Schemes

Muld and Syndi prepare to steal the airship.

10.

Schemes

 

“Ah, Master Muld and Lady Syndi, it is so good of you to come to help us on such short notice,”  Captain Hathowern greeted the couple with a friendly handshake, “It was a terrible oversight on our part and you certainly see why we want this done discreetly.”

“Indeed, Captain, quite understandable, “ Muld replied with a forced smile.     Beside him, Syndi could not even manage that, but just looked around nervously, a look of guilt and shame hinted at in her eyes.     Her hand trembled with nervous excitement and fear.

“Have you ever done anything like this before?”   Captain Hathowern asked her, causing Syndi to jump back into full awareness of her surroundings.    She looked at him with a startled look, her face flushing red.

“What?”

“Have you ever done anything like this before?”   The captain repeated, gesturing to his ship, “I mean casting these spells on a ship.”

“Oh… no, only in a few buildings,” She mumbled, unable to look him in the eye.

 “Well, I removed all the crew and workmen as you requested, Master Muld, and I’ll take my leave as well.   Is there anything I can help you with before I go?”

“No, thank you captain, we have everything we’ll need.   I will have to take this ship outside of the gates of the city, though.”

“What?   Why would you need to do that?”

“The vermin when they are repelled by the spells quickly leave the ship.   Some will go down the mooring ropes and I don’t want them to infect the city.”

“You should have let me know before I dismissed the crew for the day.”

“Oh… sorry.”

“Well I could move the ship into position for you; it only takes one person to actually pilot it.”

“Then you’d have to go down by rope and walk back to town since your men took your ship boats.    From what I’ve seen and what you showed us during our tour of the bridge, it is piloted very much like my airship, The Locust, was controlled, so I should have no problem piloting it the short distance.”

 

“Well… I guess that would be alright.  How long will it take?”

“A few hours,” Muld lied, just wanting to be free of the man.

“If you are confident you can maneuver the ship, I’ll take an early dinner then.   If you need me, I’ll be at the Muddy Boot …and thank you, sir, for helping us.”

Muld nodded with a weak smile and the captain bowed respectfully to them then walked across the gangplank onto the docking platform that had been put in place for the official dedication of the ship the following day.

 

They watched Captain Hathowern disappear onto the docking platform and then Syndi exhaled loudly in relief.

“My God, but I feel so wicked!”  She said miserably, shaking her head, “It’s horrible, Muld!”

* But at the same time surprisingly exciting.* She added telepathically as she followed him toward the bridge.

“We haven’t any choice, my dear, and we are extremely lucky to have a reason to be on board without any of the crew.”

“Do we wait a while to move the ship or do it now?”

“We’ll head out of the city slowly as if we were just going out there for the spellcasting.   We’ll keep moving slowly, as long as we can, and maybe we’ll be lucky enough to get out of sight of the towers without causing any suspicion.    Then we’ll activate all the vacuum engines and see what this baby can do.”

“You realize we’ll be outlaws then.    Everyone will be searching for us.”

“Yes, but what choice do we have?”   He replied, adding telepathically *Hopefully Jevon will explain everything to the King.*

“Well, let’s get it over with.   What do you want me to do?”

“First we need to make sure there are no mooring ropes, anchors or drag ropes that would impede our acceleration.    You check the starboard side and I’ll take the port”

Syndi nodded and without another word between them, they began walking parallel with the railing, looking at the ropes hanging from the airship.

 

***

“Can’t we move around just a little bit?”   Allea whispered to the seven others seated close together behind an illusionary wall in the hold of the Queen Eioldth, “They are on the top deck, they won’t hear us down here and surely we’ll hear them coming.”

“Sweetheart, we can’t take any chances.   Below deck is enchanted against scrying, but this wizard might have other means to detect what is going on.   We don’t want to endanger this whole operation.”   Zeatt smiled sympathetically at her youngest daughter.

“It’s rather cramped in here.”   The young sorceress sighed, looking to the others in hopes they’d support her idea, but they just sat stoically. 

“It may be quite a wait, Allea,”   Archmage Drake said to her, “We need to meditate on our spells so we’ll be ready at once to assist.”

“Or take a nap,”  Baron Alvis suggested, winking at his daughter.

“I have an idea on how to keep you busy, child.”   Alleania made a motion with her hand and a small glowing globe appeared in mid air.    The Drow sorceress pulled a small sack out of her belt pouch and reached inside.    Her arm disappeared up to her shoulder, for the sack was a Bag of Holding, and a moment later she pulled out a huge, ancient spellbook.

“I was waiting for you and Syndi to have more training, but I’m sure this will be a welcome diversion to you.”

She handed the heavy old book to her niece, who looked at it in wonder.

“What is it?”

“Our family’s master spellbook.   Each noble Drow family has one where each generation of spell casters would record their spells and incantations.     This one was ancient when my mother was born.    It is in the Drow language, but you should have no problem reading the spells.   You can acquaint yourself with your Drow ancestor’s spells.”

Allea thanked her and seated herself on the floor of the hold, pulling the light globe close as she began to study the old spellbook.

“I didn’t know you had that,” Drake whispered to Alleania, who just smiled and arched her eyebrows.

“I’m full of surprises,”  She answered, leaning against him as they waited.

 

***

 

Jevon was growing more and more frustrated by the minute.   For several hours he had gone to every Bitter Dreg haunted business that he knew of in the city, but no one had any idea where Antheeya was or had any idea how to locate her.

Oh, they knew who she was, for apparently what she had claimed was true - she was in charge of information gathering for the Bitter Dregs in Westmark and was known to be very persistent and determined in her work.

Even with his Dregs credentials,  few of the Bitter Dregs would say much about Ant, other than say how affective she was and how she preferred to work alone.

“She doesn’t trust anyone too much,”   One man told him, “Especially men "- she is very wary of men.”

This didn’t surprise Jevon from his encounter with the Changeling woman.

He was hurrying down a back alley, trying to figure out where he should go next, when he heard a loud hissing sound in the distance that he recognized immediately as an arcane vacuum engine releasing a stream of air that propelled airships equipped with the magic technology.   

A shadow passed over the sun and he looked up past the sides of the buildings to briefly see the huge bulk of the Queen Eioldth slowly pass by.

“Yesh, have mercy, I’m too late!”  Jevon groaned, as he watched the airship slip out of view.

He spun around, planning to race back to the guild headquarters to see if he could figure out how to use Muld’s crystal ball to contact his parents in Aeropolis for advice.

Jevon took two steps before someone suddenly grabbed him and pulled him into an open doorway in the alley.

A hand covered his mouth and a sharp dagger held an inch in front of his nose made him freeze in place.

“Good,” A gorgeous Faesidhe woman said with a satisfied smile, “Now I’ve got the jump on you - it’s humiliating and humbling, isn’t it?”

“Ant?”  He asked softly after she removed her hand from his lips and lowered the dagger.

“I’m hoping Gelden will be completely focused on the hijacking of the Queen Eioldth that he won’t be monitoring any of Muld’s associates.”

“Who is Gelden?”

“Shh!   Just follow me.”   She gestured for him to follow and she disappeared into the dark building.    Jevon followed her.

“What is this place?”

“If you were active in the Dregs, you’d know this was one of four safe houses in the city.   It is completely shielded magically from scrying or detection spells, which is why I led you here.”

“Led me here?”

“Yes, by telepathic suggestion.”

“I didn’t hear anything.”

“I did it at a subconscious level; it doesn’t always work.   But you were frustrated and upset, so it weakens your mind to these suggestions.”

“You led me here?”

“Why else did you come down this alley?”

“Well… I don’t know… I just did.”

“You were manipulated Jevon.”

“How could you do that?”

Ant shook her head, “I don’t have time to explain it to you.”

She pushed open a door at the end of a hallway and Jevon was surprised to see Mutt and Tadd seated at a table.

“It worked!”   Tadd exclaimed, “That is amazing, Ant.”

“Not really,” The Changeling responded, gesturing for Jevon to be seated.    “We’ve been waiting for you for a few hours now.    Your friend Rick is in danger.”

“Rick?   Why?”

“There is an assassin looking for him.”

“An assassin!   How do you know?”

“Because I am the assassin.”    She explained to Jevon about her meeting with the wizard Gelden and the job he had assigned her.

“Do you think Gelden is the Wizard of Windhaven?”   Jevon asked after she finished her tale.

“I am quite certain that he is.    But he has some sort of telepathic device, so I can’t just scan him to find where he has Princess Syndi’s parents.     I’m hoping to win his trust and find out.”

“How do you intend to do that?”   Jevon asked.

“By killing Rick, of course.”

“What?!”

Ant laughed, which was the most emotion she had shown so far.   “Don’t worry, Jevon, I mean to trick the wizard into believing I have killed him.”

Jevon shook his head, “That is insane… but wait a minute!   I’ve been trying to find you to tell you about Muld and Syndi!   They-“

“-They’ve just hijacked the Queen Eioldth, yes I know,”  She sighed, “I read your mind when you first came down the alleyway.   It doesn’t surprise me though.    Gelden is clearly going forth with a complex plan.    Tell me what you know about what Gelden said to Muld and Syndi.”

Jevon relayed to the Changeling woman the telepathic conversation that Muld had with him.

Ant paced around after hearing Jevon, clearly contemplating something.     Jevon, Tadd and Mutt just sat and waited.

“He’s got something in mind that transcends merely having a new airship.    He’s worked with Hobnail’s pirates, but Hobnail is dead now.    Perhaps he wants to trade this airship for something the pirates have.     I didn’t detect any surface worries in his mind about loved ones, so I doubt that Hobnail has some of his family as hostages that he is trying to free.    If that had been the case, it would have been on his mind at all levels.”

“The ship is named after Eioldth, and her father led a group of Faesidhe people out of the great forest to start the Losasidhe kingdom,”   Jevon said, “That could have something to do with it.”

“Perhaps,” Ant shrugged, “But he is taking a big chance kidnapping a king and queen and then stealing a new and highly prized airship.   No, there has to be a bigger scheme at work here.   But what is it?”

“Um… ma’am?”  Tadd spoke up and Ant glanced at him.   “You mentioned feigning killing Rick… shouldn’t you tell him about this idea?”

“No, I want it to look legitimate.    Gelden gave me some poison and suggested that I poison something he is drinking.   But to fake his death, I’ll need to use the same drug I used on you earlier.    That one is a mild poison that simply knocks a person out for a while, but it works on injection, not by digestion.    So I need to appear to backstab him in an alleyway when I’m sure Gelden is monitoring me by crystal ball.”

“How will you know for sure?”

“I told him that I’d try to kill Rick tonight as he left the guild building.”

“What about his body after you “kill” him?”  Jevon asked.

“Well, that is where you three come in to play.    I want the three of you to linger at the guild building until after Rick leaves, then, when you see me attack him and he falls, yell loudly and come running out to help him.    I’ll run away and that will solve the problem of Gelden verifying that he’s dead.    Take Rick inside and keep him hidden.”

“Will it work?”   Jevon asked.

“Yes, it will have to work.   How soon does your guild close its doors each day?”

“In about an hour or so, I guess.   Rick should be returning soon.”

“Good, go on to the guild and don’t mention anything to him.   I’ll be waiting nearby with a poisoned hairpin.   Remember the plan.”

They all agreed and got up to leave, unaware of a form pressed against the wall outside of the safe house with an ear against the wood.