by John Corwin
I glared at the wall, anger boiling my insides like rock lobsters and maybe even potatoes. I turned to Adam. "You said we needed trickery and deception to get what we want. What did you have in mind?"
He looked up at me, confusion arching his eyebrows. "Huh—oh, you mean for my earlier idea?"
"Yeah," I said in a gravelly voice. "It's time to plan a mutiny."
Chapter 10
Shelton groaned. "There are thirty-one Mzodi on this ship. How in the hell are we gonna convince them to help us steer the thing?"
I leaned against the wall and turned to our resident genius. "Adam, do you know how to control the ship?"
He waggled his hand. "More or less. This ship has control stations for six navigators—those are the crew who control the levitation foils." Adam put his phone on one of the beds and projected a diagram of the Falcheen, displaying a skeletal outline of all the cabins, the huge levitation gems on the hull, and stations from stem to stern.
"Wow, how did you get it so detailed?" Elyssa asked.
"Shelton and I came up with an advanced scan spell." Adam traced a finger along the holographic hull. "All we had to do was walk back and forth on all the decks a few times until it filled in all the blanks."
"It ain't as easy as it sounds when you got nosy soldiers asking what you're doing," Shelton said.
Adam displayed one of the navigator control stations. A stool with a strap held the navigator in place while a crystal rod that resembled a flight stick extended from a hole in the deck. "The navigator channels aether through the rod and into the corresponding levitation foil on the bottom of the hull." He zoomed out to display the six large levitation gems. "There's one navigator for every foil, and each one is controlled independently."
Adam overlaid an image that looked like water flowing beneath the hull. "Once the ship reaches an aether current—think of it as a river of aether in the air—it's much easier to maintain power and propel the ship forward."
"Aether streams are the magical equivalent of airstreams," Shelton said. "Without those, it would be hard to power one of these ships with just six crew."
"I didn't realize that," Elyssa said. "I thought the gems kept the ships afloat."
"Yeah, well it took a lot of detective work to find that out," Shelton said. "You ever hear of a scramjet?"
I nodded. "I remember NASA testing one. Once they hit a certain speed, the air itself fuels and propels the aircraft."
Adam traced a finger along the flowing lines. "That sums up how these ships operate. They need assistance to reach the nearest aether stream, but once they get there, all the crew has to do is steer."
"There's still a lot we don't know about the aether streams," Shelton said. "The Mzodi have charts with all the streams on them, but they nearly took off my head when I asked to see one."
"Top secret," Adam said. "Even though concentrations of aether are high enough to reach the visible spectrum in the vortexes, most of the aether streams are invisible."
"This just got a lot more complicated," Elyssa said. "We don't know how to pilot the ship, and we don't know how to find the aether streams."
"Not true." I tapped my temple. "Remember my incubus vision can see invisible aether. I can keep us on the road."
"Hell yeah!" Shelton clapped his hands. "Since the ship is already in an aether stream we don't need six navigators to power the ship into position. We just gotta figure out how to steer it."
"Sounds like we might be able to handle that." Elyssa pursed her lips and nodded with satisfaction. "Aside from taking the ship from thirty angry Mzodi, I'd say we've got this covered."
Shelton snorted. "Totally."
"Why don't they centralize the steering?" I said. "Seems like it'd be much easier to consolidate six navigators into one big steering wheel."
"I don't disagree," Adam said, "but it's likely the Mzodi have their reasons."
"Doubtful," Shelton said. "If you look at the layout, I'd be willing to bet this entire design came from water-borne ships." He pointed to the control rods. "Those look like the ends of oars. I'll bet the Mzodi started with water ships with oars and adopted the same design once they figured out how to fly their ships."
Adam pinched his chin between thumb and forefinger and looked at the diagram. "You have a point. It may simply be the Mzodi adopted the design from regular ships and never changed the way they do things."
"Four of us steering with six stations is a problem," Elyssa said, "but first we should worry about the thirty Mzodi we have to get past."
Adam flashed a grin. "That's where deception comes in." He flicked his hand across the diagram of the ship and red blips appeared on the screen, thirteen on the top deck, ten more scattered around the ship, and the remaining eight concentrated in a room on the lower deck. Adam pointed at the last group. "These are the gem sorters. Since we just pulled in a big haul, they're busy evaluating the catch."
Shelton pointed his wand at the top deck. "That's the captain, the first mate, six navigators, lookouts, and soldiers."
"The ones on the lower decks are soldiers," Adam said. "I don't think they usually patrol the ship, but since we came onboard, they followed us around and guarded the captain's quarters."
Shelton blew out a breath. "Yeah, after we asked about the aether stream charts, they got real suspicious."
"These aren't current personnel positions, just approximations?" Elyssa asked.
"The gem sorters are definitely in the hold except when they eat." Adam pointed to the top deck. "The deck crew is always in position in case of bad weather or dragon attacks."
"Should we attack when they're asleep?" I asked.
Adam shook his head. "No, because they almost always land the ship at night unless it's during an ocean voyage. Then they sleep in shifts while the ship floats in the aether stream."
"These ships are fast." Shelton zipped his hand through the air as if to illustrate. "They ain't as fast as a jet airplane, but it doesn't take them more than a few days to cross from here all the way to Ijolica, according to the crew I asked."
Elyssa held up a hand. "How, exactly, are we deceiving them?"
"The soldiers always eat together," Adam said. "They have a toast with wine at every meal."
"Even breakfast?" I asked.
"Every meal," Shelton reiterated. "Some kind of custom that brings good luck."
"In my bags, I brought along some potions that Meghan made to help me sleep." Adam grinned. "All we have to do is slip some in the wine."
"Knock out the soldiers, lock them up," Elyssa finished. "The gem sorters are already in the hold, so we just have to lock them inside."
Shelton held up a finger. "And that's where I come in."
"Remember how we said Seraphim magic can't be hacked?" Adam said.
"Yeah," I said, dragging out the word. "It's because they channel magic without using spells."
"Right." Adam mimicked my drawl. "Well, it turns out gems are actually charmed."
"Attenuated is the right word," Shelton said. "You can lock out a gem's magical functions by encoding it with Cyrinthian symbols. Regardless of if the aether gem is enchanted to open doors or wipe your ass, it won't do it without the magic word."
Elyssa wrinkled her nose. "Ass-wiping? Really?"
Adam chuckled and continued. "In other words, we need to hack the code."
"Once we escape, we can encode the gem in the hold, locking the gem sorters inside." Shelton flashed a grin. "One problem down."
"We can lock away the soldiers the same way." Adam chopped a hand into his palm. "That's over half the crew taken care of without hurting anyone."
Elyssa looked impressed. "That leaves us with thirteen people on the top deck."
"Tricky, but not impossible," Shelton said. "The Mzodi soldiers are great when it comes to fighting dragons, but the crew usually stays out of the way."
I nodded in approval. "Well, it appears our plan is ready to put into motion."
"Yeah, we want to do th
is before reaching the Tozarian, or we're screwed." Shelton walked over to the gem on the wall and zapped it with his wand. As predicted, a doorway didn't appear. He dragged a table beneath the gem and set his arcphone on it, then activated one of his spell hacking programs. A tiny laser shot from the phone and into the gem, and a stream of symbols filled the air next to it.
Shelton brushed his hands together and turned around. "It'll take a while for the program to hack the gem."
"How do we encode a lock into a gem?" I asked.
"Gems are made of highly compressed aether," Adam said in his nerdy lecturing voice.
"Think aether diamonds," Shelton added.
"Right," Elyssa said. "How do we lock them?"
"The sorters code each gem with a set of basic symbols before overlaying more complicated spells." Adam pulled up a string of Cyrinthian symbols beneath the picture of a red gem. "The new owners are given the unique combination which allows them to add their own enchantments to it." His forefinger touched the bridge of his nose, as if pushing up the thick-rimmed glasses he used to wear. Adam didn't even seem aware of his nervous habit.
"We gotta hack the basic code," Shelton said. "Once we know it, we can lock or unlock any gem."
Adam grinned. "That's the flaw in their system. Even if the door is locked with a complex code, it's really only overlaying the root code."
"And you only need the root to hack the entire thing." I snapped my fingers. "Brilliant! I'm surprised the gem charmers don't know about this flaw."
"That's because they don't have magic technology here." Shelton looked adoringly at his arcphone. "I'll bet they never even heard of hackers in this sorry-assed realm."
Elyssa looked from the ship diagram to Shelton's arcphone as it worked to decode the aether gem's root enchantment. When her eyes met mine, I saw the uncertainty lurking inside.
"What if we fail?" Elyssa said.
I shrugged. "Illaena made it clear we're not welcome on their ships anymore. I don't see how we could make it any worse."
"They could dump us in the ocean," Elyssa said. "Execute us."
"We still have our brooms." I shifted to Adam. "Did you and Shelton bring brooms or flying carpets?"
"Brooms," Adam said.
"If things go south we can make like Mary and get the flock out of here," Shelton said.
"You realize this ship is a lot faster than our brooms, right?" Elyssa said.
"But not as maneuverable." I leaned forward. "Look, we've been forced into this situation. We don't have a choice."
"I wouldn't go that far." Adam swallowed hard and looked around nervously. "Mutiny is kind of a big deal."
"Is it even mutiny if you're not part of the crew?" Shelton said. "It's more like a hijacking if you ask me."
"All I know is that if we don't beat Kaelissa and Arturo to whatever they're looking for in Voltis, this entire realm could fall to them." I let that sink in. "I don't know what it is they're after, but I do know that Arturo is no slouch when it comes to strategy. If he thinks that this secret weapon can make taking over Pjurna a breeze, then I believe him."
"How about we just knock out the Mzodi soldiers and play it from there," Shelton said. "If we get cold feet, we'll just come back here, lock ourselves in, and pretend we're innocent."
The others looked at me and I felt the weight of the decision settling on my shoulders.
The thought of mutiny made me queasy. I had nothing against Illaena, but the way she'd locked us up like criminals pissed me off. Not only that, but if the Muhala Kajeen was really banning us from all the ships, then Pjurna would lose a huge asset in the war. Even if they didn't fight with us, their intelligence gathering ability was phenomenal.
I also felt absolutely certain that we had to reach Voltis before Kaelissa got what she wanted.
"Let's do it," I said grimly. "And pray we don't fail."
Shelton's phone whizzed through code for nearly thirty minutes before displaying a string of symbols. When it chimed success, he pumped his fist. "Got it!"
"All we have to do now is send this root code to the gem and then overwrite the lock enchantment with our own," Adam said.
"I just think the code?" I asked.
"Yup," Shelton said. "Visualization and willpower—same as anything else in magic."
I regarded the seemingly random string of symbols representing the root enchantment of the gem. Though Cyrinthian was a language, its letters also served as powerful runes for designing enchantments. During my brief tenure at Arcane University, I'd read theories on why Cyrinthian symbols were more magical than others, but none of them answered the basic question: How were symbols intrinsically magical in the first place?
Their answer: "This is one of those things you just have to accept and move on."
I took the answer Shelton and Adam's hacking program gave me and imagined the symbols in my mind while zapping the gem with aether. The current lock code flashed in my head.
"Got it?" Shelton asked.
I sent the lock code to the gem and the wall misted away, revealing the corridor outside. I looked at Shelton and wrinkled my forehead. "No, what am I supposed to do again?"
He punched me on the shoulder. "Jackass."
Charging the gem hadn't given me a headache, which meant I was mostly recovered from yesterday's snowboard escape. I hoped I had enough juice to take on anyone who got in our way.
"We've got forty-five minutes before the next meal," Elyssa said. "I suggest we hack the lock on the sorting room where the gem sorters are so we can lock them in when we're ready."
"Good idea." Adam's finger pushed up where his glasses used to be. This time he frowned at his finger, then shook his head and continued. "Shelton and I can take care of that while you and Justin spike the wine."
Elyssa pointed to the floor. "Meet back here so we can decide if we're moving forward."
"I need to get the potions and brooms from our room," Adam said and motioned us to follow him. He led us down the organic curves of the corridor to a green gem and jolted it with aether from his wand. The wall puffed away and he went inside, returning a moment later with two glass vials and brooms.
Shelton took his broom and tucked it under an arm. "Maybe we should stow the brooms somewhere for our escape if things go to crap."
"It'd be more convenient than hauling them around." Elyssa bit her lower lip. "I'll stick them in our prison room so all the brooms are together."
Adam and Shelton handed us their brooms and checked a diagram of the ship. The entrance to the sorting room was on the port side near the stern while the galley was up on deck two midship.
Adam saluted. "Good luck."
Shelton gripped my hand. "Take care, bro."
"You too." I watched them disappear around the curve in the corridor then turned to Elyssa. "You ready for this?"
She eyed the vials in my hand. "I have really mixed feelings about hijacking the ship, but without it, we're dead in the water."
"Yeah." I handed her one of the vials. "I forgot to ask Adam how long this stuff takes to kick in."
Elyssa smiled wanly. "Knowing Meghan, I'm sure they're quick and efficient." Adam's girlfriend didn't play around when it came to healing or potion-making.
I checked the time. "We have to spike the wine now or it'll be too late."
Elyssa consulted the diagram of the ship Adam had given us and we took off at a jog toward the bow. Following the winding ramps up to the second deck, we stopped and listened for sounds of patrols, but the corridors remained empty except for an occasional lone Mzodi hurrying down the hall.
"No patrols," I said. "They must figure we're safely locked up."
"Good thing for us." Elyssa peeked around the curve at the top of the ramp and declared the coast clear with efficient Templar sign language.
We crept down the corridor, hugging the inner curve of the wall. The midship area bulged wider than the bow, and we made the most of the little extra concealment. The galley was empty, the table laden
with fresh fruits and veggies.
I held up my hand. "Watch the door."
Elyssa nodded and gave me the other vial. I dashed to the crystal decanter at the end of the table and dumped both vials into the dark blue liquid that passed for wine in Seraphina. On a whim, I grabbed some panari and met Elyssa in the hall.
"The trap is set," I said grimly, and took a bite of the sweet bread.
"That would sound so much more ominous if you didn't have crumbs on your face." Elyssa wiped my lip with her thumb.
I wiped my face with the back of my hand and tried again, setting my jaw in a tight line. "The trap, is set. The game is now afoot."
Elyssa rolled her eyes. "Let's find someplace to hide before the soldiers come."
The stomp of boots and murmur of voices echoed down the hall. A quick check of the time told me the soldiers had decided to take lunch early today.
Chapter 11
"Quick, find somewhere to hide!" Elyssa dragged me into one of the nearby door niches lining the hallway. "Try to open the door."
I tested the door gem, but it was locked. Boots tromped closer and closer, instilling me with mild panic. "The soldiers are almost here."
"Try more doors," Elyssa whispered. "Hurry!"
I checked two more gems, but neither responded. The footsteps and murmurs of conversation grew louder until the soldiers sounded as if they were right around the curve from us. I grabbed Elyssa's hand and pulled her into an alcove three doors down from the galley. We pressed our backs to the wall and held our breaths.
"I do not like it," one of the soldiers said. "The first haul of a new ship always goes before the Muhala Kajeen. Now Illaena wishes us to go on another expedition without following tradition."
"It's unheard of," a female said.
"Bad luck," grumbled another.
The footsteps echoed in the galley followed shortly by the clinking of crystal. "May the waning hours of the day bring us fortune," someone said.
"To fortune," the others intoned. Crystal clinked and the conversation went quiet for a moment."
"So, tomorrow we sail for Guinesea again?" asked a woman with a deep voice.
