pool. Mama had her feet in the cool, clear water.