Avast, Ye Airships Anthology
Page 24
“I want to take one more look,” Lizzy said, and swung back before Jo could argue.
Dominic shoved the boxes of silver against the gondola’s sides, spacing them evenly. The gondola rocked with each movement. Jo stayed at the controls and scanned the horizon.
As the minutes ticked by, Jo grew more and more anxious. “What’s she taking so long about?”
“You could ask her with the radio,” Dominic said.
“I don’t want the Cirrus listening in.” Suddenly, Jo gasped. “There she is!”
“Lizzy?”
“The Cirrus.” Jo snatched the radio transmitter up and jammed her thumb on the red button. “Get back here now, Lizzy. The Cirrus is aloft.”
Lizzy didn’t reply. Neither did she swing back to the Dragonfly.
Jo watched the Cirrus lift above the trees and steam toward them. Her brain felt numb with terror, like a rabbit confronted by a dancing weasel.
Lizzy appeared in the blimp gondola’s open doorway, unseated the grappling hook, and kicked it free. The Dragonfly drifted away from the blimp with Lizzy dangling from the swing line with one hand.
“Help her up, Dominic,” Jo said—unnecessarily, since he had already rushed over to haul up the swing line. Jo started the propellers and pushed them to full.
Lizzy clambered aboard with Dominic’s help. She had another wooden box under her arm, smaller than the others, and a bottle clutched in her fist.
As they veered away just ahead of the Cirrus, Lizzy waved the bottle at the other airship and blew its pilot a kiss. The Cirrus responded with a volley of cannon fire.
But the Dragonfly was already out of range, accelerating fast. Jo didn’t care where they went as long as it was away. She had gotten turned around during the fight anyway. A quick glance at the compass told her she was headed toward the coast.
The radio shouted, “Stop in the name of the king!”
Lizzy finished replacing the swing line and grappling hook in their spots. “The king can kiss my arse,” she said. “I bet it’s gold in that last case. It was hidden well enough.”
The radio shouted at them a few more times, promising dire consequences. Jo heard the splinter of a lock being forced, then silence.
“What is it?” she asked, imagining Lizzy lying dead of a poisoned dart or something equally improbable. She dared not turn around to look, not with the Cirrus still following.
“It’s gold. I was right,” Lizzy said.
Dominic added, “It’s gold stamped with the Hulan royal seal. We just stole from the king of Hule.”
#
Once they had left the Cirrus behind, Jo surveyed the crates full of silver bars and the small box of gold. “You know, I never understood why pirates were supposed to bury treasure. Now I know.”
“We’re going to bury it?” Dominic asked.
“Maybe. The trick is burying it where we can find it again when we want it.”
Jo finally allowed herself to relax, and grinned at Lizzy. “This is our future. This is a lovely little house for both of us, somewhere quiet, after we’ve retired from piracy. Check the coast off Belleral for a likely-looking island. It can’t be too small or we can’t land safely, but make sure it isn’t marked with any towns.”
“We’re going to bury our treasure on a deserted island?” Dominic sounded delighted.
“I think it would be safest. No one to see what we’re doing and come along to dig it up after we leave, and an island is easier to find than a particular patch of coastline.”
After consultation of the maps and considerable discussion, they settled on an island well off the coast called Hayforth. It was not a quick trip. The western sky blazed pink and gold as the sun went down; the first stars came out.
Jo’s stomach growled. “How are we for coal?” she asked after a while.
“All right for now,” Dominic said.
Lizzy said, “This new ship’s got an efficient boiler, but I’d be happier if we stopped to top off the coal before long. We’re over Belleral now. We needn’t fear being arrested.”
Jo was more worried about being robbed. She had her future to think of, hers and Lizzy’s. “All right. Find us a town and we’ll set down long enough to refuel and get some food. We can picnic on Hayforth and spend the night there.”
“Good,” Lizzy said. “Did you notice the bottle I found in the blimp? Black Hammerhead rum, the best you can get. It’s got a shark on the label.”
Jo patted the top of the radio. “I like this airship. I like her a lot.”
Meet The Pirates:
Stephen Blake — “Beneath the Brass” — Stephen Blake lives in Penzance, Cornwall in the UK. He’s had a story previously published in the steampunk anthology ‘Airship Shape & Bristol Fashion’ and numerous pieces within the e-magazine ‘Far Horizons’. You can find him on twitter @UncannyBlake and he occasionally blogs on stephenblakeblog.wordpress.com, where you can follow his writing journey.
Jeffrey Cook & Katherine Perkins — “Maiden Voyage” —Katherine lives in Coralville, IA, with her husband and one skittish cat. Jeff is the author and Kate the editor of the Dawn of Steam series of alternate-history/emergent Steampunk epistolary novels. When not reading, researching, or writing, they enjoy role-playing games, in which the dice like Jeff a lot better.
Robert McGough — “Colonel Gurthwait and the Black Hydra” — Robert McGough was born and raised in south Alabama. An Eagle Scout and two-time graduate from Troy University, he pays the bills working at a warehouse. Writing in a number of genres, including steampunk, horror, fantasy, and southern gothic, he has been published in several anthologies and literary journals. He is a firm believer that puns are the highest form of humor.
Ogarita — “Captain Wexford’s Dilemma” — Ogarita is an author, introvert, lapsed jogger, home-reno terror, ghost lover, watercolorist, retired military officer, and enthusiastic traveler. She possesses more academic degrees than necessary, imperfect Spanish, worse French, an old car, a Vitamix, and books. Her skills include cribbage, folding fitted sheets into neat squares, and surviving central Florida’s mean streets on a cruiser bike. Although not yet a ghost, she haunts libraries, bookstores, museums, lighthouses, and Disney World. At present, she knows no pirates.
Lauren Marrero — “Her Majesty’s Service” — When not creating romance novels, Lauren Marrero spends most of her time dreaming of heroes and steam-powered gadgets. After attending the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied English Literature, she traveled the world, slept in too many airports, and ate too much exotic street food. She is the author of Seducing the Laird, and has been published in UnCONventional, Mirror Dance, and The Fifth Di… magazines. You can find her online at www.laurenmarrero.com.
Andrew Knighton — “A Wind Will Rise” — Andrew is a freelance writer based in Stockport, England, where the grey skies provide a good motive to stay inside at the word processor. He’s had over forty stories published in places such as Daily Science Fiction, Wily Writers and Ann VanderMeer’s Steampunk anthologies. His own steampunk anthology, Riding the Mainspring, is available now on Amazon. You can find out more about his writing at andrewknighton.com and follow him on Twitter @gibbondemon.
Rie Sheridan Rose — “Hooked” — Rie's short stories appear in numerous anthologies, including Nightmare Stalkers and Dream Walkers Vols. 1 and 2, Come to My Window, Shifters, The Grotesquerie and In the Bloodstream as well as Yard Dog Press' A Bubba In Time Saves None. Yard Dog Press is also home to humorous horror chapbooks Tales from the Home for Wayward Spirits and Bar-B-Que Grill and Bruce and Roxanne Save the World...Again. Mocha Memoirs has "Drink My Soul...Please," and “Bloody Rain” as e-downloads. Online, she has appeared in Cease, Cows, Lorelei Signal, and Four Star Stories. This is her first anthology edit.
Ross Baxter — “Go Green” — After thirty years at sea, Ross Baxter now concentrates on writing sci-fi and horror fiction. His varied work has been published in print and Kindle by a number of publishing houses i
n the US and the UK. He won the Horror Novel Reviews Creation Short Story Award in December 2014. Married to a Norwegian and with two Anglo-Viking kids, he now lives in Derby, England.
Amy Braun — “Lost Sky” — Amy is a Canadian urban fantasy and horror author. Her work revolves around monsters, magic, mythology, and mayhem. She started writing in her early teens, and never stopped. She loves building unique worlds filled with fun characters and intense action. She is the recipient of April Moon Books Editor Award for "author voice, world-building and general bad-assery." Amy's current work includes various short stories such as “Hotel Hell”, “Call from the Grave,” and the novella Needfire. She has short stories in various anthologies such as “Bring Back the Hound” in Stomping Grounds, “Charlatan Charade” in Lost in the Witching Hour, and her award winning short “Dark Intentions And Blood” in AMOK! Amy can be found online through her frequently updated blog, Literary Braun (literarybraun.blogspot.ca), as well as on Twitter (@amybraunauthor) and Facebook (facebook.com/amybraunauthor). Her upcoming work includes: “Secret Suicide” in That Hoodoo, Voodoo, That You Do anthology, as well as her first full length novel, Path of the Horseman.
Diana Parparita — “Miss Warlyss Meets the Black Buzzard” — Diana Parparita's stories have been published in Allegory, Enchanted Conversation, Bards and Sages Quarterly, and Mad Scientist Journal. A reprint of her first sci-fantasy set in a secondary world modeled after the Victorian age, Doctor Edmund Huntsfee’s Perilous Expedition into the Heart of the Flood Plains, had been published as a stand-alone e-book.
Libby A. Smith — “Plunder in the Valley” — Libby A. Smith has a degree in English with an emphasis on creative writing from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She's previously had short stories and poetry published in 4StarStories.com, Caliber Comics, Hanthercraft Publications, The Little Rock Free Press, and other small press publications. She also penned a version of “The Legend of the Rainbow Bridge” for counted cross stitch designer Sue Hillis. A sometimes actress, Libby lives in Little Rock, Arkansas with three fat and sassy cats.
Steve Cook — “The Clockwork Dragon” — Steve Cook is from London, United Kingdom. He is a part-time writer, part-time teacher, currently dialing down on the latter so he can focus on the former. He is married and lives with his wife and cat.
Jim Reader — “Adventures of a Would-Be Gentleman of the Skies”— Jim Reader was orphaned as a child, and raised by a pack of wild corny dogs. They taught him having a stick up the bu... well, it's a bad thing, and that the value of grease and mystery meat is incalculable. He's previously been published in The Ladies of Trade Town (Harphaven Publishing, 2011), Zombiefied! An Anthology of All Things Zombie (Sky Warrior Publishing, LLC, 2011), and Coming Together Arm in Arm in Arm (Coming Together, 2012), as well as in other publications. Jim has self-published a novel, and a novella, on Amazon. He lives in Central Texas with his wife and their five dogs... normal dogs, not corny dogs.
Steven R. Southard — “A Clouded Affair” — Steven R. Southard’s short stories appear in nine different anthologies including Dead Bait, Quest for Atlantis, and Cheer Up, Universe! He’s the author of the What Man Hath Wrought series, with twelve stories at last count. An engineer and former submariner, Steve takes readers on voyages to far-off places aboard amazing vehicles accompanied by engaging characters. He has tampered with several genres including steampunk, clockpunk, science fiction, fantasy, and horror...and seems to have gotten away with it. Set sail for stevenrsouthard.com to learn more about his fictional adventures.
D Chang — “The Climbers” — D Chang is one of the editors at spacesquid.com ("your puny planet's finest scifi, experimental, and fantasy"). His superpowers are killing flies, defending the Oxford comma, and inventing useless ultimate frisbee throws. He has a blog at videogamewriter.com.
Wynelda Ann Deaver — “The Steampunk Garden” — Wynelda Ann Deaver resides in Northern California with her merry band of misfits. When she is not out training dragons, commandeering pirate ships or finding stolen treasures, she can be found with a pen in hand, scribbling furiously.
Steve Ruskin — “Lotus of Albion” — Steve Ruskin is a native of Colorado, where he currently lives. He has also lived in Cambridge, England and Berlin, Germany. He is an historian of science and technology, focusing on the Victorian period with an emphasis on the British Empire and the American West. He has been a university professor, a mountain bike guide, and a number of things in between. In addition to fiction he has written for academic and popular audiences in publications ranging from the American Journal of Physics to the Rocky Mountain News. You can find him at www.steveruskin.com.
K.C. Shaw — “And a Bottle of Rum…” — K. C. Shaw lives in East Tennessee with her cat, Jekyll, and a lot of books. Visit her website at kcshaw.net, and visit the Lizzy and Jo site at lizzyandjo.com.
Other Books from Mocha Memoirs Press
Subject 82-42 by Ronald T. Jones
The Portal Guards by Marcia Colette
The River God's Bride
Mocha Descent by Drea Riley