The Boiling Sea, page 15
Jo's gaze darted around the canopy as she steered, homing in on tentacles as they emerged and disappeared. It reminded Svetlana of watching small birds dart in and out of crevices on the undersides of platform cities. Few could track all the birds at once, but Jo seemed to be doing a fine job of remaining aware of the majority of the arboreal kraken's tentacles.
A boom sounded behind The Silent Monsoon, and Narci inhaled sharply. "Do you have cannon on this ship?"
"One," Svetlana said.
"And no cannoneers," Narci said, shaking her head.
"Hey, I cannoneered for a while," Athos said.
Jo's sharp hiss quieted him.
"No hit," Indigo's voice echoed up from the engine room.
Narci let out a sigh of relief. "If it's all the same, can Athos and I man the cannon?"
Svetlana nodded. "There's not much shot to be had, so only use it if you're sure of a hit. And if a tentacle heads your way ... well, that'd be a good use of a shot."
Narci nodded and hurried below deck. Athos paused only long enough to kiss Jo's forehead and then followed Narci.
Svetlana glanced at Jo, who was still scanning the treetops. A few tentacles still darted up occasionally, but they seemed to have lessened now. "Drassilis, how many tentacles—"
"Drop," Jo said, louder than she'd spoken since they'd rescued her, before Svetlana could finish her question.
Martin punched the button on the side of the cloud generator, and The Silent Monsoon plummeted below the treeline, greens and browns replacing the blues and whites of the skies.
Svetlana tried to ignore the multitude of branches battering the hull of her ship and the balloons, at the same time she was trying to ignore the yelps emanating from below decks. "Guess we should've given them more warning," she murmured.
Jo shrugged and glanced through the back window of the bridge.
For the first time, the crew saw the bulk of the arboreal kraken, a bloated green and grey mass, as it floated between the trees and emerged from the canopy. The motion was followed by a crunching sound, but The Silent Monsoon didn't waver.
Then Jo nodded at Svetlana. "Up."
Svetlana pulled back on the altitude controls to return her ship to the space above the canopy. She spared only the quickest of glances at the Air Fleet ship, now entangled within the grasp of the arboreal kraken. Their cannon would allow them to chase the beast off, more likely than not, but at least Jo's maneuvering had gotten The Silent Monsoon the bit of breathing room it so desperately needed right now.
~
The ghost ship was docked when they reached the aboveground residential portion of Bonebriar. Narci sighed as she looked at it. "I really wish you had more cannon, Sveta."
"Me too," Svetlana admitted. "Jo, let's dock as far from them as we can, just for our own safety."
Jo nodded and swung the ship into position to dock at the opposite end of the docking area.
Svetlana continued to man the altitude controls as they landed, but her gaze, along with those of everyone else on the bridge, remained locked on the ghost ship. A handful of ghosts watched The Silent Monsoon from onboard their ship, creating a palpable tension even across the space between the ships.
"So, what's the plan, Captain?" Athos asked when the ship had come to a full rest on the docking struts.
"Find the Gem. Take it," Svetlana said tersely.
"Any thoughts on where to start looking?" Annette asked, gaze still fixed on the ghost ship.
Svetlana considered the options. The ghost ship had a larger crew, and a good portion of them were watching The Silent Monsoon even now. Trying to sneak onto their ship would be impossible, and she couldn't even be sure the Gem would be onboard. Looking there last seemed reasonable. "I'm going to Lady de Whittvy's house," she said, but then hesitated. Going alone was dangerous. If Lady de Whittvy was at her house, that might be a level of complications for which none of them were prepared. She also wanted most of the crew onboard the ship in case they needed to make a quick escape. "Athos, fancy coming with?"
"Blades, you said?" he asked.
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Would you like a third?" Martin asked, fingering the hilt of one of the knives he wore on his belt.
"I appreciate your enthusiasm, Martin, but this isn't a job for a large group," Svetlana said. "Stay here and keep an eye on the ghost ship. Do you know communications signals?"
Martin shrugged. "Well enough."
"We don't have the fancy whistles that the Dove has, but you can get Annette to show you what we do have. If anything requires our attention, sound the alarm, and we'll get back as quickly as we can."
Svetlana and Athos left The Silent Monsoon, still watching the ghost ship. None of the ghostly crew followed them, at least not as far as they could see. It didn't matter much to Svetlana if they were being followed, and with a crew that could slip in and out of Aetherwhere at will, it seemed better to assume their movements, especially here, would be tracked.
The front of Lady de Whittvy's house had not been rebuilt since the Air Fleet had destroyed it, giving Svetlana and Athos a mostly clear view into the front rooms of the house. Piles of rubble still obscured portions of the space. Lady de Whittvy's tell-tale ginger hair, even muted as it was after death, was not visible.
"We'll take the back way up to her lab." Svetlana paused, recalling that Lady de Whittvy had done something that looked a bit like overloading all of the devices she had within her lab before their departure. It had likely destroyed her work there, if not the room in its entirety. "Or whatever's left of it."
Athos nodded and followed Svetlana around the side of the house, his hand on the hilt of his sword. There wouldn't be enough room to draw it in the narrow space between the buildings, but Svetlana understood the comfort of having a weapon close at hand, her own hand resting on the hilt of a knife tucked into her belt. If the ghosts were following them, this would make a perfect pinch point, where they would be trapped and barely able to defend themselves.
Svetlana breathed a sigh of relief when they reached Lady de Whittvy's backyard. The back door stood ajar, and as they got closer, they could see it had been knocked askew from its hinges. Inside the house, most of the space looked as though it had been ransacked.
"I thought they all called her Mother around here, and worshipped her like a goddess," Athos said.
"I think this was Air Fleet," Svetlana said, nodding at the boot prints marring the stone dust on the floor. "Probably digging around after she was dead." She gestured to the side with her head. "Back ways are over here."
The door leading to the secret stairway was open, and Svetlana hesitated just outside of it, listening for any movement above. There seemed to be a faint buzzing, but she couldn't tell for certain if it was there or just what her mind was filling the silence with.
"You hear anything?" she whispered.
Athos shook his head. "Maybe my heartbeat."
Svetlana chuckled softly, drew her knife, and led the way up the stairs. Behind her, Athos unsheathed his blade just loudly enough for her to hear that he'd done so.
As they neared the lab, there wasn't an electrical buzzing sound like Svetlana thought she had heard, but there was noise coming from the room. Pausing outside the door, Svetlana peeked around the jamb.
Inside the ruined lab, with equipment strewn about and half dismantled, Lady de Whittvy stood with her back to the door. In front of her was a table, with several books open and rapidly flipping through their pages, causing the slight murmur of sound that had carried from the room.
Svetlana tiptoed through the doorway, but her attempt at silence was for naught.
Lady de Whittvy spun to face her immediately, not even a wisp of surprise in her expression. The books paused in their flipping, some of the pages suspended as though they'd been frozen in time. "You just don't stop, do you?"
"She really doesn't," Athos said drily, moving to stand to Svetlana's left, his body thrumming with a readiness to strike.
"Just checking up on you," Svetlana said with a stiff grin. "Air Fleet is inbound."
"Ah, to be expected, I suppose," Lady de Whittvy said. "Would you like to help me dispatch them, then?"
"We've slowed them down, but they won't stop, even if we stop this ship. You need to negotiate with the High Council if you're going to stop the Fleet from coming after you for the rest of your days."
"At least until I drop a platform city or two," Lady de Whittvy said.
Svetlana shook her head. "You said you'd negotiate first."
"Call it aggressive negotiations," Lady de Whittvy spat back. "Svetlana, the High Council won't acquiesce any other way."
"This is not what we agreed to," Svetlana said, clenching her left fist. She struggled to keep herself from raising her knife in her right hand, not wanting to threaten Lady de Whittvy directly.
"The only way you're going to keep your precious platform cities in the air is if you take the Gem from me and destroy it," Lady de Whittvy said.
Svetlana chided herself mentally. She should have known better than to trust Lady de Whittvy when she realized the noblewoman was working with the ghosts. She'd let herself be swayed by false promises. Lady de Whittvy was right. Destruction of the Gem should ensure no one ever used it for nefarious purposes. What else it might do remained to be seen.
"Fine, have it your way," Svetlana said, stepping toward Lady de Whittvy. "Where's the Gem?"
"Not here," Lady de Whittvy scoffed. She looked to her left and inclined her head in Svetlana's direction, her gaze unfocused.
A crowd of half a dozen ghosts swarmed around Lady de Whittvy, then surged toward Svetlana and Athos, trailing more ghosts in their wake.
Svetlana backpedaled, pulling Athos along with her. Her heel struck some of the rubble on the floor of Lady de Whittvy's lab, halting her backward motion. She swung her knife at the nearest ghost, who parried the attack with his own blade. No ring of metal on metal accompanied the action, but her swing was cut short all the same.
Forcing her blade forward, Svetlana tried to turn her opponent's weapon to the side. The ghost held his ground, his strength at least equal to hers.
Meanwhile, Athos had leapt forward and engaged two of the ghosts. He had driven them both back a few steps, but now other ghosts flanked him.
"We've got to get out of here," Svetlana said, sweeping one foot behind her to find a way around the rubble while she still fought the ghost in front of her. She ducked a blow from that ghost and picked up a piece of metal from the floor, which she then threw at one of the ghosts flanking Athos. The left-handed throw wasn't particularly accurate, but it at least pulled the ghost's attention to her instead of Athos.
"Follow your girlfriend?" Athos asked, gesturing toward Lady de Whittvy, who had slipped out a door Svetlana hadn't noticed before.
"She's. Not. My. Girlfriend," Svetlana insisted, her words punctuated with grunts as she kicked at the ghost to her left while parrying blows from the ghost to her right. She drove back the latter an extra step and moved to skirt around him. "But yes, follow her."
Athos disengaged from his opponents and backed up against Svetlana, covering their retreat as she charged toward the door where Lady de Whittvy had gone.
Into a closet. And the noblewoman was nowhere to be seen.
"Well," Athos said. "Back out into the fray?"
Svetlana nodded. "Gonna be a bit more difficult now."
The ghosts had regrouped and now blocked Svetlana and Athos's way out of the closet where Lady de Whittvy had led them. While looking for any opening, Svetlana also tapped her foot against the closet wall behind them.
"What are you doing?" Athos asked.
"Hoping for a secret door. No luck. Let's do this." Svetlana pushed off from the wall and charged forward.
Svetlana and Athos remained side by side now, nearly touching, making them a larger target, but one that could defend itself on either side. One of the ghosts swung at Athos, and Svetlana deflected the blow, and then Athos returned the favor by stopping the sword that slashed toward her open side. They moved slowly from the closet to the next door, the one Svetlana knew would lead into the house proper.
For their part, the ghosts were relentless. Any attempt at an attack by either Svetlana or Athos was met with at least two attacks from the ghosts. Nor were the ghosts only reacting to attacks; those not directly in Svetlana and Athos's path harried them from the sides, while the captain and her first mate split their attention between movement and defense, punctuated by their increasingly rare opportunities to attack.
As they neared the doorway, Athos shifted his position to parry an attack at their rear, as a ghost slid through the wall behind them. "How are they doing this?" he growled.
"Aetherwhere," Svetlana replied. "Faerie Queen be blessed and all that rubbish."
"I'm glad she's not your girlfriend, Sveta," Athos said. "I don't think I could handle knowing you're in love with a ghost."
"Thanks, I think."
Several of the ghosts pressed forward, driving Svetlana and Athos back several paces, and blocking their passageway to the door out of the map room.
"This isn't going well. Two steps forward, three steps back, and all that." He glanced over his shoulder. "Maybe we can make a hole in the wall of that closet."
Before Svetlana responded, another figure appeared in the doorway to the room, drawing the ghosts' attention. Hortence Bartram, the daughter of Heliopolis's mayor and, allegedly, Lady de Whittvy, scanned the room, a smile dancing across her lips when she spotted Svetlana.
"Captain! I thought I saw your ship on our approach."
"What are you doing here?" Svetlana asked.
Hortence looked around. "Getting you out of here, first, I think." She lunged forward with her delicate rapier and began clearing a path through the ghosts.
Svetlana seized the opportunity and pulled Athos behind her toward the doorway. With the added distraction of a third combatant on their side, the ghosts were easily removed from their path, and Svetlana and Athos made their way into the hallway outside of the map room.
Once Svetlana and Athos had slipped through the doorway, the attacks from the ghosts stopped, as though they could not pass this threshold into the real world.
"Oh, now here's a twist," Athos said, grinning back at the ghosts. "You lot can't follow us, eh?"
"We have eyes everywhere, pretty boy," one of the ghosts replied, this one a buxom woman who appeared to be sincere in her attraction to Athos.
"Sorry, my dear. I'm taken." Athos blew her a kiss. "Another time, perhaps?"
Hortence cleared her throat. "This is all fine and well, but where is my mother?"
Svetlana smiled. "Good to see you, Miss Bartram. She's probably headed for the ghost ship. Let's go."
Chapter Sixteen
The ghost ship had taken off by the time Svetlana, Athos, and Hortence returned to The Silent Monsoon. Looming in the distance in the opposite direction was the Air Fleet ship, clearly headed toward the ghost ship.
"Perfect," Athos said. "We can let the Air Fleet deal with the ghosts."
"No, we can't," Hortence said. "They're going to be looking for me."
Svetlana arched her eyebrow as she looked at Hortence. "Oh? Why's that?"
"Well, it's a bit of story." Hortence shrugged. "The short version is that they're with me, sort of?"
Svetlana glanced between the mayor's daughter, the approaching Air Fleet ship, and the departing ghost ship. "The Gem must be on the ghost ship. We don't want the Air Fleet getting hold of it, so we need to get the Air Fleet out of here and catch up to the ghosts. You can tell us the rest of the story on the way. Athos, head below. I'll send Narci down to help you with the cannon."
Athos shook his head. "We're not going to hold off an Air Fleet ship with our cannon. Unless you want me to start loading it with Jo's costume jewelry and hope they get distracted by the shiny things."
"We'll figure something out." Svetlana paused, considering her options for how to distribute her now larger crew. "Wait, Athos, I need you on the bridge for comms. You can read Jo, signal with Indy, and talk to Narci and Annette. We need to be able to move fast and with precision. Miss Bartram, you can stay on the bridge and explain what's happening."
Athos and Hortence both nodded and followed Svetlana onto the bridge.
Svetlana opened the speaking tube to the engine room before she started her quick summary. "The ghosts have the Gem, Air Fleet's incoming, and we've got Miss Hortence Bartram joining us onboard. Narci and Martin, you're on the cannon. Do what you can to threaten the Air Fleet and get them to break off pursuit. Athos is on comms. Indy, he'll be signaling you and Deliah in the engine room, so listen for that and tell Deliah what needs to be done. Drassilis, go below and help with the engines. Annette, stand by to help with the cannon if they call for you. Jo?" Svetlana smiled. "We're going to need to board the ghost ship."
Jo raised her eyebrows and pointed to herself.
"No, not you," Svetlana said as Narci and Annette left the bridge. "I'll take Athos, Narci, Martin, and Miss Bartram, I think. We're going to want you to keep the Monsoon below the ghost ship, just in case they decide to jump into Aetherwhere and strand us in the middle of the sky."
Jo nodded and moved to the steering column, freeing up the altitude controls for Svetlana. The ship pulled out of its berth smoothly and raised to an elevation where it could interpose itself between the ghost ship and the Air Fleet ship.
"Sandbar and a coral reef," Athos muttered, swiveling his head to keep an eye on both the ship they were pursuing and their pursuers. "Well, Air Fleet's backing off."
"Cannon must be showing," Svetlana said.
The Silent Monsoon flew through the skies, gaining on the ghost ship. Adjusting the controls until the two ships flew at the same altitude, Svetlana then locked the altitude controls. The Air Fleet ship had fallen farther behind, though their reasoning for doing so was not apparent.
