The Navigator, page 28
"Ptolem!"
"Yes, my Queen?"
"Our guests look very tired. Why don't you show them to their rooms so they can rest and ready themselves to meet my husband?"
"Of course, my Queen."
"And Petal." Sanima smiled. "I will come to visit you shortly."
- 48 -
Sanima stood outside King Hanno's private quarters. She was hesitant to enter. No one - not even the Queen - dared to bother the King if he wanted to be alone, and it was always difficult to tell if Hanno wanted to be alone. After spending twenty years as a tyrant, King Hanno had become rather reclusive.
Two tall columns stood on either side of the entrance to Hanno's quarters. Wrapped around both of them was a statue of a long, sinuous dragon. The dragon's face hung down from the center of the entranceway, guarding the door. Its bulbous eyes were two giant jade stones.
Sanima stared into the dragon's polished eyes from a few inches away. Its eyes were specifically intended to mimic hers.
"You may enter. . ."
She heard the King's soft voice echo through his chambers. She checked the lay of her dress and forced herself to smile as she walked inside.
King Hanno's chambers were decorated with hundreds of tiny trinkets he'd spent a lifetime collecting: art-deco lamps, antique clocks, antediluvian pottery, various pointillist paintings, even a functional computer. All of the items were immaculate and neatly marked with their date of manufacture and country of origin. The King's collection was his most prized possession and maintaining it was one of his few hobbies. Admiring Sanima and collecting and refurbishing old relics were the only activities that brought him any sense of enjoyment.
Sanima took a moment to admire the King's credenza. On top of it was a row of porcelain plates. Each was stenciled with an intricate blue-leaf pattern. She could see her reflection in the plate on the far right.
The King was in the very rear of his quarters, tucked into his study. That was the one room Sanima would never enter without being invited. That room was the King's private refuge, and one never knew what he'd be doing in there. The last time Sanima walked in unannounced the King had been sitting at his desk, trapping flies in his hands. He carefully pinned them down and meticulously pulled off each of their wings. He then watched the flies hopelessly scurry across his desktop, giggling at their sorry condition.
This time, when Sanima nudged the door open, the King was doing something less macabre. He was pouring over one of Giovanni's old maps that depicted Delos and Syracuse. All around the two islands he'd placed little figurines meant to represent infantry units and ships. He was pushing them across the paper sea, mentally planning out his counterattack.
"My King."
Sanima curtseyed before stepping into the room. She walked up behind the King and kissed him on the cheek.
King Hanno was an unremarkable looking man. He had a thick beard that hid his mouth entirely. His skin was tan and his hair was curly and brown. His eyes were as large as an owl's and just as brooding. He had a slight limp in his step from being shot in the leg in a botched assassination attempt.
King Hanno had savored coming up with a fitting punishment for his would-be assassin. He eventually settled on covering the man with honey, tying him up, and leaving him just outside the palace walls. Over the course of two days, Syracuse's rats devoured the man alive. His screams echoed up from the courtyard, into Hanno's study. The King spent hours sitting at his desk, happily listening to the man's desperate screams, as if they were a pleasing concerto.
Sanima glanced down at the old map. "Why don't you put aside the war for now? When you fixate on it, it depresses you."
"Ah, but all is war. War is everything."
Sanima caressed the King's shoulders. His royal robes were made of soft, blue silk.
"Your nomad guests have arrived. They're getting ready to meet you for dinner."
"I don't want to entertain company today. I am. . .very tired. My headaches have returned."
"Then I will entertain them for you."
Hanno rubbed his chin. "The girl was with them?"
"Yes."
"Is she what I have long sought? Is she the key?"
"I don't know what she is. She looks like a normal girl. But I think the woman who came with her is a P.R.K. spy. When I accused her, she nearly fainted."
"That matters little, either way. Confine all the visitors but the child to their rooms until I say otherwise."
"And the child?"
"Give her a tour of my collection. And when you're done, show her the puzzle box. If she's what I believe her to be, then she should be able to open it."
"Of course, my King." Sanima curtseyed.
***
Lhan paced back and forth in front of the bedroom door. Dinner time had come and gone hours ago, and he and Quill had been kept locked inside of their little bedroom with no explanation. He tried the doors every few minutes to see if they'd been opened. A nervous perspiration was beading up on his forehead. His hands shook from his exasperation.
Quill was nervous as well. She was deep in the throws of a panic attack. Her anxiety was making the bedroom expand and contract with each heartbeat. She tried to focus on the various items around the room; the golden tassels on the pillows that were strewn across her bed, the sumptuous satin curtains that hung over the windows, the intricate weave of an Oriental rug that lay on the floor. She needed to focus on those things because every time her mind went blank, she could hear the hopeless wails of the prisoners chained up in the courtyard.
"I can't believe they've locked us in like thieves!" Lhan shook the golden doorknobs and kicked the doorstop. "Goddamnit!"
"Don't kick the door." Quill sat up in bed, still playing with the tassels on her pillow. "It's not going to help us."
"Well what should I do?" Lhan cringed at a death-like wail that echoed in through the window. "What's the plan?"
"The plan? We wait here until they open the doors. Then we meet King Hanno."
"You still think he's going to meet with us? We're sealed in this room!"
Lhan scurried over to the wall. He yanked aside the satin drapes.
"There are even bars on the windows!"
Quill glanced at the window bars. She hadn't noticed them before. They'd been hidden by the curtains. The five iron bars were meticulously stenciled with silver and gold, as if to downplay their function.
"It's not that bad."
Another scream sounded off two stories below.
Quill shuddered.
"The King is holding us hostage. We're his prisoners until he gets what he wants. We could be locked in here forever."
"This isn't the first time I've been locked inside of a palace. . .although Antigony's room was nicer." Quill forced a nervous giggle. "I liked her style."
"So? How did you escape from her palace?"
"The windows weren't barred."
"Well that's just great!"
"Calm down, Lhan. And sit down or something. You're making me crazy with your pacing."
"Why should I be calm? Are you calm?"
"No, but you're making me feel worse. What's gotten into you? You're always level-headed."
"I thought you had a plan or something when we came here. I didn't think we were going to walk into a prison cell."
Quill's leg shook. She tried to stop it, and her hands, from jiggling.
"What did you expect me to do?"
"You're Quill. You've survived being lost at sea. You escaped from Smaaland. You've been chased by pirates and the S.S.S. This - this kind of stuff is what you do. Now do something!"
A few seconds passed in tense silence.
"Tada. What do you think I can do? Even if I could somehow get us out of this room, this palace is full of soldiers. If we try to escape they'll string us up in the yard. We just have to wait. If King Hanno doesn't let us go, then Rho will eventually come for us."
"This island's a fortress. It will take years for Rho to rescue us. If he even bothers trying! What did I get myself into with you? What the hell am I doing here?"
Quill watched Lhan continue to pace back and forth like a caged animal. A haunting wail from outside made her think about the girl locked in the cage a few stories below. Her eyes haunted Quill, two jaundice-yellow orbs.
"I don't know, Lhan. What are you doing here then? Why did you come along?"
"I came here for you!"
"Then you should be okay. We're together."
"I didn't want to die with you. I thought you had planned something, or would have thought of something by now."
"Like what? What do you think I did during those things you listed – like when I was caged in Smaaland? I sat there like I'm sitting here now – terrified. You knew that. You were on the boat with me when Naris was chasing us. You saw what I did then. I didn't think of, or do, anything brave or clever. I'm not a Kommando. I freaked out. Why did you think this would be any different?"
"I don't know. . .I thought you'd be different. . ."
"How would I be different?"
"I don't know!" Lhan sat down on the bed. "You were always alluring to me. Mischievous. Hanging around drug dealers and pirates. I'd never been with that kind of woman. And the way you strung me along for so long - teased me - you seemed so strong. Unobtainable. That's why I followed you."
"You came here with me because you thought I was. . .titillating?"
"No. I was willing to come here with you because I thought you could handle yourself. I thought you were tough. But whenever I need you to be that tough-girl, bitch you fall apart."
"That was an act. I'm not a badass or whatever you made me out to be. I'm forced to act that way most of the time because everyone I meet hates me since I'm from Kudu. If I acted like a submissive fawn, I'd have been raped or killed the day I stepped onto the Raft."
"Well I need you to play that girl right now. I need you to be strong because I'm going to crack in here. I hate being locked in! I - I can't breathe. I get - what's it called - claustrophobic!"
Another horrible cry echoed up from the courtyard. Lhan clasped his hands over his ears.
"I'm being as strong as I can." Quill's panic was worsening. The whole bedroom was a blur. "I'm having an anxiety attack so why don't you lie down, chill out, and stop yelling at me!"
"Damnit, Quill! I had a good life before I hooked up with you! Now I'm going to wind up hanging from the gallows."
"Fuck you, Lhan. I never asked you to come along. Your life was always so easy. Your dad, or Mordecai, or someone else always took care of you. Well, this is my life! This is what it's like being me. Sucks, doesn't it? I have no idea what's going to happen to me day-to-day. I haven't since I left Kudu. So I'm just so sorry about you and your situation."
Quill looked like she was about to cry. Lhan took a deep breath, put his hand on her back, and rubbed her spine.
"I'm sorry. I just can't live like this. When I came out to the Deep Star I thought I could just save you - you know? I wanted to save you. We'd have our little adventure and then we'd settle down. You'd be content. But that's not what happened. You aren't going to settle with me. If we get out of here, you're going to keep following Petal wherever she pushes you."
"Yeah." Quill blinked through her panic. Her thoughts cleared a little. "I am."
"Then we can't be together."
"Fine."
"But. . .Why did you give in and finally kiss me?"
Quill shrugged. She looked over at Lhan with sad, almost glassed eyes.
"I was drunk. We both were."
"Don't blame it on that. We've kissed since then – plenty of times."
"I don't know. You want your old life back and that's fine, Lhan. I can't give you what you want. At least not now. Look at me. I'm not ready."
Lhan stood up and walked over to the windows. He peered through the bars, out at the twinkling night sky and the black, featureless sea.
"I'm sorry. This was all selfish. A stupid stunt I pulled because I wanted to play the hero. But I can't be a hero. I don't even think I want to be one."
"It's fine." Quill reached over and touched his clammy hand. "You are a hero. I never would have known about Wyman or the S.S.S. if you hadn't come. And I'm still really thankful that you came here with me. I'd be freaking out all alone if you hadn't. Your composure has kept me balanced all this time. It's fine if you can't keep it up right now. You're only human."
"Thanks." Lhan sat down and put his head in his hands. "I'm so scared. I've never been this scared in my life. I honestly think I might cry."
"It's okay. Cry if you want. You don't have to be strong. Neither of us has to be."
Lhan curled up in bed next to Quill.
Another hopeless shriek echoed across the palace courtyard.
***
Petal stared through the windshield of an ancient automobile. The car's chassis had been completely refurbished and polished. It now had a buffed, red shine. Its sleek paneling and black-and-white tires looked pristine. The chrome trim and crystal headlights were bulbous and wavy in a classic antediluvian style that had been popular right up to the Flood.
Petal had never seen an actual car before. She only knew what they were from stories and pictures. The closest she'd come to riding in one was the golf cart on Tinian. Now she was standing in a garage full of cars. There were Jeeps, SUVs, limousines, and sedans parked all around her. At the back of the garage there was a fully restored locomotive steam engine.
The garage was the last stop on Petal's tour of King Hanno's grand collection. Queen Sanima had been her tour guide through the private, palace museum. She led Petal by hand through room after room of paintings, sculptures, juke-boxes, stereos, furniture, grandfather clocks, kitchen appliances, folksy knickknacks, typewriters, automobiles, ancient documents, and even a fully-equipped fighter biplane.
Petal glanced at each of the old artifacts, occasionally pausing here and there to check one out more closely. Although some of the more fantastical objects like the biplane caught her eye, all in all, she was unimpressed.
The collection bored her.
The cars, in particular, were the most boring to Petal. They just looked like big, rather ugly, boxes of metal. She didn't understand why they were so sought after. She leaned against one of the automobiles' rear bumper and tried to push the car forward.
The ancient sedan weighed a ton. It didn't budge no matter how hard she pushed it.
"It's not a wagon. It has an engine inside of it. It runs on diesel."
"I know." Petal kicked the car's tire and yawned.
Sanima threw back her hair. "This garage is the last part of the King's collection. The end of the tour. What did you think?"
"It was nice."
"Nice? King Hanno has the largest collection of antediluvian relics outside of Hesperia. You'll never see anything else like it."
Petal nodded.
Sanima frowned.
"You are a princess of very few words. Has anyone ever told you that?"
"No one's ever called me a princess."
Sanima eyed a park bench that lay against the far wall. The bench was made from slats of maple and concrete. Above it was an old traffic light. It had been restored and wired up to function. All of the walls on the right side of the garage were painted and scaffolded to recreate the look of an urban intersection from before the Flood.
"Let's sit down."
Petal followed Sanima over to the bench and took a seat. The wood was highly uncomfortable. Her flesh tried to sink through the gaps in the maple.
"Would you like a glass of water or some juice?" Sanima pulled a little compact mirror out of her pocket and squinted at her reflection.
"No. Where's Gaveovelli Giovanni? I thought he was part of the King's collection."
"Hahaha. That's very funny. You have an interesting sense of humor."
Petal stared at Sanima, puzzled.
"Giovanni lives in the palace keep." Sanima pressed her lips together to even out her lipstick. "He has his own library up there and a beautiful private study."
"Can I go see him now?"
"You're very eager. Why is it you seek him?"
"I want to ask him about the hidden land of ice. Where it is. What's there. How I can get there."
"Another child enchanted by ridiculous tales of the Khoi. Just like my husband. Just like Giovanni. . ."
"Huh? Khoi?"
