Though he didn’t eat and his eyes never tired, Frolic had come to understand the human need for food and respite. He rubbed the grime on his palms off on the thighs of his trousers and grinned his agreement. The two of them returned to the workshop, where Corny spread a dainty, flowered cloth across one of her large anvils. Frolic sat on the floor in front of it while she brought the kettle, a cup and saucer, a tin of sugar cubes, and a pitcher of cream. He knew she kept her teapot warm over the furnace, just in case she wanted a cup. He waited while she arranged her bread, canned ham, cheeses, preserved peas, butter, biscuits, silverware, and gold-edged plates on the makeshift table. Then she sat down across from him, licking her lips. She ate heartily, without stopping to make conversation, until she seemed to realize she might be neglecting her guest.
“Didn’t mean to be rude, love.” Corny dabbed the corners of her mouth with a lacey-edged napkin. “I’m afraid I was famished.”
“I don’t mind,” Frolic said.
She soaked a biscuit in her tea. “So, how are your mates getting on?”
Frolic wondered what to say, how much information would be appropriate to share. He had such difficulty figuring it all out, but he trusted Corny. “Well, Reg is very frustrated. He wants to find a way out of our contract, but so far he can’t come up with anything. He gets quite cross about it. Querry… well, Querry is restless. He gets bored easily. He always wants to be moving, working toward or against something. He hates waiting. It’s made him very….”
“What?”
“I don’t think I should tell you. I never know what to say and what to keep to myself.”
Corny reached across their improvised table and squeezed Frolic’s wrist. “Hell, love, I have no clue how to talk to people. But I can talk to you, and you can talk to me. To the devil with what anybody else thinks. It’s just us here, so say what’s on your mind.”
“Querry wants to make love all the time. Two or three times a day, sometimes more.”
She choked on the biscuit she’d been chewing. “Oh, well… oh my.”
“I shouldn’t have said it. I’ve upset you.”
“No, not at all. I just wasn’t expecting that. You’re lucky to have a man who loves you so much. I’m happy for you, and… and a little envious.”
“You would like a man to make love with?”
Corny blushed until her cheeks and nose looked bruised. “I wouldn’t ever say this to anyone else, but… all right, yeah. I’d like to find a man who didn’t expect me to be a servant or crank out babies, a man who might want to touch me. But that’s not likely to happen, is it?”
“Why?”
“Look at me, Frolic.”
“I am. I see a friend. I see someone who can build or fix almost anything, someone who can fight, and someone I like being with.”
“If only the rest of the world—”
The ship pitched hard to the starboard side, cutting her off. Her lunch fell to the floor, the dishes shattering. Both of them got to their feet as the vessel lurched in the opposite direction. Frolic struggled not to fall over.
“What the hell is happening?” Corny yelled over the sounds of splitting wood and tearing metal. The ship rocked back and forth like a child’s cradle.
Something cylindrical and pointed pierced the hull. Foamy water poured in from the rupture between the wall and ceiling. Another coral-colored tine pierced the other side of the workshop. The erratic motion of the ship threw Corny to her knees, and Frolic hurried to help her up as seawater flowed into the hold. Clutching each other’s arms, they stumbled toward the hatch leading to the deck to find out what was going on. When they reached the ladder leading up, the ship dipped hard to port, knocking them on their sides, but not before Frolic heard the screams and frantic running of the sailors above him.
“Damn it,” Corny said. “I already stashed all my weapons in the airship. If we’re under attack—”
Frolic instinctively reached to his left hip, but he’d left his sword back in the cabin, seeing no need for it while working on their projects. “What are we going to do?” he cried. “I have to get to Querry and Reg, make sure they’re safe—”
Corny wrapped her big, solid arms around his head and rolled, just in time to shield him from a falling ceiling beam. “We have to get out of here! I think the ship is going down.” The briny water almost covered their prone bodies.
Gripping the wall for support, Frolic staggered to his feet and pulled Corny up with him. No sooner had they stood than the stern of the ship lifted into the air, pushing the vessel almost vertical, and tossing them toward the bow. Frolic clung to Corny as they somersaulted through the workshop, all their unfinished projects raining down upon them. He tried to cover her face and protect her from the worst of the falling metal. It might hurt if it struck him, but he wasn’t flesh and wouldn’t be so easily damaged.
The ship slammed down hard on its belly, tossing the remaining items in the workshop into the air. Frolic pulled Corny up, encircled her waist with his arms, and braced his back against the wall. The water reached their knees.
“We have to get off this tub!” Corny bellowed.
Frolic knew she was right. “How?”
“The airship’s our only chance.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him through the workshop, dodging bits of caving ceiling and falling debris.
“I won’t leave without Reg and Querry!”
No sooner had Frolic uttered the words than he heard his friends calling for him from above. At the top of his voice, he shouted, “Down here! Come on! Bring anyone you can find. Please, please hurry!”
Corny dragged him toward the airship just as the entire bow of the ship ripped away beneath another spear of coral. Frolic broke away from her long enough to retrieve the leather satchel containing the book about how he was made. He couldn’t leave it behind or he’d never truly understand himself or be able to build a companion. The sea and its rocky bed assailed the ship mercilessly, pulling it apart. With nothing to dam it, the water flowed into the hold. Corny dragged Frolic through the door as he struggled to look for his friends. The ship buckled at the center, and more water spilled in. Frolic clapped his hands over his mouth when he saw Querry and Reg sprinting toward the airship, their arms full of packs and equipment. Many more people, including Tom Teezle and the baron, followed close behind them. They, along with the three mercenaries and about a half a dozen of the sailors, hurried onboard the airship as the seafaring vessel sank lower into the water.
Frolic hurried over to his partners to make sure they were unharmed. Querry and Reg looked pale and worried, but he saw no injuries on them, no tears in their flesh. A few more sailors stumbled into the airship. The ocean submerged half of it now.
“We have to go!” Frolic shouted. “Now!”
Corny sealed the door and flipped some levers. The airship hummed as its furnaces tried to alight, but couldn’t beneath the water. “Bloody hell, Frolic. We have to get someplace dry so we can take off.”
“I’ll see to it. Just keep the flow of gas steady and the wings going.” Though Querry and Reg clutched at his elbows, trying to hold him back, Frolic pulled away and raced through the door and around the back of the airship. With all his might, Frolic pushed the vessel toward the gaping hole in the hull. To his surprise and relief, it moved toward the open air until it teetered on the edge of the chewed up hold, tilting precariously toward the churning ocean beneath it. The wet gas furnaces tried to alight, but only sputtered a few puffs of smoke. The airship tilted down toward the sea, ready to plunge bow-first into the roiling waves. Frolic grasped the stern-side but couldn’t slow its decent. His feet slid across the wooden floor as he struggled to keep the airship and the entire crew, his lovers included, from plummeting into the depths of the sea.
Frolic tried to dig his nails into the metal hull to no avail. The vessel slipped through his fingers toward the angry waters awaiting it. He screamed and clutched at it, his nails leaving furrows across the steel sheeting. J
ust as the nose of the airship touched the water, the furnaces sprung to life. Frolic jumped away from the intense heat and dove through the door Corny held open. He landed on his belly as their ship soared toward the sun.
“Shit,” Corny said. “Bloody, bloody hell! The fuel delivery system.”
The airship ascended into the bright, blue sky. Corny hurried to the helm. “Somebody has to fly this thing!”
“You built it, girl,” the baron snapped. “So fly it.”
“I can’t,” Corny said, staring out the front window. “I know the mechanics, but—”
Reg pushed past her and grabbed the spokes of the wheel. “I’ve done this before. For the love of God, hold on.” He jerked the helm back and forth, clearly trying to cease the vessel’s ascent and establish a horizontal path. It finally straightened out, though it still rushed forward at a great speed.
Frolic saw nothing but a blue blur as the ship tossed from side to side, flinging the people and objects from one wall to the other. He didn’t know whether the sky was above them and the sea beneath, or the opposite. A sudden burst from the lower fuel burners pitched the nose of the ship upward, almost vertical. Bright sunlight poured through the front window as the passengers were thrown toward the back. Frolic managed to grab one of the shelves they’d built into the wall and avoid tumbling over the others. Querry’s back collided with his chest, and Frolic wrapped his other arm around his friend’s waist. Reg struggled to keep hold of the helm and try to right the ship. He overcompensated, and the vessel did a barrel roll, pitching the passengers and their possessions against the ceiling and then back to the floor. Reg tugged on the controls, grasping the helm with one hand and flipping brass levers with the other, trying to get the ship horizontal again.
Querry’s skin looked gray-green as Frolic guided him to a bolted-down, metal bench. “Just hold onto this. If there’s trouble, get underneath.”
Frolic used the walls and backs of the benches to stay on his feet as he pulled himself toward Reg. Through the front window, he saw the rocky coast about two miles away, rushing to meet them. “We have to slow down,” Frolic yelled over the rush of the wind passing the hull, the noise of the gears, and the frantic voices of the terrified passengers.
“How?” Reg yelled back.
Frolic considered as the sharp rocks drew closer and closer. If they hit them at this speed, the ship would be demolished. He might survive, but the others, Querry and Reg—
“Spread the wings to their full span,” he told Reg. “We’ll have to glide in.”
Though the look on his face said Reg didn’t understand Frolic’s plans, he nodded once and reached for the appropriate switches. Frolic hurried toward the back of the ship. On the way, he spared a moment to crouch next to Lord Starling and Tom Teezle. It surprised him to see the baron holding his faerie servant against his chest, protecting Tom’s head with his arms.
“I need your help,” he said to them. “It’s going to be a bad landing no matter what, but if there’s anything either of you can do with your magic to slow us down, it will help.”
He didn’t wait for their responses. The airship cut through the sky, nose down, as if intent upon destroying itself against the rocks. Thick, black smoke trailed from the stern like a twisted banner. The access door was damaged. Frolic looked at the tools, weapons, and equipment scattered across the floor. He didn’t have time to be selective, so he picked up the first claw hammer he saw and crouched down. He forced the hammer’s flattened tines into the seam of the damaged panel and pulled with all his strength. The ruined latch started to give, and the steel bent and tore, but after a moment he managed to dislodge the square of metal. The draft sucked his hair over his face, making it hard to see, but he managed to locate the copper pipes feeding gas to the burners. He turned the valves to the off position, but it wasn’t enough. There would still be gas in the pipe feeding into the engine. Flipping the hammer in his hand, he struck at the tubing with none of the finesse he usually used when handling machinery. They’d built them to endure the elements, and they held no matter how hard Frolic hit them. It occurred to him if he’d managed to rupture the pipes and the hammer caused a spark, they’d all be in danger.
Instead, he wrapped his hand around the pipes and braced his feet against the side of the hull. The metal walls bent under the force, but the pipes still wouldn’t give. Frolic took a deep breath and gave it everything he had. Finally the pipes pulled from their fittings. Gas hissed out through the holes, but Frolic didn’t stop until he’d torn them completely from their tanks, and he flew across the cabin when they suddenly let go. The conduits flipped and snaked around, spewing noxious fumes. The ship finally slowed down.
Frolic raced back to the controls. A sharp updraft caught the wings, pushing the ship a few feet higher but impeding its forward momentum. As the ship rode the sudden current of wind, Frolic realized it hadn’t been luck. He looked out the front window. They still plummeted toward the ragged stones dotting the shallow water and lining the beach. Reg flapped the wings down, lifting them into the air and buying them a few seconds, but Frolic worried it wouldn’t be enough. Without the fuel to keep it aloft, the heavy ship succumbed to gravity. The wings couldn’t hold it up. He’d made a fatal miscalculation.
“Reggie, get down.”
“What?”
“Get down. Give me the helm. Try to protect yourself—” Frantic, more afraid than he’d ever been in his life, Frolic pushed Reg out of the way. “Go to Querry. Get under the bench.”
If they didn’t make it—No. He wouldn’t let that happen, no matter what he had to do. Frolic looked over his shoulder and yelled to all those assembled. “Get on the floor. Cover your heads. We’re coming in hard!”
He pulled the wings up and back, trying to create enough drag to slow them down. It helped, but not enough. Within seconds, they’d crash, and the sharp fangs of stone would tear through the hull and chew the ship apart. Frolic watched those lethal rocks draw near, and as fast as they came at them, it almost seemed to happen in slow motion. The ship spiraled down. No matter how Frolic configured the wings, he couldn’t stop its haphazard descent. Without the furnaces to thrust it back into the air, he could do nothing but watch the rocks and sea come closer. He knew it wouldn’t be pretty when they met.
Frolic braced himself for the collision, kneeling behind the control panel and covering his head. The impact he’d anticipated never came, and slowly, cautiously, he rose to peer out the window. A massive jet of seawater had caught the ship, embracing it like watery hands. It slid through the brine as tendrils of water clutched it, slowing its descent. Frolic sensed the ocean’s desire to help, even if it had been compelled. He dropped back beneath the helm as the belly of the ship made contact with the shore, bouncing a few times before landing hard on its side. The water that had assisted them crashed down, breaking the windows and filling the compartment with foaming liquid. Frolic fought through the current to open the hatch, keeping his book clear of the water. Then he found Reg and Querry curled beneath a bench and hauled them through. The three of them dropped almost a dozen feet to the shore and pulled themselves away from the flooding vessel on their knees and elbows.
Frolic didn’t relax until they’d made it a few hundred yards through the rough sand and gravel, almost to the tree line of the jungle. When he knew Querry and Reg were safe, he sat up, watching the other passengers running away from the doomed airship as it split in half, leaving part of it on the rocky shore while the rest sank into the ocean with a loud groan.
Querry leaned over a fallen tree and emptied his stomach.
Reg reached up with a trembling hand to cup Frolic’s face. “Good thinking, beauty. You saved us.”
“Did I?” Frolic looked back at the remains of the ship he and Corny had worked so hard to construct. Only a bent, shredded, and smoldering husk remained, but most of the people had survived. The sailors and crewman ran up the beach, dragging what supplies they could from the portion of the vesse
l not submerged in the churning tide.
Reg kissed Frolic’s cheek briefly, as if afraid of being seen. “You did. You were brilliant, love,” he whispered near Frolic’s ear.
Frolic sighed. Reg and Querry were all right. But as he looked at the ruins of the airship, he couldn’t help but wonder what they’d do next. The jungle behind them was so thick and dense it blotted out the sun. Frolic had never seen anything like the layers upon layers of vegetation. How would they get through it without the airship or any of their supplies?
Chapter 13
WHEN HE finished throwing up and felt like he could walk without stumbling, Querry went back to the wrecked airship to see what he could salvage. By the time he and Reg had realized what was happening, tines of coral and rock from the seabed had already pierced the hull, filling the ship with water. His only concern had been getting Reg and Frolic off the doomed vessel. Fortunately, Reg had thought to toss their weapons, clothing, and a few pieces of equipment into a sack. Querry found the burlap bag spilled over the wall of the airship, lying in two feet of water. He fished out his gun and Reggie’s, though they’d probably be worthless until cleaned and dried out. He found Frolic’s sword, his own grapple, picks, and dagger scattered among debris and bits of broken glass. The sea had completely destroyed Reg’s faerie book and writing set, along with the meticulous records he’d been keeping of their journey.
Querry finally located the bag of canned foods he’d picked up from the hold as they’d run past. It reminded him they had no fresh water. He wished he could have washed the taste of being sick from his mouth. It had been worse, he told himself. At least they’d come through the crash unharmed. A little more poking about yielded some emergency rations and a metal locker full of weapons, undoubtedly placed there by the tinkerer, Cornelia. Querry sifted through the rubble a little longer, but when he didn’t find much else, he dropped what he’d salvaged through the hatch and leapt lightly to the ground.
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