Midnight Over Sanctaphrax (5 page)

‘Wish me good fortune,’ said Twig, and with that he was gone - sliding off down the rope before the Stone Pilot could answer.

The descent was steep and fast, and Twig's arms felt as if they were being wrenched out of their sockets. Below him the gaping void blurred past as he gathered speed and - crash -thumped down onto the deck of the Stormchaser.

For a moment Twig remained still, scarcely believing he had made it in one piece. He looked about. The sky ship was battered almost beyond recognition. The wood and rigging seemed drained of colour. With a jolt, Twig realized that they were almost transparent, and he could see down deep inside the ship. Then he heard a voice.

Twig? Twig is that really you?’

Twig swung round. A gaunt, pale figure sat beside the shattered helm. ‘Father!’ he cried.

Cloud Wolf looked older. His fine clothes hung in rags, his hair was white and his eyes were bluer than Twig remembered - unnaturally blue. Across his right shoulder were the raw scars from a recent wound. Twig ran towards him, his heart clamouring inside his chest, and fell at his side. ‘Oh, Father,’ he said tearfully. ‘I have found you.’

‘I have waited so long, my boy,’ Cloud Wolf whispered wearily He pulled Twig closer to him. ‘You have come far to reach this place,’ he said. The caterbird who found me said you would. He was right. No father has ever been prouder of his son than I am of you.’

Twig lowered his head modestly. Tears splashed onto his leather breastplate.

‘So much emotion,’ said Cloud Wolf gently. ‘I know, I know,’ His voice grew harder. ‘Twig,’ he said urgently. ‘You must listen closely, for I shall say this but once. This is a dangerous place I have drawn you to,’ He sighed. ‘If I had known beforehand, I would never have asked the caterbird to enlist your help.’

‘But, Father, I wanted to …’

‘Don't interrupt, Twig,’ said Cloud Wolf. His body glistened from head to toe. ‘I don't have much time left. The perilous vortex has brought me - us - here to the very heart of the Mother Storm. It is a place of calmness, of enlightenment - yet there is a terrible price to pay for the knowledge she imparts.’

‘Price to pay?’ said Twig anxiously.

‘Those who arrive here slowly become one with the Mother Storm, Twig,’ his father continued gently. ‘She enters through the eyes, the ears, the pores of the skin. She fills you with knowledge of the weather itself -knowledge which the academics of Sanctaphrax have, for centuries, been striving to attain - but she claims you for herself in the process.’

Twig gasped. ‘You mean … ?’

‘I have been becalmed here too long, my boy. I can't hold on to my thoughts for much longer …’ Cloud Wolf waved a pale, almost translucent hand in front of Twig's face.

‘Oh, Father,’ Twig murmured. ‘What is …?’

‘I am disappearing, Twig - becoming one with the Mother Storm. My greatest sorrow is leaving you when we have only just been reunited. But before I do, there is something I must tell you - something I have learnt here. The Mother Storm will soon return.’

‘To the Edge?’ Twig gasped.

‘Aye, Twig,’ said Cloud Wolf. ‘This mighty storm which first seeded the land with life is coming back, as she has done every several thousand years since the beginning of time itself. She will sweep in from open sky, pass over the Mire, the Twilight Woods and on to the highest point of the Deepwoods. Riverrise.’

‘Riverrise?’ said Twig. ‘But surely the place is only a myth…’

‘Riverrise exists,’ said Cloud Wolf firmly. ‘When she reaches it, the Mother Storm will rejuvenate its waters, the Edgewater River will flow vigorous and strong once more, and her energy will spread out all across the Edge, bringing new life, new hope - a fresh beginning.’ He paused, and Twig looked down to see the pain in his father's eyes. ‘At least,’ he murmured, ‘that is what should happen. But all is not well.’

Twig frowned. ‘I don't understand,’ he said.

Cloud Wolf nodded patiently. ‘That last time the Mother Storm visited the Edge her journey to Riverrise
was clear,’ he explained. ‘Now, there is something which stands in her way …’

Twig gasped. ‘Sanctaphrax!’ he said.

‘Sanctaphrax,’ whispered Cloud Wolf, his eyes misting over. ‘Our floating city, with its shining spires and venerable institutions - once, long ago, when it was truly great, my home …’ He cleared his throat. ‘It lies directly in the path of the storm. It will be destroyed by the energy of the Mother Storm when they meet.’

‘But…’ Twig began.

‘Hush,’ said Cloud Wolf wearily, ‘for there is worse to come. If the Mother Storm is blocked by Sanctaphrax, then she will never reach Riverrise to seed it with new life. The waters of the Edgewater River will dry up completely. And with their going, the darkness at the black heart of the Deepwoods will spread out like a vast fungus, until it has engulfed every inch of the Edge.’ He looked up at his son. ‘Twig,’ he said. ‘Sanctaphrax must not block the path of the Mother Storm.’

‘But what can I do?’ said Twig, searching his father's ghostly face for some clue.

‘The Anchor Chain … it holds the floating city in place … it must be … severed,’ Cloud Wolf told him, every word an effort.

‘Cut the Anchor Chain?’ said Twig, astonished. ‘But … but…’

‘Sanctaphrax will soar away and the Mother Storm will sweep on unhindered to Riverrise. The Edge will be saved, but…’ His voice grew fainter. ‘… Sanctaphrax will be lost.’

As he spoke, his entire body began to glisten and sparkle.

Twig gasped, and started back. ‘Wh … what's happening?’ he stammered.

Cloud Wolf held up his hands and looked, bemused, as they shimmered like countless million dancing atoms. ‘Finally, she has come for me,’ he sighed.

‘What do you mean?’ said Twig. ‘What's going on?’

‘I told you, Twig. I have been here for too long,’ his father whispered barely audibly. ‘The Mother Storm has filled me with herself. That is how I know what is soon to take place. But with that knowledge, I have lost myself, Twig. The brighter I glisten, the fainter I get.’ As he spoke, the glittering grew more intense, and the form of Cloud Wolf the sky pirate captain became more difficult to make out. ‘She has claimed me for herself. I must leave you, Twig.’

‘No!’ said Twig. ‘I shan't let you go!’ He shifted round onto his knees and tried to sweep his father up in his arms. But it was like cradling light. ‘Father!’ he cried out.

‘Be still, Twig,’ said his father. ‘You must know one last thing … when the Mother Storm will strike …’

‘When, Father?’ said Twig. ‘When?’

Cloud Wolf's glittering mouth moved, but not a sound left his lips.

‘Father?’ Twig shouted desperately. ‘When?’

Tethered together the two sky pirate ships circled each other slowly. Twig left the fading Stormchaser and swung back across the yawning void to the Edgedancer -brought lower in the sky by the Stone Pilot. He landed with a heavy thud on the deck. Behind him, the rope went limp. The Stormchaser had finally disappeared completely.

The Stone Pilot stared into Twig's ashen face. ‘What happened?’

Twig struggled to clear his head. ‘It … it was so strange,’ he whispered. ‘Unearthly …’

‘Captain Twig,’ said the Stone Pilot, shaking him by the shoulders. ‘Snap out of it! Tell me what happened on the Stormchaser. Cloud Wolf, your father? Did you find him?’

Twig looked up as though hearing the words for the first time. Tears welled in his eyes. He nodded. ‘Yes, but … Oh, I don't know what to think …’

Without saying a word, the Stone Pilot reached up and unfastened the internal bolts which secured the glass eye-panelled hood to the shoulders of the greatcoat. The catches opened and the Stone Pilot removed the hood to reveal the slight figure within. Her red hair fell down over her pale cheeks and slender neck.

Twig, it's me, Maugin,’ she said gently. ‘Remember? You once saved my life.’ She paused. ‘Now calm yourself and tell me what happened over there.’ She rolled the heavy Stone Pilot suit down off her shoulders and took him by the hand.

Twig shook his head. ‘I did see my father,’ he said, ‘but he is gone now. For ever.’ He sniffed and tried in vain to swallow the painful lump in his throat. ‘Before he disappeared, he told me what I have to do. Sanctaphrax must be destroyed.’

‘Sanctaphrax destroyed?’ Maugin gasped. ‘Why?’

Twig silenced her with his hand. ‘We must return to Sanctaphrax so that I can warn the Most High Academe.’

‘But, Twig,’ said Maugin. ‘We are becalmed in the middle of open sky’

Twig clutched his head in his hands and rocked from side to side.

‘Twig, you must tell me what you know,’ Maugin persisted. ‘Sky willing, at least one of us will survive to pass on your father's message.’

‘Yes,’ said Twig, pulling himself together. ‘You are right.’

Maugin's eyes grew wider and wider as Twig began telling her what Cloud Wolf had told him.

‘The Mother Storm,’ she murmured. ‘Riverrise … I had always thought such matters were merely the subject of legends.’

T, too,’ said Twig. ‘I …’ His jaw dropped. ‘Sky above!’ he exclaimed. ‘What's happening now?’

The pair of them looked round. The glistening air seemed to be coalescing, and rushing in towards them.

‘Quickly Twig,’ said Maugin urgently. ‘Tell me everything. Before it is too late.’