by Tristan Vick
“Out of curiosity,” I ask him, “if the witch stole your scruples, why would they be here?”
The man leaps back up onto the bars, practically hanging on them with excitement. “She hides them from me, you see. She doesn’t want me to have them.”
“Impossible!” I gasp, realizing who it is who stands before me.
“No, not impossible,” the man replies, mistaking my revelation for a reply. “She hides them from me so I can’t get to them.”
“Leif? Leif Ericson…is that you?” I say squinting past the scruff on his face and the dirt and grime of his clothes.
Wide-eyed with shock that I somehow know his name, Leif returns to the corner of his room. He sits down and starting biting at his thumbnail.
“Leif.” My voice grows sad as I realize that in my absence my friends have had not only their spirits battered and broken and their bodies mutilated, but they’ve had their minds stolen as well. “What happened to you?”
“She stole my scruples,” he replies.
I think about what he must have endured to make him like this. I think about Zee and her missing eye. I think about how they must have felt all this time thinking that I had abandoned them or believing me to be dead. And all the misery I witnessed in the last few hours is too much for me to bear. So I sit down on the bale of hay, bury my face into the palms of my hands, and begin to weep.
It’s only after I’ve had my cry that the prison cell door opens and a nicely dressed young man with short dark hair comes over with a silver platter. He opens it to reveal an apple, two pieces of bread, a baked potato, and one small ceramic cup of pudding.
Setting the platter down at the foot of my door, he says, “Sky Commander Lisette said you’d especially like the pudding tonight. She asked me to let you know she made it herself.”
With his message relayed, the young man steps away from my cell, looks at me once, and then turns and leaves the room.
“Wait!” Leif calls out to the young man, thrusting his hand out and stretching his arm out through the bars as far as he can. “Have you seen my scruples?!”
The man turns in the doorway and looks back, but doesn’t respond to Leif’s question. Instead, he merely shuts the door and, just like that, is gone.
I hand Leif a piece of the bread through the bars. He snatches it from me greedily, scurries over to the corner of his cell, and begins nibbling on it like a mouse.
“What happened to you?” I ask him. But he is either incapable of responding or else doesn’t care to.
I turn my attention back to the cup of pudding. Lisette knows I hate pudding. Why would she recommend the… “Wait a minute,” I say in slow, drawn out words as is slowly dawns on me. I scoop up the cup of pudding and jam two fingers inside. I push them around the thick, slimy, and always revolting substance, searching for it. The, as predicted, I find it.
I pull out a key from the pudding and rush to my cell door. Placing it into the keyhole, I twist it. To my great relief, the lock clicks and my barred door swings wide open.
I step out and look back at Leif, who seems contented just to nibble on his bread in peace and solitude. So, I leave him to it.
Cautiously, I slink up to the door and take a quick peek out of the porthole window. The two guards stand vigilant, and I know I need to create a diversion.
“Guards!” I shout. “He’s got a knife!”
I step aside as the door swings open. Both guards rush into the room. They pause in the middle of the room when they see the open cell as they begin to piece things together. But by then it’s already too late.
With a swift roundhouse kick, I take out the guard on the right. The guard on the left leaps back, but I catch him with a sweep-kick. He topples to the ground.
Instantly, I leap up and raise the cup of pudding high above my head. I wait till the guard tries to get back up, then bring it crashing down onto his head. The ceramic cup shatters, and the guard, knocked out cold, falls back to the ground.
I dash out of the brig and into a long passageway. At the end, the passageway branches in two directions. One leads back toward the large room where Vanguardian waits. I know that if I go that way, I will be able to escape. But at the same time, I know that if I leave now then I’ll never get the answers I seek.
The other passageway leads back toward the wheelhouse, back to the bridge. And that’s the one I take.
Of course, I’m no fool. If I show up on the bridge, I will be arrested and jailed. And Lisette, who’s only trying to help me, will likely be punished. And I won’t let that happen to her. Even now, with the whole world turned upside down, she’s the only one who has shown me kindness.
So, I do the last thing anyone would expect. I slink about the ship, evading patrols as I go, until I finally come across Zee’s quarters. Then, very carefully, I slip into her quarters and look for a place to hide.
34
It’s the middle of the night, after zee has gone through her evening ritual of cleaning up and has settled into bed. I wait until she’s asleep and very carefully slip out of the dust closet I concealed myself in for the last several hours.
Zee doesn’t snore, exactly, but snorts every several minutes or so. It’s kind of endearing, I find. I tiptoe over to her bedside and she snorts and rolls over. I cover my mouth as not to let any giggles slip out, but her snorting, like that of a Belleran guinea pig, is cracking me up inside.
When I look up at the wall above her bed, I let out a quiet gasp. Mounted above her is my sword, the Moon Blade. “I’ve been looking for you,” I whisper.
Carefully, I crawl onto the bed, making sure not to wake Zee, and reach over and take down my sword.
I slide out the blade to see how she’s been kept up, and am pleased to find that Zee has kept her in pristine condition. I don’t know why she’s kept it all these years. She wouldn’t be able to wield its power, so it’s either out of memory of me, a kind of moment, if you will, or if she actually keeps it by her bedside as a personal weapon.
As I sit over her, my thighs straddling her waist, I look down at Zee sleeping soundly, and then slowly place my blade above her throat just to be sure she’s not pretending.
When she doesn’t stir awake, I remove my blade and lean forward until my face hangs over her sleeping face. Unable to resist my curiosity, I reach down to gently pry Zee’s eyepatch away and see for myself just how serious the damage is. But before my fingers can even touch the black leather eyepatch, Zee’s lips move.
“Are you going to kiss me or kill me?” she asks.
Her one good eye slowly opens and she looks up at me with a lackadaisical gaze that is free from fear or feeling of any kind.
“Would it make any difference?” I ask.
“Not in the slightest,” she replies. Her voice is as cold and distant as a coyote’s howling upon the Shard. It’s as if the flirtatious, vibrant young woman I knew suddenly died inside and left only the cold hard exterior of a battle-worn shell behind.
“You know something?” I say, my arms stiffly positioned on either side of her head as I gaze down at her. “I think I liked you better when we quarreled like a couple of barnyard cats. Now, you’re just…”
“Just what?” she asks in a curt tone, prodding me to finish my thought.
“Now you’re just being a cruel, cold-hearted bitch!” I study her face to find any indication that I might have struck a sensitive cord with her, but her face remains cold and unresponsive. She continues to stare up at me with indifference, as though she knows it will get under my skin and annoy me to no end.
“Goddess, Zee,” I sigh. “What happened to you?”
“What do you think happened?” she asks bitterly.
“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”
“You left into the Nether, and one by one things began to change. Darkthorne grew powerful. It was looking as though she might strike the capital. So, Koroth allied with Valandra and Bellera, and I led the armies into battle. But…”
&n
bsp; “But what?”
“But Darkthorne had twelve Juggernauts and two Outliers fighting for her. We waged battle for a month, but then we were flanked by Ashram to the East and Lord Dragoron to the West. Defeat was eminent, so I called for our armies to retreat. The entire campaign was a failure.”
“You blame yourself for the loss?”
“Loss?” she balks. “I lost over a thousand lives. I weakened all of Valandra’s defenses. And I crippled our allied forces in less than a month.”
“All right,” I say, smiling. “So, things didn’t go as you planned.”
“It’s not just that,” she tells me. “At every turn, Daeris is one step ahead of us. I can’t figure out how she’s doing it. It’s like she has eyes and ears everywhere. When you returned wearing her armor, I suspected the worst. I believed she was mounting a simultaneous invasion.”
“She’s already that powerful?”
“I’m afraid I’ve said too much already.” She looks away from me and stares at something that hangs upon the wall. I follow her gaze. It’s a coaster from the tavern where we first met. She’s even had it framed.
“Is that…?” My voice trails off as I realize she’s held me close to her all these years.
“I’m afraid that the Arianna I knew died a long time ago.”
I grab her chin and pull her face back so that she’s facing me. “No,” I say firmly. “I am the same Arianna you’ve always known.”
“I wish I could believe that,” she answers, her voice still distant and cold. Always holding me at bay—never allowing me to see the turmoil raging on beneath the icy veil of her position as a leader and a warrior.
“Believe it,” I say, bending down and kissing her on the lips.
She hesitates at first, not knowing how to respond. Then, after my warmth floods into her, she begins to kiss me back. What started as a cold, uncaring kiss quickly heats up and melts away any apprehension she may have had. Soon she opens her mouth and lets me in.
I grab Zee by the back of her neck as I shift position to get a better handle of her in the small confines of her cot. She shifts her hips underneath me so I can sit on up on her thighs.
Soon enough, Zee’s hands start peeling of layer after layer of my armor. I help her to hasten the process and finally, she has undressed me down to my underwear. All my armor lays about her bedroom floor like the molted exuviae of a mantis.
Slipping under the covers with Zee, I place my head on her arm and stare into her eye. “Why did it take us so long to get here?”
I don’t expect an answer from her. I don’t even expect her to return my affection. And yet, she holds my gaze, and replies, “Our lives seemed destined to only briefly come into alignment. Like two ships passing in the night.”
“Is that so?” I ask her, letting out a lustful sigh. My eyes linger on her lips and slowly I fall into them. Coming up for air, I ask, “Then how to explain this?”
“A collision,” she replies.
“A collision?” I ask, batting my eyes at her curiously.
“Yes,” she answers. “The two ships passing in the night collided.”
“Oh, they did, did they?” I laugh.
She looks at me and then, for the first time, a smile cracks on her statuesque face.
“Ah! See. There she is,” I say pointing at her smile. “There’s the Zee I know and love.”
Zee’s face quickly changes back to its impassive form and she looks up at me with a look that seems to indicate she has a burning question she needs to get off her chest. “After all these years, you still love me?”
“That’s the thing,” I tell her. “For me, it was only a matter of days. Three days ago I kissed you goodbye. I was freaking out as I walked down the staircase. Not about the quest, but about how I was ever going to tell Alegra.”
“I see,” Zarine says, taking in my words and mulling over them. She looks away again, and I find that the mood is slowly getting away from us.
To prevent the evening from heading off course, I reach around and take one of her perfectly formed butt cheeks in my hand, squeeze it tight, and pull her hips into mine. This gets her attention and, as she smiles at me for the second time in just as many minutes. I ask, “So, what happens to the two ships after they collide?”
“I suppose they sink.”
“Sink down?” I ask, sliding down Zee’s body.
Zee giggles. “All the way down,” she whispers, her voice wavering in nervous anticipation of what I will do to her.
I slip my fingers underneath the waistband of her panties, and begin to slide them down her hips. “And will the depths of this ocean be wet?” I ask, letting my innuendo speak for itself.
“Very,” she responds, biting her bottom lip as she watches me with a lustful gaze that burns with a reignited passion.
It’s as though my body cannot help itself. Just being in her presence causes me to lust—as if I’m under a spell—and I can feel my skin tingle and my loins grow agitated with the hot residue of temptation.
I bend forward, position my head comfortably between her thighs, and lick my lips in mouthwatering anticipation. Then, out of the blue, just as I’m about to remove her panties all the way, the bloody ship’s alarm goes off.
“What now?” I lament, sitting straight up.
Zee scrambles out of bed, pulling her panties back on as she goes, and hastens to put on her uniform. First her navy pants, then her white blouse, then her jacket. Hopping up and down, she slips on her finely polished black leather boots.
“It’s because of me, isn’t it?”
“No. The prisoner escape is a ringing bell. Odds are nobody has noticed you missing yet. This alarm is the ship wide alert. We’re under attack.”
“Attack? By whom?”
Fully dressed now, she looks over at me and answers, “I don’t know. Don’t go anywhere on this ship until I know it’s absolutely safe. Okay?”
“You don’t have to worry about me,” I say. “I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can,” she says, switching legs and hopping on the other foot. “That’s not the point.”
Leaning in, she steals another kiss from me. As she does, I reach up and help her button up her blouse the rest of the way. She places the palm of her hand on my face. I cover it with my hand and close my eyes as I take in her warmth.
“Duty calls,” she says, and then turns and darts out the door. The door swings shut behind her and, the moment it slams closed, the release lever drops and locks into place, securing the door automatically.
“Goddess!” I shout in frustration, as I throw myself back down onto the cot and my head upon the pillow. I don’t even care if anyone hears my griping, not that they would over the blare of the alarm and the rush of the boots clomping down the passageways.
Every bleeding time Zee and I get close to making love, something tears us apart and prevents us from doing so.
I know that all my pent up sexual frustration, along with my burning curiosity to figure out exactly what’s going on here, will likely drive me nuts. So I slide off the bed and start gathering my things together.
I know that it goes against Zee’s wishes, but recently, I feel as though I’m like a sailor who has washed up on a far distant shore and discovered a land where all the customs and traditions of the people are unfamiliar, and must learn all over again how to be a part of society. That’s what it feels like coming back only to find that everything has changed.
Once I’ve fully dressed, I figure I’ll need to get my swords if I’m going to be of any use. And they’re still with Vanguardian, locked in the large stomach of the steel beast.
In a hurry, I snatch up my sword and throw open the door and take a hard right down the passageway. Almost instantly I smash into something, rebound off, and fall flat on my ass.
Alarmed, I slowly look up to see a massive, muscle-bound sky sailor standing over me. He looks down at me, then up at the room I just came out of, then down at me again. He re
aches out a hand, and I reluctantly take it. He helps me up and then, without saying a word, scoots past me and continues down the passage.
I stand in shock, my heart beating furiously in my chest from the fright of getting caught. But, apparently, the sailor doesn’t know about my status as an escaped prisoner or else is too preoccupied with whatever emergency is currently taking place to bother with me.
As I make my way down the passage of the Aeronautilus, toward the enclave where Vanguardian is being kept, a voice suddenly begins to emanate from some pneumatic tubing on the wall. I recognize the voice. It’s Zee.
“All hands to battle stations! This is not a drill. I repeat. All hands to battle stations!”
35
Violent shuddering of the ship’s hull throws me off balance, and I stumble sideways and crash into the wall. Pushing myself back up, I find my center of balance and begin walking down the passage toward the storage vault where they are keeping my Juggernaut.
I hear a voice call out my name. I turn to see Lisette approach me with a surprised expression. “Arianna,” she says again, leaning on the wall as the Aeronautilus lurches to the side. “You shouldn’t be roaming about like this. Someone might see you.”
“It’s too late,” I reply. “Zee already knows.”
“Zee?” Lisette asks, a curious expression coming over her face. “And she’s fine with it?”
“No,” I say truthfully. “She confined me to her quarters when the alarm sounded. But as you can clearly see, here I am.”
We begin heading toward the vault together. Coming up alongside of me, Lisette says, “You’re going to be in such big trouble.”
“I thought I already was,” I say with a coy grin.
Lisette just shakes her head. “You don’t understand, Arianna. She doesn’t want to throw you into the brig. She’s being forced to.”
