---Chapter 9
When lunch was over Jax lay a hand to the Di-jump and declared that it was cool enough to use once again. Lenny dangled the wire over the side to ground them, while Jax flipped very carefully through the worlds displayed within reach. This time, he consulted Leaflow before making the decision, and this time, he got it right.
The airship disappeared from the underground world with its everlasting gloom and red gleams, to reappear above a heaving ocean in a different dimension. The sky was deep lavender, broken here and there by odd streaks of darker purple and black. The sea reflected these colors and dulled them, becoming a bruised gray. A fine salt-spray blew against the airship and Patch stepped up to the rail, drawing in a deep breath of it.
“Ah, now this is more like it m’lads. This is home!”
“Something bad is happening here, all the same.” Jax eyed the purple streaks in the sky, which looked rather like the ones they had seen on buildings before. “I don’t like the looks of those. And I don’t think that they’re clouds.”
“Hey, there’s one straight ahead of us!” Raggsy exclaimed, pointing a claw past the cabin at something hovering in the air not far away. It was a streak, running up and down so that one tip was almost touching the sea and the other pointed at the sky. Fourty feet in all, the center of it was deep, light-sucking black, while the edges pulsed a jammy purple.
“Let’s get up close to it and see what it is!”
The Ratperson ran up into the bows to act as navigator, calling back instructions to Amber, who patiently sidled the ship up beside the floating thing, as close as they dared get. It was only a few yards from the rail now, as tall as the ship was long and at least a yard across at the widest point. Everyone crowded to that side of the airship, making it tip and bob as they leaned over to look at the smear. Lenny held out a hand and could feel the coldness coming off of it, like the air off of a block of ice.
“It’s eating into the very fabric of existence,” Patch said with a sort of gasp in his voice, “look ye in the center of it!”
Looking closer, Lenny saw a slight deviation in the utter blackness of its core. It was just a tiny gleam of something, like the reflection on a human eye. It looked to him like a purple palace or castle, though he could not be sure. But they did not dare get any closer to it. The whole ship might be eaten away or destroyed if the spot once touched it, not to mention the people aboard. Lenny remembered, it seemed so long ago now though it could not have been more than a few weeks, how he and Jax had seen a man who had touched a purple smear with his bare hand. The hand had been slowly corroded and the man had run off screaming.
“So, how do we find this sea witch Power Core now that we are here?” he asked Patch, turning to look at him.
“I don’t know, lad. I don’t think that you find her. She finds you.”
“Hmm.” Lenny frowned, trying to think of a way to locate a Power Core no matter where on the world it was. So far, they had either already known where to find it, or had been forced into contact without any finding needed. But if the Power Core chose to hide, how could they discover it?
“I have an idea!” Jax started jumping around excitedly, before reaching into his black felt coat to push one of the buttons on the inside. The Sissionbeam-cutter appeared in his hands from the teleporter inside. They had teleported the S.B.C back to his house for safe keeping while they traveled.
“The screen shows any nearby Sission beams, right?” He held up the device to display the little screen. “So all we have to do is turn it on and move around until we find out which way the signals get stronger.”
“Er, I don’t think that it is that sensitive.” Lenny shrugged. “But you might as well give it a try.”
Jax hit the power button on and made the display light up. A few lines were shown on the extreme right edge of it, but they did not change as Jax moved around the deck. They only shifted if he spun it all the way around, in which case they moved swiftly across the screen to settle on the left-hand side. Looking out across the waves in the direction that this indicated, they saw a dim line of darkness on the horizon. Most of the crew thought that it was a land form, but Patch looked worried and said that it could be clouds hanging over an island, but he thought it more likely to be a storm at sea.
“Whatever it is, the Power Core is somewhere in that direction.” Jax was still stumbling around, trying to make the lines give him a more precise location. “I just can’t tell where on the northern horizon it is trying to lead us.”
“It should become more precise the further that way we travel,” Amber suggested.
This was a sound idea. It was decided that they would begin to sail in that direction. Patch was still anxious about a storm, as he said it could blow their balloon far off course with nothing in the air to anchor them and no land in sight to run to. No one wanted to face a sea storm while aloft, but if it was coming in their direction there was no way to avoid it. Hopefully, it would move off before they reached it.
While they were flying across the gray waves Leaflow and Soleeryn retreated to the cabin and began spreading out items on the table. They were going to start work on the elixir, or at least try to. First, Leaflow had to remember all he could of the recipe, which he had heard second-hand some time ago on a distant planet. He did this by sitting on one chair with his feet propped up on another, hooded head leaning on one hand as the other drummed gently on the table.
Meanwhile, Soleeryn had taken a bowl and poured one of the bottles of Triple Grag into it, setting it on the little table in front of her. Into the liquid she dipped certain herbs, observing how they changed colors or reacted to it. By this she could come closer to understanding the chemical makeup of the compound and understanding how to neutralize its toxins.
After perhaps fifteen minutes Leaflow began making a list of possible additives, and then they started to experiment with small batches in separate bowls. The unused bottle of Triple Grag Soleeryn kept carefully in her robe pocket. She wanted to save it for if they discovered the way to make the elixir, so that she could have a full bottle of it to use.
Jax joined them after a while, drawn by curiosity and a wish to get warm after having been chilled by the sea spray. He had given the S.B.C to Lenny, so that Lenny could watch the lines as they neared the dark line on the horizon. Lenny did not notice much change in the graph at first. The lines stayed in about the same position, stuck to the side of the screen like bubble-gum. Off the bow of the airship, the dark clouds rose and grew until they became a huge wall of bruised-black clouds. purple lightening flickered within it. The air around the ship became dead-calm as they approached, only broken now and then by ghostly little tendrils of wind which felt both warm and cold at once.
Her brown hair lifted by one of these odd breezes, Amber looked around at her companions. “I don’t like the looks of this. The storm hasn’t moved since we’ve been coming towards it. It just billows in place.”
“Aye, perhaps you should set anchor and rest here a bit, so we can scope out its course before going on,” Patch suggested.
Taking his advice, as everyone else was nodding or muttering agreement, Amber had the balloon drift to a stop. In the calm, it floated perfectly still, though the little winds made it shiver every time they brushed past it. There was no anchor to drop and hold them in the exact same place.
The clouds loomed before them, taking up the whole northern horizon. They were like a dark mountain range sitting just before them, but taller and more gloomy than any Lenny had seen before.
The purple lightening crackled nearby, thunder rolling among the clouds in phantom bursts. Nothing could be seen below the storm, no island or point of land. No rain, either, though the storm was so dark it could have held a downpour.
Suddenly, Lenny noticed activity on the Sissionbeam-Cutter. The lines began to jump towards the center of the screen and expand, growing by the second. Looking up with his mouth open to shout a warning, he saw that the clouds were also on the move. As quick as a hurricane, the storm was swooping down on them, tentacles of darkness reaching towards them and lightening flickering closer. Like a wave curling, the clouds began to break over the top of them.
“Hard abaft!” Patch shouted, striding over beside Amber. “Turn this ship about!”
“It’s coming on too quickly,” Jackal muttered, grasping his rifle with both hands. Dansei clutched the metal rail near the Di-jump, looking sick, while Raggsy just stood with his jaw hanging open, staring at the oncoming terror.
A wind began to shriek around them as Amber tried to turn the airship about. The wind grabbed them up and spun them in circles, buffeting the balloon with great slapping noises. Lenny was almost blown off of his feet as the gale hit, forcing him to hold on to the rail and tuck the S.B.C under his arm. Lightening struck the waves nearby. Wet darkness shrouded them all around. Patch was shouting orders, grasping the spokes of the wheel and trying to aid Amber in steering it. But despite their efforts the airship was thrown about, blown here and there like a child’s toy. It began to rain, water blowing sideways onto the deck by the bucket full. They could hear it drumming on the balloon up above them. In the cabin, the bowls of Triple Grag were thrown off of the table, splashing against the bunks and instantly melting holes in the metal brackets. The experimenters tried to catch them and only managed on being thrown to the floor themselves. Jax staggered towards the door, trying to get out on the deck with his friends. But when he reached the hatch there came a sudden, violent lurch which threw him head-first against the door instead. His forehead cracked against the doorknob and he slumped to the ground, momentarily stunned.
Outside, the storm was all around them. Air pressure forced them low to the waves, which began splashing over the side, helping the rain wet everything down. By now the crew was simply clinging to whatever they could, tossed and soaked by every gust of wind. The ship was flung suddenly up against a pile of rocks sticking out of the ocean in a tiny island. There was a sound of splintering wood. The lurch came, the ship was dragged sideways in the ocean and the grip of everyone on deck was jerked loose of their hold. Flung over the side, Lenny lost his grip on the S.B.C as he hit the waves. Cold water bubbled around him and he went under.
Somewhere in the storm, a woman’s high, harsh laugh rang out over the sound of thunder.
---
After turning on its side and throwing everyone inside the cabin roughly up against the bunks, the airship gradually steadied. Outside, the sounds of the storm dulled and became a distant but surrounding noise of madness. The airship was floating gently now, with little bobbing or waver to its flight. Jax felt hands shaking him and opened his eyes to look into a pair of green glowing ones.
“What happened?”
“I’m not sure. We’ll have to go out and see.”
Jax propped himself up on one elbow to find himself laying on the floor beside the bunks on one side, Leaflow kneeling next to him. Soleeryn sat on the bunk beside him, feeling a bruise on the side of her head and shaking it slowly from side to side.
The quietness outside the cabin suddenly registering in his mind, Jax exclaimed, “the engines have cut out! And I don’t hear the others.”
Scrambling to his feet, he ran out of the door and up the steps to the deck. It was soaking wet and swept clean, not a human being in sight. Leaflow came up behind him, looking all around. “We’re in the eye of the storm.”
Jax glanced up bleakly from the empty deck and saw that the storm was, indeed, all around them. At perhaps a mile distant on all sides, there was a ring of purplish-black clouds, still flickering with lightning and bubbling with wind. Straight up above them there was a tiny circle at the top of the funnel, showing a patch of distorted sky.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Rushing to the rail, Jax looked down at the ocean. With the lightened weight, the airship was floating higher now. Jax hoped to see some sign of their companions, floating in the waves and calling for help. Instead, he saw a ship. They were drifting above it, at a little distance to the side. It was a large ship, with three masts, all the sails furled, and a roomy cabin section at the back. Jax did not know the names of different sailing ships, nor what to call most of the parts of them. But he could see that this one was fitted with gun ports all along the side and flew a black flag.
“A ship!” he called to Leaflow, “perhaps our friends have been taken aboard.”
The cloaked one joined him, shaking his head slowly. “Perhaps...but I think that we have been blown far in just a few minutes. And if I’m not mistaken, that is a pirate’s ship.”
“So? Patch is a pirate.”
“But not all pirates are as friendly,” Leaflow returned grimly. Moving over to the engines, he tried to get them started again. It appeared that they had been soaked through, making them die. Leaflow could not make the engines start. Jax began helping him and Soleeryn came on deck, but neither of them could make a difference. Every time they looked over the side, they had drifted nearer the ship below.
“I don’t like this,” Leaflow muttered, “there is something more than wind and water happening here.”
They tried turning the wheel, but either the steering flaps were broken, it made no difference when the engines weren’t running, or something else was amiss. Inexorably, the airship floated towards the sailing rig.
The airship began picking up speed as it neared, until they found themselves being drawn down towards the ship, onto the fore deck. The balloon bumped off of the masts a few times without injury. It just slid down beside the tall spars as the balloon came to a rest on the wooden planks.
“What’s happening?” Jax exclaimed, “why are we going down? It should still be floating!”
Wildly, he spun the wheel and jerked on the levers, but it did not change a thing. They settled into place and stuck there as if tied down.
“There is a Power Core at work near here, if I’m not mistaken,” Leaflow told him, “that is what is happening.”
But when they looked off of the side, there was no one in view on the pirate ship at all. The deck was just as empty as their own had been, sails furled tightly against the mast and ship hardly bobbing in the gentle swells in the center of the storm. The cabin windows had no light in them and nothing appeared to move within.
Suddenly Jax was seized by an odd, giddy sensation. He felt dizzy and did not know why, though it became impressed on him that they should get down and go look around the ship.
“Maybe Lenny and the others are here somewhere, anyway,” he murmured, moving over to the rail. He threw down the ladder and started to climb down, Soleeryn following after him with a word of consent. Leaflow came as well, but he had drawn his sword and looked wary, though he did not speak a word. As if drawn by some internal force, Jax made for the main hatch into the cabin. The other two followed him without a word. He felt a rising excitement at every step. Something told him that he would find his friends just inside, if only he got there quick enough.
Throwing open the door, he strode inside. He was in a tight hallway, with doors to either side. It was a narrow space and the doors small. Picking one as if he knew exactly what he was doing, he went inside.
At first, the room was empty. He felt a blow of disappointment as he looked around him. It was a pretty little cabin room, with a couch up against the far wall under a port-hole, a comfortable berth on one side and lockers on the other. In the center of the room was a low table, bolted to the floor. It was strewn with such odd items as a perfume bottle, combs, curlers and rolled-up maps. Slowly, he walked over and fiddled with one of the maps, frowning as he tried to ‘feel’ where to search next. Soleeryn came up behind him, peering about nervously.
“Jax--” Leaflow came in the door, sword in hand. But before he could finish his sentence, the door slammed shut behind him. He spun about, trying it with his free hand, while a tinkling laugh came from the couch against the wall.
Jax’s eyes almost popped out as he stared at the couch. Slowly, a form was appearing on it. A woman became visible, laying full length upon the cushions. She was dressed in the clothes of an Arabian princess, all sateen pinks and reds. Her hair was long and curly, as shiny as true gold. As she smiled at them, Jax noticed that one of her eyes was covered in a black patch, just like his friend Patch wore. The other eye was curved and sweet, glittering sapphire blue with mischief.
“Who...who are you?” he stuttered, feeling like he was just coming awake from a spell.
“The Power Core, of course,” Leaflow answered for her, making her laugh. Sitting up, she surveyed them with her arms crossed.
“Quite right. And you know that your weapon is useless, don’t you?”
She made a tiny gesture and it was twitched from his hands, flung against the lockers on one side of the room. Finally coming fully to his senses, Jax reached for his taser. But it was also flicked away from him, to join the sword on one side. Strange, purple mist seeped out of the wall and, before they could move, wrapped around each of them. It pinioned their arms to their sides and forced them to move up in a line in front of the pirate queen.
“The master wishes me to kill you all,” she remarked thoughtfully, “just as I have destroyed your friends by sweeping them into the sea.”
“You killed them all!” Jax’s face turned red and he struggled against the purple bonds, trying to break free. They only cut into his wrists like cold wire, making him gasp.
“Actually, I only swept them into the ocean.” The queen smiled with cunning. “If they can swim, they probably will have climbed onto that little island of stone. But I don’t care. That will only prolong their misery.”
“You...you witch!” Jax stormed at her, unable to move but still fluent with his tongue. “You no-good, haggin of a flip-nut! If I was free, I’d zorch your--”
“I’m tired of this.” With another flick of her hand, the sea witch summoned a wisp of purple mist which gagged the young man, forcing him to be still. Looking at the other two, she commented, “you are rather silent. Have you anything to say?”
“Nothing that he hasn’t tried to, better,” Leaflow returned.
Soleeryn looked at the witch for a minute, then asked huskily, “what do you want with us?”
The queen continued to smile. “As I said, the master wishes you all to be dead. But I think that you three are very interesting. I’m glad that my storm spared you. In fact, I think that you would make excellent servants for me, once properly tamed. Tell me, do you have any particularly useful skills? One at a time, now.”
Jax was still bound and could say nothing. Leaflow just looked at her with eyes that glowed an eerie color in hate. But Soleeryn glanced between them as if begging forgiveness, falling to her knees before the pirate queen.
“Miss...your grace. I see that you are powerful. I do have some skill in potions, elixirs and healing herbs. One of my greatest discoveries is a potion that grants three great things at once. The three things all people would wish for.”
“Which are?” The Power Core was still smiling as if amused, but her one eye had narrowed with interest.
“Great beauty.”
“I already have it.” The queen tossed her curly head of hair. “And you obviously don’t.”
Soleeryn’s cheeks were touched by a faint blush for a moment, but she went on steadily. “Long life.”
“A little more interesting. I don’t like the idea of getting old. Like you are. And?”
The healer did not flinch this time. “And heightened powers.”
The Power Core regarded her narrowly. “What do you mean, ‘heightened powers’? What sort of power do you mean? As you have seen, I have plenty of power now. Enough to do what I wish with any of you. What more can I want?”
Soleeryn’s dark eyes looked up into her one blue one and the healer said serenely, with some penetration, “you know, m’lady. Your grace has room for infinite power and has the brain to use it. You have all this, but where is your crew?”
“I don’t need a crew!”
“No, you need to be better able to control the powers you have. With the potion I can give you, you will have so much controlled power that merely stealing a few prisoners from your 'master’ will seem a small thing. What are three people to amuse yourself with when you can have so much more? Perhaps even enough mental power to rebel--”
“Stop!” the queen hissed, looking around in fear, “I know what you were about to say, but it is treason! Do not speak against the master until...just do not. Now, how do I know that this potion does what you say?”
“You probably know what we have been doing.” Soleeryn waved a hand back at Jax and Leaflow. “The ‘master’ might have told you that the one in black, here, was able to hold Mendo Drann off mentally, long enough to kill him. How do you think we have been able to fight so well when we are so few?”
“Then why don’t you break free now?”
Soleeryn bowed sadly to the ground. “Your grace, even a potion given to one of us cannot face your talent and skill. Besides, I have not had time to replenish my stock of them lately. I only have the ingredients for one dose with me, not the potion itself. I would have to make the potion...if you want it.”
The queen stood up and paced back and forth, shooting scornful looks at the struggling Jax every time she passed him. Finally she held up a hand. “You two menfolk, begone! I will talk to the healer alone.”
At her command the purple mist forced them out of the room, marching them away with arms pinioned and, in Jax’s case, mouth plugged tight.
Slowly, the Power Core moved back to her couch and looked at Soleeryn as a cat might look at a mouse.
“You have interested me with talk of this elixir. But I warn you, play me false and you will regret it. Tell me the truth now: why do you think that I have no crew?”
The word 'you’ was pronounced with utter scorn and pride, as if the healer were worse than the dust on the floor and knew somewhat less of life.
Soleeryn studied on it for a moment before replying, “gracious lady, you are powerful, ambitious and cunning. But I do not think that you have yet learned to control your power as you might. You are like a man given a new weapon for the first time. You can wield it how you choose, but what will you choose? Your crew was either swept away by a display of your power in a...careless moment, or ran from you in fear.”
The queen’s expression trembled on the edge of tears as she looked away, before hardening once again into an arrogant mask as she laughed, “yes, I killed them all! I can even defy the master...in small instances such as sparing you. But I do want more...”
Soleeryn waited as the witch propped her perfect chin on one hand and gazed off into space for a time. Finally she stood up and pointed down at the healer. The bonds fell away and Soleeryn rose uncertainly to her feet.
“Very well! Bring me this potion. You may go anywhere on the ship to make it, except for into the lower hold where your companions are prisoners. Do not try to escape, or I shall know! Make the elixir and bring it to me. But I warn you once again, if you play me any tricks, both you and your friends shall suffer terribly. I am not called Mistress of Death among the pirates for nothing.”
Soleeryn bowed and departed.
Out on the main deck, she made her way slowly to the airship, casting glances behind her now and then, shaking her head sadly. All around, the storm still flashed in the distance. Clouds rolled in a high wind and piled up into the sky. But the pirate queen’s ship was perfectly becalmed. It was eerie to cross the deck alone, with the feeling of hidden eyes upon her.
Climbing up the rope ladder, Soleeryn walked into the cabin, where the things that she had been experimenting with earlier had been left strewn around. Picking up one of the bowls and some of her herbs, she began slowly mixing them together into a powder. Eventually she drew the bottle of scarlet Triple Grag from her pocket.
“I hate to do it,” she sighed, pouring the bottle into the bowl of ground herbs and stirring it with a spoon. “But it is the only way to help my friends. I hope they are not too angry with me for it...”
To the concoction she added a few drops from another bottle in her knit bag of supplies. The liquid fizzed for a moment before laying still. A heady scent came up, like vanilla, cinnamon or hothouse flowers, though it was oddly mixed with something akin to the smell of sulfur.
After letting it settle for some time, Soleeryn strained off most of the herb bits and poured the concoction into a cup from the airship. This she carried with the utmost care back down onto the pirate ship’s deck and, with hands trembling just a little at what she was about to do, she walked into the cabin where the pirate queen waited.
“That was quick,” she commented, toying with a strand of golden hair.
Soleeryn had steadied herself outside the door and now handed the cup to her with a small, bland smile. “It is a potent mixture and one that reacts swiftly. Drink it now before all of the power is gone. If...you do promise me that I and my friends will be unhurt if it does what I say?”
“I promise nothing.” the queen took it from her, eyeing it curiously. “You simply do as I say and hope that you live afterwards.”
Picking up a tiny golden teacup from the low table, the queen poured off some of the elixir into it.
“What are you doing, your grace?” Soleeryn asked with a hint of surprise.
“Making a test.” The queen smiled shrewdly. “You don’t think that I’m going to drink just anything you hand me, without assurance? I have heard of poison before, you know.”
She held out the teacup, eyes hardening. “Now drink it!”
Soleeryn looked into her eyes and saw that there was no room for bluffing or speaking any further. Without a wince or a tremble she reached out and took the delicate cup in one slim, strong hand. In one draft she drained it, making a bit of a wry face.
“Like many medicines, it is not pleasant to the taste. But that only shows its true strength.”
She stood tall and straight, gazing to her captor’s face calmly as she held out the empty cup. Ignoring it, the Power Core watched her for a long moment as if waiting for any affect to show itself. Soleeryn’s face did turn a little paler, her cheeks showing red as if with good health. Taking it as a sign that the potion was working as promised, the queen laughed and held her own glass to her lips, speaking over its rim.
“Now I know that you are not tricking me. No actor could meet their fate as bravely as that, if the cup was poison.”
She proceeded to dash the drink down in a series of unladylike gulps.