They stood their ground for almost an hour, but with the water being thrown and their torches, they managed to keep their small island free from the dark things. Slowly, Kel began to direct men first to the wheelhouse deck, and then further and further out onto the main deck as they swept and killed anything that crawled.
At one point, when they reached the first of the lumps that were exposed when the spiders were pushed back, Aiden had to stop and run toward the railing to the side of the ship. A few sailors looked at him as if they were about to curse his getting in their way, but they stopped themselves when they saw their fallen fellows. It was truly a horrible sight.
He glanced back, watching as Chari and Ashrak continued the grim business, but he couldn’t continue. But he had to. He started to shake, looking away from the carnage and trying to work up the courage to turn back and help when Duke Valeran was there, grasping his shoulder and keeping him from turning back.
“No, Aiden. No. It’s okay. You’ve done enough. I’ve seen that look and you’re a brave lad, but don’t turn back.” Aiden looked up, thankful at the permission he found there in the Duke’s eyes. It wasn’t more than a second later when he felt his tears begin and held onto the man as he sobbed away his terrible grief.
“Go to the master cabin, boy.” Valeran continued quietly. “Wait for me there. I’m going to go collect Chari and Ashrak as well. They don’t need to see this business either. Then I’m going to go find my… my son.”
Aiden bit his lip as he gladly hurried off. Gavin. He hadn’t even thought about his friend the whole time! He made his way to the captain’s main cabin and opened the door, avoiding the huge charred area where someone had obviously thrown a lantern near the door. Sinking into a chair he hugged himself. It was too much, and the vision of those spiders coming out of the man’s mouth was burned into his memory as he closed his eyes and tried to wipe it away. Glowby was hovering, flickering nervously and erratically as if he too was shocked by what had happened and staying very close to Aiden.
Why was it so hard? He thought to himself. He’d helped during the trench serpent attack at the cutter fish races, and it hadn’t been like this. But those people had been drowned, not bitten to death and swollen. The looks of pain and fear from just the first man would give him nightmares for a long time. These deaths were much more terrible and he twitched and scratched as he imagined things crawling on his body.
He hadn’t even realized he was whimpering until Chari’s soft arms wrapped around him and hugged him, making him scream at first but then comforting him. He could hear Ashrak in the room too, and he imagined the tall boy just sitting there exhausted, but he didn’t want to open his eyes to look.
What happened to Gavin? To Markam? He couldn’t even imagine Markam would even be aware enough to scream before he was killed. He had to shake his head and force himself not to think of it.
It was a half-hour later that the door opened, making all three of the friends look up with hollow-eyed fear, but standing in the doorway was Gavin with his arm around Markam, helping him walk across the deck. Gavin was holding his other arm close to his chest, and there was a nasty, swollen welt that looked like a spider bite, but otherwise both of them looked okay.
They all smiled at each other. Tired and still horrified, but smiling to see each other alive. “Okay,” Gavin said, “I can’t possibly be the only one that is going to say this, but Aiden, I really really think you need to make something to kill spiders now.”
The nervous laughter erupted, each of them feeling how close to hysterical screaming it really was, but it broke the tension and they all clustered together for a hug. Even Markam joined.
Chapter 18
It took several more hours, and by the time they were done clearing the ship of spiders, almost everyone had the same look of defeat and exhaustion. It actually helped that the creatures were so aggressive as it made it easier to know if they’d gotten them all. They didn’t try hiding, only charged at anything moving. After they figured that out, it was just a matter of luring them into ambush spots where they could be killed a few at a time.
When all was said and done, and after they’d managed to turn the ship and rescued the living from the ocean, they had seventy-six sailors left of a ship that normally held two hundred and more. Of Stelios’ men, there were still eighteen out of the original twenty-two.
“Scratchers,” said Captain Grell into the silence of the small room. “Somehow, it had to be them, Your Grace. I remember how the stories went before Feldar supposedly killed them all. This is just like them.”
Duke Valeran nodded, grimly. “I agree. I even remember hearing a report once out of Drenholt. An entire town was found to be covered in… things like that.” he gestured vaguely toward the deck. “Some prisoners were returned to that town and the same thing happened. Or so I hear. I never believed it, honestly, only thinking it was made up, but now…“ he trailed off tiredly, giving out a large sigh. “By the gods.”
Aiden just sat there next to Chari and Gavin. He had noticed Glowby circling over everyone but unlike his usual carefree antics, he paused constantly near each of them and flashed a soothing lavender light at them periodically. Aiden had not escaped the light and despite everything, the images of what had so recently transpired seemed to be receding. He’d never have noticed the change if he hadn’t seen his friend doing it. Still, he was thankful because instead of constantly flashing back to that brief vision of the uncovered dead man, he was beginning to pull himself away from those thoughts and think more clearly.
“How do you think the Scratchers did it?” Kel asked slowly. “I’ve never heard of a weapon like this. What were they trying to accomplish?”
Aiden heard a grunt near him and then Ashrak spoke. “Well, I don’t know about you all, but it seems pretty clear to me if it was the Scratchers, they’re no longer trying to capture. They’re trying to kill.”
They all looked quietly at Ashrak. It was true. Even if there was a scratcher close enough to control those spiders, it hadn’t looked like they’d even tried. There were thousands of them that erupted from the dead pirates, and none of them had slowed when coming near Aiden. The one that leaped at him proved that. Aiden could still recall seeing those two small fangs plunging toward his chest.
“He’s right,” Aiden said softly into the quiet. “They weren’t stopping. One jumped on me and bit me. If I hadn’t had my armored shirt on, it would have. Honestly, can we say the ones on Reid were trying to capture me? They could have easily been trying to kill me.”
“That’s a good point, Aiden,” Stelios said. “At least if they’re trying to capture you, it gives us a small advantage because they may hesitate. Trying to kill you? They’re probably far more dangerous. Dammit, why can’t they just attack with a sword and in your face like a normal ambush!”
“That’s what makes them so dangerous,” Valeran said, nodding. “They don’t come at you like a normal attacker. Why do you think we hated them so much. If I can get to the Council, at least we’ll be able to show them proof the Scratchers are still alive. I can get the rest of the Dukes to go in on wiping him off the face of the planet once and for all.”
“So, what do we do now?” Chari asked, her own exhaustion evident, but even so, Aiden could detect a bit of energy in her words. Glowby was having a positive effect on all of them. One they needed badly.
“Captain Grell frowned but finally stood. “Good question, Lady Silvencor. I am not sure what more we can do with so little crew, but I need to go seeing about getting them into whatever shape I can.” He stopped and turned toward Lieutenant Kel, “And I’ll need my new first officer with me. Are you able to assume your duties, Lieutenant?”
Kel looked up, but nodded and stood as well. The first and second officers had both perished to the spiders since they’d been in the thick of the men when the incident had happened. They all watched him square his jaw and follow the Captain out onto the deck.
“Aiden,” Chari said
suddenly, turning toward him. “The Captain’s right, we can’t sail a ship this large with so small a crew. Well, we can but it won’t be efficient and it won’t be quick. The Duke needs to get to the council meeting.”
Valeran nodded quickly, leaning forward. “She’s right Aiden. I know you’ve done a lot in the past few days, but we’ll need you to pull off another miracle. Can you do it? We need something to make the ship go faster. How about something that makes the wind blow?”
“No, father,” Gavin said, perking up also. “We shouldn’t do wind, the Skywitch doesn’t use wind nor do the skimmers. We need something that will push the ship but not by the sails.”
Ashrak, Chari, and Stelios nodded, but Valeran scowled at having his idea shot down, though they all knew the man wouldn’t remain angry. “Good point. And the masts are fairly strong but there’s only so much they can take. We need to go a bit faster than this ship can normally go. If we do it wrong, we could break her.”
“Maybe I could build another skimmer?” Aiden said.
“How big can you make it?” Gavin asked. “We’ll need men with us when we get to Riften. Even now, we’ll be woefully ill-equipped. Most of the Dukes will likely be bringing hundreds of men with them. Generally, it’s limited to five-hundred but even with that many, fights have been known to happen.”
“I don’t know how large I can go,” Aiden said carefully. “The larger and more complicated something is, the harder it is. I’m sure there’s a limit but I doubt I could build something big enough yet. Maybe in time? But that’s what we don’t have.”
“Alright, then we have to use what we’ve got,” Valeran said, slapping his knees and standing. “The Gerevat is a sturdy vessel and it’s still in good shape. Let's go take a look around and see if we can find somewhere that will be sturdy enough.”
The small group trooped out onto the deck and before they went searching, spoke to the Captain of their idea. The older man was wary at the thought. He also knew as sturdy as the ship was, it could also be wrenched apart by a strong enough force, and making it go faster than it had ever done before, that could easily happen. Aiden thought the rudder looked good, but the Captain shook his head. The rudder was strong, but it was only designed to handle so much. The keel would be the ideal place to put something that would take a lot of stress.
So it was Aiden found himself deep in the hold of the ship with Chari, Ashrak, and Gavin sitting nearby in case there were any spiders left. Glowby hovered nearby as well, still flashing everyone with his lavender light. Markam was back in his bunk and continuing his desperately needed recovery. Even the few hours out of his bunk, while they took care of the spiders, had sent him reeling back into sickness and Aiden didn’t blame him.
It made Aiden feel a lot better to have his friends close by because he doubted he could close his eyes down here by himself. As he settled into his calm, Aiden began to form the thought of what he wanted. He knew he needed something that would push the ship through the water, but not go up or down as the skimmers did. Just a forward push and nothing else, so he would need to mimic that from the skimmers.
But then the thought came to him, and he was almost certain it felt like Glowby, that instead of just forward, why not back, forth, and side-to-side? Why not. It shouldn’t put any more stress on the ship, should it? Or turning? He could feel his eyebrows crunch together at the thought. There was more he could do with the ship. Turning too, if he put it in correctly and made the control carefully, he could make it spin as well. They wouldn’t even need the rudder if he did it right.
But that left him with a different issue entirely. He needed to not only affect the keel to do all of these things, but he now needed to have a control handle like what was on the skimmers. Could he do it? Could he put the same process into two separate ideas in two different places on the ship? And along the length of it too? Sighing, Aiden realized he’d have to be very careful, and most likely it would give him a rather large headache, if not knock him out entirely. Professor Reivus, despite his recent retraction of wanting Aiden to avoid anything dangerous, would probably still throw a fit.
But that just made him angry.
He threw himself into it, despite himself, wanting to prove the Professor wrong and that he could handle this. So working very carefully, he pushed his mind out along the keel of the ship he was sitting on top of, and up into the wheel house. He realized neither the Duke nor the Captain would realize the glimmer steel would actually replace the keel and if he got it wrong, the entire ship would come apart, but they needed this. So, he hadn’t told them. The words Gavin had said to him long ago came back even as he sunk deeper.
“We’re teenagers, we’re not supposed to always do as we’re told.”
Gavin, Chari, and Ashrak all looked at each other as Aiden grinned. They didn’t know why, but it made them a little nervous as they settled in to wait the hours it would take Aiden to finish. When Aiden did finally open his eyes, he whispered three words, “I did it,” before passing out.
***
When Aiden woke, he was resting in his bed and received two surprises. The first was the feeling of how the ship was moving. He not only felt the familiar rolling of the ship, but also a strange sensation of being pushed backward. The second was seeing Professor Reivus sitting patiently at the end of his bed.
Aiden sat upright quickly, overjoyed at the sight of the old man but instantly regretted it. His head cracking like a spike going through it and sending him back down to the mattress, groaning and closing his eyes.
“Now, now, my boy. Enough of that!” The Professor said, holding him down with one hand. “You’ve had a long night and I gather it will be a while yet before you can start running around and risking your life again. Too much. Galavanting off to Terek and then building something into a large ship? My word! Craziness. Pure and simple. Just keep your eyes closed. I have water here for you when you’re ready.”
Aiden nodded slowly, trying not to move his head too much but there was something else odd about the Professor’s voice. While still the same, it didn’t sound quite as lost as he usually did. Instead, it sounded more confident. After a few moments, he risked opening one of his eyes slightly and looking from under his arm toward the Professor. He didn’t look nearly as old as he used to!
“What happened, Professor. Gods, I haven’t felt like this since I made the skimmer.”
“Yes, I can see that. Serves you right, too.” The Professor sniffed but patted Aiden’s chest before reaching over to pick up a mug. “Now, sit up slowly and take a drink. You’ll need it.” The old man moved closer and helped him sit up. It wasn’t fun, not in the least, but the water was excellent and after a few moments it did help enough for him to open his eyes. Glowby was up next to the Professor’s head with a happy, blue glow.
“When did you wake up?” Aiden said weakly. “What happened to you? What did that thing from Analil do?”
The Professor smiled softly and nodded. “Good questions. I won’t tell you everything at the moment, but suffice it to say that…well, they gave me some of my memories back. I’m sure not all of them, but now I understand more. Far more. Like why and how things work again, instead of just what they do and their names. Oh, ho! My boy, you have no idea! I didn’t even have a clue how much I had forgotten. But now? Now I can build again!” the old man smiled beatifically at him, clearly pleased with the result.
Aiden smiled. “Does that mean I won’t be needed anymore? Thank the gods!” Aiden winced, as his head spiked in pain again, but he was happy about it. He wouldn’t be needed anymore. Or hunted! He could just go back to being plain old Aiden.
He should have known that wouldn’t be the case.
Glowby dimmed somewhat, and the Professor just shook his head and spoke the words Aiden wasn’t thrilled to hear.
“Oh, peas and breadcrumbs on that. You are still needed, Aiden. Don’t even think otherwise. This thing you did with the Gerevat? It would have taken me a solid month to make, easil
y. You? You did it within seven hours. You could have hurt yourself, but you did it! No, my boy. What you are doing is still a mystery. But now, I can perhaps give you better advice. At least, I hope so.”
Aiden looked closer at the Professor and while he didn’t look young, he no longer looked as frail as he used to. “How, Professor? I don’t understand.”
“Don’t worry too much about it Aiden. It’s like knowing what’s inside a hand pump that makes it work as opposed to just knowing what one looks like. Except for perhaps a million times more complicated.” The Professor stopped, tapping his chin in thought before continuing. “Or more. Yes, I think more. Quite a bit more, really.” Professor Reivus stopped and almost giggled to himself which, despite the pain in his head, made Aiden smile.
“Okay, Professor. I’ll take your word for it. But it’s nice to see you up and about. Honestly, I thought you were dead at one point.”
The old man nodded, looking kindly at Aiden. “Thank you, Aiden. I know you care about me just as I care about you. It's one of the truly worthwhile things in the universe, caring about each other. Did you know at one time, people thought we might not be able to care about others? That they thought we were just faking it? Silly now that I look back on it, but there it was. It took hundreds of years for them to see us as people. Hundreds.” The Professor patted Aiden’s knee and stood. “Now, if you are feeling up to it, shall we go see what you’ve done?”
The Glimmer Steel Saga, Boxed Set, Books 1 - 4 Page 52