Gareth and th Lost Island (10 page)

Inside the cargo hold, Izzy found her sister glaring
at the empty hold, as if her anger would somehow magically make
cargo appear. Without turning around to look, Elizabeth asked, “Did
you have any luck speaking to the Shipping Guild?”

“Not really, good old ‘
Dick Nutless’
black
listed us with the entire Shipping Guild of Draconia. I was
informed rather rudely that we wouldn’t be able to get a contract
to haul garbage off this stupid island,” Izzy replied. “However, I
did manage to line us up a job with an independent,” she added
cheerfully.

Elizabeth shook her head in frustration. “If that’s
the only job we can get, then I guess we’ll have to swallow our
pride and take it as long as we aren’t smuggling anything too
harmful,” she muttered.

“Oh no, nothing like that,” Izzy reassured her
sister. “A professor from the University Arcanum wants to hire us
for his archeology expedition. He’s bringing a doctor and the
doctor’s butler with him. The doctor agreed to provide the crew
free services,” she stated cheerfully. “I think it’s a good deal.
We can use the money they give us to buy cargo here to sell along
the way, and make an even bigger profit,” she urged.

Elizabeth’s face retained its stern expression, but
inside she was smiling. She recognized how Izzy was trying to
oversell the job to her. That combined with her sister’s usually
perky tone ratcheted up several notches could only mean one thing.
“I suppose it doesn’t hurt that the professor is good looking,” she
teased.

“Oh gods yes, he’s… I mean that has nothing to do
with the job,” Izzy stated, catching herself mid-sentence.

This time Elizabeth did let a small smile escape and
the left corner of her mouth twitched upwards. “Let’s go speak with
the handsome professor, and see what kind of deal we can strike,”
she suggested before turning around and walking towards the cargo
ramp.

Elizabeth Morgana stopped at the top of the cargo
ramp, and looked down at the three potential passengers to get a
first impression of them. The Chim was dressed as a servant with
the typical black vest and kilt. Unlike most of the Chims she had
met, this one had his long hair tied back in a tight ponytail. His
well combed fur and impeccably neat uniform made him look like more
of a professional than many of the merchants’ lackeys they dealt
with on a routine basis. Oddly, even though the Chim was dressed as
a servant, he stood with the others as more of an equal than
anything else.

The Dwarf looked like most of his race with his
stocky build and long beard. At least she assumed it was a “he”.
One could never tell with Dwarves. She approved of how the Dwarf
was looking around at everything with a critical eye. The last
thing she needed were some ground pounders with overly romantic
ideas of air travel.

This left the human who was standing in the middle.
Elizabeth had to admit the young man, who she assumed was the
professor,
was
boyishly handsome, even if he wasn’t her
type. He looked a couple of years younger than Elizabeth, putting
him nearer Izzy’s age. She decided to put the young man her sister
liked to the test. Making eye contact with him, she used her good
arm to brush her hair away from the scarred mess that was the right
side of her face. To Elizabeth’s surprise, the professor didn’t
flinch or turn away. He gave her a slight nod, and continued to
meet her eyes in a clear declaration that like her ship, he was
willing to look beyond the scars and accept her for what she truly
was. Elizabeth was the first to break eye contact, slightly
unnerved a man could instill confidence within her with just a
look. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and made her way
down the ramp with Izzy close on her heels.

While the Captain was sizing up the potential
passengers, Gareth was getting a first impression of her as well.
He first saw her standing still, watching them from the top of the
cargo ramp. She was as tall as he was with wavy, blood red hair
that hung loosely to the middle of her back. Her hair was styled so
that it would cover the right side of her face. She was missing her
right arm, and in its place was a shiny bronze clockwork
contraption that ended in a vicious looking three way clamp. The
captain was wearing a brown, leather vest with a special harness
for her mechanical arm that ran across the back of her neck to the
opposite shoulder. Underneath the vest, was a loose fitting linen
shirt. Tight fitting, black leather pants were tucked into black
knee high boots that needed a good polishing. She had a wide belt
made of red leather. A sword hung from the belt on her right side.
A long barreled pistol with the newly invented revolving chamber
was tucked into the belt next to the sword. Either weapon would be
easily accessible in a cross draw motion with her left hand.

Elizabeth made eye contact with Gareth, and brushed
back the hair hiding the right side of her face. Like her right
arm, her right eye was missing. In its place was a white glass orb.
The right side of her face from the corner of her jaw up to her
forehead was a mass of burn scars. Gareth was impressed by how
someone who had suffered such horrific injuries had risen beyond
them and now captained an airship. He nodded to her in a sign of
respect.

As the Morgana sisters made their way down the ramp,
Tralnis leaned closer to Gareth and whispered, “I can’t tell if I’m
more frightened or turned on by the captain.”

Elizabeth strolled confidently along the wooden dock
until she stood in front of Gareth. Izzy followed in her footsteps,
and stopped a step behind her sister. “Elizabeth… I mean Captain
Morgana, I would like to introduce you to Master Henry of the
Woohaa Clan, Doctor Tralnis Granitestaff, and Professor Gareth
Mintel,” she said, pointing to each of them in turn.

Elizabeth nodded to each of them, and then focused
her attention on Gareth. “My sister tells me you are wanting to
charter my,” she caught an angry glare from Izzy and corrected
herself, “…
our
airship for an archeology expedition. Before
I agree to transport you three, I need you to answer some questions
for me. The main two are where do you want to go, and how much are
you willing to pay to have us transport your team and
equipment?”

Before they had left the city they would henceforth
refer to as Pigshit, the three friends had decided Tralnis would
take care of the finances of the expedition. Dwarves were famous
for the ability to handle money, and Tralnis was carved from the
same stone as the rest of his people. “Captain Morgana, we are
willing to offer 5,000 IRD Marks in exchange for transport to a
spot approximately 200 miles to the east of Consus. We’ll need 3
cabins and a small corner of your cargo hold for our equipment. I
would also be happy to perform the duties of ship surgeon while on
board,” he told her.

Elizabeth used her hard earned skills of negotiations
to keep her expression neutral. Izzy on the other hand had a grin
from ear to ear. They were barely scraping by, and it would take
four or five trips to makes that much. Before Izzy could agree on
their behalf, Elizabeth pointed out a problem in their plan. “You
do know that 200 miles east of Consus is in the middle of the
Narrow Sea, don’t you?” she asked as politely as she could.

Gareth jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the
wagon. “That’s why we brought diving suits,” he replied.

“This must be a site of some importance if a Dwarf is
willing to go diving,” Elizabeth observed.

“Don’t remind me,” Tralnis moaned.

Elizabeth let her small half smile out again in a
show of commiseration with Tralnis. Deciding to get all of the
financial details out of the way, she continued the negotiations.
“I take it we will be splitting the artifacts recovered under using
the standard rates,” she stated.

“Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of a
50/50 split,” Tralnis replied. This time Elizabeth’s training
slipped, and she wore an expression of pure shock.

Gareth grabbed Tralnis’ arm, and dragged him to the
side for a quick conference. “What are you doing? The standard rate
is 5 percent for the airship, 5 percent for the expedition team,
and the other 90 percent for the University,” he said, explaining
how things were supposed to work.

“By the University, you mean the same bastards that
basically tossed us out on our arses in favor of a place that will
do their nails?” Tralnis inquired with mock sweetness.

This brought Gareth’s arguments up short. “So what
you’re saying is…” he started to say before Tralnis finished his
sentence for him.

“Screw those arseholes!” Tralnis stated firmly.
“Besides, we should get 50 percent anyway, since we used our own
savings to match what those penny pinching, centipede buggering
fools gave us,” he reminded Gareth.

Gareth and Tralnis rejoined Henry and the Morgana
sisters. “I’m sorry for interrupting the negotiation. Tralnis
reminded me of some facts I had forgotten about. Not the least of
which, is that he is the primary private backer for our expedition.
A 50/50 split will work out fine,” he apologized.

“Oh… and did we mention that the site we will be
heading to slipped into the ocean during the Second Great
Apocalypse?” Tralnis inquired, further sweetening the pot. Relics
from before the Second Great Apocalypse were extremely rare, and
therefore in great demand by some of the wealthiest collectors.

Elizabeth held out her good hand to Tralnis this
time. “Doctor, we have a deal,” she said. While Tralnis shook the
captain’s hand, Gareth and Izzy just smiled at each other. Henry
saw the shared goofy looks, and couldn’t wait to tease his friend
even more once they had their things settled on board.

Izzy reached down and took Gareth’s hand. “Come on,
I’ll introduce you to the rest of the crew,” she told him while she
dragged him up the cargo ramp. Henry started to grab their luggage,
but stopped when Izzy said, “Leave those there. I’ll have our
cargomaster come get them. He is very particular about where things
are stored in
his
cargo bay.”

As soon as they were in the cargo hold, Izzy grabbed
a hose with a cone at the end that had been secured to wall. “All
hands to the cargo deck. We have some new people on board that I
want to introduce you to,” she shouted into the cone. Gareth was
surprised to hear her voice echo throughout the ship. While they
were waiting for the crew to assemble, Henry, Tralnis, and
Elizabeth joined them.

As expected, the cargomaster was the first crew
member to show up. Gareth was surprised to see the cargo master was
a Kwa-Kwa-Ur, a being rarely seen outside of their native swamps.
Kwa-Kwa-Ur were actually a tertiary creature composed of a host and
two symbiotes. The Ur looked like a keg covered in leathery gray
flesh. Its huge mouth was located in the center of its round body.
Stubby, but extremely strong, arms and legs sprouted from the
barrel shape. The Ur had no eyes what so ever. On the top of the Ur
were two Kwas.

The Kwas were long tubes with a single eye and a
mouth positioned at one end, with the other end attached to the
Ur’s skull. When the larva form of the Kwa find a newly hatched Ur
in the swamp, they burrow into its head, and mesh their nervous and
circulatory systems together to form a new creature. The joining
benefits both species. The Ur use their shared nervous systems to
gain the ability to see while the Kwa gain mobility and a huge body
to defend themselves.

“Sheldon, I would like to introduce you to our new
employer, Professor Mintel,” she said.

The eyestalk on the left turned to look at the
eyestalk on the right. A high pitched voice asked, “Did she just
call this guy ‘Professor
Mental’
?”

The right eyestalk responded in a slightly lower
voice, “Well, he’d have to be to hire us.” Both set of eyestalks
started laughing at their joke. The main body sighed loudly, and
rubbed the area above his mouth as if he was getting a
headache.

The right eyestalk twisted, and bent down to look at
Tralnis. “Hey Doc, you got anything for snoring? This big galoot
snores so much, I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in weeks,” it
requested.

Tralnis chuckled and replied, “I’ll see what I can
find.”

“Thanks,” the right eyestalk said.

The left eyestalk rotated to look at Henry. “Hey
Chim, how’s it hanging? You know, because Chims were originally
tree dwellers and they hung from branches…” it babbled until it
noticed the cargo hold had become awkwardly silent. “Wow, tough
crowd,” the eyestalk muttered to itself.

Izzy pointed down the cargo ramp. “Sheldon, their
stuff is in the wagon parked on the dock next to us. Why don’t you
go get it before your two comedians say something we will all
regret,” she told the creature.

Sheldon nodded yes a little more emphatically than
was necessary, causing his chatty eyestalks to bob up and down
rapidly. “Hey, knock it off or I’m closing my eye the next time we
play catch. Let’s see how well you play without depth perception,”
the eyestalk on the left warned.

When the Kwa-Kwa-Ur was off the cargo ramp, Izzy
leaned over to Gareth and whispered, “His name’s not really
‘Sheldon’ it’s just what we call him.” Gareth nodded in complete
understanding. Ur was a very difficult language to learn, and most
of their names were impossible for a human to pronounce. The only
time Gareth had heard a human voice come even remotely close to
pronouncing an Ur name was at a faculty party. Turns out what he
thought was a linguistic breakthrough was actually someone trying
to swallow a live chicken on a drunken bet.

A red skinned male dressed in flowing blue robes
walked down the stairs that led to the upper decks. He had angled
bone plates where a human’s smooth forehead would be. A multitude
of long, black quills sprouted from the top and back of his head
like hair. Since he did not feel threatened, the quills were laying
down in a smooth sheet along his neck and upper back.