Gareth and th Lost Island (36 page)

A month after the ex-pirates had been settled into a
tiny fraction of the empty homes in Mascal, Captain Mintel stood at
the head of a long table in the galley of the HMS Glorious Dawn to
address
his
crew. Elizabeth sat on his right, while Izzy sat
on his left. Tralnis, Pilot, Alex, and DAR-C sat on the side Izzy
was on. Henry, Teesh, Sheldon, and RENE sat near Elizabeth. Kevin
took up the space at the foot of the table.

“Let me start out by saying thank you all for coming
to this meeting,” Gareth said. “In discussing with First Officer
Morgana how the old Glorious Dawn was run, I learned that issues
having major ramifications for the ship and the crew would normally
be brought to a vote. I plan on following her example, and put
forward something I would like to do. Something that will most
likely end up with the Island Republic of Draconia putting a price
on our heads,” he told them. Gareth wasn’t prepared for the crew of
the previous Glorious Dawn to start laughing.

Izzy brought herself under control, and smiled at her
boyfriend. “Sorry for laughing, Gareth. It’s just that aside from
Pilot, the rest of us from the old crew all have bounties put out
on us from one place or another,” she explained.

Pilot coughed to clear his throat. “Engineer of the
HMS Glorious Dawn, that is not quite accurate. The Sultan of
Burtyne has offered a sizeable amount of money for my capture,” he
corrected her.

“I never knew that. What did you do to anger him?”
Izzy inquired.

Pilot gave Izzy a smug smile, and replied, “A
gentleman does not kiss and tell, Engineer.”

“Look at you,” Izzy said proudly before she
remembered what they were talking about originally. “What I’m
trying to say is, one more bounty won’t make that much of a
difference, especially one from the IRD.
Nutless
already
blacklisted us when Elizabeth wouldn’t take him up on his offer of
going back to his place, while his wife was at some pub,” she
explained. The rest of the crew nodded in agreement.

Gareth met the eyes of each of his crew in turn. All
of the biological ones looked like they were ready to follow him on
a six month cruise through all levels of the hells. He still
couldn’t read the mannerisms of his mechanical crew, but he was
getting better at it day by day. Gareth pulled out a map of the
IRD, and put it down on the table. “All right then, here’s my
plan…” he stated with a malicious grin.

A few days after Gareth called his crew meeting, the
Dean of the University Arcanum stood proudly with the Nutleiss
brothers on a raised platform in front of the newly constructed
(and unoriginally named) Professors Only Spa. A wide, red ribbon
was stretched across the platform, and a giant pair of scissors
leaned against the wooden podium at the center.

“My fellow Professors, I bid you welcome to the
ribbon cutting ceremony of what is most assuredly a welcome
addition to our fine University. Thanks to the leadership of
Professor Nutleiss, and the generous gifts from his brother, we now
have a place to sequester ourselves away from the throngs of
students who plague our daily lives,” the Dean stated, even though
he hadn’t actually spoken to a student in over ten years. “After
the Nutleiss brothers cut the ribbon, we will let the staff into
the building, where they will start scheduling appointments for
manicures, pedicures, and back waxing,” he announced to happy
applause.

The applause petered out as a dark shadow crept over
the podium and the assembled professors. They looked up, and found
themselves staring at a magnificent golden airship of unknown
origin. It settled a mere 20 feet off the ground between the
professors and the new spa. At the bow of the ship, a man in a
black uniform stood with his hands clasped behind his back next to
the deck railing. His long hair was pulled back in a ponytail to
proudly display his pointed ears. It took the Dean a few minutes
before he recognized the commanding figure above him. “Professor
Mintel?!” he asked, not believing his own eyes.

Gareth unclasped his hands, and leaned on the railing
to get a better look at the “dignitaries” below him. “Oh, hello,
Dean. Hello
Nutless
brothers, fancy meeting you lot here,”
he called out cheerfully.

“What are you doing here, boy!?” Deek Nutleiss
snarled.

“Sorry,
Dick
, I thought your brother would
have mentioned that I promised to return when I had proof that I
had found the Lost Island of Mascal,” Gareth replied.

Professor Nutleiss got over his shock, and sneered up
at the young man. “Do you honestly think some silly costume and a
big airship is enough to convince us you actually found an island
that has been lost for over 13,000 years?” he scoffed.

Gareth’s smile in reply caused both of the Nutleiss
brothers to experience balls of ice in the pit of their stomachs.
“I suspected that closed minded fools like yourselves would need
more convincing, so I would like to introduce you to some friends
of mine. RENE, DAR-C, Kevin, come over here and say hello to the
not so nice humans,” he stated. Gasps could be heard from almost
all of the assembled professors as the three Automatons joined
Gareth at the railing.

Kevin waved his hand in greeting and said, “Heloooo,
not so nice humans.”

Professor Nutleiss pointed an accusing finger at
Gareth. “How dare you bring such abominations here?!” he
demanded.

The Dean shoved Professor Nutleiss into a chair.
“Shut up,
Nutless
. This is the discovery of several
lifetimes,” he ordered. The Dean redirected his attention towards
his new favorite professor. “Well, done my boy, well done. I never
doubted you would be up to the task of finding Mascal,” the Dean
lied. “I hereby grant your tenureship with the University Arcanum
effective immediately, and welcome you into the fellowship of
Senior Professors,” he proclaimed.

Gareth clenched his jaw, and sucked in a breath
before responding. “Yeah, about my position at the University. I
quit,” he said, shocking the other professors to their cores. “I
have a new job as Captain of the HMS Glorious Dawn. A duty I hope
to perform for a good number of years,” he explained.

“What?! You can’t just quit after making the greatest
discovery in the last 13,000 years! Think about what you can do for
the University, my dear boy!” the Dean protested.

It was now the Dean’s turn to feel the cold fingers
of dread caressing his spine when he looked up at Gareth, and saw
the smile on the young man’s face. “Oh don’t worry, Dean. I would
never think of leaving the University Arcanum without some sort of
parting gift,” Gareth assured him before stepping back from the
railing, and turning to face those on deck. “Tralnis, Elizabeth,
please give them the gift of seeing what happens when you annoy the
crew of the HMS Glorious Dawn,” he stated loud enough for those on
the ground to hear.

“It will be my pleasure, Captain,” Elizabeth said as
she pivoted the barrel of the Sun gun towards the new spa.

“Oooooh, I’m going to enjoy this,” Tralnis chortled,
rubbing his hands together before aiming the main gun at the spa as
well. Like they had planned, Tralnis took the first shot, and sent
an explosive sphere crashing through the ceiling of the building.
The resulting explosion threw timber and stone in every direction.
Elizabeth swept the focused beam of sunlight across the rubble to
make sure anything flammable would indeed go up in flames.

Gareth returned to the railing, this time with Henry
and Tralnis at his side. Chomper’s stood behind the Henry, eager to
slice, dice, and puree his Chef’s enemies. “Cheer up, Dean. At
least the spa will go down in history as being the first ground
target destroyed by the Royal Mascalian Air Navy in over 13,000
years,” he suggested.

Henry snarled and blew air over his lips.

“Oh yes, you’re quite right, Henry. I did promise.
Thank you for reminding me,” he said loudly before scooting down
the railing to give Henry some room to work.

Before anyone could react, both the Dean and
Professor Nutleiss were the recipients of two handfuls of flung
poo. As they wiped the brown sludge from their faces, they saw
Henry, Tralnis, and Gareth waving a cheery goodbye to them. The odd
family symbolically turned their backs on the University Arcanum,
and made their way to the bridge.

Pilot put down a telescope he had been using, and
addressed his friends. “Small Doctor, Poo Flinging Chim, and
Captain of the HMS Glorious Dawn, I have spotted police airships
being scrambled from the airship port,” he informed them.

Gareth settled down into the Captain’s chair, and
smiled. “In that case, Pilot, I suggest you get us out of here,” he
stated.

“At once, Captain of the HMS Glorious Dawn,” pilot
responded, and pushed the throttle level forward. The sound of
power being built up rose, and then fell sharply. The ship remained
steadfastly where it was.

Gareth pinched the bridge of his nose, and picked up
the speaking tube that led directly to the engine room. “Izzy, any
chance you can get us some power up here?” he requested nicely.

“Just a minute, Sweetie. I’m going to give this thing
a ‘kinetic displacement’ it won’t soon forget,” Izzy assured him.
Over the speaking tube, Gareth could clearly make out the sound of
Izzy smacking the central rune array with a very large wrench.

The sound of power building returned as Gareth turned
around in his seat to look at the rapidly approaching police
airships. He could make out the black and white paint scheme on the
gas sacks. “Like I said. Get us out of here, Pilot,” Gareth ordered
again, this time with a bit of anxiety in his voice.

Pilot shoved the throttle forward again, flooding the
Aetherium tubes with Dark Magic. Those on the ground saw the
airship’s lifting tubes flare with a bright, purple light before
the ship streaked away at speeds much faster than any regular
airship could possibly hope to match.

As they made their escape,
the former scholar turned airship captain leaned back in his chair,
and smiled. “Let’s go see what other trouble we can get into,”
Gareth suggested.