The Lost Cities by Dale Peck

Author:Dale Peck
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Published: 2007-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

The Parrot Speaks

Karl Olafson had made off with Osterbygd’s three largest ships, leaving the colony only a rickety boat that was basically a long canoe, and a second craft that looked as though it had been cobbled together from pieces of driftwood. Susan opted for the canoe (it had sides for one thing, and the waves had grown choppy as the day progressed) but she regretted her choice once she climbed aboard and her tennis shoes splashed in two inches of icy water. The wood was crumbly and smelled like gym socks, the bung corked with a fistful of grass. The craft survived the journey, however, and once in Drift House she, Mario, and Uncle Farley met with Iussi, Gunnar, and Iacob for a brief conference in the music room.

Iussi stood in the middle of the room and stared at the rug and the chandelier and everything in between. He wandered to a table and picked up a glass paperweight.

“Amazing! Your land must be fantastically wealthy.”

“Um, yes,” Uncle Farley said. “I suppose it is. And my own family is blessed with a certain amount of luxury. But perhaps we should discuss the, ah—”

“The Amulet of Babel,” Susan put in, impatient to learn more.

Iussi nodded. He set the paperweight down. “There is little to tell. Karl Olafson came back with it from the last Nordseta. He had taken it from the little people—”

“The Qaanaaq,” Iacob cut in here. He was standing in a corner, and Susan had almost forgotten he was in the room.

Iussi glanced at him uneasily. “Yes,” he said, “the Qaanaaq. I myself did not see it. Karl Olafson guarded it jealously. He wore it beneath his shirt, on a length of seal intestine.”

Gross, Susan thought. Just—gross.

“Karl was a different man after he came back,” Iussi continued. “Swaggering and starting fights with anyone who crossed his path. Then stories began to come from Karl’s house. They said he had stopped sleeping. That he stopped eating as well, and spoke languages no one could understand.”

At this, a look went around the room, from Susan to Mario to Uncle Farley, but none of them said anything. Iussi’s eyes followed the silent exchange, at the end of which he smiled slightly and nodded.

“I see these stories are significant to you. Very well then, I will not ask you to tell me about things of which you are loath to speak. If someone will show me where the firepit is, my men and I will begin to prepare a bit of sustenance for our journey. We have dried fish. If you have water, we can reconstitute it.”

Uncle Farley made a bit of a face. “Actually, you can hold on to your, ah, dried fish.” He put his hand around Iussi and steered him toward the door. “I have a rather remarkable woman in my employ who can whip up the most amazing dishes from seemingly nothing.”

“If they are like the ‘pick nick’ you served us earlier,” Gunnar said, smacking his hands together, “we shall be most grateful indeed.

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