“Yes!” Tasha replied with an eager nod as the Trouser Surprise began to near the Tophat-Trick.
“Kyek-kyek-kyek-kyek… boss looks like your little trick didn’t work!”
“Indeed it didn’t…” Dorian replied as he twirled his moustache in thought.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------
The class and adults all flinched at a fresh bout of explosions behind them. The battle between their teachers and the dragon team was escalating. Worse still, the ending was pretty close now, so they would have to try to pull just ahead of Dorian soon.
“Any ideas?” Bea asked as she shielded her eyes to try to get a clearer view of the chaos behind them.
“We keep getting close only to have their wake knocks us around,” Daisy grumbled.
“Kwoooon!!!” Stampy declared with a firm little stamp onto Tasha’s hand.
“Stampy wants to help somehow,” Tasha translated. The class stared at her and then returned to their discussion, ignoring her.
“You recovered enough to try to snipe them again?” Kline asked, looking at Daisy, whose hands were shaking from exhaustion. They didn’t even have the gods' damned energy potions anymore to use.
“I could at best manage one more shot… possibly a guided projectile spell,” she replied, remembering one of her lessons with Gorm.
The Titan had declared that hitting a moving target is easy if you can make your shots chase them. Proudly declaring he had even hit Mimi with one of his shots. Though also admitting she spent the next sparring round slapping his face at near the speed of sound.
“So if we can launch something, you could make it hit where we want?” Mel asked.
“Possibly… no guarantees.”
“How good are you kids at lightning magic? If you are any good, we can try to use Mel’s hand railgun,” Senior asked, a smirk already growing on his face.
“Lightning is one of the most difficult elemental spells to learn. It merges elements!!!” Maxwell protested.
“It’s ok if you can’t; just expected something crazy like that from him, is all,” Senior replied, thrusting a thumb behind them where the smoke momentarily cleared, giving them a clear view of the battle.
“Oh gods dammit,” Maxwell groaned as he pinched his brow.
Currently sailing behind them and gaining at a considerable speed were now two racers. One was a dragon that was still desperately doggy paddling down the river with a gaggle of people on his back. The other was some strange merging between the artist's ship and the Never-Finisher's ship.
“How do you combine a ghost ship with a real one!!! Mrs Mel-”
“Please, honey, just Mel is fine.”
“Ok, Mel… does it need to be lightning specifically?”
“No, as long as it's a strong electrical force, what I have planned will work.”
“Looks like I don’t have a choice… guys,” Maxwell muttered, gesturing for the class to come into a huddle.
“During my training, I read ‘The Big Book of Circles’.”
“The one with the happy-talking doggy?” Tasha asked.
“Hrnnn…. Yes the one with the cute little doggy,” Maxwell answered embarrassed at admitting to reading a children's book regardless of the reality of the situation.
“That book though is part of a secret order's hidden texts.”
“Hidden texts? Like forbidden spells?” Maxwell shook his head at Bea's question.
“No more like these are really cool spells, and I only want the cleverest people to find them.”
“So what did the book have?” Bea asked pushing Maxwell to get to the point.
“It had a spell circle that I can create… but the problem is…”
“What?” Tasha asked oblivious to how serious Maxwell was trying to be.
“It is an unshielded circle. It can create a massive amount of electricity. Nowhere close to lightning, but it might be enough.”
“An unshielded spell?!!!” Daisy exclaimed.
Typically spells when being created, had specific laws enforced on them. One of which was they had to be shielded to prevent backlash on the caster. Doing so would keep even the most reckless fire mage safe from the flames of his own fireball. The trade-off for the safety, though, was it would limit the output of the spell. Unshielded spells were basically betting your life in exchange for a massive boost to power.
“No!!! Maxwell, I have lost enough people. I am not going to let you risk it!!!”
“What choice do we have!!!!”
“Err… kids?!” the Old Gnome said stepping forwards. “You aren’t exactly whispering anymore… not winning this race isn’t the end of the world.”
“But if we lose to him then…”
“They will get the Trosuer Surprise, right?” the Old Gnome asked to which they nodded. “As in this little dingy… if it was the ship at the start it might be worth fighting for but this is something my newborn son could build.”
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“Kids…” Mel began before dragging the class into a big hug. “We were pushing so hard to win because you looked like you were having fun… if winning means hurting you, then we’d rather let him have the ship.”
“Mom… Dad?” Gunter began trying his best to wriggle free of his mother's vice-like hug.
“But it’s not like we haven’t been in danger before!” Maxwell protested.
“Boy… On our journey to the start line, I had a lot of chances to speak with your teacher. He feels guilty for making you so used to danger.”
“He did?” Bea asked, surprised.
“Yes, he and the Epic Lady Yukiko even made a private agreement to keep you safe at all costs.”
“But they joined other crews!” Kline pointed out.
“Yes, and they sandwiched us between them and never attacked us even once. From what I could see spells were hitting the back of those artists' ship,” Senior explained.
“And there were sea beasts in the area we were sailing through that were getting broken apart by the ghost ship in front. Even on other crews, they were keeping you kids safe. This whole thing was just meant to be a bit of fun.”
“Ok… we don’t need to use the circle.”
“Good thing… doubt any reagents would last with this water anyways,” the old gnome joked, which elicited a bout of chuckles from Gunter’s parents. The class’ laugh however was far more forced.
“Nyeh-nyeh-nyeh-nyeh!!!!” an evil-sounding cackle came from above them. Looking up expecting to see Dorian floating with his umbrella the class were surprised to see it was his ship that had in fact slowed down to look down on them.
“So watcha plannin' boss?” Mikely asked.
“I’m thinking of advising them to withdraw while they still can,” he sneered as he twirled his moustache.
“Oh, you are so delectably kind, sir. Kyek-kyek-kyek-kyek!!!”
“So, are you enjoying my gift?”
“KWOOOON!!!” An angry noise growled from Tasha’s hands.
“That’s right, Stampy, show him whose boss!!!”
“Stampy?... She named it?”
“Yes, she named it…” Maxwell replied with a sigh.
“First time one of my gifts has ever been named… how delightful. NYEH-NYEH-NYEH-NYEH!!!!!!”
“We were considering withdrawing, actually,” the Old Gnome admitted.
“Oh, how I would love that. It would bring me such peace of mind to know you were no longer in this race,” Dorian said, emphasising different words in a way that made the statement seem like a threat.
“Shall we help dem boss?!!!” Mikley asked looking at Dorian.
“I think we shall… Do you wish to come aboard my ship as crew? It’ll be comfortable all the way till the end.”
“But what about your attempts to sink us?” Bea asked.
“Sink? I gave you a miniaturised Earthen Drake, and you say I tried to sink you?” Dorian seemed genuinely hurt by the accusation.
“What about using your ship's wake to knock us about?!”
“It’s a race on an insane river… and you are in what now looks like a rowboat… I think you’d get choppy water behind a pond skimmer.”
“Listen, I slowed down because I felt it best for your safety to come aboard. The last leg can become very dangerous.”
“How so?” Kline asked suspiciously.
“Interference from outsiders becomes even more apparent. Your little thing won’t survive that leg. So either drop out or come aboard.”
“THEY ARE TRYING TO HURT STAMPY?!!!!” Dorian just looked at Tasha for a long minute, just blinking in disbelief.
“Yes… I suppose that is technically right… men lower the rope ladder and help up these worthy opponents.” At his order, a rope ladder was dropped over the side of the ship as a pair of gruff-looking men coated in scars and tattoos waited at the top.
“I don’t care what we’ve heard guys I don’t think we can trust this…”
“Gods dammit, Tasha…” Maxwell groaned, watching the elf climbing the rope ladder only to be pulled up the moment she was in arms reach by the gruff men.
“HEY LET HER GO!!!! I WON’T LET YOU LAY A HAND ON MY TASHA!!!!” Maxwell snarled as his hands began to transform into claws.
“Come on up, Maxy, it's so nice here,” Tasha said, poking her head over the railing to look down at the rest of the gang. Maxwell’s face immediately went a deep shade of red while Dorian did his best to hide his mouth.
After all of them had climbed onto the deck, they could see now why the ship was so fast and had been keeping its lead since the very start. The ship itself was just a void with thin wooden panels. It was only when they climbed over the railing they could see the internals of the ship.
The keel of the ship was made of a translucent stone, while everything else was near paper-thin wood. Mel, Senior and the Old Gnome were stuck marvelling at everything they could see. Stretched out in front of the ship were over a dozen water sails.
“Welcome aboard the Tophat-Trick. The trick is the ship itself,” Dorian declared as he took a flourishing bow.
“So this thing weighs so little that it can immediately hit top speeds?” Gunter asked.
“Pretty much,” Dorian replied with a nod.
“How much does it weigh then?” Bea asked.
“Let me put it this way, little lady. If it were in a dry dock you could probably pick it up.”
“But a ship that light wouldn’t work?” the Old Gnome observed.
“That’s where the keel comes in handy. It is sinkerstone.” The Old Gnome let out a childish squeal of delight as he dove into the open hull and began licking the keel.
“I’ve… never seen that reaction before…. But sinkerstone is a stone that is repelled by the water's surface and wants to sink. But weights practically nothing.”
“So you made artificial ballast?” Mel asked to which Dorian nodded.
“I have a bunch of very clever engineers and the such that have come from my orphanages.”
“What about combat?” Senior asked.
“Avoid it like the plague. I am mostly a pacifist. I make my ship so fast I never end up in a fight, and anyone that I see as a threat, well… I pay them a visit and make some vague statements. My villainous appearance is helpful in many ways.”
“So how can we help then?” Daisy asked before staggering only to have Kline catch her.
“Well, you can help by resting. You lot have been burning the candle at both ends. Leave the rest to me,” he replied with a wink as a large plume of water burst next to the ship.
“Those lunatics again?” Dorian grumbled as he climbed up to the helm, only to see a mishmash of an artistic masterpiece of a ship stapled to a rotten hulk of a ship. That had a number of tentacles pierced into it.
“Yes, Fluffy, faster!!!!” Alex roared as the class looked up to see the crew of undead had a fresh rainbow paint job while the artists were waiting next to Yuu with portraits of glowing weapons.
“LET THE HOSTAGES GO!!!!!” Alex snarled.
“Hostages? I think you have something confused?”
“I HAVEN’T. YOU HAVE BEEN GUNNING FOR MY KIDS SINCE THE START… NO ONE HARMS A HAIR ON THEIR HEADS SO LONG AS I AM AROUND!!!!!”
“Boss… looks like we’re gonna die. Kyek-kyek-kyek-kyek!!”
“Yes… seems so…” Dorian muttered, patting his werebeast companion on the back.
“Wait, sir…” Daisy said, staggering forwards. “He’s helping us.”
“You are?”
“Yes,” Dorian said hastily, nodding.
“Very well… I may have overacted a bit… Yuu, stand down. We aren’t sinking them.”
“Awhh, but I have a plasma cannon that, with these artist guys, I can bypass the seal!!”
“Save it for Angrathond.”
“Speaking of the dragon…where is he?” Bea asked, pointing behind the two ships where the dragon no longer was.
“Doesn’t matter; the finish line is ahead… full ahead!!!” Dorian shouted as the Tophat-Trick began to pull ahead of the newly named Patchwork Puppets with a number of names roughly painted out with a cross.
“Are we going to win?” Bea asked eagerly as she ran to the front of the ship.
“Looks like it,” Gunter sighed as he slumped against the railing beside her.
“Gunter, I have something to say when we cross it,” Bea began before trailing off.
“Does it need to wait?” Gunter asked, looking confused.
“It has to feel right when I say it,” Bea replied, blushing.
Looking ahead of them, they could see a bright red ribbon spread across the river from one bank to the other, where it spat out into the Aquarius Ocean. It would be any minute now, and she could say it.
“GET BACK HERE AND RACE LIKE A ZOMBIE!!!!” Alex shouted as his now colourful crew of undead joined him.
“We are almost there. Everyone be ready. This is where outsiders love to attack,” Dorian warned.
As if on cue, spouts of water began to burst all around them as they could see people on the shore taking potshots at the two remaining ships.
“YOU BASTARDS!!!! CREW FIGHT THE AUDIENCE!!!!” Alex roared as a legion of undead began firing arrows and throwing javelins at the people firing spells.
“Gunter…” Bea began as they neared the finish line. Taking the titan by the hands, she watched as they engulfed hers.
“RAGHHHH!!!!”
“M’lord would like a share of the winnings, Lord Angrathond!!” an imperious voice declared as a dragon the size of a castle burst out of the water in front of them.
“Well done, Angrathond. You were able to hold your breath for longer that time,” Paul complimented.
The wake caused by the dragon bursting out in front of the two ships caused them to lose all control. In the chaos that ensured, Bea could only watch as Angratjond, the dragon who still struggled with swimming doggy, paddled across the finish line first.
“NOOOOO!!!!” Bea cried out, falling to her knees. “It would’ve been perfect!!!” she cried out, punching the decking of the ship.
“Bea?” Gunter said, looking worried as they passed the finish line in second place.
“Gunter… I… I…” Bea’s lower lip began to tremble. She had gotten her courage all ready. It was perfect. It was storybook-perfect.
“I LOVE YOU, BEA!!!” Gunter declared, embracing the gnome in a hug. “I have since forever ago… I love love you. I don’t care if we won or lost. I swore I would confess my feelings when we finished.”
“You big idiot,” Bea grumbled weakly, thumping a fist against his shoulder before embracing him right back.