Gareth and th Lost Island (30 page)

From his hip pocket, Sheldon pulled out a small disk
made of gold, with a red crystal set in the middle. The crystal
flashed with an internal light about once every second as he held
it in his hand. “See, it’s just like we described,” the right
eyestalk said. “We were shifting around some of the empty crates,
and found this wedged in between the floorboards and the wall,” it
explained.

Elizabeth shot out of the wheelhouse, and ran to
where Sheldon stood. As she got closer, her frown deepened. She
couldn’t be certain, but it looked like the interval between
flashes was getting quicker. Elizabeth held out her good hand, and
Sheldon handed over the disk. She flipped it over, and felt fear
start to creep down her neck when she saw magic runes were engraved
on the back of it. “Professor, get over here now!” she ordered.
When Gareth stood next to her, she handed over the disk. “What type
of runes are these?” she asked, afraid she already knew the
answer.

Gareth traced his finger along the runes, worried the
disk was some sort of sabotage device left behind by the pirates.
He frowned in confusion when he figured out what the magic runes
did. “That’s odd. These first runes are just a simple lighting
spell. It’s what is causing the crystal to glow every so often. The
second set of runes are part of a spell used to enact a bonding
ritual, but I have no idea why you would want to bond two gold
disks like this together. It’s not like you could use them to
communicate, or anything like that. The lighting spell is even
woven into the binding ritual. The disk would only be able to stay
lit if it was near its mate. Sort of a dumb design if you ask me,”
he stated.

After a second, the color drained from Gareth’s face.
“Unless that’s exactly the effect they are looking for,” he
muttered. Gareth pinched the bridge of his nose when he put the
pieces together. “I think we’re in trouble. It wouldn’t be hard at
all to use a pair of these to track someone. The closer you got,
the quicker the crystal would start to flash,” he explained.
Looking down at the disk, they all saw it was now flashing about
three times over two seconds.

Gareth had confirmed the Captain’s fears. She grabbed
the disk, and threw it as far over the side of the ship as she
could. “Pilot, tell Izzy to fire up the Aetherium furnace, and be
ready to burn whatever Aetherium ore we have on hand!” she ordered.
Elizabeth brought the spyglass back up to her eye, and looked
behind them. “Damn it!” she swore as she was able to make out four
white shapes in the clouds that were far too regular to be natural.
She twisted the spyglass tube, and was able to increase the
magnification. “Flaming dragon shit!” she cursed before running
back to the wheelhouse and handing the spyglass to Pilot. Pointing
towards what she saw, she commanded, “Tell me what you see
there.”

Pilot took a moment to look through the spyglass
before he dropped it, and spun the wheel in an effort to use the
wind to gain more speed and distance from what he had seen. “I saw
what looks like a destroyer, with three frigates as escorts. None
of them are flying any sort of colors to show what country they are
from. It seems as though the pirates have found us again,” he
finally replied.

Turning to face Sheldon, Elizabeth raised her
mechanical arm, and pointed towards the bow of the ship. “Sheldon,
man the cannon. It probably won’t hurt them much, but I won’t go
down without a fight!” she said angrily. “Pilot, get us out of
here!” she ordered.

Pilot didn’t reply, he just spun the wheel to change
their orientation to the wind even more. The Glorious Dawn
shuddered a bit as her large sails billowed fully. He also reduced
power to the Aetherium tubes in an attempt to use the dive to gain
even more speed.

The whine of a 16 pound cannonball rushing through
the space they had just occupied told them the pirates realized
they had been spotted. The three escort frigates broke off from the
destroyer, and spun their double propellers into overdrive. A
second shot from one of the destroyer’s huge cannons missed, but
only did so by a small margin. Pilot reengaged the Aetherium tubes
at full power, causing Gareth to fall over as the Glorious Dawn
shot back up into the sky. The third cannonball whistled harmlessly
through the air below them.

“The destroyer has three main guns on deck. It will
take them a couple of minutes to reload,” Pilot announced, as he
spun the wheel again to try and confuse their pursers.

The door to the lower decks burst open, and Tralnis
poked his head out. “What in the hells are you people doing up
here?!” he demanded to know. The closest of the frigates fired both
of its four pound cannons loaded will ball and chain shot, smaller
cannonballs attached by a heavy piece of chain in the middle. The
first shot shattered the doorframe above Tralnis’ head, peppering
his arm with wood splinters. The second shot ripped through the
center of their main sail, leaving a large tear. Tralnis picked the
largest splinter out of his arm, and yelled, “Never mind!”

“Doctor, get Teesh and Henry down into the engine
room with Izzy. It’s the most heavily reinforced part of the ship,”
the Captain ordered. Tralnis nodded his head, and took the stairs
down two at a time.

Sheldon’s eyestalks were in constant motion, scanning
for targets in range. The eyestalks worked together to give Sheldon
multiple depth perception pictures to work with. The Kwa-Kwa-Ur
swiveled the cannon, and fired by pulling a string to activate the
old flintlock mechanism. A two pound cannonball shot out, and
slammed into the port side propeller of the nearest frigate,
shattering the blades. The sudden loss of one its propellers caused
the frigate to spin away to the left now that its propulsion system
was no longer balanced.

Pilot cut power to the Aetherium tubes once again,
but was unable to fully get out of the way of the second frigate’s
guns. Their first ball and chain shot tore through their secondary
sail, while the chain on the other shot sheared off the top of the
secondary mast. The sail fluttered down to the deck in two large
pieces.

The third frigate peppered the Glorious Dawn’s deck
with grapeshot, several smaller metal balls fired out of the cannon
instead of a regular cannonball. One of the smaller metal balls
slammed into Sheldon’s back. While an Ur’s skin was strong enough
to withstand that strong of a hit, the impact still sent him flying
across the deck. He was knocked out when he hit the wheelhouse.
Several of the other metal spheres crashed into the Glorious Dawn’s
cannon, shattering the firing mechanism beyond repair.

The destroyer fired one of its main cannons below and
to the right of the Glorious Dawn. Pilot was forced to steer away
from the shot, and be corralled towards the two fully functional
frigates. A second shot from the destroyer went through the same
bit of empty air to reinforce where they wanted the Leyship to
go.

The second frigate fired off two more volleys of ball
and chain shot. The spinning chains sawed through the main mast ten
feet above deck level. The large wood post fell sideways onto the
deck railing, crushing it before sliding off of the ship. A few
seconds later, the mast made a huge splash as it hit the ocean far
below them.

Regular four pound cannonballs fired from the third
frigate slammed into the deck in front of the wheelhouse. Pilot was
struck in the head by flying debris, leaving him lying senseless at
the base of the steering wheel. Elizabeth fared no better than
Pilot, and lay unconscious near the stairwell to the lower
decks.

Gareth ignored the pain from the numerous small cuts
he received on his arms. He dashed back into the wheelhouse, and
tore open the top of the speaking tube that led down to the engine
room. “Izzy, burn the Aetherium ore, and flood the tubes with as
much charged Aetherium gas as you can,” Gareth yelled. He had
watched Pilot steer the ship, and had been given basic lessons in
how the ship worked by Izzy.

“Gareth? Where’s Pilot or Elizabeth?” Izzy asked,
wondering why her boyfriend was giving orders.

“Hurt, and we’ve lost both sails and the cannon. Our
only chance is to try and loose them in the storm,” Gareth
replied.

Izzy paused for a second. “If I flood the tubes with
that much charged gas, they could shatter,” she told him. Izzy
didn’t think she needed to tell him what would happen if they lost
their magical propulsion system that high above the ocean.

“And if we don’t, we might as well surrender to the
pirates right now,” he countered.

“Understood,” Izzy replied. “I’m going to flood tubes
now. We’ll be at maximum power when the needle on the gauge to your
left goes into the red zone,” she told him. After a second, Izzy
added, “If we get out of this alive and free, you and I are
definitely going to take our relationship to the next level!”

“Aye-aye, Engineer!” Gareth said with a smile,
despite how hopeless their situation looked. He waited while the
magic energy in the Aetherium tubes built up to a near critical
level. When the needle on the gauge entered the red markings, he
threw the throttle wide open. The Glorious Dawn leapt ahead at a
pace no dirigible could match.

Gareth made the mistake of heading for the storm
clouds in a straight line. One of the destroyer’s gunners managed
to lead the Glorious Dawn with his 16 pound cannon correctly, and
sent the huge metal ball crashing through the Captain’s ready room
and quarters. The impact shook the Glorious Dawn down to her
individual timbers.

A second shot from the destroyer wasn’t aimed as
well, and missed the main hull of the Glorious Dawn. Unfortunately,
the cannonball did manage to slam into their port side Aetherium
tube. The crystal and wood device shattered with a brilliant green
light. Gareth slammed the wheel over, while Izzy rerouted their
remaining magically charged gas to their starboard tube. The third
shot went wide as the Glorious Dawn slipped into the dark cloud
banks of the massive electrical storm.

Wind driven rain pelted Gareth’s face, as he kept the
wheel steady by hooking one arm through the rungs and bracing one
foot against the remains of the wheelhouse railing. He squinted as
the clouds went from almost pitch black, to blindingly illuminated
by flashes of lightning, and then back to darkness again. Gareth
kept a wary eye on the gauge that showed how high above sea level
they were. No matter what he did, he couldn’t stop the needle from
showing they were losing altitude at an alarming rate.

Gareth felt, more than saw, an island just off of
their port side. He was able to make out some sort of lighthouse on
the island. Gareth dug his foot in harder, and pushed the wheel
with all of his strength to change their course. The ship
shuddered, but reluctantly obeyed his commands.

Gareth allowed himself a flicker of hope that they
would make it to the island before a bolt of lightning struck the
starboard Aetherium tube. The tube held, but the magical backlash
knocked the remaining crew and Teesh unconscious. Without Gareth to
fight the controls, the Glorious Dawn slewed sideways, and then
slammed into the storm driven waves of the ocean surrounding the
Island of Mascal.

With a terrible pounding in his head, Tralnis kept
his eyes closed as he took stock of his other senses. He wiggled
his fingers and toes. Considering how much pain he was in, Tralnis
was surprised when they all worked. His inner ears told him that he
was lying flat on his back. The sound of waves crashing against a
beach explained why his whole body felt wet. A persistent cold
tapping on his forehead finally convinced Tralnis to open his eyes.
When he did, he found himself staring into an oval metal “face”. A
clear glass plate covered the face where the eyes and nose would
have been on a person. Under the glass was a mass of lenses and
instruments for which Tralnis had no idea what they were for. A two
inch piece of rectangular crystal served as a mouth for the face.
The rest of the face looked to be made of smooth brushed brass.

“Greetings, small biological specimen,” a feminine
voice said from the metal face. The crystal mouth glowed white with
each word spoken.

Tralnis shifted his head to look at the rest of the
thing speaking to him. The head was set on a cylindrical body that
had a rounded end on the bottom. The machine had three arms, two on
the sides and one in the center of what Tralnis thought of as its
chest. The outer arms had three joints, and ended in mechanical
hands with four fingers and a thumb like most of the sentient
species of Hadronus. The center arm had twice as many joints, and
ended in a three fingered hand with another lens mounted in the
palm. It was that hand which had been tapping on his forehead.
Three crystal hemispheres containing swirling, purple gas were
mounted on the bottom of the cylindrical body. The hemispheres were
providing lift and propulsion in much the same way as a Leyship’s
Aetherium tubes did.

“Um… hello,” Tralnis replied cautiously. He knew of a
few experiments his people had done in trying to build automatons,
but none of them had even come close to what he was seeing now.

The mechanical face pivoted to the right and called
out, “This small biological specimen is awake.”

The loud crunching of sand underneath something very
heavy had Tralnis sit up, and turn to look in the direction of the
sound. A second mechanical creature was rolling towards them on
large jointed treads. The treads were mounted on either side of a
rectangular engine housing. Above the engine house was an
articulated waist that led to a wide body covered in angular plates
of armor. Two enormous arms were mounted on the sides of the body
that were almost long enough to reach the ground while the machine
was upright. The mechanical head of this machine kept up the
rectangular theme of the rest of its body. The face was softened
some by the corners and edges of the head being rounded off. A
similar crystal mouth compared to the first robot was set below
three crystal lenses mounted on a triangular frame. Two of the
crystals were clear, while the third was blood red. At the moment,
one of the clear crystals was at the top of the triangle with the
red one sitting at the bottom right. While the first automaton had
skin of brushed brass, this one’s metal skin was black like wrought
iron.