Hijacking

While Muld and Syndi steal the airship, Shel learns of a plot to kill Rick.

11.

Hijacking

 

She had been on her way back from a lengthy haggling session at the farmer’s market for better flour.    For nearly four hours she had gone between the various farmers selling processed flour, trying to find the best quality flour (for the best price) for Flapjack’s famous hotcakes.    Finally she had reached a price agreement with Mr. Steen from Wheatun for a hundred pounds of flour to be delivered next week.   

 Shelyah was exhausted, but very pleased with her success and had taken a side street to avoid the late afternoon traffic of carts and wagons.    As she was halfway down the street, she spotted the blonde Practical Magician, Jevon, hurrying down the street ahead of her.

When he suddenly darted down a dark alley, she grew curious and crept along the front of the building to see what had diverted him on such a path.   But when she looked down the alley a few moments after he had turned down it, she was shocked to see someone pushing him into a doorway in the alley.

Shel stood there for a long time trying to decipher what she had just seen and what she should do about it.    Had someone mugged him?    The building he had disappeared into had no signs and was locked tight.    She wasn’t about to go down that alley, so she just lingered around the front of the building facing the side street and waited until no one was heading down the street and then pressed her ear against the wall.

At first all she heard was murmuring talk, so she moved eastward along the side facing the street and pressed her ear to it again.

What she heard shocked her.    She recognized one of the voices - Tadd the Halfling.   Shel was fairly sure that another voice was that of Jevon.

But it was what a female voice said to them that made her blood run cold.

“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?” 

“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?”  

“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.”

 

She didn’t wait around for them to discover her, but instead ran back up the street, her mind spinning.

What should she do?

She couldn’t let an assassin kill Rick.    She was fond of the human and he seemed to like her as well.    She had to warn him.

Hiking her skirt so she could run, she rushed down three streets, dodging pedestrians as she ran.

She was over halfway there when she saw Rick ahead of her, slowly walking back to the guild at the end of what looked (from his exhausted gait) like an exhausting day.    

Shel yelled to him, weaving around people until she reached him.

Rick looked surprised upon seeing her gasping for breath.

“Shel?  What in the world?”

She gestured for him to follow her into a shop nearby, off the street and he complied.    The store was an almost empty spice shop and she led him toward the back, as far away from the merchant at the counter as she could.   By then she had regained her breath enough to speak.

“They’re trying to kill you!”  The Orc lady said in an excited whisper, glancing around to make sure the merchant did not hear.

“What?   Trying to kill me?    Who are you talking about?”

“There is an assassin -a woman- who is going to try to kill you today.”

“What… now wait a moment… what in the world are you trying to tell me?”

Shel sighed in frustration, took a deep breath and related to him what she had seen and heard a short while ago.

Rick stood and listened in shock at what she told him.

“I can’t believe Jevon, Mutt and Tadd would conspire with someone to do me in!”

“They were definitely in on it, and I know that I saw Jevon being pushed into the building.”

“Well, that’s odd too, Shel!   If he was in on this plot, why did they force him into the building?”

The Orc lady shrugged, “I don’t know, Rick!    It seems insane to me too, but I am completely sure what I heard.   Maybe they were beguiled by this lady assassin.”

Rick just rubbed his weary forehead, “The last two days have been very crazy.   Something odd is going on with Muld and Syndi that I haven’t figured out yet, and now this.    Who would want me killed, anyway?”

“What about that elf wizard you insulted yesterday?”

Rick paled, “Oh… yeah, that might be it.   One of his students maybe or perhaps a sister.”

“Well, whoever she is, she is planning on stabbing you with a poisoned pin when you leave the guild building tonight.”

“Yesh, have mercy, that was where I was heading, too!”

“You can’t go there now, Rick!”

“But I’ve got to find out if my friends are in on this or not.”

“If you confront them, you just might find out the hard way!”

“So what do I do, then?    Jevon knows where I live, so he could escort the assassin right up to my front door if I don’t show up at the guild building.”

“You need to go to the city guard and tell them; they could straighten it out.”

“Yeah, that sounds reasonable.”

“I’m going with you.”

“No, you’re not!   You could be in danger too.   If that damned wizard sees you with me, he might get an assassin after you.”

“It would be safer for you to have someone with you until you reach the city guard.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

“Hon, I’m an Orc; I know how to fight.”

“I don’t want you to have to get involved in this, Shel.”

“Rick, I’m already involved.   Besides, I need to tell the guardsmen what I heard.”

“It’s too dangerous!”

“We’ll take the back streets, steering wide of the guild where the assassin is waiting.”

“But-“

Shel shook her head, “Hon, don’t argue with me about this, okay?    It is my civic duty to help and if something happened to you on the way to find a guardsman, I’d never forgive myself.”

“But-“

“Just shut up and let’s go, before they change the watch at six o’clock.”

The Orc lady noticed his hesitance, so she glared at him, somehow managing to do so in a surprisingly charming way.    When he still didn’t move, she sighed, grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the shop.     She was surprisingly strong and he decided that maybe it would be best for her to accompany him to the nearest guard station.     If the wizard saw them together and then she went off by herself, he might seek retribution against her.

She pulled him after her down and around a dizzying series of back alleys until he wasn’t sure where he was.

They came out of the alleyways half a mile up the street, at one of six major guard stations in the city.

“See?   I got you here safe.”   She said with her lovely smile.

He was about to say something in reply when someone on horseback came riding up quickly to the guard post ahead, shouting out to the guards in alarm.

“What is it?”   The Captain of that station asked as he and his men raced out of the building.

“Captain, they’re putting all guards on alert, by orders of the king.”

“Why?   What has happened?”

“You haven’t heard?   Someone just stole the new airship!”

“What?   The Queen Eioldth?    Who would do this?”

“They say it was that crazy Practical Magician and his lady.     They’re rounding up all the members of the guild for questioning as they’re probably in on it.”

“My God!”   Rick whispered to Shel, “The world has gone insane!”

“You’ve got to hide, Rick, until we can figure this all out.”

“I’ve got to get out of Westmark!”

“They’ll be watching the gates.    Come on, follow me, hurry!”   She pulled him after her.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Shh!    Don’t talk, hon, just trust me, okay?”

Since he had little choice right then, Rick was compelled to agree, so he let her lead him into the back alleys again, wondering as he followed her if this was all a really bad dream.

 

***

 

Syndi stood beside Muld as they slowly piloted the airship named after her late sister eastward out of the city.

They knew that countless eyes were watching as the airship passed, for it was not scheduled to make its first flight until the following day.

But apparently the guard on the walls had been informed of their fumigation job, for they waved as the Queen Eioldth passed and Muld and Syndi with some guilt waved back.

Muld piloted the ship about a mile from the eastern gate and was about to activate the vacuum engines when Syndi tapped him on the arm and pointed to the north.

“Look, we’re not alone out here.”

Serenely floating toward them were two large airships that had been modified from sail power to vacuum engines only a few months before.

“Ah… that would be the two ‘sister ships’ that we modified at the beginning of summer, The Sentinel and The Eclipse.”

“I remember you talking about them, but I didn’t participate in that project.   Why do you call them ‘sister ships’?”

“They were constructed at the same time at the airship yard back in Eastpoint about 15 years ago.    The idea was to produce a fleet of them to patrol Northmarch.    There wasn’t enough funding to go ahead with that though, so they were all that were made and they served as private vessels until King Eleazar purchased them last winter to serve as royal patrol ships.”

“Are they a threat to us?”

“If they get close enough, they could be.    They don’t have cannons, but catapults.   They have four vacuum engines each, this ship is larger and we have ten engines of a larger, more efficient design.”

“So we can outrun them?”

“Probably, but this ship weighs more; that will help them.”

“Do we stick with the plan?”

“We really don’t have any choice, do we?”   He replied, but then sent her a telepathic addition: *I don’t know what the wizard will do if we are caught, so we’ll have to try to outrun them.   I don’t want to fire upon them if we can help it, as I don’t want innocent men killed.*

“Maybe we should try to outrun them now, before they have time to get closer,” She said aloud to help him out.

“I think you’re right, my dear.     We’ll activate six of the engines to get a jump on them, then use the other four to maintain the distance while the first six are recharging.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Watch the two airships and monitor how close they are to us.   Hopefully we’ll be able to outdistance them, but we have to keep going for an unknown period of time, so we need to plan on keeping in motion for a few hours.   Hopefully the wizard will have a quick way to meet up with us.”

Syndi took a deep breath, “I guess I’m ready if you are.”

“Brace yourself, for there will be quite a jolt when the six engines engage.”

She grabbed the edge of the pilot’s bridge as Muld put his hands on the three levers that would activate two engines each.

“Here we go!”   He exclaimed and immediately threw all three levers forward.

Only a heartbeat passed before the engines activated.     Six vacuum tubes began to rapidly expel the air in them with a loud roaring hiss and the ship was thrust forward like an arrow.

 

Though they both were braced for it, Muld and Syndi were nearly knocked off their feet by the power of the engines.     The Queen Eioldth pierced the air like a diving hawk.    

“We’re pulling away from them!”  Syndi yelled above the roar of the wind and hiss of the engines, trying her best to not get sick from the velocity.

“Good!   We caught them by surprise; but they’ll get their engines going soon enough.”

Syndi kept watching as Muld surveyed the surroundings ahead of them.    For half of a minute they pulled farther and farther away from the two older airships,  but finally they activated their vacuum engines and they began pursuing them.    They didn’t close in on The Queen Eioldth, but they maintained the same distance from them.

“Well, they are now officially after us.”   Syndi told her fiancé after watching the two airships giving chase.

“As long as we maintain our speed, they shouldn’t be able to catch us, but we won’t be able to lose them out here in the open.   There are no mountains to ditch them with either, so we’re just going to keep going east and hope the wizard will have to ability to overtake us in flight.”

“The speed is making me queasy,”   Syndi told him, holding her stomach, “I don’t like heights anyway and streaking across the skies like a bolt of lightning is not helping.”

“Hang in there, sweetheart; you’ll be alright.”

“I don’t know, Muld, I think this whole thing will be the ruin of both of us.”

“Have faith in Yesh, my dear.”

“Yeah… you know, we’re probably going to end up getting married in the dungeon.”

 “Try to stay optimistic; when we rescue your parents, they’ll explain our actions to King Eleazar.”   Muld closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them with a sigh, “I feel so drained today.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Part of it is the Chastity Rings.”

“They’re draining us?”

“Yes; your father mentioned it before he crafted mine.    Due to our Aleiryid attraction to each other, the rings magic has to suppress it and that does something to our bodies.    We’re not supposed to be apart from each other… if you know what I mean.”

“Sexually?”

“Right, and by suppressing the bonding instinct of Aleiryid, we begin to slowly weaken and would eventually die if we didn’t come together.”

“Daddy said that a month would not kill us.”

“Right, and probably even a few weeks longer than that, but with the stress of their kidnapping added to it, I think we’re being drained quicker than normal.”

“So we have to rescue them or die.”

“Exactly - only your father can dispel the Chastity geis.”

Syndi suddenly paled and grabbed Muld’s arm, “Muld!   What if this wizard kills them!    I mean, aside from killing them, it would kill us too!”

Muld put his arm around her, “Shh!   That won’t happen, trust me.    We’re complying with what he wants, and they’ll be alright.”

*Are you sure?*   Syndi sent to him telepathically, realizing that she had spoken her fears aloud, which the wizard may have heard.

*Yes, we’ve got help that the wizard doesn’t know about.*

*We hope he doesn’t know about them!   What if he has found out?*

*Trust Yesh, sweetheart.*

*That’s hard to do when you are scared to death!*

* That is when God is the most evident.   You’ll see.*

 

Syndi smiled at her fiancé, and glanced over her shoulder to check on the position of the two airships pursuing them.   

“They’re gone!”  She exclaimed, finding that in the few minutes that she had spent talking to Muld, the two ships had disappeared.

“They probably couldn’t recharge their vacuum engines quick enough, since we have more than they do.”

“Now what do we do?”

“Just keep flying east, as instructed.”  

 

For half of an hour they just scanned the skies as they rushed along, but no other airship appeared.

They were beginning to wonder if they would encounter anyone before reaching King’s Reach when they suddenly saw a glowing blue sphere, floating in the air directly in the ship’s path.

“I think we are about to rendezvous with the wizard,”   Muld said as he deactivated the vacuum engines to slow down enough before reaching the sphere.

As they neared, they saw a group of about a dozen tall, angular men that were clearly Faesidhe Elves, standing inside the glowing magic ball, watching them approach.

As they came to a stop directly in front of the sphere, it changed into merely a round platform in midair, enabling the elves to leave.

“Slide your gangplank across to the edge of the disc,”  One of the elves commanded.  

Muld nodded and pulled the lever to release the airship’s six drop anchors.

“I wonder which one is the wizard?”   Syndi speculated aloud as she and Muld complied with their demand.

“I don’t know, we didn’t actually see him, only a shadowed image in the crystal ball.   I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

 

Soon the twelve elves crossed over onto the Queen Eioldth and gathered in a circle around Muld and Syndi.   They were dressed in the leathers, chainmail and heavy coats favored by airship pirates and crew.

*Stay close*  Muld told his fiancée telepathically as one of the elves cleared his throat and opened a pouch he was carrying.    Inside was a crystal ball about the size of a large apple.   He held it up in front of Muld and Syndi’s faces, said a strange word and the crystal clouded over for a few moments, before suddenly showing the cloaked image of the wizard.

“Have they complied with my demand?”   He asked the man holding the small orb.

“Yes, my Lord, we are on the deck of the airship and no one is following us within sight.”

“Excellent!    Princess Synthaeia and Master Muld, I congratulate you on your theft.    I am indeed impressed with the speed and ease which you took the craft.    But I know of the circumstances that enabled you to do so with such speed.    I commend you on taking advantage of the opportunity.   I am pleased.    As a reward for your compliance, I will allow you to briefly speak to King Eiolmoel.”

“What about my mother?”   Syndi asked.

“Not this time, though your father will verify her safety.    After the next task, you shall speak to both of them.”

“What is our next task?”   Muld wondered and the wizard chuckled.

“Patience, magician, patience!   First speak briefly with the Losasidhe king.    Ask him anything, for he has no idea where he is being held.”

The wizard disappeared from view for a short time and then reappeared escorting a pale, disheveled and possibly drugged King Eiolmoel.     Even in the small crystal ball, Muld and Syndi could see that he trembled.

“Daddy, what have they done to you?!”  Syndi cried out.

“Synthaeia?   Child, is that you?”   He asked, and the wizard rather roughly positioned him in front of his own crystal ball.    For a moment the king blinked in confusion.   Then seeing his daughter in the scrying ball, he smiled slightly, “Ah, there you are!”

“Are you hurt?   Why are you shaking?   Has he hurt you?   Is mother alright?”   Syndi blurted out, squeezing Muld’s hand so tightly for strength that his fingers went numb.

“I’m alright, child, and your mother is alright too.    We’ve not been tortured.   I’m trembling because I’m very cold.”

“Why?!   What have they done to you?”

“Your father has been in suspended animation.”   The wizard broke in, “There will be no lasting effects, and I can assure you of that.”

“Don’t hurt him!”   Syndi pleaded, sounding very much like a scared little girl at that moment.

Muld felt fury surging up inside him at the cruel Faesidhe wizard, but he barely kept it in check, as he reminded himself of their current helplessness.

“Daddy, we’ll get you and mother free!”  The princess said through her tears.

“Don’t cry, nin yenda, Yesh the Merciful sees all that has happened and His hand protects us.”    The king told his daughter.   As he spoke, the mention of Yesh seemed to strengthen him and the regal look flickered to life in his eyes.

“I love you, daddy!”  

“And I love you, child.”

As soon as the king had said this, a pair of hands of someone out of their view pulled him away from the crystal ball.

“No!  Please!”  Syndi pleaded.

“He won’t be harmed, princess, and you shall see him and your mother well and whole as long as you keep complying with my demands.”

Syndi trembled and wept in Muld’s arms.   He hugged her tightly and glared at the cloaked wizard.

“Why are you doing this?   You are Faesidhe; don’t you feel a kinship with the Losasidhe as they were once part of your people?”

The wizard laughed, “Why, Master Muld, why do you think I have not killed them or you?    It is because I know of their ancestry and the noble, proud line they descend from.   Unlike your mixed lesser elven ancestry, Princess Syndi and her parents are pure Faesidhe, uncorrupted by lesser races.”

“Then why kidnap them?”

“I have my reasons, and that is all that you need to know.   As long as you both do what I say, they will be well.     I do not wish to harm members of my own people  -even misguided Faesidhe such as the foolish Losasidhe.”

“We’ve delivered to you the airship; you said you would have a second task for us.”

“Indeed I do.     These twelve men that surround you are my loyal followers; they will be faithful to me until death.    We share the same goals.     You will pilot the airship northward, following the directions that Legech gives you.   He is the one holding the scrying ball.     He will tell you what you need to know when you need to know it.    For now, you only need to know that you are going on a journey northwards to retrieve something that is rightfully mine.     You will pilot this ship until you reach the safety of the mountains, then I will allow you to rest.  As for you, Princess, why don’t you take to one of the quarters on that airship and relax; Master Muld can do his duty without you.”

Syndi stiffened, “I’ll stay with my husband.”

The wizard flinched at this, “Your husband?   Bah!   There has been no union between you yet and perhaps your plans will change by the end of this adventure.   You are of too fine of stock to taint yourself with a half-breed lesser elf.”

“I would not have anyone else, for he is ten times the man that you are!”

The wizard actually laughed at her defiance, as if she had made the most ridiculous claim that could be made.    “Isn’t that charming!    Your pitiful puppy love of this magician is most amusing… for now.     Pray that I remain amused at him.    Stand beside him if you will!”  

The wizard made an angry wave of his hand and his image quickly disappeared.

The elf that the wizard had identified as Legech slipped the tiny crystal ball back into his pouch with a sneer of mild contempt at Syndi and Muld.

“You really shouldn’t offend my master, with your parents helpless and in his control.    Very foolish, Princess, but you seem to be capable of little else than foolishness.”

Muld’s fist shot out so suddenly that no one saw it until it connected with Legech’s chin.    The elf was knocked sprawling onto the deck.

Immediately the other eleven swarmed at Muld from all sides, but before they laid a hand on him, the practical magician grabbed one of the levers at the pilot’s bridge and yelled, “Do you all want to die?!   One more step and this ship will explode in a ball of fire that will incinerate all of us!”

Something about his wild look and the deadliness of his look made the eleven men hesitate.

“This airship has seven self-destruct devices, and I know how to activate all of them.    None of you could stop me if I chose to do it.”

“You’re bluffing!”   Legech growled, getting to his feet.

“Are you willing to call my bluff, you arrogant a*s?”

“When my master hears of this-“

“Why don’t you contact him, Legech?    Go ahead and tell him.    Perhaps he will execute the king and queen, but I can assure you that if he does, none of you will live to see tomorrow.”

“You can’t escape, half-breed.”

“Neither can you, Legech.    That is what is called a stalemate.    So here is what we’re going to do.   You give me the directions I’m supposed to get, and then you and your men get the hell away from Syndi and me.”

“That is hardly an option.”

“You have no options; as long as I know how to blow up this ship, you will have to tread cautiously.   Some of the destruct devices are simply magic words, chanted quickly, by someone who knows the language.    As I doubt any of you know dark elven, I don’t think you could figure out the cancellation words.     So you twelve just back off and let’s complete this damned mission.   You mind your own business and leave us alone.”

“You’ll have to sleep sometime, magician,”  Legech threatened.

“Yes, but there are two of us, and Syndi knows what I do.”

“You’re bluffing, half-breed, I know you are, but I will forgive your aggression toward me… once.     Point this airship due north until you near Forge Gate, then turn northeast.   That is all the instructions I am giving you now.   Strike me again and so help me I’ll call your bluff.”

“Then you’ll be blasted all over the ground, Legech.    I propose a truce - I do my job, you do yours and we leave each other alone.”

“For now, magician.    You and your ‘princess’ enjoy your ride.   Come on men; let’s go see what the ship pantry has to offer.   Remember, magician, the Losasidhe King and Queen’s lives are in your hands.    So stay focused.”

 Legech gestured to his companions and they dispersed, then followed him down into the lower decks.

“Are you alright?”   Muld asked Syndi as soon as the last elf disappeared.

“Yes,”  She replied, then she added, telepathically, *Is it safe to speak out loud?*

*This ship has anti-detection spells cast upon it, so he won’t be able to view us without a crystal ball to see us through at this end.*

*Are you sure of this?*

*Yes, I spoke to the engineers about the spells upon the ship when we toured it.*

*Yet they forgot the repel vermin spells?*

*They didn’t mention them*

*So it is safe to speak out loud?*

“Yes, it is safe; as long as those Faesidhe goons don’t overhear us.    Syndi, I am so sorry for reacting like I did!   I know it threatened your parent’s safety, but when Legech started insulting you-“

Syndi pressed her fingertips against his lips, “Muld, I thought it was wonderful!    You stood up for me though you were outnumbered!   It was so romantic!”

“Or stupid…”

“I’ll choose romantic… but tell me, were you bluffing?”

“I was bluffing a bit, but not entirely.”

“So what does that lever do that you grabbed?”

“It deactivates the levitation spell holding the ship up.   So though it wouldn’t have exploded as I claimed, it would have killed us all as we plummeted to the ground.”

“So it was a semi-bluff.”

“It is much safer to do that then to bluff completely.”

“Does this ship have detonation spells upon it?”

“Oh, absolutely, sweetheart.    The engineer told me of a few of them, but I have no idea of how to activate any of them.”

Syndi sighed nervously, “That part is a complete bluff.”

“Yeah, I guess that it is… but it worked for now, at least.”

“Do you think he’ll contact the wizard?”

“No, I doubt it.   It would make him lose face with his master.   Most cronies don’t like to do that.”

“Still, we are in a very dangerous place.   They don’t like us.”

“Well, they don’t like me - they seem fine with you.”

“Muld, they are so typical of the Faesidhe people - arrogant and aloof toward all others.”

“Yeah, I can’t help but suspect that it is that hatred of all non Faesidhe races that is behind this whole kidnapping nightmare.”

“I guess we’ll see, if they don’t do us in before we get to wherever we are going.”

“The general direction is toward the Carcaicasse Mountains and since that Bitter Dreg, Antheeya, told us that the floating city of Windhaven is in that direction, I’ll wager that this is our destination.”

“I’m worried about my parents, Muld.    Why was my father shivering like that?   It was as if he was cold, and it is far too hot for that.”

“There are some spells that suspend a person in ice instead of a completely arcane suspended animation.   Perhaps the wizard used that.”

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous?”

“I don’t know, sweetheart.”

“We’ve got to rescue them as soon as possible.”

“That is difficult to do as we don’t know where they are being kept, and if we guessed wrong, it could cost them their lives.”

“I just feel so helpless, Muld.”

“I know; I do as well.    For now we just need to focus on the task of getting this airship to the rendezvous site and to carefully listen for any clues that the wizard’s men might let slip in their conversations with us.”

“We need to focus on staying alive, Muld.    That leader -Legech- had a murderous look on his face when he left.”

“Hopefully he’ll simmer down before we have to deal with him again.”

“I’m going to mentally prepare for some quick spell casting if he decides to go after you.”

“Not a bad idea - you do that while I pilot this ship.”

Syndi leaned against the console of the instrument panel and began going over spells in her mind.    Muld let her prepare, pondering his future actions as he activated the vacuum engines and the airship turned northward.

 

***

 

“Hey!   We’re moving again,”  Allea exclaimed, looking up from her spellbook.

Before anyone could respond to her comment, the sound of the door opening at the foot of the stairs leading into the hold made all of them jump to their feet.

Alleania quickly surveyed her illusionary wall - it was sound and if nobody walked through it, they’d not know it was fake.

There came voices of two men slowly descending the stairs into the hold while speaking in Faesidhe.

Though the two men would see a wall in front of them, those behind the illusion could see them approaching clearly.

Alvis, Carn and Amala had silently pulled their weapons out, Drake had a wand pointed toward the men, while Mage Keith had his wizard’s staff ready to fire off a spell.  Allea looked back and forth between her mother and Alleania, who both were silent as statues, watching the two Faesidhe approach.

Just before one of the men was about to touch the illusionary wall in confusion over its unusual location in the hold, Zeatt held up a small lead box in the palm of her hand, which she opened up quickly as she called out, “Drow stones!”

A second later everything went pitch black and perfectly silent.

The Faesidhe Elves backed up in complete confusion, not realizing what had happened or why their senses had left them.

But the Drow and their companions were familiar with the silence and darkness stones contained in Zeatt’s lead box and moved confidently with their two main senses missing, relying on the sense of touch to surround the two terrified elves.

Zeatt estimated how long it would take to surround the elves and then quickly placed the darkness stone back into its lead box and shut the lid, but kept the silence stone in her hand.    Sight returned immediately, revealing a tight ring around the two Faesidhe elves.

They cried out in alarm, but the Reverend Mother had kept the silence stone activated, so they made no sound.

Feeling weapons all around them, the two men dropped their swords and raised their hands, looking fearfully from dark elf to dark elf, as if they were demons.

They held one of the two prisoners in the field of effect of the silence stone, while Amala and Carn took the other prisoner out of the field, against the back wall of the airship’s hold.

Amala had one of her swords against his neck as they exited into sound again, so the Faesidhe did not utter a sound.

“You are going to tell me everything about you and who you work for,”   Carn told him, strumming his lute.

The elf shook his head no and Carn just smiled and began to softly sing the bard spell ‘Biography’ which made the affected person begin to relate everything they knew about everyone.

A blue glow covered the elf for a moment and a dazed look came over him as he smiled faintly.

“Tell me about yourself, friend.,”   Carn ordered in a soft tone. 

The Faesidhe man involuntarily began to speak, directed from time to time to reveal information relevant to the current situation.  

The others waited with the second prisoner in the silence zone, and after they had extracted all the information out of the first elf, they pulled him back into the field, and then brought the second prisoner to the same spot and used the ‘Biography’ spell on him.

Twenty minutes later they had extracted much needed information from the two Faesidhe elves.   While they were still docile from the spell cast upon them, Allea and her father, Alvis, bound them together with ropes found in the hold and sat them back to back on the floor.

Only then did Zeatt release the spell by closing the lead lid on the silence stone’s box.

“What did we learn?”   Alvis asked Carn eagerly.

“Quite a bit, actually.    I have an idea on how we can proceed now,”   The bard told everyone, while sharing what he had learned as well as his idea.