Gareth and th Lost Island (25 page)

Gareth and Henry lay on their stomachs on a large
boulder that overlooked the entry into the box canyon where the
pirate captain said the camp was.  Rain was pouring down and
soaking them to the bone.  After over an hour of debate in the
captain’s ready room, it was decided that two or three people would
have a better chance of infiltrating the pirate’s headquarters than
a larger group.  The crew of the Glorious Dawn were needed
onboard to offer air support and a way of leaving quickly once they
found Teesh.  Tralnis wanted to go on the away team, but
Gareth pointed out that there was a good chance one of them would
get hurt in the upcoming battle. They needed him in the sickbay.
That left only their resident languages expert and cook to break
into the pirate’s camp.

Aside from wishing he was dry, Gareth also wished
they had done something worse than just dropping the Scaled One
captain off in the middle of a swamp.  The pirate had failed
to mention a few details when he told them about the stronghold
they were trying to break into.  Not the least of those
omissions was a pair of pirates wearing matching waxed rain cloaks
patrolling the jungle about 50 yards from where Gareth and Henry
lay.

Gareth silently motioned with his hand for them to
fall back to the other side of the boulder.  When they had
plenty of stone between them and the patrol, Henry sighed and
scratched his head while he thought.  Not being able to think
of a way of getting past the patrol, he shrugged his furry
shoulders in frustration.

A sudden flash of inspiration hit Gareth, making him
perk up instantly.  Motioning for his friend to lean in
closer, he grinned evilly, and said, “I have a plan, and I think
you’re really going to enjoy this.”

The pirates stomping through the wet jungle at night
were a pair of humans who cursed their luck for accidentally
offending one of their Scaled One superiors.  They had been
assigned a full month of the mind numbingly dull duty of night
shift patrol. They were into their third week, and were praying
that something would happen to break up the rain soaked
monotony. They got their wish when a human wearing a dirty,
burgundy colored jacket stepped out from behind a large boulder.
 He held one hand behind the boulder, while he waved a cheery
greeting to them with the other.  “Hey boys, look what we got
here!” the stranger called out with an accent that clearly marked
him as being from the Southern Continent.  He yanked his other
hand into view, and dragged an angry looking Chim from behind the
boulder.

The Chim snarled, hooted, and gave the pirates a
universal rude hand gesture.  He pulled hard on the man’s arm,
and dragged them both behind the boulder again.  The two
pirates looked at each other in astonishment, smiled, and ran
towards the boulder so they could teach the Chim a thing or two
about how to treat his betters.

Several of the birds who hadn’t turned in for the
night flew off after being startled by odd sounds coming from where
the pirates had just run to.  A loud metallic clang and the
sound of something hard striking flesh came from behind the large
boulder.  They were followed almost instantly by two
simultaneous thuds.  A few minutes later, two figures wearing
waxed cloaks walked out from behind the boulder.  The taller
one looked down at the other, and said cheerfully, “See, I knew
you’d enjoy yourself.”  The other cloaked figure just nodded
his head enthusiastically.

The head of the gate guard walked along the parapet
of the reinforced wood gate that blocked the narrow entrance into
the canyon. He was making sure the two man crew manning the gate
were still awake.  He swore profusely when he saw the night
patrol stagger up the trail in their waxed rain cloaks.  The
head guard was about to yell at them to get back out where they
belonged when he realized one of them was leaning on the other for
support. Their staggering looked to be from injuries, rather than
the drunkenness he expected.  When the night patrol was
finally within earshot, the head guard heard one of them call out,
“Open the bloody gates!  My partner’s hurt!”

The head guard shook his head, and then realized
they probably couldn’t see him in the dark.  “You know the
rules!  What’s the password?”

Gareth let out a clearly audible sigh, and yelled,
“Lizards rule, mammals drool.”

The three guards along the gate suddenly stood a
little straighter, and tried to look busy.  The head guard was
especially concerned now that he knew the two people below them
weren’t the night patrol after all.  The password they had
given was one reserved for pirates holding the rank of captain or
above.  Something must have happened to one of their airships,
causing these two to have to hike all the way back through the
jungle.  “Sorry, sir!  We’ll have that gate open at
once!” the head guard yelled back.  He spun to face the
closest guard, and shouted, “What are doing just standing there?!
 Open the damned gate before I bury my boot up your ass!”

In the rainy gloom, the guards couldn’t see Henry
look up questioningly at Gareth who was pretending to half carry
him. Gareth met his eyes, and shrugged his shoulders.  He had
no idea why the guards were suddenly falling over themselves to
help them.  They both looked back at the gate, and continued
their charade.

The head gate guard came running out into the rain,
and put Henry’s other arm around his shoulder.  He led them
past the gate, and to a small shack that kept out most of the rain.
 When they finished closing the gate, the other two guards
joined them in the shack, eager to be the first with gossip for a
change. Once they were all in the shack, the head guard lit a
single candle, and said, “Sir, I’ll send one of the boys to let the
higher ups know you’ve returned.”  

“NO!  I mean, thank you for the offer, but I
want to make sure my friend is seen to first,” Gareth replied
hastily.  “Let’s set him down in that chair over there,” he
suggested.  Keeping his left arm under Henry’s shoulder,
Gareth slid his right hand under his cloak.  Using the slight
commotion easing Henry into the chair provided, Gareth slid the
Void Rod out of its holster, and hid it behind his leg.

As they eased the wounded pirate down into the
chair, the head guard’s nose came right up next to the person’s
waxed cloak.  He nearly gagged at the smell he had become far
too familiar with on this latest job.  “Gods!  You smell
like a wet Chim!” he swore.  The person in the chair turned so
the head guard could look under his hood.  Needless to say,
the guard was quite surprised to see that a wet Chim was exactly
what he was dealing with.  Before he could react, pain
exploded from his nether region after the Chim kicked him square in
his pirate danglies.  

The guard closest to the door turned around, and
tried to bolt out so he could raise the alarm.  A quick tap at
the base of his skull with the Void Rod dropped him to the ground.
 The last guard standing was slow to process what was
happening, and was smacked in the face with a frying pan before he
reacted.  He too slid to the ground unconscious.  A
second swing of Mr. Smashy, and the head guard was mercifully
knocked out as well.

Gareth took a second to watch Henry wipe off the
blood and snot from his favorite frying pan.  “Please tell me
you don’t cook with that thing as well,” he implored.  Instead
of saying anything, Henry just stared unblinkingly at Gareth.
 “Right, better off not asking questions I don’t want
answered.  Forget I said anything,” Gareth requested.

Henry slipped off the waxed cloak, and pulled out
some rope from his backpack.  Gareth propped the three guards
up with their backs to one another while Henry first tied their
hands, and then wound the rope around all three of them.
 Having a bit of rope left over, Henry gave into his playful
side and finished off with a large bow the likes of which was
found on wrapped presents. Gareth tore the sleeves off of the
guards’ shirts, and used them to gag their new prisoners.
 Henry put the waxed cloak back on in case they still needed
the element of surprise.

Gareth opened the shack’s door a few inches and
peeked out.  His feelings about the downpour flipped 180
degrees once he realized the heavy rain was keeping most of the
pirates inside, trying to stay dry.  He opened the door all
the way, and the two friends made their way deeper into the canyon
on their way to the main camp.  While they were skulking
about, Gareth looked up at the crevice above them.  While it
was rather narrow down where they were at, higher up it opened wide
enough to allow easy access for airships.

The crevice in the rock ended in a large, circular
depression large enough to comfortably fit a few buildings,
numerous tents, and several large cages lined up on the opposite
wall.  Being the adopted son of a Dwarf, Gareth had picked up
more than just a passing knowledge of geology.  He recognized
the huge depression as being the caldera of a dormant volcano.
 Judging from the vegetation growing along the crater’s walls,
the last eruption had been quite some time ago.

Henry tugged on Gareth’s arm, and pointed over
towards a row of buildings that led towards the cages were the
slaves were kept. Gareth nodded, and they dashed towards the
nearest building.  At the second building they came to, Gareth
nearly ran into a pirate who was hurrying to get inside.
 Luckily for him and Henry, the pirate was too focused on
getting out of the rain to look at the two men shivering under the
eaves.  Had he done so, the pirate probably would have
wondered why one of them had orange fur sticking out from his
cloak’s sleeve.

The last building in the row was a good 60 feet from
the slave pens.  More wretched bastards who had displeased
their reptile superiors were walking back and forth in front of the
cages. They were split into two pairs, which were staggered so the
front of the cages were watched at all times.  The pirates had
no need to worry about the back of the cages, since they butted up
to the solid stone of the crater’s walls.

Gareth took two long breaths to calm himself as he
watched the guards march back and forth.  “All right, now we
wait for Izzy’s distraction,” he whispered to Henry.  

The Chim creased his eyebrows, and looked back
towards the entrance to the caldera.  He whistled and hooted
softly at Gareth.

“Of course I think her plan will work.  I have
every trust in Izzy, even if I have no idea how she is going to
pull it off,” Gareth replied.  

Henry rolled his eyes, and chuffed under his breath.
 

Gareth managed to hear him anyway.  “No, I’m
not saying that just because I fancy her.  Izzy is a brilliant
engineer. If anybody can figure out how to pilot two airships from
the wheelhouse of just one of them, she can,” he assured Henry.

Much to their displeasure, the rain started to taper
off quickly.  Glancing around to find a better place to hide
and wait, Gareth saw the Glorious Dawn being towed into the caldera
by the pirate ship they had captured.  The pirate ship gave a
loud blare from its steam horn as it slowly approached the other
three dirigibles moored a quarter of the way around the crater
wall.  The blare was loud enough to wake the entire camp, and
had everyone looking up at it.

Pilot crouched behind the wood railing of the
Glorious Dawn’s wheelhouse, and pulled a series of cords to adjust
the pirate ship’s direction a few degrees to starboard.
 “Captain of the Glorious Dawn, remind me the next time your
sister the engineer tells me to trust her, I should ask more
questions,” Pilot complained.  He was being forced to pilot
another ship using a bastardized marionette system for steering and
throttle control. To make matters worse, he had to use a series of
mirrors to see where in the hells they were going, since they
didn’t want anybody to be seen on deck of the Glorious Dawn.

Elizabeth gave Pilot one of her few smiles.
 “Come on Pilot, after this, your people can refer to you as
the pilot who flew two ships at one time,” she said trying to lift
his spirits.  

“Technically, Captain of the Glorious Dawn, I am
only flying one ship at the moment.  We are being towed by the
dirigible,” he corrected his Captain.

Elizabeth shook her head in frustration, and used
her own pocket mirror to see how close they were to the trio of
pirate dirigibles.  “Turn about 4 more degrees to starboard,
and standby on the throttle, we’re almost there,” she told Pilot.
 She uncorked a speaking tube next to the wheel, and spoke
into it. “Izzy, we’re almost in range, and Pilot is making the
final course adjustments,” she told her sister.

“Got it, Elizabeth.  I’m setting off the
fireworks… now!” Izzy stated, as she pulled on a line that ran from
the pirate ship’s boiler room to Izzy’s engine room.  The line
was attached in a way that when pulled, it brought the engines up
to full steam without channeling any of that power to the
propellers.  Prior to leaving the pirate ship, Izzy had
removed the glass covering of the main boiler’s pressure gauge.
 She knew that after switching the engines to full, the
pressure would spike soon, and cause the needle to move very
quickly.  A simple match was glued to the needle with a strike
plate mounted at the 3 o’clock position on the gauge.  At the
4 o’clock position was a fuse that ran straight into the powder
magazine for the pirates’ cannons.

Elizabeth softly counted out loud to 20, and then
made a slashing motion to Pilot.  Nodding in understanding,
Pilot pulled back full on the string that controlled the other
ship’s throttle. The pirate dirigible propellers spun into high
gear, and the airship steamed straight at the other three pirate
ships at full speed.  

Elizabeth pulled on the cord she was responsible
for, and swore creatively when it didn’t move.  Her cord was
attached to a quick release mechanism Izzy had rigged up on the tow
cable. Elizabeth yanked two more times before the pin fell out to
let the pirate ship steam on without them.  She quickly yelled
down the speaking tube, “Izzy, burn some Aetherium so Pilot can
stop us.  We don’t want to drift right into your
surprise!”