Phoenix Rising (18 page)

“There were explosives in the storeroom,” Rahul said again, as if by saying it he could begin to believe it. He was staring at the blocked stairs, his face bloodless beneath its layer of dust.

Toby said nothing. He sat between Oats and the captain, his shoulder missing its familiar weight, his eyelids prickling. His hands kept forming fists and then falling open. His gaze returned to Callum’s bloody hand where it protruded, claw-like, from the pile of brick behind them.

Hiko huddled next to him. “It’s my fault,” he whispered. “If I hadn’t dropped the maps, she wouldn’t have gone back for them.”

Toby shook his head, opened his mouth, but still said nothing.

“Toby.” Barnaby shifted in the small space until he squatted in front of his son. “Polly’s gone, but you’re all right… We’re all right.”

Toby looked up. The captain wore a thick patina of brick dust with trails of blood running through it. The bulb flickered briefly and went out, sending them into darkness. There was a collective inhalation of breath and then power surged and light splashed their cave once more.

“Don’t forget Ayla,” Toby whispered eventually. “She’s gone, too.”

His mind’s eye flashed a picture of the girl. In his head her hair was once more plaited and beaded and the jewels in her braids clattered.

Toby felt a tear track through the dirt on his face.

“How much stone do you think there is?” Rita was staring at the blocked staircase. “Can we dig through?”

The captain shook his head, but Rahul rose unsteadily to his feet. “We have to try,” he grunted. “We have to get back to the
Phoenix
. They’re under attack, right, Toby?”

Hiko replied for him. “The soldiers have guns and everything.” The younger boy wiped his nose.

“We have to get back,” Rahul said again and, moving like an automaton, he began to pull bricks out of the pile on the stairs. For a moment Rita watched him, shuffling her feet in the blood pooled around them, then she lurched to her knees and weakly started to help him dig with her bare hands.

“We survived because we were under the archway,”
Simeon said. He sat at Harry’s side, one shoulder supporting his semi-conscious friend. He looked up as if he could see through to the top. “There could be as much as ten metres of stone above us.”

“Or there could be less than one. Come on, Simeon.” As Rahul glanced back, Toby saw the panic on his face.

“I don’t want to die down here.” D’von was crouching alone in the archway, his face screwed up, fear thickening his accent.

Simeon leaned Harry carefully against the archway and pushed himself to his feet. Moving closer to the bricks he shook his head. “I’m not sure we should even touch this. Captain?”

Barnaby exhaled. “What choice do we have?” He patted Toby’s knee as he too stood. “If we don’t run out of air we’ll be dead of thirst soon enough. We dig.”

Toby’s nails were broken and his hands were bleeding from a hundred cuts. Behind him a pile of stone was growing, but it seemed as though they had made no difference to the blockage. He handed another stone to Hiko and swayed, suddenly light-headed. He clutched his head and turned to see Rita sag on to her heels, her hair dangling in tangled rat’s tails over her eyes.

Rahul’s breath was coming in thick pants. Even the captain was leaning against a wall, gasping.

“Toby…?” Hiko’s voice was faint.

Toby reeled round to see the younger boy topple over. Hiko tried to lift himself but only managed to press his elbows against the floor. “What’s happening?” he pleaded.

“We’re running out of air,” the captain groaned. “Dig faster.”

D’von threw his arms around a giant stone sticking out from the avalanche and began to pull.

“Wait,” Toby cried, but with a great heave D’von yanked the rock free and teetered round with a look of triumph in his bloodshot eyes.

The pile began to shudder and Toby dived for Hiko. He dragged him back under the archway, which was now partly blocked with dug-out rubble. With a sound like thunder, the stones shifted and tumbled in towards the pirates, who yelled and threw themselves after Toby. A cloud of dust and the rattle of pebbles finished the second rockfall and Toby opened his eyes. The space the eight were crouched in was even smaller than before.

“Ashes.” Oats glared at the stone. He was struggling to clear the rock using one hand. Where his other hand had been, only a bleeding stump remained – a reminder to Toby of the extreme situation that had put them there.

Rahul groaned. “We’re trapped,” he said at last and his head fell into his hands.

“There’s no way to let the
Phoenix
know not to wait for us,” the captain murmured. “How long before she sails?”

“She’ll hold out till dusk,” Toby whispered. “If she isn’t boarded before then.”

They were all silent, their breathing the only sound in the darkness. Then D’von began to weep, great heaving sobs that were muffled by the brickwork. They huddled together and listened as each cry was sucked into the dust.

Toby’s head now lay on the captain’s knee. Hiko leaned on his legs and Rita’s arm pressed against his. Harry and Oats were propped on Simeon, one to each side, and Rahul curled up on the floor, staring blankly at the blood that dripped from his nose on to his fingers.

D’von had fallen silent, his lament drying up as the air grew thinner and drew the volume from his lungs. Now he was folded into a corner, his head on his knees.

“You know,” Toby whispered suddenly. “It’s almost as though I can still hear her…?”

“Who?” The captain stroked Toby’s stubbly head.

“Polly.” Toby closed his eyes. The squawk of his parrot seemed to come from far away. Perhaps she was calling
him back to the open sea. He closed his eyes and drifted, took himself to the
Phoenix
. Now he was sitting in the crow’s nest. In his hand one of Peel’s rare sugar biscuits. He stared into the sunset as the sea air filled his lungs and junk rose and fell beneath him. On his shoulder the familiar weight of his oldest friend warmed him and her feathers tickled his ears.

Polly’s squawk was closer. Toby’s chest hurt, his lungs laboured and he gasped like a netted fish. He tried to lift his head, but dizziness forced it back down. He went back to the
Phoenix
. He wasn’t meant to die on land, so he would spend his last moments at sea.

“Who’s a pretty Polly?”

“You are,” he muttered.

“Sounds like Polly,” Rita giggled drunkenly.

“Wait.” Toby blinked. “You hear that, too?”

Barnaby’s hand tightened in Toby’s hair. “That
is
Polly. She was on the other side of that explosion. Where is she?”

Toby blinked again. Thinking was almost impossible. He kept drifting back to the rocking
Phoenix
and his mind moved like treacle.

“The alcove,” he said, finally, “it might not have collapsed. She has to be in there.”

“She’s getting louder.” Rahul’s bloody fingers twitched.

He was right. With a great effort Toby dragged himself away from the
Phoenix
and back to the present of the airless dungeon. Polly’s chattering was getting louder – she was coming closer.

Callum’s buried hand suddenly twitched. D’von squealed hoarsely and toppled backwards. Hiko struggled to move, but could barely lift his head.

Toby could not tear his eyes from the macabre sight. The hand jerked and twisted and then dust lifted into the air around it, motes hanging in the flickering light from the bare bulb. Pebble-sized pieces of stone rocked and began to slide down the pile of bricks, then a larger piece of stone moved and Polly’s beak appeared.

Toby watched as his parrot struggled her way through the hole that she had made between Callum’s body and the fallen stone.

Finally she tumbled out, hooting as she bounced down broken slabs to land on her back on the rocky floor.

“Polly?” Toby whispered.

Oats was already struggling to the hole Polly had made, putting his mouth to the space and gasping for breath.

“Take turns.” The captain pulled him aside and dragged Hiko into his place.

Toby flopped on to his knees and lifted Polly.

“Pellets,” she cawed, and then she went still.

Toby held her loosely. His Polly was gone and in her place was a brass-coloured skeleton with one blue eye, going dim, and one broken lens. Tiny rivets held her together and the remnants of charred feathers that clung to her tail were all that told Toby this was still his Polly. Her breastplate was dented and her head was scraped and misshapen. Dust and soot blackened her shine and Toby rubbed her wing gently with his sleeve. He pulled crumbled pellets from his belt and held them to her beak.

A click, a whirr and they were inhaled. Toby watched, fascinated. He could see the glow as Polly’s biomass generator lit inside her chest. Her single operational eye glowed brighter and she came back to life.

“Who’s a pretty Polly, then?” she mumbled. Then she held out her wings, looked at herself and shook. “Sod it,” she cawed. “The game’s up.”

“You’re still my pretty Polly.” Toby’s voice caught in his throat and he tightened his hands around her. “Are you hurt?”

“I can’t be hurt.” Polly nudged him. “But I am damaged and I’ll need some attention from Captain Ford. There isn’t time now – I calculate ten minutes before you have no air. So, who wants to get out of here?”

D’von and the other pirates stared at Toby. It was Rahul who finally spoke. “What the hell is that?”

“According to Polly, we should dig in that direction.” The captain pointed towards Callum.

Toby tried not to look.

“Use your weapons to shore up the hole, pull Callum out and you’ll be able to crawl almost all the way through.” Polly flexed her blunted claws. “Get to the alcove and there’s a grate. Time is getting short.”

Toby remembered the alcove. “She’s right, there was one near Ayla…” His voice dropped. “I mean, near your cell.” The possibility of escape tightened Toby’s chest. “Will it lead us out?”

Polly’s wings clattered as she shrugged. “Better than staying here.” She glanced at the other pirates and almost apologetically squawked, “Polly want a cracker!” Then she shuffled on to Toby’s shoulder. “Sorry. Built in.”

Automatically Toby went to stroke her, but stopped as his fingertips met not soft feathers, but metal. Polly nudged his head. “It’s still me.”

“I know.” But Toby’s fingers dropped.

“Let’s work.” Rahul was on his feet.

“There’s not room for everyone.” The captain glanced at Callum’s corpse, then at Toby. “And there’s no time for arguments. Hiko, D’von and Toby, get to the back with
Rita, Oats and Harry. The rest of us will pull him out. Polly, you keep an eye on the tunnel and let us know if it’s going to collapse.”

Toby left Polly with the captain and retreated to the rear of the space. He sat with his knees up, Hiko huddled next to him and D’von on his other side. Harry still drifted in and out of consciousness.

Rita offered a tiny half smile. “It’ll be all right, Toby.”

Toby nodded and, despite the heat, he shivered. The captain was grunting with effort now, pulling one of Callum’s arms. Simeon had the other. Rahul was trying to dig around the body as the others pulled.