Gareth and th Lost Island (21 page)

Amongst the buzzing, Gareth was able to hear
countless, high pitched toots. He watched in sick fascination as
the unexpected thrust from the expelled gasses altered the
mongitos’ flight characteristics. One of the lead bugs wobbled in
flight, and then banked hard to the left. It struck the mongito
next to it, and caused them both to crash into even more of the
flying monsters. One of the mongitos on the right edge of the swarm
lost control, and performed a perfect corkscrew spin right into the
side of a tree. The swarm of deadly insects dispersed as the magic
raged through it, causing a nightmare scenario of uncontrolled
flight and flatulence.

A bright blue bird falling from above him drew
Gareth’s attention upwards. He had failed to take into account how
many creatures actually live in a rainforest. The sounds of
creatures of various shapes and sizes breaking wind came from all
around him. He watched as a large tree cat tried to sneak up on a
green tailed lemur that was holding its stomach in distress. Right
before the tree cat was about to pounce from behind, the lemur
raised its tail and let loose a fart that was way too wet sounding
to be just gas. The tree cat fell off the thick limb when it tried
to simultaneously back up and use its front paws to wipe off its
face. Holding his arms protectively over his head, Gareth began to
run after his friends. The combined stench of that many creatures
farting had animals and insects falling off of their perches right
and left as they mercifully lost consciousness.

Gareth caught up to the others about a mile down the
trail. Tralnis and Henry were leaning against trees while they
caught their breath. Elizabeth was staring back in the direction
Gareth had come. While she hadn’t seen what happened, she had heard
the noise that could only be compared to the sound of the hells’
own orchestra tuning up. “No man should have that power,” she
muttered to herself. The fact that Gareth had Tralnis and Henry
rolling on the ground with laughter at his description of the tree
cat incident just reinforced her opinion. “Whenever you three are
ready,” she snarled in annoyance.

Henry pulled himself up from the ground, and wiped a
tear of laughter from his eye. When he had himself fully under
control, he moved off in the direction of where they left the
Glorious Dawn. He led them at a modest pace through the dense
foliage, careful not to disturb any more mongitos.  Henry
finally stopped in a clearing that looked pretty much like the last
five they had hiked through.  He slid his backpack off, and
laid it against a tree.  Scratching his head in confusion,
Henry slowly turned around in a circle.  He clicked his tongue
and growled absently to himself as he turned.

Elizabeth lifted her eyepatch, and wiped away the
sweat that collected there.  “The Professor said you knew
where we were going.  Where’s my bloody ship?” she
demanded.

Henry shrugged his shoulders, and made a series
barking noises followed by a short whistle.  

Gareth’s expression soured when he heard what his
friend had to say.  “He said he swears this is where we came
to ground.  He remembers us climbing down that tree over
there,” he translated while pointing at the tree the backpack was
leaning against.

“Obviously you got turned around somewhere, and
managed to get us lost,” Elizabeth complained.  She would have
said something much more confrontational, but her fear of losing
the Chim’s magnificent cooking skills helped her hold her
tongue.

“I don’t think so,” Tralnis interjected, his voice
unsteady.

“And why do you say that, Doctor?” Elizabeth asked
angrily.

Instead of answering her right away, Tralnis stepped
behind a bush next to him.  He came back out holding a rope
ladder that had not yet been ravaged by the humid jungle
environment.  “Call it a horrible hunch,” he finally replied.
 Without warning, he let loose a huge sneeze that caused his
beard to bob up and down.  “Blast it all!  I hoped the
elixir I took to control my allergies would have lasted longer,” he
complained before sneezing again.  He sniffed a few times, and
held up the now snot covered ladder.

Elizabeth crossed the clearing at a dead run to
stand next to Tralnis.   “Give me that!” she ordered, as
she snatched the ladder out of the Dwarf’s hand, completely
ignoring the mucus on it.  A quick glance was all she needed
to confirm that the rope ladder was the one that had until just
recently been attached to the side of her airship.  “Son of a
sheep buggering bastard!” she cursed, and threw the ladder to the
ground.  She kicked the helpless ladder as if it was somehow
to blame for her airship going missing.

Tralnis opened up the backpack, and pulled out a
shiny brass spyglass.  “Henry, take this and climb up to the
tree canopy.  See if you can find any trace of the Glorious
Dawn,” he ordered.  Not wanting to seem to racist, he quickly
added, “I’d do it myself, but Dwarves are lousy climbers.”

Henry muttered something that had both him and
Gareth chuckling.  

“He said that’s probably true, but it would funny as
hells to watch you try,” Gareth translated.

“Hah… hah.  Don’t quit your day job, which I
might remind you happens to be working for me,” Tralnis said dryly
before letting out another explosive sneeze.  He tossed the
spyglass to Henry, and pointed towards the treetops above them.
 “Up!” he snarled, and then sneezed again.  Henry gave
Tralnis an elaborate salute with his free hand, and then scampered
up the side of the tree.

Since there was no need to be on their feet, the
other three team members sat down with their backs resting against
a nearby tree.  The muggy air, mixed with the fatigue they all
felt, soon had their eyelids growing heavy.  A loud sneeze
from Tralnis startled Gareth fully awake.  When he looked
over, Tralnis had his eyes closed, and had a big dopey smile on his
face. Curious, Gareth asked, “Hey Sneezy, why so happy?”

Tralnis cracked one eyelid open.  “Sometimes
when I get sleepy, right before I drift off to slumber land, my
memories drift back to the time right after I graduated from
medical school.  I had joined a communal septet with six other
dwarves from my village.  We were young, and full of the
experimenting spirit,” he reminisced with a grin.  

“You never told me about that.  What happened?
 Why did you leave?  Did they kick you out after you
tried to cook for them?” Gareth teased.

A universal finger gesture was part of Tralnis’
reply.  “No, I didn’t cook for the septet.  One of the
others brought home a human female who ended up being a wonderful
cook, and a great housekeeper.  She was kind, had a great
voice, and did this neat trick with her tongue.  We all grew
quite fond of her, and were more than happy to change our septet to
an octet,” he said, his grin returning.

“Tongue trick, huh?  What exactly are we
talking about here?” Elizabeth asked, joining the conversation.

“It was just a trick, that’s all,” Tralnis replied
somewhat forcefully before sneezing again.

“Hey Doc, don’t get grumpy on us.  I was just
asking.  Never thought you would be the bashful type,”
Elizabeth stated.

Tralnis sneezed, and then let out a weary sigh.
 “Sorry, Captain, even though most of my memories of her are
good, what happened at the end still brings me down.  In the
beginning, we took her in to get her away from a bad situation.
 After we had gotten it all straightened out, she ended up
dumping us for some rich ponce who took credit for everything,” he
apologized.

The sudden appearance of Henry dropping to the
ground between them brought Tralnis’ story up short.  The Chim
made eye contact with Gareth, and gave a short monologue complete
with rapid hand gestures.  

“He says he saw what he thinks is the Glorious Dawn
anchored next to a mountain. It’s about a half day’s walk from
here,” Gareth relayed.

“What the hells are they doing over there?”
Elizabeth demanded, not really expecting an answer.

Gareth’s hand unconsciously slipped down to the rod
at his side.  “The answer probably has something to do with
the other airship anchored at the mountain,” he stated, having a
very bad feeling about things.

Elizabeth stood stone still, seething with anger and
glaring at Gareth.  With a slow, graceful motion, she drew her
pistol at aimed it in Gareth’s direction.  Startled, he held
up his hands, and started to step away from her. Elizabeth had
always scared him, but he never thought she would actually kill
him. “Don’t move, Professor,” she snarled.  Gareth quickly
stopped, and hoped that maybe Tralnis or Henry could overpower
Elizabeth and get him out of this alive.

Henry and Tralnis slowly walked over to Elizabeth to
stand at her sides.  “Aim carefully, and don’t miss, lass,”
Tralnis instructed.  

Gareth’s jaw dropped at the seeming betrayal from a
man who was equal parts friend and father to him.  He saw the
Captain’s hand start to tense, so he closed his eyes to wait for
his imminent death. The jungle grew eerily quiet after the loud
bang from Elizabeth’s pistol.  When the expected searing pain
never came, Gareth opened his eyes again to see Tralnis and Henry
each let out a huge sigh of relief.  

“What the hells?!” Gareth yelled.  Henry
pointed to the ground behind Gareth.  The young man turned
around, and then jumped back a full three feet.  A very
unheroic yelp of fear came from Gareth’s mouth while he was in
mid-air.  

Tralnis walked over, and gave the spider with a body
the size of a large dinner plate a good kick to make sure it was
dead. It had a large hole in the middle of its eight eyes, but it
never hurt to make sure.  “Good shot, Captain,” he praised,
before turning his attention to Gareth.  “Sorry we didn’t say
anything before, but Henry and I know how you feel about spiders.
 I’m certain that if I told you that you had a giant,
extremely poisonous spider on your shoulder, you would have
screamed and run around in a circle doing your version of the icky
spider dance,” Tralnis informed him.

Gareth took another step back from the dead spider.
 “Okay, I can see that, but why didn’t Elizabeth say anything?
 I’ve never told anyone on the ship that I’m terrified of
spiders,” he inquired.

Elizabeth holstered her pistol, and shrugged her
good shoulder. “I just wanted to see your expression as I pointed a
gun at you.  It’s good to know you have a healthy fear of me.
 Let’s keep it that way,” she replied before turning around,
and marching defiantly into the jungle in the direction Henry had
said her airship was in.

The change from jungle to barren mountainside had
been jarring for Gareth and his friends.  The foliage simply
stopped at the edge of a large granite mountain, leaving a barren
expanse of gray stone in front of them.  Tralnis was uncertain
as to whether the sudden delineation between the jungle and the
mountain was caused by magic, or some sort of poison in the soil.
 Never thinking they would miss the humid, claustrophobic
nature of the jungle, the adventurers looked up at the bare rock
and wished for some sort of cover.

Before leaving the forest, Henry climbed another
tree, and used the spyglass to observe the Glorious Dawn and the
other airship.  The Glorious Dawn looked to be in as good of
shape as it usually was – meaning it looked like hells, but didn't
appear to have any recent battle damage.  Their airship was
moored high up on the cliff side, with the second airship moored a
good 30 feet below it.

The second airship was about twice the size of the
Glorious Dawn and of the zeppelin variety.  Instead of just
one large air sack, the ship was slung between two air sacks held
apart by a wood frame.  Twin propellers were mounted at the
rear of the airship.  There were four sturdy cranes with large
nets stationed along the deck of the dirigible.  A pair of
cannons mounted at the bow of the ship and a third mounted aft gave
them a 360 degree field of artillery fire.  

After climbing for what seemed like hours, with the
twin moons rising high into the night sky above them, the stranded
crew of the Glorious Dawn finally reached a ledge that ran around
the side of the mountain. The ledge was just above where their
airship was moored.  Elizabeth crouched behind a large
boulder, and used the spyglass to get a better look at what they
were dealing with.  “I can see five pirates on deck of the
Glorious Dawn.  Each of them looks to be armed with a sword of
some kind.  If there are five on deck, there are probably just
as many below deck.  I can see a red skinned man, who I assume
is Pilot, tied up next to the wheelhouse.  He has a burlap
sack covering his head,” she told them.  After looking at her
ship some more, Elizabeth collapsed the spyglass, and handed it
back to Henry before she looked down at Tralnis.  “There’s a
pretty good gap between the Glorious Dawn and the ledge.
 We’re going to have to jump for it,” she told him, her
expression doubtful.

“So, there a gap.  What are you implying?
 White Dwarves can’t jump?” Tralnis inquired hotly.

“All I’m saying is that it’s going to be quite a
jump for the Professor and me. As to whether or not a Dwarf could
make that jump, let’s just say that I've never seen a Dwarvish
hoopball player,” she replied.  “I suppose if we have to,
Henry could always toss you onto the ship,” she suggested.

Tralnis put his hands defiantly on his hips.
 “Damn it Captain, I’m a doctor, not a projectile!” he
objected.  Far below them on the deck of the zeppelin, a
cannonball at the base of a brass monkey came loose, causing the
entire pyramid of steel balls to come crashing down.  The
pirate ship was at a slight tilt, making the small fleet of
projectiles roll as a group from the bow to the stern of the ship.
 A drunken pirate wearing a red tunic had the poor luck of
choosing that very moment to take a stroll under the moonlight.
 He stepped on the lead cannonball, pivoted 180 degrees, and
fell backward onto the migrating metal spheres.  When they
reached the railing at the back of the ship, the momentum from the
journey tossed the pirate over the edge.  It happened so fast,
the red shirted pirate never had time to yell before he was thrown
to his death on the jagged rocks at the base of the mountain.