The duelist 7, p.19
The Duelist 7, page 19
“What is Black Day?” I asked with the appropriate amount of trepidation for something named Black Day. It sounded a lot more sinister and foreboding than something like Black Friday back in my world.
Call me crazy, but I had a feeling this had nothing to do with fabulous marked down prices.
“Black Day is the one day during the season when the moon travels in front of the sun and blocks her out for the whole day,” Jenner explained as he slipped effortlessly into his iconic Ask Jeeves Mode. “Don’t you have any sort of astrological phenomenon like this back where you come from, Alex?”
“We do, actually, it’s called a solar eclipse, but ours only lasts a few minutes, not the whole day,” I answered. “Is there a reason why they have to wait until this day of the year before they can commence with the Oath?”
“They must wait because the Ocean is a little less powerful during Black Day than it is on any other day,” he said. “This is because the more sun that touches the water, the more potent the water is.”
“How far away is Black Day?” I asked in an attempt to put together a timeline in my head.
“Black Day is about four or five fickles off, so we should have time to try to figure out whether or not our dear Amaya is the Prophetess,” Jenner finished and then hopped off his stool. “In the meantime, I think I have something all of you would like to see. If you would be so kind, follow me, and don’t forget to watch your step. Shay, I think you know where I’m going with this, so would you be so good as to open the hatch door to the deck below us?”
“Yes, of course!” the phoenix-woman said, and she jumped up just as enthusiastically from her seat as Jenner did. “Horus, help me.”
The falcon-man still looked quite melancholy, but he was at least out of his head a little bit in order to follow Shay’s simple instructions. He went over to the hatch door located in the middle of the room and helped her open it.
Then we all followed the koala-man down the iron ladder and onto the steering platform I was on just the night before.
Even though it was well and truly daytime by now, the crystal power source was still glowing brightly despite the sunlight.
“What is this place?” Zoie asked as her jaw hung slack.
I could tell based on the slight twitch of her perked ears and her expanded pupils that she was intrigued and probably trying to work out how everything went together before someone explained it to her.
“I have been calling it the engine room,” Jenner said as he rocked up on the balls of his feet like he was pleased, but then he frowned and cocked his big-eared head. “Although, that’s not entirely accurate because we are also where we steer the ship, so maybe the wheelhouse would be more accurate. I haven’t decided, but regardless, this is the place where we make the airship go, so to speak. For the most part, she can maintain a heading on her own once she’s set, but I figured now is as good of a time as any to learn how to maneuver her up and down.”
“How long did it take you to figure everything out?” I asked my trusty koala-butler and resisted the urge to pat him on his furry head. Somehow, I knew he wouldn’t appreciate the gesture as much as I probably would.
“I’ll admit I got a lot of help from Gella Vane and his journal rantings,” he explained. “The man was obsessed over a handful of things, and we are just lucky one of them was this machine. He became quite meticulous with the details as he wrote down how to operate it if he ever found an ideal power source.”
“And who helped you build everything?” Zoie asked as she leaned slightly over the railing so she could look at the beautiful sails arcing out from the beams.
“Our good steward of Monger Manor, Asher Redburn, helped Bodin with the design,” the koala-man said. “He’s a pretty handy fellow when it comes down to it. He’s the one who helped me figure out how to actually make her fly. Would you all like a demonstration?”
The four of us grinned at each other before nodding enthusiastically at Jenner like we were children asking for another helping of dessert.
What took place next was a quick run-down of the basic commands. Basically, with one hand on the power source, the object was to think of the intention behind how you wanted the ship to behave. From what I understood, it was a matter of willing the ship to fly with your own conviction despite the odds against something like this being possible.
At least, I thought that was how he explained it, but I automatically attributed it to a Peter Pan fairy dust kind of thing and left it at that.
Shay was the first one to try to drive after Jenner explained how it worked, and with one hand on the wheel and one on the crystal, she screwed up her face in determination and actually got the ship to rise a few feet in the air before she was spent.
“That was a lot more difficult than you made it out to be, Mr. Jenner,” my phoenix-wife said after she took a moment to catch her breath.
“It’s true, it is not easy at first,” he agreed as he patted her wrist. “But like anything, the more you practice at it, the easier it will become. My goal is for all of us on this ship to become capable enough to maneuver it wherever we might need to just in case something happens. That being said, who’s next?”
“Me!” Horus said with a little more of his usual playfulness intact, and I shared a glance with both Jenner and Shay.
Jenner really was a genius in his gentle way of taking our minds off the fact we were leaving two of our people behind. In fact, it was so nice to have his company again, as well as Arvid and Rylan, that it was rather bittersweet to have to now leave without Amaya and Anwaar. But I wasn’t about to spoil all of Jenner’s hard work, so I pushed the thought aside and focused on how best to beat Horus in flying this airship.
Currently, the falcon-man was concentrating so hard beads of sweat stood out on his brow. Through his labored breaths, the airship was able to move up several meters before it dropped a bit, and then it went up several more.
So far, he’d surpassed Shay in how far he could move the ship, but now it was my turn, and I playfully shoved him out of the way.
“Step aside, amateur,” I said and then pretended to brush invisible lint off my sleeves. “I will show you how this is done.”
Just like Jenner demonstrated, I placed my right hand over the green glowing orb embedded in the center of the wooden wheel, and I found it pulsed slightly under my hand and gave off a warm feeling, almost like a television that had been left on for too long. With my other hand, I made sure to get a good grip on the wheel and held it steady in order to prevent it from slamming into either the side of the canyon, or god forbid, the palace balcony full of Terrans waving and carrying on with their epic goodbyes.
Then I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in order to concentrate on what I needed to do.
The power source under my hand throbbed strongly when I thought of it and its power. In my mind’s eye, I could see what I wanted the ship to do, which was keep floating up and out of the canyon so we could get on our way, wherever that might be. I knew the sooner we made headway on our next quest, the sooner Amaya would be back safe in my arms.
With all that in mind, I dug down deep, similar to when I reached for the time-trance, and willed the inanimate object to do my bidding.
The ship did respond, but not as strongly or as smoothly as I would have hoped. She did lift at least twice the height of what Horus made her do, but she wouldn’t go all the way before I ran out of steam. It took a lot more energy than Jenner had made it sound like to will something not alive to do your bidding.
“Ha,” I said as I gestured to the airship’s new height and then made a face at Horus. “I beat you.”
“Okay, my turn,” Zoie said as she stepped up to the bat. She glanced around the platform for a beat, licked her finger, and studied the way the wind was blowing like some badass Tomb Raider. Finally, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she placed her right hand on the power source.
Then, as easy as breathing, the cat-woman managed to easily fly us up and over the rim of Terr’s odd-shaped crater.
She also seemed to be really into it because it took her a few moments to notice she had an audience full of people with their jaws completely on the floor.
“Oh…” she trailed off with a slightly guilty blush. “Do any of you want another turn?”
“I don’t think my pride could take it,” the falcon-man joked. “Besides, I think I’d rather be a passenger.”
He demonstrated this, and his total okayness with being out-driven by a girl, by closing his eyes and letting the breeze ruffle his black-feathered crest like he was a guest on a mega yacht.
“How are you doing that, love?” Shay asked the cat-woman as she hooked her chin over Zoie’s shoulder. “It’s like you were born for this.”
“I agree,” I said as I hopped up on the platform railing and sat with my back toward the open air. “What are you doing differently than the rest of us?”
“I’m not really sure,” Zoie said as she turned the wheel slightly into the wind so the sails would do most of the work.
Before I could ask her any more questions about her awesome flying techniques, the hatch above us opened forcefully, and down came Bodin with a concerned look on his face.
“I hate to interrupt,” he said and wrung his hat between his lightly-clawed hands. “But it seems as if I cannot find Vela. You wouldn’t by chance happen to have seen her, have you?”
All of us exchanged glances with one another, and when it was clear none of us had seen the cockatoo-woman, we all came to the same conclusion at the same time and glanced back down at the island we’d just left.
Shit.
Chapter 16
“I think I have to be the bad guy and put it out there that maybe we left her back on Terr?” Horus said as all of us peered over the railing of the airship’s platform.
“Did any of you see Vela get off?” Bodin asked as the frown on his face grew deeper.
“None of us did,” Shay said as she wrung her hands together. “Would she have really wandered out?”
“When was the last time you saw the girl?” Jenner asked.
“Not too long ago,” Bodin said, and I was worried he would need a new cap by the time he was done twisting his apart. “She wasn’t feeling like herself again, and I suggested she go take a walk to clear her mind. I just hope she didn’t interpret that as meaning a walk off the ship.”
“Should I go back?” Zoie asked from her place still at the wheel. “I can take us back if you need me to.”
“Let’s think about this real quick,” I said before we did something like turn the whole kit and caboodle around. “Bodin, given the state she’s been in, do you really think Vela would have left to walk around a completely foreign place without you by her side?”
The raccoon-man paused in his hat mangling to think about what I’d said, and after a moment, I was relieved to see him take a small breath and return the wrinkled cap back to his head.
“No, you’re right, Mr. Alex, there’s no way she left the ship,” he said with a decisive nod.
“That means she’s still on board, and it is just a matter of finding her,” Jenner said. “For now, I suggest Zoie and I stay here so we can find our heading for Eng while the rest of you confirm our headcount.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I nodded.
“Oh, and can somebody inform Arvid about the dinner plans?” Jenner asked. “We know the old boy needs a bit of a head start if we plan to eat at a decent time.”
“I’ll track down the big guy,” Horus said.
“And the rest of us will split up,” I added. “If any of you find her, try to coax her to the galley.”
With our various tasks at hand, we all separated so we could search the airship for the confused cockatoo-woman.
As I meandered up and down the airship’s corridors, I let my mind wander. Now that I got a chance to really dwell on it, something about Vel-Rala’s behavior struck me as odd.
Well, aside from the obvious, of course.
I fingered the odd silver bell she demanded I carry with me at all times. At first, I had figured it was just some form of madness she’d succumbed to, so I didn’t really take it too seriously.
But ever since the night of the wedding when she insisted Zoie wear a particular flower in her hair, something began to niggle at me in its insistent niggling way.
After the events of that night, and a good night’s sleep, certain things began to stand out to me with crystal clear clarity, but I was too preoccupied and heartsick to notice at the time.
Now, the more I thought about the events leading up to the treacherous circus troupe, the more I realized how odd it was for someone to sneeze just close enough for me to actually hear it over the commotion in the large hall.
Then, when I thought back a little farther than that, I remembered how agitated the cockatoo-woman was before we all left. She’d somehow gotten it into her delusional head that Zoie would be safe as long as she kept the lucky flower in her hair all night.
At the time, it just sounded like more of her strange madness talking, but the truth of the matter was, if it wasn’t for that flower in Zoie’s hair, would that person have sneezed? And if that person hadn’t sneezed, would they have gotten away with it?
Regardless, ever since then, I’d decided I would keep the bell she gave me on my person at all times, because I was almost one hundred percent certain there would be a situation for me to test out my working theory once more.
For now, I was only intent on finding her because like I told her before, she was a part of my Crew no matter what, and aside from her strange behaviors, she was clearly suffering from something none of us really knew how to help her cope with.
So, the least I could do was track her down, make sure she wasn’t hurt, and make sure she had some food.
However, this was all easier said than done, because I’d forgotten a little about how this place was set up. I didn’t know how, but there was a moment where it didn’t matter which corridor I turned down, I always ended up back in the galley where I started.
After the third time I wandered in and out of the lower four corridors, I had filled in a third of my mental map of this place, but still hadn’t found Vel-Rala.
Even when I went to the second floor where the rest of the bedrooms were, she was nowhere to be found.
I paused for a moment at the bottom of the third-floor staircase and debated whether or not it would be a waste of time to check for her on the third floor where pretty much the only thing up there was the family quarters. Ostensibly, she would have no reason to go up there aside from housekeeping, but these days her housekeeping duties were temporarily suspended due to her mental health, so really I should just turn around and go back down the stairs.
Instead, I followed that little voice in my gut that told me I was on the right track even though logic would dictate otherwise, and I turned and walked up the stairs anyway.
It would be best to be thorough rather than overlook something obvious.
And I was glad I did so because it didn’t take me long to start hearing the sounds of a murmured conversation coming from the small study right at the top of the stairs.
I made sure my footsteps were nearly silent so I wouldn’t startle either one of them in there because over the top of Vela’s alto, there was a pleasant burr I recognized as Rylan’s tenor voice as he chatted to her in a way that sounded deliberate yet polite.
I tried to listen through the crack in the door and could only hear the tones of their voices, but both of them were in a better mental state than the last time I’d talked to them.
I couldn’t really make out any words, but it sounded as if Rylan would ask a question here and there, and after a moment he would receive a patient reply. It sounded so wholesome and normal, which was something these two people probably really needed at the moment, and I was almost sad to disrupt it.
But I did say to check in with everybody else back in the galley, so maybe the two of them could continue their engaging chat while all of us waited for some of Arvid’s delicious cooking.
So, before either of them could start up another small conversation, I opened the door with a little noise to announce my presence and make it seem like I hadn’t been trying to eavesdrop for the past ten minutes.
They both stopped anyway and stared at me, so I made a keep going gesture with my hands to let them know I wasn’t in so much of a hurry that they couldn’t finish their conversation.
“Hey, you guys,” I said as I pulled up a chair next to Rylan. “Don’t rush on my account, but I am here to tell you there will be Arvid’s awesome cooking later, so I hope you both are hungry.”
“I’m not very hungry,” Rylan admitted as he lowered his eyes to the table.
Before I could reply to that, the cockatoo-woman placed her hand on his shoulder until he looked up.
“Neither am I, but I do know I must eat, or else I will feel worse later on,” she told him sagely. “Now, come, what was your question?”
“So what do you do when someone wants to sell your products for you?” Rylan asked.
“Well, it’s pretty easy, you just have to be good with numbers and find out how much you need to sell it to that person for.” Vela turned to another page in the book they were both looking at.
I waited patiently while the cockatoo-woman jumped back in to explain something about market value and trend buying, or whatever. It sounded like a really boring econ class I used to have back in high school, and I’d vowed to myself I would never be an economist due to how utterly boring data analysis sounded.
Although, it was a well-known fact that Vel was a wizard when it came to selling things in the market, and as a good father, I wanted to encourage lessons of all kinds for Rylan, not just the ones I could teach him, so I resigned myself to pretending to be engaged for his sake.
And I had to admit, it was good to see Vela so… lucid and at ease.
