Secrets of the Elders Kindle Version

by David Matthew Almond

  The bridge did not sway even half as much as it looked like it would. It was very secure and they were over it in no time, running back onto the stone walkway. Around the bend, they quickly came to the break steps that ran down the face of the cliff to the docks below.

  As they neared the bottom, Corbin pointed excitedly across the lake at the ferry. “They are just leaving port, we have to hurry and catch the boat!” he shouted, running faster down the steep stairs. Logan cursed to himself hopping off the last steps onto the wooden planks of the dock as the harbormaster came hobbling out of a little building to the right.

  “Garth, we must get on that ship!” Logan called out to the bald gnome, who visited Elder Morgana often. The old man laughed at Logan, pulling his pipe out of his mouth for a second to smack his lips.

  “Come now boy, you know that is not possible. Now you go have yerself a seat like a good lad until she comes back this way. It’ll be just under two hours, like clockwork.” He calmly replied, pulling the pipe out again to blow a casual billow of smoke from his mouth with a sigh.

  “But Master Garth we need…“ Logan began to explain, being cut off sharply by Garth’s waving hand.

  “Never you mind boy, I’ve heard it all before don’t you be doubting it none. You heard me, now go have a seat!” His patience seemed to be easily stretched with Logan. Maybe because he never got over the time Logan had put those mealworms in the man’s tea to embarrass him at Elder Morgana’s birthday celebration. Corbin was not sure, but he thought he heard the harbormaster grumbling something about damned rotten troublemakers, before turned back toward his little seaside shack of an office.

  Corbin quickly outflanked the old gnome, blocking his path. “Master Garth, please listen. The village has been attacked by a swarm of skex and Elder Morgana is…well…she’s dead, Baetylus bless her soul.” His voice cracked trying to spit out the words. The harbormaster’s pipe hit the ground. “The insects are heading right toward Fal in a massive swarm from the southern expanse. We have to get on that boat and warn the high council of Elders immediately.” Corbin warned.

  The harbormaster wrung his hands for a moment, pondering what to do. He anxiously darted his eyes left and right as if the insects were already there waiting in the shadows to capture him. “What in the Nine Worlds will we do?” Garth sputtered, “Once the ships are set out there ain’t no way of pulling them back!”

  “Then all is lost…we failed…” Corbin lamented, feeling the weight of it hit him square in the chest.

  Logan bit his thumbnail, searching his mind for an idea; this was not something he had foreseen. Apparently the boat worked on a series of pulleys that were mechanically managed so the vessel moved nonstop. Garth explained that the ferry operated through an extended power system, feeding off the magical energy of a very rare lightning stone. A massive coupling climbed up from the vessel to grip a beam overhead, suspended with hanging cables that were fixed into the cavern ceiling. The boat was powered by the beam, which ran an electric current, from the magical artifact, around the hull of the ship, protecting it against any creatures from below. If the power went out there would be little defense against the large squids that lived under the oily black waters of Lake Ul’toh.

  “Never say never, right? Garth, you have to turn off the power grid so we can swim to that ship!” Logan shouted, already heading for the generators. Garth had been nervously twiddling the tobacco pipe in his hands and now dropped it again at the outlandish suggestion.

  “Listen lad, the two of you wouldn’t last more than five minutes in that water before something ate you up like bait and she’s already a good ten minute swim out as it is. Besides, you turn that power off, and we jeopardize the lives of every single man and woman aboard that vessel.” He scolded them.

  Corbin grabbed ahold of his brothers hand, stopping him from pulling the switch on the generator, earning him a look that was so cold he did not even realize he let go again until the sound of the motor died, opening the locked gates to the waterfront.

  “We do not have a choice Corbin, either we make a break for it now, up there, or Fal is doomed. With a little luck we can make it onto that ship before anything in the lake is alerted and be on our way.” He explained pointing up the metal tower to the steel beam that guided the ferry.

  Corbin nodded his understanding. “You are right. It is either try this or watch as the swarm destroys the city.” He admitted, speaking more to himself than to Logan.

  “You lads get up on that platform and be ready for my signal. I’ll take care of the lightning stone myself. You crazy Walker boys are going to need every second we can spare.” Garth had come up behind them gruffly muttering. “Quick now, not a moment to lose…” he urged, shoving them toward the ladders that worked their way up the tower to the beams over the lake.

  They scrambled up them in no time, Logan remarkably nimble considering he was not using his left hand but wrapping his forearm around every other wrung for support. Garth worked the control panel to open the chamber and remove the lightning stone, tossing the hot thing from one gloved hand to the other. A long fluted tube extended toward the water, shooting a series of bursts, releasing flares to warn the vessel that there was an emergency.

  From the deck, the crew and traders stopped what they were doing to stare at the bright warning flashes, mesmerized. Captain Higgins started shouting commands to his crew to get to their defensive positions, not knowing what the mad gnome back at the dock could be thinking. Had he finally lost what few wits he had left after all these years? The vessel came to a screeching halt as the wheel settled scraping against the bare metal on the beam above. The ship sunk heavier into the water, no longer buoyed up by the electric current. Crew ran around the deck pulling passengers below, running into positions around the perimeter, and shoving black steel lance batons into nervous hands. There was no telling whether they would be attacked while the power was down. Captain Higgins wondered to himself how long they had before the squids would be upon them, punching his hand down into the wooden rail outside his cabin in frustration. The wood splintered under his strong fist, backed by a lifetime of work toiling on these vessels in hard labor.

  “Captain, we be being attacked from above!!” A frantic older sailor ran up to him, waving his finger at the steel beams overhead. Higgins adjusted his seeing glass, to zoom the mechanism in and sighted the men running toward them across the thin metal platform above. From this vantage point, he could see the renowned hunter Corbin Walker and his troublemaking brother, Logan. Corbin was looking right at him, waving his arms wildly, and shouting something he could not make out over the frantic shouting on deck.

  “Fool, get back to your post. Those be no enemies, it’s just the stupid Walker brothers!” he shoved the sailor back toward the deck. What was going on here? “Why would Master Garth put all of our lives in jeopardy for these fools?” He wondered.

  Screams rose from some of the men on deck when the ship suddenly rocked to the side violently. Curses and damnation, the bastard monsters were already attacking! Large barnacle dotted purple tentacles slithered over the side of the ship, searching the area for food. They were met by the stabbing of electrified lances.

  “That’s it lads, don’t ye be letting them gain hold of the ship! Hold that deck from the bastards and teach ‘em what we’re made of!” He barked out orders to his men, knowing that if the large squids below got ahold of the ship they would tear it to pieces in minutes. He barked out more orders as his men worked together to stab at the vile creature wherever it tried to gain hold of the vessel.

  Logan was worrying he would be sick, dizzy from being up so high, when the vessel first rocked to the left below. He tried not looking down, flinging his arms about wildly to keep his balance with the fever that was setting in from his wound throwing off his equilibrium. The dizzying height only worked to slow them down, with Corbin focusing every step to be accurate as they worked their way across with as much speed as t
hey could muster. Master Garth had given them a window of only ten minutes to get across before he would switch on the power again and it had already been seven. He said like it or not he would not risk anything past that and the boys would just have to do their best to try and get a warning out to the ship in that time.

  From their vantage point, the brothers could see the ship lurching to the opposite side; being pulled now in two different directions as another squid arrived for the feast. Logan screamed in rage as he helplessly watched the creature below, causing him to twist his ankle and lose his footing on the beam. He desperately waved his arms out trying to regain his balance, as he began to fall off the precarious platform into the oily water below. Corbin grabbed the sleeve of Logan’s shirt just in time, the weight of his brother almost tugging him off the beam as well. Working together, they managed to get him back up onto the thin platform, with only time for a thankful look as they headed off again.

  The shipmaster bit his own fist watching the boys, pulling it away when he realized they were okay and cursing loudly to no one in particular. Darting his eyes between them and his sailors he was all sweat and desperation as a third squid joined in and began attacking the ship.

  “Brolnan help Tala over there!” Master Higgins roared to his shipmates, who were desperately defending the boat all around. The men and women of the crew and passengers alike were now all fully engaged in battle against grasping tentacles all about the sides of the deck. It seemed each time they stabbed, driving back a lashing tentacle, a new appendage appeared to take its place! His men were screaming about the futility of trying to stop the bastards from pulling the ship down. Higgins threw himself at the complaining sailors, rolling them to the deck, as a man-sized chunk of the side railing flew away across the air in the aftermath of one smashing purple tentacle.

  “Quite yer belly aching and get back at it!” he shouted to them, their distraction had almost cost the fools their lives. Chaos erupted as a fourth squid joined in the fun seemingly sealing their doomed fate.

  Corbin flung himself down onto the coupling that held the ship, twirling around its base, using his spear as a handle to fly down to the deck, leaping off the last few feet of cabling to guide the tip of his weapon right through a tentacle that reached for a woman who was distracted by fighting another at her side. The huge squid squirmed violently from the loss, shaking the boat about and throwing sailors to the deck. As soon as Corbin’s feet touched the vessel, Garth shoved the lightning stone back inside the chamber, powering the generators back online. There was no sense waiting for Logan, only one needed to relay the message and with the ship in mortal danger there was no sense losing an innocent life, not over a fool boy with nothing better on his mind than bothering old men with his pranks.

  Logan heard the motor spring back to life and ran on harder. His lungs were already set to burst, throbbing with each gasping breath, almost reaching the coupling when he stopped dead, the sound of crackling energy racing across the beam behind him. Freezing he could see the burst of electricity as the lightning stone’s energy coursed through the studded metal, the beam heating up under his boots as the deadly sparks shot across the beam heading his way.

  “You old sheep’s fool! It was only some damned worms!” He screamed in rage, shaking his fist toward the dock then throwing himself off the beam in a half-suicidal attempt to escape the electric current. His hand caught the coupling of the ship, spinning his body around just like his little brother. Corbin watched in horror as Logan screamed in agony with the chain tearing the flesh from his already wounded hand. The current licked his skin just as he let go to jump, giving him a little extra nudge and throwing him down from above the ship. As the power surged around the hull of the vessel, it raised slightly on the current while tentacles released the boat to escape the stinging pain of the electricity.

  The deck fell silent as the ship whirred back into motion across the water. Corbin was pulling his brother from a bushel of corn he had landed in when he realized all eyes were on them, wondering why these men had just placed them in such terrible danger.

  “Guess corn ain’t that bad after all, eh Peck?” he mumbled in a daze. Corbin had never been happier to hear the nickname, smiling back at his crazy brother. Both men quickly wiped the smiles off their faces however, when the shadow of Captain Higgins fell over them.

  The man stood there, clapping his fist into an open palm, with a look that could freeze lava. “Somebody better explain what in the blazes is happening around here!”

  Lady Cassandra winced as the thorn stung her, piercing the skin of her thumb. Dropping her shears, she instinctively sucked on the digit, the salty copper flavor reminding her to be more careful. Her mind had drifted elsewhere today while she worked the rooftop garden. Smelling the pungent, musky gardenia she had been clipping, she sighed contently. A little thorn-prick of blood was well worth the feeling of gratification these flowers brought to her anytime.

  “Hard at work again, I see?” Alan teased her in his jovial manner, walking onto the rooftop with Viktor in tow. She really must have been daydreaming not to have heard their coach arrive! Alan gave his wife a hearty hug, kissing her forehead tenderly, the bristles of his thick beard tickling her skin.

  “Hello dear.” She kissed him back lovingly on the cheek, after all these years together her husband still made Cassandra smile every time he came into a room. Nodding to acknowledge their long-time friend, she said “Good eve, Viktor. How was the council meeting today, boys?” A pet name she reserved especially for these two, even after over two hundred years of age. Alan grumbled, his thick red moustache twitching over his lips, and walked over to pour himself some mulled wine.

  “That good, huh?” Viktor raised a telling eyebrow to her. Their day must have been long and drawn out. “Who was it this time?” she inquired. Alan handed his colleague a small glass then sat down in one of the wooden chairs, momentarily distracting himself in the scent of orange blossoms. Viktor could see his friend was still brooding over their last meeting of the day.

  “Who else could it have been to get Alan so stirred up?” he asked Lady Cassandra the leading question.

  “Hmmm…the magistrate was poking the bees’ hive again.” she cleverly deduced.

  Alan grunted in response with Viktor nodding. “It was the whole Third District tirade all over again today.” Her friend explained, rolling his eyes.

  “I swear that little rat has it in for us!” her husband growled. “After all we have done for him, every year he just grows more and more despicable.” Things must have turned ugly during deliberations for him to get this riled up. Alan was normally a calm, even-tempered man, one of the more rational members of the high council. Moreover, for a group of elders whose member had been presiding over Falian law, as richly interwoven as it had become, for ages now, that was saying something.

  “And to make matters worse, Arch Councilor Zacharia excused the bastard of standing testimony to the whole thing.” Viktor added fuel to the fire.

  “Well then, if the high elder excused him then there must have been a good reason.” She said, it was not like the man to act without due course after all.

  Alan hopped to his feet, nudging Viktor to continue, and slammed his drink back.

  “That is the odd part…I will admit, there was no justification for it. Arch Councilor Zacharia called it a fallacy in informal logic, whatever that is supposed to mean.” Viktor refilled their drinks, offering her an empty glass.

  “No thank you, it’s too early in the day for me to partake in libations.” He chuckled at how formally she always held her demeanor. “And what that meant is basically there was some flaw in the reasoning that renders the conclusion unpersuasive.”

  Alan laughed at his wife, as she was always one to take everything so literally. “Alright dear, no need to show off, we know what it meant. What good Viktor here means is that the reasoning was in fact, not flawed. We had a witness that was ready to testify agai
nst him, said he saw the magistrate accepting a bribe and everything,” he explained.

  The three of them stopped talking, thinking over the futility of the problem. Viktor cleared his throat, uncomfortable with the silence. “What do you think Cass, how can we get this guy?” He asked. Alan leaned forward in his seat, eager to hear her potential solution.

  “Ah, I see what you two are up to now.” She winked one gray eye and playfully pointed at both men in turn. “Trying to rope me into council problems again, are you?”

  “C’mon dear, you know how much we value your opinion. Instead of teasing us for hours and then giving in, can we just skip to the part where you give us advice?” Alan whined like a schoolboy. Except he was not a schoolboy, this was a respected member of the high council of Elders, a pillar of New Fal’s community. Someone who gave everything he had to protect the civilization they had built here in Vanidriell, and she could not resist his endearing desperation.

  “Okay, why don’t you fill me in on the details tonight, so I have the full picture?” she agreed to consult on the case.

  Viktor set down his glass and clapped his hands, rubbing them together. “Right then, I ought to be heading home, it’s almost time for supper and we have some guests coming by.”

  “Helped your pal here get what he needs and you’re pulling the old cut and run?” she teased, pecking him on the cheek. As he slipped past the doorway, Alan came around to hug her from behind, his brownish-red beard tickling her ear. She reached back to stroke the thick mane as they rocked softly side to side.