by Jez Cajiao
I admired her in awe, my eyes following the curved hull, the sinuous lines of the stored rigging, and the elegant flow of the deck. From where I stood, I could see truly little of the ship, but damn, it was beautiful.
If I were to compare it to anything, I would have said that the current ships made me think of the boxy car from the Bond movie that went underwater and had the jets, and this… this, in comparison, looked like a dolphin.
Literally. If one was a bad adaptation of design, and the other was an animal that had evolved perfectly for life in its environment, that was the difference.
I moved back quickly, wanting to see more.
The hull was long and sleek, with a flat bottom and stabilizing fins to rest on. The glossy wood curved up gracefully, bellied out, then flowed back in to support a beautifully carved railing that encircled the deck. A raised cabin stood proudly at the back, with forward-sweeping staircases that flowed down to the deck, melding gently into the superstructure. Two sets of sails were affixed on the sides, but they were folded in now and gave the impression of wings curled up to a birds body, all integral, as opposed to the ‘stuck on anywhere’ appearance of the human-designed vessels. Even the engines looked almost organic, the way they flowed up and out.
Add to that, the entire thing was composed of dark oak and copper banding, and even green with age, and covered in dust and debris, with several honest-to-god trees growing up around the ship‒and in one case, up from the hold‒and vines covering half of it, I immediately fell in love with it.
“Holy shit…” I whispered, shaking my head as I looked the ship over.
“Yeah, she’s a thing of beauty…” Arrin agreed, grinning appreciatively up at the hulking form.
I looked more carefully, and soon spotted a series of ladders that rose up the side of the ship. They were recessed, but like everything else, they were carved and designed beautifully.
I eased over to the side of the ship again and reached up, sweeping away debris from the recessed section to clear it for my hand. I tucked my fingers in, feeling the hand grip that had been carved there, and judging from the depth and the height of the recessed section, I could tell that it’d be great for feet as well as hands… then swore.
I had one goddamn hand. How the hell was I going to climb with only one frigging hand? Considering the arch of the ships, I’d be climbing outwards as I went, and I would just fall off!
“It’s okay, boss,” Grizz said reassuringly, clearly understanding the problem. “I’ve got you.” He reached into a bag and pulled out a substantial coil of rope.
“Great; thanks, Grizz,” I muttered, trying not to be rude. My triumphant arrival on the deck of this beautiful work of art was going to be getting hauled up the side like a sack of sodding potatoes.
“Look on the bright side,” Yen said quietly.
“There’s a bright side?” I groused.
“At least you’re conscious. Lydia and Bane are still out, so they’re literally getting dragged up there…”
“Wonderful,” I muttered, then shook my head and told myself to stop being such a whiny little bitch.
“Seriously, though, thank you, Grizz,” I repeated, forcing a smile. “Everyone else is okay, right?” I asked again, and Yen confirmed it.
“They are, although the gnomes are a mix of pissed and pleased; not only did that design fail, which the older and more sane gnomes are upset about, but they know we’ve got little time, so they can’t salvage the remains of their vehicle.”
“Fuck!” I hung my head, momentarily lulled by the scene of beauty and peace before us. “No, we don’t. That damn thing had to have made enough noise to wake the dead!” I snarled, galvanized to action. I turned, looking to Yen first.
“Yen, get everyone aboard, right fucking now. Tell the gnomes to leave anything they have to, save any artifacts that are clearly magical and within easy reach, but tell them if they can’t get it aboard in five minutes, leave it.” I ordered, getting a decisive nod and a respectful smile as she hurried away.
“Arrin, get your arse up on that ship and start getting it free. Even if you have to burn the goddamn vines off it, I don’t care; just don’t fuck the ship up.”
“What about me, boss?” Grizz asked, and I grinned at him.
“You’re going to help me get up there, and then we’re going to make damn sure this ship can actually fly. I’m going to need two hands, I’ve no doubt; it’s not as glamourous as the rest of the jobs, but I need someone I can trust, because sooner or later, the SporeMothers will arrive, and I’ve got the only weapon that I know those fuckers are going to fear,” I stated. Grizz perked up excitedly.
“I’m looking forward to seeing these fuckers; the records say they were a bastard to fight in the old days!” he commented, and I clapped him on the shoulder.
“Good, because we’ll need to work together to do it, as I haven’t got the time to teach you any more magic, and we’ll need all of it that we can get.”
Grizz set off up the side of the ship, following Arrin, who had started up already, and in short order, they were both standing on the deck overhead. Grizz wasted no time in tying off the rope, then flipping one end down to me with a loop tied in the end of it.
I braced my foot in the loop and held on tight as Grizz wrapped the rope around himself and started walking away from the side.
I could hear the grunting as he pulled, but as I lifted up smoothly, I appreciated the effort he was putting in. I rose quickly into the air, dangling over the side, and looked out across the area we found ourselves in now. The ship had been maneuvered into a small, partially collapsed building at some point in the past. It was obscured from casual view from above, and the only way into it, as near as I could tell, was through the barricaded entrance we’d just smashed through.
The overhead sections that allowed sunshine in were small and high up, giving enough light for the plants to grow, but not enough to draw attention that there was anything hidden there.
The cavern we’d just abandoned, on the other hand, had a few places up high with gaps big enough to fly out of, or at least I hoped so…
I watched the gnomes swarming over the wreckage, grabbing anything they could, and like a pack of ants, they then swarmed the ship, dumping it all into the main hold.
I looked down, seeing the neat stacks of boxes in the hold being crushed by the dumped equipment, and I paused, thinking about searching the boxes, then resigned myself to the fact that there just wasn’t time.
I grabbed a gnome that was frantically dashing past and spoke quickly before releasing him, half afraid he might bite me, by the feral gleam in his eye.
“Make the loot from the ‘Master’s’ stash the priority, then anything magical, and then and only then, the parts of your machine. Pass that one to the others,” I ordered, then dismissed him from my mind and headed to the structure at the back of the ship.
I knew from the ships I’d been aboard so far that they all had a similar design of a ‘nerve center’ in the engineering section. It was a room where a single larger manastone was placed in a specific pedestal, along with the smaller ones being set in the actual engines themselves to control the ship. I ducked inside, figuring if this was the same sort of design, then I might as well get that one in place first, followed by running from engine to engine and trying to replace the manastones in them individually. At least if the central ‘nerve cluster’ was powered, then we’d be able to power the ship, even if we only had enough to limp along.
It took Grizz and I tugging on the hatch to open it, thanks to the mound of dirt and debris piled over it. When it eventually came free, it was blatantly obvious that the years in this hidden cavern hadn’t been as kind to the ship as I’d first hoped.
Along with tarnishing the copper fittings of the ship an unhealthy green, the wood had warped and swollen from decades of exposure to rain and other water sources. The hatch creaked and ground alarmingly as we pulled it open.
We jumped down
and strode into the dimly lit hallway, pausing while my eyes adjusted and Grizz activated his magelight. The first few rooms were clearly designed for housing for the important people aboard, and at the end of the small hallway was a ladder, leading down to the next level. I grunted defiantly, before jumping instead.
I bent my knees and took the landing like a champ, straightening nonchalantly as though I did this all the time, when Grizz leapt down beside me, landing with one fist pressed to the ground, one knee down, in true super-hero style, before straightening up and looking around.
I paused to curse him internally, knowing that if this was a movie, he’d just identified himself as the hero, while I was clearly the sidekick, judging from the total lack of flair and general gracefulness of my own landing.
He set off without noticing my glare, and we searched the nearest rooms, finding scattered moldy clothes, patches where food had rotted away, and beds that had a thick layer of dust coating them.
We moved on, rushing to the end of the corridor halfway to the bow end of the ship. Every room appeared to be a mix of living quarters, a few engineering labs, I guessed, and a small library.
The books were mainly buggered, thanks to water ingress from a swollen joint over one bookshelf, but there were a few dozen that looked intact from my cursory glance.
We jumped down to the next level, and I tried not to think about how awkward climbing back up all of these was going to be.
The lowest level was a collection of a dozen smaller living quarters and access to the hold, a large storage area that reached from the bottom of the hull, just above the bilges, to the deck above, and as we stepped out, we saw the devastation caused by the gnomes randomly throwing in gear.
What looked like dozens, if not hundreds, of crates were shattered, and the pungent smell let us know that at least some of the boxes had held foodstuffs that had since rotted away, not to mention the shining, reflected light from a pool of liquid seeping out of some barrels that made my ass clench. I just knew it was oil of some kind, and prayed it wasn’t flammable.
Grizz pointed to a ladder to one side, and I led the way back up to the deck. It was awkward, climbing with only one hand, especially considering the fact that I needed to be quick. I managed by stepping up, pausing, and letting go to grab the next rung up before I could fall off, then repeated the process again and again.
It took me longer than normal to climb, but after a few minutes, I was back on the deck, seeing only the raised wheelhouse remaining to search.
I grumbled to myself as I headed to it, snagging a gnome that sprinted past with her arms full of clothing, and I spoke quickly again before releasing her.
“Find Frederikk and send him to find me,” I ordered, figuring if there was one good thing about being a lord, it was that wherever I was, was the place to be, so it was Frederikk’s problem to figure out where I was, not for me to wait around for him.
We entered the wheelhouse, finding, again, that the gnomes were ingeniously different to more modern, human and dwarven designs.
The long, wide room was well-appointed, with charts hanging neatly on one wall. Several artfully crafted desks and chairs were scattered around the room and against the wall opposite to the maps, with a comfortable central chair surrounded by the ship’s controls, and a large bed bolted against the back wall. There was also a door at the back of the room, which appeared more imposing and solid than the others so far.
I pushed that door open as well, thankful that it, at least, wasn’t stuck or warped too badly, and finally found what I was looking for.
This next room was small but cozy, with a simple single bed against one wall, a wardrobe against the other, and a single small porthole that would give light normally.
Underneath the porthole, though, was a triple row of recesses, and they held the manastones I’d been expecting.
Most were dull and fractured, but here and there were ones that still glimmered with power, making me think their systems had been deactivated or disabled long ago that they’d not drained the stones, despite the long years of silence.
I started pulling new stones out of my bag, while Grizz removed the dead ones, moving from left to right. We began slotting them in as fast as we could, and with each stone that slid in, a shift in the air could be felt. The larger, more powerful stones brought an almost electric feeling of ozone to the air, as smaller ones made the fingers tingle occasionally.
It took less than a minute, but once they were all in place, we stood hesitantly, waiting for something else to happen, even as a low tingle built steadily.
We looked at each other awkwardly, then heard the outside door being shouldered open, and I remembered Grizz closing it, for some reason.
We stepped out and found Frederikk standing next to the controls, looking forlorn. He reached out slowly, hesitantly, and stroked the smooth, once well-oiled wood of the console, before sighing and letting his hand drop.
“You called for me?” he asked quietly, his voice filled with the weight of his years and the terrible sights he’d seen, somehow reinforced by being in the bridge of his old ship once again.
“Yeah, I haven’t a clue what the hell to do here,” I admitted, gesturing back at the stones in the wall and around the cabin. “This is totally different to the Airships I’ve flown on before, and I have no idea where to start. Were you a pilot, or….?” I asked him, and he snorted a laugh out.
“Me? Pilot the Interesting Endeavor? Never in a million years would they let the likes of me fly her. I was an engineer, a worker, not one of the fancy ones, not one who was let loose one something like this…”
“Well, now’s your chance,” I said smiling, but the smile slipped from my face as he shook his head.
“No. I was never good enough to fly her, and I’ll not start now. I’ll not bring shame on my house,” Frederikk insisted, and I resisted the urge to pick him up and shake him violently by the throat.
“What’s the problem here?” I asked in as calm a voice as I could manage. “You wanted to fly her; now you get your chance, so…”
“I was named an engineer, lordling!” he snapped back at me. “I was judged good enough to maintain and to adjust the systems; never to create, never to control!”
“You made a fucking train that you just rammed through a goddamn wall and nearly killed me! You were controlling that!” I spat.
“I made a child’s plaything compared to this ship! I was honored when I was given my place aboard, and my first act on her after all these years won’t be to refuse my captain and the Master of Flight’s direction! You’re not a gnome; you don’t understand!”
“Then make me understand!” I roared at him, gesturing behind me. “We replaced the crystals, now it’s just the fucking controls. You said you were on the ship before and you could fix her! You have to know how to fly it to be able to fix it!”
“You touched the crystals!” he screeched in horror, sprinting forward, and making both Grizz and I tense. We reached instinctively for weapons, but he barreled straight past us into the smaller room, gasping in horror and starting to pull crystals free of the slots frantically.
In a matter of seconds, the floor was covered in them, and all of the slots were empty again. Frederikk was glowering at us like a couple of truant schoolboys.
“Do you know what you almost did?” he snarled, all deference gone. “You almost killed us all! You had the emergency channels funneling mana into to the engines, but the main channels set to refuse! You’d have created a feedback loop! Not to mention the lift! One set of engines would have fired backwards! You’d have flipped us over!” He jabbed his fingers at slots that looked identical to us, for all the world.
“What the…” Grizz started, when the little gnome went on again.
“You’d have killed us all, and worse! You’ll have sent a pulse of mana through the signaling array! Those creatures will know where we are now!”
“What?” I asked, shocked. “How?”
&nbs
p; “The signaling array!” Frederikk repeated angrily. “It sends out mana pulses so that gnome ships know if one of our own is in distress! It was never needed before, and when we left the ship, we had no idea how bad things were. But now?” He shook his head in a mix of fury and horror.
“You said those creatures are attracted to mana!”
“So?” I asked.
“So? SO?” he wailed. “So you just sent a pulse of mana up from this location! You just screamed ‘hey, we’re here, come and get us’ right when the ship can’t fly!”
“It can’t fly because you ripped all the crystals out!” Grizz retorted.
“You were going to kill us all!” the diminutive creature screeched at Grizz, then grabbed handfuls of his moustache and pulled, yanking hard as he tried to control himself. Frederikk panted and hissed for several seconds, while Grizz and I looked at each other in alarm before I finally spoke to the little gnome firmly.
“Fine, make it right, Frederikk. Fix it, get us up in the air, and get us the fuck out of here!” I tugged the last few manastones out of the bag, dumping them into the mess on the floor.
“Fix it… FIX IT?!” he cried, tugging handfuls of hair free as he glowered at us, foaming spittle flecking his mouth.
“Because while you’re in here, safe, playing with those stones, we’ll be out there, fighting anything that comes down,” I went on. “Unless you’d rather swap places?”
Frederikk froze for a few seconds, his mouth open, then seemed to deflate slightly, letting go of his moustache and glancing toward the scum-covered porthole apprehensively.
“You go…” he eventually muttered. “I’ll… I’ll fix this… but I can’t fly it. Not won’t; can’t…”
“I can sort that out,” I said, jerking my head towards the door. “Come on, then, Grizz, let’s go fuck some shit up.”
“Sounds fun,” Grizz said, walking out of the room, and I followed behind him. We skirted around the chair and control console, inspecting the wall ahead and wondering how the hell the ship was controlled from in here, when the deck was out there.
