Gareth and th Lost Island (7 page)

Creasing his brows in confusion, Gareth pointed out,
“Tralnis, you live on an island in the middle of the Narrow
Sea.”

Tralnis met Gareth’s eyes with steel in his own.
“Yes, and you’ve not once seen me at the beach the whole time we’ve
known each other,” he countered.

“Alright, since Chims can’t swim, I’ll just have to
make the dive myself. At least, as soon as I figure out how to get
my hands on a diving suit that is,” Gareth muttered.

“No, you better make it two suits. I’ll not let my
son go into a dark, watery hell alone,” Tralnis corrected him. “And
while we’re on the subject, any ideas where to find a pair of
diving suits? It’s not like we can ask the Dean to loan us some
from the School of Nautical Sciences,” he pointed out.

Henry snarled, and blew air past his lips and
followed up with an opened lipped smile that showed his sharp
teeth.

“What did he say?” Tralnis asked Gareth.

“He said we just won’t ask before we take them. It’s
easier that way,” Gareth replied. Tralnis matched Henry’s feral
smile with one of his own.

Tralnis checked over Gareth’s black clothes, making
sure that only the young scholar’s face was visible. They were both
wearing black trousers, black sweaters, and knee length black
overcoats. Black watch caps purchased on the dock earlier that
evening finished out their ensembles. Tralnis finished the
inspection by smearing soot under Gareth’s eyes.

“Where’s Henry?” Tralnis asked, realizing his butler
(and the instigator for the night’s adventure) was absent.

“He said he would meet us in the park near the Sea
Labs,” Gareth replied.

Tralnis held up a long black trench coat that would
cover Henry from his shoulders to his ankles. “I bought this for
him. I know he hates pants and it was the only thing I could think
of that would cover his orange fur,” he stated.

Gareth started to chuckle when he realized that Henry
never had the opportunity to demonstrate to Tralnis the skills that
had been passed down in his family for generations. Growing up with
the Chim as his best friend, Gareth had seen what Henry was capable
of. “Leave it. I promise you’ll be impressed,” he assured
Tralnis.

Tralnis gave Gareth a very skeptical look, but put
the trench coat down on the table. “I hope you’re right,” he
muttered as they made their way out the front door and down the
street that led to the park where they were to meet Henry.

The sun had gone down, and the park was apparently
empty except for Gareth and Tralnis. Seeing no sign of Henry,
Tralnis huffed in annoyance. “You would think that with the watch I
got him for his last birthday, the blasted Chim could show up on
time,” he groused. Looking up at Gareth, he saw his son biting his
lip in an attempt not to laugh. “Just let it out, Gareth. You’ll
probably rupture something if you don’t,” Tralnis warned, rolling
his eyes. Gareth let out a guffaw, and pointed to a large tree a
few yards away.

At first, Tralnis couldn’t make out what Gareth was
pointing at, but as he crept closer, he saw that part of the tree
was moving. A few steps more, and he was able to distinguish a
shape shaking rhythmically in the branches. When Tralnis was right
next to the tree, he could make out a shape that looked
disturbingly like a Chim’s backside covered in mud and leaves
shaking in his direction. “What is that?” he asked.

“That would be a Chim’s ass. I thought as a doctor
you would be able to identify one when you saw it,” Gareth
joked.

The muddy monster jumped out of the tree, and landed
in front of Tralnis. The only things not covered in mud and leaves
were two intelligent brown eyes, and a wide smile full of sharp
teeth. Henry made kissing noises, and then snorted to greet his
employer. Tralnis admitted to himself that he really was impressed,
and looked to Gareth for some sort of explanation.

“For as long as they can remember, Henry’s family
were the hunters of their Clan. They were responsible for feeding a
whole village. Over the centuries, his family learned that
ambushing their prey was much easier than chasing after it. Even
after they immigrated to the IRD, Henry’s parents taught him how to
camouflage himself in case he needed to do something without being
seen,” Gareth said, filling in some of the empty blanks in Tralnis’
knowledge of the Chimmian Woohaa Clan. Gareth gestured towards the
hazy outline of the Sea Labs in the distance. “Gentlemen, we have
some thievery to get to,” he announced.

The three would be burglars made their way to the
southernmost edge of the University Arcanum where it met the warm
waters of the Narrow Sea. The School of Nautical Sciences was
surrounded on three sides by a seven foot high stone wall left over
from when the buildings had been an outpost for the IRD Navy. Two
large guns that had been silent for decades overlooked the sea,
protecting the tiny harbor from nautical threats.

Gareth had visited the School of Nautical Sciences on
several occasions. Professor Rand had made him get certified in the
various diving equipment used by the University for the rare
occasion when they worked on a site that was underwater. He chose a
place along the wall that he knew was close to the outbuilding
where the equipment was stored.

Carefully looking around to make sure no one else was
near, Gareth bent over slightly, while cupping his hands together.
Tralnis gave a running start, and planted a foot in the offered
hands as Gareth jerked upwards. The Dwarf hit the top of the wall
just below his armpits, letting him get a firm hold on the stone.
After two unsuccessful tries, Tralnis managed to kick a leg over,
and was soon dropping over the other side of the wall. A string of
softly spoken Dwarvish curse words let them know Tralnis had landed
without too much injury.

Henry took Gareth’s place, and did the same thing
with his hands. Gareth underestimated Henry’s strength, and Henry
underestimated how hard his friend was planning on jumping. The
result was Gareth sailing up and over the wall without a chance for
him to grab anything. His attempt at snagging the top of the wall
on the way past only managed to flip Gareth over. He landed flat on
his back with a wince inducing thud.

“Ouch. That looks like it hurts and probably smells
something awful. What is it with you landing in piles of horse shit
lately?” Tralnis commented dryly while trying to pick flower petals
off of his coat. The Dwarf had managed to land in a bush famous for
the quantities of blooms it produced. Flowers that were not only
beautiful, but devilishly hard to get off of clothes due to them
being covered in tiny stiff hairs.

Gareth would have said something snarky back to
Tralnis, if he hadn’t just had the wind completely knocked out of
him. Eventually, Gareth was able to get his lungs working again,
and he smelled the pile he had landed on. While he had missed the
flower bush, Gareth had managed to land in the fresh manure used to
fertilize said bush. When he was sure nothing was broken, Gareth
sat up, coughed, and held his nose with one hand. He crawled a few
feet away to give Henry a clear landing place.

A minute passed with absolutely no sign of Henry.
Both Tralnis and Gareth gave a sudden start when a gate not 10 feet
away swung open towards them. Henry casually walked in, and closed
the gate behind him. He saw his friends, and gave them a cheerful
wave of his hand.

“Let’s agree to never speak of this again,” Gareth
whispered to Tralnis.

“My lips are sealed,” Tralnis agreed. He offered
Gareth his hand, and helped pull the young man back to his feet.
Once Gareth was upright, the three of them scurried across the
manicured lawn. They hoped to reach the side of the main building
to seek concealment under its eaves. The second moon had risen,
making the trio feel naked on the empty lawn. When they finally
reached the building, they placed their backs to buildings and
scooted towards the equipment shed.

The bright light of a handheld lantern blinded them
as a guard stepped out from around the corner of the building. The
three friends froze in the sudden pool of light, not knowing if
they should flee or fight. Almost as quickly as he appeared, the
guard darted back behind the corner of the building. They heard a
second guard ask, “Did you find what was making all of that
noise?”

“Yeah … just a Human and a Dwarf dressed all in black
with a Chim covered head to toe in mud. I’d think they were up to
no good if the Dwarf wasn’t covered in flowers, while the human was
covered in what smells like horse shit. They must have some kind of
nature fetish or something,” the first guard replied.

“Do you want to hang around and watch?” the second
guard asked in a tone that said he would be fine with whatever his
friend suggested.

After a short pause to contemplate things, the first
guard eventually answered, “Nah. The last time we watched a Dwarf
led Ménage a Trois, I was distracted for a week trying to figure
out how they managed to get into some of the positions they did.
All though
, thinking back to that week does give me some
ideas. Let’s give these blokes some privacy and head back to the
guard shack for some quality time ourselves.”

“I thought you would never ask,” the second guard
said, his voice husky with eagerness.

When the three thieves could no longer hear the
retreating footsteps of the guards, Gareth and Henry looked down at
Tralnis and his coat of multicolored blossoms. Tralnis held up his
hands, and shrugged his shoulders. The last thing he wanted was to
look a gift horse (or giant mole in the case of the Dwarves) in the
mouth.

Gareth walked ahead of the other two, and cautiously
peeked around the corner. Once he was assured the guards, who were
partners in more ways than one, really had gone to their shack to
experience some carnal rest and relaxation, he waved the others
forward. “Henry, the equipment shack is usually locked. My original
plan was just to break the lock, but I have a better idea now,” he
announced. Gareth pointed towards the guard shack at the end of a
row of large trees. “Why don’t you use those trees for cover and go
get the keys for us. I’m pretty sure those gents will be fairly
distracted for a while,” he suggested.

Henry nodded his head, and ran off to the first large
tree he could find. This time, Tralnis got to watch as Henry
quickly climbed up the tree, and swung from branch to branch with
his long arms. Less than 20 seconds later, Henry was completely out
sight.

Several tense minutes passed while Tralnis and Gareth
could do nothing but wait. After what felt like an eternity, they
heard the metallic clinking sounds of keys being rattled from the
canopy of the nearest tree. Henry seemed to fade into existence out
of the branches above them. He was spinning a brass key ring full
of iron keys around his finger. With a flick of his wrist, Henry
tossed the spinning keys to Gareth.

The lock on the equipment shed opened easily once
they figured out which of the dozen or so keys fit it. Gareth held
the door open for Tralnis, who rushed inside as fast as his short
legs could carry him. They were far too close to the sea for the
Dwarf’s peace of mind. After Henry trotted inside, Gareth shut the
door and locked it from the inside.

Tralnis sighed in relief now that he had sturdy stone
walls around him. “Alright, we’re inside, so now what? I haven’t
the foggiest idea of what we’re looking for,” he announced.

Gareth walked over to a row of lockers, and started
opening the doors. “We’re looking for these,” he replied as he
pointed to two large suits made of brass, rubber, and oiled
leather. On shelves above the suits sat large domed shaped metal
helmets with thick glass viewports braced with more brass. On top
of the helmets were short brass tubes with fittings to mate them
with air hoses.

“… And these,” Gareth exclaimed as he opened up
several crates that held devices made from two long silver tubes
etched with runes that were attached in the middle with a
mouthpiece.

“What are those things?” Tralnis inquired.

Gareth gestured towards the silver tubes. “These
tubes are enchanted with special runes that transfigure water into
air, and then back again when you exhale. They’re good for any
diving down to around 130 feet. Any deeper than that and you need
one of those suits with an air hose attached,” he explained.

Knowing that he would be entrusting both his life and
sanity to the equipment in front of him, Tralnis gave the deep sea
suit a closer look. The Dwarf in him was pleased at the workmanship
put into the pieces that maintained the perfect balance between
mobility and safety. The only thing a Dwarf would have added was
strengthening runes etched into the oiled leather. “Gareth, why
aren’t these suits enhanced with runes? It would make them much
safer,” he pointed out.

“I asked my dive instructor the same thing,” Gareth
stated. “He said that they sometimes dive off the coasts of
countries run by some of the more conservative religions. Finding
any mechanical item paired with something magical is an instant
death sentence there. The two different types of diving equipment
even have to be transported in separate crates. I was told some
places are so strict, that if they see the same person using both
types of equipment, they are flogged in public,” he explained.

“That’s one of the things that has frustrated me my
entire life. I hate how the religious zealots get away with
blocking people from using common sense,” Tralnis complained. “So,
are we going to worry about religious inspections, or are we
packing all the stuff in one crate?” he asked.

“One crate of course,” Gareth replied, mildly
insulted Tralnis even had to ask. “Henry, grab that box of adapter
rings so we can hook the rune tubes to the suits. That way we won’t
have to steal an air pump as well,” he ordered. They put two suits,
two sets of rune tubes, and the adapter rings into a large wooden
crate. A quick search of the rest of the building yielded dive
knives and an oversized wheelbarrow. The three burglars managed to
wheel their stolen equipment back to their townhome without being
confronted by either University Security, or the City watch.