“We don’t want it fully exposed though because it is immensely powerful. If it were, it would destroy the integrity of the ship’s hull, so we only expose enough to keep the ship afloat and powered. They say it’s made from the Goddess Serendi’s tears, formed in the caves she was imprisoned in thousands of years ago. True or not; it gives us the ability to fly this big tank in the sky.”
“Did you say that Serendi’s imprisoned?” the engineers words redirected Aidan’s thoughts.
“Well now, I guess you wouldn’t know that seeing how you’re human and all. But to answer your question, nobody knows for sure. She’s been gone long before most anyone left alive got here, but there’s plenty of tales out there that say otherwise.”
“You know that I am human?” Aidan asked surprised by the dwarf’s statement.
“Well of course. So there’s no need to keep that heavy cloak about you in this heat.”
“And you’re okay with that?” Feeling weird wearing the cloak now, and being glad to shed it, he took it off and slung it over his shoulder.
“Why wouldn’t I be? The Ceil sent a missive letting the entire crew know, so we knew to expect all three of ya, the Ambassador and even the pooka cat.”
“Well, it’s just… there’s not a lot of us humans in this world,” he stated the obvious, not wanting to go into detail that he was Errata.
“Ah, well, being used to the Ceil we kind of always expect the unexpected,” Marko winked.
As if that were its cue, the ship lurched to the far side and groaned, knocking Aidan off his feet. Within seconds, he was sliding off the walk and between the rails.
Thinking quickly, Marko stomped his heavy booted foot down on the end of the cloak’s hood just before it slipped by the rail. Thankfully, Aidan was latched onto the other end of it. “Hold on!” he shouted down to Aidan.
“Marko, we’re capsizing!” an engineer screamed from somewhere. Marko grabbed the cloak and pulled it with all his strength intending to hoist him up, but the cloak began tearing.
“Use the cloak as a rope boy and grab for the rail!” Marko yelled, anchoring himself against the rail so Aidan could climb up the cloak. Aidan, gathering strength he didn’t know he had, grabbed the rail and finished pulling himself up. The ship righted itself with another groan, just as Aidan slid onto the warm metal walk.
“You alright son?” Marko asked.
Aidan huffed, winded and out of breath uttered his reply, “I think so.”
“See, I told ya we expect the unexpected around here,” Marko extended an arm to help Aidan back to a standing position.
“You saved my life. Thank you.”
“Well, what was I supposed to do?” Marko jokingly asked, not sure how to respond to that. “This is why we don’t allow visitors.”
“Yeah. Makes sense. But what happened?” Aidan inquired.
“Don’t know,” Marko answered with a serious expression as the ship lunged forward again. “But I’m sure whatever it was, we’ll know soon enough. I think we better get you back where you belong.”
Tat was more than happy to be going back to her room. She knew the other two were angry, but Tybor’s decision allowed her time to get her thoughts straight, even though she didn’t care for him being upset with them again.
The moment she opened the door Tok shot out passed her, intent on being out of the cabin. “Tok no!” she yelled, but the black puffball flew off before she could figure out where to. She thought about going after her, but then decided that wouldn’t set well with Tybor and the last things she wanted to do right now was make him angrier. She’d just have to trust that Tok would be alright.
Even if Tybor seemed upset with the three of them, she had to admit she felt better now that they’d talked things over. And she knew she just needed to trust him and quit thinking about it all the time. The last thing she wanted to do right now was dwell on it so she decided she needed something to do.
But what was there to do? The room didn’t really inspire her mind to do anything but think about everything that happened up until this point. She unpacked her pack, but that didn’t take long. It also didn’t take long for the questions to come flooding in as she flopped on the bed.
How long would Tybor want them to stay in their rooms? He just wanted to give Rowen some time to figure things out, right? Was he also angry with her and Aidan, or was he just trying to keep the peace with Rowen and include them as well?
Maybe I shouldn’t have bothered him. Maybe he’s still upset with me for saying I wanted to ask to be eradicated. No, that wasn’t right. What did Aidan do? None of this was his fault. Why would Tybor want to punish him too?
Her stomach grumbled, and it brought her out of her downward spiral remembering that it had been a while since they’d eaten. Hopefully Tybor would let them eat soon. He wouldn’t let us go hungry, would he? She tried pushing the whole situation out of her head. There’s nothing else to do, maybe sleeping would be alright.
Staring out the curtained port window she watched the pink and yellow fluffy clouds that looked like spun sugar drift by and her eyelids became heavy. She slipped into deep thought sinking into the comfort the bed offered.
She couldn’t help but think about how this all started with taking the keystone. No! No! No! Tybor said it wasn’t her fault. Yes, she made a stupid mistake by taking the stone and going, but somehow it was meant to be. The Fates, or at least one of them, wanted her to take it – wanted her to go to the Otherworld and find Aidan. That’s what all of this was about. They were meant to go on a journey together. They were meant to run into Rowen and Tybor. This had all been planned by divine intervention. But why?
So if the Fates put this into play, what else did they plan for them, plan for me? Has my entire life been planned? But that’s not possible, I’m Errata. Errata’s aren’t marked with a seal, not governed by any God of Fate.
Because of that there’s no way to direct an Errata’s life, no way to keep the Errata’s from seeing both worlds. No way to keep the veil of deception woven and keep the two worlds secret from the humans.
Tat reasoned, that was the real reason Errata’s had to be eradicated. Otherwise it all comes tumbling down. The Gods were really nothing more than divine fabricators. Weaving everything into existence, every little detail into their own masterpiece. And each Errata; each error that shouldn’t have ever existed, served as a threat to the Gods of Fate. Each one a loose thread in a tapestry of lies.
How far did all the planning go back? Are my real parents Errata too? Or were they being guided by the Fates as well? Is that why I was left on a trash dumpster in an alley way? One that just happened to be frequented by pooka? Did they know the pooka would find me? Were my parents forced to give me up?
Her mind swirled with all the possibilities, and it spiraled further, until she imagined herself as a baby. She was cradled in her mother’s soft arms. Her mother. How beautiful. Long blonde hair with flecks of sparkling pastels fell in thin locks around her mother’s round ethereal opalescent face.
Her blue eyes mirrored Tat’s, and she smelled like honey melon and lilac berries. Tat reached out with her little stubby baby hand to touch her mother’s shimmering hair and face. She laughed and cooed with happiness as her mother smiled down on her.
“Let the ancients guide you little one. I put my faith in their hands knowing you will be safe,” she spoke with a melodic voice, stroking the side of Tat’s chubby baby face with her fingers. She gently sat Tat down in a cradle.
Tat wriggled around a bit wanting her mother to pick her back up. But her mother didn’t pick her up. Instead, the goddess sat down at a small table next to the cradle and scribbled something with a pen on paper. Tat cried wanting her mother’s attention again.
After a bit, her mother picked her up again, but this time was different. First, she wrapped her and the note in a blanket, then began weeping. Why is she crying? They were together, no reason to cry. Her mother should be happy.
With
Tat in arms, she left the room and walked onto some strange looking streets. It was conspicuously quiet, with faint humming sounds further away. The light of the street lamps cast a discomforting glow on the dark sidewalk. Her mother slowed.
Where are we? And where are we going?
Tat began to squirm; her mother held her tighter, turning the corner into a dark alley. Finding a clean, sturdy box to set Tat in, she climbed on top of a half-broken crate to rest the box on top of the dumpster lid, kissing Tat softly on the forehead.
“I’ll always love you my little Tatyana,” she wept, “but this is what must be for your own safety. No one can find out who you truly are.” Her mother placed the palm of her hand on Tat’s forehead and whispered something Tat didn’t understand and a soft white light emanated. The sound of something like shattered glass erupted all around baby Tat. “There. It is done,” she declared as if someone watched. Her mother walked away without looking back, and little baby Tat wailed.
“No! Don’t go! Don’t leave me mother!” Tat yelled, tears streaming down her face. Sitting up in the bed, eyes wide open and heart threatening to jump out of her throat, Tat tried to slow her breathing. It was just a dream. A crazy, stupid dream. Her eyes searched the room for evidence otherwise, but no; it was just a dream. A dream she’d never had before, a dream about herself as a baby and her birth mother who didn’t look quite human. Is my mother some kind of a fae or something? It was just a dream, right?
The ship jolted. Tat was thrown out of the bed with the mattress and covers, sliding to the bottom of the pile, slamming her into the wall near the door. Luckily, the furniture was all bolted in place so nothing else came crashing on top of her. She shoved the mattress off of her and grabbed the door handle to pull herself up. What was that? Is the ship falling out of the sky? Tat began to panic. What should she do?
A few moments passed, and it felt like an eternity. She was paralyzed with fear and couldn’t do anything. Catching a glimpse of the window she saw a shadow zooming past. What is that? Did something or someone fall off the ship? Feeling faint she tried to take a few steps toward the bed but it was an uphill battle. She managed to grab the edge to steady herself. The ship heaved upright again, knocking her back down.
Thank the Fates, the floor was once again in the position it was supposed to be. More shadows flew by but Tat was too crippled with fear to go and see what they were as the ship yanked forward again.
“Aidan!” Tat heard Tybor’s voice yell from down the hall. She made her way to the door, seeing Tybor standing a few feet away and Aidan and Rowen at opposite sides of the hall with shocked looks on their faces. It was obvious something else was going on, but none of them had time to address it right now. “You’s too,” Tybor yelled spotting her. “Follow me.”
“What’s going on?” Aidan asked Tybor, “is it another attack?”
“Attention all passengers,” a voice announced over an intercom system that they hadn’t realized was there. “Dragons have been sighted. This is not a drill. Follow the required safety procedures and remain in your designated station until further notice.”
“Dragons!” Aidan shouted. “Freaking dragons really exist here?”
“We ain’t gots time fer questions, le’s go!” Tybor yelled and they all huddled behind him, following him closely. The voice on the intercom repeated the previous instructions as if it were on loop. Tat frantically looked for Tok as she continued to follow behind them. Tybor led them down a flight of stairs and out onto the mid-deck that Aidan recently crossed. And while he hadn’t noticed anything unusual about the sky before, he now saw several flocks of dragons swooping with their massive wings by the ship.
All three of them stopped in their tracks mesmerized by the throng. Most of the dragons flew in small groups of four to six, and there were probably twenty or so groups of them, with a few bigger dragons flying solo.
‘Those are most likely scouts,’ Rowen figured, then remembered that a dragon sighting was rare. And an encounter with this many was extremely rare. If a dragon was spotted it should be flying away from a ship not toward it, and definitely not this close. Something isn’t right about this.
The dragons’ v shaped scales looked like rows of tiny arrow heads and varied in color. Some had a metallic sheen with a red tone, others were covered with a flat blue hue and had no shine to them at all, and a few were more matted earth tones. Some had a large single curved horn on top of their heads growing from a bony plate as if their skulls were partially exposed on the crown just above the eyes. Others had a pair of horns, and some as many as three pair of them.
Their leathery bat-like wings were dark gray or black and had three giant talons perched at the top of each. A few of their spiky-spined bodies were as long as the zypher, not counting their long necks and pointed arrow shaped tails; but most were only half the size or smaller. It appeared as if they were gliding on air currents rather than flying, a mesmerizing and remarkable sight. It was definitely a sight like none of the three of them had seen before.
“C’mon!” Tybor yelled snapping them out of their hypnotic state and they resumed running behind him. He led them through the door marked Engine Room, down a flight of stairs and opened the door marked ‘Armory’. Other groups of people, possibly the other passengers, were descending the stairs as well behind them. Once through that door, they ran down the length of another hall past a few other doors and Tybor yanked one of them open and told them to get inside quickly.
Once they were in, they tried catching their breaths.
“So... Dragons are... Real?” Aidan panted out.
“Of course they are,” Tat snapped back at him in disbelief.
“Where are we and what are we doing?” Rowen questioned Tybor, looking at all the bunk beds lining the walls.
Tybor ignored him for a moment, standing at the door watching as everyone filled the halls. Some were standing around as if waiting for further orders, while others were huddling inside the cabin or hurrying to fill other adjacent rooms. Tybor continued to watch to see if anyone was opening the door that actually led to the armory. He knew it wasn’t protocol to fire on a flight of dragons.
First the storm, now an early migration of dragons. Something definitely was off kilter.
“You’n gonna stay here. No questions dis time. Dis is da crew’s bunker, an’ da safest place ta be at da moment. I’m gonna go fin’ de captain an’ get an assesmen’.” Tybor looked directly at Rowen and Aidan, “Stay here; an’ I mean it,” he ordered before leaving.
Rowen was too nervous to protest this time. He had no intentions of getting mixed up with dragon complications. And he definitely wasn’t going to challenge Tybor on this order, especially knowing that Tybor knew that he and Aidan disobeyed him, but also sure that fact was the least of their worries for now.
Should I tell them about the Annokai aboard the ship? He looked at Aidan and Tat, he could read the terror already scrawled on their faces. No, I should wait. Right now just wasn’t the time to add more fear. He would need to tell them soon though; he knew that sooner or later he wouldn’t have a choice about it.
After waiting awhile, the previous warning announcement stopped, and a different voice rang out over the intercom. “This is your captain speaking. We need all passengers to remain in the designated areas. At this time we are assessing the damage made to the ship. The dragons have passed, but we are not out of the danger zone yet. Please remain calm and wait further instructions.” The message was repeated two more times, possibly in case anyone that was still in shock could actually hear the full message.
As minutes passed, others in the room began to whisper between them. All eyes were on Tat, Aidan and Rowen. Nods and fingers were being pointed in their direction. Rowen strained to hear them. Did everyone think they had something to do with all of this?
“They say the black doves were looking for them...”, “Those human children are with Ambassador MonSeils...”, “Let Kismet have mercy on us for being stuck in
here with that lot...”. Yup, they were definitely whispering about them.
“Guys, I don’t know how safe it is for us to be here,” Rowen told them.
“Well, I’m not going anywhere,” Aidan responded, then looked at the others in the room. “Tybor’s obviously ticked at us already. They can just deal.”
Tat said nothing, just looked as if she were in shock and stared at the floor.
“OK, chill. I didn’t say we needed to, just don’t know how friendly the folk are in here.”
“Tat, are you OK?” Aidan put his hand on her shoulder but she barely reacted. “Tat?” he repeated.
“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry, it’s just I’m worried about Tok.”
“Tok’s a smart gal, she’ll be alright,” he tried to reassure her but she just stared in the other direction.
A crewman that Aidan recognized from the engine room anxiously entered the bunker, “Ambassador MonSeils is climbing the rigging.”
“What?!” gasps sounded from all around, and Tat snapped out of it acknowledging the reference to Tybor.
“A dragonling is tangled in the ropes and chains. He’s climbing it to set it free!” The crewman ran out of the room undoubtedly to go into the next set of rooms and deliver the news as well.
The room fell silent except for a bit of whispering in hushed tones, none of which Rowen or Aidan could make out.
“We gotta go–”
“NO!” Aidan yelled in the middle of Rowen’s statement, “he told us to stay here and that’s what WE are going to do.”
“Aidan’s right Rowen. I’m worried about Tok but even I’m not stupid enough to go out there right now.”
“Fine then. You stay here,” Rowen huffed. “Both of ya, I don’t care, but I’m going to make sure he’s safe!”
“No you’re not!” Aidan stood in front of Rowen with arms crossed. “We’re staying put. All of us.”
“He may need our help man!”
The Fateless: Errata Page 19