‘Up,’ said Arthur. ‘That makes sense. Unfortunately. I hope I’ll be okay to keep climbing.’
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Suzy. She hadn’t spent any time with Arthur in the Secondary Realms when he didn’t have a Key.
‘I have a . . . I guess you’d call it a breathing sickness,’ said Arthur. ‘Sometimes it comes on if I do too much exercise. Because this worldlet is part of the Secondary Realms, I might get affected by it.’
‘Like black lung, is it?’ asked Suzy, clearly interested. ‘Or the greenspit cough?’
‘Maybe,’ said Arthur. ‘Don’t worry about it, though. I feel fine for now. Slow and steady, that’s how we’ll go.’
‘Without the rat disguises?’
Arthur nodded. ‘We should be okay up here. But we’d better hang on to them just in case we need to use them to get back out.’
After a brief rest, they continued on. The rain forest drew in again as they left the clearing, and there were no obvious paths. Arthur simply went where the undergrowth had a gap in it or was less sparse, but he always aimed uphill.
After another half hour or so of thrashing their way upslope, Arthur paused for another rest. He wanted to wait till they hit a clearing, but there had been no sign of one and he had to take a break.
‘Not much to see, is there?’ said Suzy. ‘Smells a bit too.’
Arthur sniffed at the rich odour of the forest.
‘It’s only all the leaves and stuff turning into mulch,’ he said. ‘I wonder whether the Followers of the Carp have built houses up here, or found caves or something. You wouldn’t last long just camping out.’
‘Could be worse,’ said Suzy. ‘Down in the Pit or in the Lower House Coal Cellar.’
‘Or collecting salvage for Feverfew,’ said Arthur. He was thinking of all the golden bones strewn outside the dome. ‘They must not last long doing that.’
‘Who speaks of Feverfew?!’ boomed a voice out of the undergrowth — a deep, powerful voice, trained to rise above the fiercest gale.
Twenty–five
‘WHO SPEAKS OF FEVERFEW?’
Arthur and Suzy leapt to their feet and drew their weapons. But there was no sign of the person who’d spoken. The rain forest around them was quiet and still.
‘No one ever looks up,’ continued the voice. ‘Interesting, isn’t it?’
Arthur looked up, his sword at the ready. There was a Denizen high up in the nearest tree, hanging on with the aid of hooked spurs in his boots and what looked like clawed gloves, though Arthur wasn’t entirely sure if they were gloves or actually the Denizen’s hands. He was wearing a shirt and breeches of light tan splattered with patches of green mould, effective camouflage for the rain forest, particularly since the mould looked like it had spread across the Denizen’s skin as well.
‘Now for the traditional questions,’ said the Denizen. ‘And the traditional warning. Answer correctly, or you will die where you stand. Or, to tell a truth, die a bit later, because our arrows, while tipped with Nothing-contaminated mud, are not very effective.’
Arthur looked around as the Denizen spoke. There were rustlings in the undergrowth around them, and he spotted several other green-mould-and-tan-wearing Denizens moving up on them. These ones had short bows. Not crossbows, but the simple stave and bowstring kind.
‘We’re friends,’ called out Arthur. ‘We’re looking for the Followers of the Carp.’
‘Can you just wait for the questions?’ asked the Denizen up the tree. ‘Let’s do this properly, please.’
‘Sure,’ said Arthur.
Suzy yawned and sat back down.
‘Denizens,’ she muttered to herself.
‘Are you now or have you ever been a pirate?’ asked the Denizen.
‘No,’ said Arthur.
‘Do you serve the pirate Feverfew in any capacity?’
‘No,’ said Arthur.
‘Do you believe in the Carp?’
‘Uh, I’m not sure what you mean. I want to meet it —’ ‘Is that a ‘no’?’ asked the Denizen.
Arthur took a sideways glance at the bow-wielding Denizens, who were nocking arrows and drawing bowstrings back.
‘We do believe in the Carp, don’t we, Suzy?’
‘Sure,’ said Suzy. ‘I’ll believe whatever you want.’
‘You must have faith in the Carp,’ said the Denizen. This statement was echoed in a whisper all around.
Arthur nodded vigorously several times, indicating that he had tons of faith in the Carp.
‘Now, also for the record, state your names.’
Arthur thought for a moment.