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Chapter 9
July, 25, 1949, Merka outskirts, border town of the Ignatumlands
The sun rose over the tree tops, drenching the shadow with light. Jarro collapsed onto the wing of the hoverer, pulling the bandage around his head back into place.
The hoverer was about ten meters in length and five wide, built of reflective glass and ceramics - its power source was two anti-gravity crystals. These man-made crystals repel the ground though a mage called a gravotron.
It felt like hours since Retin dragged him from the warmth of his bed and down to this strip of open grassland, surrounded by the swampy tree land that dominated the west coast of the Ignatumlands. The loading of supplies now completed, Jarro rested his aching arms - why his presence had been need he could not say, he certainly did not provide much help.
Spode circled around from where the storage sheds stood, feet squeaking on the wet grass, “Any sign of the renegades?” he asked.
“Nope, better send out a search party if you want to see them before lunch.” Jarro replied cheerily. “My best guess is Lucuse is off sleeping off his hangover, you would have a better idea where Senic is then me.”
Spode laughed, “If I knew were he was, he would be inside tied to a chair.”
Jarro lend back on his elbows, “If that's the case...” He trailed off, tilting his head to one side, “Can you hear a car?”
A distant roar rose above the sounds of crickets, “It just might be, and what do you know, only an hour late.” Tyres screeching under pressure could now be heard, only moments later the black taxi skidded around the final corner and toward the hoverer ships. Lucuse and Senic falling over themselves to get out as fast as possible.
Spode stood, legs apart, arms folded, “What time do you call this?”
“I don't know, you tell us, mum.” Lucuse drawled.
Spode's lips tightened, he turned to Senic, “I believe I gave you a watch to avoid this happening again.”
Senic winced, “Uh, funny story about that.”
“You lost it didn't you.”
“Sorry.” He tried to smile, “I think it is somewhere in my house.”
“Get in the damn ship.”
“Whatever.” Lucuse climbed into the hoverer.
“Yes sir.” Senic breathed a sigh of relief and followed Lucuse.
Spode sank down so he was sitting next to Jarro, “I ask my self why I haven't fired that boy yet.”
“Because no other Grycite would work for you?” Jarro supplied helpfully, he added after a moment, “Why does he work for you?”
“Not a clue, although I did hear a rumour about-”
CRASH! Jarro yelped and threw himself away from the sound. Dazed, he turned his head, Retin, a frying pan in one hand, lid in the other, glowered down at them.
“I want to leave now, stop gossiping and get inside now!”
Jarro began hotly, “Was that really necessary-”
“Yes, now kindly get a move on.” She spun on her heel and stomped back in.
Jarro growled, picking himself up “I think she's forgotten that I'm suppose to be her boss.”
“Well if you treated her like an employee she might act like one.”
Jarro rubbed the back of his neck, “I guess that's the problem really, I'm not really employing her per say, that is to say I am, but it's only until she finishes her job.”
Spode paused before answering, “What?”
Jarro waved hand hand vaguely, “It's complex.” He stepped up into the hoverer, “Now can we get in? I don't want to tempt her into hitting me with that pan, not with the headache I've already got.”
Sunset followed sunrise.
Jarro leaned back dropping his book into his lap. He did not much like desserts he decided, sand, rocks, shrubs, and sun did not a great view make. However, he decided as his eyes strayed toward the horizon, the sunset was magnificent.
The sun fell though a rainbow of colours, dark blue and violet dominated the sky, speckled with stars. A little green and yellow merging them though to the bright oranges and reds that danced about the sun. The clouds, before so white now burned with the suns' dying fire.
Jarro stood and padded down to the cockpit, Tenion the pilot, and Nept the co-pilot were working on some flight charts. The hoverer ships, he been surprised to learn, ran off magic, so the pilots were usually low level mages. Tenion glowed faintly, the only sign that he was keeping the ship airborne.
Jarro opened his mouth, but before he could say a word Tenion announced, “We are an hour closer then when you last asked.”
Jarro sagged against the high back of the pilot's seat, peering out into the dimming desert. The darkness crept over the expanse of wasteland. Tenion reached over and hit a switch, Jarro blinked as the cabin filled with light. Odd how the dark only became noticeable when the lights came on.
Jarro stared vaguely out the front for a few moments, before a thought crossed his mind, “Where's the other ship?” Beladina and the guard had traveled about within sight all day, but now there was no sign of them.
Tenion glanced up crossly, “They're right...there?” he trailed off.
“So this isn't normal?” Jarro asked.
Tenion shook his head, bewildered, “No, no it's not.”
Spode stepped up beside Jarro, “What's the problem?”
A light flared in the darkness, flames leaping twenty meters into the air, Jarro shielded his eyes, Spode gasped, the Hoverer shuddered slightly, before Tenion regained control.
“What is that?” Spode demanded.
Lady Kayle, silent as always, appeared at his side. “A trap.” She announced, watching the dancing flames with interest.
Jarro jumped at her voice, how did she manage to be so quiet?
“It's the other Hoverer!” Tenion said, voice shaking a little.
“We have to get down there now.” Spode voice was urgent.
“How does something like this just explode into flames? It's bait.”
Tenion growled, “I've seen it happen before, one faulty wire, a defect in one of the crystals, these ships may not look it, but they can burn really easy.”
“I still say it's a trap.” Kayle calmly stated it, like it was impossible she was wrong.
“We're going down.” Spode repeated.
The angle of the floor increased, Jarro braced his feet so as not to fall over. Edward came up, “I saw the fire, and there is hundreds of people down there, what is it?”
Five pairs of eyes turned to him, Spode spoke first, “How many people are down there?”
“Couple hundred at least, is it a town or something?”
“It would seem I have been proven right, take us up please.” Lady Kayle said primly.
“We can not be certain that everything is okay down there...”
Tenion interrupted, “I...I can't, I've lost control...we're going to crash, everyone sit down and brace yourselves!”
Jarro felt a grip on his collar, Edward pulled him round and gave him a shove toward his seat.
“I can sit down on my own!” Jarro complained.
“I sure you can but the question is, would you? You have an unhealthy tendency to ignore safety instructions.” Edward replied grimly.
The hoverer shuddered it's way down to earth, landing heavily, shaking the cabin and people. Even before they fully stopped, something scraped across the roof. Lady Kayle rushed to the door, pushing against it with all the force she could muster.
“Trapped. I told you so.” She growled, giving the door a kick.
“This is going to be fun.” Lucuse said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
Loony stood, “Now what?”
Her maid, Ellen Doolittle wailed, “We're all going to die!”
Loony pushed her back down onto a seat, “Don't be silly, we are not going to die. Just take a few deep breaths and calm down.”
Spode asked Tenion, “Can we, by chance, take off some how?”
“No, something is blocking out my magic, we're stuck.”
Edward added, “Mine too.”
“And without magic this hoverer is grounded.”
“Can you jump start this ship or hook it up to some sort of power source?” Spode asked.
“Nothing strong enough to get us off the ground, we would just end up throwing up dust. Whatever is holding us down is really heavy.” Tenion said gloomily.
“Unless...” Nept froze when everyone looked toward him.
“What is it?” Tenion asked.
“Um, I was just thinking...What if we get the back up generator to get us off the ground.”
“How? I've already said that it doesn't have enough power to do that.”
“I mean it's got enough power, which when released at the proper rate could last days, what if we rearrange the circuits so it produces all it's power at once? I know it was a stupid idea, forget I said-”
“No! It's, it's brilliant! But if we release it in one go the forces would at best, kill us.” Edward said.
“At best? What's the worst?” Retin demanded.
“It would trigger an explosion big enough to liquefy the sand in a 5 kilometer radius.”
“...That's worse.”
“This isn't impossible, all we need to do is calculate at what speed the power must be released at.” Tenion said.
“Can you do it?” Spode looked from one man to the next.
Edward shrugged, Nept stared at the ceiling, deep in thought, Tenion nodded slowly, “Yes.”
“Then do it.”
Jarro pressed up against the window, the raging infernal was now no more then a camp fire, shadowy figures where outlined by the light. Jarro push an ear to the glass, raised voices filtered through to him, however they were in the wrong language. He sighed, then brightened.
Jarro stepped carefully though the mess of wires and gizmos that had been spread over the floor, and grabbed Senic by the arm, “I need your help, my knowledge of Grytion consists of me being about of say 'hello'.”
“...Okay?”
“Great, come on.”
Back next to the far window Jarro pressed his ear to the glass, motioning Senic to do the same. After a moment Senic copied him.
“What are they saying?” Jarro asked in a muted whisper.
Senic shushed him, then in a low voice began to translate.
“Kill them now.” Therry, insisted, skin white in contrast to the black night, her yellow-grey eyes flashed as she turned sharply.
General Huri scowled, killing in self defense was one thing, but he did not intend to murder his victims in cold blood, “No.”
The sickly eye narrowed on him, “It was the deal, we work together and eliminate both our problems. You want the distrust to continue, it's good for your business. I want them out of my way.”
“I do not murder.”
The pale mage threw her hands in the air, “I hire the only black marketers with morals, wonderful.”
Huri stared at her impassively, behind him his second in command, captain Gerd, shifted nervously.
Therry paced a few time before halting directly in front on him, “Fine if you're so weak I shall kill them myself.”
She strode toward the secured ship, Grycites solders stood around it, watching her warily. Captain Gerd started forward.
Huri held out an arm, “Stay.”
“But sir..!”
“Stay.” Huri repeated in the same level voice.
Therry's interlocked her fingers and stretched them out in front of her. Gerd said urgently, “She's going to use magic!”
“No she's not.”
Five seconds pasted, ten, twenty.
“What..?”
“You know the anti magic field we set up so the hoverer's captain couldn't fly the ship away?”
“Oh...”
Therry's arms dropped to her sides, for a brief moment in time nothing dared breath. She turned slowly and walked back to the two men, her gaze thoughtful and calculating.
“You would seem to have me at an advantage, I am forced to ask, what now?”
Huri took a deep breath, and answered with another question, “You are aware of the slaver who works in Codron?”
“You want to sell them?” She, asked, surprise written all over her face, “You don't want to kill them but you're fine with selling them into slavery?”
“Even slavery is better than death.”
“Huh.” She smiled slightly, “I can't really object can I?”
“No.”
“Fine, do what you will, make sure they reach their destination.”
He inclined his head toward her. Therry nodded back, turn heel and vanished into the night.
Senic stopped translating, and sat back, Jarro followed suit. Somewhere in the background Edward said, “-If we shorten the conductor and line it up with the-”
“Good news!” Jarro announced startling everyone, “They're not going to kill us, they're going to sell us as slaves, oh and Edward? I think your niece is out there.”
Brief silence reigned for a moment, before frantic action took over again, Edward though remained frozen, “My...niece? You mean Therry? But what the heck is she doing out here?”
“Trying to kill us.” Jarro answered helpfully, “Don't worry, the black marketer she was working with stopped her.” He looked at Edward's incredulous face, Jarro continued, uncertain,“I might be wrong though, I've only met her once before, and the voice was a little muffled...” He trailed off.
Edward shook his head, trying to clear it, “I'll think about this later, right now I have work to do.” He walked back to the dismantled generator.
Jarro winced, he had no doubt about who the woman outside had been. However, it looked like once again, no one would believe him. Wonderful.
Out of everyone's way Jarro found a chair and sat watching the bustling of pilots and mage. Retin was sorting though a draw of cutlery, listening to Tenion's hastily yelled instructions.
“Would this do?” Retin asked, holding up an butter knife.
“Yes.” Replied Edward snatching it from her hand, “Thanks.”
“He's putting cutlery into an advanced power generator, we're doomed.” Retin said sadly.
Ellen started to wail, Loony sighing heavily patted the sobbing maid on the back, “Thank you so much,” she said sourly to Retin. “I'd just calmed her down.”
A yelp from Edward heralded a shower of sharps from the mutilated power unit. Edward asked, nursing his throbbing fingers, “You sure about your calculations?”
Tenion look up from a sheet of fine equations and notes, there was an infinitesimal pause before he nodded.
“Then we have nothing to wait for. Please brace yourselves people,” He added in a louder voice, “We're getting out of here!”
Jarro, eyes closed heard a clunk...and silence.
“Ok what did you guys mess up....!”
The pressure on his body would have made an elephant seem light. Everything was shaking, someone screamed. Then it was over, Jarro opened his eyes.
“Ow.” The grey carpet met his eyes. He must have fallen off his chair, he decided. Jarro picked himself up, holding one hand to the side of his head. His fingers came away tinted with blood. Jarro groaned, the force of departure must have reopen the cut. No one else looked much better, but, Jarro thought grimly, he was the only one bleeding.
Tenion was at the control panel, back in control, the faint glow of magic surrounding him. Edward was also on his feet, leaning against a chair, “Is everyone alive?”
A brief check proved that everyone was breathing and well.
Spode pulled out his watch, “And only an hour behind schedule, not bad.”
“We could have been killed and you're judging how long we took?” Retin exploded.
Jarro knew that voice, she was about to go in to Lecture Mode, he made an attempt to distract her. “What about the other hoverer? The one with Captain Roise in it?”
“I'll bet that... the mage,” Edward kept both eye fixed on the wall, “Made an illusion to separated us from them, if I'm right they should be waiting for us in Lecona.”
Spode nodded, “It would make sense, the fire dimmed soon as we landed.”
“I hope this trip doesn't get any more exciting, I've had all I can take for one day.” Loony said wearily.
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