Ch: 102 Alligator Lizards In The Air
The little boat lit up with glowstones, they were placed under gunwales and benches to illuminate the deck, without dazzling the pilot. They shone softly and made the fog even dreamier… more dreamiest?
On the exterior, green, red, amber and blue lights glimmered here and there. Two bright lights shone from the eyes of the figurehead. They did nothing to illuminate the way ahead in the fog, so the boy dimmed them with an effort of will.
“We built it one piece at a time, every stick is enchanted…” He whispered. “Shai said it was foolish to build a boat in the basement… Did you see her face when we set sail?” His eyes were closed and his flute laid by. He leaned back, tiller under his arm and pipe in hand, softly chanting his words while Liam improvised on his guitar.
“I’ll build a damn basement boat every week just to see that smile, brother…”
“Should you be smoking and steering the boat? That seems unsafe.” He complained, nervously looking out into the dark fog.
“Mmm, it’s tangerine blossom and webnut husk… not intoxicating, just tasty and smooth.” He mumbled. “Xyll is guiding us, I’m just following her.”
“Your ghost bat is not as comforting as you think she is…” He was interrupted by a gentle thump. The mad boy scrambled up, pipe stem clenched in his teeth and grinned in the dim light.
“Careful, planks are slippery… Hi Annie, hi Nara!” Gary hopped over the side and thumped onto their makeshift pier. He darted off into the dark, towards a familiar snuffling whinny of greeting. “Careful horsies… I can’t see in the dark…”
They fed and groomed the horses, spending a little time on each so Liam could give complete instruction to his new horse owning friend by lantern light.
“...remember, no hoof no horse, we watch their feet and care for them constantly. Just because we have two gifted farriers in the family is no excuse for laxness…”
“... brushing is more than just good grooming, it strengthens our bonds and lets us search for parasites and hidden injuries…”
Liam’s horsemanship lessons went on for a while, but netted him a bunch of animal handling bumps… and a faint glimmering of veterinary skill. They made their apologies and took to the tiny boat again at seventh bell.
“That no horses in town rule is going to be annoying. We might need to put Shai’s house down here…” Gary complained.
“Only licensed draft animals of the Teamsters and Draymen’s guild are allowed. Most canal towns are like that. Hardly anyone in Wheatford owns private horses, or we’d have the same rule. Imagine the mess…” Liam soothed his mad brother with some mellow riffs.
“Just be glad your boat is powered by lunacy and devil farts… or whatever.”
“Devil farts… I wish. It’s a big bronze screw blade… like a waterwheel. Pretty mundane for a magic boat, if you discount the arcane motor and undead vampire bat pilot…”
Their nearly silent progress through the waterfront went largely unremarked. At the first lock gate into town, Liam clambered out to work the mechanism. Under the soft lamplight he cranked open the paddles and water channels to drain the lock and pushed the gate open for Gary to motor in.
Within a few minutes of securing the watergate behind Seahorse, the small boat slid out into the canal, a few feet higher in elevation. She drifted silently over the water, guided by a dark, fluttering shape at the figurehead.
Only the canal cut was free of fog and then, only to shoulder height. Everything else was lost in gray murky shadow, even those on the towpath and sidewalks saw only the dim multicolored lights of the boat’s passage.
Two locks later, they floated in the side channel leading to the Adventure compound, waiting for the lock to fill and raise them into the pond inside the walls.
“Thanks Lubu, I’ll make it up to you… come to the inn after you get off.” Gary called happily to his confused new acquaintance as they drifted into the still waters of the Adventure compound’s lake.
Lake was too grand a term, but it was too big to be a pond. The inn sat on a little patch of land by the water’s edge, with the pier jutting out in invitation.
Mist, fog and the usual towering cloud of steam mingled with his garden lights and windows to paint a magical scene, doubly reflected from the cool, fog free water.
They made fast and hopped out, eager to get in, out of the damp. With a wink and a blink, a tarp appeared, lashed over the sturdy craft securely. “S’ good to be home!”
#
“Mikkel sent word that you would be earning your keep, I assumed that meant Adventure work… not magical bathtime.” The guildmaster mumbled, up to his chin in the public bath.
“Ohh, that too, we have a lot going on. Bathtime is for friends and family… brother Dirk. Our extracurriculars are strictly private.” Gary said cryptically.
“What he do mean is that all orphans be welcome in the public baths, yer elders an pensioners will find them most soothing.” Shai said smoothly, while passing him a tea tray. “As fer the house… tis our home an shop, be welcome an trade as ye will. Ye will know where ye should nae wander.”
Her winning smile and the warm water had him agreeing right along, when Shai slid a proposed bathtime schedule under the tea cup.
“We’ll look over the local jobs and see what fits our skills… I have some odd jobs to get done in town… any kids that want to do a bit of running around for loose coin should swing by at third bell.” Gary said offhandedly. “Nothing strenuous or difficult… just a little scampering to and fro in the sunshine.”
Becky slipped up with a smile and a tray of cookies and muffins, still warm from the oven. “Our youngest members would like to play with your younglings in the garden whenever that is feasible… send them to us when they are free…”
Dirk never wanted to be director of the orphanage. Retiring from the legion after three tours was enough… but the job needed doing and he was the guildmaster.
The chance to dump a score of rowdy younglings on these fools for a few blissful afternoons sounded like heaven… “Done. they will be by at third bell. May the gods bless you for your selfless courage.”
Dirk Haviland, guildmaster of Port Clement’s small Adventure guild and orphanage was a tall, lean, wiry man. Weathered and worn in the face but still in his prime, he was a match for any foe he was likely to face in his duties, except the younglings.
There were only twenty, but they made his life a nightmare. Most days and almost every night there was some fracas, disruption or mischief afoot, usually rooted in the children's barracks.
Short sheetings, sleepers hands dangled in warm water, beds set adrift on the lake, they did it all. ‘Gods,’ He thought. ‘the orderly life of War’s legion seems a distant dream some days.’
Quickly, he dressed and made his escape before they could change their minds.
#
Finally, things wound down and it was just family and a few late soaking oldsters.
They convened in the common room to unwind before bed with a little slow jam. Tawny was dipping her toes in the shallow end of jazz, adding some improvisational phrases to Liam’s slow, steady western swing guitar.
“Django would be so proud of you two… Shai, get some… you know…” Gary pivoted his hips at her suggestively.
“Oh, I am tae put ‘stank’ on things at yer command, am I boy?” She asked archly, before grinning and taking them on a journey to libido town with her violin and hips. “Aye That be it… slow an dirty…” She began to croon wordlessly along with the throbbing, pulsing music as she danced and played.
Gary joined her as the music swelled, becoming mellow and sweet. Shai’s violin and his guitar vanished as they came together on the dance floor, swaying to the soft music.
A rough, unrefined baritone burst in, singing a coarse, but heartfelt dream.
Moon river. Wider than a mile…
I’m crossing you in style…
Someday…
The song rose from a shadowy figure by the stage… Gary, but round and plump in middle age, with broader features and a wide smiling mouth. He shone with perspiration and joy while clutching a trumpet of gleaming shadow stuff.
After a few simple, heartfelt verses, he raised his trumpet and SANG. Sweet, brassy and mellow, his horn lifted hearts with his bittersweet song.
“Thanks Louie, we all needed that. See you soon.” The madman said to his dusky shadow self. “That’s bedtime for us… busy, busy day tomorrow.”
“Before you go…” Bannock said, holding up a hand. “Why do you not charge coin for the use of your baths? It seems that would be a fine way to…” The whole little family was staring at the young knight in puzzlement.
“That’s just weird…” Becky said at last, breaking the spell.
“Not cool Bannock… not cool. Ok, off to bed! Becky, keep the kids in their rooms for…” He looked to Shai. “An hour…” She shook her head.
“An hour and a half?” He asked, that got a nod and a smile. Gary hefted a bag of duskmoon pollen and grinned. “Sweet dreamless sleep. Khan and Luna have been brutal with the damn cultivation… I just want some rest.”
#
Port Clement’s younglings were a cautious and subdued lot. Guided over by an older teen, who made herself scarce immediately, they milled about looking lost in the public bathing room.
Gary, Shai, Becky and Dannyl made little headway in getting them in order, until the terrible twosome hit the bath like a bolt of lightning.
They strolled in and took charge with effortless skill, Amy did anyway. Wilford acted as her silent hype man, nodding and pointing to direct her charges in their activities.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Within two short minutes, older kids were helping youngsters undress and bathe, while the first kids started cannonballing in with wild whoops of joy. Half an hour later, when the older kids hit the bath, the younglings were trooping out, warm, dry and clean.
Third bell found a group of twenty younglings in his garden, playing with Amy and Wilford under Shai and Dannyl’s supervision. A warm, mid day romp in the garden and pool kept the kids bouncing until naptime. The little ones weren't surprised when bedding appeared all around them, nor were they startled when they woke and found new clothes and sandals by their bedding.
At sixth bell, a noisy, clean, well dressed mob of twenty younglings rattled out into the courtyard on scooters, clutching dolls or toy weapons and a few with musical instruments tooting and thumping along.
The high priestess of Knowledge sagged against the door frame with her exhausted little brother and sister. Becky shut the door to the devastated toyshop and wished Gary good luck cleaning that mess up.
“Come on kids. Dinner time.”
#
Gary and Shai had ten teens in the common room, looking freshly bathed, if still in much worn and mended clothes.
“We told the guild master we wanted some errands run, that it would be short, simple, straightforward and easy…”
Gary said as he marched up and down their ragged line. “That was a lie. This job is long term, simple, straightforward, easy and secret. Shai, take the girls, boys, follow me.”
He led them down into the workshop, seven boys in homespun pants and mended shirts stood in front of a rack of simple workman’s clothes in neutral colors. Green caps with a rampant brown and silver horse topped each head when they were done.
“Take three sets of clothes each, gotta be presentable for this job boys. You will be delivering chocolate…” He said smugly.
“Delivering to who? For who? The patissier’s guild never apprentices orphans…” The oldest boy asked, looking suspicious.
“Anselm, was it? Yeah, we’re the Sweet Tooth guild. A secret society based in Wheatford’s orphanage… and now Port Clement’s… unless you’re afraid to make a little noise and have a bit of good clean fun, for profit...”
#
“So you just ship chocolate to us… and we give it away or trade it for barter… and you pay us for that…” Anselm said in disbelief. “There is a trick hidden in this…”
“Nope. The trick is in the bath and you’ve already jumped in of your own free will. That prank comes to fruition over the next few nights.” His disturbing wink did little to reassure.
“The chocolate deal is straight up. Dole it out, as long as you don’t sell it for coin, we don’t care. Hell, trade it to the sweet’s guild in town if you want, that might be hilarious, only one catch. It’s a secret society; be mysterious. Nobody finds out where you get it or how.”
He stretched and yawned. “I had a busy morning, we have samples in the common room upstairs.” He waved them in the direction of the stairs. “Once our fight with the local sweets guild is over, we start trading for coin. That’s when things will get interesting.” He waved a cheery goodbye to the confused lads on his way upstairs.
“Try it and decide if you wanna work with us. If you don’t, keep the clothes and leave the caps. If you do, tell your friends, any orphan can join up.”
Upstairs, his seven boys saw what the chocolate samples did to Shai's three girls, now dressed in colorful skirts and snug floral embroidered bodices. That decided them. They signed up and left with full baskets and wide, chocolate smeared smiles.
“How do you know they won’t just eat it or give it all away?” Bannock asked softly when they left.
“Cause they’re hungry, but not for candy. Even if they just give it out to people they like… that serves my goals.” He shrugged. “This is a long term plan, I am going to shovel money into it and watch it burn for a while. Angbold and his bosses will feel the pinch before I do.”
A cruel, stranger’s sneer crossed his face as his voice became raw and ragged. “Besides, I’ll be a slave in a few months, slaves don’t need money.”
#
Khan and Luna came back with a good number of job board notices, a fair few trapdoors and a couple groundworms, nothing complicated or odd. A giant marsh croc was the big money job.
The biggest risk as well. Forty feet of armored reptile lurking in a deep dark swamp was more than worth the three bronze moon bounty.
“We’ll dispatch trios for the vermin. The croc, that’s going to be a real hunt. How sturdy is that boat of yours?” Khan asked, while Luna went to find Shai, off visiting the horsies with the kids.
“Very, I’m not floating my woman and kids in a cockleshell. Seahorse can take a beating.” He said firmly. “I need more bolts for my crossbow, before that big guy. Know any fletchers around here?” The musician seemed excited by the prospect.
“Developing a taste for hunting lad?” Khan asked gently. “Some find the kill to be intoxicating and develop a fondness for violence…”
“Nope, I just wanna learn how to make bows and arrows… that’s gonna kick ass.” He said with a mad grin.
“There Luna can help you, she makes her own arrows and is a fair bowyer, I’ll send her your way.” A smile rumpled his ‘stache as he went to find her.
Shai and the kids came back with Luna and Herlick, fresh from summoning Shai’s house in the pasture for Nara, the horses and whoever wanted to stay to tend them.
“Ivy an Tallum must needs bunk elsewhere, I could nae keep me house up so far off.”
“That was pretty impressive love, I started falling apart just a few days away. Maybe because mine is less real than yours…” He mulled that while she settled into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Liam wants me to go with him and Dannyl to smash some spiders, a couple trapdoors and a little colony of those hive guys. We’re leaving the boat here… back before last bell tomorrow.” He kissed her and tried to slip away, she held on tight, foiling his plans.
“Nae, an ye go, I or Becky go with. I am firm on this.” She crossed her arms under her breasts and ground her backside into his lap to make her point.
“Fair enough, we leave at dawn. We’re taking to the streets until we collect the horses. Becky can run the boat out if she needs to go anywhere.”
He wiggled out from under his woman and eased the workshop door open. “I have some work to do downstairs with Luna… She’s teaching me the boyer’s arts…” He almost wiggled with excitement.
When the door slid closed, Shai sighed happily. “Me boy loves tae learn new crafts… e’en though he kinnae shoot worth a damn.” She pulled Becky and the kids onto the couch with her for an afternoon snuggle.
“Naptime me loves. Let the boy work.”
#
Marduk was ecstatic when the family showed up at bedtime, the little guy was bouncing like a toddler with a double espresso and making poor Thirp nervous.
“A whole new crop of precious jewels to pilfer… Oh Gary, I take back at least a few of the terrible things I say about you regularly while you are awake!”
“Lady Joy and lord Beast are similarly excited by this outcome…” Thirp sang. “Will this not cause troubles for your duke? The churches in Wheatford seemed put out by these antics…”
“Screw ‘em” He snapped. “Slavers get no sympathy. Any kid that wakes up with a Contract that fits, that they get to say yae or nay to, that they want, is a victory for my side.” He growled at his spider and god friends.
“Why do you think I didn’t mind you reaching through me that way? Why do you think I agreed so easily, when you finally asked? Does that sound like me?”
“No, not really, you tend to resist anything I or any god suggest… oh… I see.” Marduk looked a little sad at that.
“I thought, maybe you were learning to trust us… I should have known, you are a dreadful sneak.”
“Pirate rules Ducky, I’ll take what I can get, and give nothing back. I’m fighting for my life and freedom for my friends and my kids too. Get behind me or get out of my way.”
Gary brightened when his kids ran into view, chasing Becky and Shai. “Ooo wait up!” He scampered after them, leapfrogging a giant toadstool in glee.
#
Luna’s instructions in the art of bow making and fletching were not exhaustive, but he had enough related skills and gifts to pick it up quickly. It helped that the crossbow’s bolts were crude and simple by design. There was no art or artifice needed, even the fletchings were primitive.
Gary spent a couple early morning hours getting weird in the shop with his new toy, joining the others upstairs at first bell.
#
“Change of plans, we are all going out. We will be taking the croc first. It’s moving closer to a village east of here in the marsh.” Khan announced at breakfast.
“We move the whole operation for the next day or two, set up in Ease Way village and hunt the beast.”
“How big a threat is this thing? I don’t wanna bring my kids into a warzone.” Gary grumbled.
“This is a mundane crocodile, huge and at the end of its lifespan.” Khan said evenly. “A monster crock of this size would warrant a team from War, this poor old girl just needs to ease into the void with a little help from us.”
“So why us? Nobody handled it before this for a reason, I assume…” Gary asked, looking a little paranoid.
“The reason, boy, is the marsh it lives in, particularly, the mosquitos. No small predator with half a brain will come within a mile of old Gretchen, so the skeeters are bad there and getting worse.” Khan said with a smile.
“That is why the job pays so much. We have a few crates of batlizards to loose, once Gretchen has passed through the reeds. They should solve the skeeters nicely in a few weeks.”
#
“Batlizards…” Gary mused as they sailed down the canal toward the pasture and the horsies. Several cages of the things rested on the deck. Small, colorful geckos with leathery bat wings clung to the wicker cages, peeping excitedly.
They flitted through the trees as well, dashing in quick bursts, then coming to rest. They would fold their colorful wings around themselves when at rest, blending in with the orchids that clung to every surface and tree in the marshes.
“They are natural beasts, and voracious insect predators.” Luna cooed, stroking one of the little flying terrors while it munched on something big and probably bloodsucking. She flicked the creature off her hand and smiled as it vanished into a canalside bush.
“It is considered good luck to have them in your home… for obvious reasons.”
“I haven't met the local mosquitoes yet…” He said smugly. “How are you guys doing? Any itchies?”
“I for one, am impressed.” Tawny said firmly. “I have been on a few excursions and journeyed a bit. The battle with fleas, biting flies and such can be daunting even in fair Wheatford.” She sighed, stretching happily. “Even without your comfort charms, the insect repellant is a wonder all its own.”
The horses nickered and pranced excitedly when the boat hit the dock. Shai and Becky quickly folded most of the benches away, as the riders disembarked. They formed a neat table between the remaining seats, for Amy and Wilford’s lessons.
Gary popped a canvas awning up, strung on poles that seated into the bulwarks. A steaming samovar and a basket of wooden cups promised a bit of very civilized river cruising.
“Whyda we have lessons on a boat trip? No fair!” Amy made her objections loud and proud, pouting fiercely. Dannyl reached out and pinched one cheek, while Becky grabbed the other. The two pulled and smushed the poor child’s face all out of shape, until her complaints ended.
“Lessons never end darling.” Shai said softly, from beside Gary on the bench. “Me boy were taking lessons frae Luna an Khan every night after ye sleep. An I finish me Contracts, I shall begin as well.” She sighed happily. “The lessons, they never end at all.”
#
Cruising in the sunshine, down wide, pleasant canals was magical. The birds, lizards, batlizards and insects made the sky a wild flickering, fluttering show, even on a warm spring morning.
The water too, was alive with activity. Frogs, fish, newts, crawdaddies and birds paddled, leapt and swam everywhere in the slow moving waters. Any plot or patch of soil had something growing on it, from it or around it.
Nothing was vacant or still in the teeming marsh. Even boulders, jutting up here and there from the mossy soil, had lichen and orchids clinging to every crack and crevice.
Everything that came within Gary’s reach, he touched. Lillypads, watercress, reeds, hanging creepers and vines, even bugs and critters that came close enough got a gentle poke and a smile.
Shai watched the riverbanks slide by with the tiller in hand, while Dannyl played ‘spanish guitar’ as he and Gary called it. She lost herself in the pleasure of new sights to see and fresh new breezes in her hair.
Watching Gary tickle every passing thing and smile with wonder was worth the ticket price all by itself. Her children snoozing in their blankets, while her brother and sister made sweet music in the prow of her little boat was more than enough… and then some.
Small houses by the waterside slipped past silently, their gardens blooming with wild colors and covered with vines and new growth.
Householders waved happily at the little boat and her party of riders as they jingled and jangled musically along. Gradually, the houses became less frequent, and the canal less traveled. Trees encroached, shading the waterway almost completely in places. Larger, more aggressive dark green and blue batlizards began to dominate the air. With them came dragonflies as big as pigeons.
Their red, gold and blue iridescent shells dazzled and sparkled in the sunlight as they dashed about, feasting on the colossal mosquitoes.
Those things were a horror and a half. It took some doing to catch one of the stealthy horrors. Finally Gary stole one from an enormous spider web, by simply snatching it away from the huge arachnid’s hungry mandibles as they floated by the scene of the crime.
“Sorry buddy, it’s for science!” Gary called to the offended spider as they drifted away.
His prize was still struggling entangled in the thick sticky threads. Just one of the things was a shocking and disturbing sight. Knowing that they were all around was terrifying.
The thing’s wings were as long as Gary’s index finger, all four battered, tangled limbs buzzed and twitched in the sticky threads. Its needle proboscis and sharp, cutting blade mouth parts waved and poked at anything it could reach, still locked in a mindless quest to fill its pouchy, empty backside with stolen blood.
Dull tan in color and otherwise just a normal, if horrifyingly large skeeter, it seemed perfectly mundane, its info message bore that out.
Giant Mosquito, beast, normal rank, threat:null/low, vector of disease, parasite.
Gary tossed the wretched thing over the side and watched a dragonfly snatch it up and buzz off before it hardly left his hand. The dragonflies and lizards had no fear of people, flying, crawling and perching on anything or anyone that held still long enough.
Frogs and toads, likewise, seemed to be all around feasting on the skeeters wholesale. It took a few minutes to realize that his ‘zone of exclusion’ was lining up a bug buffet for the small predators. They swooped and hopped through the periphery of his ward undeterred by his charms.
Gary shrugged when Becky looked at the swarming small life perching and flying around the boat.
“I only exclude parasites and the like, if it’s not aggressive or predatory towards us, it just passes through, like the bees, butterflies and such in my garden.”
He sighed, with simple joy, while Becky glared at the small bronze cartouche stitched to the inside of her robe’s lapel.
“Ducky has been trying to show me how you make these crazy spells and charms… I still can’t even see how they work…” Becky complained after a few minutes staring at the little metal tag. “It’s just lines, scratches and dots.”
“Nope,” He whispered, leaning close and grinning madly in the sunshine. “It’s a song!” His guitar appeared in hand, strumming out something smooth and mellow.
Ventura highway, in the sunshine…
Where the days are longer
The nights are stronger…
Tha-an moo-oonshine…
#