Voidhawk: The Elder Race

by Jason Halstead

  * * * *

  “She’s gone,” Dexter said. He had slept off the worst of the effects of the ale and was now regretting his decision to enter the tunnel and check on the progress being made. Steel striking stone seldom made for pleasant noise.

  Rosh wiped the sweat off his brow and leaned against the pickaxe he bore. “Who? Willa?” He asked.

  “Aye, she went with Jenna and Bekka to fetch the elves.”

  Rosh grunted, then started to pick up his axe again. He hesitated, seeing Dexter still standing there. “What? You told me to do it!”

  Dexter chuckled in spite of himself and nodded. “I’d be telling you the same thing again too. It’s my job to get the job done and see us back safe and sound. As much as we can, at least.”

  Rosh scowled. “Well then you got what you needed, didn’t you?”

  “We all did, I’m thinking,” Dexter said, glancing around at the greatly expanded ceiling and walls. “Except I got a question that needs asking.”

  Rosh grunted, waiting impatiently.

  “You told me once before your old man was Jaspar Highsail?” He asked.

  Rosh stared at him then set the tool against the wall. “Yeah,” he said.

  Jasper Highsail was one of the most infamous pirates to sail the void for many years. Dexter had a pipe dream that, if worse came to worse, perhaps he might find one of the many hidden stashes rumor had it abounded in the void. Word had it he’d retired to live off his spoils, and a great many young men had sailed in hopes of picking up where he left off, that or finding him and taking a share of his fabled wealth with them.

  “My ma was a barmaid he tumbled,” Rosh continued. “She told me once he charmed her off her feet and on to her back, one of the few free ones she gave out.”

  “Quite a legacy,” Dexter observed.

  Rosh shrugged. “She made a living best she could. I got no grudge against that.”

  “The void’d be a might bit worse off for lack of some good whoring,” Dexter agreed.

  Rosh chuckled and nodded. “I tracked him down, near the end.”

  “Near the end?” The Captain asked.

  “Aye, he’s dead and gone, half a dozen years, maybe more. Found him in rough shape and bitter to the end.”

  “Bitter? After what all he done? What about everything he stole?”

  Rosh snorted. “Stories told to kids. He was busted up and didn’t have more than a few silver to his name. Elves supported him the whole time, then when things went sour they left him with nothing.”

  “The elves?” Dexter asked incredulously.

  “He made a deal with ‘em. Long as he picked anything that wasn’t an elf for a target, they kept him supplied and paid him to pay his crew. When things got hot and he was runnin low on luck, they double crossed him,” Rosh said. “About the only thing I got out of him that was worth a damn was knowing the only good elf’s a dead one.”

  Dexter stared at him, his hidden hopes crushed by the news. He’d hoped, after they helped the elders out, they might sneak off to find some hidden treasure trove and make enough to buy another ship. It’d never be the Voidhawk, but any ship was better than life as a dirthugger. Finally he shook his head, clearing it of his private misery, and said, “I thought that way once about elves too, before Jenna and now the elders.”

  Rosh snorted. “Yeah, the elders. They done all sorts of great things for us.”

  “You’re alive because of them.”

  “I wouldn’t have died without them neither,” He pointed out. “Besides, you ever stop and think what it might be like, not being able to die?”

  Dexter looked at him, a laugh on his lips. It fell before he could voice it, seeing the deadly serious look on Rosh’s face.

  “Yeah, thought so,” Rosh said. “Don’t know if I’m gonna get old or ever get sick. Everything heals. I been feeling younger than ever, and the more I work, the stronger I get.”

  “Don’t sound so bad to me,” Dexter opined.

  “It’s great,” Rosh admitted. “Now. What happens later, when you die? When Willa dies? When Jenna dies? Hell Dex, I already got an entire damn line of family here, and we slept through that. I ever have any more, might be I watch them grow old and die too.”

  “You really been thinking about this,” Dexter observed, both surprised at the depth of the man’s thoughts and serious nature of it.

  Rosh grunted. “If I got all that time left, I figure I’d better not screw it up – gonna have the rest of my life to regret it.”

  Dexter watched as the big man turned and grabbed up his pick axe. He went back to work, having shared enough. Dexter turned away, his questions answered. Seemed like he had lots of questions lately, and too few of them involved what the Voidhawk and crew were going to do next. Mostly he was worried about whether there’d be a Voidhawk and crew.

  * * * *

  Jenna retraced the steps to the Forbidden City easily, making it before dusk the following day. While she visited with the elves and informed them of their accomplishments, Bekka had taken Willa to the small grotto where the shrine to Rosh lay. Willa had stared out over the jungle, her gaze able to see for miles. She stared and smiled until unbidden tears came to her eyes.

  “This is so beautiful,” she whispered.

  Bekka reached out and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. Willa’s smile deepened briefly and she glanced at the sorceress. Bekka smiled back, not knowing what to say. The half elf was relieved when Willa didn’t move to break their contact.

  “You’re different,” Willa said after the comfortable silence between them had slipped past for several minutes.

  Bekka laughed. “In just about every way,” she agreed. “But different from who or what?”

  The one handed girl turned to face her before speaking. “Bekka, I used to be pretty. I was younger then. Stupid too. I was a slave, I had no rights. I let myself believe I was pretty enough that didn’t matter. Other slaves treated me nice. Sometimes even my Masters treated me well.”

  Bekka nodded, urging her to go on.

  “Then I got sick. Things got worse and worse, you was there when I was all but done for. I wasn’t so pretty then but you guys took me in. You helped me. Now I ain’t got no hand but I found things in me I didn’t never know was there,” she continued, smiling through the ghosts of her past.

  “Rosh… he… well, I guess I knew plenty like him. Not like him deep down, but like enough, you know?” She asked, her look showing some concern that Bekka might not understand her.

  “I understand,” Bekka said, giving her hand a squeeze.

  Willa stared at her, then sighed. “I don’t know that you do. I mean to say, I know when somebody likes me. I seen that look before, just not usually in a woman’s eyes.”

  Bekka’s cheeks turned red instantly. She opened her mouth to retort; to deny Willa’s words. No sound came forth, further deepening the scarlet of her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” Bekka whispered, trying to pull her hand away and turn from the beautiful, if disfigured, woman.

  Willa’s hand tightened, refusing to let go. “It’s okay, Bekka. I know better than to be flattered from someone looking my way and thinking thoughts like that. Like I said, you’re different.”

  Bekka turned back to stare at her fully. She still felt the fool and the color of her face proved it, but she bravely stood her ground to listen to Willa talk. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean you’re nice. You treated me good the whole time, sick or not. You was one of the ones making sure I got better. You keep to yourself and that’s a shame, I think you should spend more time with the crew, you got a lot worth sharing, I’d bet.”

  Bekka smiled, flattered by the former slave’s praise. “You get used to being alone,” Bekka said, shrugging it off. “Always been an outcast, or I’ve always been hiding something. I got so used to it I don’t even know I do it anymore.”

  “Well stop it,” Willa said with a smile. “And grow your hair out; you got a fine looking face, I bet you�
�d be a pretty thing with some hair.”

  Bekka’s mouth dropped open and she laughed after a moment. “I haven’t let my hair grow in years… I-“

  Willa squeezed her hand, making her stop talking. “I ain’t never been close to a woman,” Willa said, making Bekka’s mouth suddenly dry. “But if I’m ever gonna, I want my first one to look like a girl, just so I don’t get confused.”

  Willa smiled and pulled the stunned sorceress in for a one armed hug. The warmth Bekka picked off the girl’s cheek as it rested against hers made her feel as though her stomach was tumbling over the edge of the cliff in front of them.

  Someone cleared their throat a few feet from them, making both woman jump apart, blushing yet again. Jenna was standing there, staring at them, with a few of the elves behind her. “None of the boys are going to be sleeping too well after this,” she said mischievously.

  Bekka sputtered, stammering out broken words that made no sense. Willa just looked abashed and embarrassed. Jenna laughed, then shook her head. “Come on, this is Landen, Tursdin, Masarra, and Kithuris. They’re going to see about helping us get the ‘Hawk out of that lake. The rest of the elders are making ready and will be headed down in a day or two.”

  * * * *

  Dexter emerged from the tunnel, wiping sweat and dirt from his face. He coughed, then spat out the dust and dirt that had collected in his mouth. Rosh limped out behind him, shaking his head and muttering.

  “Told that damned fool he needed more supports,” Rosh growled. He sat down on a rock and reached for the basket that had been filled with salted meat, cheese, and bread. Now it was nearly empty.

  “My calculations were fine!” Xander said, emerging from the man made tunnel himself. He was nursing a bruise to his side. “You took out too much rock to support it, you brute!”

  Rosh tried to defend himself, but was unable to talk around the mouthful of bread.

  “You are a brute,” Dexter confirmed, drawing a steely glare from Rosh. “But this brute’s cut our digging time by a third, by your calculations. And he just saved your scrawny hide from being buried alive.”

  Xander huffed and stared back into the tunnel. He could still see the small rock slide that had partially blocked the tunnel thanks to Rosh’s pick driving deep and pulling out a rock too large. Had it not been for Rosh’s quick reactions throwing the wizard away from the disaster and having his own leg smashed under some falling rocks, Xander would most likely be dead.

  “Yes, well, thanks for that at least,” he said, making even his attempt at gratitude sound condescending. “But next time don’t take out more than I tell you to!”

  “Ain’t got much choice, the rock cracks the way the rock cracks,” Rosh growled. “How’s about you do the digging?”

  “Is everyone okay?” Logan asked as he rushed into the tunnel. “I heard the rumble of a cave in.”

  “Got my leg mashed up good,” Rosh reported, stretching it out in front of him. “Seems fine now though.”

  Logan stared at the leg, noting the blood stains and tears on the man’s trousers and boots. He shook his head. “Aside from Rosh getting scratched, is anyone else hurt?”

  Dexter chuckled while Rosh scowled. “We’re fine, Logan. How are you holding up?”

  Logan did a double take, then shrugged. “By day I’m fine,” he said. “I stay amongst the fleet at night. The moon has a few more days until it begins to wane.”

  Dexter nodded. “Let me know if you need anything,” he said, then he pushed away from the rocky wall he’d been leaning against. “Near death or not, Rosh just cleared out a fair bit of rock we can haul out and put us ahead of schedule again.”

  “If he doesn’t get us killed carrying it,” Xander muttered darkly.

  “Logan, you’ve a strong back, lend a hand,” Dexter added.

  The priest nodded and hurried off after the wizard into the tunnel. Rosh stood up, groaning a little for effect as he did so.

  “You all right?” Dexter asked him.

  “Just hungry,” he said.

  “You just ate half a loaf of bread!”

  Rosh shrugged. “That’s just it, I get hurt, I heal. Then I get real hungry.”

  Dexter thought it over for a moment. “That’s the price of being a god, I suppose.”

  Rosh’s dark look made Dexter laugh all the way back in to the pile of rubble. The laughter faded quickly with the heavy work of moving the rocks out of the passage and either into the pond or, once enough had been cleared to bypass it, further into the cavern. Tasha joined them, emerging from deeper into the cavern where she had been studying the elven void ships. Over an hour passed before they were ready to shore up the latest expansion in the tunnel.

  When they emerged from the tunnel again the sun was dipping low in the western sky. Logan stared at it, then sighed as he turned to the east. The moon wasn’t visible yet. He reached down and snagged a large strip of jerked meat, then tore off a chunk of cheese and turned to head back into the tunnel.

  “You feeling all right?” Rosh asked Dexter after the priest had departed.

  “I’m not the one playing kick the rock,” Dexter reminded him.

  Rosh shrugged. “You been acting funny. Nicer lately. Got bad news for us or something?”

  Dexter laughed, then shrugged it off. “We’re sailors, not dirthuggers. The kind of work we been doing lately isn’t the kind of thing any of us has much of a taste for. Once we get out of here, I’ll start behaving like a proper tyrant again.”

  Rosh’s response was lost in the yell of a woman from the far side of the pond. It pierced the roar of the waterfall enough for Dexter and Rosh to both look up to see what was amiss. Jenna, her hands cupped to her mouth, was shouting something at them. She waved, gesturing them to her, and then waiting impatiently while the two men picked their way across the wooden timbers that had been set up to make the trip around the pond safer and easier.

  “Where are the others?” Dexter asked, looking for the host of elves or even Bekka or Willa. “You didn’t lose them in the woods, did you?”

  Jenna made a face that had Rosh chuckling and Dexter smiling weakly. “Come on,” she said. “There’s something I want you to see.”

  “What?” Dexter asked, falling in behind her as she headed towards the ramps up to the lake.

  “Save your breath, this climb is horrible,” Jenna said. She paused and added, “You can show me how much you love me afterwards.”

  Dexter turned and shook his head at Rosh, who had made a suggestive chuckle under his breath. Rosh adopted a look of innocence. “I’ll be sure to do that,” Dexter said, turning back to Jenna.

  Further speech was spared as they hurried up the ramps to the docks above. Once there Jenna led Dexter past several of the docked fishing boats and the transports, until he stopped dead in his tracks with what he could see tied to a dock over a hundred yards distant yet.

  “You found her?” He whispered rhetorically.

  Jenna grinned, beaming at him. “Willa and Bekka helped,” she said. “Then it took the elders to help us charge it up enough, and use their magic to let us breathe underwater, so we could get it to the surface and repair the hole in the hole.”

  Dexter’s face clouded over. “Who put a hole in my boat?”

  Jenna shrugged. “Bekka and Willa think the frog-men that captured them probably did it after they got them off the ship.”

  Dexter grunted, then started walking again. He moved at a pace that nearly caused the short legged elf to jog to keep up. He closed the distance quickly, pushing a few people out of the way as he moved to climb up on the deck and set foot on his ship again.

  “12,000 years underwater,” he mused, stepping lightly on it and testing his footing. The boat looked rough. Pools of water were gathered here and there. The wood was soaked and swollen and the sails and rigging had been torn away. Aside from that, the ship looked to be whole.

  “How’s it stayed like this?” He asked, turning to Jenna.

  “T
here are three reasons your ship still exists, Captain,” an elf said, emerging from the spiral staircase that led below decks.

  “How’d you learn to talk?” Rosh grunted, surprised to understand the elf.

  “I learned to talk long before your earliest ancestor was born,” The elf said.

  “Sorry Captain, this is Kithuris, one of the elders that came to help us raise the ‘Hawk,” Jenna said. “The rest must be below still with Willa and Bekka.”

  “Sorry Kithuris, please go on,” Dexter said, only half paying attention him while he stared about the sodden deck with the look of a young boy who’d just been given the key to a candy shop.

  “The cold water served to preserve the wood well, but that alone wouldn’t stand the test of time,” Kithuris said. “The combination of magic imbued in the ship to allow it to travel the void helped as well, strengthening the very nature of the ship and preventing decay. The final factor was the protection afforded by the magic that enabled you to travel here in the first place. This ship was out of place, or out of time if you prefer. It did not belong, much as you did not belong. Thus it was that you were all protected as the years passed by.”

  “You’d get along with the bookworm,” Rosh muttered darkly.

  Kithuris looked at him and smiled. “And yes, Champion, we’ve used our magic to broaden our understanding of your current language.”

  “Current language?” Rosh asked, but he was ignored as Dexter interrupted with his own question.

  “The hull’s been patched then? Is she ready to fly?” He asked anxiously.

  “Dex, we’ve got no sails or rigging!” Jenna pointed out.

  Dexter frowned, then turned to stare at the other ships. The sails used by a void ship were special. Enchanted fabric able to catch the light from the stars and harness the solar winds, there was no chance he could just buy a sheet of cloth and string it up. The rigging was standard enough he could find that without a fuss.