Drowned Wednesday

Thirty

SUNSCORCH WENT, but he grabbed Arthur under one burly arm, jumped on the exposed springs of the wrecked chaise lounge, and used their bounce to propel himself, Arthur, and the tangle of coats up through the gate.

It happened so quickly that Arthur barely had time to get a breath, and he didn't have time to make sure the Carp's jar was securely in his pocket. He saw it hurtle past, and then he was through the mirror and completely surrounded by water.

Arthur kicked the coats free, but Sunscorch didn't let him go. He struck out in a direction that Arthur hoped was the surface, because he couldn't see anything except dark blue and tons of bubbles.

We could be hundreds of feet down, he thought. I've got through so much and then to drown at the end … I'll never make it … the Denizens will, but I won't … and Leaf won't … It's all my fault, I should have made her leave the hospital, how am I ever going to explain to her parents … I have to take a breath, I have to take a —

The dark blue water suddenly became lighter, interrupting Arthur's panicky thoughts. He saw Denizens all around, some doing powerful strokes and kicks, some barely dog-paddling, a few just floating.

Then, before he could begin to think that the light must mean the surface was close, he was suddenly there. His head broke through, light and air welcoming him, and he gasped and laughed and water ran out of his nose all at the same time.

Denizens bobbed everywhere, as far as he could see, gently lifted by the small swell. Arthur's gaze moved across each survivor superfast, looking for the faces he most wanted to see — and there they were. Suzy, about ten yards away. Leaf somewhat closer. And there was a jam jar moving mysteriously across the water, into Arthur's hand.

"You can let me go now, Sunscorch," said Arthur. "Thanks."

"I might have lost the ship, but I still ain't lost a passenger," said Sunscorch. He released Arthur, who promptly sank and had to be hauled up again till he got his treading-water action going properly.

"I have summoned Drowned Wednesday," said the Carp. "She is on her way and will be here shortly."

"You what? She'll eat us! I thought we'd get on some dry land first!"

"I am sure she won't eat us," said the Carp. "Have faith, Arthur..."

Arthur wasn't listening. He craned his head out of the water to look around, hoping to see some sign of solid ground, or a ship, or something. But all he could see were thousands of floating Denizen snacks looking tempting for one crazily hungry Leviathan.

"How did you communicate with her?"

"I am the Will. She is the Trustee. Now that I am back in the House, I am able to speak into her mind, much as I did into yours, Arthur."

"Well, tell her to transform into her human shape," said Arthur. "And tell her to order her Dawn to get here with as many ships as she can. Can you do that?"

"I can speak the message into her mind," said the Carp. "Whether it will totally penetrate is unclear. It is done."

"Can you speak with your mind to anyone else?" asked Arthur. "The Raised Rats, for example?"

The Carp shook its moustache-like growths back and forth.

"No. I am connected to you as the Rightful Heir, and to Wednesday as the Trustee."

"Land ho!"

The cry came from some Denizens to Arthur's right. He paddled himself around, but even before he looked, he was pretty sure what he would see.

It wasn't land, though it looked like it.

It was Drowned Wednesday, bearing down on them. Still vast and almost certainly still hungry.

"We made it!"

That was Suzy, splashing over backstroke.

"Stop saying that!" said Arthur. "We haven't made it. We're probably going to get eaten. Wednesday won't be able to help herself if she sees all these Denizens floating about. It'll be like three thousand pretzels waiting to get munched."

"Is that her?" asked Leaf, whose swimming style was very economical and practised. She leaned back and floated easily, making circular motions with her hands. "Wow! Talk about huge!"

"If anyone has any bright ideas, now is the time to spit them out," said Arthur, spitting out some seawater himself as his mouth was splashed midsentence.

"Pity the Captain's not here," said Suzy. "It'd be real interesting to see what his harpoon could do to a whale that big."

"No way!" said Leaf. "I'm not letting anyone harpoon any whale. I'm a member of Greenpeace —"

"She doesn't mean it, Leaf," said Arthur. "And the Mariner wouldn't do it anyway. I think. I wish he was here. In a ship."

"The Mariner?" asked the Carp. "That would be the Architect's adopted son? The middle one?"

"Yes," said Arthur and Suzy together.

"I might be able to talk to his mind," mused the Carp. "Seeing as he is of the Architect's kin. I suppose I could talk to the Piper for that matter too, or Lord Sunday."

"Lord Sunday!" exclaimed Arthur. "What? Is he —" "The eldest child of the Architect and the Old One. Their first experiment together, when the Architect inhabited a mortal woman —"

"Okay, we don't need a history lesson now!" interrupted Arthur. Drowned Wednesday was looming larger and larger, and the glad cries of "land ho" among the Denizens had been replaced by cries of fear. "See if you can communicate with the Mariner! Maybe he can get here with a ship and pick us up before Wednesday —"

"It's not as simple as that," said the Carp. "I haven't seen him for millennia, and it's not as if I'm charged with making him do anything. I'll have to try and recall what he looked like to begin with. Besides, I'm sure that Wednesday won't eat us up —"

"Why not use the Mariner's charm you wear?" Sunscorch asked Arthur. "Or is it worn out?"

"The Mariner's charm?" Arthur asked. He pulled it out, sank below the surface yet again, and came spluttering back out. "You mean it can actually do something?"

"So legend has it," replied Sunscorch. "Doctor Scamandros would know, but he is gone now, like our late Captain Catapillow."

"I hope Scamandros is still alive," said Arthur. "The Balaena probably just had to leave for some reason... oh! You don't know. The Doctor survived the battle with Feverfew. He escaped to me, and... I'll tell you later. How exactly does legend say this disc worked?"

"You speak into it, and the Mariner hears you," said Sunscorch.

"I've already done that!" protested Arthur. "Heaps of times when I first got swept up! Carp, you have to contact the Mariner!"

"Did he have grey hair or was it more white?" asked the Carp.

"I reckon that whale is shrinking," said Suzy.

Everyone swam around to look.

"I don't know," said Arthur. "She looks just as big to me."

"Keep watching," said Suzy. "She's getting smaller."

"Aye, she's shrinking," confirmed Sunscorch. "But will she shrink enough?"

"Okay," said Arthur. "Even if she is shrinking, we don't want to tempt her with lots of Denizens to eat up. So I'm going to take the Carp and swim towards her, and everyone else can swim off at a right angle. Okay?"

"No way," said Leaf. "I'm sticking with you, Arthur. You're my ticket home."

"I want to see what happens," said Suzy. "Besides, if she's normal size we might be able to help fight her, if we have to."

"Sunscorch, can you at least start organising all the Denizens to swim away?" pleaded Arthur. "I really do think Wednesday might not be able to resist temptation."

"Aye, aye, sir," said Sunscorch. He touched a knuckle to his head in salute and dived under.

"That's what you two are supposed to do," said Arthur. "Say "aye, aye" and swim away."

"Yeah, as if we would," said Leaf. "You don't have to do everything by yourself, Arthur."

Arthur didn't answer. He just started swimming towards the approaching Leviathan. But secretly he was glad not to be alone. And Wednesday was getting smaller, so perhaps it would all be straightforward after all.

"Does this mean I don't need to try to reach the mind of the Mariner?" asked the Carp. "Have you regained your faith in me?"

Arthur spat out some water and said, "Yes. You could say that."

He paused to tread water for a while and rest, and looked behind. The Denizens were very slowly beginning to swim away in the other direction. But that wasn't all that caught Arthur's eye.

"Is that a ship on the horizon?"

"A three-masted brigantine, under full sail," said Leaf, shading her eyes with one hand. "See, I didn't waste my time on the Mantis. Albert... Albert was a good teacher too."

"The ship's boy," said Arthur, suddenly horror-struck. "I haven't seen him! We couldn't have left him behind, could we?"

"No," said Leaf in a very small voice. Her eyes grew red, though Arthur could see no tears on her sea-washed face. "He... Albert got... Albert got killed when Feverfew attacked the ship. I've been trying not to think about... that's why I want to go home... I... I don't want any more adventures."

Arthur was silent. He didn't know what to do or say.

"He lived a long time," said Suzy. "I reckon he would have had a lot of good times, even if he couldn't remember a tenth of 'em, 'cos of the washing between the ears. And like all of us Piper's children, he would've died long ago if he'd been back on the old Earth. Remember what he taught you and he'll always be with you. That's what we say, when one of us goes."

"Drowned Wednesday is almost upon us," boomed the Carp suddenly. "The time has come to release me from my bowl! Lord Arthur, please unscrew the cap."

Arthur wiped his eyes, kicked hard with his legs, and picked up the jar.

"Feverfew is dead, and his bindings with him," said the Carp. "I have grown used to the bowl, but no more shall I be imprisoned in any way!"

Arthur unscrewed the lid as he sank, getting it off just as Leaf and Suzy helped him back up. They could kick much more efficiently than he could, and he appreciated their help, even if every now and then one of their kicks connected with him rather than a vacant patch of seawater.

The Carp swam free. A tiny goldfish that turned to face the onrushing whale.

"Wednesday!" roared the Carp. "I, Part Three of the Will of Our Supreme Creator, the Ultimate Architect of All, do summon thee to fulfill thy duty as Trustee of the said Will!"

Drowned Wednesday slowed, and shrank faster, though she still came forward. When she was thirty feet away, she was the size of a misshapen dolphin. It leapt into the air — and when it came down, it was a woman who stood upon the sea as if it were land.

She was not the misshapen, lumpy thing Arthur had seen before. She was beautiful, impeccably dressed in a gown of shimmering mother-of-pearl, the trident of the Third Key glowing in her hand. Only the uncontrollable trembling of that hand and the blue blood flowing down from her bitten lip indicated the difficulty she had keeping such a presentable shape.

"I, Wednesday, Trustee of the Ultimate Architect of All, do acknowledge the Third Part of the Will, and ask into whose hands shall I place that which was entrusted to me?"

Arthur knew what came next. Without prompting from the Carp, and held up by Leaf and Suzy, he spoke quickly but clearly.

"I, Arthur, anointed Heir to the Kingdom, claim this Key and with it Mastery of the Border Sea. I claim it by blood and bone and contest, out of truth, in testament, and against all trouble."

The trident flew from Wednesday's hand to Arthur's. As his fingers closed around it, he felt himself rise out of the sea, Suzy and Leaf letting go.

At the same time, Drowned Wednesday cried out in pain, and doubled over, sinking into the water. She clutched her stomach and rolled, her arms and legs ballooning.

"Be as you were," commanded Arthur, pointing the Third Key at her. "When you were never hungry, when the Architect was still here."

The puffiness retreated, but Wednesday remained hunched over, still sinking.

"Float!" commanded Arthur. He felt the trident hum in his grasp, and the sea around Wednesday momentarily shone a deep, rich blue. Wednesday bobbed to the surface, clawing at her stomach.

"Too late, Lord Arthur," croaked the Denizen. "I am poisoned within. Nothing eats at my flesh and bone, and soon I shall be no more. But I thank you, for I did not wish to end as I was, a vast thing, near mindless in hunger. Rule my Border Sea well, Lord Arthur!"

Something small and jewel-like sparkled in her mouth as she spoke. It trembled on her lip long enough for Arthur to see what it was, and in the instant that it fell, he directed the power of the Third Key upon it.

"Balaena," he said, naming it so his directions would not go astray. "Float over there, and stay small until you do."

He waved the trident, and the tiny metal cigar-shape that was the Balaena floated through the air and over to a clear patch of sea. Arthur dipped his trident and it slowly fell. As it hit the sea, there was a huge eruption of water, from which the full-sized submersible emerged, looking battered but intact.

Arthur looked back at Drowned Wednesday, but all that was left was a horrid, oily slick of Nothing that was moving against the wind towards Leaf and Suzy.

Arthur pointed the trident at it, relishing the feel of power flowing through it and into him.

"Return to the Void!" he ordered. The sea flashed gold in answer, and all that had been Drowned Wednesday vanished.