Gareth and th Lost Island

by Patrick Mallard

  “… And these,” Gareth exclaimed as he opened up several crates that held devices made from two long silver tubes etched with runes that were attached in the middle with a mouthpiece.

  “What are those things?” Tralnis inquired.

  Gareth gestured towards the silver tubes. “These tubes are enchanted with special runes that transfigure water into air, and then back again when you exhale. They’re good for any diving down to around 130 feet. Any deeper than that and you need one of those suits with an air hose attached,” he explained.

  Knowing that he would be entrusting both his life and sanity to the equipment in front of him, Tralnis gave the deep sea suit a closer look. The Dwarf in him was pleased at the workmanship put into the pieces that maintained the perfect balance between mobility and safety. The only thing a Dwarf would have added was strengthening runes etched into the oiled leather. “Gareth, why aren’t these suits enhanced with runes? It would make them much safer,” he pointed out.

  “I asked my dive instructor the same thing,” Gareth stated. “He said that they sometimes dive off the coasts of countries run by some of the more conservative religions. Finding any mechanical item paired with something magical is an instant death sentence there. The two different types of diving equipment even have to be transported in separate crates. I was told some places are so strict, that if they see the same person using both types of equipment, they are flogged in public,” he explained.

  “That’s one of the things that has frustrated me my entire life. I hate how the religious zealots get away with blocking people from using common sense,” Tralnis complained. “So, are we going to worry about religious inspections, or are we packing all the stuff in one crate?” he asked.

  “One crate of course,” Gareth replied, mildly insulted Tralnis even had to ask. “Henry, grab that box of adapter rings so we can hook the rune tubes to the suits. That way we won’t have to steal an air pump as well,” he ordered. They put two suits, two sets of rune tubes, and the adapter rings into a large wooden crate. A quick search of the rest of the building yielded dive knives and an oversized wheelbarrow. The three burglars managed to wheel their stolen equipment back to their townhome without being confronted by either University Security, or the City watch.

  Chapter 7

  Gareth held the reins of the horse leading their rented wagon lightly in his hands as they took the road leading southwest from University City. Tralnis and Henry had chosen to take advantage of the two hour ride, and sleep in the back of the wagon. The rocking motion of carriages and wagons always put Tralnis to sleep, and Henry looked like he hadn’t slept a wink the previous night. Gareth glanced down at his remarkably clean jacket and wondered if Henry had stayed up to clean it, or set out on a solo adventure to steal yet another jacket to replace the stolen one he had given him yesterday. Either way, Gareth was happy to let his family sleep.

  The road twisted through the country side on its way to the southernmost tip of the University peninsula. At the southern edge of the peninsula was a harbor that was home to both a naval port, as well an airship port. It was the later that was their destination, and where they hoped to hire transportation.

  Prior to them leaving University City, Gareth and Tralnis had made a trip to the bank to withdraw the money the Dean had set aside for their expedition. Like he had told them, the amount was exactly what he and Tralnis would make in one year. Knowing the amount was inadequate to properly fund an expedition, they both emptied out their savings and were able to double their funds. They were hoping to use the initial amount to charter the airship, and the rest to pay for expenses for however long the money lasted.

  Gareth woke the others when they reached the giant stone wall surrounding the airship port. As he approached the gate, a port worker wearing a bright yellow jacket waved the wagon towards a huge building made of wood on the outside of the wall. Following the guidance of two other yellow clad port workers, Gareth parked the wagon in a row filled with similar vehicles.

  Tralnis hopped off of the back of the wagon, as Gareth climbed down from the driver’s seat. Henry was about to follow Tralnis, when the Dwarf held up his hand for him stop. “No, Henry. I need you to stay here and keep an eye on our luggage and equipment. There is no doubt in my mind that if we leave the wagon unattended, the whole thing would mysteriously vanish before we could walk 20 paces,” he stated.

  Henry nodded his understanding, and pulled out his favorite cast iron skillet from his pack. He held the skillet down by his legs, and tried to look as fierce as he could. Considering Chims have very sharp teeth, and looked more than slightly mentally unhinged when snarling, the effect worked rather well.

  “That’s a good lad,” Tralnis praised.

  “Hopefully we won’t be too long. If we haven’t managed to hire a ship by noon, I’ll come back and relieve you so you and Tralnis can go get some lunch,” Gareth promised. He knew that his friends would bring him back some lunch, and both had better luck finding decent takeout food than he ever did.

  “You’ve been on expeditions before. How do we go about hiring an airship?” Tralnis asked Gareth.

  Gareth shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea. Professor Rand always took care of the details. I think she used the opportunity as just another excuse to get out of the classroom,” he admitted. They walked over to one of the workers who had led them to their parking stall, and asked where they could hire an airship. The man hurriedly pointed to the main doors of the administrative building before walking off to direct another wagon.

  The first impression Gareth had when they stepped into the main hall of the administrative building was of ants in an anthill. The ant like effect of the room was intensified by the huge floor to ceiling windows that dwarfed the workers they provided light for. The cavernous room was full of people of several different races scurrying around the numerous booths that were scattered around the floor. Each booth had a different colored banner that told those who were in the shipping business which merchant group they represented.

  Tralnis and Gareth stood in the doorway for a few minutes as they tried to make sense of the organized chaos they were seeing. The overlapping shouts of over a hundred different sentients made conversation at a normal volume impossible. Tralnis tugged on Gareth’s sleeve, and pointed towards a booth on the opposite wall that bore a blue and white banner with the words “Shipping Guild” printed on it. Gareth nodded, and they started winding their way through the throng of people.

  Halfway to their objective, the moving tide of bodies forced them to pause while different groups crossed their path. When a gap in the throng opened, Tralnis started to walk forward but stopped when he noticed Gareth wasn’t following him. Tralnis turned around, and saw Gareth was looking off to the side with a familiar goofy grin on his face. The Dwarf walked back to his son and looked in the same direction. “Whose arse are we ogling?” he asked in a tone meant to embarrass Gareth. From what Tralnis could see, there was several men and women who were attractive enough to warrant a second glance.

  Tralnis’ teasing tone snapped Gareth out of his self-induced trance. He wasn’t going to give the Dwarf the pleasure of knowing that he actually was staring after a woman. A young human woman with bright red hair had caught Gareth’s eye. She was dressed in brown leather pants, and black ankle high boots. The pants had pockets on both the hips and shins, indicating they were some sort of work pants. The young woman was also wearing a bolero jacket of the same leather as her pants that stopped halfway between her shoulders and her waist. Under her jacket, she wore a tan cotton shirt that was tight across her large bosom. While unkind folks might call her chubby, or possibly even fat, Gareth would argue that she had wonderful curves in all of the right places. Besides being beautiful, there was just something about the woman that had snagged his attention and wouldn’t let go.

  When the ever shifting mass of people blocked his view of the woman, Gareth sighed and nodded towards the guild booth. “Come on, let’s go find
out how to hire ourselves an airship,” he suggested. They soon learned that a straight line wasn’t always the fastest way to get somewhere in the huge room. A short trip at a right angle from their trajectory brought them to a fairly clear path that was parallel to the direction they wanted to go. A few more turns, bends, and some backtracking led them to the booth of the Shipping Guild.

  The guild representative behind the counter of the booth was a surly looking Dwarf standing on a raised platform so they could see over the counter. Blue and white ribbons were woven into a brown beard that was even more impressive than the one Tralnis wore. The gray waistcoat over a crisply starched, white shirt gave the representative a very businesslike look.

  “Slithering salamander shit!” Tralnis swore under his breath as he grabbed Gareth’s arm suddenly. He pulled Gareth away from the booth so they would be out of earshot of the Dwarf at the counter. “I think you better be the one to do the talking here,” Tralnis suggested in a tone just barely above a whisper.

  “What’s wrong? Do you now that Dwarf?” Gareth inquired.

  Tralnis closed his eyes, and stroked his beard before he answered. “She’s an ex-girlfriend, and things didn’t end well between us at all,” he admitted.

  Gareth stood there for almost a whole minute with his jaw hanging open, as he tried to process what he had heard. They had always been too busy to go visit Tralnis’ family in the caverns. “I thought you were kidding when you said female Dwarves had beards as well,” he managed to say when his brain rebooted.

  “Now you know why all Dwarves are bisexual. When both sexes look the same, the soonest you find out if your date is a man or woman is when the clothes come off,” Tralnis explained.

  “That makes sense,” Gareth stated. “So that I don’t go into a situation blind, why don’t you tell me why you two broke up?” he suggested.

  Tralnis looked intently at his shiny black boots, too ashamed to meet Gareth’s eyes. “She caught me in bed with her brother,” he admitted.

  Gareth put his face in his hand, and shook it slowly from side to side in frustration. “You know, I really wish that I could say that surprises me, but I can’t,” he complained. He put his hand back down to his side, and took in a deep breath to center himself. “You’re right, I should do the talking,” he muttered, and walked back to the Shipping Guild booth.

  Once they stood in front of the counter, the female Dwarf didn’t give Gareth a chance to speak before she snarled, “Tralnis… I thought I had seen the last of your two-timing, despicable carcass.”

  “Bregga, you’re looking well,” Tralnis replied, ignoring what she said.

  Bregga rolled her eyes, and turned her back to Tralnis to show she had no desire to talk with him. “What do you want?” she asked Gareth bluntly.

  “We… I mean, I was hoping you could tell us how we go about chartering an airship,” he said, hoping his correction at the beginning would make her more interested in helping him.

  With an irritated snort, Bregga pulled out a form printed on a half sheet of paper along with a worn out pencil. “Gods below and above, save me from stupid ground pounders!” she muttered under her breath. “Write down your name, where you are wanting to go, how many are in your party, and what type of cargo you have, if any. At the bottom of the form, write down the most you are willing to pay. If it looks like a good deal, more than one ship might be interested and it’s possible you can get the price to come down in a bidding war. When you’re done filling out the form, give it to me and I’ll post it on the job board,” she instructed them.

  Gareth took the form, and filled it out quickly. He handed the form back to Bregga. She quickly read over the form, and let out a very unladylike laugh that shook her impressive beard. “So you’re Gareth Mintel. Good luck finding a captain willing to piss off Deek Nutleiss, one of the biggest merchants in the IRD,” she scoffed as she crumpled up the form, and tossed it into a waste bin behind the counter. “Magnate Nutleiss made it clear that any captain doing business with you would never do business with him, or any of his partners, ever again,” she explained. “Get out of my sight, and take that pile of dragon shit called Granitestaff with you,” she ordered. To drive her message home, Bregga reached up and then pulled down the wooden blinds to close up the booth for her lunch break.

  “That could have gone better,” Gareth observed dryly.

  Tralnis shrugged his shoulders in a noncommittal fashion. “Actually, I thought it went rather well. Last time Bregga and I met, I ended up needing several stiches after she shot me in the arse with a crossbow. Believe me when I tell you trying to stich up your own arse using a mirror is a stone bitch,” he commented. Suddenly feeling very exposed, Tralnis stepped to put Gareth between him and the Shipping Guild booth.

  “She tried to kill you?!” Gareth gasped.

  Tralnis shook his head. “No, not at all. Bregga could put out the eye of cave viper from 50 paces. She just wanted to make sure I would have a permanent reminder of our relationship,” he explained.

  Their discussion about Tralnis’ past love life was cut short when a bubbly feminine voice inquired, “Sorry to eavesdrop, but are you wanting to hire an airship?”

  Gareth turned around, and found himself face to face with the young woman he had been watching earlier. Seeing her from the front, he was even more taken in by her beauty. She wore her red hair short in the back with long bangs in the front. Her bangs were brushed off to the left side of her face where they almost hid one of her beautiful green eyes. A light dusting of freckles ran across her nose and cheeks. Her pale skin made the oil smudge on the tip of her nose stand out even more than usual. A set of dark tinted goggles hung from her neck by their strap. Gareth had seen women who would be considered much more beautiful in a classical sense, but he had never seen someone whose cute features warmed his heart instantly. With a genuine smile on his lips, Gareth simply said, “Hello.”

  Like Gareth, the young woman was suffering from sudden sensory overload. She had noticed how handsome the young man was from a distance, but was unprepared to be blown away once she was face to face with him. His boyish good looks were of the type that made a young woman want to grab a hold of his arm and drag him back to meet her family. The warm hopeful smile he gave her quelled her worries about the old adage that all of the cute ones were either taken, gay, or undead (or any combination of the above.) The young woman looked into Gareth’s violet eyes, and matched his smile with one of her own. “Hello,” she echoed.

  “Hello,” Gareth repeated.

  “You’ve already said that, Gareth,” Tralnis needlessly pointed out. He held out his hand to the young woman in a friendly gesture while saying, “I’m Doctor Tralnis Granitestaff and this eloquent lad is my son, Professor Gareth Mintel, and yes, we are looking to hire a ship.”

  The young woman shook the Dwarf’s offered hand. “I’m Isadora Morgana, the engineer and part owner of the Glorious Dawn. My friends call me Izzy,” she said, introducing herself. She let go of Tralnis’ hand, and offered hers to Gareth whose cheeks were blushing slightly. The fact that he was still smiling while obviously embarrassed made him even more endearing to her.

  Finally reengaging his brain, Gareth shook her offered hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Izzy. I would be honored if you would call me Gareth,” he said, never meaning that phrase more than at that very moment. “Once you get to know the good doctor here, I’m sure he would appreciate you calling him Tralnis rather than the other less pleasant names I’m sure you’ll come up with,” he teased, getting back at Tralnis for making fun of his brain lock. Gareth enjoyed the sound of Izzy’s bubbly laughter as she let go of his hand. “We need to hire an airship for an undetermined about of time for an archeology expedition. Aside from us, we have a third member of our party and a small wagon load of supplies and equipment,” he told her.

  “Providing that you don’t mind if we load up on other cargo to sell along the way, and Tralnis would be willing to offer his services free of char
ge to the crew, I think we can make a deal,” Izzy told them cheerfully.

  Chapter 8

  Henry idly flipped through the pages of one of the ancient books Tralnis had liberated from Gareth’s old office. This particular book had several erotic pictures of Chims from before the Second Great Apocalypse. While he greatly appreciated the beauty of the male and female Chims presented, he was more intrigued by the grooming styles his ancient ancestors had employed. Judging from the expressions on their faces, both sexes were enjoying themselves tremendously. Henry looked up from the book just in time to see Gareth, Tralnis, and a human female who had hair even redder than his.

  Even from far away, Henry could see his childhood friend was infatuated with the young woman. Gareth kept his eyes on the young woman’s face. He nearly tripped when he didn’t see the single step down to the path that led to where the wagons were parked. Henry decided this was this was a golden opportunity to tease Gareth. When they neared the wagon, Henry hopped out, and was thankful his kilt hid the obvious signs of his enjoyment of the book.

  “Izzy Morgana, I would like to introduce you to my good friend, and Tralnis’ butler, Henry of the Woohaa Clan,” Gareth said. Henry gave Izzy a deep bow, with an elaborate flourish of his long arm.

  Izzy laughed at the display, and gave Henry a much smaller bow. “Well met, Master Chim,” she stated. Henry waited for Tralnis to climb onto the driver’s bench, and then offered his hand to Izzy to assist her in climbing up. “Why thank you, good sir,” she chuckled as she climbed on board.

  Knowing the driver’s bench could only seat three, Henry swung himself up and onto the bench before Gareth could react. He turned his head so that Izzy couldn’t see his face, and winked at Gareth while making kissing noises with his lips. With a jerk of his head, Henry indicated that Gareth should climb in the back.