* * * *
“How’s Xander?” Dexter asked his enigmatic helmsman.
Bekka smiled tiredly. “He’ll live. Showed signs of coming around, but Logan and I gave him something to help him sleep longer.”
Dexter’s lips pursed in irritation. “Whatever he might be knowing could save us a spot of trouble or two.”
Bekka shrugged. “Maybe, but whatever felled him was made worse when that rock hit us. Sent him rolling off the table and onto the floor.”
“Oh,” Dexter said, trailing off as he realized he had been the one to set him on the table. “Alright, let him sleep a bit longer then. Course that means you’ll be sharing any thoughts you got on that thing,” he jerked his thumb towards the dark planet hovering ahead of them.
Bekka looked at it, not for the first time, and shrugged. “It’s too big to be a planet,” she shared. “At least, I’ve never heard of one that big.”
Dexter grunted. He had felt the same way, but he was not sure how far off it was. “That all you got?”
She smiled sadly. “Sorry Captain… it’s… well, it’s dark, like light is being sucked into it. There’s magic there… powerful magic, but that’s all I know.”
“Some wizard you are,” Dexter muttered.
“I’m not even that good of a witch,” she admitted.
Dexter raised an eyebrow but let the comment on the tip of his tongue slide. He turned back to the railing and pointed down the hull, where the rock had hit them. “How’d that feel?”
“It hurt,” she said plainly.
Dexter nodded. Damage taken by a ship was felt by the helmsman. Something that left a hole big enough for Rosh to stand up in no doubt left a lasting impression to the helmsman. “Can she still fly?”
Bekka nodded. “The guest quarters won’t be used, but the ‘Hawk’s got a strong back.”
Dexter had thought as much. He smiled and nodded, then wondered if they had enough spare lumber in the hold to make repairs. Even worse, he had no idea when the elves might decide to give chase. “Get some rest yourself. We’ll be moving right quick.”
She turned to head off. Dexter sighed and went aft, finding the stairway down so he could examine the holed stateroom himself to see if Rosh really could stand up in it. He whistled as he looked at it, drawing the attention of Willa, Rosh, and Jodyne.
“Cap,” Rosh said quickly, nodding respectfully but staying out of his way.
Dexter returned the nod but didn’t look at him. He did allow himself to enjoy the look of anxiety that flashed over Rosh’s face at his dismissal of him. “How’s she holding up?” He asked.
Willa scratched the stump of her right arm absent-mindedly while she stared at the jagged timbers that had been crushed and broken by the impact. “The ‘Hawk’s in good shape,” she said, “but this ain’t no small hole to patch.”
Dexter turned and gave Rosh a hardened look to stay his mouth. The man’s lips were open, a tawdry comment forthcoming. He fell silent and then huffed before turning and stomping out of the room.
“Yeah, so anyhow,” Willa continued, shaking her head and rolling her eyes, “I don’t know that we’ve got supplies enough to fix this. In fact, I know we don’t.”
“If them elves come at us, I’ll not be wanting them to have a way to sneak in,” Dexter said.
She nodded. “Yeah I can plug it. Not a proper hull, but something. Don’t be landing in no water though!”
“That’ll do for now, you need some help or can the two of you do it?”
Willa glanced at Jodyne questioningly. The dwarven cook nodded in silent answer. “We’ll manage, Captain.”
Dexter smiled and turned to leave, then did a double take as he nearly walked through Kragor again. “Stop that!” He hissed at the spirit of his best friend. Kragor ignored him; he just looked on with pride at Willa and his wife, Jodyne.
Dexter shook his head and walked off, stepping around the dwarf even though he didn’t need to. Jodyne and Willa, engrossed in studying the repairs, never noticed the unusual behavior. He made his way up to the deck and saw Jenna was working with Logan and Bailynn to restore order to the deck.
“Yes, My Lady,” Dexter overhead Logan say to Jenna as he approached. He bit his tongue to keep the grin off his face at the expression of angry misery that washed over her features.
“My Lady?” He asked as he came up, his anxiety and worries washed away by the irrepressible humor of the situation.
“Damned fool thinks he needs to call me that,” Jenna spat out, glaring at Logan.
“Captain, I heard of her position as royalty,” Logan explained.
“Heard of that, did you?” He mused. “Where might that have come from?”
“Rosh said the elven commander told him.”
“You believe him?”
Logan looked at him with eyes bulging. “I- I never thought… I mean, why would he…”
Jenna growled and threw her arms up in the air. “I’m going to find him and kill him,” she muttered, turning and walking away. Dexter watched her stomp moodily across the deck, muttering something about making him help Jodyne peel potatoes after she killed him.
Logan gave a mystified look to Dexter, which only made the captain laugh. “Jenna’s not that kind of girl,” he said. “You just remember her position here, that’s all that matters.”
“Um…Yes Sir.”
“I’d better go save Rosh from getting beaten up by a girl… again,” Dexter said.
“Again?”
Dexter smiled enigmatically and hurried after Jenna, catching up to her she exited the spiral staircase to the companionway below deck. She spun on him, her eyes still filled with fire but her expression relaxing upon seeing that he was alone. “You going to stop me?”
“Stop you? From what?” Dexter asked innocently. He pushed on before she could elaborate, “I came to say we’re down for a few, might be a good chance to get some sack time.”
Lips opened, she hesitated, then looked at him with narrowed eyes. “Why Captain, are you trying to take me to bed?”
Dexter grinned. “I’d be a fool not to, but this time you’ll have to dream about me. Somebody’s gotta fix up the ruckus you caused.”
“Fix up the… what is it with you… you…you humans!” She exasperated, her fists clenched at her side.
Dexter grinned at her. “Hit the sheets, we’ll be up and running before you close your eyes.”
Her glare was met with a smile and a shrug. He then turned away to help with repairs.. A glance over his shoulder a moment later as she turned away showed him the hint of a smile on her face. He bit down the chuckle and set his mind to other matters, mostly what was ahead of them and what was behind. More importantly, he worried, was why the two hadn’t come together to crush the Voidhawk and crew between them.
* * * *
“Rosh, take the helm, we need to not be here anymore,” Dexter called a couple of hours later after the hole had been reinforced and covered.
Rosh looked up, surprised, then nodded and took off at a jog across the decking. He stumbled on a rope he’d accidentally coiled around his leg, but recovered before he could fall and truly embarrass himself. Logan moved to assist Keshira at the mainsail while Bailynn and Willa stood ready. Xander, refreshed but not yet steady on his feet, was on the forecastle with Dexter, staring at the dark orb.
“Anything?” Dexter asked him, turning back to the wizard.
Xander shook his head, one hand going to massage his temples and forehead. “I saw… something.”
“Me too, but that was years ago and it was the most blessed thing the Gods could give a man,” Dexter replied smartly.
Xander looked at him, confused.
“My first woman,” Dexter said, rolling his eyes. “She’s as much help right now as you are!”
“Oh, right,” Xander mumbled. “Sorry Captain. I mean there was something there. I strained and almost broke through. I had a glimpse of something… I know it, but it’s gone. The memory
was snatched from me by whatever it is that prevents me from seeing it.”
“And that… thing?” Dexter asked, jerking his thumb towards the black planet.
Xander shook his head. “That’s it… or part of it. There’s powerful magic about it. More than that I can’t tell you.”
Dexter sighed. He knew no more now than he had when the wizard was unconscious. “You wizards and witches, you’re not good for much, you know?”
Xander bristled a little but shrugged as he realized he was of little use. “I can tell you to steer clear of it, would you know that much without me?”
Dexter chuckled. “Giant ball of nothing the size of a sun and you think I want to go near it?”
Xander sighed and looked away at it again.
“Captain!” Rosh’s voice echoed up from below deck.
Dexter glanced around, making sure nothing was amiss, then hurried down to the bridge. He passed the door to his and Jenna’s cabin and saw her open the door and stick her head out. His eyes widened as she slipped her vest over shoulders and hurried after him. The glimpse of her athletic breasts was always a welcome sight, but this time he was glad to not be distracted by them.
“What is it?” He asked, ignoring his elven lover as she tied the laces of her vest beside him.
“There’s something out there,” Rosh said, his voice distant as he struggled to handle both his body and the ship at the same time.
“Aye, it’s big and dark,” Dexter said, not impressed.
“No… I mean something smaller. A… A port. It’s just coming around the planet, port side.”
“It’s in orbot?” Dexter asked, surprised. “Well, take us in, let’s check it out.”
Dexter and Jenna turned to hurry back up to the main deck. Bekka, yawning, stuck her head out of her room as they passed by. Dexter caught a glimpse of her nude body and he gasped in disbelief. “Do any of the women on here wear any clothes?” He grumbled.
Bekka’s door shut behind them and Dexter put no more thought to it. In a few moments he was back on the deck and issuing orders to let out the sails and make way for the left side of the black ball of non-light. Bekka joined them a few minutes later, still adjusting her clothing as she walked up to them. She said nothing but instead stood beside Xander and watched silently while they picked up speed.
The blackness grew at an agonizingly slow pace, proving not only how far away it was but also how massive it must be. Worried glances to the aft revealed nothing but a rapidly retreating field of rocks. No sign of their elven pursuit appeared.
“Did they give up?” Dexter mused aloud.
Jenna followed his gaze to the stern and beyond. “Not a chance,” she said. “We’re still in elven territory. They’re just waiting for us to come back out.”
“What if we come out somewhere else?”
The scolding expression she sported answered for her. “Dex, they’ll be surrounding it and waiting for us.”
“It’s pretty big,” he pointed out, gesturing with his arms around them. It was true, while they had managed to pass through the ring of asteroids in a matter of less than half an hour, the sphere of space rocks encircled the black orb they sailed towards at a considerable distance.
“Planets…”
“Where?” Dexter asked, turning to Bekka and trying to see where she was looking.
Bekka shook her head abruptly, as though bringing herself back around. “The rocks… they were planets.”
“Of course!” Xander said, catching on instantly and grinning. Dexter stared at them, at a loss and showing the beginning signs of annoyance. “Something happened here, this black… sphere? It must have been a star. The rocks out there, planets that were destroyed by whatever the event was that voided it of energy. Now they’re trapped by the star’s gravity well.”
Dexter turned to stare at the distant objects. “Why wasn’t there more of them flying rocks then?” He asked. “Why wouldn’t there be rocks scattered throughout? It’s almost like a… a shield or something.”
“It is,” Jenna said, her voice cutting through the silence with a resigned tone. “This… I never thought it existed.”
“What?” All three asked.
Jenna rubbed her hands over her eyes in a show of trying to wipe away the sudden fatigue she felt. “Elven legends tell of a band of elves that once ruled. They were hungry for magic and power and nothing else mattered. The mingled freely with other races and peoples, showing no care for race or culture, only for what they could learn and covet. This was nearly the undoing of the elves as other races waged war against them. They threatened elven purity and supremacy.”
Dexter chuckled. “They were nice, in other words?”
Jenna stared at him, then shrugged. “Perhaps. It is a story told to children to show them how the elves must protect their own interests and be superior to other beings.”
He nodded, his hunch confirmed. “Go on,” he urged.
“There’s not much more to say,” she said. “Legend tells that their home world was besieged by a group of loyal elves who had a way to defeat them. They sacrificed themselves for the empire, destroying their foes and themselves in the process. No one knows where this home world once was, the magic used devastated it and the void around it. Rumor has it anyone that goes looking is forced to join them though, imprisoned or destroyed or whatever the flavor of the tale being told is.”
“Heard of ghost ships before, never ghost planets,” Dexter mumbled.
“If this tale is told to all elven children, why didn’t you make the connection sooner?” Xander piped up, showing some suspicion.
“I never thought of it until you mentioned the planets being destroyed,” she said.
Xander stared at her a minute longer, until Bekka laid her hand on his arm to draw his attention to something off in the distance. Dexter’s eyes narrowed slightly and he saw that Jenna was looking a bit upset by the unspoken accusation as well.
“You got a problem with somebody, you spill it before it causes more to be spilt,” Dexter said to him.
Xander turned back and looked at Jenna, then at Dexter. “I think she knows more, Captain, that’s all. She was a princess, royalty knows more than fairy tales told to children!”
Dexter started towards him but Jenna grabbed his arm. “He’s right to question,” she said, though the set of her face showed she was far from feeling compassionate. She turned on Xander. “Know much about elven culture, wizard? No, you don’t, so don’t pretend to answer. The men are in charge. Women can do many things, even fight as soldiers, but we’re not allowed to lead. A princess or a queen is nothing more than a slave. We’re not even allowed to fight, nor to do anything except be presented as signs of our mate’s or our father’s prowess.”
She paused a moment, distracted by Bekka, who was nodding in agreement with her. “Women are considered gossips and weak, they are told nothing of state secrets,” she went on. “The fairy tales I’ve heard tell of how powerful these elves once were, and how after they fell their successors swore to uphold their race above all others. They pursued magic not for power and for the sake of learning it, but for defense and protection instead. Most of the magical teachings had disappeared, but those that had not were either destroyed or forbidden.”
“There you have it, accuse the first mate again and I’ll see to it you’re thrown off the side,” Dexter said with a grim smile. He knew he had to bring closure to the situation or Jenna might have kept building up her anger until she lashed out. Wizard or not, he knew her sword was quicker at that range than any spell Xander could think up.
“Call me a princess again and you’ll wish you’d been thrown over the side,” Jenna growled.
Bekka smirked and Dexter had to fight to hold his own stern expression. Xander nodded and mumbled an apology, then turned away to stare at the approaching black sun.
Dexter glanced at Jenna and Bekka, then shrugged and stepped up to Xander. He clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re a changed
man, Xander. There’s hope for you yet,” he said. “Now if we could just teach you to stop wearing dresses…”
Xander’s jaw dropped in shock. He turned to protest but Dexter gave him another pat on the shoulder and turned to walk away. “I’ll be doing captain-y things, Jenna, you’ve got the boat,” he called out loudly over his shoulder.
Behind him he heard Xander muttering about his wizard’s robe not being a dress.
* * * *
The expanded awareness Rosh experienced from being on the helm turned out to be accurate. The port loomed ahead of them after several more hours of travel. It was built entirely out of a strange metal and, like many other things in the strange system, it seemed to be immense. Sized for a human or an elf, it nevertheless spanned several stories and a distance wide enough that it took the Voidhawk most of another hour to fly around it in a scouting circle. They saw no signs of life, but there was one thing that gave them pause, a beam of some sort of magical energy connected the port to the black sun beneath it. It glimmered with multiple colors, shifting like a rainbow, yet all the colors were muted and dark instead of bright and vibrant.
“Anything?” Dexter asked Jenna, Bekka, and Xander. He rejoined them as they closed on the abandoned structures, though they all stood mute as they scouted around it.
“No clue,” Jenna admitted. Xander and Bekka expressed similar thoughts.
“Take us in, if there’s nobody around then there’s nobody to mind if we see about fixing up the ‘Hawk. Might just have us a little look around while we’re there too,” Dexter said with a smile.
“If this place has been around for as long as I think it has, don’t you think it’s going to be pretty picked over?” Jenna asked.
He shrugged. “Anybody else that found it didn’t have you as their pilot,” he said.
She smiled at his compliment, then saw he had nothing more to say. She turned and started directing the ship down to the port, putting it as close to the shipyard they had identified as possible. The landing went smoothly, lacking any interference from other traffic or anyone at the port. When they were grounded and secured, Dexter stood at the plank that had been run out to the dock and looked around. Still nothing moved. It was eerie.
Voidhawk: The Elder Race Page 7
