The return through the Divide was a test of skill and aim as the small craft bobbed and jumped about the surface of Lake Superior. As it was, he ended up emerging from the blackness about a foot above the deck of the boat and falling to the hard deck planks.
“Who’s next,” Jacob said as he stood and looked around.
“Take Jackie,” Jane insisted as she pulled her sister over to Jacob.
“No someone else,” Jackie tried to protest, but Jane silenced her.
“I lost you once,” Jane said fiercely. “I’m not losing you again.”
“Take her,” Carvin shouted. “I can make the swim if need be.”
Jacob nodded and wrapped his arms around Jackie as tightly as he could, “Hold on to me. This may get rough.” He was acutely aware of her beauty and how warm her skin was as he willed them both into the Divide, but he pushed the feeling aside. He was confused enough with Jane and Flying Cloud. He hardly needed to develop feelings for anyone else. This time the Divide howled in protest as he forced his way through the map and fell to the ground near where he had dropped Bella. This time he felt like he just finished sprinting a mile.
“Go up the hill,” Jacob said to Jackie as he released his grip on her. “Bella’s there. She’ll help you.” He pointed up the hill and his hand shook slightly. Moments later he was falling to the deck of the fishing vessel once again. This time the booming report of a cannon from the closing Ironship sent the cannon ball smashing through the mast and sent it flying into the lake. Flying Cloud was crouched on the deck close by, and Jacob grabbed her and pulled her close. As he entered the Divide again he saw the pained look on Jane’s face, but then they were gone, and all he could feel was Flying Cloud pressed against him. This time it was all he could do to force his way out of the darkness. They both fell to the ground with a shout of surprise.
“There,” Jacob gasped as he pointed up the hill to where Jackie and Bella were crouched behind a thick outcropping of granite. She leaned over and kissed him once before letting go and scrambed up the hill and out of sight. And again Jacob went into the blackness. Traveling through the Divide was nearly impossible this time, and when he finally managed to find the fishing vessel, he fell to the deck of this ship and lay panting.
BOOM!
The Ironship guns spoke, and this time Jacob heard the whistling of the cannon ball just before it struck the bow of the ship and sent the vessel lurching drunkenly to the side. Carvin vanished with a surprised look as the vessel began to come apart, and Jacob saw Eriunia leap into the water as a second shot slammed into the rear of the ship. The two rebels who had survived the raid disappeared with only enough time to shout in surprise.
Jane was crouched on the deck near him, her eyes wide with fear.
“Come on, Jane,” Jacob shouted. “We can make it through one more time.”
“Do you like her?” Jane asked as she stumbled to where he lay on the deck. She threw herself down next to him as a third cannon ball roared overhead and narrowly missed the remaining section of the vessel that was somehow still floating. They were sinking slowly, and Jane felt the cold water slip around her feet.
“What?” Jacob said as he looked at her.
“Do you like her?” Jane repeated. She rolled over and stared into his eyes, thinking about how much she had liked them the first time they met.
“Who?” Jacob asked in bewilderment.
“Flying Cloud,” Jane replied. It was as though the lake around them had gone silent and all that remained was the two of them sitting on the raft and drifting through the water.
“Well, yes … well, I don’t know …” Jacob stammered. He cared for both of them and couldn’t make up his mind which he liked better. “I like you a lot, Jane … but I like her a lot too.” He shook his head. “I wish I had never come here.”
Jane started to pull back. The words hurt her more then she could say. He must have seen the betrayal in her eyes because he reached out to her and stopped her from pulling away.
“Not when I came back for you,” Jacob explained. “I wish we had just stayed in Duluth and gone to get our ice cream. Just the two of us. No Adherents, no maps, nothing else, just us together. I mean I’m happy we found your sister. I just wish things were simple again.”
Jane smiled at him. “I guess maybe I just need to prove to you that I’m the better woman.” She looked up and saw the bow of the Ironship closing in quickly, its cannons pointed directly at them. Great search lights lit the water, and for a moment she thought she saw a flash of metal underneath the waves. She wrapped herself into Jacob’s grip as tightly as she could and nodded to him.
“Ready?” Jacob asked.
“I’m ready,” Jane replied. She reached her lips up and kissed him as they entered the Divide.
Jacob felt the darkness slam into them like a massive wave seeking to drown them in its depths. He fought and struggled against it, but he could feel his grip on the real world slipping away. He and Jane were a step from being swept away forever into the grasp of the great Divide. Then he felt Jane’s warm lips touch his again.
“If I’m going to be lost forever in darkness,” Jane whispered in his ear, “then I’m going to be lost forever with you.”
Moments later they emerged from the Divide and fell to the ground with a thud that broke their embrace and sent them rolling away from each other. They were helped to their feet and guided up the hill and out of sight as the Ironship unleashed its guns one last time on the small fishing boat.
“Wait,” Jacob burst out as Flying Cloud tried to pull him away from the lake. “Eriunia and Carvin are in the water.” He stumbled almost drunkenly down the rocks to the shore and peered out over the water. He heard the clanging of a warning bell out across the lake, and he looked up to where the Ironship was slowly coming to a halt. Its guns were trying to track out across the water, and Jacob wondered what was happening. Then a dark shadow whipped across the lake, and a line of fire struck the ship, nearly rolling it over.
“Yerdarva!” Jacob shouted. He saw the dragon swoop low to the water and snatch two people from the cold depths. Moments later she dropped them on the shore nearby and turned her head wearily towards them.
“I go to my rest,” Yerdarva said. “Use well what you have gained this night. It’ll be some time before my strength has returned.” Yerderva lifted into the air and pushed west away from the battles and back to her waiting son.
The Ironship was close enough that Jane saw the figures scrambling around the deck, fighting the fires and still trying to bring the cannons in line across the water. She tried to see what they were pointing at. Suddenly the prow of the small submarine broke the surface of the water, and she heard the high pitch whine of a torpedo entering the water. The ship’s cannons barked once, but both shots missed horribly. Then the torpedo struck the ship and a great explosion lit the night.
“Kind of a nice light show tonight, isn’t it,” Jacob said with a chuckle.
“That it is,” Eriunia replied with a dry laugh. Her face, though, was pained as she thought about the loss of Braun.
“I assume that’s what Tasker was after,” Eriunia said as she watched the little underwater vessel turn away from the sinking ruins of the Ironship and make its way towards them.
Their meeting on the shore was mostly happy as they remembered the deeds Braun had done to help them. Even though his body was not present, they commended his spirit to the afterlife. The submarine was cramped, but they all fit into it and slowly made their way across the lake to the south until they arrived back at Madeline Island.
“Almost feels like coming home,” Jacob muttered. “How weird.”
Jane laughed at him and slipped her arm around his waist before Flying Cloud could even leave the dock. They laughed and sang long into the morning after their return, and then slept the rest of the day and some of the next night. Near midnight Tasker came to where Jacob, Jane, and Jackie were sitting on a hill outside the fortress watching the stars as t
he night slowly slipped by. Flying Cloud and Bella had gone off into the forest to explore, and Eriunia was inside the fortress.
“She’s probably looking over lists of supplies or weapons,” Jane said when Jacob pointed out the elf was no longer present.
“Braun’s death was hard on her,” Tasker said as he walked into view. “Have any of you seen Puck lately?”
“No,” Jane replied.
“Who’s Puck,” Jackie asked, curious.
“Leader of the goblins,” Jacob piped in from where he lay on the ground between them.
There was silence for a couple of minutes as Tasker wondered where the short goblin could be. This was a great victory and one that would surely gain Cain’s attention. The sacking of the Isle of Lakes would take many months to rebuild. Still, he had seen the massive Iron Goliath sitting in its dry dock. The ship was an abomination, a monster, and he figured it could carry at least a thousand troops. The devastation that would come from its guns would be something no force near it could withstand.
“I made this for you,” Tasker said finally to Jackie. He handed her a small anchor that matched the one on Jane’s shirt. “It is linked to Jane’s map and will allow you to return home safely.”
Jackie wrapped the dwarf in a great hug as tears welled in her eyes, “I can’t wait to see Mom.” Jane had told her how her father had fled back home, and it angered her so much she wished she could tell him what she thought of his leaving.
“We should get back to Grandpa’s and call Mom,” Jane said. “I think it’s better if we get her to drive to Duluth. I don’t think this is something we can explain over the phone.”
“You’re probably right,” Jane agreed.
“Let’s at least say goodbye to everyone first,” Jackie said as she stood and helped Jane up. “I want them to know I’ll be coming back to help.”
“What!” Jane exclaimed. “I didn’t think you would ever want to come here ever again.”
“Oh, I owe this Cain character,” Jackie growled angrily. “He stole a year of my life and nearly took my hope from me. And I mean to pay him back somehow.”
Epilogue
“The attack at the Isle of Lakes has severely damaged our ability to ship iron.”
Cain’s eyes narrowed in rage, his hands trembling, and his face turning red. He reached up and ripped the anchor from the Adherent’s robe and smiled grimly as the man wailed helplessly as he faded into the Divide.
“How badly was the city damaged?” Cain asked the second Adherent who had returned from the Isle of Lakes. The man looked nervously between where his friend had just disappeared and the short leader of the Temple and licked his lips.
“Much of the industrial quarter will have to be rebuilt, sire,” he reported. “At least a year before we can return to full production. There was a dragon and land forces. Viscount Lerod was killed and his son is missing. We’re not sure if he died in the dragon’s fire or was kidnapped by the rebels.”
“What of the Iron Goliath?” Cain asked.
“Undamaged. It will be fully operational in a few days,” he replied, happy to give his volatile leader some good news.
“And what of the underwater vessel being tested?” Cain asked. He did not address the Adherent this time but the shadows behind him.
“Gone. I was struck by a blast from one of those muskets that your men used and rendered unconscious,” Averill muttered. He stepped out of the shadows and ran his dagger into the Adherent killing the man quickly. “And I will finish this job without asking for my usual fee.”
“Good,” Cain replied as he watched his Adherent drop to the floor. He was done with the man anyway. “Is the damage as bad as he claimed?”
“Yes, unfortunately,” Averill nodded as they turned and walked from the room. Outside the building they could see across the grand city Cain had built on Manitoulin Island. Built in the image of what he considered the greatest of cities—the grand Rome. Polished marble columns adorned the buildings, and streets paved with gray marble ran between them. A grand aqueduct brought water from two different rivers on the mainland to fill numerous baths and pools scattered throughout the city. Clay tiled roofs stretched across the city to surround the grand coliseum and over a dozen theaters were scattered around the island. There was no industry here, just the amenities to keep his chosen Adherents happy and content.
“Then it’s time to take things into hand personally,” Cain muttered. He glanced down distastefully at his hands. “I do so hate interruptions, but I’m beginning to think the Golden Book of Knowledge is not in the new world.”
“Where else could they have hidden it?” Averill asked. He was privy to information a select few knew, and Cain’s ultimate goal he knew well.
“There are still places where the Temple’s grip is very weak,” Cain admitted. “We haven’t many inroads to the dragon worshippers of the far east. It’s hard to penetrate their jungles, and I know my equals have reported the loss of many disciples to the Grand Hierarchy.”
“Have you heard anything from the Master of the Temple?” Averill asked. Even though he was not an Adherent, it paid to be well-informed when dealing with an organization of this size and power. There were few places in the world where Temple’s tentacles did not reach. He knew that the Temple had started when the first of the dwarves broke through the catacombs under Rome. After such a long isolation under the surface of the world, the dwarves had come bearing amazing things, and their leaders quickly gained great power. Still, it was not a dwarf who guided the Temple to its current position and power. In fact, Averill thought, despite all their sources of information, even the Brotherhood did not know the full makeup of the Grand Hierarchy of the Temple, nor who the Master of the Temple was. Oh, there were rumors and legends but nothing concrete. Suddenly he realized Cain was talking to him, and he pulled his mind back to the present.
“So you and I will go deal with this minor rebellion,” Cain said. “First, though, I must send word that our developments on the Goliath are working perfectly. The other members of the Grand Hierarchy will want to copy the designs for their own flagships.”
The End
of
The Map Maker’s Sister
Coming soon:
The Map Maker’s Quest
The Map Maker's Sister Page 17