The Search for the Red Dragon Read online

  “Before Jules Verne, I believe it was three Americans who answered the Call. Then Jules, then Bert, who was to become the new Caretaker Principia. Harry Houdini and Doyle were recruited at the same time by Jules,” he said. “But they both had the same problem—neither of them wished to keep the secrets of the Archipelago. Houdini, in fact, wished to expose them to the world, and did his best to do so.”

  “Whoo.” Charles whistled. “That can’t have gone over well with Bert.”

  “Bert was the least of their worries,” said Jamie. “At one point, it had gotten so bad that Samaranth himself had come to England looking for both Houdini and Doyle—and it wasn’t just to take back the Geographica. He’d heard about that business with the photographs and the fairies—which had been brought over on the Green Dragon, incidentally—and he planned to end their tenure definitively.”

  A shudder passed through John as he recalled watching Samaranth do that very thing in the final battle with the Winter King. When Samaranth was holding him in a claw high above the waterfall at the Edge of the World, and after every chance for redemption was given, the evil man still struck out at the great dragon, who subsequently dropped him. John couldn’t imagine what it must have taken for Samaranth to go looking for vengeance.

  “It’s never been confirmed for me by Jules or Bert,” Jamie continued, “and Arthur certainly wouldn’t speak of it, but some mishap between Doyle and Houdini is what resulted in the Winter King’s knowledge of the Geographica.”

  “You’ve got to be joking,” exclaimed Charles. “How irresponsible can one be?”

  “Up until that time, there were objects other than the Geographica that had been entrusted to the Caretakers,” said Jamie. “And whatever those items were, the Winter King took them and used them to facilitate the construction of a new Dragonship.”

  “The Black Dragon,” Jack said with a shudder. “I know it better than I’d have liked to.”

  “And that was the reason Doyle and Houdini were removed as Caretakers?”

  “Mostly. One reason among many, I’m afraid. Bert was the Caretaker Principia at the time, so the responsibility was his. He took the brunt of it but managed to keep Samaranth from killing Houdini and Doyle. Jules returned briefly as the Caretaker Principia before Bert resumed the post. This was just prior to finding Stellan Sigurdsson, and then, after a succession of briefly tenured, well-intentioned replacements, I was finally enlisted as the new third Caretaker.”

  “And then you quit,” declared Jack.

  “I prefer to say I ‘resigned,’” Jamie said mildly. “And I do hope that you’ll take a more civil tone, Jack.”

  “Resigned, quit—whatever you call it, you abandoned your duties,” Jack shot back.

  “Duties I never asked for!” Jamie protested. “I didn’t want any of that! I wasn’t prepared! Arthur wanted it, and had it—and then they took it from him and made me take his place. And it terrified me to have that kind of responsibility suddenly thrust upon me. Do you have any idea what that was like?”

  “I have every idea of what that was like,” said John coolly. “That’s precisely what happened to me after you gave it up. But because of what had happened with you, Professor Sigurdsson never told me what I was being trained for, or even mentioned the Geographica, until events were in motion. I only got to speak to him that much by stepping into the past, through a door in the Keep of Time—because by then, he’d already been murdered.”

  “Are you saying that’s my fault?” said Jamie. “My fault he died? Bad form, John.”

  “Maybe,” answered John. “Maybe things would have progressed differently if the professor and Bert felt they could be more open and honest with the new Caretaker. And maybe he wouldn’t have died protecting the Geographica—because it would already have been passed to me.”

  “But wouldn’t the Winter King have simply pursued you then, John?” Charles asked reasonably. “Instead of the professor?”

  “There’s no way to know what ‘might’ have happened,” said Jack. “All we know is what did happen. And we know that when the time came to stand up like a man, Sir James Barrie turned and ran.”

  Jamie’s face reddened, and his fist trembled as he rose from his seat.

  “Take back that remark, sir. Or I shall be obliged on my honor as a gentleman to call you out.”

  Jack also stood and stepped close. “I’m right here. Say what you have to say. If you want to take a swing at me, feel free to do so.”

  “Now, now,” Charles said placatingly as he rose and smoothly edged between the two men. “This isn’t resolving anything. And you two are not going to help Aven by engaging in fisticuffs.”

  The mention of that name stunned both men into dropping their fists and retaking their seats.

  “Aven,” Jamie said, his voice low. “What does any of this have to do with Aven? Is she all right?”

  “I can’t say for certain,” said Charles, looking askance at Jack. “There are a number of pieces I’m trying to put together, and I don’t think any of them are before us by happenstance.”

  Beginning with Charles’s account, and with frequent interruptions from John and Jack, they told Jamie about Aven’s role in their great adventure—and about her closeness to both Jack and the young man they called Bug, who eventually became the new High King, Artus.

  “So she’s become queen of Paralon then, eh?” Jamie said with a wan smile. “This Artus must be quite a fellow to have wooed her away from the sea. I imagine Nemo had quite a bit to say about that.”

  At the mention of the former captain of the Yellow Dragon, Jack shifted uncomfortably in his chair, and John quickly leaned in. “Where Aven enters into this is the reason we’ve come together. It seems we’ve all been dreaming of the Archipelago—about strange creatures and events—and Jack summoned us together to discuss their import.”

  “Dreams are curious things,” said Jamie, “but Jack did well to take heed of his. There is always meaning behind them, and it cannot be coincidence that you’ve had the same dreams. Laura Glue’s appearance confirms this.”

  “Agreed,” Charles said. “Laura Glue’s claim that the Archipelago is in trouble and Jack’s feeling that Aven may be in peril could be one and the same occurrence.”

  “And what of the message?” asked John. “What does it mean?”

  “‘The Crusade has begun,’” said Jamie. “It really doesn’t say much at all, does it? I must confess I have no idea what it means. But…” He paused, then stood and moved to the fire, stoking the embers.

  “There’s an old myth in the Archipelago,” he went on softly, shaking his head. “A legend, really…I recall it mentioned a Crusade, but those events happened seven centuries ago. We always thought it was only a story….”

  “I don’t think this is going to be as easily resolved as anyone hoped,” Jack said.

  “Just so,” agreed Jamie, sitting down again. “I think the best thing to do is find out what’s happening in the Archipelago. Have you contacted them yet?”

  “Ah, how exactly do we go about doing that?” asked John. “It’s never really come up before.”

  “You don’t say?” said Jamie with an expression both amused and incredulous. “You brought the means with you.”

  He moved to the sleeping child and delicately removed the still-glowing parchment flower from her tunic. The others huddled around him as he pointed out what the symbols on the Compass Rose meant.

  “Everyone thinks the seal of the High King is A for Arthur, the first king of Paralon,” said Jamie, “but it’s really the Greek letter A for alpha—‘the beginning.’”

  “And that, there,” said Charles, pointing at a symbol that resembled an inverted u with a tail. “The mark of the Cartographer. What is it?”

  “Mu,” said John. “The equivalent to our m, although I have no idea what it means in relation to the Cartographer. Jamie?”

  “Don’t look at me. I’ve wondered about that myself,” Jamie replied. “The
Cartographer is a strange creature who keeps his own counsel.

  “Now, this third symbol is how the child located you—ah, us,” he continued. “Pi. It is the symbol of the Caretaker Principia. As I understand it, only one of the Caretakers, as its intended recipients, should be able to erase this mark and replace it with another. That should do the trick.”

  “Doesn’t that still leave us with a problem?” wondered Charles. “The way Laura Glue explained how the Compass Rose works, it glows as you come into proximity of the person being sought. How will that help us?”

  “It works that way if you want it to,” Jamie explained, “but Bert explained it to me once. In principle, it functions like these ‘radios’ everyone is using nowadays. It can be tuned to receive, as it was used in locating us—or it can be adjusted to broadcast, as it will do once we’ve added a new symbol. Then we’ll just have to wait and see if someone comes.”

  “But what if no one is listening?” asked Jack. “What if no one comes?”

  “Then your job becomes a lot easier, doesn’t it?” Jamie retorted. “But don’t worry—someone is always listening…

  “…and someone always comes.”

  “So,” said Jamie. “Who wants to do it?”

  “I should,” John replied gravely. “I’m the Caretaker Principia. It’s my responsibility.”

  “Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Charles said, grabbing the Rose. He ran his thumb back and forth over the symbol, and in a trice, it had been completely erased. “Sometimes you shouldn’t stand on ceremony. You should just do what needs doing and move on.”

  “Um, yes,” said John. “Well done, Charles. So,” he continued, turning again to Jamie, “whom should we summon?”

  “In a crisis? The only man I’d want at my side would be Nemo,” Jamie stated. “His mark is Persian, but I’ve seen it used, and I’m certain it will work…What? What is it?”

  At the mention—again—of Nemo’s name, all three of the companions started visibly, then seemed unwilling to meet Jamie’s eyes.

  “Regarding Nemo,” John began.

  “No,” said Jack. “It’s for me to say.”

  He folded his arms and drew a sharp breath. “Nemo won’t be coming,” he said at length. “Nemo is dead. He was killed in battle.”

  Jamie couldn’t conceal his dismay. “But…but that can’t be! Nemo is unbeatable in a conflict, whether on land or at sea! Not only is he one of the best strategists who ever lived, but he’s charmed. He’s the seventh son of the seventh son of Sinbad himself. No,” he concluded, shaking his head. “You must be mistaken.”

  “I’m not,” Jack insisted, his voice shaking with emotion. “I saw him die. And what’s more, it was my fault. So please, say no more of it, but trust my word—if summoned, Nemo will not come.”

  Jamie regarded Jack, his expression inscrutable. “That’s very interesting, Jack. Very interesting indeed. I can see the event had quite an effect on you.”

  “The ‘event,’ as you call it, was one of the worst experiences of my life,” said Jack. “How do you think it makes me feel to know that choices I made led to someone’s death?”

  “Were they good choices or bad choices?” asked Jamie.

  “What kind of question is that?” countered Jack. “How can they have been anything but bad choices? Paddy trusted me, and he died.”

  “Paddy?” John said. “You mean Nemo, don’t you?”

  “Well, yes,” said Jack. “I meant to say Nemo.”

  “Warnie mentioned that you’d had a friend die in the war,” put in Charles, “but he told us you were nowhere near the battle and had nothing to do with it.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Jack said. “I promised Paddy’s mother that I’d look after him, and I let him get killed, just as I did Nemo.”

  “It isn’t the same,” argued John.

  “Sure it is,” said Jack. “They both died because of choices I made. If I had done things differently before that conflict at the Western Front…gone a day earlier, or a day later…anything. If I had done anything differently, Paddy would still be alive. And I’ve had to see his mother’s face every day since the war—loving me for trying, loving me for taking his place in caring for her, but always, always knowing that I failed, and let him die.”

  “Everyone makes choices,” said Jamie, “and we have to live with those choices. Did Aven ever tell you what went on between us?”

  “No,” said Charles. “But we inferred a great deal from the number of opportunities she took to curse you.”

  “Heh.” Jamie chuckled sadly. “I can’t say I blame her. At one time, not really all that long ago, we were very much in love, she and I.”

  “Ah, not to give offense,” said John, “but aren’t you considerably older than Aven?”

  Jamie squinted at him. “There are more mysteries in the Archipelago than you yet know, young John,” he responded. “Aven is not as young as she appears to be—and at that time, I did not appear anywhere near as old as I was. But suffice it to say, she was the principal reason I agreed to become a Caretaker.”

  “I understand that,” Jack said.

  “I think you do,” said Jamie. “But she was not the reason I left.”

  “The widow,” offered Charles. “The woman here in London, with the children…Aven mentioned her, and not much more favorably than she did you, I’m afraid.”

  Jamie shook his head. “She never understood. There were responsibilities in the Archipelago for which I was not prepared. And there were opportunities for responsibility here that I hoped to embrace. And so I did.”

  “And you’ve been happy ever since, I suppose?” asked Charles.

  “Would that it were so,” said Jamie. “All I wanted to do was be a father, a mentor, a brother to those five boys. To protect them from the evils of the world. And I didn’t think I could do that from an archipelago of islands at the edges of existence. I thought I could do it if I were right here, with them. But I was wrong.”

  He lowered his head and closed his eyes. “You lost your friend Paddy in the war?” he asked Jack, looking up.

  “Yes.”

  “And you, too, lost someone?” he said to John, who nodded. “And you?” to Charles, who also indicated a loss.

  “You see?” Jamie said with a tremor in his voice. “I also lost someone in that war. One of my boys. And I lost another after the war, to a drowning that may have even been by his own hand. So what good has it done, that I chose to leave my role as Caretaker, if I could not protect those whom I loved, even from themselves?”

  He banged a fist against the mantel, startling the dog. “At least you three jumped headlong into it and took the battle to one of the prime causes—the Winter King himself. Perhaps if I had done that, if I had stayed, the war might have ended sooner, and I might still have my George. So who am I to judge good choices from bad?

  “But,” he finished, turning again to Jack, “I know that you should not carry the guilt that you do for Nemo’s death. Events on that day transpired exactly as they needed to.”

  “How can you say that?” said Jack, incredulous.

  “Because I know Nemo was very close to Jules Verne,” answered Jamie, “and Jules knew many things that he never shared with any of us. But I know one thing he passed on to Nemo, that I am happy to share with you.

  “Nemo knew the exact hour and means of his death. And, knowing this, he had the ability to change events if he so chose. He didn’t. And thus the responsibility for his death was not yours, young Jack. Indeed, it never was.”

  Several stiff drinks were poured, and the four men sat in silence as they absorbed what had been said. Laura Glue stirred, and Jamie rose to cover her with a blanket.

  “So,” John said finally. “The Compass Rose.”

  “Yes,” said Jack. “I’d nearly forgotten.”

  John looked at Jamie. “What symbol should we use, since Nemo’s is not likely to do us any good?”

  In response, Jamie took a book from one of
his shelves and thumbed through to a Greek alphabet. He quickly scanned the letters, then pointed to one. “This one,” he declared, tapping his finger. “It’s the only one I can really be certain of.”

  “Omega,” noted John. “‘The ending.’”

  “Yes,” Jamie said without turning around. “That’s Bert’s little joke.”

  “This will summon Bert?” John said in surprise. “That would be delightful. I’d love to see him again.”

  “As would I,” said Jamie. “He was always a bit more well-disposed toward my choices than his daughter was. But then, as a parent, I think he would be. Do any of you have children, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  Jack looked a little uncomfortable at the question, but he didn’t want to seem rude—not after the personal information Jamie had shared, and especially after the remark about Nemo. “Not thus far,” he admitted. “But the future is long.”

  “I have one,” said Charles. “A son, Michael.”

  “Three for me,” said John. “My eldest, John, is nine. Michael is second, and then young Christopher.”

  Jamie stared at them with a forced smile, then choked back a sob and turned away. “Michael was the name of my boy who drowned,” he said in a small voice. “So—let’s get this job done, and see to it that no more Michaels become Lost Boys, eh?”

  Charles handed the Rose to John, who quickly inscribed the mark Jamie had indicated on the parchment. “Now what?”

  “Now,” said Jamie, wiping at his eyes with a handkerchief, “we wait and see.”

  “Someone give me a hand inside, will you?” Bert cried…

  CHAPTER FOUR

  A Dragon Restored

  As the evening deepened into night, the four men busied themselves with small talk and took the opportunity to get to know one another a bit more. They were, after all, members of a very exclusive club. And John, Jack, and Charles found it very liberating to have someone else with whom to discuss the Archipelago. With most others, most recently Jack’s brother Warnie, they had to guard their words carefully. But with Jamie, they were able to broach practically any topic.