Surviving the Improbable Quest (11 page)

Sometime later, Allan awakes to a loud thunk. He’s heard that noise before. He looks up and sees Asantia’s airship hovering over him. Her tow cable anchors her ship to the roof. A small door opens on the bottom of the craft and down slides Asantia on her automatic handles. She stops just above the roof and then hops down the rest of the way.

Allan moans and rolls his eyes. His luck has truly dried up. There’s not an ounce of fight left in him. “Just take me. Put me up for auction, put a collar on me or sell me for new blimp parts. I can’t take anymore!” he cries. Asantia bends over him and smiles, her expression less vitriolic and more pleasant than before. He’s taken by surprise when she holds her hand and says, “Enough with the drama. I’ve come to help.”

“What? Why?”

“Because you helped me.” Asantia wears a leather vest that buttons up the sides and is stitched together from odd shaped pieces. Her pants are black and have cargo pockets below the knee bulging with who-knows-what. A large blade is strapped to her back with the handle sticking up. Allan takes her hand. She tries to lift him, but fails. He collapses back to the roof. “Oh, I’m not going anywhere, just leave me. No one can help me.”

“Okay, let’s cut those metal legs off. They’re making you into the world’s most whiny paperweight.” Asantia uses her knife to cut the leg and waist straps. The metal and wire contraption falls, clattering to the roof. Asantia drags Allan to her cable by his hands and lowers the handles until Allan can reach them. Then she opens up a small hatch and pulls out a harness. Allan puts the harness over his head and torso and under his butt.

“Hold on tight.” She says and smiles brightly. She presses the up button. The handles hoist the two of them to her ship. When they are safe inside, the tow cable releases the roof and rolls back into her ship.

Asantia drags Allan up a narrow ramp that leads to an upper deck. Allan feels like he’s a sack of potatoes. “Welcome to my flying balloon. I made it myself.”

At the top of the ramp they enter a small living space. A bin overflowing with dirty clothes is next to a cot. A dingy shower curtain decorated by little skull prints surrounds a large metal tub. A table with one chair is against the wall, covered in maps and notes. And centered next to the front window is a control panel, which is filled with levers and dials, not with lights or flashing readouts. The windows extend from ceiling to floor and surround half the room. The other half is made of fabric, patchwork walls. There are taped up drawings of animal people, flowers, patterns and designs on every wall.

“Stop eyeing my stuff. Now, you wanna get home or what?”

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all year. How did you find me?” Allan pulls himself up then leans his forehead on the window looking down at the city lights below. A sliver of daylight sits on the horizon.

“I’ve been looking for you. I didn’t know where the Lorebs, those balloon creatures, took you, but I knew they were on their way to Lan Darr. They’re departing souls. They travel through the Lan Darr Mountains every third night of the eighth month of the sixth year.”

“Wow, that often, huh? Lucky me,” Allan quips.

“Yeah, really lucky, if you think about it.” She flips a lever and turns a dial. The ship starts to move.

“Wait. I need to give something to Mizzi.”

“Can’t. They’re looking for you. If they catch me helping you, I’ll be locked away for good.”

Allan pulls out the key he’d gotten from Baroon and holds it up. “I need to get this to Mizzi. It’ll save everyone from Jibbawk.”

Asantia takes the key and inspects it. “Been busy, have you?” she hands it back. “Fine, but we do this quick. If I have to, I’ll throw him the key from up here so we can make a clean getaway.”

Chapter
18

Carried Away

Allan takes out Mizzi’s map and hands it to Asantia. It’s still damp. She carefully unfolds it and lays it on her table. After looking at it a while, she flips it over. Then after looking at it some more she rotates it once and then again and grunts. Finally, a smile blooms on her face.

“I got him. He’s so smart and yet, so not.” She pulls a lever on her control panel and the craft turns. The ship heads toward the edge of the city where the horizon is brightest.

“I, uh, have to ask you something.” Allan bites his lip.

“Spit it out.”

“I need to use the bathroom.”

“What for? Swimming in the canal washed you up pretty good. You don’t need a bath.”

“I . . . have to pee.”

“Oh. Why didn’t you just say so?” Asantia puts her arms under his armpits and hauls him up with a grunt. She muscles him to a small closet next to her bed where a small round bucket sits. “No lid to sit on. I’ll have to hold you.”

Allan rolls his eyes. “Never mind. I’ll never be able to go.”

Asantia shakes her head, “Look, when you gotta go you gotta go. I don’t want you bursting like an old garden hose and messing up my clean floors.” She lifts him up. Allan huffs at the idea that her floors are clean. After a torturous half-minute, he goes.

Asantia returns him to the window and pats his shoulder. “Not so hard, eh?” Allan shakes his head. He’s as embarrassed as it gets and wants to crawl under her cot and hide. Asantia breathes hard from lifting Allan, but tries to hide it. She likes to be tough, though Allan wonders how tough she actually is. Allan’s mother was tough. She’d work out at the gym three to four times a week and ran marathons twice a year. But even under her tough, rule obsessed, high-standard personality, she was still his mom and on occasion would collapse into tears, which would drive Allan into her arms.

Asantia returns to the controls and flips a switch. “I’m sorry you can’t use your legs.”

“Everyone is sorry,” Allan mutters, still flush with embarrassment.

“You must feel useless sometimes.”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

“But you’re not. You saved my butt. Even after I was a total fart to you. So you’re still good for some stuff.” She winks at him. Now that dawn had invaded the sky, Allan can see Dantia. Far below the floating airship people walk and some fly. They’re as small as ants and just as orderly. Some of the buildings are colorful. The city looks less drab than before and mysteriously inviting like a state fair or an outdoor mall. Different flags flap from poles, and the people wear colorful and exotic clothing.

Allan looks up at Asantia. Light spilling in from the windows makes her shine. Her skin is soft, her hair is rich and smooth, and her golden eyes are as bright as they’ve ever been. He’s never seen yellow eyes before. Asantia has the most beautiful eyes he’s ever seen. “Are— are you from Earth?”

Asantia turns to him. “Where else would I be from?”

“I don’t know. I was just . . .”

She chuckles. “I don’t know if I’m from Earth. A long time ago when I was just a baby, I was found on a hilltop just south of Dantia. I didn’t cry, just stared at everything. I never cried about anything.”

“Really?”

“Yup. Finally I was found and brought to Killian Crow. I was his servant for a long time. But I found his secret room. He had books and this projector that you can put moving pictures into. I would sneak in there every night and read and watch the tapes. It was strictly off-limits to slaves. Eventually, it was my turn to take the Trials.” She shrugs. “I didn’t do so well, but I didn’t die at the Bog of Teeth.” Allan avoids asking what the Bog of Teeth is. Even in his ignorance he’s confident that he’ll never want to go there.

“Bit by bit, day after day, I stole supplies from Killian Crow’s warehouse and from his basement. Instead of sneaking into his secret room to learn stuff, I’d crawl up to the attic. I built my ship in about a year.” She pulls a lever and the ship starts to descend.

“One day, I blew the attic’s roof off with black tar-cakes and filled my balloon with helium. My airship flew just like in the books I’d read. I had tried to get others to come with me, but I was the only one that had the guts.” Asantia puts her fist in the air. “Been on the run ever since. They can’t catch me. I’m a ghost.”

The buildings get bigger as the craft lowers and makes its way to the meeting place Mizzi scribbled on his map. “Jibbawk is a ghost. The freakiest one I’ve ever seen.”

“If you’ve seen Jibbawk, you’re lucky to be alive,” Asantia replies. She rests her fist on her hip and stares at Allan for a long while. “See, you’re tougher than you look.” Asantia moves from the control panel to a rusty, bent handle by the ramp doorway. She grabs the handle and cranks it around and around. Then she looks through a metal oval that protrudes from the wall and places her hand on a red button below it. After staring into the oval for a minute she slams the red button. Nothing happens. She slams on the button again and then harder the third time. Finally there’s a hiss. The ship shudders. Asantia walks back to Allan.

“Grappling hook is set.” She can see the question mark on Allan’s face. “It’s a bit sticky. Don’t judge my ship.”

Allan smiles wide. “I didn’t say anything.” She asks for the key. “You stay here. I’ll get the key to Mizzi and be back before the fleas can bite.” She winks.

Allan hands her the key. “I . . . I’d like to say goodbye. Mizzi really helped me.”

Asantia shrugs. “Send him a letter.” She moves to the ramp then stops; her hand rests on the doorway for a moment. She turns. “If there was time, I’d take you to him. But there isn’t. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, just tell him thank you for me.”

Suddenly, there’s a loud explosion. The left side of the floating ship drops. Asantia falls back and rolls all the way to Allan, landing in his lap. Another explosion shudders the ship’s metal frame and the entire ship leans further to one side. A hiss comes from the ballast balloons.

“No you did not.” Asantia cries out. She pulls herself to the controls then yanks on some levers. Nothing happens. She thrusts one lever back and forth, back and forth. “We’re going down. Hold on to something!”

The craft falls through the sky turning like a Frisbee. The grappling hook still anchors the ship to the ground. The ship hits a building. The building cushions the fall somewhat, sparing Allan and Asantia’s lives, but can’t stop the ship from crashing to the ground. The metal frame crunches through the wall as it slips down the face of the building. A lantern on a balcony ignites the helium. Fire envelops the ship’s fabric. A strange, round man-beast leaps off a bench and clears the area a moment before Asantia’s ship lands on the building’s frontage and slides across the lawn. It stops just before it falls into the canal. The man-beast wasn’t far enough away. His hair lights on fire and he runs away shrieking. People living in the tall building cry out and point to the burning ship; one larger woman faints.

Smoke fills up the cabin as the gears grind to a stop. Asantia grabs Allan’s arms, drags him to the ramp and pushes him out the door where he falls into the canal. She dives in after him just as an explosion punctuates the total destruction of her floating home. Asantia surfaces and grabs Allan’s shirt. “Can you swim by yourself?”

“Yeah, I can tread water. What happened?”

“We were shot down by someone who works for Crow. Most of the authorities leave me alone, but some are really bad guys who have never stopped hunting me.”

“What do we do?”

“Hide.”

“What?!” Allan shrieks as his eyes search his surroundings. His arms clench involuntarily as his fear threatens to immobilize him. He starts to sink, but Asantia grabs his shirt and helps him resurface. She points to an approaching boat and then starts swimming in the opposite direction. The boat is fast and wider than the other boats on the canal. It has a tall mast with a large sail filled with air. It turns as it reaches Allan and Asantia revealing Mizzi at the controls. He throws his tail toward Allan.

“Get on! Hurry! Before they see us. I’ve been waiting for you and you’re really late.”

Allan grabs hold of the tail and lets himself be pulled aboard the boat as Asantia climbs aboard. The back of the boat arches up, and the front fèrro is carved into the shape of an elephant. Copper and steel plates anchor the pulleys, blocks, winches and plates that connect and hold up the tall mast. All the wood trim has intricate carvings. Inside the boat are seats in front and behind the mast. The steering tiller is at the back.

As the boat turns, the sail dumps all the air and flops like a flag. Mizzi pulls one rope tight and loosens another one. The wind fills up the sail with a loud snap, and the boat speeds through the water. Mizzi steers the boat down the wide canal and under a tall, stone bridge. The wind picks up as they near where the canal empties into a lake. The wind pushes the boat faster and faster tipping it until the side of the boat drags in the water. The speed widens Mizzi’s furry smile, which shows off his little teeth.

Alligator-like animals swarm out of a nearby side street and descend on the wreckage. Asantia sits next to Allan and watches the scavengers crawl all over her home like cockroaches over stale bread. Black columns of smoke rise from the engine of Asantia’s ship, and the framework sags from the heat.

“They are veskews and a lot like attack dogs,” Asantia says. “But with more teeth. And they can crawl upside down and on walls and are as nasty as piranhas.”

The veskews have beady eyes, large claws, and dark green scales instead of hair. They are about the size of alligators. A metal frame gives out under the weight of a veskew, and the veskew drops into the inferno below.

“See that guy?” She points to a tall bird-man following the veskews.

“I know that bird,” Allan mutters. “It’s the ratty-bird who caught me the first time.”

Asantia pats Allan on the shoulder. “Dodged him again. He’s a bad bub, that one. I’ve run into him on occasion. The world would be better off if he were behind bars. That’s for sure. Unfortunately, he’s the sheriff’s brother. He’ll never go to jail. The whole system is corrupt,” Mizzi adds.

“They’re coming!” Asantia cries out.

The veskews zero in on the boat and run on all fours toward it. They scamper over the bridge like a pack of rabid dogs. People scream and duck out of the way of the veskews, but some get trampled and a rat-person in a fancy tailored suit gets knocked into the water.

The boat enters the lake with surprising speed for a sailboat. The water smacks the hull noisily, and its nose cuts through the small waves. The veskews skid to a stop at the shore of the lake. One jumps in the water, but instead of swimming, it thrashes around and sinks. The others pace on the shore and shriek.

After Allan can’t see the veskews anymore, he relaxes. He notices Asantia still watching the column of black smoke. “Your ship is ruined, because he was hunting me.”

She shrugs. “It’s not your fault, not really. And as for my ship? I’ll make another. It was getting kind of old anyway. Besides, we all have crap we gotta get past.”

Allan sees tears in her eyes. He thought she never cried. He knew that no one can say that honestly. Her tears take off some make-up, and Allan can see she has little freckles underneath. In the shadow of grief and loss, she looks five years younger. What a tough life she must live. Maybe she is the same age as Allan.

Asantia touches his shoulder lightly and holds his gaze for a lingering moment. She swallows hard, dabs her eyes and tries to wring out her drenched hair, all while erasing her emotions.

The boat parallels the shoreline which borders with woods and rolling hills. It’s quiet with the sound of lapping water and creaking sails being the only noise. Allan spies a tall step-pyramid in the distance, overgrown with plants, cracked and weather-beaten. At the top is a large door overhung with a vine-covered roof.

Allan tries to turn, but his limp legs are crumpled awkwardly in the boat. Asantia helps him pull them up and straighten them out. Mizzi sits next to Allan, while the boat maintains a course toward the pyramid. “So, you did it. I’m not surprised at all, though I got worried.”

“I couldn’t have done it without your mechanical legs. Can you to make me another set?”

Mizzi smiles, his whiskers angling upward. “I don’t have another power source like that one. If I find one, you’ll be the first to know. I wish I had a more permanent solution.” His paws scratch at his large snout, and then he meticulously coils his long tail next to him.

Asantia digs out the key from her pocket and hands it over. “I think you were looking for this.”

Mizzi takes the key with the furry end of his tail. “You both did good.” He hops from his seat and goes back to steer the boat. He aims for the shore and crashes the boat into the sandy beach. “Nice landing,” Asantia snips, picking herself off the floor.

“Not as spectacular as yours,” Mizzi replies with a smile.

“How do I get home now?” Allan asks.

“You’re going to take this boat across the lake and see a bird-guard named Lyllia of Meduna. She’ll let you pass through a gateway. That gateway will take you home.”

“Sounds easy.” Allan watches Mizzi get a bag of supplies from a storage box in the front of the boat, and then Mizzi returns to the back. Mizzi tosses his tail onto the beach. Allan points to the pyramid. “Jibbawk’s body is up there?”