The Search for the Red Dragon - James A. Owen [14]
“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