Chimera Book One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Kyp stepped blinking from tunnel Cuthbert had described into a vast wilderness of discarded carpets. The carpets were layered in drifts, their colours clashing, and their patterns hectic. The horizon swam and shimmered, but Kyp could just make out the dark smudge of a distant city.  He set out towards it.  Gritty gusts blew across the hummocks of piled carpets, the wind reeking of cat pee and propelling tumbleweeds of dog hair across the dunes.  The ground felt oddly coarse beneath Kyp’s feet; looking down, he saw to his disgust that the carpets were crunchy with toenail clippings and jumping with fleas.

The towers and turrets of the city soon came to dominate the skyline.  Standing before the city’s high wall, Kyp noticed its surface was encrusted with barnacles and limpets.  There was a crack in the wall just big enough to admit him, which he squeezed through, scrambling down a precarious staircase of rubble.  He walked cautiously through the city’s silent, empty streets.  He stared in wonder at the impressive buildings, their ornate marble carvings of fish, sea serpents and colossal squids encrusted with barnacles.  Kyp felt overwhelmed by the prospect of searching an entire city for the Sin King, his mind showing him Joe Bean behind bars and Jamie’s heartbroken face.

‘YOU!’ a great voice roared suddenly, cracking the air like thunder.

Kyp stared up in confusion at the majestic basilica directly before him.  The grand-looking building was peering down at him, its multitude of circular windows narrowed disapprovingly.

‘YOU THERE!’ the voice boomed again, Kyp watching in stunned amazement as the arched entrance to the basilica contracted suddenly like a valve. ‘WHAT DO YOU WANT?  SPEAK, OR I WILL CRUSH YOU BETWEEN MY FORTIFICATIONS LIKE A GUPPY!’   

‘I came here to find the Sin King,’ spluttered Kyp.

‘SIN KING?’

A violent tremor rocked the city.  The basilica flexed alarmingly.  Its steeples bristled. Kyp feared the building was about to uproot itself from its foundations.

‘SIN KING! THAT’S A NEW ONE!’

Kyp realised the building was laughing. 

 ‘THE LACUNATICS CALL ME THE GHOST REEF.  THE KIRLIANS CALL ME ‘OLD QUAKEFUL’. THE PICAROON WIDOWS KNOW ME AS THE CRUST-STATION.  TO MY FRIENDS, THE TINSNIP GULLS AND THE THIMBLE LIMPETS, I AM KNOWN SIMPLY AS THE HOLM.  THE PEOPLE WHO ONCE LIVED IN MY STREETS KNEW ME BY ANOTHER NAME.  THEY CALLED ME ATLANTIS.’

One of the basilica’s steeples bent all the way over until its tip was just inches from the top of Kyp’s head.  The steeple proceeded to examine him, snuffling around his collar, then, swinging back into the sky, the inquisitive pinnacle seemed to converse with the basilica’s other steeples.  They nodded excitedly.

‘AS I SUSPECTED.  IT’S BEEN MILLENNIA SINCE A HUMAN WALKED MY STREETS. I FELT THE RUSH OF YOUR BLOOD THE MOMENT YOU ARRIVED.  MADAME CHARTREUSE NEVER VENTURES INTO THE BADLANDS. SHE HAS NO INCLINATION FOR THE SICK, THE SAD, OR THE EXTINGUISHED, BUT FOR A LIGHT SUCH AS YOURS, SHE WILL MAKE AN EXCEPTION. YOU’RE NOT SAFE HERE.  SHE WILL COME FOR YOU.’

‘I didn’t come here to hide from her.  I came to ask you where she keeps the children.’

‘THE TINSNIP GULLS TALK OF A GREAT SHIP, OF LIGHTS THAT SHINE FROM ITS DECK LIKE STARS IN THE DARK.’

‘Where is this ship?’

‘ANCHORED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE REDUNDANT SEA, A TERRIBLE PLACE.  BENEATH ITS SURFACE LIE GREAT TANGLED FORESTS OF ONU-WEED.  IF IT TRAPS YOU, IT DRAINS YOU.  IT ROBS YOU OF YOUR FIGHT.  YOU WOULD BE A FOOL TO SEEK OUT THAT DEADENING, CONGESTED BRINE. WITH AN ELSEWHERE LIGHT AS CONSPICUOUS AS YOURS, YOU SHOULD GO IMMEDIATELY TO SAINT ANTHONY. MADAME CHARTREUSE IS NOT ALONE IN COVETING IT. THERE ARE MANY IN THE BADLANDS WHO WOULD SEE YOU ROBBED OF IT, AND WORSE.’