The Finger of God: a Thalassia novel
Page 28
“Lightning!” A woman’s voice called loudly, and a foot thick bar of lightning shot down out of the clear heavens and struck the raised head of the last of the beasts. The red head disappeared in a flash, and the body sank into the dark water with a subdued gurgle. Lexi was standing in front of him, her hands on her hips and fire in her eyes. “Your father taught us more than fireball, if you remember. Don’t you ever EVER do that to me again, Hedric Schwendau. This is as much my fight as it is yours.”
The boat shifted under their feet, and further astern Hedric watched sadly as the dark water of the harbor slowly crept over the deck.
“Ah, I think that we ought to…”
“Don’t you interrupt me, Hedric Schwendau. You’re not getting out of this so easily.”
He gave her a tired smile. “If we’re going to continue this discussion, I think that we’ll have to walk home.” He raised his foot and set it down on the top of the rapidly rising water. Then he raised the other. “Father taught us how to walk on water too.”
“He did?”
Hedric reached out his hand. Lexi took it and stepped up to the surface of the water, like she was mounting a small step. Still holding her hand, he turned to face the shore. “Shall we?” They stepped over the railing. Fifty feet away they stopped and turned to watch the Golden Fleece slide slowly, sadly, below the surface of the harbor.
“She was my first and only home.” Lexi murmured in a small unhappy voice. “This is like watching a part of me die.”
“There will be other homes, love. Some better, and some not as good, but whatever home we find, we will be together, and I will never send you away from me again.”
She sniffed once. “That’s all I really wanted to hear.” Glancing at the distant shore, she wrinkled her small nose, and brushed a strand of dark hair out of her eyes. “It’s a long way.”
“There are faster ways to travel.”
She thought about it for a moment, before she replied. “I’m not really in all that big of a hurry, are you?”
Hedric laughed. “Nope. I really don’t have anywhere to go when we get there.”
“We could always go home.” She gave him a sultry look. “Hot tub, glass of wine. Nice dinner.”
“We should check on the crew first, don’t you think? Make sure they have food and blankets?”
“Oh I suppose.” She glared at the shoreline. “Which way is it again?”
“That-a-way.” He pointed, grinning. “Some navigator you are.”
Chapter 18
It seemed that they walked across the water, hand in hand, for hours, when it really couldn’t have been more than thirty minutes.
“We have company.” Hedric looked up from his quiet reverie, and scowled at the dozen people who were waiting on the shore. More were arriving as he watched. “If we wanted a quiet entrance, I guess we shouldn’t have walked.”
“Now she tells me.” Hedric grumbled. “Oh well. I don’t plan to stay long.”
“What you plan, and what happens are often not the same thing at all.”
He gave her a wink. “It will work this time. I’m tired, and neither you nor Medin will let me stray too far.” Alexandra gave him a hard look, and said nothing.
Amidst the cheering crowd, a stone faced Sergeant Sandoval was waiting for them. “If you’ll come this way, General, your sailors are waiting for you.” The tattered soldier led off at a brisk pace. “We were concerned for you, sir, when we saw the bolt of lightning come out of the clear sky, and the ship sink.”
Hedric looked over at Lexi, and couldn’t resist the temptation. “That, Sergeant, was my betrothed dispatching the last of the monsters.” The man stumbled, turned and stopped, staring openmouthed at the pretty young woman at Hedric’s side. He opened his mouth two or three times to try and say something, and finally gave up with a low growl.
“Your men are in there.” He pointed to the door of a broken down warehouse, so battered by the severe local weather it was a minor miracle it was still standing. The door creaked horribly when it was opened.
“Hedric, little Lexi.” A voice called out from the crowd. “We were worried about you.” Doctor Welter stepped out of the crowd, followed immediately by Rollie Paul.
“The ship?” The first mate asked in a tone that said he already knew the answer.
“She sank as we destroyed the last of the monsters. She was a fine vessel, and she gave her life to save us all.”
“So, tell me, Doctor. Do you have everything you need for a few days?”
The doctor’s brow furrowed. “We could use a few dozen blankets, some wood for that stove so we could make a hot dinner, water for washing and drinking, towels, and lots of food and wine. The men are about played out and…” The doctor goggled as piles of supplies and cords of wood appeared in the corner of the warehouse. A grin split his dark face. “You wouldn’t happen to have any dancing girls, would you?”
“I don’t usually…” Hedric was cut off as the back door creaked open, and two dozen smiling women entered. They were dressed in clothes at least as worn and tattered as the sailors they faced. The tallest, and most regal of the lot headed straight for Hedric.
“Good evening, Mister Schwendau. I was told that you might need a little help. The women with me are widows who, for one reason or another, couldn’t go with the orphaned children. Many of the women are trained nurses and I see that you have a number of wounded. What can we do to help?”
Lexi gaped and Hedric grinned. “I will turn you over to Doctor Isaiah Welter, our ship’s doctor. He can point you in the right direction.”
“Thank you, Mister Schwendau.” The tall woman turned to the doctor, and Hedric and Lexi moved quietly away.
Lexi punched him in the arm. “How did you ever arrange THAT?”
Hedric shrugged. “I had nothing to do with it. Medin, was that your effort?”
“No, Hedric.”
“Selene or Rhiannon, maybe?”
“Maybe.” Medin replied softly. “It sounds like something they would do.” The deep male voice sounded vaguely disapproving. “Or it could have been Thallia.”
“Whoever.” Hedric staggered as his knees began to buckle from exhaustion. “I think I’d better go home, Medin.” Flicker.
“I told you both not to overdo.”
Lexi helped Hedric sit and not collapse onto the couch. “I thought that these new bodies should be fully functional by now.”
“I hate to disappoint, miss, but when I said six months, I meant six months of regular nutritious meals and light exercise. At the rate the two of you have been going I’d be surprised if you had reached twenty-five percent functionality by now.”
“That’s all?”
“Fireballs and lightning bolts tend to slow development down a little.”
“I should have known.” Hedric groaned, stretching his sore muscles. “I could sleep for a week.”
“You have a day sir. In forty-eight hours you must be under way in the Dolphin, if you wish to stop the second wave.”
“I’d almost forgotten.” The young man mused sleepily, shutting his eyes.
“But, Medin, we have to…” Lexi began.
“Good night, miss.”
She fell over onto Hedric, her head on his hip, as the couch stretched into a bed. The invisible eyes of Medin looked down on the sleeping couple for several long minutes, before his voice sighed in the still air. The battle-stained clothes that Lexi and Hedric wore shimmered and disappeared, and were instantly replaced with soft comfortable nightwear. Finally a thick blanket slid up to their chins, before the lights dimmed. Overhead the rings of Thalassia glowed in undiminished splendor, while the small red crescent of Hades
disappeared from view behind the swelling curve of the planet.
Unsurprisingly, it was Liriope that discovered them first. Walking hand in hand, they were half way down the long grassy hill, enjoying the cool quiet morning air, when the shrill shout of the small fairy drew their attention—and the attention of everyone else within a hundred feet.
“HEDRIC!” She lit on his shoulder in a blaze of iridescent wings, and kissed him soundly on the cheek. Her left shoulder was still a mass of white bandages. “You never told us you were coming. I didn’t find out until yesterday.”
Hedric glared at the small creature. “Who told you, Hot Shot?”
“Ah.” He’d never even imagined that a fairy could blush. “It was Medin.”
“Medin!” Hedric’s voice was angry. “You know that we don’t want a lot of attention. Why did you tell Liriope?”
“I’m sorry, sir. I forgot.” The mellow baritone sounded genuinely contrite.
Hedric, however, wasn’t buying it. “When did you learn to lie, Medin?”
The young man could have sworn there was a chuckle in the air. “It was part of my initial programming, Hedric, just as it was part of yours.”
He opened his mouth to deny it, and then paused, turning instead to Alexandra. “My dear, I think we’ve been had, again.”
It was closer to noon when they finally stumbled across Dolores and Benjamin. The two were sitting in a small swing, overlooking the dark lake.
“I thought we might find you here, Mother.” Alexandra was smiling, and the older woman turned.
Benjamin Harrison rose and turned in one motion. “So, it’s our young jailer.” The man’s voice was flat.
“Was it so hard, Colonel?” Hedric raised an eyebrow, and the older man glanced down at Dolores, who sat smiling at him. “I suppose not, but you could have asked first.”
Hedric smiled. “And you would have said ‘no’ and we would have wrangled for an hour before you finally gave up. I didn’t have the time to waste. As it was…” His shoulders slumped as he looked at Captain Isenhart. “I was in time to win the battle and save most of the crew, but I wasn’t in time to save the Golden Fleece. She was destroyed and sank. I’m sorry, Dolores. I did my best to save her.”
There were tears in the older woman’s eyes as she stood, and slowly wrapped her arms around Hedric in a warm, affectionate hug. “I know you did your best, and I knew the Fleece wouldn’t survive. She went down fighting, though, and that’s enough.”
Hedric slowly disengaged the woman’s arms from about his shoulders. “Lexi and I will be leaving tomorrow.”
Dolores’s face turned pale and Benjamin barked “What! So soon?”
“So soon, Ben.” The young man confirmed. “If we leave tomorrow, we’ll just have time to get the Dolphin into place before the next wave arrives.”
“I should be back in New Boston, dammit, supervising the rebuilding and…”
“You should be right where you are, Colonel Harrison. There is a very competent Sergeant in charge, who can handle things for a few more days. He’s very good at killing monsters and giving orders.”
“What?” Harrison sounded truly surprised. “You mean little Gabriel Sandoval?”
Hedric nodded solemnly. “Little Sergeant Sandoval is all grown up, Ben. The war with the creatures aged him.” Hedric laughed bitterly. “It aged us all, I think.”
“And how are you feeling, Mother?” Alexandra took the older woman’s hands, giving her a pointed look.
She looked first at her daughter, and then at Hedric. “I know what you did for me, and I know what Lexi must have felt when it first happened to her.” Benjamin was frowning in confusion. “I want to thank you, and Caera wants to thank you too.”
“Who’s Caera?” Ben’s frown had deepened to a scowl. The three other faces turned to him, and burst out laughing.
It was still several hours before dawn, and lamps lit the low profile of the steamship Dolphin, sitting tied to the worn wooden dock that thrust out into the dark New Boston Harbor. Wavelets lapped gently against her hull, and the air felt damp and chill against the bare skin.
Blue sat on a box of potatoes, on the deserted fo'c'sle, a half empty bottle of wine on the deck next to her, and a small pack on her back, set low under her wings.
Lexi and Hedric walked quietly up the gangplank and stopped, staring at the small flying creature. “You’re not coming.” They both said at the same time.
“Did you know that Blue the Siamese was killed in the fighting?” The D’Tril looked up, and took another long drink of wine.
“No!” Hedric said in a shocked voice. “When did that happen?”
“When the fighting first started. He and Burn were trying to get the other cats to safety, when dog-beast caught him. Damn, that was one mean cat. He actually killed the creature with just his claws and teeth. He was dead before Burn reached him.”
“All, his wisdom, and the wisdom of his K’Dreex gone forever.” Lexi murmured sadly.
“Ah…I said he died before Burn reached him.” Blue had a small smile on her face. “I reached him first, and he transferred Dori to me.”
“Dori?” Hedric frowned. “That doesn’t sound like the usual cat name.”
“Oh it isn’t. Her name is something like Days Sunlight on a Grassy Meadow When a Cool Breeze is Blowing yadda yadda yadda. I just call her Dori. It works.”
“And where is Burn now?” Lexi asked with a note of concern in her voice.
“Unless this wine has really screwed my vision up, she’s standing right behind you.”
The young couple spun as one. “Burn!” Hedric almost shouted in his happiness. “It’s good to see you.”
The Siamese waddled over and put one paw on Hedric’s foot.
The cat glanced down at her swollen tummy, licked a stray hair back in place.
“For a chief engineer, you’re not very observant.” Lexi commented sarcastically. “Smoke was coming out of the funnel as we came aboard.”
“What, who?”
From out of the narrow companionway popped the curly haired, bandaged head of Doander Feltz. “Hi, Hedric, hi Lexi.” He muttered sheepishly.
“No, no and Hell NO!” Hedric shouted. “It’s too damned dangerous and…”
“It’s my choice, Hedric.” The young engineer’s voice was determined. “Like you chose to remain on the ship alone to fight the monsters. I might not be able to run these engines as well as you, but I can at least stoke the boiler, and run the telegraph.” He crossed his arms and glared at Hedric.
“I give up!” Hedric threw his arms in the air. “You can both come, on the condition that when I say it’s time to go, you go. No arguments. Is that clear?”
“Yes Captain!” Doander was grinning as he gave Hedric a rough salute.
“Aaaargghhh, matey.” Came from Blue.
Hedric rubbed his forehead. “We haven’t left the dock yet and I’ve already got a mutiny.” Alexandra was laughing.
The Miskatonic River started far up on the east side of the Taconic Mountains, according to the map, and followed an irregular path until it finally met the rolling Mississippi just south of the mountain range. It had taken a day and a half of steady steaming before they hit the smaller waterway, and after that things slowed down noticeably.
Overshadowed by massive looming trees that dripped weeping fronds along t
he shore of the river, the Miskatonic was only three miles wide, and fraught with shifting sandbars and sunken logs. Hedric regretted the necessity of anchoring at night, but with a hold stuffed full of high explosive, he had to be careful.
“Over there!” Standing in the bow, he pointed. The boat turned slowly, creeping just barely faster than the sluggish current. “Hold it!” He released the anchor, and drew it snug just after it struck. Four fathoms, or twenty four feet of water between the keel and the river bed. It was enough. He ran to the stern, dropped and tied off the stern anchor. Sticking his head in the wheelhouse door after he was done, he called out in a soft voice. “I’m finished. I’ll tell Doander and Blue to meet us in the galley for dinner.”
Lexi gave him a forced smile. “One more day closer to being finished.”
Hedric returned a flat look. “That gives us two days to get ourselves into position. I’ll pat myself on the back when we’re back on Medin, and the Dolphin is no more than a big smoking hole in the ground.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re no fun at all.”
It was Hedric’s turn to cook, and he dropped the diced potatoes into the boiling water.
“Stew?” Doander asked hopefully, sniffing the air as he entered the galley.
Hedric dropped in the sliced carrots, onions and meat. “Yup.” A pinch of this spice and a touch of that. He shook the pepper generously, looked up at his diners, and shook in a bit more. He set a loaf of coarse dark bread on the table with a knife.
“Why do you cook?” Doander was looking at the bread with a slight frown on his face. You could just…” He waved a hand dramatically.
“It’s the same reason I work on engines. I work on engines because I like to. I cook because I like to cook.” Hedric stirred the stew, sniffed the steam and nodded to himself. “It’s one of the first things I learned, from my Uncle Padraig of all people. If you want to eat well, learn to cook your own meals. Basic Survival 101. I found that I was pretty good at it, when I wasn’t bitching and complaining.”