Seven Ancient Wonders - Matthew Reilly [141]
The next morning, Wizard and Lily left Ireland.
As they boarded a private plane at Cork International Airport, Lily said, ‘Wizard, where did Daddy go?’
‘As I said, to tie up some loose ends.’
‘What about after that? When he’s done, where will he go?’
Wizard eyed her sideways. ‘I actually don’t know, Lily. Only you know. For all our safety, Jack wouldn’t reveal his final destination. But he did tell me that he once gave you a riddle which, when solved, would reveal the location of his new home. So now it’s all up to you, little one. If you want to find him, you must solve the riddle.’
GREAT SANDY DESERT
NORTH-WESTERN AUSTRALIA
25 APRIL, 2006, 1130 HOURS
The Toyota four-wheel drive zoomed along the empty desert highway.
In the passenger seat, Lily gazed out at the most inhospitable landscape she had ever seen. Wizard drove, with Zoe in the back. Lily shook her head. If there was any place on Earth further from civilisation, she didn’t know it.
Dry barren hills stretched away in every direction. Sand crept out onto the desert highway, as if eventually it would consume it.
But it was an odd kind of sand, orange-red in colour, just like the soil that had been in West’s jar.
They hadn’t seen another car in hours. In fact, the last living thing they’d seen was a big saltwater crocodile basking on a virtually dry riverbank under a bridge they’d crossed a couple of hours ago.
A sign on the bridge had revealed the river to be named, somewhat appropriately, the River Styx, after the river in Hell. A three-way junction a few miles after it offered three options. To the left: Simpson’s Crossing, 50 miles; straight: Death Valley, 75 miles; while going right would ultimately take them to a place called Franklin Downs.
‘Go straight,’ Lily had said. ‘Death Valley.’
Now, two hours later, she said, ‘It has to be here somewhere. . . ’
She checked her riddle:
My new home is home to both tigers and crocodiles.
To find it, pay the boatman, take your chances with the dog and
journey
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell.
There you will find me, protected by a great villain.
Lily said, ‘“Pay the boatman, take your chances with the dog.” In Greek mythology, when you entered the underworld, you first had to cross the River Styx. To do that, you paid the boatman and then took your chances against Cerberus, the dog guarding Hades. We’ve found the River Styx.’
Wizard and Zoe exchanged looks.
‘And Death Valley?’ Zoe asked. ‘What makes you think that?’
‘The next two lines in the riddle, “Into the jaws of Death/Into the mouth of Hell”, they’re from a poem that Wizard taught me, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”. In the poem, the 600 members of the Light Brigade charge into “the Valley of Death”. Death Valley.’
Minutes later, a series of low buildings rose out of the heat haze.
The town of Death Valley.
A weatherworn sign at the entry to the town read:
WELCOME TO
DEATH VALLEY
HOME OF THE MIGHTY
DEATH VALLEY TIGERS FOOTBALL TEAM!
‘Home to both tigers and crocodiles,’ Lily said.
Death Valley turned out to be a ghost town—just a cluster of old wooden shacks and farms with crumbling dirt driveways, long-abandoned.
They drove round for a while.
Lily gazed out the window, her eyes searching for a clue. ‘Now we need to find a “great villain” . . . a great villain . . . There! Wizard! Stop the car!’
They stopped at the end of an ultralong dirt driveway. It was so long, the farmhouse to which it belonged lay over the horizon.
At the point where the driveway met the road, however, a rusty old mailbox sat on a post. Like many such mailboxes in rural Australia, this one was a home-made work of art.
Constructed of old tractor parts and a rusted oil barrel, it was fashioned in the shape of a mouse . . . complete with ears and whiskers. Only this mouse wore, of all things, a crown.
‘A Mouse King. . . ’ she breathed. ‘The Mouse King. This is it.’
‘How do you know?’ Zoe asked.
Lily smiled at the in-joke. ‘The Mouse King is a great villain. He’s the villain in The Nutcracker Suite.’
Their