Ominous Odyssey (Overworld Chronicles Book 13) (20 page)

"Your hair is frozen on end," Elyssa commented. "Guess you won't need any styling gel."

"S-s-shush," I said through chattering teeth. "Why isn't the Templar armor keeping me warmer?"

"We wore out the charms." She huddled behind me to keep the wind at bay. "We have a knack for wearing out armor."

"T-t-tell me about it." I nearly channeled a shield in front of me to cut the wind, but I didn't want to overdo it like I had last time.

Lightning flashed ahead, highlighting a jagged crack silhouetted against boiling gray. More flashes of alternating colors struck the lip of the tunnel exit again and again, guiding us toward it while also warning us away.

"How are we supposed to get through that?" Elyssa said. "The lightning strikes are too fast."

Tahlee ordered a course correction as the gusting wind drove us a few degrees off course. I followed the example of a nearby navigator and we continued heading straight for the storm. Electricity arced back and forth across the exit, like a short-circuited bug zapper.

Illaena consulted her map and pointed out something to Tahlee.

"Thirty degrees starboard, ten degrees incline," the first mate commanded.

I followed the adjustments of the navigator behind me and the ship tilted up and right. The
Falcheen
looked right on course to cut through the center of the big hole—the exact place we needed to avoid since it was subject to a constant barrage of lightning. Stomping feet drew my attention aft. Mzodi soldiers ran toward the bow with a contraption that looked like a giant crossbow.

"Looks like a ballista," Elyssa murmured. "Totally Medieval."

They sealed the base of the unit in place with gems, and channeled Murk into red stones on the sides. A thick strand of Murk formed between the prongs and the soldiers placed a head-sized aethid in a small pocket there. The chunk of aetherium looked rough and uncut, spiking out in all directions like a crystoid.

The nose of the ship closed to within fifty yards of the lightning barrier. Illaena cocked back her arm and a soldier aimed the crossbow at the storm. She flung forward her arm and the soldier channeled a burst of energy into a gem on the handle. The rock shot forward and into the storm.

"All speed ahead!" Tahlee shouted.

Every navigator punched it forward and the
Falcheen
sailed toward certain doom. Just yards ahead of us, the launched rock hit the lightning field. Blinding light flashed, leaving the afterimage of a dark blot against white. I shouted and tried not to panic as we hit the hole…and burst through unscathed.

Moments after the stern cleared the exit, a bolt of magical energy struck the edges of the hole and arcs snaked back and forth across the hole once again.

"All stop," Tahlee cried. "Prepare for landing."

The weary navigators groaned with weariness.

We set down on a narrow shelf of rock a hundred feet below the tunnel hole with our port side near the rock. A massive gray wall of clouds and aether roiled a hundred yards to starboard, electricity crackling along the surface like malevolent light serpents. An occasional bolt struck the basalt around us, but left it entirely undamaged.

Adam reached over the railing and rubbed a hand along the rock after he and Shelton emerged from hiding below decks. "No wonder that tunnel survives all the earthquakes," he said. "This rock is incredibly dense."

"Might even be some form of aetherium," Shelton said.

"I didn't know you knew the correct term for gems," I said, mimicking Eor's imperious tone.

Shelton snorted. "Eor kept peering over our shoulders when me and Adam were analyzing the bloodstone."

"Yeah, he doesn't like noobs," Adam said. "On the other hand, he did teach us some useful basics that might help our analysis of the bloodstone."

"That's a plus," Elyssa said. "Any luck discovering its secrets?"

Shelton shook his head. "Nothing yet. We're still working out the bugs in our analysis spell."

Adam peered over the railing at the ledge below. "There are loose stones down there. I want to go to the surface and collect some samples."

"Yeah, maybe we'll find something even Eor hasn't seen," Shelton said.

I pretended to inspect them. "Well, neither of you are wearing red shirts, so you should be safe."

Shelton snorted. "I'll be sure to redirect any alien life forms to Adam so they can probe him."

The pair headed below decks to gather their equipment.

My stomach grumbled and my head ached. "I want food and sleep."

"Sounds good to me." Elyssa took my hand. "Whatever my brave navigator wants."

"Ooh, whatever I want?" I flashed a wide grin.

Illaena intercepted me and Elyssa as we headed toward the aft ramp below decks. "You acquitted yourself well for a land dweller."

I almost played it off like it was nothing just to throw her snob attitude back in her face, but took a more diplomatic route instead. "I'm glad I was able to help."

"His control was rough at best," Tahlee said. "Still, he helped more than hindered."

Elyssa raised an eyebrow. "Without someone manning that control rod, the ship would've crashed."

"Perhaps, though I could have stepped in," Tahlee said.

I widened my eyes and opened my mouth in mock disbelief. "You mean I could've yelled commands at everyone instead of you?"

"Perhaps it would be wise to instruct you on the finer points of control," Illaena said. "The journey ahead will not be any easier."

I shrugged. "Sure, just let me know what to do."

"Come with me," Tahlee said.

I jabbed a thumb over my shoulder. "I'm gonna eat and rest first."

She looked down her nose at me. "Very well. Meet me up here when you're ready."

"You got it." I grabbed Elyssa's hand and made a beeline down the ramp and to the galley.

We stuffed our faces and then I snuggled up with my ninja princess. I really wanted some hanky panky, but I dozed off the second my head hit the cloud pillow.

After snoozing, I met Tahlee on the top deck and let her walk me through a crash course in flight control. The crystal rod connected to the levitation gem provided a full range of controls along the x, y, and z axis, though she explained to me in no uncertain terms, "There is never a reason to fly the ship upside down."

"Not even to do a cool barrel roll?" I asked.

Tahlee frowned because the word-for-word translation didn't work well in Cyrinthian. "In any case, you must remember that if the ship requires a tilt starboard, the port side pushes while the starboard pulls."

"I used to play space simulations," I told her. "I know how to use positive and negative thrust."

Her forehead pinched into a confused V.

I explained to her what a thruster was and how it worked on space ships, then using my hand as a pretend star fighter, tilted it back and forth. "If the port thruster on the nose of the ship and the aft starboard thruster fire at the same time, the ship will spin on its axis."

Tahlee's gaze grew distant as she considered this new concept. "We have never had a reason to spin the ship around in such a way. We typically steer it into a normal turn."

"Well, you have more weapon gems on the sides of the ship than the front or back, so you could spin the
Falcheen
sideways and fire all cannons at an enemy." I wiggled my fingers and pretended my hand spaceship was firing weapons. "Pew, pew, pew."

"That could be useful." Tahlee leaned over the railing and looked at the weaponized gems in the hull. "Perhaps such a tactic would be useful against dragons."

"Why didn't we use the weapons against the tartha?" I asked.

She raised an eyebrow. "Why would we injure a tartha?"

"I dunno, because they tried to eat us?"

"They are easily avoided," she said, "unlike dragons."

I hadn't thought they were that easy to avoid, but then again, I was a noob sailor. Considering what probably lay ahead, they'd better pray I never had to help fly this ship again.

Chapter 18

After we were done with lessons, I found Adam and Shelton freshly returned from their visit to the surface of the mountain with Eor tagging along behind them.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

The gem sorter was beside himself with excitement, lugging a sparkly net full of black rocks behind him. "I will be below inspecting these," he informed the others and vanished down the ramp.

"Finally!" Shelton wiped sweat from his forehead and sighed. "Remind me to never take Eor anywhere with us again."

"Got that right," Adam grumbled. He held up a shiny black crystal. "I'm curious to see if this is just rock, or aetherium."

Tahlee's voice rang out from the middle of the bridge. The navigators took their positions and prepared for takeoff.

"Hope they got enough rest," Shelton said. "I wasn't sure we'd make it through that lightning field earlier."

"I'm gonna tie myself down somewhere," Adam said. "My body is black and blue from being tossed around."

Elyssa appeared on deck, fair skin flushed.

"What have you been up to?" I asked.

"While you were napping, I met with the Mzodi soldiers and asked if I could train with them in case of another dragon attack." She shrugged. "You know how I hate feeling left out."

"How'd that go?" I asked.

Elyssa grinned. "Let's just say I taught them a few Templar moves that will make their lives easier."

The
Falcheen
eased into the narrow alley between the mountain and the wall of roiling aether to starboard. Wind gusted across the deck, blowing my hair straight back and tearing Shelton's wide-brimmed hat off his head. The leather strap around his neck was the only thing that kept it from flying away.

The navigators eased the control rods forward and we began the next phase of the perilous journey. It took only moments to leave the relative calm of the landing zone and enter the next level of hell.

The aether storm roiled and roared to starboard while the outer layer of volcanic fire and arctic ice churned to port. The
Falcheen
bucked and shuddered through the resulting turbulence while the navigators fought with the control rods to keep us from veering too far left or right where the elemental forces would tear us apart.

Eor appeared on deck and began arguing with Illaena about something. After a time, she shook her head vehemently and stabbed a finger back toward the ramp. Face red and scrunched up with anger, Eor spun on his heel and stormed away.

"I can guess what that was about," Adam said.

"Crazy fool." Shelton clamped his hat back on his head but had to hold it down because of the wind. "He kept going on about how he wants to descend to ocean level and cast a net inside the storm."

I stared at the beautiful but deadly display the massive storm and shook my head. "Even the most violent vortexes are nothing compared to that."

"This ship could probably withstand a small hurricane," Adam said, "but that aether storm looks like it eats hurricanes for breakfast."

The climate grew more humid as we sailed until it felt like I was breathing more moisture than air. Even without the oppressive heat, it was enough to make everyone miserably sweaty. A cool rush of air granted everyone a moment of relief and then it started to rain.

Elyssa bound her long soaked hair into a ponytail and smoothed the sodden locks from my face. I leaned down and kissed her as the torrential downpour continued unabated.

She nuzzled her nose against mine. "I like kissing in the rain."

I pecked kisses up her cheeks. "I like kissing you, period."

Shelton groaned and tilted his hat to ward off rain in his face. "I'm going back to my room."

Adam shielded his hand with his face and looked into the gray gloom ahead. "Think I'll join you so we can analyze these rocks." He turned to me. "Just let us know if we're about to die, okay?"

I chuckled. "You got it."

The pair headed back to the aft ramp well, wobbling side-to-side as the swaying ship made for unsteady footing. Not long after they'd gone, the rain turned colder and then sleet slapped us in the face. I wrapped my arms around Elyssa and shivered.

"Maybe we should go below too."

She shook her head. "We need to be here in case they need help."

I wanted to argue with her but considering how quickly things had taken a turn for the worse in the lightning tunnel, she was probably right.

A chunk of hail smacked into my chest and surprised me more than it hurt. "That's not good."

And it wasn't. The hail grew larger until fist-sized chunks crashed against the deck. The Mzodi soldiers raced from below and held crystal shields above the navigators to protect them from the deadly storm. Illaena channeled a shield over her and Tahlee while the backup navigators huddled beneath crystal shields like those the soldiers used.

I threw up a shield of my own, using the ship as an anchor to make it easier to maintain the channel while moving. "I wonder why the backup crew aren't channeling shields."

"Too much energy," Elyssa said. "They probably need everything they can get just to keep the ship flying without a stable aether stream."

The hail stopped as abruptly as it had come, this time replaced by snow. The flurry turned into an all-out blizzard within seconds, blinding us to whatever lay ahead. Somehow, Illaena knew how to keep the ship on track and continued relaying commands through Tahlee. I released my shield and channeled a ball of Brilliance to keep me and Elyssa warm.

We sailed on through the endless blizzard, Tahlee's shouts ringing out every few seconds.

"I don't see how she yells so much without losing her voice." Elyssa held up a hand to shield her eyes from the snow.

I was about to reply when a shadow came out of nowhere and plowed right into me. At first I thought it was an accident, but the dagger aimed for my chest told me otherwise. I twisted out of the way and karate-chopped the wrist of the wielder. There was a cry of pain and the face of the figure became clear.

It was one of Racha's soldiers—the seraph named Tator. I heard shouts and the clash of weapons, but couldn't make out anything except shadows and flashes of magic in the snowy gloom.