Chasing the Lantern (23 page)

A strange howl arose from the ship above him. Mordecai saw a flash of light back near the helm and a pirate flew off the deck of the ship, yelling in Greisheim.
Damn you, Konrad
, he thought. He had been counting on the aetherite's help once he got aboard. The rope jerked beneath him; others were climbing now and following his lead.

The deck above grew ominously silent. Figures appeared, peeking over the gunwales. Directly above, Mordecai spied the waif he'd seen on Fengel's crew. She moved out of sight, then returned with a boarding hatchet in her hands.

No.
"Don't you dare," he grunted. She raised the hatchet, and he saw a flash of pearly teeth in the dark. "No, no, no, no—" The hatchet swung down.

The rope parted with a snap and suddenly, horribly, he was falling. He landed in a tangle of pirates that fell back onto the treasure on the beach, bouncing and landing and rolling painfully down to the waterline in the sand. Mordecai put his pain to the back of his mind. He pushed himself up from the sand and clambered to his feet, looking for another means of getting back to the ship.

All around him the others were falling as well. Natasha landed with a yelp as the rope she'd been climbing was cut, and the other mooring lines were falling away, the pirates upon them landing on the wreckage of the
Albatross
or splashing into the river. The
Dawnhawk
started rising.

"Get back here!" shouted Mordecai at the retreating airship. "Get back down here and face me, you cowards!"

Light bloomed up above. Lanterns on the unseen deck illuminated the ribbed gas-bag frame. A tall figure in an officer's coat leaned over the rail amidships. "Hallo the beach!" he cried.

One of Natasha's crew, Reaver Jane, took an enterprising shot with a pistol. It went wide. Two more figures leaned over the railing, each with an oil-lantern. Mordecai recognized Sarah Lome and the waif. Fengel's monocle reflected their light.

Natasha picked herself out from the pile of pirates she'd collapsed into. "You're alive!" she yelled in surprise.

"So sorry to disappoint," replied Fengel.

"Get down here!" cried Mordecai. "Get down here and fight me!"

Fengel rubbed his chin. "Now, why would I do that? I have
my
new ship back, and a hold full of treasure to boot! No, I think we'll be flying away now. Enjoy the beach." He made to turn away.

"Fight me fairly!" snarled Mordecai. He drew his blade and shook it at the airship as it lifted away. "Come back and fight me fairly, you dog!"

Fengel paused, and looked back down at the snarling pirates below him. "Now, Mordecai. What was it that you said?" The pirate captain made a show of rubbing his chin, as if he were having trouble remembering something. Then he snapped his fingers. "Ah. That's it. We're
pirates
, after all. Yes." He moved out of sight as braying, mocking laughter echoed out from the unseen deck above. The waif waved down at him and disappeared.

"Shoot them!" screamed Mordecai. "Get aboard, kill them!"

A few shots rang out. None of them hit an important mark. Natasha and her pirates ran frantically around, uncertain what to do. Mordecai raged. But it wouldn't do any good, he knew. Fengel and his Men moved out from under the
Copper Queen
, rising higher and higher as the raincloud above them disappeared.

A wind picked up, sending the
Copper Queen
drifting southward. The
Dawnhawk
flew away, with all their treasure aboard. And there was nothing he could do.

Chapter Thirteen

"Again," said Allen. "Thanks for not leaving me behind."

Lina moved another barrel aside. "Mmhmm."

"I really do appreciate it.

The storeroom was dark and cluttered. Sealed casks filled it almost to the ceiling of the deck above them. They held provisions like salt pork and fresh water. Other objects were jammed in there as well: ropes, spare lumber, boxes of nails. Small spaces threaded between the piles to form a twisty, winding maze that Lina could just squeeze through. At the door behind her stood Allen, the Mechanist-in-training. He held up an oil lantern scavenged from the stocks. It threw odd shadows about the confines of the space.

Three hours had passed since the retaking of the
Dawnhawk.
It had been absurdly easy. Fueled by their anger, Fengel's Men had overpowered the skeleton crew left aboard the ship, even continuing to pull up the loot that Natasha's Reavers thought they were recovering. Once they'd been discovered, Fengel had Sarah Lome cut all the mooring lines. The airship floated up and away into the night, leaving the
Copper Queen
drifting the other way, and his foul harpy of a wife screaming epithets from the sandy beach she and most of her crew were marooned upon. In all, Lina thought they'd let her go easy.

But she couldn't argue with results. There were eight captives aboard, and Fengel and Lucian were seeing to them now. She'd scurried about with the crew, making sure they were shipshape and that there hadn't been any surprises arranged since last they'd been aboard. The Mechanist took the change in command impassively, grabbing Allen by the ear and lecturing him all the way down to the boiler room. Things had quieted, and now they hovered over the jungles of the Yulan, heading for Breachtown and its break in the Stormwall with a hold full of silver and gold. Lina had begged off as soon as she could, and now scoured the dark corners of the ship belowdecks after finding Allen out on some task for the Mechanist.

The room was of a fair size. Someone, or something could hide fairly well back here a long time before being noticed. With the recent activity in the hold she doubted that her missing pet would be there, or even on the same deck. Back here though, with pork, water, and plenty of dark crannies to hide in, she thought there was a fairly good chance of finding him. At least she hoped so. Lina wasn't particularly fond of the idea of searching the coal-stores, which was the next place on her list.

She hadn't meant to keep the thing. Especially with how badly off they'd been in the aftermath of the scryn attack. But there was just something so...innocent about the runty little creature. It reminded her of herself, in a way; both of them were small and deeply out of their element. It hadn't tried to attack her after it returned, and seemed almost affectionate. Though admittedly that might have been the drink. So she gave it a tipple to knock it out, shoved it in a bag, and took it down below to her hammock. As soon as they'd come aboard again she'd gone down to the bunks; her few meager possessions had been gone through, but the sack was still there. It was split open however and covered in blood. Human, though. Someone had obviously found the little scryn. Maybe they had even killed it. But she hoped not.
I should at least have a look around
.

Lina slipped the hip flask from her belt. Ryan had given it to her after rescuing everyone in thanks. She'd refilled it from his cask. Now she uncorked it, holding the open end out in front of her, away from her face. The pungent scent brought instant tears to her eyes.

"Pfaugh!" cried Allen. "What is that stink?"

"Pet food," said Lina absentmindedly.

"Gah. Smells like rotten apples." The young Mechanist spoke overloud, as if trying to comfort himself in the dark room. "Lina, you don't think your captain will take us through the Stormwall again, do you?" He shuddered.

"No," replied Lina. "I overheard him talking with Lucian. We're bound for Breachtown as fast as the propellers can take us. There's an opening there we can use to get out to the Atalian Sea, and then back home.
Dawnhawk's
a good ship. No need to threaten her in that mess, aye? Especially since we don't have to worry about being chased anymore. No way Natasha will get after us again, and the
Queen
is pretty much done for."

The Mechanist digested this, then he nodded. "Well ... good. But there aren't any aetherlines that run up toward Breachtown. It's going to take a few days trip, and there are still all sorts of weird, dangerous creature out here." He shuddered. "I've heard tales."

Lina ignored him. She crept between the stacked barrels, sloshing the container of Cure-all back and forth.

Something made a noise.

Lina paused. She shook the hip flask, sending a pungent vapor of liquor wafting about. "Hey, there. Hey there you runty little monster. Are you back here?"

The noise came again, from the far side of the room. There the casks met the rounded walls of the airships hull to make a small space. Lina crept up softly toward it. She made soft but obvious sounds and kept up a constant stream of low-grade baby talk.

Lina walked up to the last row of barrels and stopped. The shuffling noise echoed out from behind the barrels. A thousand thoughts raced through her mind.
This is madness. Worse, it's stupid. How do I know it won't just attack me?
The scryn had actually done that, until she'd gotten it drunk. She took a breath. Ah well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And the creature
really
seemed to like the Corsair's Cure-all. She turned the corner, smiling.

A pirate stared back at her.

He was only average height, but bulky. A round gut strained beneath his sweat-stained shirt, open down to the middle of his chest. His beard was thin and his hair long and wild. He stared at her like a cornered animal.

The pirate leapt at her with a snarl. Surprised, Lina yelled. She pulled instinctively back as the man rammed into the casks to her right. His outstretched hand grabbed at her shoulder and just missed, still slamming her hard enough to spin her around as she dodged. Lina fell to the wooden floor.

"What's going on?" asked Allen plaintively. "What was that noise?"

"Get help!" yelled Lina. She didn't recognize the pirate. He must have been one of Natasha's Reavers, hidden belowdecks when they'd taken the ship.

"Shut up!" snarled the pirate. "Shut yer yap, you whore!"

He leapt at her from where he'd fallen. His bulk landed on her legs, trapping her feet while he grabbed at her head. She yelled out again and blocked him.

"I'm coming, Lina!" yelled Allen. The light at the back of the room grew momentarily brighter, then stopped, shaking madly as he got caught in the first path back through the barrels. The young Mechanist cursed.

Allen would be useless in a fight.
No, you idiot
.
Go get help!

The pirate was crawling on top of her, still grabbing at her face. He aimed clumsy blows at her head, but she was quick. Even though she was trapped, she ducked and weaved and bucked away from them. Lina knew she couldn't keep that up for long though.

She needed a weapon. The way he flailed, she couldn't risk grabbing for the heavy dagger at her belt, one she'd yet to return to Henry Smalls. Worse, it was trapped between her hip and the wooden decking. She realized she still held the hip flask in one hand. The contents splashed everywhere, mostly on the pirate.

Metal's metal.
Lina ducked a clumsy blow and went on the offensive. She grabbed the pirate around one forearm and pulled it aside, just enough so that she could lash out at his head with her impromptu weapon. It landed with a
thunk
that jarred her arm and cut his eyebrow. She lost her grip on the flask and it fell, splashing Cure-all everywhere. The pirate screamed as the burning liquor seeped into his eyes. He scrabbled backwards, clutching at his face.

Lina moved, too. She crawled away from him, between the barrels and back toward Allen. The pirate growled behind her and she whirled, sitting up, drawing her dagger in a smooth motion and holding it before her.

Natasha's Reaver had his back to the hull, facing her. He pressed the palms of his hands to his eyes, groaning. Pulling them away, he glared blearily at her. The skin around his eyes was swollen and puffy. Blood seeped down his face in a steady stream from the cut on his eyebrow.

"You bitch," he gasped. A dark look came over his features. He sat up to kneel, growling low in his throat. Lina swallowed; before, he wanted to quiet her. Now their fight had changed.

A red light bloomed from atop the barrels above them. It shifted slowly, illuminating Lina and the pirate before her. She looked up to see the wide underbelly of a scryn.

The creature leapt. It screamed as it landed on the pirate, its manta-wings wrapping around his forehead. The man yelled and threw up his hands. It did no good. The scryn wrapped itself tight and lashed out with the sting on its tail whenever the pirate tried to grab it.

Behind her the barrels shifted. Some fell down in the paths off to the side. Warm yellow light illuminated the scene as Allen bulled through to stand above Lina.

"Lina! Oh good Goddess above!"

The enemy pirate stilled, his arms swollen from the poison of the scryn. Abruptly, the creature released him and he curled into a sobbing, bleeding ball. The serpentine creature flapped back from him to land on the deck between Lina and the pirate. It was covered in blood. The thing curled its wings around its body and sat upright.

"Chirr!" it said, happily. It flowed forward onto Lina's legs, then her chest and back. She held herself very still as it wrapped itself around her again, snuffling greedily at the hand that had held the flask.

Moving slowly, she picked the metal container up from the floor where it had fallen. The scryn perked up and she tipped the opening towards it. The scryn latched on greedily, like a baby with a bottle.

"Runt," she said quietly.

"What?" said Allen. The Brother of the Cog was almost beside himself in horror.

"I'm going to name him Runt," she said.

The pirate was still alive, amazingly. Runt calmed, drunk immediately off of the dregs of the flask and what it had sucked off of Natasha's Reaver. Lina sent Allen out to find the first crewmember he could. A few minutes later he returned with Ryan Gae.

Her friend leapt back in the doorway, fumbling at the cutlass at his side. "Lina! Get away from that!"