She really didn’t want to go outside. But she felt she needed to help him in some way. Whatever he was doing, he was surely in danger after this much time.

  “Ah, shit,” Hessy muttered. She got up and exited the aircraft with a lantern.

  As soon as she stepped outside, the silence pressed down on her. It was like nothing was connected to this land. She approached the dark tree line. She could smell a sweet, prickly fragrance the closer she got to the trees. She felt a little better with the tiger cub gambling at her feet.

  Hessy hesitated for as long as she could, then finally entered the forest.

  She pushed aside sticky, thick branches, leading with her lantern. She’d only gone ten steps further when a loud cracking noise to her right disturbed the silence. She immediately scooped the cub in her arms and crouched down. Something was there, just beyond the bushes.

  A low whistling call followed. An animal? Hessy caught a flash of brown and black as it passed close to where she was hiding. Its breath spiraled above young saplings.

  Hessy knew it was just an animal but for some strange reason she was scared.

  Then it stepped into the lantern’s light. It was a deer, a russet brown stag with odd black markings. Hessy had never seen a deer like it before in her life. And its antlers were curved and crisscrossed on top it’s head which it then turned slowly.

  Hessy’s eyes widened and she let out a silent oath.

  The deer’s eyes were a strange black and as Hessy stared, she saw that there was no light reflected in them. An overpowering feeling came over her and the air around her plummeted to freezing cold.

  The tiger cub hissed.

  The stag lowered its antlers to Hessy and gave a growling bellow. Its right hoof pawed the ground, but she wasn’t going to just sit and wait for it to charge.

  Instead, she ran. The lantern slipped out her hand and smashed on the ground, extinguishing the only light.

  She weaved dangerously between trees, further and further into the wood, jumping fallen branches that cut into her path. She ran awkwardly trying to get her eyes accustomed to the darkness. She glanced behind her and really wished she hadn’t.

  “Great Jupiter,” Hessy cursed.

  The spooky stag was charging after her, almost soundlessly. Its hooves ripped through the forest floor, sending a flurry of brown needles and cones into the air. It gave a grunt as it vaulted over a tricky obstacle of branches and landed aggressively, head down, antlers aimed at Hessy.

  She twisted round a thick tree, putting it in-between her and the stag. It gave a high-pitched bellow, pawing at the ground as it relentlessly gored the poor tree trying to shield her. Hessy ran on, this time back the way she had come. If she managed to make it back to the clearing, she could shut herself in the aircraft.

  The tiger cub hissed, non-stop, its head poking out the flap of her pocket.

  She was too busy looking behind her at the galloping stag that she nearly knocked herself out with a low hanging branch. Hessy scrambled back to her feet in a panic and instinctively started to climb the tree in front of her. Her feet had only just gotten out of reach when the stag collided with the tree. The trunk shook and groaned. She gripped it tighter, her nails digging into its sap stained bark.

  Just when she was beginning to think she was safe the stag reared up on its hind legs, its hot breath tingling her skin. Hessy was forced to climb higher and after a massive lunge she grabbed a tall branch and felt her fear of heights come whooshing back. She was having a dizzy spell at the worst possible moment. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, now just barely hanging on to the tree. Hessy felt like she was dangling off a Craggen bridge in the wide-open air of Jupiter’s Domain.

  She felt the tiger cub try and claw out her pocket. Without thinking she covered the opening. With only one sweaty hand now attached to the tree, she lost her grip and fell.

  She couldn’t help the scream that gurgled out her mouth. She thought she was going to fall endlessly to her death. However, the ground came rushing up much too fast, cutting Hessy’s scream off painfully.

  She lay there completely winded.

  She couldn’t move, even as she watched in horror as the stag stepped over to her. Her mouth hung open, no sound, no breath.

  The tiger cub sprang out her pocket and dug his nails protectively over Hessy’s heart. He faced the stag fearlessly and gave a daring, long growl and tapped the stag’s nose with its tiny paw. Hessy thought it was helplessly cute, the stag didn’t think so. It shot it’s head up and bolted.

  Hessy’s breath came back in painful bursts. Her sides hurt but she was now able to get up and make her way through the forest. She gave the cub a well-deserved scratch under the chin. “Thanks little one.”

  A shiver went down her sweaty back as she heard the stag’s whistling call again. The sound was still much closer than she liked.

  Her boots crunched on a pile of brittle pinecones, making her cringe. Then she saw a shadowy figure move purposefully through two trees. Hessy skipped back, covering her mouth in case her cold breath gave her away. The stag was still hunting her.

  The pygmy tiger cub sneezed.

  Not a cute baby animal sneeze but a sneeze that trumpeted loudly. Before Hessy’s brain could react, her legs were already sprinting away.

  She had just made it out of the forest when she was grabbed. Just as she was about to scream, she saw who had caught her.

  Lieutenant Halcrow in that moment looked far scarier than the weird stag. His amber eye was burning furiously at the sight of her.

  “I thought I told you to stay on the aircraft, huh?” he demanded loudly.

  Hessy tried to shush him, but it felt like her lungs were being stabbed every time she inhaled too quickly.

  “What were you doing?”

  “There’s a m-monster out there. It was hunting me!” Hessy gasped, wincing.

  He brought her back toward the craft. “Just get in already.”

  She scrambled inside. She swallowed, trying to steady her racing heart as he came in behind her. He shut the aircraft’s door so loud the bang made Hessy jump.

  “Why would you go out, when I distinctively told you not to? If I had gone back to the Darkturnalus without you, do you know how many questions your sudden disappearance would raise? What I would have to tell General Rudyard?”

  “I was coming to save you!”

  Lieutenant Halcrow laughed at that as he took his place at the controls. “I don’t need rescuing.”

  “Right, well, I’ll remember that the next time then,” Hessy said, nettled. “But there really was a - I don’t know what it was exactly. And it’s eyes…”

  “No,” he said sternly, turning to her. “You didn’t see anything. Not even now. You were never here with me at all. Remember?”

  Hessy bit her tongue and frowned. Maybe the lieutenant knew exactly what had been out there.

  She stepped back, about to sit down when her feet tripped over something. She kept her balance and glanced down.

  It was a leg. A man’s leg. He lay there unmoving, a black sack over his head.

  “W-who’s that?” Hessy cried. “Did you do that? Is he dead? Is that what you were doing? Why did you bring him aboard?”

  Lieutenant Halcrow pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is a nightmare.”

  Alchemists

  Hessy sat in her room, sketching the pygmy tiger cub which she had decided to bless as Maps. He sat playing with her boot laces. Well, playing was maybe a bit of a tame word, the cub was trying to maul the boots to shreds, and it would growl now and then.

  “Boy, you’re a handful.” Hessy sighed, now completely distracted. She showed the cub her sketch. “I’m doing this for you, you know.”

  The cub blinked its blue eyes.

  “You’ll see. This is you and this will be your tail. Although, I’ll have to modify it every time you grow,” Hessy said, indicating the tail device that was attached to the body of the sketch.

  The tiger cub did the cutest thing since Hessy saved it; cocked its head to the side and flexed its whiskers. Then it ruined the image of innocence by leaping a foot in the air and slamming down on the sketch. The cub would have happily torn it to shreds if Hessy hadn’t rescued the piece of parchment.

  “Yes, well, I can see you’re very grateful,” Hessy muttered, nudging the thing away with her boot.

  Maps crawled onto her feet and gave a massive sigh. Hessy shook her head and picked it up by the scruff.

  “Okay Maps, no more mauling my stuff, alright?”

  The cub blinked and opened its mouth to poke out its pink tongue.

  “We’ll work on your manners.”

  Hessy smiled and began drawing out his tail again but after a few strokes of her charcoal pencil, a vision of the monster stag flashed without warning into her mind. Her hand started to shake.

  She had been back a few days and the Darkturnalus had set sail once more. But being here now left her with a dread that she couldn’t shake.

  What was truly going on aboard this airship?

  ***

  “What’s the matter with her?” Arky whispered as they sat eating in the mess hall.

  Hessy stirred, glancing up at him. His double chin receded back into his neck and he raised his eyebrows at her.

  “You look like the undead.”

  “I’m going mad,” Hessy muttered.

  Arky quickly nudged Nattie. “She said it. I was only thinking it.”

  Nattie tutted and tapped her spoon in front of Hessy. “Is this all about Yellow Bee?”

  Hessy stirred, slowly frowning. She hadn’t given it much thought since they had departed Craggen.

  “What? No.”

  “Oh.” Nattie shrugged. “Well what is it? You’re freaking us out. Stop muttering under your breath like you’re possessed.”

  “I wasn’t supposed to say anything, but…” Hessy looked around for fear of being overheard. As her eyes scanned the mess hall, she caught Lieutenant Halcrow staring placidly at them several tables down. She straightened and sucked in her secret. She shook her head at the other two. “I’m fine.”

  Nattie snapped her fingers in front of Hessy’s nose. “No, you were saying?”

  “Nothing,” Hessy said quickly. “I wasn’t saying anything.”

  “I think I liked you better on Craggen, where the only crazy thing about you was your fear of heights,” Arky said.

  “How’s that little thing of yours, the cubby thing?” Nattie asked, not so discreetly kicking Arky under the table.

  “Ah, right. I should actually go check on him,” Hessy said, getting to her feet.

  “Hey, wait! What about the glider project? We’re to head there now and be briefed,” Nattie called after her.

  “I’ll meet you there.”

  Hessy practically ran back to her quarters. She couldn’t say anything. She didn’t want to doubt herself by what she saw in the forest at Magian, but not telling any living being made it seem unreal. The only one who had seen what she had was Maps, and that wasn’t comforting, especially since he seemed to have forgotten all about it. He wasn’t traumatized by the monster ordeal at all.

  He slept, purring loudly on the foot of her bunk.

  Someone knocked at her door.

  She swung it open, expecting Nattie, but it wasn’t her in the slightest.

  Hessy cursed under her breath and thought about shutting the door on the appearance of Lieutenant Halcrow.

  “I haven’t told a soul,” she said at once.

  He looked behind him before stepping inside her room.

  “I know. I would have heard about it if you had,” he said shutting the door. “I just wanted to check that you’re okay?”

  Hessy folded her arms across her chest. “Well. No. I’m not.”

  “Look, I can’t tell you what happened on Magian,” he said heavily. “I’m sorry for that. We could both be in a lot of trouble if word got out what I was doing.”

  “Weren’t you under orders?”

  “Yes.”

  “So, how bad would it-”

  “It was classified,” he stressed, running his fingers briefly through his dark wavy hair. “Even most of the crew have been kept in the dark.”

  “Well, like I said. I haven’t spoken about it at all.”

  Maps came sauntering over and began to attack the lieutenant’s shiny boots. He glanced down, seemingly glad of the distraction “He seems to be getting on fine.”

  “Don’t do that, Maps.”

  “Maps?” Lieutenant Halcrow repeated.

  “It tore my maps to shreds so that’s what I decided to call it.”

  He nodded. “Appropriate name.”

  She could tell that he was trying to coax her into thinking about something else, or happily pretend like nothing had happened.

  “I should probably get back to my post before they find out I’m missing,” he said after Hessy didn’t respond. He looked at her.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Alright,” she said.

  “If I told you to go back to Craggen, would you?”

  Return to Craggen? That was going backwards. It meant admitting failure. That she didn’t have what it takes to become a militia soldier. Was the lieutenant testing her?

  “Why would I do that? You are the reason I’m here,” she told him, which didn’t quite come out as the insult she had intended it to be.

  “You can do better than the militia, and you don’t even have a desire for war, you said as much.”

  “No one has a desire for war,” Hessy said.

  “You’d be surprised.”

  “Look, is it you think I can’t handle whatever the militia is into? If what you did helps the people of Rultia in some way then of course, I’ll support it.”

  Lieutenant Halcrow leaned back. He studied her for a while. “Has Mayor Analisa ever asked you to do something important? You or any of the apprentices, before you came aboard. To gather certain information about airships and personnel of Caelum Militia?”

  Hessy didn’t like what he was suggesting.

  “You think some of us are, what? Spying? For Craggen?” Hessy almost laughed at the ludicrous idea but she was too insulted.

  “Not for Craggen. On behalf of the Nordvestur Federation.”

  She did belt out a fake laugh then, utterly astonished. “Are you serious?

  “Well, are you?”

  “We’re too busy building cutting-edge drones to stoop that low,” Hessy said but she was getting nervous. “What is this, an interrogation? Where did you hear that? From that man you kidnapped in Magian?”

  “I’m not even going to answer that.”

  “But I have to answer your questions?” Hessy demanded. “Your demeaning accusations? What, you think I was spying on you when you flew away the other night. Announcing myself at once then almost getting myself killed, oh yes, great sneak work there.”

  He leaned back and adjusted his eye patch trying not to smile. “Okay. Fair enough.”

  “If you really think we’re spies, why even bother taking us apprentices with you? If you think so little of us?” she asked.

  There was a long silence in which he simply looked at her. It made Hessy turn red as it stretched on. Hessy saw him reach for her, but then he straightened seeming to think better of it.

  “I really should get back,” Lieutenant Halcrow said.

  He left abruptly, walking out without another word.

  How very little she knew about this world.

  The man that had been captured held all the answers. But who was he exactly? And what did the Darkturnalus crew want with him?

  Hessy decided to find out for herself.

  She started roaming the ship in her spare time. Most of the soldiers ignored her, talking amongst themselves. Some briefly dipped their heads as she passed, acknowledging her but, thankfully, not stopping to talk with her. This made hunting down the mysterious Magian captive a bit easier at least.

  The only part of the ship that an officer prevented her from entering were ‘forbidden quarters’ on the starboard side of the Darkturnalus. Why would that be forbidden? The more she found out the more questions she had, not answers.

  And why did Lieutenant Halcrow think that they were spies? Or did more officers think the same as well? Did General Rudyard himself?

  The only person she had to avoid was Lieutenant Halcrow during her searches. A lame excuse like she was lost wouldn’t work on him. She was careful to look before she rounded corners, in case she ran into him. Once she had thoroughly checked the deck that her own quarters and workshops were on, she climbed down the steel stairs onto the next.

  Ahead of her was a red lounge with gold curtains half shut over a large porthole. She could see the bright blue skies with bulky clouds drifting slowly past the Darkturnalus. The lounge was empty except for an old airman asleep using a newspaper as a blanket. She crept past him and prevented Maps from swiping at his bald head. Hessy walked through and into more quarters. Brass plates were on every door with name and affiliation carved there.

  Hessy wasn’t paying too much attention as she read the name plates to each door she passed. She almost had a heart attack as she saw Lieutenant Halcrow exit one of the rooms at the far end of the corridor. There was nowhere to hide so Hessy pressed her body against the wall, trying to merge with it.

  Luckily, he didn’t even glance down her end of the corridor as he walked around the corner. She stayed put for a while in case he returned but he didn’t. Hessy, moving faster now, made her way down to the end and found the door he had exited. It was his room, the plate read: Lt Raphael Halcrow.

  She glanced both ways before trying the brass doorknob. Of course, it was locked.

  Maps joined in and scratched at the door.

  “Don’t think he would keep that Magian man in his room,” she muttered. Still, she was mildly curious as to what was inside. She wondered if the Lieutenant was hiding anything more in there.

  Feeling guilty, she moved away.

  Hessy must have been searching the Darkturnalus for that entire day because the next time she looked out a window, she saw with some shock that it was dark, all she could see was a blackness reflecting her own blurry image.

 

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