“How religious you are,” was all Max managed to squeak out.
The captain smiled and began to pace, watching her men with a golden eye. “Vampires are the game in my family, but that’s not all. We also vanquished the great wolf of Dunmar, killed the Beast of a Thousand Souls, and dispelled the Great Haunting many years ago.” She smiled proudly at the looks on the boys’ faces. She mistook the silence imposed by their ignorance of these events as awe for her talents and accomplishments.
“You’re hunters?” Lance tried.
“And you’re a rogue and a confused arcanist,” the captain replied. “I can tell by your gunblade.”
Lance noticed for the first time that in addition to his electricity-shooting metal arm, he had a long blade at his side that was somehow melded with a revolver. He drew it out and felt it pleasantly familiar in his hands. He guessed that was the earthling magic they brought to Revary.
“Why do an arcanist and a rogue travel together?” she asked, snapping out a long, shiny brass spyglass and holding it to her eye.
Max pulled out the Arcanum that she had spotted tucked under his coat earlier and began to flip through it. It was full of levitation spells, healing potions, elemental attacks, and other things. He closed it and looked up.
“First, we have to know a little something about you,” he said. “We don’t want our missions to cross unfriendly lines.”
The tall vixen’s eyes brightened up at the mention of knowing things. “I can tell you anything you want to know! Come with me.”
What followed was a long tour of the ship and a healthy dose of biased history. Clearly the captain was not afraid of them being enemies. Whether this was because she could see them as friendly or because she was too proud to let herself be overtaken, the boys couldn’t guess.
“This is the deck of course,” Captain Crucifix said, showing off with a great sweep of her arm as she led them down onto the main deck. “The sails propel us forward with the wind, which is always favorable in the Sky Plane. We hardly ever use the Gate to visit the Surface Plane, but accidents do happen.” She winked at them. “My father first set sail in the Exorcist with his father, hundreds of years ago in search of the Perfect Stone.”
“You live a long time?” Max asked innocently, but it seemed to upset Crucifix.
“We don’t count time. We just are,” she huffed and her fur stood up. “We know years because of events. My family is a great one and therefore must have been doing great things for hundreds of years.”
“Ah, I see.” Now he understood. The Sky People were not sounding like the most reliable in Revary. “Go on.”
“The Perfect Stone is the rarest gem in all Revary,” she went on as she led them belowdeck. There were more zeppelin long boats and this is where the machines and pistons clicked and hissed. “This is the engine room,” she said. “Everything here is manned all day so the chemicals do not overheat and kill us all. Everything is steam-powered, but the chemicals are the heat source and power.”
She then led them to her cabin where she poured a strange green wine into glasses for them. She sniffed hers, swirled it around a little, and then took a noisy sip.
“I apologize for the state of my drink. Been open too long, I expect,” she sighed after not being satisfied. The boys didn’t dare touch it. “The Perfect Stone was in the mountains to the east on the Surface Plane. We hate the surface. There is far too much air down there and the people have no inventions. I don’t know how they live! And we cannot stand the dirt. The filthy stuff is everywhere. And I cannot abide the Gate Keeper. I hate asking to pass by.”
Lance was confused. “If this is the Sky Plane, how do you not see the surface below and just go whenever you want?”
She met his eyes, horrified. “Just go down? We cannot just go down! Might as well ask a Surface Dweller why he doesn’t just come up?” She tsked and faced her great open window. “The only thing the surface is good for is its gems. Oh, the beautiful things they hide in the mountains!”
Lance decided he had spent enough time with the strange vixen. She didn’t seem dangerous and was not helping advance them in any way. Formidable, maybe, but not violent. Perhaps a touch insane.
“Captain Crucifix,” he started. “We are here because Revary is in danger. Do you not know this?”
At first, he thought she didn’t hear him. She didn’t move or speak. Her fox tail swayed in the light breeze made by the forward motion of the airship.
“Revary will be destroyed,” Max offered. “We’re here to help.”
“Ha!” she said over his last word. “I know this. My father knew this. It is not so uncommon. Why, just the other day a giant beast like a huge gargoyle attacked us and killed two of my men. Some plane-transcending monster I should think.”
“You’ve seen this destruction?” Lance asked.
She sighed and stepped away from the window, sweeping her great hat off her head. “Yes, yes. But I don’t mind. It does no harm to the jewels under the mountains. Besides, who cares about that when there are so many things left to be invented! Upgrades and changes!” Her eyes blazed again. “I must find that stone! My father died for it, don’t you see?” She changed gears faster than her ship.
Lance and Max stared at her, not believing what she was saying. It was like she didn’t even understand what was happening below her.
“Don’t you care?” Max said, his anger growing. “Your home will be gone.”
“The Exorcist is my home,” she said back. “The land doesn’t matter. Up here, we have technology they could never dream of. My people are stronger and wiser. We are higher above them!”
“You’ve spent your whole life up in the clouds!” Lance shouted to her. “Take what you have and help the people below you or your world will be destroyed too!”
Max smiled at Lance’s words. He knew how those wise words could be applied elsewhere. He decided to jump in and help.
“Crucifix, the whole world will be gone if you don’t help out. Can’t you put your inventions aside for a moment and open your eyes to the world?”
She strode to the door, laughing honestly. “Let’s go back up on deck. I will show you my world and change your minds. I will show my horde of jewels and why I live this way.” After she opened the door, she said before walking out, “I don’t care what is happening. I have my own dreams. Do you know what’s above us?” They didn’t. “The only thing left for me to transcend is to the Astral Plane and then the Celestial Plane. I have the means with this ship. I have jewels and technology. What else is there?”
Outside, the sky had grown dark and the wind had picked up. The ship was rocking and twitching with the power of the rising storm.
“Lieutenant!” Crucifix screamed from her helm. “What is this weather?”
A man-rabbit with glasses, a fine mustache, and high boots ran to her side with a compass and a map trying to fly out of his hands.
“I don’t know, captain. One moment it was peaceful sailing and the next, this storm rises up from the ground.”
Lightening cracked overhead and thunder rolled under them.
“Bring in the sails at once,” the captain yelled over the wind. “Boson, man the helm.”
She ran to the edge, followed by Max and Lance to look over. Dark clouds were surrounding them like guard dogs.
“Arcanist, divulge this storm at once!” she ordered Max.
“I don’t know if I can,” Max called back. He took the Arcanum and began to flip through it.
From the clouds burst an ear-splitting roar. Flying out from a lumpy clump of greyness came the Beast. Its dark blue body was hard to see against the darkening sky.
“There it is!” the captain screamed. “To the cannons at once!”
But the cannons were almost no use. The Beast ducked and dodged the flying orbs easily. It screamed and tore at the sail when it dared get close to the flying ship.
“Take up arms,” Captain Crucifix called to her men. “You as well,” she
said to the earthlings.
Lance pulled his gunblade out excitedly, ignoring the fact he had no idea how to use it. He took it up in his left hand to leave his lightening arm free and spun the barrel. He smiled down at Max who rolled his eyes and opened the Arcanum to a page that read “Storm Spells.”
The Beast Landed with a heavy crash on the deck, splintering some of the wood. It dove into the fray of men that came charging at it and easily clawed them aside.
Lance leapt down, landed, aimed, and shot with his new weapon. He hit the Beast right in its shoulder. He noticed that the shoulder was already damaged by something else and the Beast howled as the bullet hit.
With it reeling, Lance thrust his armored hand out and lightening sprang from his fingertips into the Beast’s chest. In a moment of pained rage, the Beast charged again, biting and clawing men. Suddenly, the wind blew cold and rain began to pour.
“Max!” Lance yelled. “Not rain!”
“Sorry!” he cried from the deck. “That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Tossing his feathery hat aside, Lance engaged in combat with the beast now. His blade was sharp and cut at the Beast’s flesh easily. He would go in for a strike then leap back and fire the trigger. He found he was amazingly agile in this world and could leap back out of reach of the attacks with supreme ease. It would have been easier if the other crew had not been getting in the way and angering the Beast, but the Sky People were apparently not the smartest when it came to battle. Soon, the Beast had bitten nearly every one of them and Lance saw that its fangs were dripping with poison. It needed to be dealt with quickly.
“Max, on three,” Lance called, holding up his right hand.
Max counted and on three, they both hurled lighting at the Beast while Lance fired his last shot. That was enough. Screaming a gargoyle roar, the Beast leapt up and flew into the darkness.
“Boson,” Captain Crucifix called. “Take us north by north east to Village Glenndell. I can see it just on the horizon.”
With a massive heave, the boson spun the helm and the ship turned sharply. In the distance, behind a group of dark clouds, Lance spotted a little steam-powered village. He pointed to it.
“That village, you, all the people, and all your gems will be gone in this storm if you do not help us,” he said. “How can I convince you?”
She smiled slyly. “You can’t. Try again after we dock and we’re on solid ground.”
The cloud-shore village of Glenndell was not what Lance would call solid ground. The clouds shifted and moved with the wind and felt as though at many moment their feet would just sink right through and they’d fall to their deaths.
The whole village was closing the shutters on their Victorian houses as scarves and top hats were flying down the cloudy streets with the wind. The crew tied the Exorcist to the dock and some stayed on board to guard the ship. Captain Crucifix and some of her men went inland to wait out the storm.
She led them through the streets and the gears and pipes of the alleys to a tavern full of every creature in Revary. Without the wind stinging their eyes and pulling their clothes, they felt like they could relax a little. She sat Lance and Max down at a table and ordered a drink called gnash. She reclined in the wooden seat and gazed at them. Behind them, a clockwork piano was churning out an old tune and a trio of frilly white female hares were doing a little dance to the music on a stage.
“You belong with us in the Sky Plane,” she said at last. “A complexion like yours and a strong build is needed on ships like mine.”
Max rolled his eyes and pulled out the Arcanum again to study it.
“We should find the others,” he mumbled to Lance.
Fortunately, Lance, unlike other boys his age, was never taken in by a woman’s tricks. He was smarter than most and knew a line when he heard one. Mostly because he gave them so often to the cute gamer girls who came by his shop. Rare finds, but he always thought they’d be worth it.
“No, I don’t,” he said flatly. He had to tell her. “We’re earthlings. We’re here to stop Umbra from destroying your land and ours in the process. I was hoping you’d know something about that.”
Captain Crucifix dug in her pocket then with a thunk, she placed a huge, polished ruby on the table.
“This is what my father died for. This is what I live for. I don’t care about Revary.”
Lance clenched his lightening hand and begged for patience.
“You will not have any more gems when Revary is gone. You will be gone.” He emphasized the pronoun.
She began to twirl the gem. “If I’m gone, I won’t miss anything, will I?”
A new approach was needed. Anything. He thought hard. He knew nothing really of this land.
Beside him, Max spoke up. “If you help us down to the Surface Plane and aid us in our journey,” he spoke like a shrewd businessman, “I can promise you a hull full of the rarest gems in all of Revary. Even Astral Jewels.” He let his black-rimmed eyes lock onto hers.
She studied him. “How can you do this?” she asked guardedly.
Max gave a convincing, artful smile. The brim of his hat dropped mysteriously over his eyes. “Ask not an earthling arcanist his secrets,” he whispered.
Captain Crucifix tried to read his mind through his blue eyes. It was hopeless in her case. The Sky People were not the cleverest.
Finally, she smiled and held out a gloved hand. “Very well. A hull full and you have a deal.”
Max took her hand. Little did he know then that Captain Anastasia Crucifix of the SPS Exorcist would not be around long enough to collect her glittering prizes.
Chapter 19
The Beast and the Witch
With no sign of the storm letting up, Captain Crucifix decided there was no time to delay and they should set off immediately.
The men that had been poisoned by the Beast were left behind. Max froze as he saw some of them begin to change and morph into what would surely be monsters while others just started to vanish like ghosts. He looked on in horror at the power of the corruption.
“There’s nothing we can do for them,” Lance said. “This wouldn’t have happened if she’d listened to me.”
Some of them began to wander around and pick things up off the streets and fill their pockets. The ones without pockets took baskets and began to fill them. The boys didn’t understand why the corrupted beings were gathering items, but it gave them a frightening image.
After eating and refilling the chemical supplies on the ship, the crew re-boarded and the Exorcist took to the skies again. Lance was fascinated by how the ship worked, but didn’t let it distract him from his mission. Somewhere out there on the Surface, Clare was either alone or with someone else. He hoped she’d found her friends and was safe. Perhaps she was dropped with someone and was not alone.
Max was not reading the Arcanum any more. He too was looking out over the edge into the wilderness of clouds and lightening. He wished the thick grey skies would part and let him see the earth below. He imagined seeing Clare safe and traveling with Alice. He wondered what it would have been like if they had all appeared in Revary at the same time the first trip Clare had. They all would have been together to enjoy the adventure. Clare wouldn’t have had the burden of hiding it from them all.
He never wanted her to be that alone again. He knew what it was like.
When he was sixteen, his parents had gotten a divorce. Since his father had always yelled at him and said he wasn’t good enough, Max believed it was his fault. He blamed himself for six miserable months until he found out his father’s secret. It was something that had been tearing his family apart for years and he bore the burden alone. It sundered his family. His father-in-law was a miracle man and had picked up the pieces of his shattered life. If only his mother saw him that way.
“Remember it wasn’t you,” Lance whispered to him after he confessed his current thoughts. “And it’s not your fault that Clare isn’t here now. This is her journey right now. We’re here to h
elp.”
Max sighed. “Ever think you’re not the main character in your own life-story?”
Lance shrugged. “Ever think your story is about someone else?”
They met each other’s eyes.
“Yes,” Max whispered. “I never thought about my own life. Just what I was to other people. I’m only at school to be bullied. Only have a family to stop my mom from falling apart. I’m just a piece.”
In his heart, Lance felt the same. He was the captain of his football team, but that was just where he fit in. Like a puzzle piece. High school was like his own kingdom. He knew how to handle every kind of person there, but there was no joy in it.
“Sometimes I get scared of the bigger world,” he said. “There’s too much out there I don’t know how to control. What if something really bad happens in my life that I can’t stop?”
“It happened to me,” Max said. “You can always talk to me about it.” He smiled. “But I know how you jock types hate to use your words.”
Lance playfully punched Max’s arm. “Thanks, little buddy,” he said.
The wind suddenly howled. Up ahead was a black cloud. Thinking it was the Beast again, they all braced for the worst. But in the next flash of lightening, the outline was not a great gargoyle, but a massive dragon.
“Greylheim!” Max gasped. “Clare said he’s the greatest servant of Umbra.”
Beyond the cloud, the dragon flew towards the ship, but behind it was a more frightening sight: the sky was ripped and clouds, wind and rain were being sucked into it. That’s when the boys realized the wind was not pushing them, the great tear in the sky was pulling them!
Greylheim roared at the Exorcist as he flew over them, but he did not stop to attack. Other airships and little zeppelin boats were being pulled into the black hole. The dragon’s claw marks were visible on the sky far above them.
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