The Maelstroms Eye (34 page)

This is stupid, she thought. I can’t believe I’m doing this. I’ve never had this happen to me. I’m falling for him. He’s a human, but so was my rather. He and Mom worked out pretty well. But why this guy? Why am I breathing so fast? This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. Where is the ladder? I missed it – I have to go back two doors now. What is the matter with me? Will he see me if I’m on deck? Where will I have to stand for him to see me? Will I be able to see him, or what?

She found the ladder and climbed through the already open hatchway. Light poured down from the great, perfect sun at the zenith. A vault of dim color arced overhead, swirls of blue and white and dark green and tan everywhere. She stood up, looked in the direction everyone else was looking, and immediately forgot about Teldin.

But only for a little while.

*****

“We should be there in less than an hour,” said Aelfred in the helm room. “Dyffed got a good fix with the thingfinder on our buddy, the slug, and he just went topside to take one last look at it. I wish Sylvie was up, but the longer she sleeps now, the better off she and the rest of us will be. She should be able to use the helm now that it’s fixed. We’ll just take the arm off when you want to use it.”

“Speaking of Dyffed,” said Teldin, “I can see him on the top deck now. Doesn’t he ever change clothes?”

Aelfred laughed. He was slowly becoming the old Aelfred Teldin knew, one less stressed than he’d been since arriving at this bizarre sphere. “I could ask Gomja to catch him and hold him down while we scrub him off, but neither of us would like to get that close to him. I’ll see what I can do to suggest a change. He is getting a bit stale.”

Teldin was silent for a moment, obviously using his helm vision. “I’m trying to see what Dyffed is looking at with that thingfinder,” he said. “I don’t see another world-beast yet, but I probably will, soon. Did Dyffed say what the one we want look like, or do they all look the same?”

“I had the impression from Dyffed that these monsters were unique. Half the time, though, he talks too far over my head to catch what he’s saying. If he’d talk normally instead of using twelve-syllable words, maybe I’d – what’s wrong?”

Teldin’s body went rigid, his fingers digging into the arms of the helm. “Aelfred, get someone on the top deck!” he said. “Dyffed’s thingfinder blew up on him!”

*****

“Kobas,” said a soft voice in the darkness of the room. General Vorr was instantly awake. His right hand strayed down to his side and tugged free his sword, oiled so that it made no sound.

“Kobas, wake up.” Her voice came from the room’s far side. Vorr listened carefully but heard nothing out of the ordinary.

“What do you want?” he asked. It had to be an emergency. Usso had been warned too many times to never disturb his sleep for any other reason. He reached for the wall beside his floor mat and pressed his hand against it. The magical lights in the ceiling came on as he did.

Usso flinched at the lights, then steadied herself. She sat in a respectful posture by the doorway, hands folded in her lap, fox tail curled around her side.

“Let’s hear it,” he said, sliding his sword back into its sheath and sitting up. He wore only his kilt.

“Something weird just happened,” Usso said. Her face was tight with tension. “I was on deck, invisible, when I noticed one of the scro, Sergeant Dlavish, at the signaling lamp. I thought he was working on it, but I recalled that the lamp had been in perfect shape earlier, so I investigated. Dlavish was aiming the lamp at the pyramid ship, two miles trailing, and was preparing to send a message. I read his mind with a spell, then confirmed my findings with other spells. He was acting as a spy for the false lich, Skarkesh. I checked him magically using a few devices of my own and found that he had been placed under a spell of charming recently. He was about to send a message that indicated our current crew, weapons, and supply status.”

Vorr grunted and rubbed at his face. He’d been expecting news like this for some time. “Go on,” he said.

“I didn’t want to alert Dlavish or the lich that I had caught on to the situation, so I cast a ventriloquism spell to make him think someone was approaching. He shut down the lamp and went on about his normal duties. Once he came below decks, I was able get the assistance of several officers to have him arrested and held in his cabin under guard, where he is now. I do not believe I alerted Skarkesh by my actions.”

“Had Sergeant Dlavish ever been in contact with Skarkesh?” Vorr asked hoarsely.

“Not at all. To my knowledge, there is no way a charm-type spell could have been cast on him. The range was always too great. My belief is that either Skarkesh used a new charm spell with a very long range, that he managed to get Dlavish to touch some object that had the spell imbued in it, or that Skarkesh cast the spell through the medium of a magical device with scrying abilities, like a crystal ball or magical mirror, perhaps one that produces an image of the caster through which other spells can be cast. If the latter is true, then Skarkesh can spy upon us as well as cast spells on our troops, and we are in terrible danger.”

Vorr thought of the magical mirror he had seen Skarkesh try to use the previous day, without success. “What’s our tactical situation?”

“We should reach the edge of the atmosphere in one hour. Skarkesh’s last message indicated that Teldin Moore and his ship had set off for a specific point on the inside of this sphere, about ninety thousand miles from here. Teldin must be using his cloak to spelljam the gnomish ship, because of its extraordinary speed. At best, we should be about two or three hours behind him, unless he is delayed. It appears that he will be meeting with a creature of some kind, something called a fal. All ships are in full readiness and are in standard flight formation with us. I should add that we’ve neither heard from nor seen the elves at any time since we entered this sphere.”

Vorr looked down in deep thought, then got to his feet. He reached for a fresh uniform in a wardrobe and began to get dressed. “I want you to check the rest of the crew aboard this ship and find out if any of them have been charmed. Do it as quickly as you can. After you check Admiral Halker and Captain Azofin, have them meet me here immediately. Under no circumstances is any word of this to be released to the troops. I don’t even want other ships notified yet. We’ve got to find a way to check everyone on the other ships. I think the war priests have spells that would help. Just get the admiral and captain and start checking everyone.”

Usso nodded quickly and got to her feet.

“Usso,” said Vorr.

The fox-woman turned, then jumped. Vorr had moved across the room to her in two swift strides. He caught her by the arm, his grip like a gentle vice. “If you had been charmed,” he said in an even voice, “the charm would be negated now by contact with me. Are you lying to me, Usso?”

“No,” she said in a shaking voice, shrinking back from him. “Kobas, please don’t hurt me. I’m not lying. I’m not charmed. I’m telling the truth. Please don’t.”

Vorr stared down at her, then let go. “If we pull out of this, Usso, I’ll owe you a special reward – but don’t fail me.”

“No,” she said, rubbing her arm. She moved closer to the door, her eyes still on the general, then pressed an amulet against the door’s wood. She then walked through the door as if it were not there, and was gone.

“Skarkesh,” said General Vorr with clenched teeth, “You’re going to wish you had just stayed dead.”

Chapter Fifteen

The cheerless giff wore his spotless red-and-gold uniform when he reported to Teldin in the helm room. “Hello, sir,” Gomja said, giving a halfhearted salute with a thick blue hand. “I thought I would bring you up to date on Dyffed’s condition.”

“It looked like his hands were injured when the box exploded,” said Teldin, shifting positions in the helm seat. The helm wasn’t the most comfortable chair, and Teldin’s lower back ached. The room wasn’t ventilated, either, and his clothes were already stained with sweat.

“I’m afraid that I have some bad news on that,” the giff said heavily, his shoulders drooping. “We’ve run out of all healing potions and magical curatives, and none of the crew aboard has any clerical spell power. Gaye was able to bandage Dyffed’s hands after cleaning the wounds, but he lost two fingers from each hand in the explosion. Without magic, the damage cannot be repaired.”

Teldin groaned softly at the news and looked away. He had somehow imagined that nothing bad would happen to the little guy. Gomja sighed and continued. “He has some burns on his face, as well as both arms and hands, but these aren’t life-threatening. There were worse injuries with four of the gnomes who took part in the fight on the deck when we entered this sphere, and they’re pulling through well, though we had the last of our heating potions for them.”

Gomja held up a blackened box in his thick right hand, flecks of red paint still showing around the box’s edges. “I’m afraid this is all that’s left of Dyffed’s thingfinder, sir. We’re on our own as far as finding the fal’s megafauna.”

“Maybe that won’t be so difficult after all,” said Teldin, his eyes unfocused. “I don’t know if it’s the right one, but there’s some kind of giant animal ahead of us now. I have no idea how far away it is. We should arrive there in a few minutes. Can Dyffed still see?”

“Oh, certainly he can,” the giff hastened to add. “Only his nose and beard were harmed in the explosion, sir. Gaye was forced to give his beard a. fairly close trim.”

Teldin sighed with relief. “Fine. See if he can identify the megafauna we’re approaching. I haven’t any idea if I’m supposed to land on this monster’s back or head or what in order for us to get to the fal. He should know.”

Gomja nodded, then had a thought and held up the ruined thingfinder. “Did you want this saved, sir?”

Teldin shook his head with a look of disgust. “No. It might still be dangerous. Dispose of it in the safest way possible before someone else gets hurt with it.”

Gomja nodded agreement. “I’ll send it out the back of the ship on the jettison, sir, and I’ll then see if Dyffed is up to one more trip to the top deck.” He opened the door, but he hesitated before leaving. “Any sign of the scro outside the ship, sir?”

Teldin took a long look aft, below, and around the ship. “Nothing so far. We seem to have left them behind for now, maybe for good.”

The giff appeared pleased with the news. “I’ll take care of things, sir,” he said, and closed the door.

Gomja had been gone only a minute before there was another knock at the door, this one from the lower part of the door itself. Dyffed? Teldin wondered. “Come in, it’s open,” he called, wishing he could see everywhere inside the ship as well as he could see everywhere outside. On second thought, perhaps it was just as we!! that he couldn’t.

Someone fumbled at the door. It then opened to reveal a gnome with wide brown eyes and a curly beard – Loomfinger. He peered in hesitantly, looking all around before entering.

“Um, Mister Aelfred Silverhand said you wanted to see me about something that I did, but I didn’t mean to do anything wrong, honest. I was just following orders, and everything was going along fine, and I had nothing to do with anything.”

“What?” Teldin said in confusion. Maybe the gnome thought he’d done something wrong while he was on the helm. “Oh, don’t worry about that,” said Teldin, feeling foolish now. “I don’t want to reprimand you. I’m just trying to sort out something. I’m not sure it was very important, but I wanted to check anyway.”

The pale gnome nodded, then pushed the door dosed behind him without completely shutting it. He looked up at Teldin with sweat beading up on his forehead, wringing his hands in front of him. “Anything you say, no problem.” He swallowed. “You aren’t going to grab me and throw me around, are you?”

Teldin had the good grace to be embarrassed. “No, and I do feel badly about that. I was curious about something. When did you find out about the scro fleet chasing us, after we took off from the rastipedes’ forest?”

The gnome stared at Teldin, then visibly relaxed. “Oh, that!” he said. “Oh, that’s what you wanted! Oh, that’s simple, of course, because I was just sitting there in the helm and everything was quiet, and then First Colonel-Commander Gomja came in and we were talking and I saw the scro fleet right there behind us. I didn’t know what you were talking about, and here I’ve been all worried and everything, and I won’t let anything bad happen, I promise.”

“So you did see the fleet,” said Teldin. He felt doubly foolish now. He hadn’t the faintest idea of why he had suspected something was funny earlier.

“That’s right,” said the gnome, almost gaily. “I looked right where First Colonel-Commander Gomja said to look, and there the scro were, and I told him, and he said ‘Excellent,’ and he left.”

There was a short silence as Teldin stared down at the beaming gnome. “You looked where Gomja said to look,” Teldin repeated, not believing he was hearing this. “Gomja told you where the scro were?”

“Yes, sir!” said Loomfinger. “Boy, this was a relief, I can tell you, because I had all sorts of things going through my mind about what you wanted to ask about, and gosh if it wasn’t something unimportant and routine and not something I would be thrown off the ship for, like … um, nevermind. I feel so much better now, just loads.”

The shock of the gnome’s news was passing. In its place was a strange feeling of anger and fear, still tempered by disbelief. “I want you to find Aelfred and have him see me at once,” he said. “And hurry.” His helm vision was revealing more of the distant megafauna; at this distance, it resembled an earless elephant with a rhino horn.

“Get Aelfred?” exclaimed the gnome with mounting panic. “Why? Do you think I did something after all? It wasn’t me, really. Please don’t do it. Please don’t get Aelfred, because I didn’t do it!” He hid his face in his hands.

“What in the Abyss are you talking about?” Teldin demanded. “I just want to see Aelfred!”.

Loomfinger peeked out from his fingers, then hastily grabbed for the doorknob. “No problem then! I’ll be right back with Aelfred!” In a second, the gnome was gone.