“Well, it ain’t. You’s jus gotta let dat sink in missy. It’s gonna be a’ight ma chère. We’s gonna get drough dis. You’s suppose ta be here. All dis is suppose ta happen, you’s jus’ gotta let it. It’s gonna be fine, you know dat don’t ya?”
“I guess...”
“You guess?” he smiled then lifted her chin with his fingers so he could see her face better. “You’s remind me so much of my daughter.”
“You have a daughter sir?”
“Yep, I do. I dun see her much anymore now dat I got so many duties, but I miss her all da time. I’m not dat good wid kids, so I let her momma tend ta her, but I sure do miss her all da same. Aldough, I’m sure she’s fine widout me. I know I’ll gets ta see her again, jus’ likes I knows you’ll see your ba and da again, dat I promise ya.”
Tybor looked across the room at the time dial. “Well, looks like it’s about time we’s need ta head back to da lobby. You’s gonna be a’ight?”
“Uh, yes sir. I’ll be okay,” Tat stared down at the floor, she wasn’t sure if she was telling the truth or not but it did help her to talk it out with someone. Maybe he was right and she just needed to let it all happen like it was supposed to.
“Good,” Tybor lifted her chin more so she was looking at him. “Now’s I dun wanna hear no mores’ talks of you’s not doin’ dings righ’. An’ no mores sayin’ you don’t belong here or dat it’s all yer fault and want to be eradicated. Ya do jus’ fine an’ you’s got a lot ta offer dis mission, ya hear?”
“Yes sir.”
“All right den, le’s be goin’... oh and by da way, le’s keep what I dun tol’ you ‘bout da Fates to ourselves. Las’ ding I need righ’ now is ano’er interrogation wid Rowen,” he chuckled as he opened the door for them to leave.
Chapter Fourteen
Danger, here be...
T ybor stood with arms crossed petulantly waiting for Rowen to join them in the lobby. It was annoying him to no end that he was allowing himself to become impatient with this kid. He’d commanded entire armies in the past, why was he letting this boy get under his skin? He never had this problem out of him before, at least never when Emelda was around.
Perhaps dat’s de problem. Perhaps de boy’s jus’ confused ‘cause Emelda is ill an’ ain’t here dis time. Or maybe he’s jus’ getting’ at dat age where kids think dey know it all.
Maybe he should try contacting Emelda on the com, providing she wasn’t still in some kind of coma. Maybe she could tell him how to get through to the stubborn headed boy. He had to try something before the boy does something stupid.
He knew Emelda and Virginia still had the enchanted crystal com he’d left for them, because that’s how Emelda contacted him about Rowen coming over by himself. Surely, if she were able to talk to Rowen, he would at least listen to her.
“Hey guys,” Rowen called to them from across the lobby, breaking Tybor’s thought process.
“Yer late,” Tybor informed him. He wanted to remain calm, but he also had to get his point across.
“I know, but just a little. I was in the library and it’s like a maze in there.”
“I says meet at the 4-hour mark, not ticks or nearly a mark af’er. An’ I believe I said I didn’t wanna hear no excuses.”
“I know but...”
“No Rowen, I had ‘nuff of you’s not listenin’.”
“Well I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you’d have a cow ‘cause I’m a little late. It’s a big ship, it takes time to get places you know?”
“Dat’s whys I tol’ you ta keep an eye on da dial an’ leave when it got near de hour mark. You dun get it do ya? I got ta be able to keep you’n safe an’ I can’t do dat if ya dun listen. So dat’s it. You’n need ta learn dat yer actions have consequences. All of you’s go ta yer rooms an’ stay ‘til I says o’erwise.”
“What? Why do we got to go to our rooms? We were here on time!” Aidan protested. It was highly unfair that because Rowen was late he and Tat should get punished too, plus this meant he wouldn’t be able to meet up with the chief engineer.
“Jus’ do as I say.”
“But Chief Engineer Marko said he’d give me a tour of the engine room if I met back up with him in a bit–”
“I dun care! I said fer all of you’n to be here an’ all of you’n weren’t so do as yer tol’!”
“You want us to stay in our rooms the whole trip?” Tatyana asked, half hoping that’s what he meant.
“No. Jus’ fer now. We’ll try dis again later, but you’s need ta learn dat ya need ta listen an’ do what I’s say. Dis is no pleasure cruise, danger could be anywhere. You’n need ta remember we’re still on a mission.”
“C’mon man. I just found the section I was looking for.”
“I don’t care Rowen,” Tybor barked out, letting him know he meant business and not to test him any further.
“Whatever,” tired of arguing Rowen trudged back to his cabin, and the other two did the same.
I’m sick and tired of him acting like he’s the boss and we’ve got to do whatever he says,’ Rowen grumbled to himself once he got in the room, plopping down in a small chair next to a table. Being scolded and sent to his room like a little child made him furious.
Who does Tybor think he is? Rowen pounded on the table. All he needed was just a few more minutes, he’d finally found the right damned section. All he needed was a few minutes of browsing.
As soon as the ship landed, he was finding a gate and getting out of this place. He’d had enough. What was this whole thing to him anyway? His mother sent him here to help find something to cure his amma, not this crap. And surely they hadn’t intended for him to get roped into doing a bunch of dangerous stuff for complete strangers.
But then again, maybe Amma did know. She must’ve; why else would she have told mom to send me and then tell Tybor to keep an eye on me?
He slumped further into his chair. Amma, why? he exhaled. And why is this ‘mission’ so damned important to Tybor? Why is he insisting that we all have to do this together? It just didn’t make any sense.
Alright. Fine. He’d see it through if that was what his amma truly wanted. But if he was going to do it, he was going to do it on his terms. He was going to go back to the library and see what he could find. He might as well make this trip worthwhile. To Shadderah with Tybor!
Rowen opened his door with all the trepidation of a fugitive planning an escape of a maximum-security prison, peeking out to see if Tybor was lurking around anywhere. Nope, all clear. He knew if he got caught it would probably put up even more walls between him and the old coot. So what? At this point things couldn’t get any worse anyway, seeing how Tybor doesn’t trust any of us.
The guilt began to build, making him very conflicted. In the past Tybor had been one of the best things about this place. Yeah, he has his gruffness, and that accent he has is grating half the time… Rowen exhaled, realizing that Tybor was actually an important mentor to him.
The old elf taught him just about everything he needed to know about this world, not to mention Tybor was the closest thing to a father figure he ever had. He couldn’t figure out what changed to make things so different. Why all of a sudden is Tybor acting all high and mighty?
Hearing a muffled thud behind him Rowen spun around to see that Aidan was also leaving his room.
“Man! You scared me!” Rowen whispered as loudly as he could.
“What are you doing here?” Aidan asked also whispering then closed the distance of the rooms between them.
“I figure the same as you.”
“Going to the engine room?” Aidan questioned sarcastically.
“What? No! I’m going to go back to the library–” he stopped mid-sentence, realizing Aidan was being snarky.
“Well just don’t get caught. No telling what he’ll do if he finds us.”
“Same to you man,” Rowen acknowledged, then headed for the exit, searching around corners just in case Tybor turned up.
To his
relief, he made it back to the library without being seen. The door sat slightly opened as he approached. He knew for a fact he’d shut it. As a young child he was constantly nagged that if a door was shut when you entered, you shut it back after you went through.
Is someone in there? Nah, that’s stupid. Ships move, there are all kinds of bumps and things. It probably just popped open on its own for some reason.
Still, he didn’t want to take too many chances. For all he knew Tybor could be checking it out for himself. Opening the door he glanced around. The lights were on just like he’d left them. Everything looked fine. Unshelved books were still left in the dusty heaps on the floor, next to the half-packed boxes. Nothing out of place from the last time as far as he could tell, and no sign of the drill sergeant elf either.
The last time he was here Rowen placed books in the shape of arrows pointing out the correct path so he could relocate the magick section easier. He realized that was why he was late getting back. And even though Tybor had a conniption over it, he was glad he’d done so. He had no idea how much time he actually had to do this now, and if he had to search it all over again it would definitely take too long.
To his delight, the majority of the rather large magick section was still shelved. Just like everything else it was thick with dust and covered in cobwebs. He sifted through the titles that seemed to be alphabetized. “Communing with Stellar Bodies”, “Compendium of Dragons and other Fae Creatures”, “Encyclopedia of Magickal Plants”, and then picked up the book “Gideons Getty’s Guide to God Gates”. Flipping through it, he saw a hand drawn map on the back flap with notes annotated with corresponding pages.
“Well that might come in handy”, he tucked the small book into his cloak inside pocket to study later, but right now he was looking for something… more.
He jumped over a row of shelves or two and continued searching for something new and exciting, “Mixing Guide for Magickal Healing Potions, Volume 1: Extractions, Elixirs, Fomentations, and Tisanes”, “The Complete History of Fates Law and other Tomes” and “World Walking”. All standard stuff he’d seen on every bookshelf containing magick books. There had to be something else. He hadn’t disobeyed Tybor and risked life and limb for the standard fare had he?
Then the book appeared from out of thin air, materializing right in front of his eyes. He knew a lot about magick, and he knew well enough that books don’t just appear – even if they are magickal themselves. Magick things have to be summoned, and he definitely didn’t know how to do that yet. Should he leave it alone? No way. This was an opportunity of a lifetime.
He tried reading the spine. Just a bunch of random symbols. The book’s cover felt odd when he pulled it from the shelf. It seemed to be carved out of some sort of yellowish wood, yet it was flexible like leather. Maybe elvish design?
It was a large book, but light as a feather. The paper in it was incredibly old and thin, feeling something like onion skin.
He flipped through it, randomly opening it to different pages. An entire page written backwards but made no sense, another upside down and in a foreign language, another still just number sequences. Several pages had bright colored velvety bookmark ribbons stuck in them, but when he’d flip to them the ink on the pages just seemed to fade away before he could read the first few words.
This had to be some witch or wizards grimoire, an actual magick book! He’d heard of these but this was the first time he’d actually seen one. Who would’ve thought he’d find one in some old library on a zypher? Now this was worth it. It didn’t matter if he got in trouble or not, this was the treasure he’d hoped he’d find. So what do I do with it now? Well, it is a library... maybe borrowing it wouldn’t hurt.
Rowen heard a masculine voice but couldn’t make out the words. He wasn’t alone after all, and whomever he was hearing wasn’t alone either. He was being paranoid. Maybe they were just looking for a good book to read too.
“Kierse, be quiet!” A female voice answered. Then the first voice began speaking in... another language? Nope, it was more like bird chirps and bells. Who are these people? He tiptoed around the shelves in the direction of the voices hoping to get a better look.
Annokai!... Dammit!’ He internally screamed. His heart began thumping loud enough to drown out their voices. Throwing his cloak hood up, he slipped the grimoire into his pocket with the other book and inched back the way he came.
Did Tybor know there were Annokai on the ship? Surely not, he would’ve been even more restrictive with them, but maybe that’s why he’d warned them of possible danger.
The ship lunged sideways unexpectedly and a few of the smaller shelves near him toppled like a house of cards stacked on a rocking chair, knocking him to the floor as well, scraping his knee.
The winged soldiers whirled around, then ran for the door, still chirping at one another. Keeping them in sight, he ducked behind the remaining standing shelves. He waited for them to leave before moving toward the exit himself, hoping the ship didn’t have any more hiccups.
A dagger whizzed by Rowen’s face the second he stepped out the door and plunged into the female Annokai’s throat who was only inches away. Tybor stomped forward shoving the Annokai to the floor, twisting the knife before withdrawing it. Her black eyes went white, her mouth gaped open as black frothy blood sputtered from it. The ship lurched again making Rowen sick – or was it the blood? He couldn’t tell. He desperately searched for any sign of the other Annokai but found no one else.
Rowen expected Tybor to set in on him, but he calmly commanded him to follow instead. Had Tybor just saved his life? What was going on? And what’s going to happen now that Tybor knew he disobeyed him again? Rowen struggled with the questions flooding his brain as he followed him back toward the rooms.
Aidan had to hurry if he was going to meet up with Marko as planned. He still didn’t think it was fair that he and Tat had to suffer the same consequences because Rowen broke the rules. And while he did feel guilty about breaking Tybor’s rules now, he decided to brave the elf’s potential wrath. If he got caught it was worth it if it meant being able to get a guided tour of the engine room.
Just as he made it to the main door, the dwarf appeared from a side exit on the deck. Marko pulled away the napkin from his late lunch, realizing that he still had it tucked into the top of his apron. “True to your word I see. Well met Aidan.”
“Well met, Marko... uhm, Chief Engineer Marko, sir.” Aidan stumbled trying to remember what the correct greeting was for dwarves, “sorry I’m a little late, things came up.”
Marko grinned. “Marko will do, no need for formalities here, and it’s fine. I’m running a little late myself. So, you ready for your tour?”
“Absolutely!” Aidan did his best to contain his excitement.
“Alright then, but a word of warning. There’s a lot down there that could be a potential hazard for someone like you, so don’t go bothering anything. Can you do that son?”
“Yes sir!”
“Well come on then,” Marko stepped in front of Aidan, opening the metal door and leading him down the deck steps.
Unlike all the other steps which were wooden covered with a carpet runner, these steps were metal with visible rivets holding them together. Every step sounded as if they were banging on pots and pans. The noise intensified the further they descended, echoing off the exposed metal hull containing the staircase.
The walls were lined with racks that held gigantic harpoons and nets. How strange. The ship wasn’t on water, it’s not like anyone could go fishing or that there would be whales or sharks to contend with. After going down two more flights of stairs they passed a door marked ‘Armory’. Armory? Why would a passenger ship need an armory?
“Here we are. Now remember, Don’t. Touch. Anything.” Marko warned again and Aidan suddenly forgot about the curious things he just saw.
Aidan stepped in, amazed at the enormity of the gear mechanisms. Leaning over the cast iron railings to get a closer look, he
noticed some of the teeth on the iron gears were larger than his entire body. He marveled as a crew of about fifty elves, dwarves and other fae shoveled buckets of something in and out of what looked like heated furnaces. Another ten or so were turning gears and flipping levers at different intervals. The most curious part, however, was it was called an ‘Engine Room’, but Aidan seen no sign of an actual engine.
“So where’s the engines?” he shouted above the noise.
“You’re looking at it, the whole thing is an engine – and the gem is the catalyst that powers it. Isn’t she a beauty?”
Then he saw it. A white powdery substance glistening like pearls was hauled up by metal buckets on bicycle like chains. He watched as they were dumped in repetition onto a giant milky white stalactite shaped crystal that sparkled with flecks of muted pink, blue and green. Being suspended in the middle of the large space by other chains, it hung like a shining diamond on a necklace around a princess’s neck.
Pipes forced in streams of water dumping out on top of the crystal which collected in pools below in a giant vat that wafted up a tremendously hot opalescent shimmery steam. Valves, coils and pipes hissing like snakes directed the substance into other places that Aidan couldn’t see, but assumed it went to other mechanisms in the ship.
“What’s that stuff they’re dumping over the gem?”
“Powdered lunar opalite,” Marko called back, glad to see the young man had an interest in it. “The gem’s coat is made from it, and with the right pressure we shave a bit off here and there so we can get to the gem’s core. That’s where the real power comes from.”
“The heat from the steam fills the central balloons,” he pointed upwards towards the pipes, “and the exhaust causes the outer shell on the gem to liquefy and that’s what’s in the vats below. We skim that off and dry it out in the furnaces, then with steam we fuse it back on to the gem then keep repeating the process. But the real beauty is the core.” He pointed toward the crystal and Aidan saw tiny sparkling slivers of the actual crystal shining radiantly through.
The Fateless: Errata Page 18