Stormdragons

Chapter 21

Uncle Toby listened enraptured as Joe told his story.

'Go on, go on,' he urged whenever Joe paused for breath.

He was delighted to hear about his appearance in the illustrated copy of The Arabian Nights.

'Appearing in one of my own favourite books! That's marvellous,' he said with a grin.

When Joe described being chained to Madame Lefevre's wall, Uncle Toby thumped the table.

'I never trusted that bloody woman. She's beautiful, that's true, but there was always something creepy about her!'

His face fell as Joe told him about the fight on the cliff.

'So you're not sure whether Clare made it or not?' he said.

Joe shook his head.

Uncle Toby looked thoughtful.

'Well, those beasts generate an awful lot of force. My boat flew like a bloody aeroplane. There's a good chance she was lifted through.'

He put a hand on Joe's shoulder.

'Finish your story, Joe. Then we'll start planning how to find her. I've made good contacts in the nine months I've been here.'

'Nine months? But you'd only been missing a few days when I came through and that was less than a week ago.'

Uncle Toby's bushy eyebrows lifted in surprise.

'The worlds must operate on different time speeds,' he said.

The two were silent for a moment, pondering the implications of what they had just discovered. Joe was struck by the awful thought that he might be aging rapidly, like some unfortunate character in a sci-fi horror movie. Uncle Toby ran a hairy hand through his beard.

'I'll refill our drinks. Then you can continue with your story. When you're done, we'll study the orb together and try to figure out our next move.'

Uncle Toby pushed his stool back and got to his feet. Joe watched him as he walked across to the jars of wine, honey-beer and citrus water. He noticed with pride and affection that Uncle Toby did not look at all out of place here in Sinbad's hideaway among Sinbad's motley crew. His beard had grown. His skin had been darkened by exposure to the sun. His hands were rough with work aboard ship. He looked as if he belonged.

One of the crew, seated with friends at a table laden with food, greeted Uncle Toby and asked him a question. Joe heard Uncle Toby explain, with a thumb jerked in his direction, that he was his nephew, a good lad who'd travelled a long way to find him and bring him family news.

'Here,' said Uncle Toby on his return, 'Try the wine this time. Top it up with plain water and it won't taste so sharp.'

Joe followed his advice.

'Now, what happened next?' asked Uncle Toby.

Joe began the second part of his saga.

He was telling Uncle Toby about his fight with Kemal when the side door opened. Sinbad entered with two of the crew. They hadn't been able to resist going to the celebrations at the palace and hiding among the crowd.

Sinbad was neither particularly large, nor particularly handsome. In fact at first sight it was difficult to differentiate him from members of his crew. He wore stout sandals and simple clothes. His head was covered in a plain white bandana and the only pieces of jewellery he wore were a silver ring on his right hand and a gold earring in his left ear. On closer inspection, however, he was cleaner and neater than the others. He had no tattoos. His beard was trimmed and well oiled. He was also impeccably well mannered. Above all, his bright eyes shone with restless intelligence.