Voidhawk: The Elder Race

by Jason Halstead

  She nodded.

  “What do you think?”

  “Dex-” Jenna tried to interrupt. Dexter put a hand gently on hers, silencing her with the familiar gesture.

  “No, Captain, you’ll hear me out or strip me of my position,” she insisted, glaring hotly at him. “Fort Prudence is the human name for a military base. There are hundreds of elves there, and at least a hundred of them soldiers in the Elven Navy. More come and go every day.”

  “There’s no safe way in; no excuse or cover that will allow the Voidhawk to land. They won’t even tow a captive ship into the docks, for fear of contagion. Remember, Fort Prudence is a living ship too.”

  “I’m sorry, Zhirt, I really am,” Jenna said, looking at him and surprising him with the empathy she displayed. “But going there will only get us killed.”

  “I can pay,” he said in a choked off voice.

  “Captain,” Bekka said, touching Zhirt on the arm to silence him herself. “I know the risk is great. I would not have brought him here if I did not believe it possible. Tell them of your idea.”

  The lost half-elf looked to Bekka, seeming to draw strength from her encouraging smile, and then took a breath to speak. “The port is on the topside. Beneath there are roots that are woven together to act as a hull. They are littered with passages to allow my people to tend to them and bring them water and food.”

  “Don’t they patrol the fort?” Dexter asked.

  “I memorized the schedules of when ships came and went, but mostly they were supply ships,” Zhirt said hopefully.

  Dexter looked to Jenna, who maintained an expressionless mask. She returned his gaze and sighed. “It’s a hidden base,” she conceded, “what need is there to patrol something you can’t find?”

  “If it’s hidden, how do we find it?” Dexter asked.

  “Captain, may I speak with you in private?” Jenna said, standing up from the table stiffly.

  Dexter looked at her, a smile dying on his lips even as it began to form. He looked to the others and shrugged. “Normally I’d put her in her place and remind her this is my ship. Maybe have her whipped too; she could use a good whipping, I reckon.” He stood up before adding, “This time though, she might just know something we don’t.”

  Jenna glared at him and walked stiffly away as soon as he started to rise. She headed to their now shared quarters and waited inside, her entire body taught with energy and anger.

  Dexter shut the door behind him and turned to face her, an angry expression in his own eyes that made Jenna stumble over her prepared words in surprise.

  “I meant that,” Dexter told her, his tone neutral but deadly serious. “This is my boat. Do not ever undermine my authority again.”

  Recovering herself, Jenna met his gaze and asked, “Or what? You going to leave me on the dock? Toss me out into the Void? Dexter, you need to understand-“

  “No!” Dexter snapped, stepping closer to her so that his face was inches from hers. “You need understand this, Jenna: This is my ship. This is my crew. What we do is my choice and my responsibility.”

  “Even if it gets us all killed?”

  “That won’t happen.”

  “Captain, that madman wants you to invade an elven shipyard; we’ll be lucky if we’re all killed!”

  “This ship isn’t run by vote,” he said, turning back to the door.

  “Dex, please! Listen to me,” Jenna said, her tone softening in spite of her anger.

  Dexter paused, his back to her and his hand on the latch of the door. “Speak,” he said.

  She stared at the back of his head for a long minute before finding what she wanted to say that wouldn’t drive him out the door. “Who almost died last time? You. Not me, not Rosh, not Jodyne, not anyone else. You can’t protect us all, and you can’t even protect me.”

  She saw his shoulders tighten and knew he was about to storm out. “Dex, I know how you feel about me. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not running from you and I’m not going to risk my life by doing anything stupid.”

  He turned around to face her, his face not revealing his thoughts.

  “These milk runs you’ve got us doing are safe, but they’re killing us. We don’t train – we’re not soldiers, but we’re getting rusty. When something does happen, we could have forgotten how to hold our swords. You can get mad and yell at me all you want, it won’t matter,” she said. “This job is going to be bloody. It’s the right thing to do, but I don’t think we can do it.”

  “You think we should just let them die? You’re an elf, you know better than I do what’s going on,” Dexter said, an accusatory tone in his words.

  Jenna narrowed her eyes angrily, but she forced herself to relax. “I’ve never met anyone who can make me as mad as you do,” she admitted. “But I’ve never cared about anyone this much either.

  “I am an elf,” she said, nodding in acceptance. “But I’m not one of those elves. I don’t know what they’re doing; I left before they started doing this sort of thing. I can imagine though. And don’t think you can leave me behind. You can kick me off the ship and leave me tied up on the dock, but sooner or later I’ll get out. Then I’ll do whatever I have to so I can get on another ship and follow you.”

  “Besides,” she added with a smirk, “I know where Fort Prudence is.”

  “Are you done?” Dexter asked her, his tone stealing her air of confidence. “Good,” he said after she nodded. “Don’t ever question my orders in front of my crew or in public again, got it?”

  Jenna nodded. It was the right thing to do; she knew it, even though it made her bite her lip to be rebuked.

  “On this side of that door,” he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the door that led out of their cabin, “there’s no rank. I need to know things like what you said. I may not like it, and I may not agree, but I need to hear it.”

  Jenna grinned. She surprised herself again at how deeply she cared for him and how much his approval meant to her. “Would you really have me whipped?”

  Dexter chuckled and shook his head. “Depends on whether you’d like it or not!”

  He left her in the room with her mouth open in surprise. Then she laughed and shrugged, thinking it might be a nice twist sometime.

  Back down the hallway Dexter walked past the table and turned to Zhirt and Bekka, who fell silent as he approached. “See that he’s got a bunk, Bekka, I expect half up front, we’ll be needing some special supplies for something like this.”

  “You’re going to help?” Zhirt asked, his eyes lighting up with hope.

  Dexter nodded. “Bekka’s my navigator and helmsman, you be sure and let her know where this flying salad is at.”

  * * * *

  Travel through the Void is a tricky thing. Each star has a family of planets, moon, asteroids, and other bodies in space circling around it and sometimes those stars circling other stars. Traveling long distances requires careful calculations and many attempts at re-plotting the course.

  Trying to reach Fort Prudence without crossing through any portion of the Federation’s claim on the Void took them nearly a month. Add another ten days for dodging elven warships patrolling the border and they still had nearly two full days to go before they reached their destination.

  Dexter’s thoughts of what lay ahead of them was disturbed by a knock on the door. He pushed his nearly empty bowl of stew aside and rose to see the platinum haired beauty on the other side of his door. She held the stump of her arm in her hand, rubbing it as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

  “Captain! There’s trouble on the deck,” Willa said.

  “We been spotted?”

  “No Sir, it’s Bailynn,” she said. “She’s…well, I think you’d better come and see.”

  “Bailynn?” Dexter hurried to the main deck wondering if perhaps the magic the elves used to twist her into the weapon she had been when they first met was now acting up since they were back in elven territory. He looked around and saw Keshira and Xander
working the rigging while Rosh, Logan, and Jenna were on the forecastle standing a few feet away from Bailynn, who stood near the bow railing.

  “What’s going on?” He called out, taking the stairs three at a time.

  “She was working the ropes and started going all twitchy,” Rosh said before anyone else had a chance to explain. “Started gibbering crazy talk, then she pulled her rope and yanked the priest off his feet. I yelled at her and she ran up here. We came up and she was ready to jump off.”

  “It’s not gibberish,” Jenna snapped, glaring at him. “She was speaking Elvish.”

  “Yeah, gibberish,” Rosh muttered. A glance from both Jenna and Dexter silenced him.

  “What’d she say?” Dexter asked.

  “Won’t let them take me.”

  She stared at them, tears running down her face. She spoke in Elvish again, a single phrase, then repeated it for them to understand. “Won’t let them use me.”

  “Bailynn, what’s this about? Nobody’s using you.” Logan, the ship’s cursed priest said. The exact nature of his curse he kept to himself, but long nights spent locked in the ship’s hold gave testimony to the rest of the crew that the man was troubled in ways they dare not try to understand.

  The priest stepped closer to Bailynn without trouble. Bailynn looked to him, the corners of her mouth flickering up for an instant. Dexter checked his hand as it rose to grab the healer. He turned instead to Willa and whispered for her to get Bekka off the helm. If Bailynn were to jump while they were moving quickly she would be lost before they could stop and go back to find her.

  “I’m forced to serve,” Bailynn said, her eyes glancing at Dexter then falling to the deck. She took a deep breath, her shoulder quivering, and started to turn back toward the railing.

  “You’re not forced to work here, you can leave any time we’re in port,” Logan said quickly.

  “We’re not at port.”

  Dexter stepped forward, holding a hand out to Logan to signal him. “Bailynn, if you’re not wanting to work, you’ve earned a bed till we reach the next safe port. I won’t charge you for passage. You’ve got fair wages and learned sailing the void passably well. I expect you’d find work aboard another ship if you’ve a mind to.”

  Her shoulders shook a little more and she turned away. “I can’t leave,” she said, barely more than a whisper. After a few shuddering breaths, she turned back, glaring at Dexter, tears running down her face. “I can’t leave!” she shouted, then ran past him and disappeared on the stairs heading below.

  “What…” Dexter trailed off, glancing to the others in confusion.

  They looked back at him, equally uncertain. Logan alone seemed to have some glimpse of an idea. “Captain, you didn’t consult any of us before taking this mission.”

  Dexter stared at him, his jaw aching from the tension his teeth were exerting on one another. “You’re right. Comes with the ‘Hawk being my ship and all.”

  Logan nodded. “As is your right,” he added. “But Bailynn told me how she came to be on the Voidhawk and now we’re sailing back into the heart of the Elven Empire.”

  Dexter grunted. Bailynn had been so little trouble since she’d been tamed that he’d given little thought to her wants and needs.

  “I should go and see if I can help,” Logan said, turning to head after her.

  “Stay your post,” Dexter ordered. “I’ll go.”

  Logan looked at him for a moment and nodded, heading back to help Xander and Keshira keep the sails trimmed now that Bekka had dropped the ship’s speed. Dexter glanced at Jenna, giver his I’m handling it expression before heading after Bailynn.

  Dexter ran into Bekka and Willa in the companionway at the bottom of the stairs. Bekka opened her mouth but Dexter beat her to the punch. “Get Bailynn’s ring,” he told her.

  “Her ring? What are you going to do?”

  “I’d like to run my own ship, if you don’t mind?” He exasperated.

  Bekka nodded and blushed. “I’m sorry, Captain,” she said, hurrying back up the hall to slip into her small room. She emerged a moment later with the magical control ring the elves had once created to control Bailynn and turn her into the mindless assassin they wanted her to be. She held it out to Dexter and he took it, staring at it for a long moment.

  “Captain-“

  “Get us moving, we don’t have much time,” he ordered, interrupting Bekka and heading down the hallway.

  It took Dexter a few doors before he found Bailynn sitting in the cargo hold. The same place they locked her in while they struggled to make sense of her single minded purpose; killing Jenna. Once a harmless human girl, the elves corrupted and twisted her body and mind, turning her into a crazed Elven Slayer filled with a vicious streak that would let her lay waste to dozens of men at a time. The only means of controlling a slayer was by controlling the ring tied to their soul.

  The scrap of a girl looked up from where she sat with her knees hugged to her chest, streaks of tears glistening on her cheeks. “Going to put me down?” She asked him as he shut the door behind him.

  “No,” he said, trying to smile but failing. “Came to give you something.”

  “Give me something?” She echoed, sounding surprised and confused.

  “You been done wrong every step of the way till we got you,” Dexter said. He clutched the ring in his fist and added, “Maybe I did you wrong too, it wasn’t meant that way. You proved yourself to me and the others. I don’t expect it’ll matter much, but I want your word you’re not to be going to come after us.”

  She stared at him then looked around the room, as if looking for something that made sense. “I can’t!” She snapped at him, her eyes finally settling on him again. “I don’t want to hurt anybody, I never did! Not me. They made me. I never wanted to hurt… they made me.” She dissolved into tears again.

  Dexter nodded. He thought he understood what she was saying, or at least what she meant by it. “I want you to do what I tell you,” he said. “I expect it.”

  She nodded, a sob half escaping her throat. “Thing is,” he added, tossing the ring through the air to her. It landed in front of her, bounced once, then rolled into her foot before tipping over to lay on the wooden floor. “If you’re not wanting that too, then this ain’t the place for you.”

  Bailynn stared at the ring, her eyes wide and her mouth open. Slowly, as though she was afraid to even dream of it, she spread her legs and leaned forward, reaching for the ring. Her hand a few inches away from it she stopped and looked up at Dexter, uncertainly. He nodded. Still she hesitated, though she was looking at the ring again.

  “Sooner or later we all got to take care of ourselves,” he offered.

  She nodded and closed her fingers around the ring. She picked it up even as her eyes closed. She held on to it while fresh tears slipped down her face. She opened them and slipped the ring on her finger, then smiled for the first time that Dexter had ever seen. She might have smirked or grinned thanks to something Logan had said or done, but this was a genuine smile.

  “Thank you,” she whispered to him.

  “We were holding that until we could figure out how to destroy it,” He told her. “No good reason for us to stop looking,” he added.

  She nodded. “As long as it exists I’m trapped by it.”

  “You still want to leave?”

  Bailynn looked at him and he saw apprehension in her features again.

  “I won’t lie; we could really use your help. Nothing easy about this,” he added.

  She nodded. “I’ll help,” she said, a tremor in her voice. “I’m… I don’t know. It’s been so long. I think I remember this… fear? I’m scared, Captain.”

  Dexter nodded and found himself wishing he were somewhere else. He had a hard enough time with his own emotions, trying to counsel what appeared to be a teenage girl was a living nightmare. “There’d not a one of us that wouldn’t rather be doing something else. I spent a nice couple of days in a jail cell one time, come
to think of it.” Dexter smiled at his own joke but saw it had little effect on Bailynn. “I know you don’t want to go back. We’re doing it because nobody should have to go through what you did. Maybe we can’t stop it, but if we can slow it down, well that’s something.”

  “Nobody should have to do what I done,” she said, shivering a little at hidden memories.

  “Being brave’s got nothing to do with not being afraid,” he said to her, feeling confident. “We’re all afraid of something, being brave just means putting that fear aside and doing what you got to do.”

  “I think I can do that,” Bailynn said,

  Dexter smiled and offered a hand to Bailynn. She took it and rose up to her feet. Dexter was amazed, such a small and light person and yet he had seen how deadly she was in a fight. He led the way out of the cargo hold and they returned to the deck.

  “We been getting soft,” Dexter shouted, drawing everyone’s attention. “Anybody not minding the rigging, on the fo’c’s’le.”

  He intercepted Jenna on her way up to explain his plans. “Too much free time, me thinks,” he told her. “Keep people busy, let’s get some drilling going on.”

  “They’re sailors, Dex, not soldiers. Half the crew spent time being pirates or worse!”

  Dexter shrugged. “Then they could use some training.”

  He led the first session, sparring with Jenna, and tried not to suffer any flashbacks to the last time they’d fought. She had been controlled by a wizard bent on taking over her body for his own. Beating the wizard had required some quick thinking and no small amount of sacrifice. Now that she was acting on her own she was a much better swordsman and she handily beat him twice before he turned over his spot to Logan.

  The practice worked, keeping everyone occupied and tiring them out. Not only that, but it helped to polish rusty skills. It almost made Dexter feel good about their chances.

  * * * *

  Late the following day, Dexter dropped them out of cruising speed and let Bekka take over the helm early. He stretched out the stiffness in his muscles and made his way to the galley. Moving and having a task at hand helped distract him from the worries that plagued him. They were deep behind the Elven borders now; being caught meant a long and painful death for all of them.