“By the great gem, what’s this?” Captain Crucifix gasped. “The sky is torn!”
Some of her crew were being pulled to the front of the ship now. They clung to the railing for their lives. The flying jib at the front of the ship waved then snapped off and was sucked into the black hole.
“That’s what I warned you about!” Lance shouted over the vacuum wind. “The dragon is a servant of Umbra. He is destroying the skies!”
A loud creaking seemed to drown out all other noise and Captain Crucifix’s face paled. All the remaining crew turned to face her.
“The hull,” she gasped.
Then the bottom of the ship creaked once more and burst open. Every jewel and gem Captain Crucifix had plundered came spilling out and flew into the dark hole. It was like a rainbow stream of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and amethysts.
“No!” the vixen cried as she ran down the stairs and tried to reach over the rail to grab back her precious treasure.
“Get back from the rail!” Lance screamed to her, holding his hat onto his head against the pull.
But it was too late. They were too close to the black hole to stop her from at last falling over the rail. She reached too far to save her horde and was lifted into the crushing darkness.
“Lance!” Max cried out in fright as the ship careened toward the gaping blackness.
In the center of the vortex were two large red eyes. Lance was only paralyzed by their presence for a moment.
“Boson!” he ordered. “Take us away from here!”
“But the jewels,” the boson protested. “The Captain said should they be lost, we should all follow. We are nothing without our treasures.”
“Turn away!” Lance commanded in a lordly voice.
About to weep, the boson did as he was told and wheeled the helm to pull the ship away from the tear. Looking back, Lance saw the red eyes blink and vanish. Something was in that hole he could not see and he didn’t want to find out.
Lance tightened his hat on his head and took the wheel from the helmsman. With a grunt, he held the wheel and rudder steady as the ship swooped away from the gaping black hole and the gravity. In a few moments, they were safely away, gliding over dark clouds with the roll of thunder behind them.
“Lance,” Max panted. “That was amazing! You were great!” He leapt up onto Lance’s back and squeezed his broad shoulders in a grateful embrace. “We’d be dead if you didn’t master flying a steam-powered airship in no time at all.”
Handing the helm back over to the crew, he sighed in exhaustion. “That was intense,” was all he could muster.
Max dropped down. “Now where to?”
“We find Clare,” he said. His voice was strong and sure now. Max felt safer knowing Lance had things under control. “We find the Gate and get down to the surface. Where’s the Gate to the Surface?” he asked the boson.
“The Surface? Oh, the jewels! My captain!” the boson wailed, pulling on his tufty ears.
“I’m sorry,” Lance said over his moaning. “If she had listened to me, this wouldn’t have happened. So now you listen.” The squirrel looked up. “Find us the Gate and get us down there. Can you do that?”
The squirrel nodded and faced the rabbit helmsman with compass and map in hand.
Lance and Max walked in sync to the prow of the ship and looked out.
“I wish the Gate was close so we didn’t have to find it,” Max mused.
Just then, breaking through the grey clouds on four silver hooves was a horned Pegasus pulling a great gate made of clouds behind it.
Lance made a face showing his disbelief. “Did you do that?” he asked.
Max shrugged, honestly not sure if he had made the Gate appear or not.
“Stop the engines,” Lance commanded and with a thud, they shut off, and the ship slowed a little.
Max ran to the side of the ship and called out to the Pegasus, waving his arms. “Gate Keeper!” he shouted. “An earthling calls you!”
The Pegasus noticed them, whinnied, and turned his course toward the Exorcist. It was larger than a normal horse, so tall that its head easily came over the height of the ship’s railing. Its eyes were clouded over, but Max could see they had once been grassy green.
“Who calls from this vessel of greed?” the Gate Keeper said. It had a deep, female voice. “No people from the sky ever wish to speak to me for I can only take them one way.”
“We’re not the Sky People,” Lance said, joining Max at the rail.
“No?” the horse said, amused. “I smell greed, lust, gluttony, and pride. It is the Exorcist, is it not? Captain Crucifix and her band of jeweled thieves.”
“The captain is no more,” Lance informed her. “She was taken into a hole created by a servant of the Umbra. She needlessly ignored my words and would not leave when I told her to.”
The Pegasus let out a high-pitched, understanding laugh. “That fox was never as sly as she thought! Like her father and his father before him. The Sky People never change, but they believe with their inventions they do. But what then is your destination? Are you an unlucky Surface Dweller picked up during one of her mine raids?”
Lance spoke up. “We’re earthlings brought here by some force to help Revary. Do you know of the corruption on the Surface Plane?”
The Pegasus arched her neck and gave a great cry to the sky. “Oh, the Great Umbra has torn more than the Surface. The stars are falling and even the Golden Tree in the Celestial Plane is withering! We are all dying. A strange new force has been attacking even the Gate Keepers. My eyes have gone dark and I can no longer tell Sky from Surface or Astral from Sky.”
Max and Lance exchanged worried glances.
“What happens when the Gate Keepers are attacked?” asked Max.
Her eyes were now glossy with tears. “Never have the Keepers been set upon. This ailment is new to me. I shudder to think what would happen when Amdusius, that hateful fiend, has been taken from his post and all the Nether may flood forth.”
“Not good,” Max added. “We need to get to the Surface. We don’t know what to do, but our friend Clare has been here before. She knows people here and where to get help. I think.”
“You bring me hope,” the Pegasus sighed. “I will let you down without the trial of a Keeper, for I see no point in delaying you.”
The cloud gate that she pulled glistened between the great pillars then showed a vast blue sky with great prairies and trees below.
“Go to the Surface Plane then, if that is where she is. Beware the servants of Umbra and the allies on the plane.
Lance turned and shouted to the helmsman, “Through the gate and down to the Surface.”
“Farewell,” the Pegasus sighed. “Save us all, if you can.”
Clare slashed mercilessly at the merman as it came at her again, clawed hands spread wide to grab her. She missed drastically, but it was close enough to warn him she was armed.
She had fallen and landed in what looked like a vast ocean. The water was salty and stinging her eyes. Not two minutes after she and Alice had landed, they were surrounded by handsome mermen. Now she only wanted to cut their elegant faces and slash their muscled arms.
“Behind you!” Alice called as she cut one on the face with her curved knife. “They just don’t stop!” She gasped and was pulled under the water again in a flash.
“Alice!” Clare screamed from where she was about to be pushed underwater by a rolling wave. If only the waves would stop for a moment!
A cold, strong hand seized her ankle and plunged her deep under the blue water. She screamed, but it was cut off as her head submerged under the rolling wave. The merman took hold of her wrist and began to swim down toward the deeper reaches of the water. Clare kicked out and hit him square on the back of the head. He turned around and screamed a bubbly command at her, but she couldn’t hear him.
Also struggling in front of her was Alice. She had been grabbed by two mermen and one was trying to take her short dagger from h
er. Clare was proud to see he was covered in dozens of bloody strokes.
The water pressure was becoming too much and her lungs started to burn as she continued to struggle away from her captor. She made one last escape attempt when a long spear broke the surface and hit her captor right in the shoulder. They both looked up at the same time to see the shadow of a huge wooden ship cross over the broken sun.
Alice was already swimming away from the mermen who had her, but now had large shafted arrows sticking into their sides. Another spear was launched from the boat and hit Clare’s captor again, finally making him let go.
A huge, thick net dropped in and scooped up Clare, Alice, and two unfortunate mermen who had attempted one more grab at the girls. Alice and Clare hung onto the ropes and made loud, dramatic gasps as they broke the surface. Seeing each other safe, they rolled across the net to each other and hugged tightly, not about to let go. The mermen struggled, but their elaborate fins and long arms had become tangled in the web-like net.
As they were brought up out of the water, Clare saw the vessel resembled an old Viking ship. The figurehead was a dragon with fishy frills on its head and the sides of the vessel were the wings. When they came up over the rail, she was face to face with a beaming Galis and a very sea-sick Folkvar. He looked far more green than normal and was not smiling at all.
“Galis!” Clare leapt out of the net and into his arms with a gleeful shriek. Then she turned and hugged Folkvar around his high waist. “I’m so glad to see you both again,” she said.
“Help!” screamed Alice who was having a harder time liberating herself from the net and had been bitten by one of the mermen.
“Pull!” Galis ordered his men and the net tipped onto the deck.
Folkvar drew his long claymore and pulled Alice out of reach of the hissing mermen. “Back over the side with them,” he suggested to Galis.
The older of the mermen grinned wickedly and said, “Earthlings to the deep, those are the orders we must keep.” He scrambled with his muscly arms to the rail, the younger one following quickly.
“Wait, stop them!” Clare cried. “What did he say?”
Folkvar thrust his claymore hard at the younger one. With a shriek of pain, the sword went through the narrow muscle above the fin. Blood trickled out and the merman grasped painfully at his tail.
“Don’t leave me!” he shouted to the older one who had just tipped himself over the side.
“I am sorry, my son,” the older merman called back. “Weakness is not rewarded, nor is hesitation.”
“Creep!” Alice yelled as the merman’s fin disappeared under the rolling waves. She rubbed the blood on her forearm away where he had bitten her before abruptly noticing her garb. She was covered in what looked like Middle Eastern jewelry and elegant desert robes. “Ooh,” she cooed, admiring her own bracelets and colorful sashes around her waist along with a curving scimitar.
“This place has good taste,” she smiled to Clare who giggled at her friend.
Before them, the merman whimpered and pulled again at Folkvar’s great sword.
“Stop that,” Folkvar grinned. “It’s not going to budge.”
Clare squared up to the wounded sea creature and glared. “Earthlings to the deep?” she asked. “Who’s orders are you following?”
The merman, who Clare thought was probably more of a merboy, hissed through gnashed teeth at her then winced as he tugged at his stuck tail again. He shivered with pain.
“Can we take that out?” Alice asked. She was the kind who wouldn’t want to you even shoot a mad dog.
“He may run,” Galis warned. “His kind are the worst.”
“Don’t be barbaric,” Alice said before she could stop herself. “Well, anyway, he won’t run. He has no feet.”
“He will in a moment,” Folkvar said. “Merfolk out of water are almost no different than humans.”
“Please,” Clare said to the merman. “Don’t run and we’ll help you. Just tell me what I want to know.”
As she spoke, the scales fell from his tail and the fins slipped away to reveal pale, rarely used human feet and legs. Now Folkvar’s sword was pierced through the arch of his sensitive feet. This made Clare wince more now the image was more relatable. She reached over and pulled the sword out, making the creature cry out. He drew his knees up to his chin and cowered near the rail.
Alice took the cloak from Galis’ back and threw it over him, then knelt down and asked for something to dress the wound with. She was obeyed and was soon wiping down the wound.
The merman watched Alice with grateful eyes. Something in his face softened.
“Ask me your questions, please,” he said.
Clare relaxed a little now. Leave it to Alice to calm someone down and make them feel safer.
“Who’s orders were you following?” she repeated.
“My father’s,” he said simply. “I will be banished for speaking out against him,” he added and then put his face in his hands.
“Who told him what to do?” she pressed.
The merman spoke through his webbed fingers. “The great dragon. We thought he could not harm our lands at the bottom of the sea, but the Black Witch promised she would destroy our land if we did not watch for earthlings. The Black Witch says they can come from anywhere.” He sniffed quietly into his hands.
Clare exchanged looks with Galis and Folkvar. “Zealnis?”
“No,” Folkvar corrected her. “That is a matter of sadness for you, I think.” His face fell. “I have failed in protecting your servant Yilith.”
“What?” Clare gasped. “Where is he?”
Galis took up the story from here. “After you left us, Zealnis attacked many lands with a new witch by her side, all clothed in black. She made her refuge in Mirror Tower. We have seen the Mirror and know its power.”
“Does Zephyr still hold the oracle?” Clare asked. Galis nodded. “Maybe she’ll let me have it back. It may know what is going on. It said only an earthling can use the Mirror.”
“There is darkness in that Mirror,” Galis said. “We saw it once. Red eyes watched us out of it. It looked like a gate of some kind. We never told you what happened before you came that time. How we were captured by Zealnis. When we…” he stopped and cast his eyes down. “When we lost Gwen.”
Clare’s eyes automatically filled with tears. She quickly brushed them away and stood up. “Tell me,” she said.
Galis and Folkvar relayed the story to her. They told her how they had crossed the black river, fought through the snowy forest, and at last reached the mysterious Mirror. They spoke sadly of Gwen, but were not light on expressing how brave he had been and how wise.
“I wish I could have seen him.” She was again trying not to weep. “But I’m glad you all met.”
She had been so desperate to see Gwen again. She had thought about him the most and had wanted to have countless adventures with him. After all, he had been her first adventure. And Yilith. She gasped.
“Tell me what you mean about Yilith?”
Galis took a steadying breath and said, “After the last time you were here, the queen sent us out as ambassadors from her kingdom. Folkvar refused, of course, but we all left together. In truth, we were looking for the lair of the Beast and where it had taken the star. But I grew concerned for my people in the mountains. This decay, corruption, whatever it is, has taken many lands. We left Calimorden because a strange blackness had come to surround it.”
He frowned and thought. Clare could almost see the horrific image playing before his eyes again.
“It was a kind of ghostly vacancy. It was horrible to be near and yet, I almost could not draw away from it. Yilith pulled us back and begged us to leave.
“When we reached the mountain homes of my people…” he broke off and his voice quivered.
Folkvar finished his sentence for him. “When we reached the mountains, hardly anything remained. The people were marching down from the mountains as ghosts. They had faded away. Othe
rs had transformed into beasts and monsters. The ones not yet touched by the corruption were fleeing and would not stay to tell us what had happened. But in the sky, we saw the sun again. It was more cracked than before with embers falling from it like a smoldering tree.”
Folkvar sighed and Galis nearly shed tears as they went on.
“That Black Witch,” he said. “She took him. We were somehow powerless against her magic! She said she needed his power to sunder the gates to the planes. We tried to save him, Clare, I swear!”
She inhaled and rubbed her eyes clear of sorrow. “Tell me about this Black Witch,” she said to the merman who was now bandaged. Alice was still sitting protectively by him.
“What the barbarian says is true,” he confirmed. “She has built a machine she calls the Sundering Device and uses the under elf’s magic to power it. She said my people were to watch the seas and stop any earthling that should come to Revary.” His eyes were wide and honest. He was not lying. He shivered again. “You must take my life. I will be killed when I return to the merworld and they find out what I have done.”
Clare shook her head. “Can you stay on land? I am sure we can find you a place among friends.” She looked up at Galis. He stared for a moment before he caught on.
“My people’s ships are often at sea,” he offered the merman. “We could use an expert. If you’d like. That way you’d be close to home.”
The merman’s eyes lit up. “Truly?” he gasped. “I would be honored to stay with your people. Already they have seemed kinder than my own.”
With that settled, Clare stood up and called to the first mate. “See to it that Titus has clothes, food, and is trained on the working of the ship. He will be your new shipmate.”
The merman smiled and was helped by the first mate under the deck.
After that, Galis called for drink and food for the girls as Clare introduced Alice to them. They both blushed when she excitedly shook their hands as though they were celebrities. Alice had that effect on men, which left many men sad in her wake.
Folkvar didn’t touch the food and only sipped at his tankard. He was very nauseous from being at sea. Clare understood; his kind had probably never set hoof on a boat in all their generations.
Revary Page 24
