Isle of Wysteria: The Reluctant Queen (40 page)

“Oh yes, only women are born through the trees. If it were a boy he would be carried in my body, not Deutzia’s.

“Fascinating.”

Athel placed her cheek against the surface of the rind. “If you listen real close, you can hear the heartbeat. You guys wanna?”

“Oh, no thank you,” Mina said as she turned away, her expression saddening.

Athel looked back and forth at the two of them. “Did I say something wrong?” she asked.

“No, lass,” Captain Evere said. “She’s just sad because...”

“...Allister and I can’t have children,” Mina admitted sorrowfully. “Apparently, Mesdan and Tomani blood aren’t compatible.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Athel apologized, placing her hands over her heart. “And here I am throwing it in your face all the time...”

“No, it’s all right,” Mina assured, waving her hand. “It’s not your fault; it’s not anyone’s fault.”

Mina breathed in deeply, as if trying to cleanse herself. “The problem is mine, I need to learn how to be happy for you without spilling my own feelings and stuff all over the place.”

Athel took Mina’s hand compassionately.

She is so strong.

“Well, you just go right ahead and spill,” Athel encouraged. “You just spill and spill until you’re satisfied and then we'll just have Pops clean it up for us.”

Mina laughed in spite of herself, wiping away a tear. Athel laughed as well.

Captain Evere hugged his wife warmly from behind, and kissed her on the back of the head. For a few quiet moments he just held her. Then, something occurred to him and his head came up. “Has anyone seen Tim?”

Hanner stomped up with Ryin at his side. “What’s this I hear about a surprise?”

“Oh, yes, come with me everyone,” Athel said happily. “You're going to love this.”

Alder walked up and placed his hand on Deutzia’s trunk. “My Lady, could we not first set a heading for Wysteria? Deutzia needs to be planted soon.”

“And she will be,” Athel reassured. “There’s just a few more things we need to do first.”

“She’s getting weaker,” Alder insisted.

“Oh, you're just a man, how could you know that?” Athel said, forcing herself to laugh. “Deutzia will be fine for a while yet, right Deuts?”

“I hate you! You did this to me!” Deutzia groaned between burps.

“What did she say?” Captain Evere asked, unable to understand her sparkles and shimmers.

“She...said she loves spending time on this ship, and cares deeply for each and every one of you.”

“No I didn’t!” Deutzia yelled. “You're a liar! Hand me apiece of paper I'll write it out for them, and the first line is: She’s a big fat fatty liar!”

Everyone watched as Deutzia thrashed around angrily.

“She seems kind of irritated,” Mina observed.

“Oh, no, she’s just having trouble controlling her emotions. You know how pregnant trees are.”

“Yeah, but...”

“Come, follow me, the best kind of prize is a surprise,” Athel urged, pulling Captain Evere by the sleeve.

Athel ignored Alder’s reproachful gaze and led everyone belowdeck to an unused bunk room next to the supply closets.

“Tah dah!” Athel said, throwing the door open. The room was filled to waist level with all manner of shining gemstones of every color.

It took everyone’s breath away.

“I'll take my portion in the green ones,” Pops mentioned as he passed by, mopping.

“I know I gave away our payment chest, but I did promise to pay you all back with interest. Well, here you go.”

“That’s amazing lass.” Captain Evere praised. “How'd ya’ pull it off?”

“Believe it or not, I had Bunni do most of it while the gold was being loaded onto the pirate ships. She’s a lot stronger than she used to be, but it still probably took her like a hundred trips.”

One of the piles of gems stirred and Bunni Bubbles poked her head out. “I’m the prettiest princess in the world!” she yelled, her expression one of complete bliss. “No one has more sparklies than meeeeeee!”

Athel clapped her hands and began handing out sacks. “Okay, so I figure there’s enough for each of you to have at least one sack-full. You can buy a medium-sized island with that much. I was thinking that it might be fun if we make it a game. You know, like ring a bell and everyone can fill up their sacks all at once like they do in those lottery things they had back on Thesda. You remember how the coupons would fly around in the air in that little chamber and each person had to grab as many as they could?”

“No!” Bunni squealed, pulling some of the gemstones closer to herself. “These are mine, you can’t have them!”

Athel held out a sack to Captain Evere. “Here, take your payment, you've served me well.”

“Um, last time I checked, I was the captain of this ship, lass. She doesn’t sail anywhere without my say-so.”

Athel pursed her lips, unable to understand his reaction. She placed a sack in Mina’s hand. “But, you've earned this; you've followed me and my crazy plans around the world and back. It’s yours.”

“Sweetie, we didn’t follow you because we thought you would pay us.”

Getting a little desperate, Athel pressed a sack into Privet’s hands. “I just want to make sure all of you are taken care of.”

“Thanks, Athel,” Privet said, taking the sack. “But I didn’t come back for the money.”

Privet’s sincerity startled Athel. She could feel her heart beating fast as she looked at him.

“Well, I think you guys are crazy,” Ryin said, snatching a sack for himself. “Someone offers you a fortune and you hesitate? You should be ashamed of yourselves. I’m going to fill my sack up, and I’m going to hide it somewhere safe. And when all this is over, it’s gonna’ be nothing but rum and salty wenches for me.”

“No, these are my sparklies, get away from them!” Bunni squealed, swiping at Ryin’s hand like a cat.

“Alder, will you control your doll,” Ryin complained as he scooped handfuls of the gemstones into his sack.

“Sorry about that,” Alder said, snatching up Bunni Bubbles.

“What are you doing? Put me down! Those aren’t his, they are mine! I’m the pretty princess. He didn’t carry them all in here, I did! Why does he get them?”

Alder tapped something on Bunni’s back and her voice became softer and softer until they could not hear her at all, despite the fact that she was still kicking and moving her mouth as much as before.

“Volume control upgrade,” Alder explained.

“Ooh, nice one,” Privet praised.

Ryin and Hanner and Dr. Griffin leapt into the piles of gemstones, gleefully filling their bags. Ryin threw some up in the air, but instantly regretted it as they snowed down on him, clunking him solidly in the head.

Mina placed a hand on Athel’s shoulder. “Sweetie, it’s not that we don’t appreciate this. We do, we really do. But, you're trying to do this all on your own, and you don’t have to. We're your friends, let us help you.”

Athel put her arms down and grabbed her elbow. “Don’t make fun of me, but I've never really had friends before. Just instructors and classmates.”

“Oh, we're gonna make fun of you,” Ryin commented as he rubbed his head. “That’s what friends do.”

“I guess I just felt like if I didn’t pay you that you wouldn’t help, but that is unfair to you, I realize that now.”

“I'll say, lass,” Captain Evere admonished, crossing his arms. “If we only cared about money, we would have turned you in a long time ago. Do you have any idea what your bounty was at one point?”

“Not as much as this,” Dr. Griffin said, holding up his bulging sack.

Athel wrestled with herself for a few moments, then reached out and put her hands on Captain Evere and Mina’s shoulders. “Okay, I hope you guys understand that this isn’t easy for me, but I am choosing to trust you from now on.”

“You still don’t make good decisions, do ya?” Hanner criticized as he bit down on a gemstone, testing its strength.

“Stop it! Now, there’s something else I need to do, and I need your help. Come with me and I will explain,” Athel requested.

She led them all over to the galley where they sat down while she rolled out some charts. “Okay, so I've been thinking about our next move. At this point, it is obvious that something evil has wormed its way into the very heart of the government...”

“
The Valley of Nightmares
, page 412,” Alder noted as he set down some fresh tea.

Captain Evere smacked Alder in the arm. “Enough, lad.”

“Don’t smack him,” Athel said sternly.

Alder rubbed his arm. “Thank you my Lady...”

“...nobody smacks him but me.”

“Sorry, lass.”

Alder sighed.

“Okay, so, let’s recap,” Athel said, pumping her fist into her palm. “What do we know so far?”

Dr. Griffin leaned forward. “We know that the Stonemasters are producing the ruper spice themselves, magicly imbuing it with the ability to separate a person’s soul from their body.”

Everyone nodded.

Mina leaned in. “We know that the Stonemasters pass the ruper spice to the Pirate Guilds who sell it on the black market and get unwitting people addicted to it.”

Captain Evere tapped his fingers on the table. “We know that the Federal Navy rounds up addicts and takes them to treatment centers for care, where the addicts die and their souls are coughed up in the form of black shakes.”

Privet placed his hands behind his head. “And we know that from there, the black shakes are stored and delivered to the Stonemasters, who use it to create keystones, prism streams, and for all we know power the arteries themselves.”

“It’s almost impossible to believe,” Captain Evere said, his black eyes rolling back and forth. “I've been a sailor most of my life; to think all that time the ships I was in were held aloft by dead souls...”

“It’s worse than that,” Mina put in. “Think of how many airships are out there. Think of how long airships have been in use! Whatever this is, it has been going on a very long time and on a very large scale.”

“But what is being accomplished by this system?” Alder asked, laying out some cakes. “What is the ultimate objective?”

“We don’t know,” Athel admitted. “But, we also don’t need to know in order to oppose it.”

“How do you figure?” Captain Evere asked.

“It seems that luck is on our side this time,” Athel revealed. “I read the privateer contracts my mother had the Guilds sign. One of the stipulations is that they are to disband after the theft and never sell ruper spice again. Now, I know how she thinks, and she included that clause because it would make the pirate Guilds break up into individuals and scatter in a million directions, making it impossible for the Navy to recover the gold.”

“I would have figured she did it because she disapproves of piracy and dangerous drugs,” Privet theorized.

“She does, but that is just gravy to her, not the main course,” Athel clarified.

“I get it,” Mina interjected. “Without the Guilds to sell the ruper spice the whole process is gummed up.”

“Exactly,” Athel affirmed. “And we're going to gum it up further. Right now, somewhere out there, is a growing pile of this stuff waiting to be picked up by the Guilds. We're going to go to it and dump it all into the ocean. Maybe even smash up the production facility, like we did the last one.”

Captain Evere nodded approvingly. “Well done, lass. What book did you get this plan from?”

“No book this time,” Athel boasted, placing her hands on her hips. “I came up with this one myself.”

Captain Evere smiled. “Is that so? Well, perhaps you've got potential after all.”

“To be a pirate?” Athel gushed hopefully.

Evere furrowed his brow. “No, I meant to be a Queen.”

“Oh,” Athel grunted in disappointment.

Privet snickered as he leaned back and closed his eyes.

“So, it’s settled, then,” Athel announced proudly. “Mina, just tell us where to chart a course and we'll have Margaret blow us on our way.”

Mina’s lavender eyes flicked back and forth. “Wha?”

“Go on. Tell us where the pirates go to pick up the ruper spice from the Stonemasters.”

Mina chuckled. “I don’t...know.”

“But, you guys were pirates,” Athel argued.

“We were in the Umor Guild, lass, but it’s not like we had any real authority or position. To be honest, I was little more than chattel.”

“Welcome to the club,” Privet snorted.

“I thought you were like, all high-up and stuff.” Athel complained as she sat back, looking deflated. “Well, now what are we going to do?”

“You two should have been more ambitious while you were with the Umor,” Ryin chided.

Captain Evere tapped his artificial eyes with his finger. “Sorry lad, I was busy being tortured by Mesdans.”

“Why do you still say it that way?” Mina complained, folding her arms. “As if every single Mesdan got together and burned your eyes out at one big unanimous party. Look, Mesdans didn’t burn your eyes. My uncle Jaques, who happens to be a Mesdan, burned your eyes. See the difference?”

Captain Evere sighed and waved her off with his hand. “I suppose Jaques probably knows where the spice is picked up. We could break into whatever Federal prison he’s rotting in and ask him, but I doubt he'd want to tell us. “What do you think, Mina?”

Mina bristled, the fur on her neck standing on end. “We talked about this. Stop asking me to make your decisions. You are the captain.”

Captain Evere slammed his fist on the table. “Blast it, woman! You're my wife. I don’t want to just boss you around all the time; I want to hear your opinion!”

Mina stood up and kicked her chair away. “And I want an Alpha I can feel safe around, not some wishy-washy eunuch who can’t lead without my help.”

Captain Evere ground his teeth and rose to his feet, towering above her. “Fine, you want an Alpha? I'll give you an Alpha...”

Captain Evere raised up his hand, as if preparing to smack her. Alder flinched at the sight of it, but Mina held her ground.

Instead, Captain Evere pointed his finger right in Mina’s face and yelled. “I order you to give me your opinion.”

Mina’s ears dropped in confusion. “But...”

“NOW!” Evere bellowed, standing over her, tall and proud. “I’m your husband, do as I say! Tell me what you think!”