Voidhawk

by Halstead, Jason

  “What’s he about?” Dexter asked, coming down the companionway from his cabin.

  “Your elf’s actin’ funny,” Kragor said, drawing a smack from Jodyne as she passed by him and handed Dexter a bowl of stew.

  “Life’s too short out here to not appreciate your friends,” Jenna said, shrugging and smiling.

  “This coming from an elf,” Dexter said with a playful grin. “Might be he’s on to something.”

  Jenna assumed a pouty expression and then stuck her tongue out at the Captain of the Voidhawk. Kragor coughed into his stew, splattering it and earning another slap from Jodyne. Xander approached cautiously, clearly anxious about joining the rest of them. Bailynn looked a little less nervous, but still apprehensive.

  “Sit, wizard, and tell us about yourself,” Dexter said, chuckling. “Don’t be worried, we’re harmless.”

  “Hardly that, I think,” Xander muttered, sitting where Rosh had left. “You’re not of a mind to abuse me today?”

  “Well,” Dexter said thoughtfully, “it is early yet.”

  The twinkle in his eye made Jenna laugh, which let Xander know that the Captain was not quite as temperamental as he had believed he might be.

  “We’ve our health, the wide open void before and behind us, and a good meal for our bellies,” the last Dexter accentuated by raising a steaming spoonful of stew and winking at Jodyne. “It’s a good day.”

  Xander glanced around the table and realized that, perhaps, it was his time to earn some of the respect he was due. He leaned back a bit and took in a deep breath, then opened his mouth.

  “Captain, can I talk to you?” Jenna asked, beating Xander to the punch.

  Dexter looked at her, raising an eyebrow. He shrugged. “Sure, talk.”

  “Private, I mean,” she said, rolling her eyes at him in a decidedly non-elvish fashion.

  “The elf’s cracked, Dex, careful,” Kragor warned his friend and Captain under his breath. Jenna actually smiled sweetly at him by way of retaliation, which caused Jodyne to snicker softly in the background.

  “Aye then, let’s go have a look at that head of yours, see where the bump is,” Dexter said good-naturedly. He stood up and handed Jodyne his half-eaten bowl of stew, then followed his arms mistress back to her cabin.

  “Never seen an elf go daft before,” Kragor mumbled after they had left.

  Jodyne shook her head and sent a warning glance his way. Bailynn smiled a little, though she kept it to herself. She wondered if, perhaps, Jenna had seen herself in a new light since they had been forced to work together. The elf still confused and terrified her, but that was not in the least because she could still feel the connection between the two of them. She realized she needed to talk to Bekka, the strange woman that seemed to want to help her. Bekka alone had seemed to have a talent at unraveling the magic that made her what she was.

  “Temperamental lot, elves,” Xander said, trying to sound sagely. “As I was about to say-“

  “Kragor,” Jodyne said, interrupting the wizard but having the courtesy to at least flash a brief smile his way, “I’m for needing another barrel of salted meat from the steerage.”

  Kragor sighed then shrugged and stood up. “Listen to an old dwarf and stay single, wizard.”

  Jodyne stared at the ceiling beseechingly and shook her head; she knew better than to listen to her husband’s blustering. “You want to eat?” She asked him.

  Kragor grumbled something then grinned and winked at her as he made his way to down the hall to the cargo bay that hosted the trap door that led to the steerage between their feet and the Voidhawk’s hull.

  Xander looked around, noting how his crowd had diminished to the shy little girl and the cook, who was back working in her kitchen. He sighed and stirred his stew morosely.

  “I’d like to hear,” Bailynn said softly, glancing up at him then looking away quickly.

  Xander looked at her and nearly laughed scornfully. He paused though, realizing that he needed to start somewhere. Rightfully someone of his rank and prestige deserved better, but given the circumstances, he reminded himself that he had to make do with what he could. He nodded and smiled at her, and began to tell her of himself.

  * * * *

  “You’re not going to be taking your clothes off again, are you?” Dexter asked as the door to Jenna’s room shut behind him.

  She turned and smiled at him. “I thought you’d never ask!”

  “No!” Dexter said too quickly. He grinned. “I mean, you’re a pleasing sight to my eye, but that just complicates things.

  Jenna pouted a little and reached up to her vest, then winked at him and let her arms fall to her side. “Captain, I want to stay with you.”

  “Stay with me? Like in my cabin?” Dexter asked, confused.

  Jenna beamed at his idea. “I hadn’t thought of that, but okay, I accept.”

  “What? I didn’t offer nor ask!” He protested.

  Jenna laughed. “A girl can try,” she offered before letting her smile fade and turning serious again. “No, I mean I want to stay with you…with the crew… with the Voidhawk. I don’t want to leave at our next port.”

  “Oh!” Dexter said, relieved and a little disappointed all at once. He had liked the forbidden thoughts that had entered his mind involving her in his cabin. “Why the change of heart?”

  “Something Bailynn said to me,” Jenna said, shrugging it away as unimportant. “She reminded me of what it means to be an elf and that I don’t want to be one.”

  Dexter stepped closer to her so that he could place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Jenna, nothing wrong with being an elf,” he said. “No more than it’s bad to be human, dwarven, or anything else. The problem’s not with what you were born with, it’s what you do with it that counts.”

  Jenna looked at him for a long moment, her eyes searching his. Then she smiled and nodded. “Captain, I need you to know something.”

  “What?” Dexter asked, concerned.

  “I don’t plan on ever leaving your service or side,” she said with a twinkle in her eye that hinted at excessive moisture. “And that I’m looking forward to the game we play going on for a long, long time… or until you give in and accept me.”

  “What game?” Dexter asked, knocked off balance by his mercurial second mate yet again.

  “The game where you pretend you don’t want me,” she said, leaning in a little towards him to break the barrier of personal space between them.

  “I do want you,” Dexter admitted solemnly. Then, with a grin he added, “otherwise I’d have to promote Rosh to arms master! There’d be no living with him then.”

  Jenna’s mouth fell open in surprise, then she laughed. “That’s the game I mean, Dexter. I’m an elf and I’ve got plenty of time to wait for you to come to your senses.”

  She winked at him and backed away, turning and heading towards her trunk. “I need to get changed to head up on deck.”

  “Meeting’s adjourned then?” Dexter asked her, noticing that the way her hands were moving in front of her she was obviously not waiting for him to leave before changing her clothing.

  She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled, “yes, Captain, as long as you’ll have me on your crew.”

  Dexter chuckled. “I’ll think about it and let you know,” he said mischievously before turning to leave.

  He paused at the door and said, “Oh, Jenna?”

  She turned to face him, her vest hanging open in the front and allowing him to see her as she slid it from her arms. “Yes, Sir?” she asked softly.

  “I thought about it,” he said quickly, forcing his eyes to stay on hers. “You can stay… matter of fact, I was never going to let you leave in the first place.”

  She raised an eyebrow and laughed, then blew him a kiss as he turned and stepped out of her room. Dexter stood outside of it and shook his head, knowing he should not encourage her but also knowing that he enjoyed it so very much when he did. Whistling softly to himself, he star
ted down the hall back towards the galley, then decided he might be better off to head up to the main deck.

  * * * *

  Kragor grunted and moved through the dimly lit hold. His dwarven eyes made it easier to see in the poor light, but the shadows were still deep. He kicked aside a crate and made his way over to some barrels that were lashed together. He stumbled on his way and glanced back at whatever had tripped him. Curious, he bent low to examine it, wondering how a tree limb had made its way into the hold.

  The limb moved, coiling up slowly and reminding him not of a tree limb anymore but more of a tentacle. He cursed and backpedaled quickly, trying to figure out what it was. He crashed into the barrels and fell on them, breaking apart a weakened one. He grabbed some of the wood and held it up, noting that he should be laying in a pile of salted meat. The wood showed signs of being worn down and eaten away, and the contents of the barrel were missing completely.

  “Elf balls,” Kragor cursed, thinking up stories of what the tentacle might be. He tried to lunge to his feet but another tentacle lashed around his arm, yanking it out from under him.

  The dwarf crashed again to the hull, air exploding from his lungs. Another tentacle wrapped around his chest and a third covered one leg. He pried at the one on his chest and gasped for air, trying to recover his breath. He smelled a musky odor that had not been there before, and noticed how much darker the hold seemed to be. A dark shape coalesced above him and moved towards him. He tried to hold his free arm up to ward it off, but his arm seemed so heavy he found he could not move it.

  Jumbled thoughts and images crashed through his mind, trying desperately to put a name to the terror that came across him. He managed to cling to the tenaciously stubborn will that was his racial heritage and roll to his belly. Dragging the leaden tentacles behind him, he began to crawl towards the square of light that promised escape and freedom into the cargo bay above. Each hurried breath sucked in more of the musky odor, however, and each attempt at pulling himself closer to it made it seem farther and farther away.

  * * * *

  Dexter watched Rosh and Keshira working on deck. They worked side by side to assist Bekka in the smooth sailing of the Voidhawk through the void, trimming the sales and tying off the rigging when necessary. Both possessed great strength, a necessary feat for running the ship with a skeleton crew, and endurance that was near legendary. The great difference between the two was that Rosh would eventually tire. Keshira worked endlessly.

  Set on a new course after tacking, the work slowed down. Rosh finished coiling up a rope and tossed it into its place next to one of the wings of the Voidhawk. He turned and grinned at Keshira, then let his expression fade when she just stared at him blankly. From the forecastle Dexter sighed and wondered how long it would take until the pleasure golem started to show signs of thinking and acting for herself.

  “Keshira, you ever going to figure out what a great team we make?” Rosh asked her, grinning anew in hopes of not being rebuffed as he usually was.

  “What Rosh?” she asked him, clearly confused.

  “You and me, we do good work together,” he said again, his grin fading.

  “I could do it myself,” she said.

  He chuckled and waved. “Sure you could, but you wouldn’t be so fast as us together.”

  She paused and then nodded. “That is true.”

  “So, we make a good team then?”

  She hesitated a bit before saying, “Team… yes, we work faster together than apart.”

  “Now we’re talking! We’re team mates, and that means we ought to-“

  “Rosh, you seen Kragor?” Jodyne said, interrupting the large man as she climbed up the staircase onto the deck.

  “What? No!” He snapped, scowling at her. “We’re busy here, can’t you see that?”

  Ignoring the man, she turned to Keshira, “You seen him, Keshira?”

  “I have not seen him for many hours, Jodyne,” the pleasure golem said.

  Jodyne frowned then turned and looked about. She saw Dexter up on the forecastle and started towards him. Seeing her expression, Dexter figured he should move her way and save as much time as possible. He had more than enough experience at being on Jodyne’s angry side.

  “What’ve you done with Kragor?” Jodyne asked, an unpleasant expression on her face.

  “I’ve not seen him since I left your table,” Dexter explained defensively. Captain of the ‘Hawk or not, he still found himself intimidated by Jodyne when she was feeling feisty.

  She frowned. “He ain’t off fixing something or other?”

  Dexter shook his head. “’Fraid not. What’s he done wrong this time?”

  Jodyne’s look melted Dexter’s mischievous grin from his face. “I sent him to fetch me up another barrel o’ meat but the damn fool’s been gone more than an hour now.”

  Dexter frowned, his mood turning serious. Kragor had been known to dodge his wife before, but usually with Dexter and with the help of some ale to drown their troubles. Those times were long past, since they had reconditioned the Voidhawk and set sail on her. He nodded at length and glanced at Rosh and Keshira, who were both listening intently.

  “Search the ship, Kragor’s missing,” he told them.

  He turned to Jodyne and motioned for her to lead the way. With a firm set to her jaw she turned and headed back towards the spiral staircase that led below. Rosh and Keshira spread out but followed, looking as they went.

  On the cargo deck Dexter and Jodyne waited while Rosh and Keshira both looked through the crew quarters that Xander and Rosh were sharing and the two staterooms. Finding nothing in the aft of the ship Dexter knocked on Jenna’s door next.

  “Jenna, it’s Dexter,” he said, announcing his presence.

  The door opened partway and Jenna said, “how many times do you need telling you’ve the run of the ship, you can… oh, what’s wrong?”

  The seriousness of the situation helped Dexter keep from chuckling at her surprise. Jenna saw the small gathering behind him and excused herself for a moment. She returned a moment later, silk sash wrapped and tied around her body in such a way to provide enough modesty to frustrate the likes of Rosh, but to prevent much from being left to the imagination. She was buckling on her weapons belt as she shut the door behind her and joined them in the hallway.

  “Any chance you’re hiding Kragor in there?” Rosh asked her, ogling what she had on display.

  She rolled her eyes and turned to Dexter and Jodyne. “What happened? Can’t you find him?”

  Jodyne shook her head but did not speak. Her jaw set tight with frustration and emotion she refused to show. Dexter shook his head as well, but spoke. “Nay, we’ve only looked up top and in the aft thus far, but Jodyne poked her head up front earlier, I’m guessing.”

  The cook nodded her head. Dexter frowned. “He was supposed to be fetching a barrel from the stowage.”

  “Fool dwarf probably tripped and hit his head,” Rosh muttered.

  “You’re the fool,” Jodyne snapped at him.

  “What, he runs into plenty of things,” the large man said defensively. He glanced nervously at Jodyne, knowing well her deadly accuracy with anything she chose to pick up and throw.

  “Aye, but his skull’s too thick to put him down,” she said.

  Rosh blinked and then chuckled a little. “Aye, you’ve the right of that.”

  Dexter chuckled as well, but it was Jenna who spoke up. “Let’s check below decks then, seems that’s the next place to go.”

  “It’s on the way to the front, we might as well,” Dexter agreed.

  They filed forward, pausing only to check in the sail locker before coming up to the double sized doors on opposing sides of the companionway that led into the cargo holds. When they entered the starboard cargo hold Jodyne pointed to the open trap door in the floor.

  “That’s how it was when I came to check on him,” she said, her voice subdued. “I called his name and looked down in there, but he didn’t respond.�
�

  “Didn’t you go down and look?” Rosh asked.

  Before Jodyne could answer Dexter stepped forward and peered into the darkness of their hold. He grunted and squatted down, trying to peer inside himself.

  “Captain,” Jenna said, her fingers brushing his shoulder lightly as they rested on it.

  He glanced up at her, then looked at her fingers. Her touch was reassuring, but under the circumstances it seemed inappropriate. He cleared his throat meaningfully and she removed it, smiling briefly at him as though they shared a private joke.

  “What is it?” he asked, turning to glance back into the hold.

  “There’s something… odd,” she said. Her nostrils flared as she knelt down beside him and stuck her head into the hold to look around. “A strange odor, I’ve not smelled it before.”

  “I don’t smell nothing,” Rosh muttered.

  “You’re a human,” Jenna snapped at him. “You’d have trouble smelling yourself if you made a mess in your pants.”

  “I’m a what?” he said, confused by why being human was bad.

  “This ain’t helping Kragor none,” Dexter said, silencing the two of them.

  “Captain,” Keshira said, breaking her silence and stepping forward. “Let me go.”