Voidhawk: The Elder Race

by Jason Halstead

  Dexter smiled. “That’s the trick of it. Your grand-pappy tells me he can send us on our way safe and sound.”

  “My grand-pappy?” Jenna asked. Dexter could feel the eye roll even if he could not see it. “Well if he can do that, why can’t they do the same to help us get back to free void?”

  Dexter gave her an affectionate squeeze with his hand, which caused a gasp of approval from the small elven girl given the location of his hand. “That’s what I asked him. Had a good excuse, he did.”

  “Well?” She said, shifting her position slightly in an attempt to earn another squeeze of approval from him.

  Dexter smiled. “Can’t be taking all my fun away,” he told her, then gave her the squeeze she was after as a peace offering.

  “I’ll show you what fun I can have,” she growled playfully at him. Dexter laughed, then found himself silenced as the lithe woman wrapped herself up on top of him and made good on her threat.

  * * * *

  The Voidhawk lifted smoothly away from the dock. Nearly three weeks of sitting at port left the crew itching to be back under sail, not to mention the strained tensions among some of them. Almost as soon as the ropes were thrown and the talon-like landing struts lifted clear even Rosh’s mood improved. Smiles came easier and some of the traditional camaraderie filtered back in.

  “Going to tell us our course?” Xander asked as the Captain climbed the steps up to the forecastle carrying the sack made of black velvet that the spirit of Kragor had eyed suspiciously.

  Dexter smirked and pulled out an ornately carved hourglass from expensive sack. The base and arms holding the hourglass were made of starsilver and the glass itself crafted of crystal. No matter which way the captain moved it, the sand stayed in the bottom half of it without fail.

  “What’s that?” breathed Xander.

  “Our ticket out of here,” Dexter said. He placed it on the prow of the ship, carefully positioning it so that he felt it fit just right. Then he nodded and whispered a strange word he’d never uttered before. It was magical, that much he knew, but what it meant was beyond him. As soon as he said it he felt the word slip from his mind, leaving that irritating sensation of having a term on the tip of his tongue that he just couldn’t place.

  Xander gasped, seeing the hourglass and its frame now melded to the railing and prow of the Voidhawk. The starsilver of the frame blended into the wood magically, leaving no clear demarcation between the two materials. “That’s nothing,” Dexter said. “Ready for this one?”

  Dexter couldn’t help but chuckle at the wizard’s boyish expression of delight. He turned away and used the other magical command that the elves had taught him. It, too, slipped from his mind as soon as he said it. With that sudden absence in his memory he saw the hourglass upend itself and a thin trickle of sand begin to pour out. Nothing else occurred, though both men stood waiting expectantly.

  “Captain! Where’d the port go!”

  Dexter turned, surprised, and looked to where Willa was pointing. Behind them off the stern should have stood the elven port. Instead it was only the fiery yellow sun they had brought back to life. Dexter spun, looking around and above them, and felt a boyish grin of his own on his face. Xander swore softly beside him, amazed.

  “Gather round!” Dexter called out loudly to the crew and causing them to pause in their work. “We’ve got seven days to find this elven fleet. Should be a straight shot from here to there, but keep an eye out all the same.”

  “What then?” Rosh asked.

  “Why, then we wake them up and point them in the right direction,” Dexter said, his good mood not spoiled by the suspicious arms master.

  Rosh stared at him but then shrugged and went back to work. Dexter nodded and called for the others to do the same, then he turned and found Xander on his knees, staring closely at the hourglass from a foot or so away. Dexter chuckled again and shook his head, then turned and walked off, planning on doing the rounds of the ship to make sure everything was in order.

  “Where’d everything go?” Xander asked softly while staring at it.

  “Stars are still there,” Dexter pointed out.

  “But the asteroids are gone… the port… everything!” Xander said in an excited tone. He looked away from the hourglass and up at the Captain expectantly.

  “They said something about the fleet being phased out or something,” Dexter explained. “This thingy here puts us in the same phase or something.”

  “Phased out?” Xander echoed, scratching his chin. “You mean out of phase?”

  Dexter shrugged. “Something like that.”

  “Of course… out of phase!” He said, his voice growing excited again. “It makes sense! They shift their fleet out of phase and it disappears because it’s not there! I mean of course it’s there, but not now, then.”

  Dexter stared at him, blinking and at a loss. “Right, so that’s why nobody can find it,” he said slowly, pretending to know what the wizard was talking about.

  “It’s brilliant,” Xander said, nodding his head. “Out of phase means out of time. Not like you ran out of time to do something, but not in the same time as we are. By shifting their fleet ahead or behind by even half a second, we would never see them because they are not where we are when we are. It’s like being in the same place, but not at the same time. The stars are a constant through time, I see… that makes sense. Oh yes… yes! Oh this answers so many of the questions I’ve had over the years!”

  Dexter nodded, completely out of his league. “Yeah, that’s it,” he said. “I’m going to go and-“

  “Captain, how do we get them back? They’ll need to be shifted back the exact same amount… for that matter, how do we get back?” Xander interrupted, not even hearing Dexter.

  “That’s why I keep Rosh around,” Dexter said with a smirk. “We’re to be breaking something else.”

  Xander stared, confused himself, then nodded as a new light came into his eyes. “Captain, if ever I showed concern about joining your crew, let me apologize for it! Learning and seeing these events unfold is worth more than any amount of pay you could ever offer!”

  Dexter smirked. “Next time you’re due to get a share I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Xander grinned and hurried off, heading for the stairs and, Dexter presumed, his trunk where he kept all his wizardly books. Dexter shook his head and decided instead to stay on the deck and enjoy the view. It was nice to be sailing again, and nice to know he had a few days, at least, of peace and quiet ahead of him.

  As excited as everyone was at first, the routine came back to them quickly. With nothing but distant stars for company, their voyage soon grew tiresome. The only question that was soon raised involved the lack of anything around them save the stars. Once pleased by it, now even the Captain had grown tired of the unceasing doldrums of their out-of-phase voyage. It took Jenna fetching him from a nap to announce that they’d arrived at their destination with time to spare to rouse him from his lethargy.

  The Captain lurched to his feet and hurried up on deck to see the approaching planet. It was green and blue, with tinges or brown here and there. Dexter had seen many planets in his time, but none looked as clear and beautiful. As they closed the distance he could soon make out wisps of clouds blowing on winds across the surface of it.

  “Take us down,” he told Jenna, eyes scanning the planet like the terrestrial predator his ship was named after.

  “Where?” Jenna asked, surprised. “A water landing?”

  Dexter frowned. Water landings would be rough on the ‘Hawk. Originally it had been designed for that, but Kragor’s modifications made it suitable for ground or water. Ground was safer now, given the lack of visibility below water. Shifting rocks or an uneven surface could make the ship slip and damage one of the landing struts. “Look for a city in the mountains. Should be a lake and a dry dock there. Lots of other ships too, courtesy of your grand-pappy’s people.”

  Jenna scowled at him briefly, then turned to peer
with her keen eyes down at the planet below as well. “Any idea which mountains?”

  “Aye, the ones with the city in ‘em,” Dexter said, ignoring the angry glare he was sure Jenna was now sending his way.

  The first mate turned and called out orders, dropping the Voidhawk lower and lower until they felt the temperature drop, a sign that the planet’s atmosphere had merged with their own. Simultaneously the greater gravity of the planet took over, forcing everyone to shift on their feet or be forced to stagger. The Voidhawk’s crew were seasoned sailors and none made the virginal mistake of falling from the gravity shift.

  It took several minutes to secure the ‘Hawk enough in the atmosphere to grant them time to scour the planet below for landmarks. From the looks on the tired faces of his crew Dexter knew they all remembered the last time they’d spent excess time in the atmosphere of a large planet. Willa and Logan in particular, since it had been their planet that was fresh in his mind. Acaros had been largely dry and heavily populated, the planet they circled now was lush and filled with life that seemed uninterested in the affairs or men and elves.

  While searching Dexter had time to let his mind wander. He realized with a start that he was no longer tired. Sure, the endless searching was mind numbing, but it no longer felt a herculean effort to put one foot in front of the other. He glanced around, watching his crew, and noted that they were moving quicker as well. His eyes went to the hourglass melded with the railing and he wondered just what sort of magic he’d unwittingly invoked.

  Even with the realization that he was no longer cursed with apathy, his excitement waned as the hours of searching passed by. Every hill or mountain they saw drew their attention, but they proved false one after another. They passed above thunderstorms and cloudless areas leagues across, below them the terrain varied from desert to plain to jungle. Many times they saw movement, entire herds of animals roamed the plains. No sign of a city appeared, just a world filled with life free of harassment by civilization.

  “There!” Jenna cried out, though her tone was anything but exciting. Dexter followed her pointed finger and had to squint to make out the mountains she spoke of. He looked back at her, impressed and even doubting, then waited while the Voidhawk fought against a gusting crosswind to edge closer to the mountains.

  His consort’s eyes were true. A large lake inhabited a large valley that branched away from a large range of mountains. At the head of that lake was a waterfall that fell from an opening in the mountain itself far above. Along the shore a city slept, with buildings ranging from huts to mansions. No sign of movement or life awaited them, but they could make out a trail that led up the mountain from the village.

  “Some castle,” Jenna muttered.

  “It’s in the mountains,” Dexter repeated, though he too felt they may have been misled. Or worse yet, perhaps they had the wrong location?

  “Put us down in the lake. We’ll get in as close as we can.”

  She shook her head but said nothing. She turned and relayed the orders, bringing the ‘Hawk down and setting it gracefully into the crystalline blue waters of the lake. They sailed it in slowly, all of them struggling to convert what they knew of sailing in the void to sailing on water. It took nearly an hour before they safely ran the Voidhawk up on her landing struts, anchoring the vessel in the shallows less than a hundred feet from the shore.

  At a rest at last, Dexter glanced over the side of the Voidhawk and frowned. “That as close as you could get us?” He asked.

  Jenna peered over the edge and shrugged. “The ‘Hawk’s front talons are resting on the bottom, what more could you want? We try to put her closer to shore and we won’t see the bottom, might break off a talon or two.”

  Dexter grunted. He knew as well as any of them did how a ship would hold up on unstable ground. He glanced around and saw most of the others had gathered and were looking a little uneasy.

  “Don’t tell me none of you knows how to swim?” Jenna asked, surprised.

  Dexter and the others commenced mumbling and shuffling about, every one of them looking anywhere but at the elf.

  “I can swim,” Logan offered, stepping forward. “It is an unusual skill where I come from, and in the void I have seen fewer bodies of water than on Acaros.”

  “I been skinny dipping once,” Rosh offered, which drew a narrow eyed glare from Willa. “Wasn’t much swimming going on though.”

  “All right, I got no idea what’s out there, the elves said the trip here would be quiet like, but they said nothing about once we got here,” Dexter said, reigning in the temporarily distraught crew. “Logan, Rosh, Jenna, Xander and Keshira, you’re with me. The rest of you… keep the ship floating.”

  “Rig up some ropes,” Dexter said, not having any strong urge to dive into the water below. It was blue and clean and beautiful looking, but to him the unknown dangers beyond the surface made it menacing. “See if you can’t find something that floats to hang on to while you’re at it.”

  The Captain tore his gaze away from the water and looked at those who he’d told to stay behind. Willa looked upset and relieved, if that was possible, and the others seemed unconcerned save for Bailynn. Dexter caught her pleading eye and jerked his head, telling her to follow him. She hurried after while he walked towards the aft.

  “I’ve not had a mind to check on you much since…”

  She smiled gratefully and answered while he searched for words. “I’ve been good, Captain. Very good. I missed it at first, you know? It was odd, like I was hungry or something but food didn’t help.”

  Dexter smirked and glanced at Rosh. “Sounds like Rosh.”

  She smiled then shook her head. “No, this wasn’t food, it was a part of me that was gone. It was a curse I guess, something used to control me, but I was used to it and I guess I relied on it. I had an excuse, you know?”

  Dexter nodded even though he could never know how she felt.

  “Well, I’m okay now I think,” she said with a shrug. “I just wanted you to know that… and, well, if you wondered about me… you can still count on me. You know, like before, when you need to?”

  Dexter smiled benignly and nodded. “If it’s all the same, I’d rather I only needed to count on you to mind the rigging and sails.”

  She smiled widely at his words.

  “While we’re off you’re the arms master of the boat,” He told her. “Bekka’s in charge, but if anything should cause trouble, I expect you to keep the crew and ship safe, got it?”

  She nodded, her grin refusing to slacken. Dexter smiled with her and headed back to see how the preparations for getting off the Voidhawk were going. Some spare boards had been rummaged up from the hold already and more were forthcoming. At Willa’s direction they were tied off and nailed together, forming a rudimentary skiff that, she thought, would float well enough. It took nearly an hour of crafting but finally Rosh and Keshira lowered it over the side to the water below. To the cheering of everyone, it stayed afloat.

  Dexter, apprehensive but hiding it well, was the first one over the edge and down the rope to the raft below. He managed to hold his balance only by sitting down on it, then held it in place while Logan joined him. Xander came next then Keshira and Rosh. Jenna alone waited up top, then she finally grinned down at them. Dexter motioned for her to hurry, wondering what her deal was, then his eyes widened in shock when she pulled her weapon belt off and tossed it down to them.

  Her clothing and equipment followed next, coming so quickly Dexter had no chance to shout out a protest. She stood naked and beautiful at the edge of the deck for a moment, the evening sun making her pale flesh seem aglow. Dexter stared, too impressed with the vision of athletic beauty to remember to be annoyed or upset for a moment, then their situation came back to him. He opened his mouth to chide her when she stepped onto the railing smooth, bent her knees, then leapt off of it gracefully.

  She flew through the air like a bird, her arms held out and back as though to gather the wind under her wings. The
n she tucked them in and dove, falling like an arrow and spearing beneath the surface of the water next to the skiff. Water splashed onto them, causing exclamations of shock and surprise. She reappeared a few moments later on the far side of the boat, grinning widely and taking a few strokes with her arms to bring her to the side of the skiff. She looked up at Dexter, who just stared at her in a mix of irritation, envy, and lust. She laughed childishly and pushed away, swimming strongly for the shore.

  Dexter growled at her bizarre and nearly mutinous behavior. “After her!” He said, grabbing a makeshift plank they’d planned to use as oars and digging it into the water. The others followed suit quickly and, in a matter of less than half a dozen chaotic strokes, they had managed to spin the boat around nearly twice. Jenna’s mocking laughter reached them from where she was lazily swimming on her back in the shallows.

  Drawing a frustrated breath, Dexter took control of the situation and organized the rowers. A few minutes later he called out the strokes and after a few more minutes of adjusting their timing and rhythm, they finally managed to pull away from the bow of the Voidhawk and make progress towards the shore. Jenna was waiting for them when they finally felt their oars and the bottom of the skiff dig into the sand. She strode through the water, letting it fall from her skin and reflect in the setting sun.

  They pulled the raft onto the fine white sand of the beach and she stood before them, unbothered by her lack of modesty. Dexter admired her form, no matter how many times he’d seen it, then remembered he held her clothes and equipment. “If you’re to be acting like a fool, I should hold on to these,” he said, holding up her things. “Might make you think twice next time.”

  She shrugged, seemingly unfazed. “It’s been ages since I’ve had a proper bath, let alone had the chance for a swim.”

  He scowled, displeased with her reaction to his bluff.

  “Captain’s got a point,” Rosh offered after glancing back at the Voidhawk quickly. “Naked and take the lead too, I’m thinking.”