Ethan Wright and the Curse of Silence (21 page)

Auren stepped forward. “Me too,” he stated.

Availia and Stanley stepped forward as well; she glanced at Stanley and back to Edison. “Us too.”

Edison stumbled over his words and gasped in trying to find a protest, but none came. “Fine then!” he exclaimed. “You will just go … and simply stop a war from taking place, while I work on freeing MacArthur. But I’m not allowing you to travel there alone. If we do this, it will be done my way!”

Chapter 22
A Familiar Face

“How do you know the torches will be lit? I can’t fly this bloody thing in the dark,” exclaimed Red as he unstrapped the airship.

“They will — Mitans are meticulous about these things,” reassured Edison as he started removing ballast from the front deck.

“What?” exclaimed Auren. “You want us to get in an airship?”

“You’ll be fine,” answered Edison. “That is, if this still works … and I am sure it will work as expected, most likely …” he added under his breath.

“With him?” protested Ethan, now pointing to Red. “The Stadion announcer — as the pilot?”

“Well in my defense, I wasn’t always a Stadion announcer,” retorted Red as he removed additional ballast from the rear deck.

“We don’t have time to argue,” grumbled Edison. “Stick to the plan and you’ll have the best chance for success.”

“Red, you and Stanley built this airship, didn’t you?” asked Availia.

“We sure did, one of the best things I’ve ever done and not allowed to talk about,” said Red as he threw one of several levers located in the center of the ship. A
whoosh
was followed by fire that could be seen shooting through a chamber and up into the balloon; a few seconds later the airship started to lift off the platform.

Edison smiled at Availia. “It works!”

“Everybody on,” ordered Red as he unlatched a small staircase which swung down to the platform. “I want to get off the ground before anyone notices.”

Ethan, Auren, Availia and Stanley boarded the airship. Edison stayed behind and started untethering it from the platform.

As the airship started to rise, Red leaned over the edge where Edison was standing. “If I get
murdered
, I will haunt you for eternity.”

“You already do, Red,” quipped Edison as he waved them off.

The airship rose quickly over the city. Stanley and Availia walked to the back deck to look around. Red was adjusting knobs and levers in the middle of the ship while Auren and Ethan leaned over the rail to watch the ground get further away.

“Tirguard is amazing,” said Ethan.

The walls of the great city could be seen by the torches lining the stonework. Ethan could see that the walls spanned around the great spire that housed Heinrich and stood atop the prison. A second, smaller, wall stretched around the market district, containing the hut which was home to MacArthur and the Oroborus.

The great stone city got smaller as the airship rose into the night sky. The air started to get chilly the higher they flew. Ethan’s hands started to get cold, so he stuffed them into the pockets of this alchemy jacket. He had never seen an airship before, let alone flown in one. So when the balloon that was lifting the ship shuddered and they suddenly dropped several feet, a panic ensued.

“WHAT WAS THAT?” screamed Auren, who was turning pale.

“Just turbulence — all is fine … probly best to have a seat for a while!” yelled Red over the noise of the wind as he continued to pull on levers and adjust knobs.

“WHAT?” yelled Auren as his ears began to pop. He stuck his finger in his ear and wriggled it back and forth to clear the pressure.

Ethan took a seat next to Auren. “Pretty amazing, huh?”

“I think I’m scared, Ethan,” admitted Auren quietly.

“Me too,” replied Ethan. “I wonder what they’ll be like … the Mitans that is.”

Auren’s face was even more pale than before. “I didn’t even think of that. Just trying to get past the ‘sailing through the air’ part of this trip, or as Red calls it …
certain death
.”

“I don’t think he’d be with us if it was ‘certain death.’ I’m pretty sure he meant if we walked to Tirguard — I think you just need a distraction.”

Ethan reached into his pack and grabbed the map. “Here,” he said as he shoved it into Auren’s hands.

Auren tried to examine the map, but it was difficult to see in the dark. Ethan lit his miracle torch and held it in front of the map for Auren to study.

“It looks like Tirguard,” exclaimed Auren.

“I know,” said Ethan. “My father left it for Isaac … I think it may help me find them.”

“You should show this to Professor Rupert, he probly would know …”

“No,” interrupted Ethan. “I can’t show it to anyone just yet. There’s something strange about this map I need to figure out first. Watch.”

Ethan held the torch under a corner of the map. Auren instinctively recoiled, but Ethan grabbed Auren’s arm to hold the map steady as he demonstrated that it would not catch fire.

“WHAT?” exclaimed Auren with a look of utter disbelief. “That’s impossible!”

“What are we talking about, boys?” said Red as he came around the corner.

Ethan quickly released Auren’s arm, and Auren responded by stuffing the map in his inner pocket.

“Nothing,” said Ethan and Auren in unison.

“Good. Can you put that torch away then? I don’t want anyone to spot us up here. I think we are high enough now — time for our little airship to run silent,” he said as he pulled another lever. The fire in the chamber suddenly dimmed and the whooshing sound decreased. He then pulled a large black curtain down the length of the ship.

Ethan quickly put out the torch and put it back in his pack. He supposed the curtain would make them more difficult to see from the ground and hide them in case they passed over the Tirguard army. But more importantly, the curtain also kept the wind off them.

“It’s beautiful up here, isn’t it?” said Availia, making her way to the front of the ship.

Ethan had been so distracted by the sight of Tirguard that he had forgotten to take a good look around. He looked up at the stars and across the horizon. It was indeed a beautiful sight. He felt comfortable on the airship, like he belonged in the sky, like he was meant to be there. As he looked around he noticed Red smiling at him; Ethan smiled back. Soon Stanley joined them at the front of the ship, and the five of them sailed through the air together — they had the sky all to themselves.

***

Several hours had flown by. Auren was now sleeping on the deck of the ship. Availia and Stanley were still enjoying the view, but starting to tire.

“So how does the ship work?” asked Ethan.

“Well, you’re an alchemy student, aren’t you? What three things are needed to make a reaction take place?” challenged Red.

“Um, well … the first thing is an element of some kind … the second, a binding agent, and the third thing is …” Ethan tried to think, but could not remember the third thing.

“An alchemist to bring the two together,” interjected Availia tiredly.

“Exactly right,” responded Red. “So here is a lever that adds an element into the chamber,” he instructed as he pointed to a red-handled lever.

“Here is another lever that adds the binding agent.” He was now pointing at a blue-handled lever. “And here is quite a curious-looking knob, isn’t it? This is for the alchemist to complete the reaction. The more you turn the knob to the right, the more of a reaction will take place, understand?”

Ethan looked puzzled, but nodded his head.

“This reaction creates extremely hot air — so hot, in fact, that it would easily catch anything on fire — I mean thousands of degrees of heat. So why doesn’t the material that makes up the balloon portion catch fire?”

Ethan scratched his head. He had just wanted to know how the balloon could carry such a large ship around — and now he was worried about it catching fire. “Not sure,” he replied.

“Well, how does your alchemy jacket work?” asked Red.

Ethan removed the glove from his left hand and showed Red his stone. “Still trying to figure that one out.”

“Oh, you’re a late bloomer, huh? How long have you had to carry that stone around? Two days? Maybe three,” chuckled Red.

“Thirteen days,” answered Availia.

Ethan slipped his stone back into the glove.

Red mouthed the words ‘thirteen days’ as he chuckled a bit more. “Wow … I mean, it’ll happen, Ethan.” Red winked at Ethan and gave him a slap on the back. “Think of this balloon as the largest and most expensive alchemy jacket you’ve ever seen. It’s lightweight, and can hold extreme heat inside. And alchemy can also move her forward, back, up, down, left, right — you name it, she can do it.”

“She?” asked Ethan.

“Well, yeah … it’s a girl of course,” said Red, looking over the rail. “There they are,” he whispered, motioning Ethan to lean over the rail as well.

Ethan wasn’t exactly sure who Red was talking about, but as he leaned over the rail he saw several hundred torches below.

“What is it?”

“That is Tirguard’s army. Looks like they set up camp — I would guess they have three or so hours before they reach Losalfar. Which means they will most likely attack tomorrow,” said Red quietly.

“There’s a lot of tents down there,” said Ethan.

“Tirguard has a big army. This isn’t going to be easy — you sure you’re up for it?” asked Red.

“I have to be,” replied Ethan. “How long ‘til we get to Losalfar?”

“It’s right there.” Red pointed across the front of the ship. “I’d say we will be there in less than an hour — you’d better wake your friends up, Ethan,” added Red as he started pulling levers and adjusting knobs.

Ethan nudged Auren who had just begun to snore, and Availia went to the back of the ship to wake up Stanley.

“You’ll all need swords with you, but it is only precautionary. Leave them to their sheaths unless you are provoked to do otherwise.”

“But, I don’t have a sword,” complained Auren.

Red opened a horizontal compartment along the floorboards of the ship. Reaching inside, he quickly pulled out a rusty old sword that had lots of dings and dents in the blade. He tossed it over to Auren, who looked at it in disgust.

“What is
this?
” he complained.

“It’s a sword,” replied Red bluntly.

“But it’s old and rusty,” whined Auren as he felt the edge of the blade. “It’s not even sharp!”

“It’s all we got, kid. I’ll have you know that sword was used back in the good ol’ Stadion days — killed more men than any other sword you’ve seen in your life.”

Auren appeared satisfied and shoved the sword through his belt like a makeshift sheath.

Ethan leaned over to Red. “Is that true?”

“No, I use it to anchor down the ship if I have nothing else to tie Gertrude down to,” chuckled Red.

“Gertrude?” smirked Ethan.

“Yeah,” answered Red. “Her name is Gertrude.” He patted the rail of the ship as if it were his pet.

“Alright everyone, the torches are lit — meaning the welcoming party is present, prepare to disembark.”

Red threw several levers and adjusted several knobs. The ship slowed and turned to the high walls of Losalfar. The platform was well-lit with torches and figures could be seen standing behind them. Ethan felt a slight bump that let him know the ship had landed. Red, meanwhile, jumped off, lashed down the ship and held the rope firmly.

Ethan, Auren, Availia and Stanley stepped off the airship one by one. Red nodded to Ethan, unlashed the rope, and jumped back on board.

“Good journey,” yelled Red as a loud
whoosh
could be heard, followed by a flash of fire that could be seen through the open portion of the curtain.

The four stood on the platform, not entirely sure what was going to happen next. Ethan noticed the platform had designs carved in it and looked quite pleasant. Even the torches looked like a beautifully crafted version of Wegnel’s miracle torches, with engraved metal and adjustable spindles.

“Now what?” whispered Auren.

“Not sure,” replied Ethan under his breath.

A soft blue glow emanated through the shadows behind the lit torches. Ethan stepped forward, instantly recognizing the first Mitan he had ever seen in person.

“You’re Loka …” stuttered Ethan. “I know you … I think.”

“Correct,” said the Mitan. “My name is Loka Tattur. You must be Ethan Wright. It is my pleasure to welcome you and your friends to Losalfar.”

“Thank you,” replied Ethan.

“And to what occasion do we owe this pleasure?” asked another figure that stepped from the shadow. This Mitan looked a bit different. He wore a black cloak, the hood not confining the soft blue glow that marked a full-blooded Mitan. His face was full of contempt, and his voice exuded disdain as if it pained him to be around Ethan.

“We came to warn you,” said Availia in a rush. “Of … an impending attack.”

“I am impressed on how well informed you all seem to be,” said the strange Mitan. “But I have already informed Loka that we will be attacking this city at first light.”

“And who are you?” blurted Auren.

“This is Ciprian,” replied Loka. “He is here on behalf of the Aegis and the city of Gilfangir.”

“And if I knew Ethan Wright were going to be here, my liege Xivon would be here to greet you. He is, after all, anxious to meet you in person, Ethan,” smiled Ciprian mischieviously.

“But he is the most dangerous Mitan in the world, why would he be allowed in here?” asked Ethan.

Ciprian laughed.

“All are welcome here,” replied Loka plainly.

“And that is what caused this mess to begin with,” replied Ciprian under his breath.

Ethan ignored Ciprian’s comment and looked back to Loka. “I think you misunderstand,” explained Ethan. “Tirguard is on its way. They’ll be here in the morning.”

Loka remained calm and did not appear surprised. “That does complicate things a bit,” he said.

“You see, Loka? It could not be any more perfect. We can unite our forces once and for all, and remove the humans entirely!” said Ciprian. “We do not have to fight each other, instead we can fight as one!” he bargained, leaning in to Loka.