She nodded. “I was hoping for an airskiff of some kind, but that would work. I need to settle this duel with Zerelda once and for all, and we need to take her out of the fight.”
Mr. Singh stroked his beard as we all waited for him to respond. He finally tapped his finger on his chin, and wound it though his beard. “It could work. But we’d be on their airship while the Sparrowhawk is blasting it with cannon. And how do we get off the Queen Z’s Revenge?”
Genevieve smiled. “We steal one of the aircraft that attacked us earlier.”
“See? She is a genius.” I raised a finger for each point. “We get over there. We delay their guns from firing. We sabotage their engines. And we get out.”
“It’s a solid plan,” Genevieve said. “We’ll go sell it to the captain. Mr. Singh, see if we have more cloth for the kites.”
Lianhua said, “I’ll help Indihar.”
CHAPTER 35
BOARDING PARTY
“You both are crazy!” Captain Baldarich said with a shake of his head. “It’s good to have you back on board.”
Genevieve smiled. “Then you’ll let us go?”
“Absolutely not.” The captain looked over at Ignatius who simply shrugged. “I am not sending you over to that demon ship.”
“But they outgun us,” I said. “What if the Sparrowhawk gets damaged trying to close the distance?”
“You need to have faith...,” the captain said, but his words trailed off as the Queen Z’s Revenge fired. “And a lot of luck.”
I crossed my arms. “Captain, no one is better at causing chaos than we are, and we need to get back to find the baron and those infernal machines.”
“You’re right about that,” the captain said with a chuckle. He looked at me and then to Genevieve. “If we’re going to do this, then we’d better get ready.”
“Wait, you’re coming with us?”
“Do you think I’m going to let you face those sky pirates without me?” Baldarich threw back his coat and put his hands on his hips. “I can’t let you have all the fun!”
“Let’s do it!” I said.
“Hunter!” Captain Baldarich spun on his heel as Hunter stepped on the bridge. “You have one job—keep the Sparrowhawk out of range of their guns. Then when you see chaos break out over there, turn and fire.” Baldarich grabbed him by the shoulder. “Give them everything, that’s an order.”
“I will, Captain.”
“Good; now you two come with me.” The captain pointed at Genevieve and me. “Ignatius you too.” We stepped off the bridge and the captain stopped at the cargo doors. “You two get anything you’ll need, wear several layers, and tell Mr. Singh to bring everything up here.”
“Aye, aye,” Genevieve and I said in unison. We rushed down to the gun deck and as she entered our room, I said, “Mr. Singh, we’re a go. Get ready, and I’ll help you take anything you need to the cargo doors.”
He nodded and I entered the front storage room. Genevieve and Lianhua were layering on clothes. I grabbed my coat and put it on, slung my leather bag over my shoulder, and checked my Thumpers and my knife. Genevieve secured her sheath on her side and Lianhua checked on all her knives. We joined Mr. Singh on the gun deck, where he was outfitted for war with his Katar, sword, and chakrams. We helped him take the silk cloths and canvas tarps up to the cargo door where the captain and Ignatius waited.
We crafted something between a kitesail and a parachute. Four ropes tied to the corners of the cloth. The four ends were connected, forming a harness.
Mr. Singh grabbed the ropes. “Fit this around you, and hold right here, just below where they’re connected. You want to go right, pull on the right rope. Left, pull on the left rope. But do it subtly or you’ll turn too far.”
We all nodded. The captain pointed to Genevieve and me. “Since she’s going after Zerelda whether I tell her to or not, you and I will go with her spreading chaos. Mr. Singh and Ignatius will seek out the engine room.”
“What about me?” Lianhua asked.
“You’re not going.”
“Yes, I am.”
Baldarich drew in a breath and eyed Mr. Singh and me. Then he exhaled and said, “Then go with Mr. Singh and Ignatius.”
“We will not fail.” Lianhua held out her arm, resting it on the new cane Mr. Singh had fashioned from a brass strut and some dark hardwoods, old parts of the Sparrowhawk. Kō’ilā landed and her mechanical and feather wings folded against her sides.
“Get onto the airship, mess up what you can, and then get out.” He looked each one of us in the eye. “We’ll go out the conning tower, then run to the back and let the wind carry you off. Got it?”
We all nodded.
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” The captain shook his head. “Be safe everybody.”
Captain Baldarich went first. He secured the harness around his waist, and carried the canvas tarp up the ladder. Genevieve went next, followed by Mr. Singh and Lianhua. Then it was my turn. I wrapped the harness around my waist and between my legs. I carried the folded up silk sail and ropes up the ladder. I climbed onto the top and found myself surrounded by white clouds. The sky burned with an orange glow as the sun set. The moisture whipped across my face and I wiped the droplets off my goggles.
Lianhua ran down the top of the Sparrowhawk until the wind lifted her off and she disappeared into the clouds. I knew it was my turn. I took one more deep breath and let the silk fall from my hands. The wind whipped it up and the silk square billowed out before me. Pulled along, I struggled to keep up until the wind finally whisked me off the Sparrowhawk and I soared into the clouds. I could barely make out the shapes of the others, but tried to stay near them.
I drifted along using the ropes to adjust my course, but relying on a sense that the Queen Z’s Revenge was behind us to make my mark. I would have waited for total darkness, but the captain made the call to go at dusk. I heard the cannon roar. They sounded close and there were too many shots to be the Sparrowhawk. It had to be Zerelda. I was close. The sound came from below, and I worried I would pass right over. A large dark black shape lay below me. I broke free of the clouds, and saw I was on an arcing path down to the airship.
Below me, the captain landed on top of the airship and cut his kitesail free. He helped catch the others, but strong wind whipped me past them and carried me further down the airship. If I didn’t act soon, I fly past the Queen Z’s Revenge, I reached down and pulled my dagger from its sheath.
In one wide arching swing, I sliced through the ropes. I dropped like a stone and tumbled across the top of the black canvas. I grabbed hold of a guide cable, one of many holding the huge beast together, and laid there for a moment to catch my breath. The captain came over, bent down beside me, and thumped my chest. “Nice landing; let’s go.”
I sprang up, and we ran to one of the hatches. Baldarich pointed to Mr. Singh, Lianhua, and Ignatius. “You three head aft. You should find the engine room that way, just head for the sound.” He turned to Genevieve and me. “Ready to face the Sky Pirate Queen?”
I nodded and Genevieve drew her saber. “Let’s finish this!”
Captain Baldarich chuckled, and we rushed through the hatch. If we’d been spotted I was expecting to find the entire crew here, and I even grabbed my Thumper from its holster, but the corridor was empty. We’d made it onboard without being seen.
Lianhua launched Kō’ilā and she, Mr. Singh, and Ignatius followed. The captain, Genevieve, Rodin, and I made our way down the stairs. We had to cross the entire height of this airship to get to the gondola underneath, where the bridge would be.
After descending two flights of the metal stairs, we enter a giant chasm filled with hydrogen cells. The huge gas bags sat one after the other and ran the entire length of this airship.
“That mad woman is using hydrogen. Watch your aim, if we ignite one of those, this whole War Zeppelin is going to erupt in a fireball.” We kept moving, especially now that we were in the open. “That’s why I us
e helium. She’s probably cutting corners, hydrogen is cheaper.”
I kept looking for anyone, and pointed at two crewmen walking far below us. They inspected the hydrogen cells. The captain held up his hand and we paused. Once they’d moved out of sight behind some gas bags, we continued.
Running down the metal stairs, I thought we sounded like a herd of elephants and would be caught quickly, but the churning of the engines, the continuous whine of the wind beyond the hull, and a mix of noises I couldn’t identify, meant it was hard to hear each other. I could barely hear my own thoughts.
Halfway through the hydrogen cells, we encountered another catwalk. It ran the length of the airship right down the center. We had arrived at a junction because two more catwalks ran perpendicular to the main corridor and stretched to the hull on either side. I was starting to get an idea of how this ship was structured with long walkways running both the length and breadth of this airship.
I saw two crewmen coming this way, but they were talking and not looking ahead. I tapped the captain and gestured toward them. They weren’t the uniformed soldiers of the Knights of the Golden Circle, but swarthy sky pirates, with cutlasses on their hips and pistols stuffed into their belts.
Baldarich pulled us off the stairs and onto one of the side catwalks. He drew his lightning cannon, and I raised my Thumper. Genevieve patted her shoulder and Rodin landed, but she kept her saber at the ready.
The sky pirates passed and headed up the stairs. I took my knife and stabbed the hydrogen cell beside the catwalk. I dragged the knife forward making a long cut. The captain turned and stared at me. I shrugged. From the expression on his face, I wasn’t certain if I should have cut that, but we were here to cause a little chaos.
“Did you not hear what I said about the hydrogen?”
“I did, but... chaos?”
He shrugged. “Just don’t cause any sparks.”
Genevieve stabbed the cell on the other side. Captain Baldarich threw up his arms. “I just said to him—” He pointed to me.
“He doesn’t get to have all the fun. I’ve always wanted to cut these things open.” She looked at Rodin. “No fire in here.” Rodin nodded and closed his mouth.
We rushed off as the smell of rotten eggs started to overpower me. At the bottom of the stairs we found two decks with hallways full of doors. We didn’t stop to search them, as we wanted to get to the gondola before word arrived of trouble in the engine room. The gondola was down the next set of stairs. I took a deep breath, knowing the bridge was filled with sky pirates and Queen Zerelda.
We rushed down the last few steps and charged onto the bridge. We were toward the front of the airship, so we ran right in front of the pirate, Queen Zerelda. She sat on a large high-backed, black leather-clad throne with elaborately decorated wrought-iron armrests. The twisted metal shaped like a scorpion was the most terrifying captain’s chair I’d ever seen. A spiked stinger hung over her head, and looked like the chair could come to life at any moment and attack us.
“Well, look who was foolish enough to come into my den.” Zerelda laughed, but her crew jumped up and drew their swords and pistols. “Captain Baldarich, so good to see you, and Genevieve, come to taste my steel again?”
“I’ve come to finish what you keep running away from.” Genevieve stood stoic with Rodin perched on her shoulder.
“Daddy isn’t here to stop us. Neither is mommy. Are you sure you’re ready for me?”
“They weren’t at our other duels either. Quit gabbing and raise your sword.”
“Why are you talking so much?” Baldarich asked. “I assumed we’d be fighting already, but you’re stalling. Why?”
Zerelda smiled, a wicked little grin that made my skin crawl. She was up to something. I looked around, at the bridge. An easy thing to do when no one was paying attention to me. Then my eyes passed over the pilot’s station. Unlike everyone else in the gondola, he was not focused on us, but on the Sparrowhawk. The four throttle levers were pushed all the way forward and beside them sat a dial. The Queen Z’s Revenge was marked in the center with a red line arcing around it, and an ‘X’ marked in grease pen just ahead of the line. The distance was closing between the line and the mark. Then it hit me like a cannon blast that mark was the Sparrowhawk. The line probably represented the range of the guns. The Pirate Queen was stalling, waiting to blow my home out of the sky.
“Captain she’s about to fire on the Sparrowhawk!”
Zerelda threw her head back and cackled. “Kill them!” She jumped up and grabbed the cutlass leaning against her throne. “Ready, little princess? It’s time to die.”
CHAPTER 36
THE DUEL
The Pirate Queen Zerelda stood with her hip cocked and her leg jutting out of the slit of her skirt. Her long dark curly hair fell about her face, covering her eyes which had locked on Genevieve. With a snarl crossing her lips and tension hardening her jaw, her expression remained evil with a hint of the demonic wisps that infected this airship.
Genevieve looked like a stoic knight, her stance that of a warrior about to strike. She had a bounce to her step so she remained light on her feet. She turned so her sword arm aimed at Zerelda’s heart, and kept her other arm behind her on her hip, for balance. Her eyes were focused and intense.
The captain raised his lightning cannon and fired as the crew raised their pistols and swords. I lifted my Thumper and fired as well. Several fell to the deck, but I heard more storming down the stairs.
Zerelda spun her wicked-curved cutlass as she took a step toward Genevieve who stepped forward and thrust her saber. Rodin lifted off her shoulder and blasted some of the crew with fireballs. The two blades clashed and their duel began. They moved back and forth, their blades slicing past each other as the captain and I kept the rest of the pirates away.
Captain Baldarich fired his lightning cannon hitting the metal stairs at the back of the gondola, arching the bolt from one crewman to the next. I fired my second Thumper and knocked several crewmen to the deck. Genevieve pushed Zerelda back with a flurry of strikes. Zerelda spun and almost sliced through Genevieve’s jacket. Zerelda slipped behind her throne as Genevieve thrust her saber. She spun the chair, knocking Genevieve’s saber to the side. Zerelda kicked her back, but Genevieve quickly recovered and thrust forward to force the pirate queen away.
The gondola shook, as the guns fired. I spun on my heel and looked at the dial. The ‘X’ marking the Sparrowhawk had crossed the red line. I looked up and saw the aerodirigible turning as Captain Baldarich had ordered. The guns of the Queen Z’s Revenge fired repeatedly. I didn’t know what to do, but I had to act. I reloaded my Thumper, aimed it at the pilot’s station, and fired. The concussive blast smashed the controls, and the pirate at the wheel was knocked out of his chair, slammed against the controls, and fell to the deck. Smoke rose from the controls and Zerelda turned to me.
“What the hell have you done, boy?” She drew a pistol from her waistband with her left hand, “That’s twice you’ve ruined my airship.” I dove as she fired, and as I hit the deck and rolled, I heard one window shatter. The wind rushed in, howling so loudly, Zerelda’s screams were carried away.
Genevieve knocked Zerelda’s blade aside and brought hers down on the pistol, smacking it from the pirate queen’s hand. The gun slid across the deck as Zerelda swung her cutlass trying to slice Genevieve who dodged and blocked with her saber.
Zerelda locked swords with Genevieve and pulled her closer. She leaned up to the blades and nearly spat in Genevieve’s face. “I’m going to gut you and then your boyfriend, princess.” Then she grabbed Genevieve’s corset, yanked her closer, and head-butted her.
Genevieve fell back with a thud and Zerelda pressed forward, her cutlass pointed straight at Genevieve’s heart. I fired my Thumper, but Zerelda twisted out of the way and my concussive blast ripped off her throne’s scorpion’s tail. Genevieve jumped up and swung her sword in large arcs to push Zerelda back. She pressed her attack with a series of thrusts, but
Zerelda danced out of her way and then lunged again. Genevieve parried the blade, and drove the point of her saber through Zerelda’s black corset.
“First blood is mine!” Genevieve said, as she pulled her blade free and stepped back to regain her warrior’s stance.
Zerelda stood up, and I noticed a black wisp, just as I’d seen on the ship coming from her wound. She ignored the pain, reaffirmed her grip on her cutlass and smiled wickedly. She stared at Genevieve, who held her ground. Zerelda screeched an ear-splitting demonic scream and rushed forward, thrusting her sword through Genevieve’s coat. “No!” I gasped, thinking she’d been stabbed, but Genevieve pulled away, slicing open her coat. The blade had run along her corset. Then Genevieve spun her blade tightly around Zerelda’s sword, and with a flick of her wrist, Genevieve pushed Zerelda’s blade away almost sending it from her hand. As Zerelda was trying to regain control, Genevieve punched the pirate queen with her left hand, and knocked her back with a kick to her midsection.
Boots on the stairs behind me made me spin around. Reinforcements. I unleashed both my Thumpers in their direction and the concussive blast mangled the stairs sending the first few men crashing to the deck.
Flashing lights on the control panels caught my attention. I quickly looked over them and saw that pressure was building in one of the engines and had fallen in another. Mr. Singh, Ignatius, and Lianhua must have reached the engine room. I turned and saw the captain fighting pirates at the back of the gondola. I searched for the Sparrowhawk through the windows and found it dodging cannon fire as it drew closer. A cannon ball ripped into the bridge of the Sparrowhawk and I saw smoke. My heart dropped. I hoped everyone was okay, but how could they be? If the shell was an explosive one, then everyone standing there would be obliterated.
“Captain!” I pointed out the window. “The Sparrowhawk took direct hit.”
Zerelda cackled.
Captain Baldarich yelled, “Clear the deck! Let’s get out of here!”
Iron Lotus Page 19
