Twin Soul Series Omnibus 1: Books 1-5 (Twin Soul Series Book Sets)

by McCaffrey-Winner

  Nestor continued on.

  “Article Fifteen. Every person in or belonging to the fleet, who shall desert or entice others so to do, shall suffer death.”

  Again Jens jerked and so did the other four, Marder and Senten going so far as to glance up imploringly to Ford who ignored their pleaful looks.

  Nestor continued, his voice rising again as he proclaimed: “Article Nineteen. If any person in the fleet shall conceal any traitorous or mutinous practice or design, he shall suffer death.”

  All the crew flinched at the force of the words. Jens began sobbing slowly when Nestor read, “Article Twenty-One. If any officer, mariner, soldier or other person in the fleet, shall strike any of his superior officers, he shall suffer death”

  Nestor paused for a moment to look at Jens and then, at Ford’s prompting continued through to the very end. “Article Thirty-Five. All other crimes not capital committed by any person or persons in the fleet, shall be punished by the laws and customs in such cases used at sea.”

  “And in the air,” Ford added loudly. Nestor gave him an odd look, then nodded, rolling up the scroll carefully and handing to it lieutenant Knox who took it and placed it under his arm.

  “Attention to sentencing!” Ford said. The crew came to attention. “Airman Jens, you have the honor to be the first to receive punishment aboard a royal airship,” Ford said with no emotion. “You are found guilty of Article Fifteen, Article Twenty-One, Article Thirty-Five, and many more too numerous to mention.”

  Jens straggled to an upright position, meeting Ford’s eyes.

  “We weren’t paid,” Jens said bitterly.

  “Ah!” Ford said, he gestured to Knox who moved forward and presented Ford a small velvet bag.

  Ford counted out two guineas. “Your prize money,” Ford said, holding up the gold so that all could see. “Forfeited by your desertion,” Ford said, putting the money back in the bag. He pulled out another coin. “Your two weeks’ pay,” Ford said, putting the money back in the bag. “Forfeited by your desertion.” He pulled the strings on the bag tight, shutting it and tossing it to Knox. “There, you’ve been paid,” Ford said coldly. He waited a moment, getting no pleasure watching Jens swallow hard. “There are other payments due you,” Ford continued.

  Jens’ eyes widened.

  “For assaulting a superior officer,” Ford said, “the payment is death.”

  Jens gasped. The rest of the crew were deathly silent.

  “For destruction of His Majesty’s property in time of war,” Ford continued, “the payment is death.” He waited a moment, then nodded to Sykes. “Place the prisoner for punishment.”

  Sykes and Jenkins pulled at Jens’ arms, moving him to stand before the plank.

  “Mr. Jens, you are found guilty of crimes meriting death,” Ford said. He could hear Jens’ heavy breathing even from where he was, even over the cold wind. “Shall I show you leniency?”

  “P-p-please!” Jens begged in a ragged whimper.

  “Very well, Jens,” Ford said. “For your past deeds, I shall merely order you off my ship.” He gestured down the gangplank. “You may leave. Now.”

  Jens looked at him with eyes like saucers. Numbly he shook his head. Ford nodded curtly to him.

  “You tried to destroy the ship with all aboard,” Ford said. “You shall leave it.”

  He nodded to Sykes who smiled and pulled forth his dirk, the short knife that all seamen — and airmen — carried.

  “There is only one question, Jens,” Ford said.

  Jens could only whimper in response.

  “The question is: whether you will walk like a man to your well-deserved fate or will you have to be pushed?”

  In the end, Jens had to be pushed. Ford watched with narrowed eyes at the way Sykes took so much glee in poking the terrified man to the end of the gangplank and then off.

  Jens’ wail slipped away from their hearing and was abruptly silenced.

  Ford nodded to Knox who called out, “Attention on deck!”

  The crew looked from the gangplank to the captain with varying degrees of fear and respect.

  “Dismiss the hands, Mr. Knox,” Ford said quietly.

  “All hands dismissed!” Knox called. “Second watch on deck!” Knox turned curtly to Ford and saluted him crisply. “Hands dismissed, sir!”

  “Carry on,” Ford said, moving stiffly toward the hatchway and down to his cabin.

  Chapter Ten: The Frozen Man

  “Land ho!” the lookout cried three days later as they neared another tall range of mountains.

  “Land ho?” Knox cried in dismay. “What in the world is wrong with the man? We’ve been over land the past three days!”

  “I think he’s trying to tell us that he’s spotted the village of Snowden,” Ford guessed. “Pass the word to Mr. Sykes and the prince, if you please.”

  Knox smiled. “With pleasure, sir!” He raised his voice to shout, “Mr. Sykes! Crown Prince to stations, if you please!”

  In twenty minutes they were low enough to winch the two men to the ground. Sykes waved when they crawled out of their cargo net and the two took off at a trot.

  #

  The Crown Prince had been very somber ever since the punishment of Jens. If Ford had any feelings for the prince, he would have been worried. As it was, particularly given the conflicting sentiments of his mother, the queen, and his father, the king, Ford was ambivalent about the prince’s fate.

  Sykes, for his part, had done as much as he could to cheer the prince up.

  “He was a mutineer, a deserter, and he tried to kill not just his captain but this ship with all of us on it,” Sykes had said when the prince brought the issue of Jens’ punishment up. “What would you do with such a man?”

  “I don’t know,” Nestor had said morosely. “Maybe we could have given him another chance?”

  “Ah, but you see, the captain did that already,” Sykes said. “By all rights, Jens should have walked the plank for deserting and the captain took him back.”

  “He forgave him once, why not twice?”

  “Because the captain has to keep discipline,” Sykes said. “Who’s to say that Jens wouldn’t have tried again with the balloons and killed us all?” Sykes shook his head with feigned sympathy. “He couldn’t allow that, so he had to do what he did.”

  “I don’t think I like the captain,” Nestor said.

  “Well that’s too bad,” Sykes said firmly. “Because he’s the captain your father appointed to command this ship and he will be obeyed.”

  Nestor glowered at the other’s words but said nothing.

  #

  And now they were off again with the special tea and the same con job to try again, this time with the new village of Snowden in Issia. Sykes glanced at the prince as they strode through the thick snow, their breath fogging white the cold air.

  “It’s so cold it’d freeze the balls off a brass monkey!” Sykes said.

  “Whatever does that mean?” the prince asked as Sykes had planned.

  “Did you see those bronze triangles up on the deck back on Spite?” Sykes asked. Nestor nodded. “Well we put the cannonballs on them, don’t we?”

  Again the prince nodded.

  “The balls are held in place by dimples in the metal,” Sykes said. “But when it gets too cold, the dimples shrink and the cannonballs roll away.”

  “Oh!” Nestor said in enlightenment.

  “You thought I meant something else, didn’t you?” Sykes asked with a grin.

  “Well… yes,” the prince admitted. “And I was wondering why anyone would want a brass monkey, let alone try to freeze it.”

  Sykes clapped the prince on his shoulder and barked a laugh. “Well now you know!” He glanced ahead to the patch of darker landscape in front of them. “We’re nearing the mine, get ready for the act.�
��

  “I’m ready,” Nestor said, looping his hands inside the coil of rope that Sykes had flung over his shoulder. When the crown prince was finished he pulled back against his bonds, looking for all purposes like someone tied up and being tugged by the ruffian, Sykes.

  #

  “It’s Ophidian’s will,” one of the smirking guards said as they helped the crew of Spite load up with their coal.

  “He needs our help!” the coal-mine’s boss agreed with the same silly grin.

  “That’s right!” Annabelle called from the side of the ship as she supervised the loading of foodstuffs. “Ophidian ordered us here to do his bidding.”

  “You must be blessed to serve such a god,” the guard said in awe. He turned to the other miners. “Let’s get this done quickly, as Ophidian wishes.”

  “Ophidian’s wishes must be obeyed,” a young boy who’d come along with the others agreed.

  “Wise lad,” Sykes said, patting the boy on the top of his bare head.

  “If he’s so wise,” Knox murmured for Ford’s ears alone, “why isn’t he dressed warmer?”

  “Be sure to find him something so he doesn’t catch his death of cold,” Ford said looking at the nondescript youngster. “Can’t have them freezing in Ophidian’s name.”

  “Aye sir, I’ll do that,” Knox said.

  #

  They waved to the miners below as Spite took once more to the air, this time climbing higher than ever before — for they’d learned that this was the lowest spot in the mountain pass for hundreds of miles and Ford declared that they’d just have to climb above the mountains rather than wasting precious coal — and time — seeking a lower pass.

  “Mr. Knox!” Ford called as he spied a small body dressed in warm furs. Knox rushed over to him. “I thought we agreed to get this lad some warm clothes, not bring him aboard.”

  “We need a ship’s boy, sir,” Knox said, nodding toward the young lad. “He volunteered.”

  “Did he?” Ford said, looking at the fur-wrapped boy racing about the deck, peering into this corner and that, all the while muttering low-voiced to himself. Ford heard part of his words, carried on the cold wind. “That’s good,” the boy said. A moment later, “That’s not good.”

  “Is he daft?” Ford said to Knox.

  “Who?” Knox asked.

  “The boy,” Ford said, surprised at his lieutenant.

  “What boy?” Knox said. He blinked as he spotted the small boy in furs. “I thought we were going to give him furs, sir, not take him aboard!”

  Ford shot his lieutenant a surprised look and then his expression changed. “What were we talking about?”

  Knox shook his head. “I don’t know sir,” he said, troubled. “Something about the weather?”

  “Perhaps,” Ford agreed absently. He stood for a moment longer, straining to remember, then shook his head in exasperation. “Carry on.”

  “Aye sir!” Knox said, saluting and moving about his duties.

  #

  Ford was quite glad of the little boy — he never got his name — over the course of the next few days because the lad appeared at the most opportune times. Ford would find him holding a hot cup of tea and a warmed flask whenever Ford roused himself to check on the lookouts. He greeted the boy gladly and was thrilled to have him tag along. Sometimes the boy reminded Ford of something he’d forgot — the lad was a veritable life-saver.

  Yet, as soon as he was out of sight, Ford would forget all about him. So much so that he never mentioned the lad to anyone else — he just didn’t remember.

  One night, he forgot to take a reading on the fork compass, only remembering when the boy prompted him.

  “Right you are!” Ford cried in surprise. He patted his pockets. “I haven’t any paper!”

  The lad handed him a slip of paper. Ford wrote down the coordinates, thanked the lad and went happily below to compute their course.

  In the comfort of his cabin he forgot all about the boy but when he was plotting his course, he remembered that he’d forgotten to take the reading, that someone had reminded him, and that he had been given a piece of paper. But who?

  Ship’s boy, the thought came to him and, relieved, he dismissed the issue from his mind again, more challenged by computing their course.

  He ran through the numbers three times to be sure.

  A days’ sailing, no more.

  #

  “Morning captain!” Reedis called as soon as he spied Ford come up on deck. He clapped his hands together, puffed out a great gout of white breath, and smiled. “Seems a good day for it, whatever it’ll be!”

  “The ship’s moving well today,” Ford said, feeling the cold wind on his face and glancing around. He creased his brow. “Did Angus speed us up?”

  “We’re higher, too,” Reedis said, looking around. He frowned. “That’s odd.”

  “How do we get higher and faster if…” Ford broke off. “Mr. Knox! The coal!”

  “Coal, sir?” Knox called back, rushing to join them. “What about it?”

  “It’s our heaviest cargo,” Ford said.

  “Actually, sir, the water is heavier,” Reedis corrected. Ford glared at him and Reedis backed off, saying, “But we’re definitely lighter.”

  “Check on the coal and the water, then,” Ford said to Knox. The lieutenant gave him a puzzled look. “Something’s wrong! We’re too high and too fast and the only way that can happen is —”

  “Is if we’ve lost something heavy,” Knox finished grimly. “Sykes! Jenkins! I need you to check on stores!”

  “Stores, sir!” Jenkins said, rushing to join them.

  “No, need!” Annabelle shouted from the hatchway, pushing the prince up in front of her.

  “Unhand me, I told you!” Nestor growled to the witch.

  “We might need another plank,” Annabelle said darkly. Ford gave her a surprised look. “I caught this one going through our coal locker.” She paused, shoving Nestor forward and down to the wooden deck. “What’s left of it.”

  “What?” Ford said. He glanced down to Nestor. “What did you do?”

  “I didn’t do anything,” Nestor whined. “It’s not my fault, I swear!”

  Sykes spat. “Fat lot of good that’ll do us,” he said. He glanced to the captain. “I doubt we’ve got another hour’s worth of coal and then we’re —”

  “Land ho!” the lookout shouted. “Oh my gods! Look ahead, look ahead!”

  Alarmed by the lookout’s fearful cries, Ford and the others raced to the bowsprit.

  “What is that?” Nestor cried pointing to what they all saw.

  In front of them, on the starboard bow, a huge shape loomed up out of the icy plains below. Whatever it was stood taller than Spite was flying.

  “It looks like a man,” Reedis. “Like a frozen man.”

  #

  Indeed, as the huge shaped loomed closer and closer, Reedis proved right. The man was frozen, with his head peering down and over his left shoulder, his long beard encased in ice, his left arm outstretched to prop him up.

  “He’s got his hand on something!” Knox exclaimed as the morning haze lifted and they could see more details. He turned to Ford, in an awed expression. “That’s the wyrm, sir!” Ford nodded. “It’s the same wyrm!”

  “Wyrm?” Reedis said. “A sea serpent?” He glanced down. “But what’s it doing so far inland?”

  “Being crushed by a god,” Ford said grimly.

  “A god?” Reedis said. “Are you saying — that’s Arolan!”

  “Indeed it is,” Ford agreed. He turned back toward the stern and the still sprawling form of prince Nestor.

  Annabelle took one look at the frozen god, one look at Ford and shook her head. “So that’s why you took this ship.”

  “It’s the only ship that can be on land,”
Ford said in oblique agreement.

  “Well, it won’t do any good no matter what,” Angus’ voice came grimly toward them. “We don’t have any more coal.”

  “And how do you free a frozen god?” Reedis said, glancing once more to the blue shape coming clearer and clearer into view as Spite approached.

  “I don’t know,” Ford said.

  “It won’t matter, we’re never getting to that god,” Angus said. “We’ll be dead, propellers stopped in another twenty minutes or so.”

  Ford growled and stalked down the ship toward Nestor. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing,” Nestor whimpered. “Nothing at all. I just found them, that’s all.”

  “Found what?”

  “Nothing,” Nestor said quickly, darting his head up to glance at Ford tentatively and then ducking down once more, his head touching the deck in reverse supplication.

  “And now is the time to see what will be done,” the young boy said, moving to stand beside the prone form of the crown prince and glancing toward Ford. “Will the right thing be done?”

  Ford spared the lad an angry look and then shook his head, forgetting him once more. He strode past Nestor, shouting over his head, “Someone hold him!” And then he was down below, striding toward the coal locker.

  It was empty. There were only a very few small lumps left. The locker should have been brim full with them. Ford started to turn away when something caught his eye. He turned back and stared. Nothing. He turned away and — there! A gleam of light. He bent down and carefully picked up the small gleaming stone.

  Diamond.

  “What turns coal into diamond?” Ford wondered aloud. Footsteps came rushing down the passageway and Ford turned to see Reedis and Annabelle.

  “What did you say?” Annabelle asked, looking at the empty locker and turning pale.

  “We’re going to die out here, aren’t we?” Reedis said. “Angus said we’ve got about a half-hour of steam, then we stop. And freeze.”

  “You can lower us,” Annabelle said.