Overboard!

by Michael White

  “It’s not moving!” shouted Daisy, her face contorted with the effort of trying to move the wheel so the rudder would deflect the ship in another direction.

  “Let me help.” said Neep, approaching the wheel and putting all of his strength into pulling it. It was all in vain, for the wheel would not budge at all.

  “The rudder must be lodged in the rocks or the lava.” Shouted Neep, releasing the wheel, He glanced at it briefly. It looked like just a normal ship’s wheel and although he had never used one before the principle was obvious. There was just something odd about this particular ship’s wheel and he could not quite work out what it was.

  “I am not losing this treasure now!” Shouted Daisy, anger on her face, “Not after all we have been through already! It is years I have spent in the pursuit of this; never knowing what it actually was.” She paused briefly, thumping the wheel with her hand. “I will NOT let it go. Do you understand?”

  Neep made to answer but as he did so there was another loud explosion nearby and the entire ship shifted forward a good ten feet, the angle of its descent into the lava decreasing. Yet now it began to slip sideways down the rock, heading sideways towards the lava.

  Bones continued to hover over the ship in exactly the same position however, as if he was tethered there. His position was still the same; arms outstretched, head tipped back as if he was staring at the ceiling. The strange shapes continued to fly and race about both him and what remained of the cavern as well.

  There was another explosion and the ship slipped forwards again, tilting down into a new lake of lava, the ship beginning to gather pace as it slowly slipped towards it, the entire hull groaning as it slid across the piles of rock, shale and ash.

  “We are going into that pit.” gasped Neep as the golden ship began to slide down the rock towards the lava, “There is nothing we can do.”

  Daisy looked around in desperation, her eyes finally resting on Bones floating above them, seemingly completely oblivious to their plight.

  “You have always been the one that I can rely on. The one with the plans. Help us. Please. Do something, Bones.” whispered Daisy just loud enough for Neep to hear her. “Help us.”

  The response was not immediate, but slowly Bones turned his face down to them. It looked to Neep that doing so took great effort, yet slowly he turned his face downwards and looked upon them.

  “Ah Daisy.” Sighed Bones, his voice loud and echoing about the cavern as if it was carried everywhere simultaneously by the air itself, “I must say I do admire your choice of a new first mate.” Neep felt the hairs on the back of his neck tingle. “He does have lovely eyes, does he not?” Neep saw Daisy laugh, though still tears ran down her ash covered face.

  “Indeed.” was all she said however. Bones continued.

  “You are aware of course I should have died on the day I turned into this…” He waved his arms about his body, still floating in the air above him. Neep did notice however that the whirling shapes had paused all over the cavern as if waiting for permission to continue to move.

  “Yes.” sighed Daisy, “Yet you endured. We always agreed it was for a reason.”

  “Indeed.” said Bones, “Perhaps this is it.” He reached to his neck and removed the medallion from there, yanking at the chain and breaking it so he held it in his hands. “The spirit of the air.” He sighed, “or Sylphs as they are known.”

  “What are?” asked Neep in confusion, Bones tilting his head from where he floated to look upon Neep now as well. Bones just smiled at him.

  “I think our poor friend Mister Jones - or Capability Jones as he was known then found rather more in this volcano than he bargained for. The ship was a great task of course, but he disturbed something else when mining this volcano, and when he realised what it was he tried to utilise it, and when he realised that he could not then tried to hide it away and then he fled.”

  “He nearly succeeded.” smiled Daisy, “We have been looking for this for years!”

  “Yet he realised also that what he found could make the treasure greater.” said Bones and the ship lurched, gathering pace as it continued its slide towards the lava field.

  “Greater?” asked Daisy incredulously, “What could be greater than an entire ship made of gold?”

  “Oh Daisy.” smiled Bones, “Just watch. It is a gift worthy of the god’s themselves.” He paused slightly, as if thinking, “Or perhaps a spirit; a spirit of the air perhaps…”

  With a cry Bones threw the medallion at the ship and it bounced off the deck and vanished. Neep and Daisy gasped as they held tightly onto the ship’s wheel to steady themselves. Still it did not move. Bones began to float slowly towards the ship and as he did so he held his arms out once again.

  “I am done.” he sighed, “And now the spirit of the air shall hold sway.”

  There was a silence then that fell about the volcano. Neep looked around him, the volcano rapidly disintegrating, ash and flame and fire roaring all about them, the island shaking as the lava erupted and flew out onto the shore. Yet it was if they were somehow shielded from this. There was no noise all of a sudden; the air was still. One by one the strange flying shapes, the sylphs, as Bones had called them, began to fly down and slam into Bones, disappearing in a silent gasp as they did so. Slowly Bones began to grow as each sylph impacted with him, first one then many, then hundreds. Then thousands.

  Bones grew in size, now almost as big as the ship itself, but then noticeably began to fade, the sylphs continuing to be absorbed by him.

  “The spirit of the air…” He sighed, his shape now more like that of a cloud than anything.

  Finally, the Sylphs ceased and the cloud began to fall about the ship, settling about its decks, the hull; the sails, covering the entire craft in a cloud that faded as it touched the solid surface. It seemed to Neep as if it was more being absorbed by the ship than dissolving. Soon all that was left of Bones were his eyes, more holes in the air now than pupils as such, though they now blazed blue.

  “Don’t leave me.” Gasped Daisy and it seemed to Neep that if it were possible the eyes smiled.

  “Oh I will never leave you, Daisy.” Came Bones’ voice from everywhere all at once, “Look after her, Neep. It takes some doing, believe you me.” And then the eyes too faded and the last of the cloud was absorbed by the ship. There was a loud gasp that was almost like a sigh and instantly the sounds from the cavern began again, the roar of the lava and the volcano, the island shaking as it veered towards a fiery doom.

  Daisy tried to move forwards to where Bones had been but the ship lurched forward and she slipped backwards, only the guard rail preventing her from tumbling over the side.

  “Daisy!” screamed Neep, clinging to the wheel as the ship began to gather speed, now moving at more than walking pace down the pile of rock towards the lava. As he tried to reach towards her he pulled on the wheel and it pulled back a little, the ship lurching as he did so, but now the slide towards the lava and inevitable doom was inevitable.

  Daisy clung to the rail and righted herself, Neep sighing with relief as she did so. She staggered to her feet, staring at Neep.

  “Neep.” she said uncertainly, as if she was trying to work something out and had not yet reached a conclusion but had little time to do so. “Did that wheel just move backwards as you pulled on it to try and reach me?”

  Looking puzzled Neep pulled the wheel again. There was a skip in the ship’s progress and it began to move even faster towards the lava.

  “Yes.” he said. “It is a bit stiff but it definitely moved.”

  Daisy looked at him, her mind racing. “Left and right.” She said, trying to think. “That’s normal. Backwards though?” Neep looked at her, confused.

  “Does the bloody wheel move forwards?” shouted Daisy and Neep almost jumped to attention, pushing the wheel towards the prow of the ship. Again, it did move slightly and this time there was a long deep groaning and tearing sound from the hull and the descent to the lava slowed a
little, but it did not stop.

  Daisy chewed on her lip. She stared at Neep, looked at the wheel again as if contemplating the impossible before inevitably she came to a conclusion, stopped as if in denial and then suddenly she smiled. It was a smile though that approached lunacy.

  “The wheel.” she gasped, “Neep - all your strength into it, “Pull back the wheel!”

  Neep did not hesitate. Grasping the ship’s wheel tighter with both hands he pulled it backwards as hard as he could. At first it did not move. From his elevated position on the quarterdeck he could see the sea of lava fast approaching now, the ship of gold skidding down across the sloping piles of rock.

  “Pull harder!” screamed Daisy from behind him and he saw her slide across the quarterdeck to help him, grabbing the wheel herself to prevent her falling the length of the ship. Together they pulled at the wheel.

  At first Neep thought it was not moving, but slowly as if on some form of spring-like mechanism the wheel moved back towards them, their combined strength pulling it back slightly in the housing. Neep looked down, the heat from the lava now hitting the ship, the lake of melted broiling stone ever nearer. With a final effort of will he heaved just a little more and the ship’s wheel moved backwards just another inch.

  The entire ship seemed to sigh then, the hull trembling as if flexing a muscle. It reminded Neep of a bird he once seen swooping down from a cliff to catch fish from the sea, almost as if flexing its muscles in preparation before the plunge into flight.

  For slowly at first, and then, as if gaining confidence, the entire ship began to rise into the air.

  “What in the Seven…” Began Neep as he noticed Daisy grinning wildly beside him.

  “Don’t let go, Neep.” she shouted, “Whatever you do, don’t let go!”

  The wheel seemed a little looser now and he relaxed his grip on it a little, then saw the lava sea below suddenly falling away from them as the ship lurched into the air, heading towards the ruined and smashed wall of the volcano, beyond which the island of El Bongo lay. The ship soared towards the gap in the flames like a bird rising from the ground at a sharp angle.

  “Push it forward a little.” said Daisy, but Neep had already figured it out, easing the wheel forward slightly, and levelling the ship out. With a whoop of what may have been joy but could also have been total astonishment, Neep steered the ship over the sea of lava, out through the ruined side of the volcano and then, pulling the wheel back again, flew upwards, up into the sky, the angle of its ascent steep at first before levelling out, the island now far below them.

  “By all that is breathing.” gasped Daisy, “The spirit of the air indeed.”

  Neep registered vaguely that the two remaining pirates were dancing and cheering on the deck, but he was somewhat distracted as Daisy took him by the shoulders and planted a large kiss on his lips.

  “Well done.” she sighed, and there were tears in her eyes this time, “And well done Mister Bones too.” Neep thought that perhaps at that pointed the ship seemed to tremble slightly but he could have been wrong, for by this point Daisy was kissing him again.

  Slowly the golden ship sailed silently away from the island, the sea far below them where white topped waves rippled across the island that now gave the distinct impression that it was going to disappear at any moment.

  Chapter 35

  ~Second Star to the Right~

  “I shall call her Sylph.” said Daisy as she sat next to Neep on the prow of the ship as it hovered above what used to be the lost island of El Bongo. The island had exploded but hours before, sending a tsunami of water crashing out from the explosion, and sending the island to the bottom of the sea as it had collapsed under the waves. Now only steam rose from where it had once been. It had been an anxious few hours as Neep and Daisy had watched the crippled Magpie try to outrun and then finally weather the tidal waves that had marked the island's doom.

  Yet the ship had prevailed and Neep and Daisy had already made plans to descend to the Magpie the next day to pick up the crew, once they actually worked out how to do that of course. Daisy was dubious, but Neep insisted that he had a plan, which made her even more nervous than before, if that was possible. Yet for now they relaxed, sitting by the prow looking over the sea as the sun set before them. Lazily a cloud drifted past, billowing over the deck and then disappearing as quickly as it had arrived.

  “A good name for a ship.” said Neep, snuggling up to Daisy as they watched the sun set. Daisy rose and looked down, the sea far below.

  “As good a name as any.” She smiled, “You know I could feel as if I were the king of the world from up here.”

  “Or Queen.” smiled Neep.

  “Oh I think King is much better.” She smiled, and sat down once again, Neep placing his arm around her back again as he did so.

  “So what now?” He asked, looking out over the sea.

  “No idea.” She said, and fell silent as if thinking about it. “Though perhaps what I was saying to you about always having to run, to watch my back is now solved.”

  “How so?” Asked Neep, staring out over the clouds.

  “Well who can reach us up here?” she smiled, “perhaps I shall take a holiday.”

  “Much needed.” smiled Neep.

  “It is yes.” she agreed, leaning in to him even closer. “Mister Boom would be very pleased with the extent of the explosion he created.” she smiled, looking back to where the island used to be.

  “I think so.” laughed Neep, “Even if he did almost take us with it too.” Daisy laughed. “I wonder if Jones truly realised what exactly the spirit of the air was going to do?” she asked.

  “Well he did build the ship’s wheel as it was.” said Neep, “Perhaps he did.”

  “I suspect so.” sighed Daisy, “Though as a man of science he was perhaps baffled or terrified of it. After all, if there was to be such a thing as a flying ship then I am sure he would have wanted to be the one to build it, and not rely upon dome supernatural source.”

  “Perhaps that is why he went to such great lengths to conceal it.” said Neep, “After all, he was a man of science and not a witch doctor or the like.”

  “Strange how far people can run when they feel as if they are out of choices.” said Daisy, looking far away all of a sudden. “Still, fear can be a strange thing. Perhaps Jones and I are not too dissimilar after all. Perhaps you are far more astute than I give you credit for, Mister Neep.”

  “Perhaps.” he said and settled into silence.

  “Forget I said that.” she grinned and Neep made a groaning noise.

  “As if I could with this lithographic memory.” he smiled and they both laughed.

  “I wonder if the ship as sentient as such?” said Neep suddenly. “After all, the spirit of the air was imbued into it. Perhaps somewhere Bones is still capable of thought or reason.

  “Sentient?” asked Daisy, and Neep nodded. “All seeing?” she asked and Neep nodded again.

  “Oh I rather do not hope so. Not for what I have planned later.” she smiled, and Neep burst into laughter, blushing furiously. “I think if he is than he is so much more than what he was.” She finished seriously, “And I shall miss him. Yet he should have died on that island where his body was dissolved all of those years ago. Everything else was a bonus - extra time given to him as it were.”

  “Yes.” said Neep, “It would be nice to think so.”

  Neep leaned back slightly as he saw Daisy suddenly stare at him, her glance looking deeply into his eyes. Neep puckered his lips, ready for another kiss but none came. He opened his eyes to find that Daisy was staring at him silently, a grin on her face.

  “Do you know what, Mister Neep?” she asked and Neep grimaced.

  “Just Neep.” He said, “No mister. We agreed.”

  “Okay.” Laughed Daisy, “Neep then. So do you know what then, Neep?”

  “Know what?” he enquired and Daisy touched him on his arm gently.

  “You really have turned out to b
e a most unusual pirate indeed.” Neep looked pleased with himself and watched as Daisy’s grin spread across her face. He felt unusually pleased with himself.

  “I suppose I have.” he said eventually, “I suppose I have at that.”

  And then they both laughed, and slowly the sun set, stars beginning to shine and shimmer above, twinkling through the few clouds that whispered across the decks of the ship of gold, starlight reflecting off the glittering sails and the ship itself.

  And the two of them sat there at the prow of the ship, relaxing and holding each other as if by the very strength of their mounting feelings for each other they could hold the night and the cold itself at bay, and as darkness fell Neep thought that if that was the best that they could do, then that would be enough.

  With Daisy at his side, or maybe the other way around he chuckled, it would always be enough.

  Epilogue

  ~Being the last bit of the rest of it~

  Jenkins kept a tight grip on the piece of wooden plank on which he was floating in the ocean, his arms tired, and his body aching; but there were no circumstances in which he would let go of the debris. It could be said that the captain was not in the very best of moods.

  After Boom had knocked him over with the cart and when the barrels of gunpowder had hit the lava flow he had been lucky, if you could call it that, he thought. The roof of the tunnel had collapsed and the explosion had thrown him through the air like a cork out of a bottle until he came to rest at the top of a tree on the island beyond. Until the volcano exploded of course, and then he had been airborne again, landing amongst some debris further along the beach. Of course it was at this point that the island had started to sink and clutching a piece of debris to his chest he had found himself carried out to sea on a tidal wave, before coming to a rest clutching to wooden pile of debris, bobbing about the stormy sea as if a cork in a bottle. Which was when the tsunami hit. Luckily he had escaped that too, though it had been a close thing. Now he was floating in who knows where in the middle of the ocean. He was at best not pleased at all, as well as being greatly water-logged and vaguely dizzy.