Chronicles of Gilderam: Book One: Sunset (5 page)

“Nobody hijacks
my
ship, you
tetsa
….”

The bridge was silent. Everyone was more than a little flabbergasted by Shazahd’s fiery outburst.

A guard came running into the bridge. “Sir!” he said to Owein. “The Tricorn ships are about to overtake us!”

Owein looked to Breld. “We need to get this ship moving. Now.”

“We’ll need to reset the engine order dial to All Ahead Full.” Breld ran down the steps to do it. “But we won’t get much power unless the engine room can match it.”

Shazahd grabbed one of the speaking tubes from the communications table and hollered, “Galif? Are you down there?” After a moment, a gruff voice returned from the tube, echoey and distant.

“
Shazahd? Is that you?
”

“We’ve got our ship back, but we’re about to be boarded. Two Tricorn ships astern. We need some thrust.”

“
Your father and I are already working on it. But we’re down to one turbine. It’s going to be close.
”

Breld reset the engine order telegraph, it dinged, and a new, horrible sound vibrated across the entire ship. It was the single remaining turbine straining to compensate for the demand. But, to everyone’s great elation,
Gilderam
gently began to sail forward at a slightly faster clip.

“Sir!” cried the boatswain from the foredeck of the lead Tricorn ship, where he stood waiting with the boarding party. “They’re picking up speed! We’re going to lose them!”

Perimos yanked the tricorn from his head and threw it to the deck.

“
Zatszvé!
” he roared. “Can’t those confounded
drindamum
get anything right?!” He wheeled around to face the cockpit window, waving madly to get the helmsmen’s attention. One of them saw him flailing.

“Fas–
ter!
” he yelled, mouthing the words and motioning with his arms toward
Gilderam
. “Don’t let them escape!”

The helmsman nodded, and turned to relay the order to the bridge crew.

“Captain!” called out the gunner from a battlement. “Should we open fire?”

“NO! No! Not yet. We can’t afford to sink her.”

In the engine room, Galif stood atop the rumbling turbine leaning into a wrench with all his weight. Slowly – very slowly – it gave into him. Along the wall on the second story a copper pipe exploded, sending a jet of laser-hot steam through the air.

“Ranaloc! Grab a clamp and close that leak!”

Shazahd’s voice shrieked through the speaking tube: “
Galif! Hurry up! They’re gaining on us!
”

Galif jumped down from the turbine and crossed to a panel of levers. As he adjusted them in rough tugs, the sounds of the growling turbine shifted and morphed.

Increasing boiler pressure in the pistons created a screaming whine. Its pitch was climbing too high, so he lowered it by diverting the pressure. Unnecessary cams engaging with the gearbox clunked with an abrasive
chug-chug-chug
, so he disengaged them one at a time. Using his ear, he tuned the engine to its best possible performance. Soon the room was thumping with a healthier-sounding, choppy grind.

Satisfied, he ran to the speaking tube.

“There. That should give you the speed we need.”

Galif returned his attention to the lone turbine just in time to see smoke beginning to roll out of it in thick, black puffs.

“Oh,
cizeeth
…” he said, and leapt back on top to work the wrench again.

“I need a pilot!” Breld called out from the helm. “
Bacar
….” He frantically threw levers to open ballonet intakes, turned dials to adjust wind calibration, and flipped switches to signal the ballast operators. “I can’t do this alone!”

“You,” said Shazahd to one of Owein’s guards. “You’re our new pilot. Get on that wheel and keep us straight.”

“But, I, uh –”

“What’s your name?”

“Cavada, miss, but I don’t – I mean, I’ve never –”

“Congratulations, Cavada.” She grabbed him by the arm and shoved him into the wheel. “You’ve just been promoted to Ensign. Now keep her steady.”

Shazahd turned back to the speaking tubes in the rear of the bridge and selected a new one.

“Aftcastle,” she said, “this is the bridge.”

After a moment, “
Aftcastle here
.”

“What’s their position?”

“
They’re still gaining
…
about five
entilum
and closing
.”

Shazahd dropped that tube and drew out another.

“Galif! If we don’t get any more speed we’re all going to be in a lot of trouble real soon!”

From the other end, indistinct swearing echoed from the engine room, partially censored by the awful slogging of broken machinery in the background. Mentrat’s voice, struggling for breath, was the one that eventually responded.

“
I think we’ve
…
almost got it
…” he said.

“Gods, I hope so.”

“More
power!
” ordered Perimos.

Behind the lead Tricorn ship, the usual column of coal-black nexane exhaust quadrupled as her engines revved up. The bulky vessel plowed forward recklessly, and outpaced the other Tricorn ship beside it.

Sailors on deck warily tracked the rapid approach of their target, bracing themselves against the gunwale for impact.

“Sir,” piped up the boatswain to Captain Perimos. “Don’t you think this is a bit fast? We’re going to ram them.”

Perimos only stared past him, hungrily monitoring his prey.

“
Captain!
” cried a tinny voice from the aftcastle tube. “
They’re coming in at ramming speed!
” Shazahd scrambled for the engine room tube.

“Galif! Dad! We need everything she’s got! NOW!”

In the engine room, Galif lugged on the wrench with all his weight. By now he’d almost pulled it completely horizontal. Mentrat came to his aid, pulling from the ground, but even their combined effort was not enough.

They adjusted their handholds and, working together, gave it an almighty shove.

It budged only slightly.

With gritted teeth and flexing muscle, they both poured every ounce of energy they had into one last try. Exerting themselves to the fullest, Galif grunted and Mentrat roared. Their faces screwed up with effort. Then the engine roared with them, crescendoing as the wrench finally began to submit beneath their force.

At last it gave way entirely, sending Galif flying down into Mentrat, and knocking them both to the ground.

The engine fired to life with a tremendous
boom!

In the ballroom, the guests and orchestra collectively whip-lashed as
Gilderam
exploded forward with remarkable and unexpected speed, bowling everyone over.

Just an
entil
away from boarding range,
Gilderam
shot ahead with unnatural speed, leaving the Tricorns shocked and deflated.

Captain Perimos wailed with fury.

“Man the guns!” he bellowed. “Fire at will!”

The boatswain echoed the order to the gun crews.

The crewmen, already prepared, opened fire on
Gilderam
. Cannons loosed a volley of hot iron balls into the cool night air. Those which hit the green canvas tore through it like wet paper. A pale-yellow gas spewed from the balloon wounds. The buoyant vapor escaped from the punctured chambers of the blimp in miniature geysers before dispersing into the atmosphere.

A few ballista bolts, heavy tree trunks tipped with iron arrowheads, sailed into the air. One missed completely, but two sank into the rear hull, and tore deep gashes into the darkwood paneling. Another disappeared into the balloon, and a fat puff of yellow gas exploded into the sky behind it.

The landed bolts were affixed to towropes, which the Tricorns quickly set about reeling in. But Gantas and a few others were ready, and with long scythes they chopped the ropes in two, and freed the ship.

Gilderam
sailed on, beating even the Tricorn’s best speed with her single working turbine. Perimos stared after it, marveling in disbelief at the sudden acceleration. He’d never seen a ship move like that.

In fact, no one had.

Glowering, the captain could only watch his prey flee, knowing well that by the time his men reloaded their weapons, they’d already be out of range.

The aftcastle reported, “
Tricorns are descending. It appears they’ve given up on us.
”

Shazahd slumped her shoulders in relief and raked a hand across her brow. “Master Maeriod,” she said, “could you go and explain to my guests why they were all locked in the ballroom for the duration of… whatever just happened?”

Owein glared at her incredulously, but she bent forward to cradle her head in her hands.

“Sure,” Owein said pointedly. “I’d love to.” And he left.

“Good work, Ensign,” Shazahd said to Cavada through her hands. “You make a fine sailor.”

Cavada exhaled, beside himself. “If you weren’t going to be married, Miss Ranaloc, you’d make a pretty decent captain yourself.”

Captain Breld shot him a look from the helm. Cavada gulped.

“Don’t be a
tetsa
,” Shazahd said.

Fulo unlocked the ballroom doors at long last, allowing Owein admittance. He faced a grim crowd. Every single person leered at him. At this point, even the orchestra was shooting him death-stares. One of the scowling fiddlers held the pieces of his crushed instrument in his arms.

“Where is Mentrat? What has been going on? We demand some answers!”

“Lords and Ladies,” Owein began, “we thank you for your patience and cooperation. This temporary…
inconvenience
has been …resolved.”

In unison, the entire ballroom began screaming at him. Unable to make out a single word, Owein turned to Fulo and Gor’m for assistance, but they only shrugged. Owein noticed Fulo had a bloody lip, and inquired about it by scrunching his eyebrows. Fulo shrugged again.

At last, someone with the proper gravitas pushed their way forward and shouted down the other guests.

“That is
enough!
” he yelled.

The room fell silent. Owein was stunned to see who it was.

“Councilor…” he breathed.

“Commander Maeriod. You’ve certainly turned a new leaf.”

“It’s been a long time.”

“Indeed it has,” said Councilor Thalius. “But I suppose some things never change. You haven’t lost your predilection for violence, I see. No surprise there.”

“I offer protection. Security. Right now it’s
your
security I’m concerned with, Councilor. Kind of ironic, huh?”

“Not really, Owein. It’s simply an unfortunate coincidence.” Owein scoffed under his breath. “It’s some fine job you’ve been doing protecting us all. I think we’d all like to commend you for how
safe
we all feel.”

“Listen, I –”

“No,
you
listen, Maeriod! I don’t know how you think you can get away with locking us in here like animals while gods-know-what happens all around us, but I’m going to see to it that you never get another opportunity to
protect
anyone ever again! Clearly
once
was not enough! Some people just won’t learn.” Councilor Thalius turned to address the ballroom. “Would you all like to know the man who is in charge of our
protection?
May I introduce you to him?” He faced Owein again. “Lords and Ladies, I present
Ex-
Commander Owein Maeriod! Also known as Mad –!

Bang!

A gunshot rang out, and Owein noticed a suddenly peculiar look on the councilor’s face. His eyes became soft, almost pleading.

“Oh… my…” said the councilor as blood trickled out the corner of his mouth, and he fell face-first onto the floor. There was a bloody hole in his back.

Behind Councilor Thalius, the crowd parted to form a corridor leading all the way back to his killer, who was still standing on the far side of the room with a smoking gun in his outstretched hand.