Smuggler's Luck

by S. W. Gunn

  Hain patted him on the shoulder before saying, “I hear ya lad. Well ya both are welcome on my ship for as long as you’ll stay. How long til ya end up married an havin’ little ones?”

  Jarron laughed before declaring, “Well let’s not rush things too much eh? I might have become a one woman man, but I still have too much flying a ship left in me.”

  “Aye lad that’s good cause there ain’t no pilot like ya. I’d have a hard time replacin’ ya.”

  Jarron nodded at him.

  “Well, let’s go to the cockpit an get some food before we get to the lass’ home planet.”

  Hain stomped off and Jarron walked slowly behind him. As soon as they entered the cockpit he could hear Elyse and Feligrin laughing. She was sitting in the pilot’s seat and eating a plate of tortellini. Jarron smiled when he saw her eating them.

  She grinned at him before announcing, “These are wonderful. Feligrin has been introducing me to some things that he says that you like.”

  “Such as?” He asked.

  “Well these, although I love the bread so much more. To be honest we only ate very basic foods at the church, since they are always low on funds. Feligrin called it garlic bread and I have to say it is wonderful tasting, especially with the red sauce on this tortellini. Also he said that I should listen to you play a guitar, although he warned me that it sounds horrible.”

  Jarron chuckled. He was happy that she was being introduced to some of his favorite things but he would have to correct this misconception about the guitar. He was damned good at playing it.

  “Well, I’ll gladly play for you. These two have horrible taste in music but I’m certain that you’ll appreciate it since you are half human.” He said.

  Feligrin interjected, “Or she will want to run screaming from whatever room you play it in.”

  Hain chuckled. Jarron sat down at the nav computer, which he glanced at to check the remaining time left until they arrived. It said they had about an hour left.

  “Well maybe after we are done in Cantua we’ll sit down and I’ll play for you Elyse. I think we might want to trade spots because it is not the wisest thing for you to land yet. After all, you still much to learn about flying before we leap into the hardest thing.” He announced.

  She gave a fake pout and stated, “But this chair is so comfortable!”

  He laughed before saying, “Of course it is since I paid extra gold for it. It’s always wise to have the guy holding everyone’s life in his hands to be comfortable while he’s doing it.”

  Jarron extended a hand to help her from the chair. She grabbed his hand and stood. After she moved to the seat behind the pilot’s seat she sat down. He took his seat.

  “We have about an hour left guys I’m thinking we should come up with a plan to deal with these guys who want to kidnap Elyse and I. We shouldn’t have to be on the run.” Jarron said.

  Elyse commented, “Maybe we could go to the authorities. Kidnapping people is still illegal right?”

  Hain chuckled at her optimism before saying, “Aye but I’ve generally found the GDF to be useless. They are right good at interferin’ with our less than legal shipments but they never seem to be around when we need ‘em.”

  “Well we can keep that option available Hain.” Jarron stated.

  Feligrin interjected, “What we really need to do is capture one of them.”

  Hain replied first, “Well I donna plan to let any of the bastards live long enough to capture ‘em, although I suspect it’d be a waste o’ time anyways unless we got our hands on the leader. The rest o’ ‘em prolly know less than we do.”

  He shrugged. Jarron had to agree that he was probably right. Most of the goons would be just that, idiot goons hired by the leader. He sighed. They quietly waited for some time before the nav computer beeped. They had arrived in orbit near Cantua.

  Chapter 8

  The planet came into view and Jarron was not impressed with it. It was a very barren looking rough ball. He suspected that it was mostly mountainous with not a lot of water. Immediately he felt like it was not a place he would like to visit or live. The scans surprised him when he noted that the planet seemed to be water more on one side than the other. The scans also revealed it was a very sparsely populated planet. He slowly guided the ship towards the planet.

  Turning to Feligrin he asked, “Coords for the spaceport?”

  Feligrin began working on the nav computer and after several seconds of scanning he announced, “It appears there is only one small spaceport that has several open pads. I think this planet doesn’t receive too many visitors.”

  Elyse interrupted by sarcastically saying, “Ever.”

  Jarron chuckled. He got the coords from Feligrin and then slowly began to guide the ship downwards through the planet. With places like this Jarron found that they never had spaceport broadcasts of any kind. He would be on his own to find a landing pad. The small town that they were headed towards came into view. It looked very ramshackle. No doubt they had little in the way of money there. Jarron visually scanned the small spaceport. It was just six open air landing pads, all of which were available. He settled the ship softly on one of the pads. Once the ship was resting on the pad Jarron unbuckled and stood up.

  Hain announced, “Alrighty lad. Feligrin an I are gonna head off to take care o’ dis delivery. We’ll only be gone a few days. You an the lass have fun.”

  He said the word fun sarcastically. Jarron suspected that Hain could tell by what they saw, this planet was probably not one of the more fun places to visit least yet live on.

  “Hain, could I get some more gold? I ended up spending all of mine on clothing for Elyse.” Jarron asked.

  Hain nodded at him and pulled several gold coins from his coin-purse. He handed them to Jarron.

  “Give us a few minutes to pack some clothing for our time here.” Jarron announced.

  He extended his hand, which Elyse took, and they walked out of the cockpit and to their rooms. Jarron quickly packed a duffel bag with several changes of clothing and some hygiene items that he would need. The scans of the planet did not give him the belief that there would be very many hospitable places to stay and he was not entire sure where they would even be staying for the visit but he was sure that Elyse knew. He left his room and went to find her. She was packing several items into two of the bags that she had from their shopping expedition. She smiled as he entered the room. The body language that she was moving about with let him know that she was nervous about the trip. Thankfully it was not so bad that her emotions came to him. After she finished packing her things he collected her bags.

  “How far is your church from here?” He asked.

  “It’s a bit of a walk, the church is along the mountainside at the outskirts of town.”

  He nodded. Hopefully it was not too far to walk since he would be carrying all of their bags there and probably back later.

  Elyse again smiled and said, “Ready.”

  Jarron collected her two bags and headed towards the exit of the ship, with Elyse not far behind him. Once they made it to the exit he saw Hain and Feligrin waiting. She gave both a hug. He set the bags down.

  “I’ll miss you guys while we are here, please be safe.” She said to them.

  Jarron noticed that even Hain hugged her properly. It caused him to crack a grin.

  “Alright lad, we’ll see ya in a few days. Ya both have fun an be careful.” Hain announced.

  Jarron nodded at him and then reached for his holster and belt. Elyse gently touched his hand and stopped him from grabbing the belt.

  “You won’t need that here.” She stated.

  Jarron was hesitant to leave without it but he decided to listen to her. He pulled his hand down before picking the bags back up and leading her off the ship. The fresh mountain air of the planet struck him. It was colder than he had anticipated. He looked at Elyse and saw that she was smiling broadly.

  “I’ve always loved the fresh air here.” She announced.
>
  “It’s nice.”

  Once they cleared the landing pad and slowly began to walk into the town Hain fired up the engines of the Keg and it slowly lifted into the air. Jarron watched it take flight. It was gone soon. He sighed because he loved to fly and would miss it while being stuck on a planet’s surface for some time. Turning back to Elyse he saw that she was watching him. She gave him her widest smile.

  “I am glad you’re here with me.” She stated.

  He grinned at her before saying, “Me too, let’s get going.”

  She turned towards the small town and started walking. As they moved through the town she was greeted many times by the people who lived there. It would seem that she had healed many of them and they missed her a lot since her disappearance. Jarron noted that she did not tell any of them that she was kidnapped, or even try to explain where she had been. They slowly made their way through the town and to the pathway that led to the church. Jarron was able to finally spot it. It was a massive stone cathedral that was set on the mountainside. There were no conveyances or transport methods at all. Everyone walked everywhere in this town, probably throughout the entire planet as well. Jarron found that he was very happy that they would only be staying for a few days at most. They slowly walked up the pathway and to the entrance of the large building. It looked very much like the old drawings Jarron saw in school, an ancient medieval building that held a monastery. It was dark brown in color and clearly needed serious maintenance. The door to the building was made of heavy dark brown wood and it had a large brass knocker on it. Elyse reached up to the knocker and firmly tapped the door with it several times. After a few minutes the door slowly opened and an elderly human was standing there. He wore a plain undyed robe made of some rough material. Jarron could not tell was the material was but it reminded him of wool. The old man was almost completely bald, with shock white hair on the sides of his head. His face was covered in wrinkles and he had crystal blue eyes. Upon seeing Elyse his face lit up.

  “Elyse darling!” He said happily.

  “Brother Renard.” She said before hugging him.

  “Where have you been young lady? It’s been nearly three years since you just disappeared.” He asked, his voice laden with concern.

  “It’s a long story Brother Renard. Could we call a meeting of the church so I can tell everyone?”

  He nodded at her and opened the door fully. It was then that he saw Jarron.

  “Who is this strapping young man?” He asked.

  She paused, Jarron was certain that she was thinking of an appropriate response, before saying, “He’s a close friend.”

  Brother Renard gave a nod before saying, “Well come out of the cold the both of you.”

  The interior of the building was poor lit and very barren. It had virtually no décor. The floors and walls were all made of the same stone as the building itself. He guided them to a large hall that had a podium at one end and several dozen pews that lined both sides. Jarron was left to deduce that this was where they held their meetings, both religious and otherwise.

  “You two sit down here. I will call everyone.” Brother Renard said.

  He slowly shuffled down a hallway. Elyse gestured for Jarron to take a seat in one of the lead pews, which he did. He had never been in a religious building and found it to be somewhat unnerving. The little that he heard about religious groups was that they could either be very warm and caring or unrelenting in pursuit of conversion. Based on his opinion of Elyse, he was left to believe that this place was probably the first. After a few minutes of sitting in nervous silence people started to enter the meeting hall, the first was a young human woman.

  As soon as she caught sight of them she called out, “Elyse!”

  She ran quickly to Elyse and hugged her tightly.

  “Ramona!” Elyse replied joyfully.

  Jarron could hear her crying as she hugged the woman. The woman Elyse called Ramona looked just a few years younger than Elyse. Jarron guessed that she was about 18 years old and she stood a few inches shorter than Elyse. She wore a simple undyed dress and a pair of sandals. Her hair was black, her eyes dark brown and her skin was a soft brown color. Jarron had no doubt that they were close friends.

  After they hugged for about a minute the woman turned to Jarron and asked, “Who’s this Elyse?”

  Jarron gave his best smile and he stood.

  He answered, “My name is Jarron and I’m a friend of Elyse.”

  “A friend?” Ramona asked cautiously.

  “Ramona I will explain everything once Father Lapella is here.” Elyse stated.

  As if on cue a voice called out, “Father Lapella is here and he would love to hear what happened to his adopted daughter.”

  He turned to look at the source of the voice. It came from a large barrel of a man and Jarron was immediately intimidated by him. He stood about 2 meters tall. He had shortly cropped gray hair and dark green eyes. Jarron guessed that he was about fifty years old. He wore the same robe as all of the men in the church here did and on his feet were the same sandals. As soon as Elyse saw him she ran and hugged him tightly.

  “Father Lapella,” She said, “I missed you so much.”

  The man returned her hug before releasing her and saying, “So please tell us what had happened to you.”

  He walked over to the front of the meeting hall and sat down on a chair that was resting in front of the podium. Elyse sat down on the pew next to where Jarron was standing. He took a seat next to her.

  She began to speak, “Yes, three years ago I left the church to go pick up some food, as you requested Father. When I made my way down to the town I was kidnapped by strange men in dark brown robes. They locked me in a weird box and held me captive for almost three years. I guess the box was some sort of stasis thing. I stayed in that box until they released me on a strange planet. When they released me they exposed me to Jarron here, along with his friends. Apparently they hired him and his friends to transport me unknowingly in order to test both of us. Jarron and his friends helped me escape. After we hid for a few days we came here as soon as we could.”

  The audience appeared very shocked at her brief story.

  Father Lapella was the first to speak, “Why would they do this?”

  Elyse replied, “Father Lapella it is because I have the Gift.”

  “As does Ramona here and yet no one has kidnapped her.” He replied.

  Elyse shrugged as she said, “True but she never leaves the church. I guess since I left very rarely they took the opportunity to kidnap me.”

  “But why?” He asked, even more confused.

  “Let me show you why.”

  She stood and gestured for Jarron to stand as well. He immediately stood. As soon as he was up he was unable to move. Elyse pointed towards his duffel bag, which responded by rising into the air. She let it lift upwards and then slowly brought it back down. The pulsing sensation left Jarron and he was able to move again.

  “What in the world was that?” One of the men behind them asked.

  Elyse explained, “For some reason, whenever I’m close to Jarron here I’m able to perform insane things like lifting boulders and projecting force fields. We believe that the people who kidnapped me were searching not for me but for both of us. We think that they plan to somehow perform scientific experiments on us, although we don’t know what for.”

  The room was quiet. Jarron thought that there was no doubt they were shocked by this revelation.

  After a long pause Father Lapella was the first to speak, “Well it sounds all very unusual. I’m just happy that you are safe Elyse. Have you returned to us to stay?”

  She shook her head as she stated, “It’s not safe for me to stay long. We found out from Hain’s cousin that there is a bounty to capture us. I just had to return and let you all know that I was alive.”

  Father Lapella frowned.

  “That is not good. You both could stay here with us and you would be perfectly safe within the ground
s of the church.” He announced.

  Jarron did not wish to stay indefinitely in this church. He was certain that they were nice people but he would go insane without being able fly the Keg and live his normal life.

  In a very soft tone she said, “I understand Father Lapella and we appreciate the offer but I don’t think it is wise for us to stay, plus I doubt Jarron could handle the lifestyle here.”

  Jarron nodded at her.

  “Alright, but we will gladly provide you with a safe haven for however long you plan to stay.”

  “Just a few days, once our friends return from a delivery we’ll be leaving with them.” Elyse responded.

  Father Lapella stood up before declaring, “Very well my dear let us get your friend a room. Your room is still as you left it.”

  Elyse stood up again, which Jarron followed and stood up as well. Father Lapella led them through one of the side hallways and stopped at a door.

  “Jarron this is one of our guest rooms, you can stay here.” He announced.

  Elyse took her bags from him and smiled before she stated, “I will come back in a few minutes and get you.”

  He nodded and walked into the room. It was a very basic room. It had a small window that opened out into the front of the church. Against the wall beneath that window was a small bed. Jarron gave the mattress a test push with his hand, it was quite firm. The walls were unpainted and the floor barren. He was quite glad they would not be staying very long. There was a door that led into a restroom. Jarron took a peek in and saw only a shower, a toilet and a small sink with a tiny circular mirror. He set up his hygiene items and then dropped his duffel bag near the bed before sitting down on it, where he waited. After a brief wait the door opened and Elyse poked her head through. She smiled when their eyes met before opening the door fully and entering. Her friend Ramona was with her.

  “Jarron I never did get to introduce you properly. This is my best friend Ramona.” Elyse said.

  He stood and extended his hand. Ramona shook his hand.

  “Hello it’s nice to meet you Ramona.” Jarron said.