by Jez Cajiao
He’d stripped the ship of the best of its goods for himself, tied up the crew, and put his own people in charge, then had escorted the merchantman back to join us, only noticing at the last minute that the black ship had never actually sunk. By that time, it was too late; they were far enough away that when they used their illusion magic, they disappeared without a trace.
He pulled alongside our ship and waved to us, shouting something about how he’d come to save my ass again, and I did the only thing I could.
I used ‘Soaring Majesty’ and leapt upwards, flying over the intervening space to land on his deck and stealing his thunder with the casual use of my new ability.
The side effect of giving all who saw me fly a boost to their morale was even better, as it literally made him furious, while not giving him any reason he could complain about it.
“Well, that was damn special…” he muttered, frowning at me. “What you need a ship for, if you can do that?”
“Because I’d get a bad back if I tried to lead a team without the ship, maybe?” I asked him, and he shrugged.
“Way I hear it, your lady-friend does her best to give you a bad back anyway. Whole fleet heard it that way, too.” I looked at him flatly and he grinned at me smugly. “I win.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“Takes one to know one,” he said, shrugging, and I glared at him before sighing.
“Whatever. Anyway… thanks, Mal. Thanks for coming back for us,” I said, swallowing the feeling that I was surrendering something precious in admitting we’d needed the help. “I mean, obviously, we’d have been fine; we were totally winning, in fact, but you know…”
“Yeah, kid, sure you were.” He smirked knowingly, and I resisted the need to lash out at him. There was something about that face, that was what it was, I decided. He was just so punchable…
“Anyway…” I said, glaring at him again, while feeling the edges of my mouth twitching, as though the traitorous thing wanted to smile for some reason. “Thank you, and the crew, for coming for us.”
“Eh,” he said, dismissing it as unimportant. “I see you went and got some gnomes to join you… mayhap you could lend ‘em to me, get a few things around th’ ship worked on, and we’ll call it even for me comin’ back for you?” He remarked casually, and I turned to look at him, my mouth dropping open in shock, before I spun around and faced away, looking out over the foam-topped waves far below as I thought quickly, trying to hide an evil smile that was lighting my face.
“Well… I suppose I could order a few to come help you, maybe make some of their ideas about how a ship should be built come true over here, but I have sixteen left, that’s all, and there won’t be much time before we get to the fleet…” I said, struggling to hold in a fit of the giggles. “I’d have to send you them all, like right now, and you’d have to keep them on your ship until we reached the fleet to make it worthwhile…”
“You’d do that?!” he asked me incredulously. “You’d lend me all yer gnomes, fer the last day or two of the flight to the Tower? An’ I could get them to work on ma ship?”
“Well, they’d have to be let loose essentially. You know gnomes, they ‘fix’ things in ways that I don’t really understand… and my ship is a bit of a derelict… but you’d owe me Mal… I mean it, you’ll owe me a favor, a big one for this… they could be working on my ship, after all….” I said, all the while internally I was giggling and rubbing my hands at the thought of getting the crazy little bastards off the ship. “Plus, there’s not many of us, I’d need help to run my ship… maybe get Soween and a few of the crew across to help me… and I’d really need some alchemy ingredients, like a lot, of whatever you have…”
“Deal!” he snapped, holding his hand out before I could think to ask for more.
I stared at him, utterly gobsmacked, and then reached out, gripping his forearm, and shaking once, before he released me and laughed in my face.
“You be a damn fool boy! I’d have given anything to get a single gnome working on ma ship, and you agreed to sixteen?! I’ll even swear to carry out that favor with a god damn smile on my face! All it’s cost me is a few days without Soween and my alchemy stores that I was going to sell anyway! Ha!” He lifted both fists into the air and started humping the air in front of me. “You just got fucked, boy!” He said laughing.
“Oh, darn,” I said trying to keep the smile from my face, and look downhearted, even as he called Soween over and told her to pick a handful of crew to help with operating my ship. Then he ran off, darting from section to section, clearly wondering what he could get the gnomes to upgrade for him first.
I looked at Soween, and let out a long, satisfied smile.
“Oh my… he just got fucked in the ass, didn’t he?” she asked me, trying to hide her own smile.
“Oh, so badly.” I admitted. “And without even a touch of lube…”
“Am I gonna have a ship to come back to?” she asked, and then glanced over at my ship. “Plus, how bad is it?”
“Mine isn’t as bad as I think it looks; the gnomes already did a load of upgrades and fixes, and we have a wisp that’s integrated with the ship, so she’ll keep it together, if anyone can.” I said shrugging.
“So why did you need me?” Soween asked and I grinned again.
“Well, I figured a few more hands to help out with any work that HAS to be done would be useful, but it was more about making sure you weren’t here to help him, I’ll admit… but I could definitely do with some help making the ship habitable, it a damn filthy mess.” I said, winking.
“Josh!” Soween shouted over her shoulder. “Get Padraig and Barti, Tinny and Steve, tell them to bring their gear for a few days’ helping me on that ship over there, as well as the basics like food and wine. You bring everything you’ll need to help, too.”
“Seriously?” Josh asked, popping his head out of the wheelhouse. “I get to look round a gnome Airship?”
“You’ve got five minutes,” she replied calmly, before looking at me. “How you going to get us across?” I shrugged.
“Either I’ll fly you one by one, or you can jump, I guess?” I offered and she sighed, before shouting out a series of commands to the helmsman. “Right, I’ll deal with my ship; for now, you make sure yours stays on this course and heading, same speed, everything; last think I need is an unexpected bath…” she said, nodding towards the grey waves far below.
I nodded and turned, taking a few quick steps, and jumping into the air, soaring across the distance between the ships and landing gracefully. I turned, ready to walk into the wheelhouse and pass the directions across to Tenandra, when Giint ran out from somewhere and straight into me, tripping me and sending me staggering like a complete idiot.
I just heard the sound of Mal’s laughter erupt in the distance, as I managed to catch myself before growling under my breath.
By a massive exertion of will, I managed to not throw Giint over the side, and instead I walked to the wheelhouse, kicked the door open hard enough that it rebounded and nearly broke my nose, and marched inside.
Oracle broke off her conversation with the other wisp and smiled widely at me, shaking her hand free of the little form, and moved quickly to join me, and when I sat down, she plonked herself in my lap and promptly ignored Tenandra.
I passed the details across to Jian and Tenandra, and a few minutes later, Mal’s ship cut across our path, with the four of them leaping from his ship to land on mine. Arrin gave any that needed it a quick heal, and then Soween was marching into the wheelhouse, throwing herself into another chair and glancing around.
“So, you want to fill me in yet?” she asked, and I grinned at her.
“You’ll see everything when we get the gnomes together. Any ideas for getting them across to Mal? And quick, before he comes to his senses?” I asked.
“We just do what I did before; you fly over his ship, close in and they jump. What do you mean, ‘I’ll see soon’?”
“Well, you e
ver deal with gnomes before?” I asked, and she nodded.
“They can be a bit crazy, but mostly not too bad, as long as you keep them calm; why?”
“These ones have been locked in the Sunken City and drugged up to the eyeballs for around a century, fighting and fucking in equal measure,” I explained simply.
“Holy… are they crazy?” she asked, and I nodded.
“Well and truly fucking nuts.”
“This I have to see,” she said, a wide smile creasing her face.
“It’s going to be magnificent,” I said, nodding, then grabbed the nearest gnome I could, waving a small stick of their favorite substance under his nose to make sure I got his attention, then I put it away. “Get the rest of your people and line them up on the deck, all of them. I’ve got an emergency job for you, and if you can get everyone in the next five minutes, I’ll give you a stick.”
His eyes nearly bugged out of his head and he set off at a full sprint, screaming for the other gnomes.
We went out onto the deck, and I stood with Soween and the others, all grinning at Mal as he cruised along at a distance of about forty meters.
It took less than three minutes to get all the gnomes together, and I held my hands up, getting their attention.
“Okay, everyone, thank you for your help so far, Frederikk, is this ship safe now, with the mana that’s coming into recharge it? Can we fly for a few days with no issues?”
“Should be… ship’s fine now, needs a full rebuild and upgrade, a clean down, and more, but she’s safe…” he said, nodding and watching me carefully.
“That’s great news, because unfortunately, my friend’s ship isn’t so much. It’s new, but its slow and really needs a lot of upgrades, so I’m offering you all a deal. You know there’s a lot of work to come, and I’m going to make your new home into the best place I can, but if you all want a day to relax with a stick of your own when we land…” I said and I held up one of the short, compressed sticks of catnip where they could all see it. The sudden intake of breath, followed by their laser-like focus, told me they’d certainly seen it. “…Then I want you to show me what you can do. Go to his ship, fix anything you want, upgrade anything you want to play with, just prove yourself to me, okay? All I ask is that you don’t risk the ship. Beyond that, go for it, follow your hearts’ direction and make a thing of beauty!” I said, grinning at them. “We’re about to fly over their deck, and they’ve set up bedding on it. All you have to do is jump and land there, then you’ve got until we land at the Great Tower to do your best.”
“We won’t fail you!” Frederikk cried. “You know what we can do, but with that time? You won’t recognize her when we’re done!” he said adamantly.
“That’s what I’m counting on.” I said with an evil grin. I pulled out a handful of sticks and started snapping them into short lengths, passing them to Frederikk, whose eyes grew more and more frenzied by the second. “Give these out to those who impress you the most, and don’t worry about the ship’s captain Mal, he’s always grumpy, but he’s promised that he’ll let you do all you want to his ship….” I said, trying to suppress the giggles.
Frederikk took the sticks and started shoving back the gnomes that crowded in around him, even as I gestured to the other ship, and Jian nodded to me from the wheelhouse door, before slipping from sight.
A few minutes later, we were passing over Mal’s ‘Falcon,’ and the gnomes were dropping like the mad little bastards they were.
“Got any more of those sticks?” Soween asked me as we watched, and I nodded, passing her two, which she snapped into short lengths… then threw into the middle of the milling gnomes on the deck of the ship below us.
“You’re evil,” I said to her, and she nodded, as our ship curved around and started back on the heading to catch up with the fleet.
“That’s been said a time or two before, sir,” she said with a nod. “Now, I’ll familiarize myself with the ship and see what needs doing, with your permission?” She asked and I nodded, as she turned and started walking away, Josh nodding to me as he hurried over to follow her below decks.
“She’s right you know; that was an evil trick…” Oracle said, and I grinned at her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders as she moved in close to me.
“I know, but in fairness, he thought he was ripping me off…” I said before leaning down and kissing her long and slow.
When we eventually broke off the kiss, it was with a sigh, and we turned back to the ship, knowing that despite the joking, the next few days on the ship wouldn’t be as easy as we’d made it out to be.
I had a dozen things that I should have done a week ago, and every time I actually stopped, and rested, I ended up regretting it.
Lydia had changed, and I needed to check out what had happened, as well as make sure she was, in fact, fully healed. And the ship was a bombsite; it might be solid now, and charging the Core and crystals, but it’d also been left for a hundred damn years, and all that was keeping some sections together looked to be termites holding hands.
Add to that, I needed to do something I’d been neglecting for far too long.
I needed to put my damn Alchemy profession to work. So far, I’d essentially botched and blundered my way through it, relying on the combination of my identification spells and the novice skill book I’d read ages ago.
I knew there was more to it, though, and I knew very specifically that my fleet, my people, and my damn civilization needed me to not just toss this off.
I was going to have to knuckle down and actually learn properly for a change, so we took a few minutes to relax together, watching the building chaos on Mal’s ship, before turning away with a lighter heart.
We returned to the wheelhouse, and I took a seat with Oracle sitting possessively on my knee, and I looked over to Jian and Tenandra.
“Okay, guys, thank you for getting the gnomes across to Mal’s ship. Time to get things sorted here, I think, though; what state are we in?” I asked them both.
“The ship’s structure is sound, despite the cracks and physical issues. The abundance of mana, thanks to the outer edges of the storm, means I can use that to begin repairs as we go. I would estimate the overall structure at around forty-two percent intact. Certain areas are entirely rotted away, but these are predominately the outer hull, where the wood was sitting in water for years. The inner hull is mostly sound, with only a few small issues that will need to be addressed sooner, rather than later. I can keep the ship together for the time it will take to reach the Tower easily, however,” Tenandra stated with clear pride in her voice.
“That’s a relief, then,” I said gratefully. “Thank you, Tenandra. Now, what about the crew? I know we were going to be mainly reliant on the gnomes until you took over the ship… I got six people from Mal to help out, but honestly, I was more concerned with removing his primary help of Soween and Josh. Leaving him with that wanker Jay makes this even funnier.”
“Wait, he’s just got Jay to help him deal with gnomes?!” Jian asked, grinning widely.
“Oh, he’s got a load of other people as well, but you know, out of his core group that we all dealt with? I could only see Jay there still!” I said with an evil laugh.
“Oh, now, that’s just cruel… you know Jay is gonna pick a fight with one of them, right?” Oracle interjected, and I shrugged.
“If its Giint, they’ll be picking bits of Jay out of the damn teeth of his kill-stick! Anyway, that’s his problem, and I seriously doubt Mal would let something like that happen anyway. So, back to the subject at hand: food, drink, and the ship.”
“Well, we’ve all got a few days’ rations left, I think…” Jian responded, rubbing his chin. “The biggest problem we have is space to sleep and relax. Almost the entire ship is filled with mold and crap. The rooms that were secure are okay, but they’re all sized for gnomes…” Jian broke off as Soween pushed the door open and stood to attention.
“Permission to enter, sir?” she asked, a
nd I nodded, waving her and Josh to chairs before responding to Jian.
“Okay, so we sort a few rooms out to rest in, and we set up a Rota between us, make sure there’s always one of us in here, and beyond that, we just spend the next few days resting and recovering,” I said. “I’m going to need a few rooms’ clearing, at least. One as a medical and alchemy room, so it’ll need to be entirely clean of the spores and fungus. Once we make sure everyone is healed up, then I’ll use the room for Alchemy and make sure to restock our potions. After all, I know Mal agreed to give us all his alchemy stocks…”
“He did, sir. I grabbed the bag myself. Mal practically threw me off the ship in his excitement,” Soween said, smiling faintly.
“Well, I think he’ll probably be regretting that very soon,” I chuckled.
“I’ll look forward to seeing that, sir. So, you described a single room you needed to clear, but you said you wanted at least three?”
“Ah, yeah, I need a room for us all to sleep in, somewhere we can actually sleep, or relax, or do, well, whatever. And third…” I said, wondering if it was greedy to mention the third room.
“We need a room for us,” Oracle said simply. “A room where we can work together and have some privacy.” She didn’t elaborate on that, but I could feel her hunger, and I felt my cheeks reddening slightly.
“Of course,” Soween said, smiling faintly. “What’s the priority?”
“First, I need a room that’s actually clean for alchemy. As covered in shit as most of the ship is, I’ll end up with contaminated potions, and that won’t end well. After that, a main room for us all, then our room last of all,” I said firmly, despite wanting to drag Oracle off as fast as I could and try to break her over a table or something.
“We also need to fix your arm,” Oracle said, scowling at me.
“I’d definitely like that…” I admitted, and Soween frowned, looking me over.
