Chapter Fifteen – Leviathan

The big old shire horse plodded along at the only pace he knew. Sheeta and Pazu sat in the back of the wagon, draped over sacks and barrels. The motion of the swaying wagon was relaxing. Pazu lay back, arms behind his head, wiggling his spine against the sugar beet, trying to hollow out a comfortable bed. There was something in the air this morning, something nice. It reminded him of some days of spring, back at the Ravine when they'd all endured a miserable cold snowy winter when the world had been dark and damp for what seemed like years. Then spring came and the days got longer and the sun was warm on your face and the first flowers came out. It was like that now. Pazu had never had a year when spring followed the harvest. The time when the local small holders gathered in their meagre crops from the plots of land along the top of the Ravine had always heralded colder, shorter days, and falling leaves. Yet here was a place, in his head, where the seasons were different. Pazu decided he liked messed up seasons. Especially when she caused them. The sun was out and Sheeta was talking to him again. The world was alright, after all.

"Your leg. How is it?"
"Better. All cured."

She was sat, cross legged on the low flat box that housed the wheel jack. She was picking at a length of twine. He'd noticed the bandage was gone, and the swelling.

"But five days ago you couldn't even put it on the ground. Now you're not even limping."
"Yes, it must be magic."

She smiled at him, and if she did that, Pazu didn't really care if the tooth fairy herself had come in the night and healed her. Or if autumn was missed out altogether and they moved straight into winter. He just didn't care.

--I--
---o-o-oOo-o-o---
I I

The journey to Porthaven took half an hour. It was quite a small town of brick built houses, shops, chapels and inns, all very ordinary. They went down a gently sloping street to the quayside where the place was bustling, fishing boats lined the wharf and alongside the buildings that lined the quay, fishermen and traders had set up stalls selling fish, game and vegetables. Tanner manoeuvred the big wagon carefully along the quay between other carts and the railway wagons which stood outside warehouses on tracks inset into the cobbles. He stopped the wagon outside one warehouse, jumped down and went inside.

Sheeta climbed down and went to stand by Ono, petting the white blaze on his nose. Pazu stood up in the back of the wagon and looked around. It certainly was a bustling town. Across the harbour was a ridge of high ground with a watchtower at the seaward end. To his left a stone mole protected the harbour entrance. At its end was a navigation beacon in a tall tower. To his right, across the harbour was an industrial quarter and slipways, and dark smoke issued purposefully from several tall chimneys. But it was out in the centre of the wide harbour that his attention was drawn. Six or eight ironclad battleships lay at anchor, with a number of smaller vessels. The big ships were dull grey with ochre painted funnels. They bristled with cannons in menacing looking turrets and the coloured flags hung from halyards did little to lighten their appearance. These were machines of war, designed to kill on a massive scale. Had they been enemy vessels then nothing could live in Porthaven; their artillery would reduce the town to ruins in an hour. Around the fleet a dozen small boats chugged busily to and fro, delivering stores, coal, officers in smart white uniforms and messages.

A toot of a whistle caught his attention and crawling slowly along the quayside tracks, its bell clanging, came a little steam engine, very small and designed to work these sidings between the warehouses with their tight curves. The engine crept past the wagon and buffered up to two vans standing on a siding. One of the crew jumped off, coupled the vans up and the engine came back, drawing the vans past them with a clatter and squeal of steel tyres. Pazu had worked on engines just like that and he suddenly felt homesick. The Ravine had been a hard life; dirty, long days, and never enough in his belly. But he had some good friends there, and he missed them. After the evening a week or so ago when he'd seen Okami, he had vanished into thin air as far as she and the Boss would be concerned. He made a note to himself to get in touch with them somehow soon and tell them he was alright.

"Alright, lad, let's be getting' this lot unloaded."

The three of them emptied the wagon in half an hour. Sheeta stood in the back lifting the sacks and baskets and lowering them down to Pazu and Tanner who took them inside. Pazu found some of the sacks heavy and he was impressed that Sheeta could even lift them, with her newly healed ankle, let alone move them to the back of the wagon and hold them while either he or Tanner returned to take the load off her.

"Righty-o, thas' all done."

Tanner came out of the warehouse after shaking hands with a man in a long brown coat and a round hat. He accepted a purse of coins from the warehouseman and climbed back up in the driving seat.

"Now then, I's gotta go see a man about buyin' some winter stores. I'll meet yers at the railway stayshin in an hour, got that? Stayshin's at the top o' that wide street we came down, on yer left."
"Alright. See you later."
"Bye."
"Oh, Pazoo, lad. Here's fer yer. Don' ye spend it all at once. And thanks fer yer help, yer's been a good worker... when I's could git some sense from yer."

Tanner chuckled and passed over some coins and then set off with the wagon down the quayside in pursuit of the steam train that was now busy further along, collecting more wagons.

Pazu looked in his hand. Three gold coins and six silver ones. They were Marinaer currency so he didn't know how much it was, but the image of three other gold coins came back to him. He wouldn't accept money like that again. Never, not when it concerned the person stood next to him.

"Where shall we go?"
"We need a few things. A lamp, a knife, a compass. Something to cook in, something to eat with. I need boots and you need stronger shoes. Lots of stuff."
"I can't travel dressed like this Pazu but I think I can make up some better clothes from some more of Morwen's old things. She seems to have a lot of things from when she was younger that no longer fit her."
"Britches, a shirt and a jacket would be best."
"I'll see what I can do. Socks too. We should spend as little of the money as possible."
"Come on, let's look around."

The hour went by very fast. They walked along the quayside looking at the fishing boats and then turned up a side street. Pazu noticed what looked like a pawnbrokers or it might be a dealer in second hand ironmongery, and he made a note to himself to come here again when he returned with Tanner and the barley. They bought most of what they needed. Sheeta saw a very useful thing in one workman's suppliers. It was a cooking stove, a steel rim that would support a saucepan or kettle on short folding legs with a grate under it. It was fired by chemical tablets that contained two reactive agents. You took a tablet from the pack, (it looked something like a little cake of soap), snapped it to make the two chemicals mix, dropped it in the grate and it burned with a green flame for several minutes. The man in the shop told them it was a very hot flame and would heat a kettle of water or a pan of stew in a minute, so it was useful if they were in a hurry. It was expensive but would be convenient, particularly if they found themselves camping where there was no firewood or if they wanted to remain unnoticed somewhere and a campfire would make smoke. They both recalled Morwen's sharp words about how visible their campfire's smoke and light had been that first day.

Weighed down with stove, pans, two new pairs of boots, a new shirt for him (his old one had almost rotted away with the sweat from this weeks hard work) and various smaller bits and pieces, they went up the hill to the station. They could see it from the bottom of the street, the smoke from the locomotives and the sound of their tooting whistles being like a signpost. They sat outside and watched the horse cabs dropping off and picking up passengers. There were even a couple of motor cabs, still a novelty down in the Ravine, but apparently more common here. They relaxed in the sun. Pazu stretched out his legs, put his arms behind his head and tilted his engineers cap down over his eyes. While he was dozing Sheeta sat and secretly watched him from under the shade of her hat. She enjoyed watching. He was cute, especially when he relaxed like this. His shirt sleeves were rolled up and she looked at the tanned skin of his arms, the muscles there. Yes, very cute.

"Latest edition! Goliath lost with all hands! Numenaor battle cruiser lost! Sabotage suspected! Latest edition!"

The cry of the newspaper seller brought them wide awake. The boy was down the street a way and already attracting a crowd.

"Wait here."

Pazu sprinted back down the slope and bought a paper. Running back he passed a funny tall yellow painted house that had WIZARD JENKINS painted in wiggly writing above the door.

wizard?

He thought.

they have wizards here? strange to believe in magic in times like these. perhaps its just a circus man, a fairground man.

He stopped when he reached Sheeta and they both looked closely at the newspaper.

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HMAS Goliath Lost At Sea! - No Survivors!

Enemy Agents Suspected! - Wreckage Washed Ashore!

from our special correspondent

Yesterday it was reported by His Majesty's Government in Numenaor that contact had been lost with the flagship of their Western Squadron, the battle cruiser Goliath. Last received messages from the vessel were a week ago when she reported she was in pursuit of air pirates and heading east over the Sea of Neb. Radio transmissions ceased soon after.

Wreckage and bodies of the fallen have washed ashore on the eastern Marinaer coast for several days now but without confirmation of the source.

Our special correspondent can report an interview with Captain Rama, master of the spice clipper Avalon, recently docked at Kingsbury, who said he had seen at least two violent explosions three days earlier. One on the sea surface and another at high altitude. Captain Rama thought the surface explosion was caused by a "gigantic gun" firing down from the position where the second explosion later occurred.

Considerable amounts of light wreckage have been reported by salvors and the Numenaorian Military have reportedly requested the Marinaer Government to send their militia to cordon off a number of beaches where bodies have been reported washed up from the sea.

No trace of any so-called air pirate vessel has so far been confirmed.

Goliath was commissioned only a year ago and was said to be the biggest and most advanced warship in the world. Her two sister ships in the class, Thunderer and Leviathan are said to be nearing completion and Leviathan has already undergone her main performance trials and is due to enter service within a matter of weeks.

The loss of such an advanced vessel points the finger of suspicion at Restormellian agents or saboteurs. The King of Restormel has recently taken a hostile stance against Numenaor due to the southern kingdom's alliance with Marinaer.

Read our evening edition for further reports!

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They looked at each other. For a minute they said nothing. This was terrible, now that the loss of the Goliath had become known the Numenaorian navy would be certain to search for survivors. If parts of the Tiger Moth were found, or even worse, pieces of Laputa, there was no knowing where an investigation might lead.

"Tanner isn't stupid, he will put two and two together," Sheeta looked unhappy, "he suspects we're lying to him already."
"He knows," Pazu replied, "I was talking to him yesterday and let slip about 'our glider' again and he corrected me with 'lifeboat'. I think he's worked out that we didn't escape some sort of accident. Once he reads this," Pazu smacked the paper with his knuckles, "he'll have some questions for us, I know it."
"What do we do?"
"Leave. We have to move on. Our dialect tells everyone here that we are strangers. I'm from Numenaor and if anyone else saw us land, or saw the glider on the sheepfold that first night, soldiers might come to Tanners farm."
"The glider!"

The glider was the worst thing. If the navy found pieces of the Moth that would be very bad, because part of that airship was sitting there, right now, in Tanner's shed.

"Yes. I have to dispose of it, dismantle it, destroy it. I can't leave it in Tanner's shed, if his farm is searched he will be in trouble. I had thought of leaving right now, this minute, but I have to clear that evidence away, I can't drop Tanner in it like that."
"Where will we go?"
"North, we have to. But not by train, I was thinking of leaving from here but I don't want any officials to see us, not even railway officials. We'll try and ride with a farm wagon, or a delivery wagon."
"We just have to get across the border somehow."
"Don't worry. We'll do it."

--I--
---o-o-oOo-o-o---
I I

"There wuz some funny talk in the pub, all sorts o' funny rumors."

Pazu turned his head and looked at Tanner, driving the wagon. Tanner was speaking without looking round.

"I'm not surprised. You heard the news then?" the boy asked
"'Bout Goliath?"
"Hm."
"Oh, I wasn't thinkin' o' Goliath. Though, course, that were interestin' too. No, I was thinkin' 'bout the Albion."

They were in the wagon, on the way back. Tanner had bought cattle cake – winter feed - and a supply of barley seed and other seeds for next years crop, plus some timber to repair the cart shed roof. Pazu and Sheeta sat on the very back of the wagon, on the tailgate, their legs hanging down, trying to be as small and quiet and invisible as possible. They had been silent all the way from the station.

When Tanner mentioned the Albion, the girl and boy exchanged a guilty look. There was no stopping it now, Tanner wanted to talk.

oh. this was it. now he might call the town watch out for them.

"Yer gonna come up 'ere and talk wi' me lad, or is I gonna shout at yer all the way home?"
"Come on," Pazu said to her. They climbed over the wagon.
"Yer know what, lad? I wuz in the Fisherman's Rest talkin' to me old pal Zeb what used to work on the airship runs, and the thing what surprised me most… d'ya know what?"
"What?" Pazu came and sat behind him on a barrel, Sheeta perched next to him.
"That there ship the Albion, curious thing yer know."
"She doesn't exist," Pazu offered, dejectedly.
"Oh, no, she exists all right. She was a regular cargo ship across Numenaor. That was until four years ago. Then she were scrapped. So there I was, puzzlin' over this and wonderin', now that Pazoo lad, he seems a pretty straight sort, works 'ard, does 'is best. An' that pretty Miss Sheeter, she too looks an honest type. So I was thinkin'… well, so why, if they is such honest people, is they comin' 'ere and lyin' ter me. An' I got to thinkin' that mebbe it wuz my fault or somethin'."
"Alright! Alright, Tanner! We're sorry. We're very sorry," Sheeta spoke, "We didn't want to tell lies. You and Morwen have been so good to us this last week, I'm sorry that we ever told you that silly story. But please, please trust us. The real story is one you don't want to hear."
"Yes, Tanner, it involves the story in the paper today and I don't want to tell you the whole truth of it because it's best you don't know."
"Oh, I see, so yer can't trust the man what's taken yer in, given' yer a bed…"
"No, it's not like that, nothing like that at all. Please believe us, we haven't done anything wrong. Someone was chasing us and we escaped. But now that this war might start and the Numenaorian navy might come asking questions about their destroyed ship, well, it's just best that you don't know. That way, if soldiers come here asking questions, they won't get any answers out of you."
"I see."
"I'm very sorry - that sounds threatening, and I hope it won't be like that, but you never know. We met a man recently who was obsessed with something. If there are others like him in the Numenaorian Government and they come here investigating the wreck, then I just don't want to think about what they might do."
"Hm. Miss Sheeter, 'as you said anythin' to goodwife Morwen 'bout this?"
"No, sir, not a word. We talked a lot about other things…"

what? Thought Pazu

"…but not about how we came here. She knows nothing, which I think is for the best."
"Hm, I agree. Thank yer for keepin' quiet 'bout it all roun' 'er."
"Tanner, I need to go into the cart shed and get rid of the glider. Today, now that the story is in the newspapers someone might remember they saw it a few days ago on the hillside."
"Oh, aye, yes, ye be doin' that at once then. I's got a place ye kin be rid o' it. An old mineshaft. Very top o' Small Top Field. We kin tak 'er there when it gits dark."
"No, Tanner, you stay at home. If it's all right with you, Sheeta and I will do it. Borrow the wagon. That way you won't know exactly what we did with it."
"Oh, aye, that be best."

The big man seemed resigned to the fact that these two kids wanted to shoulder the responsibility for their actions, and not involve him. Down inside though, he was impressed. And grateful.

Their conversation was interrupted by a low sound, a droning. It got louder and louder and Pazu, knowing an airship when he heard one, looked around. For a minute he couldn't see anything, then Sheeta, her eyesight better than his, pointed.

"There."

Low down, over the trees, moving parallel to the coast and a mile or two offshore coming up from the south behind them was a dark menacing shape. On top of the gigantic hull several vertical stabilizing airscrews turned steadily while at her tail and midsection a multitude of smaller faster spinning airscrews drove her along at a steady cruising speed. As they watched the airship rose higher and banked slowly in a gentle port turn.

"Coming inland," Sheeta said.

Tanner stopped the wagon and stood on the drivers foot board. Over the trees now came the huge vessel and the dull roaring droning grew louder as she approached. The ship was not flying alone, about a mile ahead of her was a slightly smaller ship, a cruiser and a mile behind flew a second cruiser. The three capital ships flew in line ahead as though on manoeuvres, turning one after another at the same point in the sky. Much closer and spaced several miles apart, leading the trio were two small vessels, frigates, sleek and nimble, scouting ahead of the battle squadron. They came closer, closer.

"They're coming inland of the port," Pazu shouted to be heard above the roar.

The five warships passed almost overhead at only three or four thousand feet. The battle cruiser filled the sky and the noise made their teeth rattle in their heads. There was no mistaking her, the evil wasp stripe disruptive camouflage, the mass of gun turrets, the roaring motors, the tiny green uniformed figures standing on catwalks and looking down. At them.

"Goliath," stammered Sheeta.

Tanner looked at her. Now he knew. Now he knew too much.

"No, can't be. Must be the Leviathan," Pazu shouted, the downdraft of the vertical stabilizer airscrews caused a breeze, even four thousand feet below.

The horse became restless and Tanner dismounted to calm him. The three of them stood watching this fearsome spectacle, this awesome display of power.

"Pazu…"

He turned. She was shaking, holding her arms tightly around herself. Of course, she'd seen Goliath in battle, had been right under it as it fired down into the fortress. Had seen it destroy the robot. Pazu reached for her and she collapsed against him. She didn't cry, she didn't let things like this affect her that way, she was stronger than that, but she did hold him, very tight and she shook and shivered against him. He put his arms around her and held her. They watched the five warships recede into the north.

"All I can say, Sheeta, is if Restormel goes to war and has to fight two of those, I think Numenaor and Marinaer will win."
"Is that good or bad? It's Numenaor that's chasing us."

He held her tighter and she squeezed back much too hard.

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8 – 9 March 2007

For author notes about Chapter Fifteen, please see my forum (click on my pen name)