The wooden mermaid figurehead pouted. The intensity of the human emotion expressed in hard ebony dumfounded him. She sniffed and her lower lip trembled. Was she going to cry? Dylan wondered if it was even possible. Her oval face seemed familiar and yet exotic. The nose wiggled, the eyebrows furrowed. Dylan tried to recall why this face seemed so comforting.
She gestured towards the mast. "My poor riggings are just ragged. Can you fix me?"
Dylan blinked and shook his head. "The ship is alive?"
Tempest put her hands on her hips. "Of course, I'm alive dummy. How else do you think I'd be able to navigate the Dream Sea?"
Spoken stepped in front of Dylan, a bit embarrassed. "With apologizes, Lady Tempest, Dylan is from the other world."
Dylan nodded dumbly. "I've never seen anything as awesome as you."
Tempest tilted her head. "Awesome? Awesome! I like that." She clapped her hands. "Master Spoken make a note of that in the ship's log that I am awesome."
Spoken saluted and then quickly began to search near the wheel for the log. Dylan hoped that it survived the time underwater. "Of course, Lady Tempest."
Tempest nodded, satisfied. "Good. Now where is Captain Trouble? He left me under those waves for ages."
"We know not, Lady Tempest," Spoken said, still searching.
Knox bowed clumsily. "We've lost him, Lady. And Red-Handed Jack's back, Miss."
Tempest shook her head and it seemed as though her checks darkened. Dylan didn't like the idea of an angry ship. "That will simply not do," she stated. The avatar shook her head. "We must find him at once."
"Any chance you have supplies in your hull?" Dylan asked. He felt silly interrupting Tempest, but they wouldn't be able sail anywhere if they didn't repair the ship. "We need supplies to fix you, uh, Lady Tempest. You took damage."
Tempest tapped her forehead as though trying to remember. "There was a battle. Cannons blazed! And then, Captain Trouble ordered me to the bottom of the Dream Sea."
He held up a strip of the sail to the ship's avatar. These sails would never catch enough wind. "Do you mind if we do a search?" Dylan asked. "We might find rope and replacement sails."
"I'd like that very much."
He flicked on his flashlight and then gestured to the hatch to the hold. Pip tried to open it, but it was stuck. Knox pushed ahead and with two powerful tugs opened it with a loud pop. A whiff of stale air washed over them.
The pale yellow light shined down the hold as Dylan lead them down the stairs. There were a number of broken crates, swords, rolling cannonballs, and other flotsam. The hull had taken water while it had been scuttled. There were strange bits of pulsing iridescent barnacles that looked like angry eyes.
The design of the ship was mostly like Dylan expecting from watching pirate movies. There was a galley, a hold, and a large crew quarters. They found six cannons with five brass plates stocked. Dylan lifted one of the cannons to the upright position with Knox and Pip. "Well, at least, we'll have plenty to defend ourselves with."
Knox gestured to a cabinet along the port hull. He pulled it open revealing the ships's store of swords, cutlasses, and flintlock pistols. Sadly, the flintlocks were waterlogged and the power turned into a thick soup that smelled of rotten eggs. "We're armed now."
Pip drew one of the short cutlasses and presented it en garde against Knox. The large boy crowed and drew another sword and swiped it at his friend. They clashed blades several times. Dylan flashed his light between them. "Stop that! We're trying to fix the ship."
Knox swung his blade cheerfully. "And now we can defend it."
"Knox! Pip! We can barely walk around in here. And it's dark. Wait until we know what's going on before cutting each other." Dylan resisted the urge to yell. When did he become the adult here? "We need to find materials. Big ships like this have them right?"
Spoken popped his head out from the galley, covering his nose. "There's nothing edible in the galley."
Dylan walked across the hold, his feet sloshing with every footstep. He took a whiff of the stench from the galley and then covered his mouth and nose, resisting the urge to gag. "That's nasty!"
"What will we eat?" Pip asked.
"I brought some food, but not much water. Hopefully, we'll make port relatively quick," Dylan answered. He tried to figure out how many day they could live on what he brought. Water would be the biggest problem. Why did he listen to the Lost Boys? "We'll have to ration it."
"Why did Trouble scuttle Tempest? He could have left her to us," Pip complained. He splashed around the mucky water. "We would have taken care of her."
Dylan suspected that was an exaggeration, but felt kind enough not to say it. "Maybe we can ask that when we find him."
"There's another level below this, Dylan," Spoken said, feeling along the floor for a hatch. "Don't fret. We should be able to open it."
"Wait!" Dylan stopped Spoken. "Don't open that!"
"Why?" Pip asked.
"That hatch is probably sealed. The pressure is keeping the water out." The Lost Boys stared blankly. "It might be keeping the water out. What's down there?"
"That's another level of the hold and where the oars are kept," Knox answered. It was clear he was enjoying actually knowing more about a subject that Spoken. "Lots of supplies down there."
Dylan smacked his head with the palm of his hand. "I bet that's where the rope is. A ship this size can't be at sea without more rope."
"So we're stuck?" Pip asked.
"We'll find out, but let's see what we can find."
Although they did not find rope or extra sails, they did find salable equipment, including lanterns, oil, and salt. There was a sealed barrel of foul tasting water, but it would do in an emergency. Dylan returned to the helm and the avatar. "We didn't find rope or sails, Lady Tempest."
Tempest pouted a moment. "I was afraid of that." Her nose twitched reminding Dylan of his mother. "I'll drag us to the port Master Dylan. You can be assured of that."
It was like a song that he couldn't help but sing. Every time he looked at her, he noticed the way Tempest tugged her hair, bit her lip when thinking, or held her hands on his lips. "We didn't search the upper deck yet," Dylan said. "There could be supplied there."
Pip gasped. "That's the Captain's cabin!"
Was there a taboo on entering the Captain's cabin? "Trouble could have left us information in there," Dylan pointed out. "We need to see what is there. And we need all of the supplies we can get. That water won't last forever."
Spoken reluctantly nodded. "I concur."
"We should check it out."
Tempest wagged her finger at them. "Stop right there. You scallywags aren't fit to step into the Captain's cabin." The Lost Boys froze in place. Pleased, Tempest stuck out her chin. "Only the Captain is allowed in there."
Dylan raised his hand. "Captain Trouble hasn't been around in ages. What if there's supplies we need in there?"
"Then, the supplies will stay in there until the Captain says otherwise." She folded her arms, absolute.
"What if the Captain doesn't come back?"
"There is ALWAYS a Captain!"
Pip tugged on Dylan's arm. "A ship like this has a temper."
"Especially one named Tempest," Spoken added. "Names have power here in the Dreamlands."
Dylan bowed to the avatar of the ship. "We're just passengers. You know what's best, Lady Tempest."
That seemed to mollify her. "Very well, we will speak of this at port."
"Lady Tempest, how will you get us there without sails?" Dylan asked. Was there something he didn't know about sailing in the Dream Sea? "We can't sail without repairs."
"With my oars, silly."
A dozen long oars popped out of the sides of the Tempest and began to row. The giant spoked wheel at the helm turned to the left and the Tempest slowly turned in the water. The sail fluttered wildly, drenched with water from the Dream Sea.
Tempest pointed at a large door on the upper deck. "Until we're there, there's lot of scrubbing and cleaning to do. My beauty doesn't come with out a cost, Gentlemen. There's brushes in the locker."
Pip sighed. "Do we have to scrub?"
Knox coughed. "We're very tired, Lady Tempest."
Tempest put her hands on her hips. "I've been at the bottom of the Dream Sea waiting for ages. Everything's a mess. And it's Captain Trouble's fault. You're lucky I'm even bothering for you."
Dylan elbowed Pip and Knox. "We'll help out, Lady Tempest."
Tempest nodded approvingly. "Good show, Master Dylan."
Dylan opened the locker and passed out brushes and buckets. They were wet, but Dylan figured at the least they could scrub away the grime. The Lost Boys lazily started scrubbing the desk. "At this rate, this will take forever," Dylan complained. He turned to the others angry. "Put your back into it. If we all work at it, we'll be done that much quicker!"
"We've never done this before," Knox whined. He started scrubbing faster.
Dylan filled his bucket with another load of dream water and poured it over the deck. "I've never swabbed the deck either, but I'm managing."
Spoken stopped mopping the upper deck and cleaned his glasses. "We've never had to complete chores before. Or if we have, we forgot."
Dylan stopped scrubbing. "You guys have never had to wash dishes? Clean your house?"
Spoken, Knox, and Pip glanced at each other with credulity. Pip's face turned sour. "No. That's brownie work."
"Brownies? Fairies? Like Tinkerbell, right?"
Pip licked his lips. "They bring milk in the mornings."
Knox rubbed his sizeable stomach. "And they make the best breads and soups."
"And what do you do for them?" Dylan asked.
Spoken raised a finger. "They harvest our dreams."
"I thought everything here was made from dreams."
"And indeed that is true. But, it's diluted. They can harness the dreams directly from us."
"It don't hurt any, I promise," Knox said. "You won't even notice the difference."
Dylan wasn't so certain. "I think I'd rather keep my dreams to myself thanks and do the dishes."
Lost in thought, Dylan returned to scrubbing the deck. Luminous dream barnacles had started to grow along the walls of the deck and it took quite a bit of effort to pry them off and then scrub it clean. The others weren't as thorough, but Dylan managed to keep them on track.
After a hour of hours, Dylan's hands and arm ached. The distant clash of thunder brought him out of his thoughts. Could it rain? The horizon had grown dark and the only light was from the lanterns. He stopped and wiped his brow. "Lady Tempest?"
Tempest peeked over the edge of the deck. "Yes, Master Dylan."
"I think we've managed a good bit for tonight. But it's getting late. If it's OK with you, I'd like to prepare some food and then try to figure out a good place to sleep. We can get started in the morning."
Tempest examined the work. "I'm impressed you got so much work out of them. Very good start. We should be at Semiramis by morning. I'll wake you then."
Pip groaned and dropped his brush into the bucket. "I thought we'd be doing this all night."
Spoken stretched and then cleaned his glasses. "I must admit that I've worked up quite an appetite."
Dylan scratched his head and was very glad that he remembered to bring supplies in his backpack. "We need a place to sleep."
"The hold still has water," Pip complained.
Dylan certainly didn't want to sleep down there in the water or on deck. "Lady Tempest?"
The wooden avatar returned to the deck. "Yes, Master Dylan?"
"The crew needs a place to sleep. We can't sleep below and it's getting dark and cold. Wouldn't Captain Trouble want us to sleep well tonight so we can repair you tomorrow."
"Captain Trouble always did his best for the crew," Tempest said, confident.
"Do you think he'd let us sleep in the Captain's cabin. Just for the night?" Dylan asked.
"Only the Captain can open that door. Captain Trouble's orders," Tempest insisted.
"What if Trouble's dead?" Dylan asked.
The Tempest wailed. "Captain Trouble's dead!"
Dylan held up both hands. "Wait! We don't know he's dead. He's missing. We're on a mission to save him. And my friend."
"A mission?"
Dylan had a thought. The Tempest was a living ship, but it was also limited. It could get trapped in contradictorily orders. Like an error in a computer program. A computer might seem smart, but it would make the same mistake over and over without learning. "Yes, we're going to find the map to the treasure and find out what happened to him."
"Why didn't you say so?"
Dylan shrugged embraced. "It didn't occur to me."
Pip bowed his head slightly. "Sorry, Lady Tempest. We forgot."
"And since we're on a mission, we need a leader," Dylan said, winking at the Lost Boys. They didn't seem to follow where he was going, but nodded. "We need a Captain."
Tempest folded her arms and nodded. "Can't run a ship without a captain that's for sure."
Spoken snapped his fingers. "And the answer is quite obvious."
He was very glad that Spoken at least was very quick. "How do we get a new captain?" Dylan asked.
"Well, Master Dylan, there's two ways. The first is to have a duel to the death between members of the crew that want to step up," Tempest explained.
Dylan swallowed and looked at the Lost Boys, hoping that none of them wanted to try that route.
Knox growled. "That's how pirates settle things."
"Quite right. We've civilized," Spoken agreed.
"So what's the alternative?"
"The ship and crew elects a captain," Tempest said.
Dylan rubbed his hands together. "Then, let's do that."
Tempest rang the ship's bell. "Hear ye, hear ye! Articles of Agreement call for the election of the Captain. Nominations!"
Dylan raised his hand. "Spoken should be Captain. He's the oldest and the smartest."
Surprised, Spoken blinked and cleaned his glasses. "I decline. I tried to be Captain once. It didn't agree with me."
"Someone has to take responsibility," Dylan said.
Tempest rang the ship's bell again. "The Tempest nominates Master Dylan."
Dylan swallowed. He imagined trying to keep the Lost Boys in line and shivered. "Me? I'm lost here. And I'm going to return to my Dad after we're done with the mission."
"And Captain Trouble can take over then," Tempest said.
"I don't know anything about this world."
"We get lost in the now. We forget that there'll be a tomorrow," Knox explained.
"Trouble was like that," Pip said, tearfully. "He looked after us."
Dylan hasn't considered being responsible for the others, but someone had to do it. "Sure, I guess. Until someone better comes along."
Tempest saluted her new captain. "What are your orders?"
It was important to start things off right. Dylan thought about it a moment. "Open the Captain's door. We're going to eat and sleep. Wake us in the morning. And if anything dangerous comes close."
"Aye, Captain."
The Captain's cabin door swung open boldly with a loud pop. Dylan ducked his head into the room expecting quite the mess, but was pleasantly surprised. The lanterns lit mystically and adjusted the light to a warm glow. It was a spacious room decorated with many kinds of fine drapery that had somehow managed to keep dry at the bottom of the Dream Sea. Ivory statues of mermaids, frightening tribal masks, and bejeweled shields lined the bulkheads. Sections of aft bulkhead had been replaced large strips of thick translucent glass. Wisps of glowing eyes passed by the porthole.
Spoken quickly flew to the bookshelves that lined the walls and started paging through a forgotten volumes that had only been dreamt and never written. "Trouble saved these from the Alexander Library on Churn before it was destroyed."
There was a mound of soft pillows in the middle of the room. Pip leapt onto top of them and rolled around like a dog. "I forgot how comfortable these could be."
It was the large display case that attracted Knox. He pressed his nose onto the glass awed by the forgotten treasures from long passed adventures. A bejeweled grinning skull, crimson knife carved into the shape of a heart, a cracked china cup, a shuriken, a golden pocket-watch in the shape of a tear, and an ornate pearl fan with kanji characters. "The Skull of Agony, a dagger of the Crimson Heart Brigade, Sorrow's Watch, and the Fan of the White Lady!"
At the end of the cabin was a large wooden desk. There were papers, scrolls, candles, and other odd bits scattered across the deck. "Everything's dry!" Pip said, very pleased. He seemed quite comfortable on the pillows."
"How's that possible?" Dylan asked.
"A spell?" Knox suggested.
Spoken started searching through the papers. "I don't know the language. Very curious. And look at the artwork."
Dylan peeked over Spoken's shoulder. There was a set of schematics that seemed very familiar with the strange alien arches. "I've seen those before. What is that building?"
Spoken studied the page closer. It was a castle made from a series of curved towers with lines and form unnatural to the human eyes. Black spires and looped bridged pocked the design. Thankfully, the hateful construction seemed incomplete as though human eyes could not comprehend the scope of the plans. "I've never seen it before. It makes my stomach feel a bit queer."
Something very uncomfortable about that sketch eluded his memory. "Then why have I?"
"We should show this to Mr. Borri."
"After we find Pan's Treasure," Dylan clarified. The idea of getting that man angry didn't suit him at all. He seemed proper and polite, but Dylan had no doubts that Mr. Borri was quite powerful and mean if felt wronged. "I don't want him to try to stop us."
Knox moaned and rubbed his stomach. "Didn't you say that you had food."
Dylan lifted his backpack and unzipped it. He had brought several sandwiches and a large bag of carrots. Knox sniffed the carrots and then took a bite of one. "I only brought two bottles of water. Can we drink from the Dream Sea, if things get bad?"
"It is usually better to find a spring from land," Spoken said. He took a bite of a carrot. "The brownies always provided."
"What about rain? Can we drink rain water?"
Spoken shrugged his shoulders. "I've never given it much thought."
"OK, we might be lucky." He remembered his Dad telling him that ancient sailors used to catch the rain with buckets or string plastic or cloth. "Pip and Knox, before we eat, can you empty out the buckets and leave them on the decks to collect water."
"Why?" Pip complained. Knox grunted his agreement. "We're hungry."
"Do you want to drink anything tomorrow?" Dylan asked credulously. "Do you want to drink that water Spoken found? Won't take but a minute or two. We might see rain tonight and it'd be better to set it up when it's dry."
Neither had an answer so they picked themselves off the floor and left Captain's cabin to work. Dylan turned to Spoken. "See if you can figure out how to translate those papers."
"Aye, Captain."
Spoken turned to the papers and held them close to the lantern. Dylan put his hand on his shoulder. "Go ahead and eat first. There's no rush on that."
They divided up the food and made certain that there would be enough food to last a couple of days. By the time that Pip and Knox returned, they had a delicious spread. They lounged on the pillows, eating sandwiches, and telling stories. Pip and Knox seemed quite intrigued by the concept of baseball.
Afterwards, Dylan searched through the drawers of the desk. He found a bone key, a small pouch filled with gold deplumes, and silver harmonica. "Hey, look at what I found."
Spoken took the harmonica and blew it. The notes were sour like milk left in the sun. "Trouble used to play that."
Pip stuck out his tongue. "Yeah, and a lot better."
"How come you guys always have so much gold?" Dylan asked.
Knox shrugged. "People dream a lot about gold."
"Can we trade with the gold?" Dylan asked, hopeful.
"Gold usually only has value to humans," Spoken answered.
Know swallowed a bit of his sandwich. "Won't be a lot of humans in Semiramis, I expect."
Dylan raised an eyebrow. "What do ya mean there won't be a lot of humans? What else would there be?"
Spoken coughed. "Aycayíans. There's a settlement off the island."
"Mermaids? Real mermaids?" Dylan asked.
"Plenty of different types of beasties. And plenty of tulpas of all types," Knox added.
"What's a tupla?" Dylan asked.
Pip shrugged his shoulder. "Some times dreams get smart. Start realizing things."
Spoken cut off Pip. "Some believe that tulpas are manifestation of belief."
Dylan scratched his head. "So if you believe stuff, it happens? Like magic?"
Spoken shook his head, disdainfully. "No! No! Faith. Tulpas come from faith. Born of the imagination."
Knox threw a pillow at Spoken. "Hey! He's still learning." He turned to Dylan. "They take on a life of their own."
Pip giggled nervously. "It's hard to understand them. They don't have noggins like we do."
"Then what do they have?"
The three of them all shrugged blankly to Dylan. "No one knows."
"So how do we deal with them?" Dylan asked, very confused.
"With a great deal of caution," Spoken said solemnly.
"So if we can't use gold, what can we use?" Dylan asked.
Pip pulled out a small wooden loop adorned with feathers, beads, and a net. "We mine our dream stuff."
"Is that a Dreamcatcher? I've seen those before," Dylan asked.
Pip smiled widely. "You put these under your pillow and come morning, you have the dross of dream stuff."
Dylan tilted his head, remembering a line from an old movie. "The stuff of dreams."
Spoken cleared his throat. "We are such stuff, as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep."
"Don't we need that? I mean is it bad to trade it?" Dylan asked.
"Dreams are meant to be shared."
Dylan really couldn't argue with that logic. "What does it look like? The dream stuff."
Pip scratched his neck. "Depends on the dream, I expect."
Dylan rubbed his chin. "Let's do that then. Get as much dream stuff as we can. I don't know how expensive tomorrow is going to get."
"We could take on cargo," Knox suggested.
"Cargo? What sort of cargo could we carry? Is there trade here?"
"Every island, every realm is quite unique. A snowflake in a series of infinite snowflakes." Spoken took another bite of a carrot. "The isle of Cups, Hats, and Hearts have the best tea. You can get tea elsewhere, but not quite the same. And so plenty of smugglers and traders sell their tea."
"Is the tea illegal?"
"Travel to the island is restricted by the Red Queen."
"We transported cargo for the Pip explained. "There aren't many ships that can travel through the dream storms. Not many ships like the Tempest around."
Dylan thought about it. They might have to travel to several different islands before they found the Queen of Cats or Trouble. Not to mention dealing with Red-Handed Jack. "I suppose we'll need plenty of supplies. Might be a good idea. You guys know who to contact?"
Knox nodded. "I used to go with Trouble when he scrounged around for cargo. Triton will have something that needs hauled."
Pip shook his head, feverishly. "Not Triton."
"Who's Triton?"
"Triton is a hunter of the Aycayíans. He is one of those that slips between the worlds," Spoken explained. "He can swim the tides in deep waters."
"But Triton can't be trusted. He was afraid of Trouble. He won't give two thoughts about gutting us," Pip said. He swallowed. "He's mean and scary."
Spoken didn't seem to have a strong opinion. "He does always keep his word."
"I suppose it can't hurt to check things out." Dylan patted Pip on the shoulder. "I'm sorry Pip, but we're running on empty here."
"Empty what?"
"Huh?"
"You said we were running on empty."
Dylan groaned. "It's an expression. Never mind. We should go to sleep. It sounds like Tempest is going to wake us early tomorrow."
"I'm not tired," Knox complained.
Pip yawned and then nodded. "Let's play a game."
"You guys made me the Captain. We need to sleep."
It took several minutes before they settled down to sleep. Now, he knew how his father felt during one of his sleepovers with Wayne. He tossed and turned wishing that he had brought his special blanket or a pillow. Dylan lay down upon the pillows, hoping that his father would understand.