“On the count of three?” she asked, keeping her eyes pinned on beast in front of her.
“On three,” Gareth agreed. “One… two…,” he started to say before the giant fish suddenly swam off.
“THREE!” Izzy yelled as the fish turned around, and swam straight at them with its mouth full of razor sharp teeth open to bite the odd looking prey. They spun their valves, and flooded their ballast pouches. The aquatic predator snapped its jaws on nothing but bubbles as Gareth and Izzy sank quickly out of its way.
Knowing the monster would probably figure out where they had moved too, Gareth reoriented his body so his head was pointed towards the top of the ziggurat. Izzy had the same idea, and they both swam as fast as their kicking legs could propel them. A small stone room at the top of the pyramid seemed to be the best place to be at the moment. As they swam into it, they realized the room was situated at the top of a flight of stairs. Gareth pushed Izzy down the stairs, and covered her body with his own as the stone ceiling above them was shattered by the huge fishing ramming into it.
The dazed creature swam off at an odd angle as it tried to get its eyes to uncross after hitting the stone building head on. Gareth waited a few minutes, and then popped his head above the ruined stone walls of the stairway’s rooftop access. He looked in every direction, including above them, before he rejoined Izzy in the stairway. “It looks like that thing left for now,” he relayed to her.
Izzy let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. “I’ve got to hand it to you, Professor, this is definitely the least boring first date I’ve ever been on,” she muttered to herself.
“Sorry, I think my helmet got hit by a rock. I’m getting some feedback on my end of the cable. What did you say?” he asked.
Izzy was eternally grateful the suit’s helmet kept Gareth from seeing her blush. “Nothing, you must be hearing things,” she lied. Before he could press the issue farther, Izzy led the way down the flooded staircase. Their decent halted as the staircase opened up onto a long hallway with rooms on either side. Another stairway leading deeper into the core of the pyramid could just barely be seen at the opposite end of the hallway.
The glint of reflected light caught Gareth’s eyes as they passed by one of the rooms. “Hold on a minute,” he requested. When Izzy stopped as well, he flipped his legs towards the ground, and grabbed the stone doorframe, the wooden door having rotted away eons ago. As he pulled himself into the flooded room, his light was reflected back at him from numerous objects lining the shelves that ran from floor to ceiling. He swam closer to the one of the shelves, and gave out a long, low whistle. “What do you think these are?” he muttered as he picked up one of the objects in his gloved hand.
Izzy followed Gareth into the room and looked around. The shelves were full of tiny incredibly detailed metal statues. Each statue was of a person or dangerous creature. The one in Gareth’s hand was a warrior holding a tiny sword that could be removed, and put back in the statue’s hand. The arms and legs of the statue could be moved to display the tiny warrior in different poses. Neither Gareth, nor Izzy, had any idea that they had stumbled across the head priest’s action figure collection. Just as the long dead priest had no idea that the toys he had been collecting since childhood would someday become a major archeological find worth a fortune.
Izzy pulled out a small sack from her belt, and started putting the tiny statues in it. Gareth dropped the one he was holding into the sack as well. Before long, the small sack was as full as it could be, and they had barely made a dent in the volume of figures lining the walls.
“Ready to head back up?” Izzy inquired as she tied the sack firmly to her belt.
“Not yet. I want to see what’s at the heart of this pyramid,” Gareth replied.
“Lead on,” Izzy insisted, as they swam towards the stairway leading down.
Four floors below the priest’s quarters, they found a large room than spanned the width of the building. In the very center of the room was an altar made of stone that was so black it seemed to absorb all light that struck it. Life sized stone statues of men and women lined the perimeter of the room. Skeletons of those who had died thousands of years prior were lying on the floor with their weapons still in their hands.
Izzy started to swim towards the altar, but stopped when the communication cable went taught. She looked back and saw Gareth was standing eerily still, staring at one of the statues. She swam back, and looked at the statue that had him so fascinated. The statue was of a man dressed in an odd sort of plate armor that seemed molded to fit his body. A slender helmet was held in the crook of the statue’s left arm. In his right hand he held a rod that was about two feet long and made of the same light devouring substance as the altar.
Following Gareth’s gaze Izzy saw he was staring at the statute’s head. The statue had been carved so that its hair looked like it was pulled back in a tight ponytail. After a moment, she realized that instead of the normal human ears she expected to see, the statue ear’s came to a point at the top. As far as she knew, the Elves were the only one of the 12 sentient races to have pointy ears. The difference between the statue’s ears and an Elf’s ear was obvious, since the ears of an Elf were twice as long with the point facing to the rear instead of up.
Gareth felt Izzy shake his shoulder, and he came back to the here and now. He was slightly embarrassed when he realized that she had been repeating his name to get his attention. “Gareth… Gareth! Are you alright?” she asked worriedly.
Gareth gave his head a slight shake to clear mind, not an easy action in a helmet. “What? Um… yes, I’m fine. Sorry,” he apologized.
Izzy sighed, and slid the black rod out of the statue’s hand. “Here, you can keep this as a remembrance of your time together,” she said sarcastically, as she handed him the rod. To her surprise, Gareth didn’t say anything, and just tucked the rod into the dive suit’s belt. “Come on, let’s go check out that altar,” she suggested. Gareth nodded, and they used the base of the statue as a platform to kick off from.
As they floated towards the center of the room, Gareth looked closely at the other statues. All of the ones who had their ears exposed showed pointy ears like the first one. He glanced down, and wondered if the skeleton they floated over had similar ears when it was alive. They all had the same type of ears Gareth had hid under his long hair for as long as he could remember.
The two divers coasted to stop in front of the altar. “Well that’s underwhelming. Nothing here but a stupid clay tablet,” Izzy complained.
Gareth casually looked around the room before responding. “I don’t think so, Izzy. First off, that clay tablet looks just like the one that housed the metal tablet I showed you. Secondly, why would someone go to such great lengths to set up a trap over something worthless,” Gareth countered.
“Trap?! What trap?!” Izzy demanded.
Gareth opened the sack at his waist, and slid the clay tablet into it. “The one we set off by coming in here,” he replied, trying hard to keep his voice calm. “Turn around slowly,” he told her. They both turned at the same time, and looked out across the room. Everything looked the same to Izzy. She saw lots of water, statues, and skeletons on the floor. “How many skeletons do you count?” Gareth asked.
Izzy slowly turned her head, and counted the skeletons. Her stomach fell slightly when the skeleton they had floated over seemed a lot closer than it had been just a minute ago. “Five,” she replied.
Not in the least bit happy that she came up with the same number he had, Gareth balled up his gloved hands into fists. “There were only three when we came in,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Through the powers of magic, the skeleton closest to them managed to hear what Gareth had said. With a smooth motion, the skeleton rose to its feet. It shook its head in frustration at being caught, and motioned to the other skeletons. As one, the rest of the undead rose to their feet.
Showing a fighting spirit that had kept her, and he
r sister, alive on more than one occasion, Izzy threw a punch with all of her might. The bulky suit and addition of water resistance slowed her punch down considerably. Her fist connected with the skeleton’s jaw, and only managed to unhinge it on the left side. The skeleton turned its bony face towards her, and Izzy was certain that if it still had eyes, it would be rolling them at her. It lifted one bony hand, and put the jaw back in place. With no flesh to offer resistance to the water, the skeleton moved faster than Izzy, and swung its sword at her shoulder.
The sword stopped suddenly as it struck the jet black rod Gareth had acquired. The rod skipped along the blade, and struck the skeleton’s wrist. To everybody’s surprise, especially the skeleton’s, the bones in its wrist floated away, taking the sword hand with it. Izzy snatched the sword, and pried the bony fingers from the hilt. The lead skeleton was still staring at where his hand had been just a moment ago, and didn’t see the black rod strike it between its first and second vertebrae. The head separated from the body, and started to float away. Gareth reached out and grabbed the skull by sticking his gloved fingers in its empty eye sockets. Careful to avoid the snapping teeth, Gareth shoved the skull into the sack that held the tablet.
The remaining skeletons launched forward in anger. Sure their boss had been a royal dick when he was alive (and had only gotten worse after death,) but no one fingered one of their skulls and got away with it. They launched themselves at the intruders with the intent of adding the enemy’s bones to their ranks.
Izzy grabbed one of the downed skeleton’s femurs, and held it in her off hand. She moved to face the skeleton coming from behind them. With a practiced flick of her wrist, and a clumsy lunge, Izzy tried to mimic what Gareth had done. The sword pushed the wrist bones aside, only to have them reconnect after the sword has passed. The skeleton opened its jaw wide in a soundless, but still obviously mocking laugh. Izzy took the opportunity to jam the borrowed femur through the open mouth, and into the fragile bone of the sinuses. The skeleton dropped its sword, fell back, and tried to pull the visiting bone out of its skull without pulling its own head off.
Gareth managed to land a glancing blow against the ribcage of the skeleton in front of him. Wherever the rod touched, the bones separated from their owner. Gareth followed up with a thrust at what would have been the stomach area. The spine separated in two, leaving a skeleton madly flapping its arms in an attempt at swimming.
The fourth skeleton took advantage of Gareth focusing on his comrade, and went for a blow guaranteed to end a fight quickly. It shoved its sword into the area where it thought Gareth’s femoral artery would be, a quarter of the way between his hip and knee along the inside of his thigh. Gareth was saved from bleeding out quickly by the bulkiness of his suit. The sword passed harmlessly through the fabric, missing his flesh. Gareth responded in kind, and used an underhand swing to slam the mysterious rod into the skeleton’s pubic bone. The impact lifted the skeleton off the floor and the magic caused all 206 bones to lose their connection with each other.
Even though he hadn’t been cut, Izzy heard rapid breathing and then a painful yelp from Gareth. “Gareth! Are you hurt?” she demanded.
“Desiccated Dwarf Danglies! This water is COLD!” Gareth swore. His previous yelp was caused by the reaction all males get when ice cold water hits a certain part of their anatomy. The suit had a rubber gasket at the waist that kept the water from filling up the top half of his suit.
The remaining skeleton looked around the room. The intruders had managed to take the skull of their leader, separate another from its lower half, and utterly destroy a third. The remaining standing skeleton had managed to pull off its own skull, and was currently standing on said skull trying to pull a femur out of it. Showing intelligence rarely seen in the deceased, the skeleton fell down and pretended to be deader than it already was.
Deciding not to look a dead gift horse in the mouth, Gareth motioned for Izzy to head to the stairs. He tried to follow, but his legs were so cold, they were refusing to operate. Izzy saw this, and wrapped her arms around him from behind. She kicked furiously and managed to propel them out of the room. When they reached the top of the ziggurat, “Turn the valve!” she shouted, as she pointed to Gareth’s emergency valve. Gareth was shivering so much, he couldn’t get a grip on the valve.
Grabbing a firm hold of his belt, Izzy spun first his emergency valve and then her own, forcing air into their ballast pouches. As they rose quickly, she held her recently acquired sword ready in case their fishy friend had gotten over its headache, and decided to make another appearance. Izzy was tremendously relieved when the giant fish stayed away. As they rose to the surface, Izzy saw a rectangular shape blocking out the light above them. She had never been so happy to see the cargo ramp in her life.
Chapter 13
Elizabeth turned the clay tablet Izzy and Gareth had recovered from the sunken temple over in her good hand. “You were nearly killed a couple of times for this?!” she shouted in disgust to those whom she had ordered to meet her in her ready room. Gareth, Izzy, and Tralnis had answered her summons.
“Well, yes, but we also got these,” Izzy countered and gestured to the dozen small metal figurines scattered across the table.
“At least we should be able to get a decent price for those,” Elizabeth conceded. She tossed the clay tablet to Gareth. “The only people interested in something like this would be scholars, and no offense Professor, but your kind aren’t known for their large fortunes,” she pointed out.
Tralnis looked up at Gareth and gave him a wry smile. “Does this one say the same thing as the last one?” he asked in anticipation.
“Yep, ‘break to open’,” Gareth answered. Without warning, he smashed the clay tablet onto the edge of the desk, breaking the clay into several pieces. He brushed the broken pieces aside to reveal another shiny metal tablet hidden inside.
“What in the hells is that?” Elizabeth snarled.
“Directions to the next dig site,” Tralnis replied smugly. Izzy stepped closer to Gareth to get a better look at the metal tablet. “Where are we taking the ship next?” Tralnis inquired.
Gareth walked over to a map of Hadronus hanging on the wall next to him. He pulled out the small notebook he always kept with him and referenced the conversion chart he used to translate the coordinates. When he was done, Gareth tapped his finger on the center of the largest island in the Western Ocean. “It looks like we’ll be going to Chimia,” he announced.
“We’ll need to pick up some supplies so I can whip up some bug repellent. From what I hear, the jungles of Chimia are home to more species of the little blighters than anywhere else on the planet,” Tralnis chimed in.
Elizabeth held up her good hand for everyone to stop. “Wait just one blasted minute! Who said anything about taking you lot anywhere?!” Elizabeth demanded. Before anyone could answer, she ranted on, “You paid us to take you to the archeology site and stand by while you did whatever you did. We never agreed to join you on some bloody scavenger hunt across Hadronus that puts my crew in danger!”
“Elizabeth…” Izzy started to say, trying to calm her sister down.
“No, Izzy! You almost got eaten by a giant fish, crushed by falling debris, and skewered by a group of skeletons! After that, you had to risk your own safety to literally drag the Professor, someone who supposedly knew what he was doing, to safety,” Elizabeth reminded her.
Izzy rounded on her sister, her jaw clenched in anger. “Gareth saved my life down there as well. I’m an adult now. You had better start treating me like one!” she shot back.
Elizabeth slammed her artificial hand onto the table making the figurines bounce. “You might be an adult, but I’m captain of this airship and your older sister. I would be failing in both duties if I let you get killed!” she yelled.
Tralnis squeezed Gareth’s leg when he sensed the young man was going to say something they might all regret. “Lad, why don’t you take the young missy here out onto the main deck for some fre
sh air? As the financial officer of this expedition, I’ll negotiate new terms with the captain,” Tralnis suggested.
Izzy nodded her head, her cheeks flush with anger. “That sounds like a very good idea. As part owner of the Glorious Dawn, I’ll back whatever you offer, Tralnis. If Elizabeth disagrees, we’ll put it to a vote amongst the other crew members,” she told Tralnis. Without looking at her, Izzy snarled, “If you need me, Lizard Breath, I’ll be up on deck.”
Izzy stormed up to the bow of the ship where she tossed a burlap sack over the canon to keep rust off of her clothes as she sat on it. Gareth followed her and leaned against the railing. He watched the reflected images of the moons play across the sea for a moment before talking to Izzy. “You know, I think seeing you stand up to Elizabeth is more impressive than what you did on our dive. I don’t mind telling you that she scares me,” he said, only half joking.
“It’s the arm. It scares most people,” Izzy said dryly.
Gareth shook his head no. “That’s not it, at least not all of it. What’s scary is how she glares at me. I get the impression she wants to ram that brass contraption somewhere I would rather it not go,” he stated. Izzy’s chuckle lightened his mood. “What was that you called Elizabeth before we left?” he inquired.
Izzy chuckled again and gave Gareth a genuine smile. “I called her Lizard Breath,” she replied. “When I was very young, my parents always referred to my sister as Liz. One day, I heard them use her full name when she had gotten in some serious trouble. You know, the type of trouble when your parent uses your first, middle, and last name,” she stated. Gareth’s posture changed slightly and Izzy mentally kicked herself. He had told her he had lived in an orphanage from a very early age. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…” she floundered.
“It’s okay. Go on with your story,” he said with a gentle smile.
Gareth and th Lost Island Page 11