shears of some sort. Instead he laid the box on the deck and unstrapped the leather belt securing it. Carefully, he withdrew a long white wand and then another. I thought they may have been made of ivory or whalebone.
With a wand in each hand, he approached me and passed the wands around my body, although they touched me at no point. I thought at first that this was an exercise in pointless play-acting until I became aware that the wands themselves had not only attracted the phosphorescence that seemed to light up everything else on board the
Astrolabe
, but were indeed glowing with a faint violet light. Moreover, they began to emit a scratchy sound and I noticed with alarm that as the sound increased the wands began to discharge tiny bolts of what looked to be lightning until the very darkness about me was dancing with flashes and sparks of light.
And then there were none and the darkness returned.
‘I think that should work,’ murmured Mr Flynn. ‘It did work for your master.’
I had no way of knowing whether it had worked or not. I did not really want to find out, for if it did work andmy master could no longer summon me, he would discover that fact before me, as Captain Bass had understood. I was grateful enough that the sparks and flashes had not somehow ignited my wings.
Captain Bass watched as Mr Flynn returned the wands to their case and strapped it once more. Then he looked at me.
‘I think, little Loblolly Boy, that you should return to the
Medusa
forthwith. It is not likely that Mr Wicker should have need of you at this hour, but we should not tempt fate. Do not be tempted to return to the
Astrolabe
. We will follow your progress from a discreet distance, the better not to alert Mr Wicker that we have had this visit.’
I did not know how this could be achieved but I was beginning to live with so much that was beyond my understanding that I simply added this new strangeness to the list. I thanked Mr Flynn for his help and turned to the captain for a final time.
‘I will try to be careful,’ I promised.
‘You must,’ he said. ‘You are a two-edged sword. Now fly away.’
He turned his attention once more to the prow and his hands to the helm. His dismissal had been so curt it was as if he had been clapping at a fly. I leapt to the air and wheeled away from the ghost ship and as I flew higher it grew smaller, but somehow its masts and spars which had earlier seemed dripping with horror now seemed to sparkle with something like hope.
CHAPTER 10
SWEETLY BLEW THE BREEZE
The strange driving winds that billowed the tattered sails of the
Astrolabe
disappeared as the ship itself disappeared. Thereafter, I flew the relatively short distance to the
Medusa
in the same stillness that had been abroad when I’d left it.
My mind was churning, though, with all I’d learnt and experienced with the mysterious Captain Bass and his odd little companion, Daniel Flynn.
I now knew more about the origin and purpose of the astrolabe Mr Wicker sought and why Mr Wicker would seek it. That knowledge alone was frightening, but now I was charged with the even more frightening prospect of having to deceive Mr Wicker and frustrate his purpose. I hoped I could find the strength to do this and the luck to assist me.
Even as I alighted on the platform of the crow’s nest there was a suggestion of the brown bottle light that foretold the dawn. I had wondered whether, along with food and drink, sleep would be denied me in my new strange nether-existence . It seemed it wouldn’t, for not long after I lay myselfdown on the platform, I felt a friendly, familiar drowsiness overcome me and I soon succumbed to a dreamless sleep.
Why would I dream anyway? Everything that had happened to me in the last day and night had been stranger than any dream, veering from nightmare to exhilaration; the nightmare of the crew members reaching for their knives and the exhilaration of swooping and wheeling in a vast blue emptiness.
Two things
With a wand in each hand, he approached me and passed the wands around my body, although they touched me at no point. I thought at first that this was an exercise in pointless play-acting until I became aware that the wands themselves had not only attracted the phosphorescence that seemed to light up everything else on board the
Astrolabe
, but were indeed glowing with a faint violet light. Moreover, they began to emit a scratchy sound and I noticed with alarm that as the sound increased the wands began to discharge tiny bolts of what looked to be lightning until the very darkness about me was dancing with flashes and sparks of light.
And then there were none and the darkness returned.
‘I think that should work,’ murmured Mr Flynn. ‘It did work for your master.’
I had no way of knowing whether it had worked or not. I did not really want to find out, for if it did work andmy master could no longer summon me, he would discover that fact before me, as Captain Bass had understood. I was grateful enough that the sparks and flashes had not somehow ignited my wings.
Captain Bass watched as Mr Flynn returned the wands to their case and strapped it once more. Then he looked at me.
‘I think, little Loblolly Boy, that you should return to the
Medusa
forthwith. It is not likely that Mr Wicker should have need of you at this hour, but we should not tempt fate. Do not be tempted to return to the
Astrolabe
. We will follow your progress from a discreet distance, the better not to alert Mr Wicker that we have had this visit.’
I did not know how this could be achieved but I was beginning to live with so much that was beyond my understanding that I simply added this new strangeness to the list. I thanked Mr Flynn for his help and turned to the captain for a final time.
‘I will try to be careful,’ I promised.
‘You must,’ he said. ‘You are a two-edged sword. Now fly away.’
He turned his attention once more to the prow and his hands to the helm. His dismissal had been so curt it was as if he had been clapping at a fly. I leapt to the air and wheeled away from the ghost ship and as I flew higher it grew smaller, but somehow its masts and spars which had earlier seemed dripping with horror now seemed to sparkle with something like hope.
CHAPTER 10
SWEETLY BLEW THE BREEZE
The strange driving winds that billowed the tattered sails of the
Astrolabe
disappeared as the ship itself disappeared. Thereafter, I flew the relatively short distance to the
Medusa
in the same stillness that had been abroad when I’d left it.
My mind was churning, though, with all I’d learnt and experienced with the mysterious Captain Bass and his odd little companion, Daniel Flynn.
I now knew more about the origin and purpose of the astrolabe Mr Wicker sought and why Mr Wicker would seek it. That knowledge alone was frightening, but now I was charged with the even more frightening prospect of having to deceive Mr Wicker and frustrate his purpose. I hoped I could find the strength to do this and the luck to assist me.
Even as I alighted on the platform of the crow’s nest there was a suggestion of the brown bottle light that foretold the dawn. I had wondered whether, along with food and drink, sleep would be denied me in my new strange nether-existence . It seemed it wouldn’t, for not long after I lay myselfdown on the platform, I felt a friendly, familiar drowsiness overcome me and I soon succumbed to a dreamless sleep.
Why would I dream anyway? Everything that had happened to me in the last day and night had been stranger than any dream, veering from nightmare to exhilaration; the nightmare of the crew members reaching for their knives and the exhilaration of swooping and wheeling in a vast blue emptiness.
Two things
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