The Lost Star's Sea

by C. Litka

  03

  It grew into a bank of clouds that stretched out to vague whiteness in every direction ahead of us. I noticed that our sails were no longer drawing - the wind had shifted - which was not surprising, since the clouds usually formed downwind from the islands. We took them in and secured their masts to the hull. It still took us a watch for the misty edge of clouds to start to curl around us, thick enough to hide islands beyond them, though Py announced that he could smell them.

  'I'm not hearing or seeing birds and lizards so they must be a ways off yet,' I replied, adding, 'I hope we haven't found a real large one. The last time I approached an island in the clouds, it didn't end all that well.'

  Py grinned. 'But not all that badly either.'

  'I guess not, in the end,' I laughed. 'Still, it was touch and go there for a moment or two at the very beginning.'

  I took over the helm and shoved in a few more black-cakes into the fire box, in case we needed power in a hurry, and steered blindly into the moist mist.

  We spent half an hour chugging through the cloud bank, getting damper, and the light dimmer without seeing anything before Naylea, on lookout in the bow, called out. 'Something dead ahead!'

  I cut the engine and we drifted closer to the long, vague shadow that proved to be a mass of twisting vines. Its sweet fragrance of flowers and damp smell of leaves hung in the air around us. I swung the tillers up and we drifted under it.

  'We must be near an island now. Can any of you tell which way the vine's growing so we can follow it back?' I asked.

  'You're seeing what I am,' replied Naylea. 'Your call.'

  'Py?'

  He shrugged. 'Hard to say. I'd suggest we continue on to get clear of the clouds and then see where we are.'

  'Sounds like a plan,' I said, and opened up the steam valve again setting the engine chugging.

  We soon encountered more steaming vines - long lacy strands that appeared to port and disappeared to starboard without a hint of land. Brushing past them we'd now sent beetles flying and lizards scurrying.

  It continued to grow dimmer the deeper we went in, as the open spaces between the floating vines grew smaller and smaller.

  'Whoa!' said Naylea, 'A big one dead ahead!'

  I stopped the engine and we drifted towards the broad dark shape that blocked our course. It was a very massive vine indeed - as thick as a tree trunk entwined with dozens of smaller flowering vines woven around it, making it two meters wide.

  'I think, my friends, that we've found a real floating jungle,' said Py, as Naylea used a long, light spar to fended the boat off from it. 'Vines of that size can stretch for many leagues. I've heard stories of floating jungles the size of a fair sized island.'

  'I've seen a few, but nothing of this size. Do you think we can push on through, or will it get too congested to navigate?' I asked.

  He shrugged. 'Without knowing how extensive this one is, it is impossible to say with certainty. Do we have an alternative? Is there another way around and through the clouds?'

  'That's what I'm wondering. Any ideas, Naylea?'

  'I've no idea. It's your call, Captain.'

  Which I suppose it was. I considered our options. Turning around would just put us back on the edge of the vast cloud, and likely doomed to try to sail though them again, sooner or later. In view of our now very limited supply of black-cake, I sighed and opened the steam valve. 'We'll push ahead and hope for the best. The far side can't be too far, and it will be cloud free. The important thing is to keep going straight through it. We don't want to start going in circles.'

  'You have the helm, Litang,' said Naylea. 'And let's hope you're better at estimating where we are, than you were at finding these islands.'

  'I found'em, anyway,' I grumbled.

  'The vines all seem to flow in the same direction. We just need to keep crossing them as we have been,' said Py.

  'Right. Keep me on course.'

  So we pushed ahead. Naylea and Py using light spars to steer the boat in quarters too tight for our rudders to work. One after another, the massive vines appeared out of the dim mists; one after the other we dodged over or under them. The lacy veils of little vines grew thicker, but they were still thin enough that we could push our way through them with little trouble, sending startled lizards, and birds into the mist. It was no longer eerily silent. The screeching and squawking of lizards, the sweet songs of birds and the buzz of the big beetles in the dim mist around us made for an eery and largely unseen choir.

  Rough and ready Siss had never lost her taste for the hunt, and insisted on being let out to chase the bugs, lizards and birds that flirted around us. Hissi was too civilized to enjoy hunting - unless there were char-buns buzzing around us - but she joined Siss as well. I'm pretty sure she just went through the motions. I didn't think she was ever hungry enough to eat lizards on the wing anymore.

  We pushed on and on, with no end to the vines, though the clouds seemed to be thinning. Now deep within the jungle, it had grown nearly dark, and I was far from happy until a brightness ahead raised my hopes, only to be dashed when we pushed out into a large jungle clearing - a lake of thin mist at least a half a dozen kilometers wide, and perhaps twice as long. Great strands of vines enclosed the clearing, forming the shoreline of this lake of pale green half-light. Flocks of birds and lizards soared through the misty air all around us. Ahead, the tangle of vines looked as solid as ever, but then, so did the jungle behind us, so we chugged slowly onwards, towards the opposite shore. At least we didn't seem to be going in circles.

  As we crossed the clearing, Naylea silently pointed to several dark shadow shapes in the distance, drifting along the edge of the vines. Dragons, and large ones, hunting. The closest was several kilometers off, but I called to our dragons, and as soon as they were on board, we secured the netting, and opened up the steam valve wide to reach the far wall of the jungle a little faster. I didn't think our netting would prove much of a hindrance to large dragons, but our darters should keep us safe enough.

  'Not planning to stop and have a chat with your dragon friends, Litang?' laughed Naylea quietly from the bow. 'I seem to recall that you were always eager to make friends with the dragons of the Pela.'

  'I was,' I replied. And with a nod to Siss and Hissi. 'And you see where it got me.'

  They growled. We had our routine down pat.

  The jungle on the far side proved no different than the jungle we had left - we still found just enough narrow openings and thin enough vines between the major strands to continue weaving our way through, to the noisy annoyance of the birds, lizards, and bugs. Siss insisted that they be let out to hunt again.

  Another half an hour's travel had the jungle brightening ahead. Once more our hopes were raised and dashed again. While it was even brighter and the mist much thinner than the last clearing, it was still a clearing. The floating jungle, more distinct than ever, still surrounded us, stretching out to eventual obscurity in the haze, four or five kilometers to starboard.

  'We must be getting close to the edge,' said Py, looking around cheerfully. But then, he was almost always cheerful, so that he was hardly reassuring.

  'You'd think so,' I said unable to keep my disappointment out of my reply as I opened up the steam valve wide for the far shore, perhaps two kilometer ahead.

  Siss and Hissi swam up alongside and yelped to be let on board. As Naylea raised an edge of the netting to let them in, Py asked, 'Where have all the birds and lizards gone to?'

  I looked about. He was right. We seemed to have left the noisy menagerie astern. Indeed, only the rhythmic swishing of our propeller and the chugging of the little steam engine kept the silence at bay.

  'I don't like this?' I muttered, peering around suspiciously.

  'Oh, Litang, you're such an old lady,' laughed Naylea.

  'What's that?' exclaimed Py, pointing to the jungle shore ahead of us.

  "That" was a huge, blood-red cloud that had erupted out of the shadows of vines on the f
ar side of the clearing. A moment later the faint sound of a several thousand wings beating and the savage cries of a thousand talon-hawks reached us.

  I prefaced 'Talon-hawks!' with a long string of spaceer adjectives in Unity Standard, and threw in few more heartfelt spaceer expressions afterward.

  'Litang! Please, I can still understand Unity Standard!' said Naylea with a mocking smile, even as she hurried aft for her kit bag and her darter.

  I didn't bother to respond, but stood up and stared about, searching for the nearest shoreline that could offer some shelter to keep the talon-hawks at bay. The closest vines arched overhead, perhaps half a kilometer away. I shifted the tillers to swing the boat toward it and a dark, narrow opening in two large vines, and leaning forward, twisted the steam valve wide open. The boat slowly gained a little speed. 'Blast these Temtre slugs!' I muttered.

  'Do you think your 5mm darts or the rockets would have any effect at this range?' I asked Naylea as she dug her darter out of her kit. 'I'd like to disrupt them now, before they reach us.'

  She shook her head, 'I doubt it. The darts are not designed for soft targets, so they might well go through the horde without hitting anything solid enough to discharge. And we could only get a rocket or two off before they'd be on us. Hardly worth it.'

  I turned back to the surging horde, already noticeably closer. 'Right. No matter. I've seen them go up against a battleship's battery of rockets and a deck full of small arms-men for hours. They'll attack through a cloud of their own dead. We have to get into the jungle where they can't reach us in mass.'

  I glanced ahead at the approaching shore. It would be close - at best. With nothing we could do to deter the talon-hawks, I twisted the boat around to put its solid lower hull between us and the onrushing horde. Hopefully it would shield us from their initial impact. And then I made a slight adjustment in the boat's course to compensate for the impending impact of dozens of birds, twice the size of a man, hitting the hull with outstretched talon-tipped legs. Satisfied, I quickly secured the tillers in position with the strong leather straps - the boat's auto pilot. I didn't trust myself with the strength to keep the steering flaps in place with the impact of the great birds. Besides, I was going to have other things to do. I stepped forward and drew my darter out of my kit bag and hoped for the best. Then there was nothing to do but to watch the vines of the shore ahead slowly creep closer while the cries and thunderous beat of wings grew ever louder.

  'I'll cover this end, you the other,' called out Naylea from the bow.

  'Right. Py and you dragons, just stay down and hug the hull.' The dragons needed no orders. They were already hunkered down. Carefree as they were, they apparently had a great respect for talon-hawks. 'There'll be lethal darts flying around and you don't want to be in their way,' I added grimly, my heart pounding and then turning to Naylea stationed amidships, added, 'Though perhaps, full non-lethal would be better.'

  'Oh, Litang, you're such a softie!'

  'They devour their dead, but perhaps they'd hesitate to attack a living comrade - even if only for a few seconds. We'll need every second. And well, things might well get a bit chaotic, and I'd hate for a wild dart...'

  Naylea nodded and yelled over the increasing loud cries of the onrushing horde. 'All we need is a layer of inert birds in the netting for protection until we reach the vines.'

  I glanced ahead. We were 50 meters away from the vines and the cover they'd provide. Perhaps we might just?

  The boat rocked with the first booming impact of talon-hawks striking the hull, talons first, hoping to tear it apart between their talons and sharp powerful beaks. Their angry, savage cries grew shriller - they had no doubt expected to find the softer, feathery flesh of a large dragon. They're not brilliant birds, but that never discouraged them. I recalled how they had attacked the hull of the Ghost again and again.

  The blood-red feathered horde surged around to our side, tearing at the thick net with their talons, beaks, and savage cries. The net withstood their first impact, and prevented most of the talons and beaks from penetrating too deeply. However it had enough give that the low points of the talons and sharp beaks had me crouching as low as possible while sending a stream of darts into to the swirling horde above my head. I couldn't miss, since they now covered the entire netting, trying to tear it apart. It grew pitch black in the boat, lit only by the blue flashes of our darts as we shot at anything moving over our heads. It would've been only a matter of a minute, or less, before their razor sharp talons and beaks had torn gaping holes through it. We couldn't give them a chance.

  In seconds, their cries were silenced - we'd put the first wave of talon-hawks out of action. Still, we could hear the eager cries of their comrades, impatiently awaiting their turn to tear off a chunk of us. The ones we couldn't reach were still attacking the hull and the propeller housing behind me. Nothing to be done about them.

  What mattered now was just how much they had knocked the boat off course, and how much they had slowed its progress with the weight of their attack. Failing to reach the cover of the vines, would doom us. We'd run out of darts before we'd run out of attacking talon-hawks. It did seem, however, that they were not - yet - tearing off the layer of unconscious birds we had darted. Yet being the operative word. I doubted talon-hawks would let their comrades eat in peace for long.

  The boat hit the shore of the vines and lurched to one side. And stopped. I cut steam to the engine, afraid we'd slip further from the gap I had been aiming at.

  Naylea darted forward in a low crouch, snatching up the light spar, as she went. Reaching the bow rocket launcher, she used it to shove off a few stunned birds to get a view of what was hanging us up. Py was right behind her with his spar, ready to steer us toward any opening. From my position in the stern, I could faintly see only leaves and vines, no opening in sight. They, however, saw it, and bracing themselves, began nudging the prow of the boat toward it.

  'We just missed it,' Py yelled as he heaved against a thick vine to push the boat's bow towards the opening.

  Watching them closely, I undid the lash on one of the tillers and began to force it into position to steer the boat into the opening when it appeared - not that it would do too much good with all the talon-hawks on board. But every little bit helped. 'Tell me when we're clear!' I yelled over the cries of the birds.

  It was a big boat, made more unwieldy by the layer of attacking talon-hawks, so each heave moved the boat's bow only centimeters at a time.

  Overhead, I could sense that the talon-hawks were growing restless since some of the inert ones on the netting were being jerked about - attacked from behind by their impatient comrades. I sent a few darts on their way when it looked like a live one had replaced an inert one.

  'We're clear enough! Full power!' yelled Naylea.

  I opened the valve and the propeller began to spin again, causing a great uproar astern as several of our attackers must have gotten wings or talons through the cowling's grating while it was idle. The boat began to chug ahead, slowly slipping into the gap between the thick vines. As it got narrower, the surrounding vines began brush off the stunned birds from the netting and the live birds from hull. The talon-hawks sent up a great chorus of cries of protest as they dimly realized that their prey was escaping them.

  Naylea and Py continued to guide the boat through the narrowing gap using their staffs. Once the tangle of vines carried off the inert talon-hawks on the netting overhead, I stood, and switching to lethal darts, firing back into the horde attempting to follow us into the gap. I intended to leave a trail of dead talon-hawks behind us. They'd have to eat their way through them to reach us.

  Progress was slow, the gap narrow, and filled with small trailing vines that we had to force the boat through. But that prevented the talon-hawks from pursuing us - they were built for the open air. Five minutes later the ruckus of fighting birds was left behind - we were alone in the jungle, traveling along a narrow passageway between several thick vines, with Nay
lea and Py in the bow guiding the boat through with their poles. There was no room to swing the boat about to resume our course across the flow of the jungle, so we continued on, now in the direction of the vines.

  Perhaps twenty minutes later, I paused the engine and listened. The little birds, lizards and beetles were back, and shooting around us. I let out a sigh of relief.

  'You are a very dangerous person to be around, Litang,' said Naylea quietly. 'I think that you're a magnet for danger.'

  The dragons, still hunkered down along the bottom of the boat, softly barked their agreement.

  I opened my mouth to argue? And realized that I couldn't.

  'But think of all the stories we'll be able to tell,' said Py brightly.

  'If we survive them,' muttered Naylea. The dragons, now drifting up, once again barked their agreement.