Gareth and th Lost Island (27 page)

Scratching his beard in confusion as he looked over
the test results a second time, Tralnis announced, “Well,
considering you just came out of a coma, you’re remarkably healthy.
I don’t see any reason why you should have to stay in sickbay.” As
an afterthought he added, “However, at the first sign of you being
light headed, or purple flames spewing out of your eye sockets, I
want you back in here.” Tralnis raised his hand to stop Gareth from
speaking. “Like I said, you’ll have to talk with Henry about that.
He was there and saw it firsthand,” he stated.

Gareth hurried out of the sickbay, and up onto deck.
The sun was sinking below the western horizon, and the larger of
the moons was just beginning to rise in the east. Without thinking
about it, he wandered to the bow of the ship. When he got there, a
soul healing laugh escaped his lips. A bench had been installed
between the side rails with a hand lettered sign that read,
“Gareth’s Brooding Spot.”

“I figured if you were going to keep coming up here,
you might as well have the spot reserved,” Izzy said from behind
him. Gareth turned around, and stared for a moment, stunned by what
he saw. Izzy had forgone her usual works clothes, and was dressed
in a white blouse that flowed when she moved, and a multicolored
peasant’s skirt. The red of the evening’s sunset matched perfectly
with her flaming, red hair. The seemingly perpetual oil smudge next
to her nose contrasted well with her pale skin and light dusting of
freckles. Gareth was fairly certain he had never seen anyone as
beautiful as Izzy looked right then.

For her part, Izzy was drinking in the sight of
Gareth up and healthy again. He was wearing just his tight, white
shirt and regular gray trousers. His suspender straps hung at his
sides. While she admired how he looked in his formal University
Arcanum uniform, she really liked how he looked in more casual
clothes as well. Izzy was also enjoying the looks Gareth was giving
her. He wasn’t leering at her like she was a piece of meat the way
some of her ex-boyfriends had done. Instead, he was gazing at her
like he had stumbled across a rare and beautiful painting, and was
trying to memorize every gorgeous detail.

Izzy held out her hand, and Gareth took it in his.
“You haven’t eaten in over a week. You must be starving. Henry
prepared a late dinner for us,” she said, and led him to a small
table set up on the starboard side of the ship. The small round
table had a crisp white table cloth with a crystal vase in the
center. The vase held a single, pink, jungle flower. Having been
taught etiquette from an early age by Tralnis, Gareth hurried over,
and pulled Izzy’s chair out for her. “Why thank you, Professor,”
she said playfully.

“My pleasure, my lady,” Gareth replied as he sat
down. Henry appeared seconds later, holding two glasses and a metal
carafe. Without a word, he put a glass in front of the two diners,
and poured some light yellow liquid into each.

Izzy held up her glass, and looked at the light
yellow liquid. “What is it?” she asked curiously.

“One of Henry’s specialties, sour fruit juice mixed
with just a bit of sugar. It’s my favorite drink outside of tea,”
Gareth replied.

Trusting her friends, Izzy took a small sip, and then
a much larger one as her eyes widened in surprise. “That’s really
good! What do you two call it?” she inquired.

Gareth timed his reply just right, and caused Izzy to
spew the tart drink out in a laugh as he said, “Fruity Chim Piss,
but I’m sure we’ll come up with a better name someday.” Izzy used
her napkin to wipe her mouth, and then playfully threw it in
Gareth’s face.

Henry hurried off, and then returned with two plates
of Gareth’s favorite entre, freshly caught fish over baked tubers.
He placed the first plate in front of Izzy, and then turned
slightly to put the second one in front of Gareth. After they
finished off the main course, the Chim chef returned one last time
with shaved ice in a mint sauce, just the thing to freshen one’s
breath after a flavorful meal. As he put the shaved ice in front of
Gareth, Henry shifted his body to block Izzy’s line of sight. He
gave his friend a hand gesture meant to indicate hopes for good
luck. When the desert was finished, Henry whisked away the empty
dishes, and left the two of them alone.

Izzy walked across the deck, and leaned up against
the port side railing to watch the second moon start to rise.
“Gareth, what do you plan on doing after we find this lost island
of yours? I know you want to prove the others at the University
were wrong about you, but what about after that? Do you plan on
teaching at some other university?” she asked.

Gareth leaned his back on the railing next to Izzy so
he could look at her face. “I really haven’t thought about it,” he
admitted. He looked inward for a moment, and then shrugged his
shoulders. “I enjoy teaching, but I’m learning there’s so much more
out here than what I can find in a classroom,” Gareth stated. “Why
do you ask?” he inquired.

“I’ve been thinking about how useful it would be to
have a linguist of your talents on board full time. Negotiating
with species in their own language will give us a leg up on our
competition,” Izzy replied. “Besides, if you stay, there’s a much
better chance we’ll get to keep our new doctor and unbelievable
chef. Seriously, I’m afraid if Henry leaves, Pilot and Sheldon will
go with him just so they don’t have to go without his cooking,” she
half joked.

“Is that all?” Gareth asked in a whisper, hoping
there was a more personal reason for her wanting him to stay.

Izzy turned to her left so she could look Gareth
directly in the eyes. “Gareth, like I said before, I fancy you.
I’ve never met anyone like you, and find myself thinking about you
all the time,” she admitted.

Not being able to resist, Gareth asked teasingly,
“Sooo… was that why you tried the ‘Sleeping Handsome’ trick?”

Izzy quickly turned away again as her cheeks blushed
a red close in color to her hair. “Teesh! That little… little…” she
stammered, not finding the right word to convey what she was
feeling.

“Little sister,” Gareth offered softly. A cold breeze
blew in over the ocean, causing Izzy to shiver slightly. Gareth
started to offer his jacket, and then remembered he wasn’t wearing
it. Not thinking of any other way to keep her warm, he shifted to
stand behind her, and wrapped his arms around her to share his body
heat. Izzy sighed contentedly, and leaned her head back against his
shoulder.

Izzy smiled as she realized Gareth had hit it spot on
in regards to Teesh. She had always wanted a little sister, and now
fate had finally seen fit to give her one. One who was just as
sassy as Izzy had been at her age. “Yeah, little sister. Lizard
Breath is going to have a field day with that,” she muttered. “Just
so you know, it came down to either me or Henry, and I won the coin
toss,” she told him.

“Thank the universe! I hate getting hair in my
mouth,” Gareth joked.

Izzy turned around in Gareth’s arms, and wrapped hers
around his neck. With an exaggerated look to either side, she asked
in a whisper, “Any sign of Tralnis?”

Gareth shook his head, his purple eyes twinkling with
excitement. “I don’t see the good doctor anywhere,” he replied.

“Good!” Izzy said suddenly, and pressed her lips
against his. They both closed their eyes to focus on the intense,
wonderful sensations in their lips. With their eyes closed, they
both missed the purple glow that started at where their lips met,
and swept over their entire bodies before fading away. When Gareth
parted his lips slightly, Izzy slipped her tongue into his mouth.
Eventually, the slow dance of their entwined tongues ended, and
they broke the kiss. “Wow! That’s a lot better when you’re
conscious,” she said breathlessly. “You know, that sounded much
better in my head,” she admitted.

Instead of teasing her, Gareth closed the distance
again to kiss Izzy. “We should probably try several more times so
we can validate your theory,” he whispered.

“No argument from me, Professor!” Izzy answered, and
kissed him again with even more passion.

Elizabeth clenched her good hand in frustration when
she saw her little sister kissing that embodiment of chaos known as
Professor Mintel. She loved Izzy, and the last thing she wanted was
for her baby sister to get her heart broken again. Deciding to
interrupt the new couple, she started to walk towards them.
Elizabeth only got one step before she found the ship surgeon’s arm
barring her way.

“Leave them be, Captain. They’re both adults,”
Tralnis suggested.

“She might be an adult, but she’s still my little
sister!” Elizabeth countered.

Tralnis stepped forward to put his whole body between
Elizabeth and the oblivious couple. “And since I adopted Gareth, he
is technically my son. As he grew up, he became the best friend a
Dwarf could ever have,” he said. “I know Gareth better than he
knows himself. I’ve never seen him look at anybody like he looks at
Izzy. You saw what he did when he thought her life was on the
line,” he stated.

“What’s your point, Doctor?” Elizabeth snarled.

“My point is, I think you should let this play out,”
Tralnis suggested. He looked up at Elizabeth’s scarred face, and
gave her a genuinely warm smile. “You know, if they eventually end
up getting married, that would make you and I family,” he pointed
out.

Elizabeth used her biological hand to smack her
forehead. “Oh gods!” she swore in dismay, and hurried off to her
cabin.

The passengers and crew of the Glorious Dawn, minus
Henry and Sheldon, stood on deck as they sailed over the Roehus
capital city on their way to the city’s airship port.  Both
Henry and Sheldon found the baking sun overhead too intense to
handle, and were taking shelter in the relatively cool kitchen. The
crew above deck were able to make out the looming shape of the
Nexus Volcano on the eastern horizon, even though it was over a 150
miles away.  

That large number had Teesh confused.  Gareth
had told her that the coordinates found on the jungle tablet
pointed to the volcano, and it was where he believed they would
find a fourth tablet.  “This is dumb, why don’t we just fly to
Mt. Nexus?  Why are we stopping here?” she complained.

Gareth started to shift into teacher mode, but Izzy
beat him to the explanation.  “Magic runs across the surface
of Hadronus along what we call Leylines.  It’s that magic
which lets the Glorious Dawn fly.  Mt. Nexus sits right on top
of where six different Leylines intersect.  There’s so much
magic given off there, our magic batteries would explode, and take
the whole ship with them,” she explained.

“Oddly enough, the same thing happens to a Wizard’s
head if they get within 50 miles of the place.  I’ve seen some
photographs taken of a Wizard who thought that wrapping his head in
very thin sheets of tin would block out the magic.  Obviously
it didn’t work, and the results were not pretty,” Tralnis added.
Teesh looked from Tralnis to Gareth worriedly.  

“We don’t think it will affect Gareth, since his
magic seems to be something very different from the normal kind.
 Besides, he promised me that at the first sensation of his
brains trying to squirt out his nose, we’ll turn back,” Tralnis
assured her.  

“Aaa-aaa-chooo!” Gareth sneezed loudly into his
hands.  He turned his hands to look at his palms, and swore,
“Oh gods!  It’s happening already!”  Teesh ran towards
him, and skidded to a stop when he dropped his hands to his sides
and gave her a big smile.  “Just kidding,” he said playfully.
 He managed to keep quiet when she kicked him in the shin
again.

Pilot slid the Glorious Dawn into their assigned
berth with practiced ease.  “The energy from what my people
call the Mountain of Change affects more than just magic users.
 Every so often, storms come from the volcano that change the
very fabric of reality in their path.  Farms and villages can
simply disappear, and be replaced by strange forests in a blink of
the eye.  It is why my people do not use permanent names for
people.  Nothing is permanent in the shadow of the Mountain of
Change,” he explained to Teesh.

Changing topics, Pilot turned to look at the
Captain.  “Captain of the Glorious Dawn, I request permission
to take shore leave while you visit the Mountain of Change.  I
promised both of my fathers and my mother that I would visit if I
were in town,” he stated.

Elizabeth nodded her head in agreement.  “Of
course, Pilot.  I’m sure Henry, Sheldon, and Teesh can manage
to keep the ship from burning down while we’re gone,” she said.

Teesh heard these words and stomped over to glare at
Elizabeth. “Wait a minute!  Why do I have to stay on the ship?
 Why can’t I go with you guys?  You all know what
happened the last time I was left behind!” she demanded.

Gareth put a hand on Teesh’s shoulder to calm her
down.  “I’d feel much better knowing you were safe her.
 Both of the sites we’ve been to have had psychotic skeletons,
and the last one had deadly traps,” he told her.

“Don’t forget about the giant spiders,” Elizabeth
reminded him.

Gareth winced at the memory and just barely managed
not to shudder in revulsion.  “Thanks, I was actually trying
to forget about them,” he replied.  Focusing on Teesh again he
said, “You won’t have to worry about pirates in Chaos.  The
Roehus authorities have no tolerance for them.  Besides, we’re
leaving Mr. Fuzzy Bottom here to protect you,” he said.

Izzy laughed and shook her head.  “You’re never
going to let Henry live that down, are you?” she asked Gareth.
 A smug smile, and a shake of his head was her only response.
 Izzy knelt down to look Teesh in the eyes.  “I happen to
have it on good authority that a certain chef has offered to teach
you how to make those cookies you love so much,” she said,
sweetening the pot.