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King Tides Curse

Page 47

by C J Timms


  Three people waited around the gate apart from the Lighthouse team. The first was a bored-looking examiner who ticked them off. Professor Urms was the second, and he nodded at Gale, scratched his head awkwardly and shuffled off. The final was Bella.

  Bella was lying on the grass, reading a book. ‘Took you long enough, I finished yesterday. Heck most people finished yesterday. All of House Laurels are off getting pissed. Victory at any cost, right? Most of House Solvent made it through. A bunch of the slackers from Baxtro and Eternus gave up and were expelled.’

  ‘I’m touched that you waited for us.’ Gale said.

  Bella snorted, ‘Dream on. I’ve gotta get the results for the bookies.’ Her face tightened for a moment, her eyes darting back to the gate. ‘And…I’m waiting for my sister. She came into the world behind me, always running late since then.’

  ‘How many students left?’

  ‘Best guess, just over a hundred made it through the exam. One hundred to compete with for the final fifty spots. Culled the winners from the losers.’ Bella said.

  Gale nodded, reasonable odds for the battle royale. Heck, he’d only have to win one match to pass. He could do it unless he got paired up against Adam.

  But what were the odds of that?

  The Splinterpoint Gate fired up once more. The light faltered, flickered, and the floating fragments formed into a fiery portal. A student stumbled through, their Script sputtering, blackened scale forming over their body. The figure collapsed unconscious. Gale couldn’t recognise them as scale spread over their face and limbs.

  ‘Hotaru!’ Bella said, running forward. Bella shook her sisters body and tears streamed down her face.

  In a flash of light, Chancellor Helios appeared beside her. Helios gently pulled Bella away as he formed a healing dome over Hotaru. He gestured, and seniors rushed forward to carry her. They rushed Hotaru towards the medical bay.

  The stretcher went by them, and Gale could see her chest moving with shallow breaths. He saw her muttering a phrase, and Gale heard her muttering as she passed.

  ‘Just a little more…I’m not a quitter.’

  Swan - Beacon stolen

  Swan’s head felt like ice picks were digging into it. They’d all drunk too much last night. To block out what they’d seen, to forget Hotaru’s scaled form. The morning had revealed another horror.

  The Lighthouse flame was gone.

  The beacon light ripped from its housing, great gouges left in metal and stone. A tangle of debris scattered the roof of the Lighthouse. From the rough-hewn top of the Lighthouse, the morning light showed rough seas. With the University's reefwall gone, waves pounded the island, unfiltered by the barrier.

  Swan’s head pounded worse. The image of Hotaru impossible to scrub from their memory, Titus had cracked a slab of beer. Even Yip had had a drink. The stiff breeze on the top of the Lighthouse at least kept her fresh. Swan’s headache was only made worse by Giltynan’s yelling.

  ‘You were all drunk at your post.’ Giltynan yelled at them. ‘You had one frakking job. Keep the Lighthouse.’

  Swan shuffled her feet. Her cast ached, her arm sending a shooting pain up it. She felt out for Larc but couldn’t find anything. Good riddance, she didn’t need something else rattling around her head right now. She’d have to look for her later, you know, just in case the little whinger might have seen something though.

  Giltynan ran a finger over the structure, ash coming off on his fingers. Someone had burned through the housing. They had ripped the beacon out and somehow done it quietly. Urms stood looking out to sea. Chancellor Helios knelt with his hands over the wreckage, a faint glow emanating from his Script.

  ‘Someone broke in, got past you and stole the one thing that keeps away the fathomless. You had one job! One frakking job!’ Giltynan continued.

  ‘It's alright though sir…we’re inside Ionhome’s reefwall.’ Swan said, looking down.

  ‘Yeah it hasn’t been needed for thirty years,’ Gale said.

  ‘It's not frakking, alright!’ Giltynan said. ‘These beacons are irreplaceable. No one alive knows how to build one. All we can make are pissing Leakers.’

  Swan had seen Leakers hanging off airships. Cumbersome globes that ‘leaked’ a shoddy barrier. Better than nothing but like pissing in the wind at times.

  ‘We had a drink for our fallen comrade. You know, the one that burnt out taking your exam.’ Swan said.

  Helios stood up from the wreckage and shook his head. ‘Burn out happens, you will push onwards. We expect perfection.’

  ‘Urmmm…I will punish them.’ Urms said. ‘It snuck past me too, though. It was skilled.’

  ‘You’ve lost your teeth Urms. Kick them out.’ Giltynan snapped back.

  Helios shook his head. ‘They have passed the Splinterpoint exam, and they have the right of facing the Battle Royale. The Battle Royale is punishment enough. Never mind what their colleagues will do once they hear they lost the reefwall.’

  Giltynan spat to the side. ‘Add ten thousand debits to the lighthouse as punishment.’

  Gale started forwards, and Urms held him back.

  Helios nodded. ‘Ten thousand debt to the Lighthouse. We didn’t make you the lighthouse keepers. You chose this path, any man worth his salt indeed…’

  Giltynan brushed past Urms. ‘And you Urms, what a disgrace.’

  Urms just rubbed the back of his head and stared out to sea. Worn clothing blew in the crisp wind, and his shoulders hunched over. Urms sighed and rubbed something under his shirt. Swan and the others left the roof, leaving a broken man with a broken beacon.

  Swan made tea. Things were always better with tea. Making it one-handed with a cast on however was a battle. She needed the distraction.

  ‘We’re boned.’ Swan said, levitating the cups to the table. Sterling held out the swear jar despondently.

  ‘This is a real gee-up.’ Titus said. ‘We don’t have the money.’

  ‘How did someone get past all of us to steal the beacon?’ Yip asked. He flipped a book open and clicked a pen. ‘I want to know where you all were last night. Swan lets start with you.’

  Swan cracked her knuckles. ‘Yip stow it, if we agree on anything its self-interest. There’s no reason any of us here would steal the beacon. We’d clearly get punished. Someone’s snuck past us and stolen it. Hell, they could have flown in on a great clunking airship, and we would never have noticed. We were drunk.’

  Yip stared her down. Gale looked between them.

  The pager went off, buzzing like a hornets nest. Swan grabbed the pager and hurled it into the wall. The sturdy pager hit the floor and kept on buzzing.

  Gale picked up the pager and turned it off. ‘Yip, no one here would have stolen the beacon. Besides, we have a bigger problem to focus on. We’re now even deeper in debt, and our fees are due in a week. We’d need to do thirty pager call outs to make the numbers work.’ Gale said. Gale looked up the stairs towards Professor Urms room then back at their team. They were running on fumes. How soon before one of them ended up like Hotaru?

  ‘We’ll take the night off.’ Gale said. ‘I’ve got one final plan. I’ll talk to the Bursar in the morning.’

  They all drank their tea in the common room, the fire giving off a dismal warmth. Swan held the cup in her hand like a lifeline, the cast clunking into it every time she shifted. She placed the tea down on the table and ran a hand over the cast that covered her dominant right hand.

  ‘She wasn’t strong enough, the little trickster, dancing about like an acrobat.’ Swan reached out and knocked over her cup of tea with her casted hand. The cup shattered, Swan grimaced and went to clean it up. She twitched, anticipating a snide comment from Larc. Nothing came. Yip stepped in and started sweeping, muttering to himself.

  None of them had wanted to talk about their experiences. Hotaru’s burn out had cast a dark mood over their success. Hotaru and Bella had always seemed so bubbly, full of life. Now they were just one more of the downtrodden.


  Titus scratched his throatbeard and asked, ‘Night out?’.

  Swan and Sterling groaned in synchronous.

  ‘I don’t want to do anything that involves moving out of this chair.’ Swan said. ‘What about a movie night?’

  A murmur of assent came from around the room.

  ‘I have just the thing.’ Gale said. He hauled out an augmented video player, a combination of Script and electronics. He dug out a DVD and held it up to the room with a grin.

  ‘Dude, where’s my car?’ Swan asked.

  ‘Its a classic,’ Gale said, ‘A classic that you need to see.’

  Titus agreed but only on the condition that they watch ‘The Castle’ next.

  Swan quite enjoyed the escapist romp about the two likeable losers. She lost it when they found themselves in a cult, and the characters on screen all made the sign for Zultan, the cult's leader. They formed a Z made by both hands.

  ‘Hey, doesn’t Zultan look like Yip a bit,’ Titus asked?

  ‘He does not,’ Yip called back, ‘he’s twice my height.’

  ‘That's a good point’ Gale said, ‘Counterpoint….Zultan.’ Gale made a Z with his hands. Titus laughed so hard he fell back off his chair.

  ‘Can we please just enjoy the movie, I want to know if this guy finds his car.’ Yip said.

  Titus looked slowly at Gale, Swan and Sterling.

  ‘ZULTAN!’ they all yelled, making the sign of a Z with two hands. Yip glared at all of them before claiming all of the popcorn. Titus knocked his glass onto the floor in his glee, and it shattered. Titus looked sheepish and went to pick it up, but Yip was already there.

  ‘I will clean it. It’ll be alright if I put it back together.’ Yip muttered. Titus moved to help, but Yip swatted him away, continuing to mutter.

  Swan looked over at Gale, who was smiling at the screen. He seemed more relaxed than the rest of them. Like he knew something they didn’t. His plan had better be on point. They had nothing else left.

  Gale - A loan and a wager

  Rumors grow of a new hatching of Corrosyv’s brood. Adelphus grows ever more impatient to act now…before it is too late.

  The journal of Grimace the Heretic

  A boulder cracked down onto the ramp to the Bursar’s office, and Gale took a deep breath. He carried no gold, no rent payment or riches. All he had was a plan.

  But it was a real goer.

  Gale stepped forward, and a boulder started to fall behind him. Gale didn’t even break stride. ‘Swan,’ he called out.

  Swan dashed in, crouched low, clenched her unbroken fist and leapt upwards. She punched the falling boulder. It shot back up and smacked into the hole in the cavern roof, clogging off the entry. Another boulder clunked into place behind it, unable to get through. Swan fell to the ground beside Gale and shook her hand out. She gave him a nod. Titus stepped inside the cave to look up.

  'You clogged it up tighter than Yip did to the toilet.' Titus said.

  'We all know that was you, Titus.' Yip called back.

  Gale shook his head and strolled down the ramp to the Bursar’s platform.

  Small victories.

  The Bursar sat at his desk with his hands folded in front of him. Gale pulled out a chair slowly and sprawled into it, snagging an apple off the Bursar’s desk and putting his feet up. Time to put on a show.

  The Bursar rumbled deep in his chest. ‘Most students, Master Knott,hrrrmmmm…try to bring nice things to these meetings. Muffins, a box of chocolates, even a bottle of wine perhaps. Most students do so because they know I expel those who can’t pay. They know that that I grew up in the accounting caverns of Oreheim. They know to fear the many layers of the Strata.’ Gibraltar cracked his knuckles

  ‘Most…students…hrrmmmm….would tremble to be late with their fees. Hrmmm….they would shake like the tunnels after a tectonic shift.

  So hrrrmmmm…tell me, Master Knott, do I have rocks in my brain or is it time to do some proper old fashioned accounting.’

  Behind Gibraltar, a stone maul the size of Gale slid from the wall to hover over them. The name Jemima written down the side.

  ‘I’ve paid every fee so far.’ Gale said.

  ‘Yes…how very…interesting.’ Gibraltar said. ‘Your debt runs deeper than the Weber faultline. Your debt looms like a pit and swallows up your gold. If you cannot pay that then…hrmmmm….I will be forced to expel every member of the Lighthouse.’

  Gale took a deep breath, and this was the critical part. He’d gone over the details with Yip last night.

  Gale plucked a muffin from another students gift basket. ‘What if I could save you half a million in coin.’ Gale said and took a bite.

  ‘Hrmmmmmm….’ rumbled Gibraltar and leaned forwards. The maul slid closer to Gale.

  ‘The House Cup.’ Gale said. ‘I’ve read the university bylaws. They state that whichever House holds the Cup on the sunset of the last day of term pays no fees. Once an incentive to push people to perfection, its now just a loophole exploited by the noble families in House Laurels to avoid paying fees. Every year House Laurels maintains a stranglehold on the cup and allows their smaller but powerful House to exempt their members from uni fees. Those who could easily pay are given a reef-broken free ride.

  But what if they weren’t?’

  Gale knew that as the head of House Solvent this was a major sore spot for the Bursar. The Bursar leaned further forwards.

  ‘Be that as it may, Master Knott, most of the University Council assumes that the rule is noble alumni get a free ride. A false pretence, so repeated it had become truth. Hrmmmmm…why wouldn’t the university ignore it.’

  ‘There is precedent, Addison pulled it off, he was the last successful graduate from the Lighthouse.’ Gale countered.

  ‘Your house stands last in the rankings because there are only five people to accumulate points, why wouldn’t I just alert House Laurels to your plan and earn a tidy reward?’ Gibraltar asked.

  Gale tried to stare down the Bursar. He gave up and instead surveyed the room. Behind Gibraltar, a small golden golem was tucked away up the back of the room. Gale grinned, he had him.

  ‘Because I know that you and I speak the same language. Cheapskate, skinflint, greed, these are all words for those who don’t understand the value of coin. People who say that money isn’t everything, say it from of their soft armchair of their cushy harbour view apartment. I know that your costs go up every year and every year that noble tower is just a bit fuller. A pot of milk with cream just asking to be skimmed from the top. Now I’ve worked in retail, and I can see where things are patched up that should be fixed. This university has areas running on gaffer tape and cable ties. You could solve the university’s fiscal crisis, without raising student fees one dollar.’ Gale said.

  Gibraltar tilted his head to the side, and the maul slid behind Gale where he couldn’t see. ‘I can assure you….hrmmmm….that there is no funding crisis.’

  Gale ignored the stone piledriver floating behind him and examined his fingernails. ‘That golden statue of Canute in the middle of the Academy, are you going to tell me that's for show? Or is that the only place you could hide the University’s debt golem?’

  A stony silence fell. Gale felt sweat start to drip from his brow, who builds an office with lava really?

  ‘Hah, hah, hah…skinflint is my middle name.’ The Bursar rumbled. ‘I will… delay your semester fee. You will, however, still need to pay rent. If you should fail to obtain the House Cup, you will need to pay twice the original debt with interest.’ Gibraltar said, slowly extracting the words, like a faultline grinding in two directions.

  ‘Don’t worry. I have a foolproof plan.’

  ‘I challenge House Laurels to Ultimate Frisbee with the House Cup as stakes.’ Gale yelled to the crowd of students in the lunchroom. The mass of gathered students all ceased talking. In the silence, Gale heard a rocky clang as Gibraltar banged his head on a table.

  Alisdair strode out of a crowd of House Laurels st
udents. ‘Your crappy house can’t even put a team together. We’ll wipe the floor with you.’

  Adam emerged from the crowd holding up a hand to Alisdair. ‘Why would we take this wager, we already possess the House Cup from our hard work through the year.’

  ‘Well, I suppose if you’re scared?’ Gale taunted. Alisdair stepped forward, but Adam held up a hand. Alisdair hesitated looking back and forth.

  ‘We have no incentive to take this wager, come back when you have value.’ Adam turned to go.

  ‘If we do not manage to take the House Cup from you, we’ll all quit the University, the whole Lighthouse.’ Gale called to Adam’s departing back. They’d be kicked out if they didn’t pay their debts anyway. Adam and Alisdair didn’t know that, though. At least he hoped they didn’t. Adam and Alisdair paused at this.

  ‘A man’s value is no small thing,’ Adam said. ‘Playing Ultimate Frisbee is beneath me, but if you will lead the team Alisdair?’ Alisdair nodded. ‘House Laurels agrees to your terms.’ Adam extended his hand. ‘The match will be held prior to the Battle Royale. We could use a warm-up. It’ll give you a few weeks to consider.’

  Gale took it and shook.

  ‘Oh, and Gale,’ Adam said, ‘If you attempt to cheat, I will know, and I will stop you.’

  Gale nodded, leaning in, ‘You can try.’

  Grace - The Oceanus

  The Oceanus was a grand vessel. Grace had certainly been on none finer. The command deck was complete, although the engine was still under construction. Officers ran around in the crisp uniform of Tangerinous’s private company. An ensign brought out a plate of gourmet wraps for them and a paleo bowl for Tangerinous.

  They even had a creche for babies.

  ‘May I?’ Tangerinous asked. Grace nodded, and Tangerinous took Jason from her pod. With a mother’s touch, she kept him settled and placed him with the other children.

  ‘As I was saying,’ Spur continued, eyeing off the pen of loud infants. ‘Someone stole the beacon for the University, dropping its reefwall. We’re here to make sure the beacon under your Titan is secure. A lot of people coming and going with your construction crews, would sure be easy for one of them to slip away to the statue below.’

 

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