Somewhere far far away ... Part 5

Somewhere far far away ... Part 5 (a collaborative story) by CaylaCatz https://budgetpixel.com/u/CaylaCatz and @panos https://budgetpixel.com/u/panos Table of Contents (so far!) Index to all chapters: https://budgetpixel.com/blog/somewhere-far-far-away-all-chapter-links Here: Chapter 10 (by CaylaCatz) : Cat’s First Day on the Job (Harpies are not in my contract!) Here: Chapter 11 (by panos) : The Regulator Or The Brat? Comments for Part 5 Chapter 10 : Cat’s First Day on the Job ( Harpies are not in my contract !) Chapter 10 images and text by CaylaCatz Cat's chapter: With the alert horn blaring, Xenya ran out of the engine room with Cat following. “That’s not a drill,” Xenya yelled Cat’s stomach tightened. “What does that mean?” But before Xenya could answer, the side hatch slammed open. Chief Musten barreled in, two teenage apprentices on his heels. His face was pale beneath the soot. “Good — you’re here, Xenya ,” he growled, breathless. "Get back into the engine room!" "Yes, Chief Musten," the girl said and spun on her heel to turn back. Cat registered that the Chief had a wolf's head as they all ran back into the room. Chief Musten shoved the heavy door shut and threw the locking bar across it. “Stay behind me.” A thump hit the other side of the door. Something screeched — high, sharp, and furious. Cat’s pulse spiked. “What was that?” Chief Musten didn’t answer. He braced his weight against the door. The apprentices did the same. The youths had absolute confidence that their chief engineer was strong enough to hold back anything trying to shift those doors. Another thump. Then a hiss. Then— BOOM! A blast of arcane fire tore through the hinges. The door sagged inward, glowing red at the edges. The crew jumped back out of the way when a second blast sent the door crashing to the floor in a shower of sparks. Two harpies stepped through the smoke, feathers shimmering with oily iridescence. One carried a compact arcane cannon still smoking from the shot that took down the door. Chief Musten jerked his chin at the apprentices — a silent order. One boy hesitated — then sprinted. He dove between the harpies’ legs and vanished into the corridor beyond. He was their hope. They were all sure he would get backup. The captain would come. The remaining apprentice, Tobbie, froze as he could not see a space he could slide through. Cat grabbed his sleeve and yanked him behind a boiler. Melnya, the bird, flew down and rested on Cat's shoulder. Cat stared at the harpies. She'd read of them, of course, but never thought she'd see them in real life. Razor-edged wings, check. Wicked curved black talons, check. Digitigrade birdlegs, check. Predatory faces with a feathered mane, check and check. Legends and novels had described harpies perfectly. 'This is insane.' She thought, gulping down the hysterical giggle that wanted to bubble out from her. This was so not the time. Little ten-year-old red-headed Xenya fearlessly stepped forward, angry fists clenched, eyes blazing. “This is my engine room,” she growled. The cannon harpy hissed "Get out of my way, little girl" and raised its weapon. Before the arcane weapon could fire, Cat felt Melyna on her shoulder suddenly stiffen. Its wings flared wide. A sound tore out of Melyna's throat as she opened her beak wide — but not a sound meant for human ears. It was too high, too harsh for human ears and they heard nothing. Cat felt it only as a faint vibration in her bones. Chief Musten winced as his Vuldren ears definitely could hear that frequency but he kept his eyes on the harpies as he pulled his sword to defend his domain. He also had a pistol but never pulled it, knowing the danger of a gun in an engine room. A bullet hitting the wrong spot could set off an explosion. But the harpies... they heard Melyna's song. They shrieked, clutching their heads as the ultrasonic cry stabbed into their eardrums. “Now!” the bird hissed. Xenya didn’t need telling twice. She darted forward and kicked the cannon harpy in the knee. "That's for calling me a Little Girl!" The creature staggered. Cat grabbed the nearest wrench — a heavy one — and hurled it with all the strength she had. The tool slammed into the harpy’s wrist. The cannon flew from its grip, clattering across the metal floor, skidding toward the boilers. Xenya dove after it. She hit the floor in a slide, sparks flying from her boots as she snatched the cannon with both hands. The little red-haired mechanic spun around just as the harpy lunged straight at Cat. Xenya didn’t think. She didn’t aim. She just pulled the trigger. A burst of arcane force struck the harpy squarely. It collapsed in a heap of burnt feathers and metal trinkets, the smell of scorched chicken filling the room. Cat froze, heart pounding. Xenya stared at the cannon in her hands, chest heaving. Melyna muttered, “Well. That escalated.” But the danger wasn’t over. The first harpy was already engaged in a furious swordfight with Chief Musten. It drove the Chief backward with a flurry of lunges, forcing him toward the humming etheric regulator. “Stay back!” Chief Musten barked, parrying desperately. Xenya raised the cannon again but the harpy kept the Chief between them, wings flaring, movements unpredictable. “I can’t get a clear shot!” she cried. "Don't shoot," yelled back the Chief between parries, "You might hit the engine." Cat scanned the room, searching for anything long enough to strike from a distance — a pipe, a pry bar, anything. She spotted a length of conduit on the wall and grabbed it. The dueling harpie and mechanic kept moving, twisting and turning, lunging and parrying. Cat worried she might hit the Chief instead of the harpie. Tobbie swallowed hard. Barely 12 but already tall for his age, he'd never seen a harpie. He'd only come aboard a few months ago and thought it would be a grand adventure. It was also better than living on the streets which he'd done for a short bit after his Mam died. His hands shook, but he grabbed a metal rod from the tool rack and stepped forward. This was his ship too. He'd do whatever he could when he could. “I can help,” he whispered, more to himself than anyone else. The thought gave him strength and he watched the fight sharply for his chance. The harpy snarled, driving the Chief back another step. The etheric regulator behind him pulsed with unstable light. Everyone froze, tools raised, hearts pounding but none of them could act without hitting the Chief. Even a moment's distraction in this fight could end his life. The harpy hissed and swung its sword in a vicious downward arc at Chief Musten. He twisted aside — barely — and the blade missed him but struck the etheric regulator behind him with a loud clang. The impact sent a shower of sparks across the engine room. "Damn!" said the Chief. Everyone stared at the regulator. Even the harpie stood still glaring. The regulator was the last thing she wanted damaged. Their colony needed it! The regulator flickered. Once. Twice. Then its glow deepened into a dangerous, pulsing violet. The bird’s feathers puffed out. “That’s very bad,” Melyna whispered. A low buzz filled the air — faint at first, then rising, vibrating through the floor, through the pipes, through their bones. Cat felt her hair lift from her scalp. Xenya dialed the cannon down fast, turning it off. The apprentice boy’s metal rod began to tremble in his grip. The harpy's eyes widened. ZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAARKT!!! A blinding wave of purple energy erupted from the regulator, exploding outward in a circular shockwave. Chief Musten and the harpy were both hurled backward. They slammed into the far wall together, the Chief landing hard on top of the creature. His sword clattered away. He groaned, trying to push himself upright but the harpy’s blade had nicked his side, and blood seeped through his shirt. “Chief!” Xenya cried, sprinting toward him. Cat and the apprentice boy rushed to help, grabbing the Chief under the arms and pulling him off the harpy. But the harpy was already moving. With a snarl, it surged upward and snatched Xenya by the throat with one clawed hand. Xenya gasped, dropping the cannon but even as she struggled, she kicked the cannon across the floor towards Tobbie. He caught it, eyes wide, hands shaking, and flipped the switch back on. The harpy tightened its grip on Xenya, dragging her close as a shield. Its wings flared, feathers bristling with fury. “Give me the regulator,” it hissed, “or the child dies.” Cat froze. The boy froze. Even the bird went silent. None of them had a clear shot. None of them could move without risking Xenya's life. The regulator behind them flickered again, unstable. The Chief groaned, trying to rise, but using the movement to hide that he'd just managed to reach his sword to pull it towards him. Xenya clawed at the harpy’s wrist, kicking wildly, yelling, "Let me go, you mangy feather‑brained gutter‑gull!” The harpy bared its teeth. “Choose.” Chapter 11 (by panos) : The Regulator Or The Brat? Chapter 11 images and text by panos The Wizard's chapter: ‘By…. Belial!...’ I grumbled, managing to stand on my feet using my staff. I glanced at the young sailor on the deck beside me. He had opened his eyes, but was clearly having a problem focusing. "Stay there, sailor. Get your breath back," I instructed him. "I’m going into the engine-room. Inform the Captain when she gets here." The lad, looking at me with an almost clear gaze now, nodded. "Aye… aye, sir…" he managed to mumble. Certain that he would be all right, I grabbed my staff tighter, and crossed the small distance that separated me from the demolished doors of the engine room. I crossed the threshold and here’s the sight that confronted my wizardly eyes. A wide space, but totally cluttered with etherosteam engines of great variety and totally of unknown function to me. One device, a collection of curvilinear cabling, gears and gauges, was pulsing with a bright purple light and a low buzz that got into my bones. Its pulse was erratic and its glow flickering in a manner that bespoke of an aberrant functioning. On one side, a group of people: Cat (looking all right, thank the Ύψιστος!!) with Melnya on her shoulder. A young engine-room boy, much like the one outside, grabbing some kind of ether-cannon, half his size. On the floor, a huge man, some kind of Wolven-race variant of this Realm, frozen in the act of trying to stand. I noticed he was injured, some kind of cut in his side. Also, he was trying not to show that he had his hand on the sword lying on the deck beside him. All four were looking with consternation at the other side of the engine room, where, beyond a somewhat charred immobile harpy, another one stood. This one, as well as its fallen comrade, was a different variant, than the ones I had fought outside. More person than bird. It was glaring at the people standing opposite it. And it was grabbing a small form by the throat. The brat. I felt a surge of instant rage at the sight. I grabbed my staff even harder and lightning begun playing from the thunder-crystal at its top. Electric arcs began leaping from it, licking engines around me. “HEY!!!!” I shouted, “Leave the kid alone, you CREEP!!!" All eyes were instantly on me. The harpy’s goggled in alarm seeing me. "Wizard!!!" I heard an anxious, but commanding voice. I turned and saw the Wolven… - Vuldren, I recalled suddenly, in this realm they’re called Vuldren – talking to me. "Not in here, me lad!" he told me urgently. Of course. The engines. With a great effort I brought my anger under control. My staff quieted. The harpy talked to me in a screeching voice – worse than chalk on a blackboard. "Not a step further, wizard. Or the child dies!" "And what do you think happens to YOU, afterwards, you overgrown chicken?!" I grated from within clenched teeth. "I am prepared to die for my colony!" snarled the harpy. "It needs the regulator! Give it to me!!" "Yes," I answered, "so you can do all sorts of wild-office-party tricks with it." "Do NOT denigrate our sacred mating rites, wizard!! Using that, FOUR of us together can…" "UGH, GODS no! I don’t want to know!!" I interrupted it, before it said something that would be very difficult to un-hear. "HEY!" shouted Xenya to me, then. "Stop talking and DO something, stupid wizard!!" Curiously, the harpy agreed with her. "Enough talk, wizard! The regulator! We NEED it!" "Go to a damn store and freaking BUY one!!” I shouted at the same tone. At the same time, I spotted something moving in the shadows of the engine behind the harpy. Something small. And green. And holding a big wrench. Its large eyes crossed with mine. And it started lifting the wrench. "I said, the regulator!!!" shouted the harpy – to all of us, not just me. "Even if we wanted ta give it to you," said the big varghan – but, of course, ALL varghan were big – "we cain’t! We’ll crash without it!" "Do I look as if I care?" was the harpy’s answer to that. "Well, I assure you, WE do! A LOT!" I told it. The small green critter was in striking distance of the harpy now – totally unnoticed by anyone than me. "That’s IT! The child dies, right now!" snarled the harpy. She tightened her hold on the brat’s neck. "NNNgghh.." managed Xenya. She looked REALLY scared. "NO!!!" I heard Catherine shouting, saw the Vuldren readying for a desperate rush. "Stupid… wizard…" said Xenya. "Enough of that ‘Stupid wizard’ talk!" I shouted at her, scoldingly. "You hear… YOUNG LADY?!" Instantly, the brat’s face transformed from fearful to rageful. "Stupid… wizard…. ‘m not.. a.. LADY!!!! RRAAAAAAHHH!!!!" And Xenya squirmed violently in the harpy’s grasp, bending her knee and unleashing a kick with her heel, backwards. The harpy let out a sharp screech of pain and startlement, as the kick connected. By itself, it would not have been enough, but at the same time, green creature brought down its wrench on the harpy’s feathery head, with a loud ‘thud’. Not a crashing blow, I’m guessing little … guy? … didn’t pack much of a punch, but enough in combination with a hard kick to make the harpy wobble and reel, dazedly, dropping the brat. Instantly, I launched myself forwards, followed just a second later by the varghan, who rushed the harpy lightning fast from a crouching position, despite his injury. My whirling staff was the first to smash on the side of the harpy’s head, as the brat was scrambling away from it, me and the varghan. It was followed immediately afterwards, by a hard fist (the varghan's) on the lower… uhh… beak , that laid the harpy on the deck at its back. I heard the young sailor with the cannon shouting: “What do I do? What do I DO?” and turned to see him fumbling with the firing mechanism, the cannon’s barrel pointing every each way wildly. "Whoa, WHOA, don’t shoot, kid! Don’t SHOOT!! We got it!!" I shouted. Cat rushed forward and grabbed Xenya, hugging her tightly. “Omigosh!! Are you alright, sweetie?!!" she asked frantically. “Yes Cat!! I showed it!! I.. I kicked it!!..” answered Xenya. Tears of fear, relief and frustrated anger started to flow freely down her face. Incredibly, the harpy started trying to sit up. 'Tough cookie!', I thought. A hard kick by the varghan convinced it otherwise. "Stay down, ya winged bandit!!" he said angrily. "Barging in me engine-room!!!" The harpy looked at us standing over it, trying to clear it gaze. “End of the road for you." I told it. My hand clenched around my staff. "Wait!" cried Catherine. She was standing up now, still holding the girl to her. "What are you going to do with her… it… whatever..?" I looked at her, expressionless. Cat blanched. I mean, she blanched even more than she already did. "You… you’ll let her go.. right?" she continued. "I mean.. she can’t do any harm now… right, chief?" That last one was addressed to the varghan – Chief Engineer Musten, I assumed – but he didn’t answer Cat. He was just looking at me. "It was going to steal the Regulator, letting us all fall to our deaths, Catherine." I told her. "But… but…" Cat stopped, at a loss for words. She just kept staring and staring at me with her dark eyes. The brat, too, was looking at me, her eyes having gotten very wide, looking petrified – more than she ever did in the harpy’s grasp. The young lad, too, the cannon forgotten in his hands. Chief, too, was looking at me, sizing me up, gauging me as if my face was full of engine-dials and gauges. All were gazing and me. And gazing. And gazing. "Oh, for Belial’s…" I said at last, "YOU!" pointing at the harpy, "on your feet! And if you even THINK of trying something, it’s ‘Bye-bye, cruel world’ for you! We’re taking a walk up to the deck and there you can fly to anywhere-but-here!" The harpy started standing very unsteadily to its feet. “Right…" it screeched. "And when we… reach there, you’ll… fry me. I know you…you’re pirates…." "You mean, not like you, peace-and-quiet-loving, kind-hearted, whole-ships’-complement-murdering stealer harpies?" I said with overflowing sarcasm. "I’m not going anywhere… wizard… you can kill me right here… where these.." it nodded to the people watching us with its beak, "can see you.. doing it." I started to get angry again – battle frenzy was still very near the surface inside me. "Oh, you sorely tempt me, you…" I started to say. "Nononono!!!" interrupted Cat, saying the words all together in a rush. “He won’t do anything like that! He’ll do as he said!! Just… just stand up and walk with him to the deck so all this can end!" The harpy was standing by now. It looked at me. "Your… Wizard’s Honor Pledge…" it said. "Give it to me.. wizard." I was totally incredulous. "WHAT?!!" I shouted. ‘Give my highest Soul-Integrity Word-Bond to.. to a… flying BANDIT?!! A MURDERER?!!!!" I veritably roared, there at the end. Electric arcs flew from my staff. The harpy visibly shrank, expecting to be turned to cinders momentarily. I felt a hand getting hold of my upper arm – tightly. It was Cat. "Please, Takkis!!!" she said to me. I felt my face getting very, VERY red. I’m sure everyone looking at me was expecting me to be having a triple-stroke from moment-to-moment. I made a huge effort to control myself. "Very well," I grated at last. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, I spoke to the harpy much more calmly. "I pledge my Wizard’s Honor: You will fly away from this ship, unharmed." The harpy seemed to relax a little. I heard Cat releasing a breath loudly, by my side. "How gallant." I heard a woman’s voice, then. I turned. There, at the entrance to the engine-room, stood Captain Nemanya, her sword and pistol in her hands, having at her back an angry-looking gang of sailors, the First standing head and shoulders above all the others. Breggi was looking from beside the Captain. "Captain," I said, as they begun entering the engine-room. "All is under control. Boarders have been neutralized. This defeated one can walk away, having taken nothing from the ship, under Pledge-of-Honor from me." "Good, Wizard." She said, stopping in front of me. She barely spared a glance at the harpy beside me. "First." she said. "Kill that thief." "Gladly, Cap’n’, said her towering first officer. He unloosed a VERY big dagger from his side. I felt Cat’s hold on my arm tightening. “Hey!!!" I cried. "wait a moment, here. I gave my Wizard’s Pledge!!" "Charming," said the Captain indifferently. "Proceed, First." I took a step forward, clenching my staff. "I think not!" I said. Nemanya turned her full attention, the weight of her yellow dragon, eyes on me. "What’s that, wizard? You have an objection to your captain’s order?!" she asked me intently. "Perhaps you didn’t hear me the first two times, Captain. So, I’ll repeat it an unnecessary third: I gave my Wizard’s Pledge!" The Captain’s eyes started gaining in brightness. Color appeared on her cheeks. "Nobody gives pledges on my ship but ME, wizard!" "Nevertheless, I did! And I will stand by it!” I rejoined. Nemanya’s face was bright red now, her eyes glowing yellow suns. I saw her hands clench on her weapons. "No one STEALS from me and walks out alive!!!” she shouted. "It has not succeeded in stealing anything. And NO ONE gainsays a Wizard’s Pledge!!" I grated. I saw violence forming very clearly in Nemanya’s gaze. At the same time, I heard Cat gasp by my side. A quick glance her way made my heart clench. The First was by her side. His free hand on her shoulder was what made her gasp. The dagger he held in his other was inches from her side. He looked at me, then looked meaningfully at Cat. He winked at me. I did not like that look. Not. At. All. To be continued ..... Click here for Chapter 12 : Snarls and Little Green Men ( by panos) Comments