The Search for the Red Dragon - James A. Owen [22]
The companions looked at one another with somber expressions. A formal summoning could only be done by the High King, using the Ring of Power—the great circle of stones they had discovered in the conflict with the Winter King. It was an action Artus would take in only the gravest circumstances.
“Until now?” John guessed.
Bert nodded. “At Samaranth’s suggestion. Every dragon alive has scoured the islands but has found no sign of the missing ships or children. As far as we can determine, they are nowhere in the Archipelago.”
“Could they be in our world?”
“Not likely. They would stand out more, not less. Look at the complications you had with just one little girl.”
“Jamie told us that he remembered an old Archipelago legend about a Crusade,” said John. “Do you know of such a story?”
“It does sound familiar, I’ll admit,” said Bert, “but I can’t put my finger on it. I’m hoping we may be able to ask the Morgaine what it refers to, and get right to the heart of it.”
“You could do that without us,” John pointed out, “and with all these things happening in the Archipelago, I must admit I don’t see how we can help. We came because you asked us to come. But what good are the Caretakers going to be in finding missing ships and kidnapped children?”
“Maybe more than you know, John. You are here because you are supposed to be here, and you are the Caretakers, after all. You well know that the responsibility is far greater than just looking after a book. Even if you were not the Caretakers, you are still friends of the king and queen—and it is in times of peril that one must call on one’s friends, wherever and whoever they may be.”
“Even if they are enemies, according to Laura Glue.”
“Yes,” Bert said. “Even if they are enemies.”
“I can see the smoke coming out of your ears,” Charles said, sitting on the deck next to Jack. “What are you considering so mightily?”
“Something I’ve been thinking about for nine years,” replied Jack. “When we were trying to keep the Winter King from getting his hands on the Geographica…”
“Yes?” said John, coming to sit opposite Charles.
“The first plan was to try destroying it, right?”
“Correct.”
“But we couldn’t, because only the Cartographer could destroy the book.”
“Right again,” said John. “What are you driving at, Jack?”
“Stay with me here,” urged Jack. “Part of the Caretaker’s job is to annotate maps, add new maps, and also to improve the translations attached to existing maps, right?”
“Yes,” John said, “although I haven’t yet had the opportunity to add any maps, only make corrections and notations to the existing ones. What of it?”
“I’m afraid I don’t see it either,” said Charles.
“What he’s asking,” Bert said without turning from the wheel, “is why you didn’t simply vandalize the atlas, or scumble in false notations, or simply pour ink all over the pages, effectively destroying its usefulness, if not the book itself.”
“Well, yes,” said Jack. “That’s exactly what I was wondering.”
Bert turned his head and squinted at them. “Don’t you think that hadn’t occurred to me, or Jules, or Stellan long before you were ever recruited as Caretakers?”
“Then why didn’t you do it?” asked John.
“Would you have been able to?” Bert shot back.
“We tried,” said Jack. “We threw it on the brazier.”
“No,” said Bert, “Nemo threw it on the brazier. And when he’d proven it wouldn’t burn, that was the end of any thoughts you had of destroying, or even damaging, the book.”
“He’s right,” Charles said. “We never even considered it after that.”
“Clever,” noted John. “We’d eliminated the idea in principle, so we overlooked other specific aspects of it that may have solved the problem.”
“Would have solved the problem,” Jack corrected. “We could have solved a major problem with a relatively minor sacrifice.”
“Jules and I had a similar discussion once,” said Bert. “He offered me a hypothetical situation. What