She watched as he awkwardly sat down with an, “Oh,” escaping his lips.
“I did find out that your parents are on their way to Giant’s Pass.”
Nadine stopped paying attention to the schooma. “Why would they be going there?”
Xoey shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Decyl yawned a toothy yawn and stood up reluctantly. “The only way into Giant’s Pass is through Desert Town and crossing over to Storm’s Hold. We will discuss everything on the zeppelin. The schooma stays behind. They don’t travel very well.”
Chapter Six
Desert Town
Large white billowing sails rested on top of the air-filled balloon. It was a sight to see. Attached to the underbelly of the pale blue brocade fabric balloon was a small wood ship that welcomed the passengers with a red roped ladder.
Mal nudged Xoey forward. “Can’t go looking like you’ve never seen one before.”
She shifted her eyes from the left to right to take in as much as possible while they walked up the steep ladder. The ship was once a part of the sea, the wood bowed and warped slightly. It took a trained eye to pick up on the small imperfections.
They were escorted inside by a small, gangly man dressed in a red suit lined with medals meant for fashion. He led them into what would have been the gun deck. It was the area on the ship that was meant for the heaviest guns. Now it was a small room filled with four cots, two on each side, one above the other. Xoey settled onto a cot and let Mal sit next her. Decyl and Nadine sat on the opposite side. The lanky man in red returned with a food cart filled with steaming meat, stuffed sticky buns, and curled candied tentacles. Xoey, Mal, and Nadine widened their eyes at the sight of all of the food. She almost asked if she had to pick and choose, but the man turned around and left.
They tackled the cart with glee. Decyl managed to swipe a few slices of meat out of Xoey’s hands. “Hey!”
Decyl’s ears flattened. “You’ll eat it all.”
She felt bad and handed up a bone of meat. Greedily, he inhaled the dark meat and threw the bone out the window. Xoey’s favorite was the curled white tentacles that were meant to be sucked upon. It was a sweet flavor, similar to desert plants’ sticky sweet interiors that were married with brightly colored dipping sugars. Mal crawled up into the top cot. “It’s a slow ship, so it might be best to get some sleep now.”
Nadine agreed, climbing up onto the opposite cot. Decyl pulled the cart with him to the cot across from Xoey. She felt as though she was going to burst. For a few moments, she watched the boat move above the clouds. Missing home, she listened to the soft snoring above her. Around this time, she and her father would be exchanging tall-tales of what happened during the day, to see who could out tell the other. They’d end up in giggle fits, snickering over the lies. Frowning, Xoey rolled away from observing eyes. Though the room was crowded, she felt alone. Fortunately, as soon as she closed her eyes she fell fast asleep.
The zeppelin hummed softly above the patchwork land. The tawny sunset peeked out of the white clouds. Xoey watched as the large ship floated down closer to the ground. She stuck her head out the window, crinkling her nose at the blast of thick muggy heat. “Who would live here?”
Mal snickered through the remains of the tentacle candy he was munching on. “Lots of people. They say they get used to the heat, but I think they put stuff in their drinks.”
They headed back down the stairs and outside where it was sweltering. Xoey wanted nothing more than to collapse in protest. Her shoulders drooped, tongue sticking out, as she sulked behind Decyl. “So hot…”
A wooden sign with the burned out letters Desert Town welcomed them. The settlement bustled with candy-colored buildings, men walking around with stars on their boots, and four-legged beasts of burden.
The man who had rescued her earlier stood in the center of town. He smirked at the children’s state as they shuffled in misery. “It’s cooler inside.” He led them into the building marked Saloon.
She passed a soot blackened can filled with holes.
“Name is Tymon, but everyone here calls me, Ty.” His boots clinked with each step. She didn’t understand why he would want to announce his arrival.
Inside, there were crowds of men of all shapes and sizes. There were advertisements on the wall for various refreshing beverages. The room suddenly went quiet and all eyes fell upon the three children. One man with a gummy mouth spit out a mouth full of tar. The man behind the bar with the silver hair parted down the middle regarded them with a scowl. “Kids ain’t allowed.” The room echoed in agreement.
Ty placed his hand upon the iridescent grip of the gun resting along the side of his belt. With his other hand, he casually thumbed the silver star on his lapel. “I say that we’re not going to have a problem. Just getting them three malts and we’ll be out of here.” He looked back at the children. “You have an hour to scout out the town. When that hour is up, meet me in the inn across the way. We’ll discuss your travels then.”
Reluctantly, they turned back to the drinks and card games. The man behind the bar shook his head. “One of these days, Ty.”
Mal squeezed past two men on stools to watch how the malt was created. Decyl twitched his nose. Nadine whispered to Xoey, “It would be wise to get him out of here.” She cocked her thumb back toward the gnome who was now running his tongue along his canines. “He’d want to wager for their belongings.”
“Oh,” said Xoey. She didn’t want to go back outside, but she didn’t want Decyl to cause trouble either. Mal ran back over with three slender glasses filled with a thick white drink. She took the glass. It was cold to the touch. She slurped from the red straw. It took a few good pulls, but she discovered it was well worth the wait. The drink was creamy, sweet, and deliciously frigid. Nadine kept a finger wrapped around Decyl’s tail. Refreshed, they set the empty glasses on the counter and pushed Decyl away from temptation.
Children’s laughter radiated from the section between the Saloon and the General Store. Xoey poked her head around the corner to see five kids around her age, no more than twelve years old, circling a boy on his knees. The tallest boy stood a foot away from the boy on his knees. “You should know better than to challenge me. One of these days, you’ll realize who you should run with.”
The boy in the center scoffed.
Xoey scowled and marched over. “Leave him alone!”
Mal, who was comfortable in the shade, groaned. “I don’t want to get in a fight.” Nadine scolded her brother with just a look and ran in behind Xoey. Decyl attempted to tiptoe away. He only made it a few steps before Mal caught on.
A rumble tumble of a kid plastered in freckles and mean eyes craned his neck to take a good look at the newcomer kid who was telling him what to do. He moved with two sticks in hand, grabbed Xoey’s hat, and tossed it to the ground. He stomped on it for good measure. “Hey look, it’s a girl.”
Xoey pushed the boy. “I ain’t no girl.”
“Cop, you gonna take that?” a meek kid piped up.
Cop wiped his nose with the back of his hand. “Well, you ain’t a boy. So you’re a girl. I don’t hit girls—too weak for my tastes.”
Xoey yanked a stick out of Cop’s hand. “I’m a pirate. I don’t take too well to bullies.” She swung the long coarse stick into the back of his knee causing it to buckle and him fall on his back. A few of the boys went slack jawed and the others’ eyes just widened in shock and awe. Xoey rested the end of the stick on Cop’s chest. “Now, you be letting that one go.”
The group pulled out of the circle. Nadine dashed over to help the boy up. Like Ty, he was dark-skinned. His dark eyes darted in every direction likely to be sure they wouldn’t gang up on him again. Dressed in a brown duster, a duster that had seen a few harsh storms, black pants, pointed boots, and a cream shirt, he approached Xoey.
“What is your name?” asked Xoey.
She held out her hand. “Name is Xoey.”
Ramos grinned. “Nice to meet you, Captain Xoey.”
The title of Captain was reserved for those who lead a crew aboard ship. She thought of correcting him, but when no one protested, she shook his hand. Cop squirmed out from under the stick, stood up, and wiped the dust from his worn clothes. “Where did you learn to do that?” He picked up her hat, carefully reshaping it with his hands, and handed it over.
Xoey retrieved her hat. “On the ship, time passed slowly. To keep entertained, Captain Brighton would let the men scramble and fight for a few extra cressings—red coins, usually of enough worth for a drink back on land. When they were kind enough, they’d teach me a thing or two about brawling.” Cop widened his gaze. “A pirate! We never met one before.”
Nadine blinked at how quickly Xoey was able to gain followers.
“To sea!” they shouted.
That’s a bit far, don’t you think?” Nadine said rather softly.
Cop pointed west. “There’s a lake not too far from here.”
A boy with rough teeth rolled his eyes. “Dried out long ago. You know that.”
“So? Ain’t nothing wrong with pretending.”
Xoey was a bit curious about the lake. “Lead the way.”
Cop grinned widely, wiped his brow, and began the march north. Ramos gestured for Xoey to go ahead of him. She could hear the kids whispering.
“Momma told me that I’m not supposed to go to the lake.”
“There’s a monster there.”
Nadine motioned Xoey to go on ahead. “I need to find Mal and Decyl. Don’t be too long.”
And that’s how Cop, Xoey, and Ramos headed to the lake with the hour they had to spare.
The lake was as described, barren of all life. Xoey slid down the dirt embankment. “It just dried up?” It wasn’t too surprising considering she was already melting beneath the unforgiving morning star. Fortunately, the sun had started its descent toward the horizon.
Cop nodded. “Yeah, the water always came out of the pipe, but one day…it just stopped. That’s when the water evaporated to nothing.”
In the center of the bowl, a hole as wide as Xoey’s hand descended down. She ran her finger inside the hole to feel the solid metal pipe. “Uh… Why is there a pipe?”
Cop shrugged his wiry shoulders. “Why are there pipes in the ocean?”
Xoey blinked a couple of times to make sense of what he’d just asked. “The ocean doesn’t have pipes.”
Ramos and Cop scooted down, wiped the back of their pants, and made their way to Xoey. “How do you know? Ever been down to the bottom of the ocean?”
“Look, the ocean has water because it’s always been there. There ain’t no pipes. This one goes somewhere—so where does it go?”
“Beats me,” said Cop.
Ramos squinted to the west. “Some say it goes all the way to Storm’s Hold. The lake used to be our source of water. Upper City now delivers it in bottles. Same happened in Storm’s Hold, too. The machine to take out the salt from the sea broke.”
Xoey wasn’t one to believe in coincidences. Cop chimed in, “Ask his father, Sheriff Ty. He might know more.”
Xoey stood on her tiptoes to flick Cop on the forehead. “Dumb of you to pick on the Sheriff’s kid. They keelhaul pirates for less.”
Ramos and Cop leaned in. “What’s keelhaul?”
She scratched her head pondering how best to describe the horrid act. “It’s when a man is tied by a rope, thrown overboard, and he’s pulled under the keel from one side to the other.”
Cop blinked. “What? Who decided to do something like that?”
“Pirates got codes, you see. The good ones do, at least.” She could tell she was already confusing them by using the word good.
“Where I’m from, there’s a hierarchy. Amorina and her brother Zaren are at the top of the top. They’re warriors and former pirates. Beneath them is the Council dressed in sharp clothes with voices to match. Usually you can find them arguing about what is best for the land. The legend is that Cap’n Ralu and his crew got twisted up in a storm at sea. The ship held thousands of cressings, hundreds of thousands of vessings, and even more of the titanium coins that we call hessings—which could buy Grittle.” She wasn’t too sure about that, but it was a lot of currency.
“Amorina and Zaren needed those coins for the land, so they sent out the best captains and their crews to go to the Perimeter marked 47. Ships raced in the choppy waters. Some cheated and fired upon each other. Out of ten ships, only three made it to the grid location. Cap’n Brighton’s ship—who was my Cap’n, Cap’n Towler’s ship, and Cap’n Pene. There was no way they were going to divide the coins. They already had to split it 60/40 with the hierarchy. Cap’n Pene was a tall man with long black hair, a long face, and nightmare eyes. He wasn’t a nice person. To show how serious he was, he and his crew swung aboard on Cap’n Towler’s ship and put the Cap’n in the keelhaul.”
Both Cop and Ramos made faces of disgust, unhappy with the thought of what it could do to someone. It was a better alternative to drown. “Well, what happened?” Cop inquired.
“Cap’n Towler didn’t make it and was let go to join the sea. Cap’n Brighton was infuriated by the acts of Cap’n Pene. The Cap’n is supposed to go down with the ship, not under it. He violated the code. The two ships clashed, exchanging fired shots, billowing smoke, and men armed in swords. Brighton told me it was a long battle that stretched from dusk until dawn. In the end, Cap’n Pene jumped overboard and was never seen again.”
A low rumble vibrated beneath their feet.
The ground then rumbled violently. Cop scrambled up and out of the empty lake. Ramos grabbed Xoey’s hand. “We gotta get out of here.”
She caught a glimpse of a shimmer in the dirt a few steps to her left. Ramos tugged and she pulled out of his grasp. “Xoey! It’s a quake. You can’t stay.”
She scooped up the small item just as Ramos pulled her up by her waist and dragged her out. When they were safe enough distance away, he set her down. “What caused a quake?”
“The great desert worm—sometimes he gets cranky and has to shift.”
It wasn’t too uncommon to hear of big creatures in the ocean. She’d heard of large tentacled creatures with teeth made of shells and jeweled eyes among others.
“What does the great worm look like?” asked Xoey.
“He’s the size of ten zeppelins with eyes that burn like the sun and a tiny, thin mouth. He doesn’t eat people.”
“Well, that’s good, at least.” Xoey opened her hand. She forgot how red they were from the slide down the ladder. A small gear pin fashioned for clothes rested on her palm. “This looks familiar.”
Ramos examined it with a questionable gaze. “Maybe my dad will know.”
“Let’s go ask him.”
Nadine found Mal sitting on the front porch, rocking in a chair with ice cream in hand. He licked the sides of the cone as it was melting fast. She narrowed her gaze already questioning his nonchalant behavior. “Mal, where is Decyl?”
Mal peeked over the cone. “He said he’d be right back.”
She could hear uproar in the saloon. “You let him in there!” As she ran, she could hear her brother mumbling excuses about the heat.
In the saloon, five men pointed the barrels of their guns toward a familiar gnome who stood on the bar. In his greedy little paws, he held several pocket watches, a few coins, jumper boots, and a locket. Nadine scowled at her brother and pushed her way through the crowd. It was a bit easier than she thought. Getting Decyl out of trouble, wou
ldn’t be.
“I’m giving you to the count of five to give back my watch!” a hardy voice yelled.
After she scrambled up on the bar, she waved her hands. “Wait!”
The guns didn’t move away from the gnome who twitched his oiled mustache. Decyl flattened his ears in annoyance as she approached. She smiled. “Come on, Decyl. You have to give back what isn’t yours.”
Decyl snarled, baring teeth. “I won them fair and square. They said I was a cheat.” He stood up straight and tall. “I never cheat.”
“Nobody wins every hand.”
Gnomes were notorious for counting cards.
Mal walked in licking his lips. He stopped in the doorway and barely peeped out a murmur at the sight of Decyl and his sister with guns drawn and pointed toward them. He looked for something to handle the situation. He turned to see the silhouette of Tymon in the distance. With one large step back out the doors, he ran. Huffing and puffing toward Tymon, he said, “Decyl and Nadine are in trouble.”
When they returned to the Saloon, he found Nadine sitting quietly at a table surrounded by a cluster of men. In her hands, she held a group of red and black cards. Decyl stood in the corner, items still in hand. He would have moved if a man sitting in the rickety chair didn’t have a gun pointed at his head. Tymon didn’t need it spelled out for him. He grabbed a ladle of meat soup, a green glass bottle, and a chair. With his white teeth, he gripped the cork in the bottle and pulled. He set the drink down and slurped from the ladle. Mal stared at him. “Well?”
Tymon lifted his hat. “Well, what? Your sister is occupied in a game. It’s a death sentence to interrupt it.”
Mal gulped, his throat parched. He sat down next to Ty. He whispered, in fear of interrupting his sister, “How do you play the game?”
Ty removed his hat and placed it on the back of his chair. “It is called All Things Dark. The object of the game is to end up with eight black triangles in your hand. The deck consists of eighty cards and requires four players. When a player sets a card on the table, the player to his right must outdo the card laid by placing a card that is worse or darker than the one facing up on the table. The card played can be objected to by the opposing players, but that’s rare. If they cannot beat the card, they must hand over a triangle card. This goes around until a player obtains all eight triangles.”
Adventures of Captain Xdey Page 6
