Monckton and Longtayle came back to the table and sat down. Arthur looked at them expectantly.
‘We have agreed,’ said Monckton. ‘You may have the use of the submersible Rattus Balaena and its crew if you can secure a new power canister for it. We will do our best to deliver you into the belly of the whale.’
‘Great!’ exclaimed Arthur. ‘And they’ll take me out again too, right? With the Will.’
‘Yes, if at all possible, the Balaena will stand by to take you off the worldlet again and return out to the Border Sea. But the crew will not be able to help you against Feverfew in the worldlet itself. That is too great a risk.’
‘What about taking on extra passengers, as well as me? I’ll need to get some help.’
‘There is limited space aboard the Balaena. It was built for us Rats, but there is room for you and perhaps another six normal-sized Denizens, if no one minds being a little cramped. There might be some bumped heads too.’
‘Great! I’d better write a message to Dame Primus to get that power canister delivered. Do you have someone in Port Wednesday with one of your bottles, so I can send it to them to pass on?’
‘Certainly,’ said Longtayle. He opened a drawer and offered Arthur a thick sheet of paper, a quill, a bottle of ink, and a small pot of sand. ‘We shall consider our next question while you write.’
Arthur dipped the quill in the bottle and wrote quickly. The smooth black ink ran a little too freely, causing blots and blotches along the way.
Dear Dame Primus,
I don’t know if you got my other letter. Anyway, I’m in the Border Sea and I talked with Lady Wednesday and she explained how she got turned into a whale by the other Trustees and how she wants to release the Will and give the Key to me. But the Will got stolen by a pirate called Feverfew who works for the Morrow Days. I’ve done a deal with the Raised Rats and they’ve told me that Feverfew’s secret harbour is inside her and they’ll let me use their submarine to go there so I can try to get the Will and fix everything up. Only the Rats need a power canister from the Far Reaches for the submarine, so can you please hurry that up so they get it straight away. I mean reallystraight away, not next year or whatever. Immediately. Right now.
Also can you send Suzy to help me out? And if you can get in touch with the Mariner, can you ask him to come and help me out too?
Regards,
Arthur
P.S. Send a reply via the Rats at Port Wednesday and their simultaneous bottles, so I get it quicker.
P.P.S. Can you check what’s happening back on my world? I want to know what the Border Sea did to the hospital.
Thanks.
Arthur finished by spreading some sand over the paper to dry up the ink, as he’d seen done in the offices of the Lower House. He lifted the page to pour the sand back into the pot, then folded the paper, wrote Dame Primus’s name on it, and sealed it with his thumb. As before, his thumbprint shone and rippled like a rainbow and became a proper seal, showing Arthur’s laurel-wreathed profile.
‘If the power canister is delivered quickly, how long will it take before we can get going in the submarine?’ asked Arthur.
‘Well, the Balaena is at Port Wednesday, so we will have to get there first,’ said Longtayle. ‘Under full steam, that will be five days. The Balaena can be readied in that time, so we would be able to depart in her immediately.’
‘Five days!’ exclaimed Arthur. ‘I guess there’s no choice . . . I hope I still get back home just after I left, like I’ve done before. I suppose I might need the time to get in touch with the helpers I need. . .’
‘Our simultaneous bottles are at your service,’ said Longtayle. ‘I presume we can send the bill for their use to Dame Primus?’
‘Yes,’ said Arthur. ‘But no jacking up the price or anything — we’ll only pay the regular fee.’
‘That is understood. Are you ready for our second question?’
Arthur nodded.
‘What has the Will told you about the disappearance of the Architect?’
Arthur was surprised by the question, but tried not to show it. He wondered if he was supposed to be repeating what the Will told him. But a deal was a deal — and in this case, he didn’t think giving out the information would hurt. ‘I think it just said she went away,’ he told the Rats, ‘leaving the Will behind.’
‘Are you sure of the exact words?’
‘Pretty sure. Yeah, it was back when the Will was a frog in Suzy’s throat. It said something like “The Great Architect went away” or “The Architect then went away.”’