by C. Litka
We sat in the tree and considered our options. If they missed seeing the unlatched access door - the one that I didn't use to escape - and - kept a careless watch, I should be able to regain access to the Lora Lakes. There was, however, a 50-meter gap from the shore to the underside of the ship that I'd have to cross unobserved to do so, though once on the underside of the hull, I'd be out of sight from any sentries on the deck. Mutineers, especially in the thrall of unimaginable wealth might be a bit carefree and careless. I glanced up through the tree branches at the distant Lora Lakes. I could make out several crewmembers on the afterdeck, one at bulwark, who may have been keeping watch. I'd keep a watch as well, and as soon as I saw a lapse, move.
'Let's get ourselves into position to make a dash for the ship, Hissi. It doesn't appear as if they're going to bother tracking me down.'
She gave a low hiss, and we started moving back towards the Lora Lakes, deep in the cover of the rather spindly jungle. Once on board and inside, I should be able to sneak back to my cabin and liberate my darters. The Lora Lakes was not a large ship, but DeRaze's crew and any recruits from the ship's crew would likely be fairly scarce. My St Bleyth ancestors seemed confident that I could, with my darters in hand, deal with what I found and do so silently enough to retake the ship, one dart, one mutineer at a time.
Except.
Except in the thrall of unimaginable wealth, they didn't wait for me. We had only reached the nearest point in the jungle to the ship, when the Lora Lakes's main propellers began to spin, and it slowly swung out into the Shadow Sea, pulling up the trees it had been moored to in the process. They paused only briefly to clear the anchor lines before turning and starting for the native village at the far end of the Shadow Sea.
I cursed softly as I watched it recede, running on battery power. The mutineers hadn't grown carefree and careless, but impatient.
'I don't want to be marooned yet again, Hissi. And especially not here. Let's follow the ship. We need to get back aboard and take control.' Somehow.
It was over 10 kilometers to the far end of the Shadow Sea to where the peaks rose with the native village beyond them. The shoreline I had to traverse was a mixture of jungle, bamboo forests and rugged terrain. It would've been a long, rugged walk on any planet, but in free fall, we could soar from tree top to tree top, making the journey in an hour or two. Assuming we didn't run into any natives, or large predators, since we were unarmed. Still, what choice did we have? We'd have to risk it.
The shore and Shadow Sea appeared to be deserted of natives. They seemed to have returned to the village after their great display of displeasure. It was, after all, only an hour or two later. Events had moved very quickly indeed. Far faster than I had anticipated.
Being unarmed, I could only hope that generations of hunting had either eliminated or greatly reduced any great predator. Still...
'Take the lead, Hissi. Scout ahead. I'll follow you.'
She turned to me, gave me a depreciating look with her two black eyes and a long sarcastic hiss as well.
'Hey, you're a great predator too, you know. I'm just giving you first crack at all the snacks along the way.'
She barked a laugh, and took off.
I followed behind her waving form, weaving my way along the top branches of the trees, pulling myself along, shooting as many of the gaps as possible while keeping up my momentum. I was as close to flying as I'd ever likely be - branch to branch over the pale, spindly jungle, through the feathery tops of the bamboo forests. Even in free fall, this was exhausting work, especially since I was hiking with my arms rather than my legs, but the alternative - of remaining here for life - was a great motivator. Though my hands grew red and raw, my shoulders ached in protest with every pull, and my breath came in ragged gasps, I pushed on. I didn't expect I'd have a great deal of time. The mutineers were in a hurry, so events would be resolved - one way or another - in short order.
Still, it took four or more hours of swinging through the tree tops and, eventually, dodging our way around the steep peaks at the far end before we reached the last, and tallest, of the great fang peaks, beyond which lay the village.
'Hold up, Hissi!' I called as we reached the edge of the jungle at the foot of the jumbled, vine entwined side of the little mountain. 'Let's rest a bit. I need to catch my breath. And we need to plan our next move.'
She turned about and settled next to me as I wedged myself in between two vines, the size of tree trunks, to stay out of sight of any passing native. Taking my suggestion to rest a bit, she serenely closed her eyes to nap - more for sarcastic effect than any need to rest, I suspect. Nevertheless, I let her nap for a while in silence as I collected my breath and gathered my wits.
'What do you think is going on - on the other side,' I asked her after a while. 'I expected to be hearing and seeing fireworks of some sort by now. I would've thought that DeRaze was the type who would negotiate only after a rocket barrage. Either I've misjudged him, or I've miscalculated somewhere else...'
The mountain ranges may've blocked the flashes and noise of exploding rockets. But I doubted it. And there was no sign of the Lora Lakes floating overhead. I'd lost sight of it behind the peaks early in the journey and hadn't seen it since.
Hissi had little to say on this subject. Indeed, she didn't even bother to open an eye.
'We'll push on ahead, as soon as I get my breath back,' I continued. 'I haven't a clue as to what to expect, but if there's any chance at all of reaching the ship without getting noticed, we'll take it.' I then went on to explain how I hoped to find the starboard access hatch unlatched, and then use that to sneak back into the engine room... 'Between the two of us, we should be able to get to my cabin and my darters. Darters in hand, we can take the ship back. Don't you think?'
I shouldn't have phrased that as a question, since she gave me a dismissive snort and a long hissing sigh. But that was Hissi being Hissi, so I discounted it.
'Well, at least we need to try. The big question is; can we reach the hatch? I'm assuming they're either hanging over the village or have landed close to it. The ship may be surrounded by natives... In which case... In which case I haven't a clue as to what to do, save watch and wait. Or they may've chased them deep into the jungle, in which case, we might be able to sneak aboard... (a doubtful hiss) Of course, if you have another plan, feel free to share it.'
I had her there. She just barked a laugh, as carefree as ever.
'Right. Off we go. Let's see what we're dealing with.'
We hadn't gone far up the steep slope before we came upon a narrow crevasse that seemed to split the little mountain in half - it's inner depths lost in blackness, but looking up, I could see a thin pale line of sky that seemed to cut halfway through the mountain.
'This crevasse looks like it might take us through the mountain. Plus, it should keep us out of sight as well. Let's see where it leads.'
Hissi swung around and following her, I began to pull myself up through the narrow, cave-like crevasse, ledge to ledge, outcropping to outcropping. For all I could tell, it may've gone straight through the mountain, but I wasn't prepared to travel in complete darkness, so we followed it up and inwards, going no deeper into it than the faint light of the Shadow Sea sky could penetrate.
As we left the old vines behind and got deeper into the mountain, I noticed something very strange. Leaping from outcropping to outcropping, it almost seemed as if I could cling to the sides of the crevasse with my boots.
'Hold up,' I called out softly to Hissi on reaching a spot open to the sky, high above. Looking at my boots, I discovered that they had a thick cushion of dust clinging to their magnetic soles. I scraped this fine, magnetically charged dust off one and planted it on the side of the crevasse. It snapped to it like it would do on the hull of a ship. Very strange. It had to have a great deal of iron ore in it for that to happen. Looking closer, it seemed like an ordinary rock, weather worn, pitted and corroded, streaked, rusted, and stained, and yet, it had an underlying s
moothness. I put my ear to the "rock" and pounded my fist on it. Faintly, but definitely, I could hear a hollowness in it. I looked around at the surrounding "rocks". They hadn't changed, but suddenly, I was seeing them as crumpled metal. It began to dawn on me that this vast, rugged mountain might actually be a pile of wreckage of some sort. A very, very, ancient pile of wreckage, judging by the vines that entwined it, a pile of slowly decaying metal. The shapes of the outcroppings, the spanning arches, the crumpled walls now looked to be the twisted and crumpled remains of a... A city? A building? A ship? One thing was certain, given its age and the fact that it wasn't a mound of rust, it was the wreckage of something made of a very advanced alloy.
Could it be the wreckage of one of the Dragon Kings' ships?
That might explain the presence of the Dragon Kings' old Scarlet Guard... Were they the descendants of some survivors of this wreck?
I recalled my mission, and the urgency of it, and shook myself free of this idle speculation. I could think while I advanced. Perhaps later we'd have time to explore this mountain and its implications... Hopefully we would. But not if I just stood here pondering it.
'Onward Hissi,' I said, as she waited patiently ahead.
We continued upwards, moving ever deeper into the - the wreckage?
We had reached perhaps the center of the mountain, probably halfway up it as well, when I noticed, something. It was... well, I'm not certain what it actually was. It seemed as if I felt a current of air, or electricity. Or perhaps it was a vague sound, the echoes of an echo or the distorted whispers of a chant. Or none of the above. I froze.
'What's that, Hissi?' I whispered.
She hissed softly, "?"
It was gone when I stopped to listen. But when I started climbing again, I could feel the "current" that pulled me, cautiously, but definitely toward what seemed to to be a vague, rhythmic sound. Even as I followed it, I couldn't say what this current was. It seemed almost like a physical current, a push of air on my back, or a drawing of it before me that pulled me forward, pretty much without a conscious thought. It was pulling me the way I wanted to go, so it could have simply been curiosity. But a curiosity that had short circuited any common sense I may possess, because it didn't take me too long to realize that the sound - it was clearly chanting now - was that of the Dragon-people, much like the one they had used when they had surrounded the Lora Lakes. And yet, I kept following it.
If my common sense hadn't been short circuited, I would certainly have fought against this curiosity, which, like a hidden current, was drawing me through the dim, narrow crevasse towards this chanting. I wasn't completely in its thrall. I knew what I was doing, and knew I was running risks I shouldn't be running, but I cautiously pushed on nevertheless.
The eerie, rhythmic chanting grew ever louder as we slowly made our way through the twisting fracture that fell away into pitch blackness beneath us and rose towards the pale sky above us, until, at last, we reached a spot where the fissure narrowed to no more than half meter. The chanting seemed to come from just beyond this narrow passage. Cautiously I slipped through this fissure to catch a narrow glimpse of a vast, dimly lit space.
Wedged in this fissure, the current was very strong now on my back. It seemed to have the force of rushing water, so that I had to cling to a corroded outcropping - perhaps a beam - to keep from being pushed out into the great hall. And yet, heedless of danger, I still edged closer and closer to the opening in order to get a better view of what was happening in what slowly appeared to be a vast chamber lit by the fracture from above.
It must have been at least 100 meters in diameter, and twice that in height - the full height of the peak itself. A large, squashed, black structure rose from the center of the floor, more than a 100 meters below me. Its original shape may've been spherical - perhaps 10 meters in diameter. It seemed to be covered in an intricate mosaic of black cells of various sizes. Now twisted and squashed into a strange fluid shape, these cells flowed in a swirl of uneasy patterns between the gaping gaps where the sphere had been twisted and torn out of shape. The elders and sorcerers of the Dragon-people, in their flowing robes and headdresses, stood halfway up the structure - where it had been flattened to almost look like the seat of a giant throne. The once spherical walls of the vast chamber were completely lined with chanting red-feathered figures, standing, clinging, and floating shoulder to shoulder, head to feet.
I realized, with a very dangerously subdued start, that the narrow fissure I had half slipped through was also surrounded by the scarlet feathers of the Scarlet Guard clinging to the wall to every side of me. Indeed, their faces were almost next to mine, but they appeared to be even deeper enthrall than me. They never noticed me.
I paid them no further mind as the current pushed me further into the vast chamber.
I was now out far enough to be able to look down to the floor of the chamber. It was lit by rows of flaming torches. Circling the base of the black sphere were the crew of the Lora Lakes, the mutineers at least, each with a broad, bloody knife in their hands. They were dancing. Dancing to the eerie, erratic tempo of the chanting. Around and around the black throne they went, striding, jerking, dancing like puppets on a string. At odd points the tempo and volume would increase and each of them - perhaps 18 of them in all - would each spin and take a swipe at their neighbors with the long bloody knives, sending up a faint haze of blood. Then, somehow, they continued to dance on, as if the blow meant nothing to them. Perhaps they were dead already. They should've been. Hopefully they were.
And yet, I wished to join them in their dance. It was my place.
And I would've, if Hissi had not nipped my ear, drawing blood and a painful exclamation, lost in the chant. But it brought me to my senses, at least momentarily. Long enough to know that I needed to get out of there. Fast.
I slipped back, fighting the unseen current that was pushing me towards the circle around the base of the black throne and started to climb upwards, seeking the light of the Shadow Sea in a mad scramble, fearful that my breaking of the spell would be noticed.
Only after I'd put the chanting mostly out of earshot did the current recede and my full wits return.
'A close call, Hissi. Thank you. You, no doubt, saved my life. What's a piece of an ear lobe compared to a life?' I added, looking at the blood on my shoulder and on my hand as I reached to stem the warm flow of blood down my neck.
She growled a low, heartfelt agreement.
'Did you feel it too?'
She growled again. She had.
'We'd best be going. It looked like more than half the crew was down there - the mutinous crew. I recognized the bloody shape of DeRaze. Hopefully we can secure the Lora Lakes and clear out. They won't be returning. And I've a feeling all of the natives are in there as well. Lead on!'
We scrambled up to reach the faint light, and then out and over the metal crags, now covered with vines. On the far side of the wreckage mountain we saw the Lora Lakes anchored on the ground at the foot of the mountain. The village, actually more of a city, built of large hive-like buildings, stretched out and up the steep hillside beyond it, under the cover of the spindly jungle on the other two sides. The ship and village both looked to be deserted.
'Right,' I said. 'Let's get aboard.'
How it caught my eye, and why I paused when I saw it, I couldn't say, but nestled in the crevasse of the small vine roots that I was holding on to was a small round black stone. I paused and worked it out to examine it. It looked to be a small soul stone. I picked it up and examined it. It was a smooth, black oval, as small as my little finger fingernail. I brought it up to my eye and saw, in its depths, the black facets of dark colors - a boundless space you could fall into, if you didn't catch yourself.
I'd been there, briefly before. It was indeed a darq gem. Or, as they are known in the Saraime, soul stones. They were one and the same.
And even as that flash of insight faded, I realized what that black structure back in the cavern was made of
- tens of thousands of darq gems or soul stones - call them what you want - of all sizes set in an intricate mosaic. And this insight was followed by another, tumbling over the preceding one, confusing me more than enlightening me. These soul stones had a purpose. I'd seen them in the collars of the Guards I'd crossed orbits with before - the ones that I assume who were still in the service of the Dragon Lords, or at least the owners of that ancient ship - they seemed to serve as some sort of telepathic gateway...
I looked at the darq gem I held in my fingers and, well... As I may've mentioned before, I'm no more superstitious than the next spaceer. But I'm not all that much less either. And even though I had, after all, a darq gem tucked away in my sock drawer for the better part of a decade, I somehow found that I had no desire to hang on to this one. Given my experiences with the Scarlet Guards I'd crossed orbits with who were wearing them, and having just seen my former shipmates hacking each other to bloody bits in their thrall, I had a feeling that I didn't want to be in the presence of one ever again.
And even as that thought crossed my mind, I felt this great wave of? Well, I suppose it was some sort of telepathic power. It rolled over us like a silent wave, lasting only a second, before it was gone, leaving a sort of vacuum that seemed to suck not only my breath from my lungs, but my thoughts from my head. And then that was gone as well.
I stared at Hissi. 'What was that?' I whispered.
She stared back, her black eyes wide and released a low and soft hiss.
'I think the party below is over?' I said, and realizing I still had the darq gem in my hand, slipped it back into the little crevasse where I'd found it.
I looked up. Hissi had been watching me closely. 'Let's lift.'
She hissed an eager, approving hiss, and took off down the steep slope. I followed as fast I could, skimming over the vines, trying to stay hidden. I didn't fear the natives, but I didn't want to tip off the watch aboard the Lora Lakes, if there was any.
The ship appeared to be deserted. The gate to the after deck was locked, so I had to hope they'd overlooked the unlatched starboard access hatch I'd left. Reaching the level, I scurried under the starboard after wing and carefully climbing around it, put my hand on the outside handle, and gently pushed. It squeaked open. I glanced into the stern compartment. It was empty.
'After you,' I said to Hissi, and followed her in, closing the hatch after me. I let my eyes adjust to the dimness. It was time to formulate a plan. Hissi let out an exasperated hiss.
'I suppose you're right,' I whispered. There can't be many, if any, of the mutineers aboard. Let's go.'
I returned to the engine room via the access tunnel, and then very slowly and carefully, undid the latch securing the hatch and lifted it up. The engine room was dark, save for a light over the control platform above. I could see a figure slumped in the chair, back to us. Searching about, I found my pole absently wedged under the nearest transformer. I slipped it out, and carefully glided up through the engine room to alight on the control platform behind the dozing MasTe.
He was wearing a spring gun on his waist, which I extracted without awakening him. I put its barrel next to his ear and said softly, 'Don't move or make a sound.'
He did both. He jerked away and would have flown entirely off the chair had I not put a hand on his shoulder. He also yelped loudly.
'Quiet you fool, or I'll quiet you permanently,' I hissed.
'Chief?' he asked, half turning to see me.
'Who else is aboard,' I growled. 'The truth, if you value your life.'
'Diz, Cas and Zara. They're on the bridge or sleeping.'
'And the Captain and the rest of them? What did you do with them?'
'We didn't do nothing to them. We just locked them in the empty storage room. We was going to maroon them on one of the outer islands. No one was hurt bad,' he added, nervously.
'Right. Come with me, no tricks unless you want to end up dead or marooned.'
'Aye, Chief. I'm your man.'
'We'll see... Where are the rest of your lot?' I asked as we made our way to my cabin. Not that I didn't know.
'We sailed to this here village and expected to have a bit of a fight. But the all the tree houses were deserted. So we landed. One of them flowing robe fellows then came out of a cave - the one with the broad path leading to it. He bowed, nice and respectful like, and laid one of them crowns on the ground in front of the cave. Four of us was assigned to hold the ship, and the rest went over the side to fetch the crown. I guess they decided to investigate the cave since they all went in. Haven't come out yet. It's been awhile, I guess...'
He didn't know any more than that. I didn't need to know more.
I collected my darters and my armored jacket, just to be sure, and then we proceeded back down to the empty storage room beyond the bunkers to free the non-mutineer crew.
I had MasTe unlock the door and open it while I covered with my darter.
Captain KimTara was standing before the door, arms folded, ready to lay down the law, my 2nd engineer, BayLi, the 1st and 2nd mates, ValDare and most of his crew, and perhaps a dozen other crew members were standing behind her in the small compartment. Her uniform was not neat.
She might have smiled, ever so briefly, when she saw me. She nodded, 'Chief.'
'Captain,' I replied with a nod. 'I trust you've not been too ill-treated.'
'We're alive. They had hostages. Nothing to be done but surrender. What's the ship's status?'
'I've captured MasTe here. He says that Dis, Cas and Zara are around somewhere, either napping or on the bridge. The rest of the mutineers are off ship. And they won't be coming back,' I added.
MasTe gave me a startled look and got very pale.
'How do you know?' KimTara asked.
'I've just come from the great cavern in the mountain where they are. The natives must have used the narcotic or telepathic power of the soul stones to lure them in, and they are now ritually killing them. Trust me, they're not coming back.'
She gave me a searching look. I was probably looking shaken enough to be believable, since she didn't question me further. 'Right. That story can wait. The Chief and I will see to the rest of the crew on board. Stay here until we've secured the ship,' she said, briskly, to the crew behind her and started off for the stairs upwards.
I tossed the spring gun I'd collected and slug pouch to ValDare, just in case, and followed the Captain. Dis and Zara were lounging about the bridge - they surrendered without protest, seeing that I had them covered. Cas was sleeping in his hammock. We collected him and marched the three down to the engine room.
'What about the rest? The ones off ship. Are you sure we can't do anything about them?' she asked as we herded our captives down to the engine room.
I shook my head. 'Too late. They may've already been dead when I saw them,' and went on to briefly outline what I had seen and experienced for myself in the great cavern. 'From the wounds they already had inflicted on each other, I almost think their bodies were being controlled by the sorcerers. They shouldn't have been upright, much less dancing.'
She nodded grimly. 'We'll sail, then. Raise steam - but we won't wait on it. We should have battery power to sail without steam.' She rarely asked questions, even if they seemed like ones.
'Right. The batteries were topped up. Sailing here wouldn't have drained them very much. Ah, you don't mind if I put these four to work? They're harmless enough. Stupid rather than sinister.'
They were looking pretty pale after overhearing my account of the fate of their mates, and seemed docile enough. We were rather shorthanded.
'Whatever you think best. We'll need them all sooner or later.'
Chapter 30 The Long Voyage Home