All previous notes apply.
Chapter Three
"United"
Just about an hour before, Aika and Vyse were still sitting on the fence that girded the walkway to the tip of Crescent Island. They'd seen Fina off without much flourish, reserving words that would make them feel guilty and sparing none that bade her safe passage. Vyse sort of understood why she wanted to go; after all, ever since she'd come down from the Great Silver Shrine, she'd practically been with them since the first moonstone had come down. The initial thrill she'd gotten from having her own quest was replaced by the exhilaration of working with the Blue Rogues and, most notably, with a true hero. However, as the world had begun to regain order, that yearn had come back to her and ever since the atrocities of Valua, Nasr and Ixa'taka, she'd felt nothing less than a personal obligation to find out what was happening.
Vyse had very much wanted to go with her, but he recognized that it was probably a place limited to Silvites and that he would only cause interference. Still, he couldn't help but think about it as he watched the darkened sky, trying his best to convince himself that he could see Fina returning already.
"When do you think she'll be back?" Aika asked dreamily, eyes cast upwards.
"Probably not until morning . . . the trip isn't long but who knows what she might find?" Aika laughed softly, nodding. "That place was always sort of . . . mystical. I guess it makes sense that it might still hold some answers."
"I guess," she replied faintly, not at all convinced." Vyse broke his gaze away from the heavens to look at her, squinting a little to make out her features which were hidden from the moonlight by a scattering of clouds. The fish were jumping in the pond, trying to snatch low-flying bugs that were sticking out the end of the season. Eventually, the splashes died down, and the pair of pirates was once again left to the silence of the night.
Aika sighed, not quite content with the quiet. She spoke carefully, a distant quality in her inquiry. "Why did you let her go, Vyse?"
He grinned slightly, wondering the same. "I just had to. You saw her. You saw how much it meant to her. She feels like she has a duty to do this – ever since the Rains fell, she's wanted to help as many as she could and this is probably the best way." Vyse slapped her on the back, a winsome smile on his face. "I'd do the same for you."
"Yeah?" she asked. "Good." She looked away for a moment, reaching up to pluck Vyse's hand from her back and hold it in her own. "I'm a little scared," she confessed, shortly after scooting nearer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. He wordlessly nodded, covertly scratching his nose as some of her stray hairs reached up to tickle his skin.
"You've got nothing to fear, Aika. Fina will come back. We'll always be together, you know?" She looked up, head still nuzzled against him. "I don't think I'd be very happy if I didn't have both of you," he said quietly. Absent-mindedly, his fingers tightened around her hand, Aika taking it as a cue to sit up. Vyse turned to look back to see her demurely staring at him.
"What is it?" he asked. Aika's head tipped to the side a little as she very slowly leaned in, swallowing back a deep breath. A tad mesmerized, Vyse watched as she came toward him, eyes closing. His heart began to throb wildly; he could feel the blood flowing through his face, brightening his cheeks. He bit back further questions and closed his eyes as well, using the hint of her sweet breath over his lips as his guide.
A faint boom, unmistakably the sound of unbridled cannon fire, or at the very least gunpowder, caused the two of them to whip around, staring out towards Nasrad. "What was that?" Aika asked, flushed.
"Sounded like an explosion," Vyse mused as he finally realized that he had clutched Aika's hand twice as hard as he intended in order to subdue his trembling. She eased her fingers from his and hopped down to the ground, walking to the edge of the island, Vyse following soon after. They listened intently, a smaller, fainter series of thunder carried on the winds from the Red Moon City. They traded worried glances, their foiled contact already forgotten, and after using communication reserved only for childhood friends, they sprinted off, Vyse racing for the hangar while Aika scrambled to alert the crew.
The Vagabond was setting out.
-o-
Shortly after the Delphinus was fully stocked and the loading crew (minus one) was returning to their homes, Lawrence, Marco and Drachma were patrolling the cargo bay. The helmsman was finally dry, for the most part, his hair still a little damp and matted down on his skull. Every now and then he shook his head around in order to get the wet hairs from his eyes. He handed a clipboard to Marco as they passed box after box, ordering him to control the double-check. There were 23 full-sized crates in all, each easily large enough to hold four grown men. They sat stacked to either side of the ship's hull, a narrow passage wide enough for them to file through two at a time. Drachma used his arm to wrench open the boxes one by one, while the young sailor counted out this and approximated that.
"Quite a purchase, Lawrence," Drachma grumbled as they came across a crate of cannon ammunition. "Yea' preparin' for war?" Marco crawled out of the giant box, flashing them the thumbs up, ticking off some items on his list. Drachma pushed the wooden panel closed, resealing the cargo with a quick pound from his heavy arm.
"Not quite," Lawrence curtly replied as they tallied off gear grease, machine oil, and quite a few apo waxes. "We've just been running low on supplies after a few run-ins with persistent black pirates."
"Heh. Hard to believe anyone has the nerve to attack the Delphinus."
Lawrence helped Marco climb into the next crate with a boost from his foot. "Ow! You jerk!" Marco cried. "There're cannonballs in here! Damnit, my head. . ." The helmsman hid a smile, turning back to Drachma as his young charge counted aloud.
"Actually, Captain Vyse typically finds time to save merchant ships from attack. We're rarely fired upon, unless we venture to the south where those floating . . . web-creatures live." Drachma visibly shuddered.
"Aye, disgusting critters." He gave Lawrence a hard look before his voice dropped, a decided change in the subject demanding a change in tone. "Boy, ye'suspect foul play, don't yea'?"
"The fire, I suppose you mean."
"Indeed."
Lawrence didn't immediately reply, pausing to help Marco climb down from a box stacked atop another. They moved on to the last ten, or so, finding the same collection of greases, waxes, kits and a few emergency provisions. As the little sailor scrambled up to inspect another crate, Lawrence spoke.
"I do. But I can't say much more than that I fear that explosion might have been targeted for the Delphinus." Drachma nodded, cracking his neck to the side once done.
"Agreed."
Lawrence turned to the sound of a flare bursting over the ship and quickly walked to a nearby porthole. The Vagabond was waiting outside, Vyse and Aika standing impatiently on its deck. Lawrence whistled to Drachma, motioning for him to follow on his way to the bridge.
"Marco, finish the inventory," he said as the two climbed a nearby ladder.
"But I can't open these boxes without Drachma's arm!" he protested, jumping when a crowbar was thrown down from above. The helmsman's voice followed:
"You have all night to get it done. Be quick about it." Marco's heart sank as he trudged toward the fallen crowbar, a dark scowl on his face. The hatch above him closed and locked, leaving him alone in the echo-chamber of a cargo bay. He picked up the heavy bar, almost weighing as much as he, and dragged it back to the remaining handful of crates. The trip down the aisle zapped a lot of his energy and he almost immediately had to sit down for lack of breath once he arrived.
"Damnit," he panted. A few moments later, after the ship had rumbled to life, he got back to his feet and picked up the dense metal and awkwardly jammed the sharp edge into the crack between the boards on the edge of the last box. He shifted his hands so that he could lever the crate open, and after the fourth full-bodied push, he finally heard the splintering crack of a loosening nail. He forced the bar in deeper, using his weight to press against the other end until the panel finally creaked open enough for him to slip his body inside, where he could then force the wood to move with his legs and back.
Nearly exhausted, he wearily checked the contents before he crawled out of the container. He wiped his sweating brow; while the heat of Nasr was slipping away, the exertion was making up for it. Not to mention that the cargo bay was great at insulating the warmth the baking sun had bestowed upon it. If the bay doors hadn't been open all day, Marco would have been roasted alive and the three crates of concussion bombs would have surely detonated.
He sank down and sighed, dropping his clipboard next to him. "There has to be a better way," he muttered, looking around the poorly-lit bay area. Across from him on the floor was a curiously smaller crowbar, one that would be much easier for him to use, he was sure. Eagerly, and unconcerned by its presence, he crawled over to pick it up, lifting his eyes to the crate before which it sat. His brow furrowed, seeing the splintered remains of the edge of the box, already torn by the bite of a crowbar's tooth. He rose to his feet slowly as he reached out to touch the ajar panel, a gap about an inch wide suddenly obvious to his adjusting eye.
He set the small crowbar down and with both hands, wrenched the crate door open, looking into the darkness of what was an empty box. He swore, as one of the Nasrian workers had surely taken who-knows-what in the way of supplies. Marco turned to collect his clipboard to try and cross-index what must have been taken when two tanned arms emerged from the blackness, pulling the younger into the crate with a muffled scream.
-o-
"We're coming upon Crescent Island," Lawrence called, Vyse looking up from the map he was studying with the old fisherman. Torn pieces of yellow parchment were spread across the table, each with a sprawl of words written across the paper. They marked Valua, Nasr, Ixa'taka and now Yafutoma, which Vyse had just recently learned had suffered its own catastrophic event. Mt. Kasai had suddenly erupted, sending a spray of water and rock into the air, boulders the size of small islands raining down and ruining about a fourth of the Yafutoman prefecture. Drachma, who was fishing some of the rarer breeds near the Dark Rift, had witnessed the scene from the soft rumble he thought was thunder to the unholy explosion of stone. Yafutoma was still functioning, thanks in a large part to the Tenkou navy and the quick thinking of Daigo.
The sight was still haunting, and coupled with the thought of similar events happening worldwide, Drachma was thrown into a foul mood. "Vyse, this is something to fear," he muttered. "Who knows what's happened that we don't know about, aye?"
"I'm starting to wonder," Vyse said acidly, rubbing his head. An aching pain had quickly developed, this fresh knowledge of destruction doing nothing to ease the tension. He stepped away from the map and up the Lawrence, deciding to take the wheel and auger the Delphinus into port. Behind her, the Claudia and the Vagabond were flanking closely, with Aika at the helm of the latter. Vyse grinned, knowing that she was all too eager to take control. Gilder had left command of his ship to his crew so that he could keep an eye on the now two-person vessel Aika was commanding.
The Little Jack was currently being upgraded in Nasr, but with the wildfire, the completion was pushed back by a day. Luckily, his ship was spared by the inferno. They had decided to pick it up the next day when they would also set out for Valua's rebuilt capital.
The fleet slowly closed in on the island, spotlights on to guild them through the midnight sky. An agitated quiet had overtaken the well lit cabin, with nothing but the clicks and beeps of machinery to accompany the silent pirates. Lawrence took over the navigation console as Vyse hit the altimeter and turned a few degrees starboard, lowering the Delphinus to just below the island's surface. He jumped, however, when the comm.-tube came to life with a frantic distress call.
"Mayday!" Domingo cried from the lookout tower. "Mayday! Incoming ships at seven o'clock high! Two ships! Spell Pirates! They're going after the Vagabond!" Vyse growled, his teeth tightly clenched as a soft yellow warning light began to spin on his console. He threw back the lever on the altitude control, the ship rocking up towards the high sky. He banked the wheel hard to port just in time to witness cannon-fire erupt from the Claudia.
"I don't need this!" Vyse yelled, ordering Drachma and Lawrence to battle stations. "Where's Marco?" he demanded, looking back to Lawrence who was busy sighting up the twelve-inch secondary cannon. "Lawrence?"
"Down in the cargo bay, captain," he looked back to Drachma who was setting up their Moon Cannon, prepared to blow the engines clear off first ship. It had already cast a silencing spell on the Vagabond, leaving Gilder and Aika to rely on conventional weapons.
"Lawrence, take the wheel," Vyse ordered, running back to take over his station. "They'll need an incremus and they can't cast." Lawrence dutifully took the wheel as Vyse chanted quietly, fueling one of their magic cannons with the spell's charge. As themighty ship swept down upon the exchange of missiles and torpedoes, Vyse launched his spell on the Vagabond. The ship flashed bright red for a moment before returning to its normal color.
"Direct hit," Drachma grumbled. "Now, let's give these spell pirates a taste of their own medicine." He grinned savagely, preparing two cannons with sylenis. "Preparing to launch!" he bellowed, striking the console. He stumbled as the cabin shook, however, a destructive crystalen shell colliding with the forward hull. Two more shells were coming in fast as the ship dived toward the noisy battle scene, both decidedly magical. Hissing, Vyse looked back to his helmsman with teeth tightly clenched.
"Evasive action, damnit! We've got a damaged hull! Any more hits like that and we could go down!" Lawrence spun the wheel portside, barrel rolling the ship as the behemoth dropped like a stone between the Claudia and the Vagabond. The wake of the rushing Delphinus caused both vessels to sway and keel, but they kept steady against the savage cannon fire. The two shells passed harmlessly overhead, striking a nearby uninhabited island.
The Claudia unleashed a vicious combination of torpedoes, secondary and main cannon fire, quickly sending one of the spell ships down, trailing a column of smoke as it sank below the clouds. The Delphinus circled up and around, creeping up behind the final pirate ship as it released a second wave of crystalen shells towards the Vagabond.
"Drachma!" Vyse ordered as he readied the Moonstone cannon.
"On it, captain!" With the last of his magical reserves tapped, Drachma prepared a final spell shot, closing his eyes as he chanted for blue magic. As the bow of the ship dropped open like the jaw of a hungry beast, a massive forward cannon emerging from within, the old salt fired a wevles spell into the open air. The spiral of winds forced the Claudia and the Vagabond to either side of the shot, their sails taken up by the typhoon. The spell pirate's cannon fire fell between them, disappearing into Deep Sky.
The Delphinus rumbled, shaking slightly as a purple light, like an aurora, began to twist like a helix around the giant cannon's barrel. Rings of energy swam up the shaft, collecting in a growing sphere of magnificent light. The illumination in the cabin dimmed to almost nothing when Vyse gave the order to fire, a shot of magic powered by the moons leaving the cannon, arching toward the spell pirate's doomed vessel.
The beam struck the ship from behind, demolishing its engines and the aft decks. The forward decks bulged as the shaft of light passed through, splitting and cracking the irons that held the hull together. The entire vessel was blown into splinters and shrapnel in less than a handful of seconds, fiery debris raining down from the sky. As the intense blinding light died away, the cabin lights came back and the cannon retreated to within the massive hull, the bow of the ship closing its satisfied maw.
"Take escort speed, Lawrence," Vyse said after the normal hum of the ship resumed. He and Drachma wordlessly raced out to the deck of the Delphinus, boots pounding on diamond-plate steel as she came up between the Claudia and the shaken Vagabond. Aika and Gilder were already waiting on her deck when Drachma and Vyse emerged. Each pair ran to their respective rails, hailing each other with short waves.
"What the hell was that!" Aika screamed, her braided hair having come lose from the stress of battle. Gilder was panting a little, as well. "They came out of nowhere!"
"We'll return to the Island to discuss this," Vyse yelled back, pointing to their nearby home. The two nodded and ran back toward their bridge while Drachma did the same. Vyse stood still on the vibrating deck for just a few moments longer, watching the Vagabond carefully. He gave his strange suspicion a second thought before he realized he was being ridiculous and returned to the cabin of the Delphinus.
-o-
The reunited pirate troupe emerged from Crescent Island's underground cavern, Drachma practically demanding to pay a visit to the tavern. Gilder and Aika agreed, a hot meal just the ticket to sooth their collective souls. Polly, seeing them arrive, opened the door even before Vyse had a chance to reach for the knob, ushering the group into what was already a cabin alive with delicious scents. Inside, they found Brabham and Izmael enjoying a game of cards, with Robinson playing kibitz. Well, Izmael was enjoying it – he had a stack of gold piled high next to him and the same could not be said for the engineer. While Aika, Gilder and Drachma took a much needed seat, the captain strutted over to his two favorite builders.
"Hey Vyse," Brabham wheezed, "I know. She still works great, don't she?"
"Funny," he replied, taking a peek at his horrible hand. "We got a break in the hull earlier today and, although I had it patched at Nasrad, I ripped it open when I used to Moonstone cannon." The lanky engineer tossed his cards down, folding.
"Are you serious?" he asked.
"Every word."
"Those damn-fool Red Mooners don't know what they're doing."
Vyse chose to ignore the comment, and instead got right to the details. "We were hit by some falling rocks and the cannon was just too much for her. Think you can patch her up by week's end?" Brabham ran his gloved hand through his beard while Izmael dealt another round, this time throwing Vyse into the game with three cards. "Oh, no, I'm not really—"
"C'mon, Captain!" Izmael chuckled. "You look like you need a break anyway. Five card stud." Vyse shrugged and picked up his hand, glancing back and forth between the two. Brabham nodded after some thoughtful betting.
"I'll take a look at her, Vyse. The ol' girl was due for reinforcement, anyway."
"Glad to hear it," Vyse murmured, scratching his chin. He fished around in his coat pocket for some spare gold, tossing two coins down, taking a card. "I call." He looked up to see that Aika was now across from him, watching the game carefully. Gilder and Drachma had slipped into a discussion about pitting their respective ships against each other and were officially in their own world where Harpoon Cannon met the maneuverability of the Claudia. Vyse shrugged as the bet came back to him.
He paused. The pot had grown considerably and Brabham was betting at least ten gold. A quick peek down at his cards told Vyse to fold – there was nothing quite as depressing as the off suit six, two, jack and nine he held. And it continued like that: for at least fifteen minutes Vyse was folding after the ante, with Aika occasionally trying to steal a glance at his cards. She had joined in shortly after Vyse had and was soon out of pocket money. Dejected, she sat enviously watching Izmael's pile of coins grow. The builder laughed heartily after raking in another medium swell of coins, winking at Vyse.
"Shouldn't quit your day job, captain." The pirate shrugged, picking up the newly dealt cards. Vyse kept quiet, throwing in from a seemingly endless pocket of coins. Brabham tirelessly raised his cohort, trying desperately to bluff his way in despite numerous tells. Izmael turned to Vyse with a smoking grin, expecting the fold. At least the captain was honest player.
"I call," he said plainly, eyes focused on his hand. He collected a card, studying it carefully.
"Oh ho!" Izmael exclaimed. "He speaks!" He pitched in another handful of coins, double that Vyse had. "I see that and raise as well."
"Blast it!" Brabham yelled, throwing his cards away. "Fold." Vyse chuckled quietly to himself and coolly stood.
"Just a second." Vyse stood up and shed his coat, overturning it above the table. A glittering shower of gold fell from his pockets, cascading across the wood, a few spilling onto the floor. Aika's eyes literally sparkled as she watched him shake it, a final piece dropping from the cloth and clinking on the small mountain. "I raise." He took his final card, and after a quick glance, folded them up into his palm.
Izmael's confidence, however, could not be shaken. "Is that all you have? Because I can keep going." Vyse smiled. "What?" He turned to Aika and grabbed the boomerang from her shoulder. He set it on the table with a crash before she snatched it back with protest.
"No way!" she cried.
"Come on, Aika, what're you afraid of?"
"You're horrible at cards!" she shouted, hugging her boomerang close to her chest, her face slightly obscured by its sky-blue edge. "Think again, buddy." Vyse sighed, reaching down beside him.
"Alright, fine."
"Wait, Vyse, don't do it—"
A slender weapon pieced the top of the table where it seemed to glow in the yellow light. Izmael rubbed his ear to make sure the ringing he heard wasn't just in his head. "My sword." The builder watched with a careful study while Brabham simply whistled. "I should think that this rivals your entire stack of gold, yeah?" Vyse winked, waving his cards back and forth. "What's it going to be?"
"I'm in," the builder replied immediately, the gleam on that sword too tempting to pass up. While Vyse may love his blade, he was playing lousily the whole night. And if he thought that he could out-bluff Izmael, he was due for a harsh wake up. The builder threw his cards down, revealing a painful house, kings full of jacks.
Vyse winced, groaning a little. At that moment, Izmael felt the pang of guilt and the joy of victory do battle. His sympathy, however, also suddenly kicked in. "Vyse, I won't really take your sword . . . you can foot me some gold later, or something."
Vyse shook his head.
"No, no, I'll be taking my sword, anyway." He turned his hand around, revealing a straight flush to the jack in spades. Izmael's mouth dropped open, his cigar miraculously clinging to his lip as Vyse stood, pulling the Vorlik blade up from the table. He sheathed the mighty sword and then grabbed two handfuls of gold from the pot, just about as much as he'd bet in total.
"The rest is yours, Iz," he said cheerfully, pulling his jacket back on and pocketing the coins. Even with two handfuls, Aika couldn't detect the rattle of money. She jumped up, flabbergasted.
"Vyse, how did you do that?" He shrugged, grinning while Izmael shook his head in wonder. "How did you go from folding hand after hand to that?" Aika re-secured her boomerang and crossed her arms. Vyse sat back down to a waiting meal while Gilder and Drachma were nursing empty plates as they'd already consumed theirs.
"Sometimes you get lucky," Vyse said honestly, digging into his cooling dinner. Aika, not exactly convinced, gave up and did the same while Izmael and Brabham resumed their friendly game. For some reason, Brabham's luck had turned around.
Dinner was soon over, and all that remained was the talk of the recent pirate attack. "Perhaps they didn't see the Del," Gilder suggested, tipping a tumbler of rum toward Aika. She sipped from her own small glass of liquor, nodding faintly. "I mean, maybe they only saw the Claudia and the Vagabond, which would explain why they were stupid enough to open fire."
"Yeah, could be," Aika slowly agreed. "But, then again, they didn't turn tail and run once they spotted her – they fired on the Del, too." She took another swig and set her glass aside. "Maybe they had some other motive."
"Like what?" Gilder asked.
"Like distraction," Vyse murmured, his eyes focusing off in the distance. "Maybe they were just trying to tie us up and ended up giving their lives for it?" He stood up suddenly, pointing to Gilder. "Have you been on the Claudia? Do you think you could have been boarded?"
"Unlikely," he said. "My men said she was clean when they pulled her next to the Vagabond. No stowaways here." Vyse sat back down, mouth curled in a frown.
"Damn," he muttered. "I really find it hard to believe that they'd just attack for the sake of attacking. Especially at night. There's something more here." He turned to Drachma, who had been silent since he'd finished his meal. "Any thoughts, cap'n?" He looked up, his single eye glaring at him.
"Sorry, boy, I've got not one idea. All I can think about is that fire back in Nasrad. I gets the feeling that yer ship was the true target, and that these bastards who attacked us may have been the culprits. Perhaps they were just that cocky." He pulled a flask out from his shirt, tipping it back. "Maybe this isn't want yea' should be investing yer time into. Yea've got bigger problems, I wager."
"Maybe he's right, Vyse," Aika muttered, curious as to what he was drinking. "It might have simply been a pair of pirate ships too stupid to know any better." Quietly, Vyse turned this over in his head. He was a legend, damnit – people feared and respected him, and everything about that attack, including that it was very sudden, was declaring organization. To him, it reeked of distraction. Yet, the island was safe and aside from Fina, no one AWOL.
Except the Primrose! he thought, audibly gasping. "Where's Clara!" Gilder spat his rum to the side, coughing as Vyse jumped up again.
"What!"
"The Primrose was missing and we didn't sail with her!" He spun and pointed to Robinson, Izmael and Brabham. "Check this island twice!" The three jumped up and scrambled for the door. "Yes sir!" they cried, disappearing into the night. Aika and Gilder both hopped to their feet while Drachma slowly rose, his body unable to perform so acrobatically.
"I can't believe we didn't realize it," Aika said distantly. She saw Vyse's face darken and she laid a reassuring hand on his arm. "Relax. You know she can fight – if they were hijacked we can find her." Vyse absently nodded as he went for the door.
"Right. Gilder, we're sailing the Claudia. She's the fastest one we've got right now." Gilder raced after him, grabbing him by the arm. Vyse spun, a little bewildered to be halted.
"Hold on, we're sailing tonight?"
Aika came up by his other side. "We need to wait, captain." He took a deep breath, relaxing against the grip of the pirates by his sides. They released him once he was still, a temporary moment of panic subdued by rational thought.
"You're right. We don't even have a direction," he said calmly, blowing some hair from his face. "Let's at least wait until the Island is searched." He returned to his seat with Aika and Gilder following, sitting down just as the door opened. Vyse's attention was caught by Robinson who rushed in ahead of the builder and the engineer. They came it with a body between them, bruised and a little scratched her, shirt torn and missing a shoe.
"Belle!" Aika gasped as they placed the unconscious girl on the unoccupied table. She moaned in her delirium, blood trickling down her forehead from a wound on her hairline.
Vyse turned to Aika with a nod as they gathered around her. "I can't perform any more magic today. It's up to you, Aika."
"I got it," she confirmed, clearing her throat with a cough. She gently guided Drachma and Brabham from her path extending her arms to the side, fingers turned up. She turned a faint green, passing the glow onto Belle with the utterance of a sacri spell. The gash on her head sealed up almost instantly, as the scratches on her arms evaporated away. She had a bruise on her exposed stomach that slowly melted away, turning from an ugly purple to her skin's normal ivory.
"Why not Riselem?" Vyse asked, but Aika shook her head.
"Sorry, I'm out. I used a lot of repair-magic on the Vagabond once that silencing spell wore off." Vyse sighed, turning to Robinson.
"What did you find?"
"Her lifeboat had just landed when we'd reached the pond. She was the only one inside, but she's at least alive." Drachma growled a little, clenching his metal hand. "We saw the boat come in from the west, but it might have just been swept into the currents."
"At least we have our bearing now," Drachma said gruffly. "We should investigate after this young'in' becomes conscious, Vyse."
"That shouldn't take to long," a voice said as the door creaked open once more. Drachma turned to watch Ilchymis come up, setting a chuck of Velorium down on the table at which they once dined. Vyse glanced at it curiously before returning his attention to Belle. The chemist met Aika with a smile, kindly asking her to step aside as he stretched out his hands to perform the revival spell.
White light formed overhead, bathing the entire group of onlookers in its resuscitating glow. Belle shifted noisily, her eyes fluttering softly before she opened them wide. However, she quickly nodded off, not speaking even two words. Ilchymis grinned despite this, turning to Izmael and Brabham. "If you wouldn't mind, could you get her to the crew quarters? She'll need a little rest before she can talk." They nodded quietly, carefully picking her up and carting her out the door. Robinson followed, if just because he wanted to feel helpful.
The chemist stepped back and retrieved the Velorium he'd brought in, setting it down in Belle's place. "Ilchymis," Vyse asked, "what's going on? Did you see what happened to the Primrose?"
"Unfortunately, no," he said, shaking his head. "I only just now saw them carry the poor girl in here. I was down in my laboratory with this." He tapped the metal, earning intrigued noises from both Gilder and Drachma.
"That's quite a chunk of Velorium," Gilder whistled. "Love to have me a gun made out of that." Drachma chuckled a little. "Oh, not before your new arm, of course." The old sailor laughed again.
"Of course."
"Actually, neither," Ilchymis said simply, placing his hand over the rock roughly the size of a loaf of stone ground bread. "This is not Velorium."
"It isn't?" both Gilder and Aika asked, a disappointment heard in their unison.
"It isn't," Ilchymis parroted, asking them to gather and observe as his hand turned yellow, a glow taking over both his arm and that which he was touching. "Vyse, I'm not sure what this means," he said quietly, "but watch."
The outside world seems to darken as Ilchymis closed his eyes, the glow from his hand racing up his arm. By now, the entire side of his body had adopted the strange radiance, while the pseudo-Velorium began to turn an impossibly-bright white. Vyse shielded his eyes while Aika had to almost look away from the light. Suddenly, red cigarette burns began to tear though the shining luminescence, expanding and eating away at the incandescent shell. The Velorium seemed to melt away as a blackness previously unfathomed peeked out from underneath. Soon, the light was overtaken by this sheer darkness, overpowered and defeated. Vyse's hand dropped from his face as he stared at what sat – no, what hovered – on the table; a sight he was sure he'd never actually see.
"Vyse, your goggle," Aika whispered, drawing the attention of Gilder and Drachma. It had become opaque again, but not for the mere second that made him think he was going crazy. Instead, the blackness lasted for as long as Ilchymis's magic did, the glass only returning to normal when he lifted his hand off the long, double-ended spiked crystal that was floating above the grainy table top.
The four turned their heads back down to watch as it slowly rotated, spinning like a compass needle, until one silvery tip pointed at Vyse. He backed away slightly, the eerie black glow that now took over the table both bright and flat as the same time. A razor thin line of reflected whiteness cut along the top, while the crystal itself seemed more like unglazed ceramic. It was matte, transparent and shimmering all that the same time, both its own shadow and source of disturbingly shadowy light all at once.
"The black moon crystal," Gilder finally muttered, hypnotized.
Vyse nodded carefully watching as it pointed to him unquestioningly. He was tempted to reach out; to touch it and pick it up, but was equally convinced that it was not to be played with. Though, before much else could be done, the door crashed open once again, making Aika practically scream. Eyes turned as a figure, virtually soaked in blood and sullied with dirt, tumbled into the tavern and fell unconscious to the stone floor.
To be Continued.
