History Keepers: Nightship to China (30 page)

The poignancy was not lost on Jake. Galliana’s misfortunes were beyond anything he could possibly imagine – losing her family, not once but twice – but she had found the courage to continue, uncomplaining, always doing what was right and fair.

‘There were many happy times too,’ she said, gently pinching his cheek. ‘I had a wonderful marriage and so much laughter; much of it with your family, whom I hold close to my heart.’ She paused, her expression serious. ‘Now, Jake, I am going to ask you one more time: will you wait for me here?’

He shook his head. ‘Let’s go,’ he said, motioning for her to proceed.

Galliana passed through the opening, checking that the chamber was empty. It was light inside, so she put down the lantern and beckoned to Jake. The huge bazooka got stuck in the doorway, and clanged loudly against the metal as he pulled it through.

‘That thing is more trouble than it’s worth,’ Galliana said, taking it from him and setting it down next to the lantern.

Jake looked around. He had passed by this chamber before: here, the stone figures were frozen in a dance, while others looked on from the sides.

Watchful, they crept towards the open double doors at the far end. Jake glanced at the faces of the dancers, captured in the moment of action, eyes wide, mouths open with the thrill of the ball.

Galliana peered through the doorway and headed into the main corridor. Suddenly she heard footsteps approaching and quickly retreated. They waited behind the door, listening. The footsteps were heavy, thumping – it clearly wasn’t Xi Xiang, but his mute executioner. The statues shook as he approached.

Galliana swung out, punching the sharp point of her elbow into the giant’s chest, sending him reeling backwards. She raised her arrow gun, but he kicked out, knocking it from her hand. As she reached for it, he drew his machete from his belt and slashed at her. As she dodged once, twice, Jake tried to take aim with his own gun, but she was in his line of fire. Eyes burning with determination, she caught hold of the man’s wrist, but she was losing the struggle and his blade came down towards her head. Suddenly she hooked her leg around his knee and pushed hard. He toppled backwards, gravity taking over; his head hit the wall and his neck twisted until his spine cracked like a nut. His mouth gaped open, showing the knotted stump of his tongue. Galliana dragged the body – her strength was astonishing – to the corner of the room out of sight. Jake stood watching her, dumbstruck.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said to him. ‘I have taken you by surprise.’ She retrieved her arrow gun and checked that the cartridge was still properly attached. ‘You’d think that after four decades in the secret service I would be used to taking lives . . . Not so. It is something you never get used to.’

They set off along the passage, the commander facing forward, Jake guarding their rear. They twisted and turned, passing more stone attendants, until they approached the open door of the control room. Galliana held up her gun in both hands, but the place was deserted. The four arched windows looked out across the sea bed, now illuminated by a gleam of daylight from above. There was a movement in the huge tank, and Galliana swung her bow towards it – but it was only the octopus surfacing for a moment. Its eyes lazily inspected her, before it slipped back down, sending a stream of bubbles up to the surface. The room fell silent again. Jake had just noticed that the golden pistol was no longer on the control panel when the lights flickered; for a second the palace went dark, but then they blinked back on again.

Galliana looked at Jake, and he wondered if they should have brought the lantern. He reached for the flint lighter that Nathan had given him in Renaissance Venice, and found the reassuring chunk of metal in his pocket.

The commander referred to the plan: the main corridor, Jake saw, followed an octagonal path as it connected the principal chambers of the palace. She pointed to a room that was diametrically opposite the ballroom. ‘The night suite,’ she whispered.

They followed the corridor until they arrived at another door, this one slightly ajar. Galliana pushed it open with her foot as they took cover on either side.

For a full minute, neither of them moved. At last, Galliana swung round and saw a dark anteroom, where two rows of stone courtiers knelt facing each other. Their heads were slightly bowed, but their glass eyes looked back at the door, challenging anyone to enter. Beyond them, a round opening, a ‘moon door’, led into the main chamber. Galliana and Jake crept past the kneeling courtiers and went in.

In the centre, surrounded by more kneeling servants, was a giant four-poster bed with a blue roof like that of the palace itself. Silk nets hung down the sides around a sleeping figure.

Gun primed, Galliana motioned for Jake to stay back and soundlessly inched her way towards the bed. Jake checked the statues – after his previous experience he wasn’t taking any chances – and they stared back at him accusingly.

Galliana drew back the net with the tip of her weapon and reached out towards the still shape under the covers. She yanked back the sheets, ready to fire, then let out a little gasp.

Jake stepped forward and saw that the sleeping figure was also a statue, this one of jade, its mouth gaping open – whether in pain or joy, it was hard to tell.

All at once they heard a giggle behind them – the unmistakable high-pitched laugh of Xi Xiang. They both swung round, aiming at the moon door. A shadowy figure flitted across the anteroom into the corridor. The door slammed shut and the lights flickered again.

‘So he’s playing games with us . . .’ Galliana said softly.

They headed out towards the other side of the palace, but before long the lights blinked once more. This time they went out. It was pitch black; Jake had never known such total darkness. They heard a giggle, then footsteps scampering towards them.

Jake heard a twang as Galliana let loose an arrow; it whistled through the air before hitting a wall and clattering to the ground. Again she fired, then a third time, and Jake followed her lead, though they had nothing to aim at.

He reached into his pocket for his lighter. As he pulled it out, something touched his forearm, and he heard a soft snigger. He froze, terrified, as he felt warm breath on his face, and then the palest of shapes blinked out of the darkness – the white of a withered eye.

‘Such a pity you never found your brother,’ Xi Xiang whispered.

Jake sparked his lighter, only to see Xiang pointing a pistol – his brother’s golden pistol – straight at his heart.

‘Jake!’ Galliana screamed, throwing him out of the way just as Xi pulled the trigger. There was a flash, and a mushroom of smoke, and she took off into the air, struck a stone pillar and thumped to the ground.

Xi sniggered and scurried away, his feet tip-tapping along the passageway until there was silence again. Suddenly there was a distant clunk, and the lights came back on.

Jake looked around. The empty corridor curved away from him on either side.

Galliana lay on the floor, her body twisted, her breastplate punctured; blood seeped out into a thick puddle, clogging her mane of silver hair. Her face was pallid and her eyes filmy.

Jake stood there, shaking his head in horror. And then in fury. He tried to undo the buckles of her armour, but she gently pushed his hand away.

‘Get out . . .’ she whispered hoarsely. ‘Please get out.’

Jake shook his head. ‘Never.’ He took her spare cartridge of arrows, swapped it with the one on his own gun, then unhooked her belt of daggers and slung them over his shoulder.

‘I’ll be back, do you hear? I’ll come straight back,’ he vowed.

As he set off, he heard the sound of music – strings – coming from a room along the corridor. He found himself back at the ballroom and blinked in amazement as he saw that the dancing statues were slowly revolving on the spot in time to the music.

Then there was another cloud of smoke as Xi fired at him from across the room. Jake ducked behind a group of statues, and the bullet struck one in the chest, shattering it into dozens of pieces. As the laughing Xi skipped from statue to statue, Jake’s arrows hissed across the room, but none found their mark.

His cartridge was now empty, so he threw down his gun and started hurling Galliana’s daggers. Something small and heavy landed at his feet – a firecracker shaped like a dragon, red smoke hissing from its mouth. Jake took cover as it exploded and red smoke filled the room. Xi cackled as he launched more firecrackers – purple, yellow, green . . . The stench was dreadful, and Jake could feel the smoke burning his lungs.

He caught a flash of movement as his foe dis appeared back into the corridor; then glanced round and saw the little metal door through which they had entered the room.
He could escape now, leave this place for ever
. . . But he gritted his teeth, and crunched across the floor in pursuit of Xi.

His nemesis was scampering towards the control room. As Xi turned and fired again, Jake ducked, and the bullet smashed into the ceiling, which started to fall in chunks, knocking over the stone figures guarding the doorway. Jake bent down and picked up a piece of broken statue – a fat hand and forearm – and, yelling a curse, hurled it at Xi. It struck him hard on the forehead, and he tumbled down the stairs, his pistol flying across the room. Dazed for a second, Xi looked around and saw the gun glinting under the throne. He pulled himself to his feet, but Jake had already leaped down the steps and caught him a blow on the jaw with his foot.

Xi reeled in confusion, and Jake picked him up and dragged him towards the tank.

‘Where’s Philip?’ Jake yelled. ‘You have twenty seconds to tell me . . .’

HE TIGHTENED HIS
grip on the monster’s collar and thrust his head into the water. As Xi fought back desperately, his octopus appeared, wrapping its tentacles around Jake’s wrist, trying in vain to prise his hand off its master. It spidered up out of the tank and along Jake’s arm, its suckers seeking out his face, curling into his mouth. As Jake grabbed hold of it, the creature pumped black ink into his face. Jake wiped his eyes and tossed the octopus across the room. Immediately it righted itself and slithered its way back along the floor.

Meanwhile Xi had managed to grab a lungful of air. He tried to speak, but Jake pushed his head down again, and his words spilled out as bubbles. Jake kept him submerged for a little longer, then pulled him up by the scruff of the neck.

‘I’ll tell you where he is! I’ll tell you!’ Xi cried, spluttering water. ‘I’ll tell you, I promise to tell, but I beg you to kill me some other way. Drowning is—’ He broke off and vomited water and mucus over Jake’s sleeve. ‘Drowning is my greatest fear. Shoot me . . . Promise to shoot me—’

‘Tell me where he is.’

Xi shook his head in fear; make-up ran in black streams down his cheeks, and his lip trembled. His two good eyes opened wide, while his bad one closed completely. ‘He’s dead. He died nearly a year ago.’

Jake said nothing; his face was expressionless.

Xi continued, ‘I know you will never believe me, but I did not kill him. How could I? Even after everything that happened, I still loved him – like a father. He . . .’ For a moment, he couldn’t bring himself to say it. ‘He killed himself.’ Jake shook his head in disbelief. ‘He had the freedom of the palace, you see. I told you I kept him locked up, but I didn’t – no, no, not at all. I’m not a complete monster. I came down one morning and found him . . .’ Tears streamed from Xi’s puffy eyes, though still the mutant one remained impassive. ‘I found him hanging by his neck.’

Jake’s voice was cold. ‘Where? Where did you find him?’

Xi pointed at the chandelier above his head. The memory was clearly too much for him and he started shaking. ‘I cut him down. He still had a pulse. I gave him the kiss of life, pushing on his chest – breathing and pushing. He died in my arms.’ He let out a strangled cry of pain.

Jake stood there, quite still. ‘Thank you for telling me,’ he said.

Xi tried to smile; but Jake simply pushed him back under the water. Xi wrenched his head round, spluttering: ‘You
promised
you wouldn’t drown me . . .’ Then his words disappeared in a cloud of bubbles.

Jake used both hands to thrust Xi’s head down to the bottom of the tank; he kicked and thrashed, but Jake showed no mercy. The octopus had made its way back across the room and started to creep up his leg, but he shook it off.

Soon Xi’s face started to turn blue, his bad eye gazing up through the water, pleading. Suddenly Jake was appalled at himself; he remembered what Galliana had told him:
Taking a life is something you never get used to
. He pulled Xi out of the tank, and let his body fall to the floor. The octopus moved its master’s head from side to side, but all three eyes merely gazed up lifelessly.

Jake felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end; bile inched up his throat. Had he killed Xi? He got down on his knees and shook him, forgetting what a monster he was. How could he kill someone in cold blood, pleading for their life like that? He was
fifteen years old
.

Through the windows, from far across the sea bed, came a distant flash of light. Jake went over and looked out, but couldn’t see what it was. Then he noticed a reflection in the glass and his heart stopped . . .

The floor by the tank was empty: Xi wasn’t there!

Jake cast his eye along the glass and found the image of his foe standing by his throne, dripping wet and taking aim with his golden pistol. He looked like a ghost, floating above the floor of the ocean.

‘I lied . . . Pip’s alive,’ the spectre said, his voice hoarse where his throat had been squeezed. Jake suddenly remembered Galliana’s warning about Xi:
Be wary. There are so many layers of deceit to that man
. ‘Yes, your brother’s alive . . .’ Xi smiled. ‘You were looking straight at him . . .’

Jake turned slowly and saw Xi’s finger tighten on the trigger.

‘Jake!’ a voice shouted from the doorway.

They both turned as Galliana fired the golden bazooka. It struck Xi with such force that it blew off his right arm, sending it splashing into the pool. He screamed as his cloak caught fire.