Airships of Marrakesh, Part 10

Author’s note:  The past few days have been without an update, and I apologize.  Today was rough, because my wife was having car troubles.  As always, this is the first unedited rough draft.  Thanks for reading.

 

 

The walk back to the Twilight was spent discussing the best plan of action for the journey ahead.  They would need to take on extra food supplies to feed everyone, and spaces to sleep would have to be found for Janus’ crew and the sikh’s guards.

“I’m still not certain where Slyne could have flown,” said Janus.  “We don’t want to end up heading in the wrong direction on a wild goose chase.  Are you sure that Spain is his best bet, Mellira?”

“Mostly.  Slyne doesn’t speak Arabic, so he doesn’t have many options other than north.  Spain also puts the Mediterranean between us, and with a good headwind he can gain some ground on us.  If we can, we really need to look into why he went and stole all that gold.”

“Greed? Power? Lust? Seems pretty straightforward to me,” said Ibben.

“You don’t just empty a city’s bank vaults for greed, Ibben.  I feel like there’s a reason behind his plan, and if we know what that is then we’re a step ahead of Slyne.  Janus, maybe that kid can try to keep looking for information here in the city.”

“Makhi?” said Janus.  “Yeah, that might work.  I’ll try to talk to Fahn about it before we fly.  And you’re right.  Nobody makes himself a wanted man like that without good reason.   He’s shut him himself out of the Islamic world and put a price on his head.  Damn well better believe we’re not the only ones after his hide.  We just get first crack because he’s got my damn airship.”

The air-port was bustling when the group go back – several airships were taking off, and enormous freight hauler was gliding in from the west, engines pouring black smoke as the crew tried to manhandle the giant beast to a mooring tower.  The deck of the Twilight was packed with crew and crates, and Ford directed traffic with an air of long experience.  There was a sense of urgency, but not panic.

“Janus, good to see you back.  And you brought friends, excellent.  Now we have even less space on the decks.”  Ford frowned at the red-uniformed guards and raised an eyebrow.  Janus shook his head and mouthed “later”.  

“How are we on supplies, Ford?”

“Well, they wouldn’t let me take off without you, so I took a chance and had them load extra barrels of salted meat, lemons, and salt fish, as well as extra coal.  We’re loaded to the gills, and it’s going to slow us down, I won’t lie to you.  But I figured better prepared for anything is better than nothing.  What did you get arrested for, forget to pay a port fee or something?  Can’t have been big, you’re already out.”

“Stole the city treasury.  Like you said, nothing big.” Janus gave Ford a clap on the shoulder and a grin as he walked past.  “If you’re ready, let’s take off.  We’ve got a lot of flying to do, and not enough time to do it in.”

He headed back to the captain’s cabin to look over the maps, and was surprised to see the shopkeeper’s assistant, Makhi, already sitting at the desk.  The boy looked up and smiled.

“Captain! How are you doing? I have something you might wish to know,” he said.

“I’m good.  Surprised to see you, but that’s alright.  We meant to send a message to you before we left.  What have you got?” He pulled out the maps, plotting the shortest route to Spain as the boy began to talk.

That morning, after returning with no useful information, Makhi had gone back to Fahn’s shop to open for the day.  Fahn sold a variety of goods, and that morning had received a shipment of German chocolates.  Makhi was sweeping when two white men entered, asking about the shipment.  As Fahn filled their order and wrote the invoice, the men discussed the previous night’s burglary of the city vaults.

“Slyne should be well on his way by now.  The airship was seen leaving the city several hours ago, and he should be in Berlin in less than a week,” said the shorter, portly man.

“Good, good.  And the sikh, what are his plans?  He will find it difficult to fly Marrakeshi airships into the Anglo-Prussian Empire.”

“He has been secluded all morning, there is no word yet on his plans. The Sky Drake’s captain was arrested this morning, however.  Rumor has it that he will hang.  Ambassador, do you really believe this will work?”

“Dear Helmut, what we have here is a clockwork, engineered to work until no longer required to.  I have every confidence that things will go smoothly at every step.  Ah, our chocolates are ready.  Thank you, dear shopkeeper.”

Fahn had sent Makhi to the Twilight as soon as the men were outside.  The information was too valuable to risk any delay.

“I think Fahn was right.  If that really was the German ambassador, then this might be a lot more dangerous than just a stolen airship and some missing gold.  We might be in deep shit, boy.” said Janus.  The boy nodded in agreement.  The ship rumbled, and suddenly lifted several feet.  “Well, I think we just took off.  I hope you don’t get airsick, boy.”

On deck, orders flew fast as the airship Twilight was loosed from his mooring tower, and began to gain altitude.  Ford directed his crew with a skilled hand, and Janus’ crew stayed out of the way.  The engines roared as they received more power, and the Twilight moved gracefully through the desert air on a northern tangent.  The captain joined Ford on deck and watched as Marrakesh, domain of the desert kings, slowly faded into the haze on the horizon.

“We’ve got to have a meeting, Ford.  I just got some news that you want to hear.”

“How bad is it, Janus?  Do I want to be sitting down and drinking when you tell me?  I have some excellent whisky saved up that should do nicely.”

“Bring it.  Make sure everyone who needs to know is there.  We have plans to make.”

Alright.  Sounds good.  I like plans.  Plans are important.  That guard captain has been looking for you.  I think his name is Odhed,” said Ford.

“Lieutenant.  Bring him, too.  How’s your crew doing?” Janus scanned the horizon.  They were the only airship in sight, quickly gaining altitude and speed.  Soon it would get colder, and most airships had storage chests of extra jackets and blankets for the higher altitudes.  Most airmen brought their own, but the sikh’s guards would need gear, as would Makhi.

Airships of Marrakesh, Part 9

In which we continue the adventures of a crew of wayward misfits.  As always, this is the rough, unedited, first draft.  It could all change when I start editing and revising, but for now, I’m glad that I’m getting an update done every two days.  Thanks for reading.

 

“Did Janus just… get arrested?” Mellira moved to the railing to watch as the guards led the captain away from the air-port and to the palace.

“I believe he did indeed.  Wonder what he did this time.  Any ideas?”  Ford spit in the direction of the departing guards.  “Those were the sikh’s personal guards, not city watch.  Something is up, and I don’t like it.  Janus may not be the most law-abiding man out there, but as I recall he doesn’t usually get arrested by the likes of them. Looks like we won’t be leaving as planned after all.”

“We’ve got to get him out! What we can do?”  Mellira moved to the tower, ready to head down to the palace herself.

“Pray to Allah that he makes it out alive,” said Ibben.  “The Sikh does not often send out his own palace guards to do the city watch’s work.  We should head to the palace, to try to find out more.”

“Gather the crew and make sure they’re all here, ready for take-off.  We’ll be ready at a moment’s notice.  In the meantime, go see what you can do at the palace!” said Ford.  He barked orders at his own crew, and the ship jumped to life.  Airmen checked rigging, secured cargo, and took care of the thousand other details that needed doing before an airship took off.

Ibben joined Mellira, and together they ran back to the inn.  Their own crew was already packing, ready to make flight on the Twilight.  Airmen’s packs were all over the place, bulging with personal items and clothing, and the innkeep looked like he was getting plenty of exercise running food and drink for everyone.

Mellira jumped onto the closest tabletop, and gave a couple of good stomps with her boots.  The noise level dropped, and dozens of eyes looked in her direction.

“Ok boys, listen up.  Here’s the deal on what’s been going on in our jolly old lives as of yesterday.  Slyne is no longer first mate – it turns out that Ruther had other ideas, and has made himself captain.  He’s also made off with our Sky Drake.  Are we going to take that?”

“NO,” came twenty voices in unison.

“That’s what I thought.  In addition to taking our dearly beloved airship, he’s also kidnapped our dearly beloved Ben.  What do we think of that?”

“String him up!”, “Shark-bait!”, “Air drop him!” came from the crowd, with numerous hisses and boos added in for good measure.

“Exactly my line of thinking.  Now, the last bit of news – Captain’s been arrested on unknown charges.”  Another chorus of boos.  “Ibben and me are going down to the palace to give the sikh a piece of our minds, and you lads will be on the Twilight, making ready to fly down Slyne’s filthy, lying throat when we give the word!”

Cheers erupted from the crowd, and someone with a sense of humor even threw a cactus rose.  Mell took a bow, and stuck the flower in her hair.  She leapt off the table, waved to the crew, and slipped out the door into the heat.

“That went better than I thought,” she said.  Ibben nodded and checked his knives.  “They love you, in their own ways.  Probably follow you to Hell if you asked ‘em to.”

“Isn’t that what we’re doing,” she asked.  The dark man grinned at her, and gave no reply.  Together they made their way to the palace to plead for a life.

 

Captain Janus was waiting when the guards came for him the second time.  He’d decided that dignity was the best option, no matter what the sikh had decided.  The time had passed quickly – he judged only an hour or so had gone by.  The walk through the palace was much faster this time, with fewer corridors to pass through.  The audience in the ornate chamber had changed, but the sikh sat as before on his throne.  Janus approached, surrounded by guards and steel, and bowed from the waist when he was told to halt.

“While the evidence seems to be in your favor, Captain, I cannot rule out that you  are entirely innocent.  Marrakesh is my city, and while in it you come under my rule.  As such, I charge you with this task: find the man known as Ruther Slyne, wherever he may be, and bring him back for judgement.  With him you shall bring the gold he has stolen.  The criminals he associates with may be dealt with as you see fit.  You have an airship?”

“Yes, your lordship.  Jeremiah Ford of the Twilight has offered his services,” said Janus.  His mind spun at the turnaround of events.  He had just been set free to do what intended all along.  The sikh’s next words brought him back to the present.

“Good.  A contingent of my personal guard will accompany you, to ensure that my trust was not misplaced.”

“May I ask about travel expenses, your lordship?  Refueling is not cheap, and my crew is already going to be imposing on Captain Ford’s business,” Janus said.  The sikh stared at him, and was silent for several minutes.  The captain shifted uncomfortably.  Finally the sikh nodded and sighed.

“You are correct, of course.  Expenses may be deducted from the gold aboard the Sky Drake, provided that I receive an intimately detailed and itemized list upon your return.  Now, you may leave.  My lieutenant of the guards will meet you at the palace doors with your guard.  Your acquaintances are waiting there as well, I believe,” he said.

Janus wondered who the man was talking about.  He knew no one in the palace, and surely the man couldn’t be talking about the soldiers that would be coming along.  He shrugged and followed his guides, simply glad to be free and alive.  The guards with him were silent, only gesturing to indicate direction when needed.  He wondered if they were upset at his release.  More pressing was the question of what had changed the sikh’s mind.  He was sure that the man would have him executed, just for owning the airship that took off with his gold.  The small group turned the corner, and Janus saw two familiar forms waiting.

“Mell, Ibben!  Damn but it’s good to see you two,” he said.  “What are you doing here, I thought you were back at the Twilight?”

“We came as soon as we could, the crew is at the airship and ready to take off.  We had to wait a few hours, but finally we somehow got in to see the sikh.  He asked us a lot of questions about where we were last night, if anyone could testify to that, what we planned to do, that sort of thing.  I think we managed to convince him that you were with us a good part of the night and that you were innocent,” said Mellira, taking a deep breath.

“Let’s get out of here, we’ve been here long enough already,” chimed Ibben.

“Not yet – we’re taking on passengers.  The sikh is letting me go on the condition that we hunt down Slyne, but he wants some of his hunting dogs with us.  They should be here in a minute,” said Janus.  “I wasn’t expecting to walk out of here, and I’m grateful for whatever you said to change his mind.  Thank you both.”

“Aww, you can repay us later, captain,” said the redhead.  Their heads turned down the corridor at the sound of approaching boots.  The lieutenant of the guard, a grey haired man in his forties, was leading four others, all packed for travel.  He nodded at the captain, and gave a quick salute.

“Ok, are we all here?  Then let’s go, we’ve got a snake to hunt down.”  Captain Janus led the way out of the palace’s doors, already thinking of the next steps in their journey.

Airships of Marrakesh, Part 8

Author’s note:  One of the problems I’ve always had when trying to do NaNoWriMo is that after some small number of words(usually around 5,000), I would fizzle out and have no idea where to go next.  So far with Airships I’m not having that problem, because situations keep leading to other situations.  And it’s totally ok if this thing takes me a couple hundred pages to write out, because that’s the nature of the novel and the first draft.  Jim Butcher always says that one of his favorite things to do is put Harry Dresden in impossible situations and trouble just to see what happens, and I feel like that’s a good way to get conflict going.  I think you see that a little already with Captain Janus; first he gets stabbed, and then he finds that his trusted second in command made off with his airship.

The guard was efficient, and quickly led Janus through the city to the jails in the palace.  Marrakesh at the time was ruled by a sikh, advised by the leaders of the nomadic desert tribes.  The prisoner was brought to the jail through a back entrance, avoiding needless attention.  The cell was surprisingly spacious.  Small barred windows near the top of the high ceiling showed that they were at ground level.

“Stay here.  You will be brought before the sikh to hear your sentence shortly,” said the guard.

“What are my charges?” Janus clutched the bard. “You haven’t even charged me with anything!”

“Listen to that, Jasim.  The city treasury is emptied and leaves on this man’s airship, and the stinking cur pretends not to know.  What a fool does he think we are?” The guards laughed and left, leaving Janus to his thoughts.

He sat back against the cool wall.  So that was what Slyne had planned, why he’d stolen the Sky Drake.  The captain wondered how the first mate had managed it.  The city treasury gone… Small wonder he’d been arrested.  It must have taken months of meticulous planning, an incredible risk with a huge payout.

He had been attacked at sunset, and the rest of the crew had been led out drinking around the same time.  The money must have been stolen just after full dark, maybe with the help of a bribed guard.  It would have taken hours to haul everything across the sleeping city; the air-port was on the opposite side of Marrakesh from the palace, because the sikh still mistrusted technology, nevermind the huge sums that his import taxes were raking in.  Loading the Sky Drake added several more hours, meaning that Slyne had probably flown at or just before dawn.

Had Janus gone to the airship, he would have ended up as dead as Len.  In hindsight, staying at the inn to make plans was the best decision they could have made.  Best of all, the Drake being full of gold meant that the airship was heavy in the air, burning more fuel and needing many more stops to take on supplies.  That meant the route Slyne chose was much more predictable, with more chances to get caught.

Janus looked around his cell.  The room measured perhaps twenty feet by fifty, with the long wall at the back of the cell across from the bars.  The ceiling was high, probably another twenty feet, with small windows near the top that led in morning light.  He was currently the only prisoner, and the room beyond the cell was equally empty.  The guards were likely certain of their security, and felt no need to keep watch on a single prisoner.

He sighed.  The problem came in getting out.  Trying to argue with a man already convinced of your guilt was often pointless, and Janus was certain that the sikh was of the mind that he was indeed guilty.  The captain doubted that anyone would be breaking him out of jail anytime soon.  Escape almost certainly carried a death sentence, as if the penalty for theft – loss of one or both hands – wasn’t bad enough.  Janus had no intention of hanging, nor did he want to spend the rest of his life as a handless invalid.  That left a strong convincing argument as his defense.  Maybe the fact that he was stabbed would actually work in his favor.  He closed his eyes, and fell into a doze.

‘Wake up, dog,” the voice said. It was accompanied by a rattling of metal on metal – a halberd being dragged across the bars.  Three guards waited outside the cell.  The light had changed, and Janus guessed that he’d been asleep for several hours.  He stretched and took a moment to wake up.  They had untied his hands when he arrived, and without being told he held them out to be bound again.  The guard had changed, and one who now tied him was younger, and nodded approval.  The cell door clanged shut behind Janus with an unpleasant finality.

The walk to see the sikh seemed to take an eternity, through endless palace corridors filled with sumptuous carpets and beautiful knick-knacks.  Staff rushed by, often carrying trays of delicacies.  His guards bantered back and forth, and Janus was beginning to suspect that they were deliberately leading him in a longer route than necessary.  They stopped in front of a pair of ornate doors just as he opened his mouth to ask.

The chamber inside was sumptuous, tiled in an intricate design of repeating shapes and abstract forms.  Janus vaguely remembered that Islam forbid direct representations of animals and man, so architects had turned to lines and repetitions of curves to decorate.  It was beautiful but sometimes overwhelming.  One wall of the chamber opened into a shaded garden, with multiple decorated archways leading out.

The room was so busy that it took Janus a moment to notice the people.  The sikh sat on a large thronelike chair and wore robes in a rich cream color with gold thread.

He was an older man with grey in his hair, and a finely trimmed mustache.  Courtiers surrounded him, wealthy men who supported the new trade agreements and dealt in goods from all over the world.  Janus recognized several whom he had traded with and delivered cargo for in the past.  A table to the side was laid out with food, and more people wandered through the garden, conversing quietly.  The guards with their halberds stood out sharply in their red uniforms.

“Captain Janus, welcome.  I am told that you were made aware of the charges against you.  How do you plead?”  The sikh had a quiet voice that commanded respect, silk with iron underneath.

“Innocent, your lordship.  Does my plea make a difference?  Haven’t you already condemned me in your mind?  I swear on my life that it wasn’t I who robbed your treasury, but I know who did,” said Janus.

“Your ship, the Sky Drake, left this morning with most of the gold in our treasury in his hold.  And yet you claim innocence?  Your only mistake was in not leaving the city with your airship!  I can only guess at the devious plots you have in motion which kept you here.”

“Like I said, I knew you wouldn’t hear my reason.  What was the point of bringing me out of my cell to have this farce of an audience?  Why even bring me to the jails at all, why not simply execute me on the spot?”  One of the guards raised his halberd to strike, but a gesture from the sikh stayed his hand.

“Let him speak.  He only digs his grave deeper.  I have witnesses who will tell of your guilt.  Bring them out!”  The sikh stared at Janus with cold eyes.

Two men entered the chamber, both wounded.   One had a leg in a cast, and the other was bruised and battered.  They bowed low to the sikh, before turning to face the captain and his guards.

Both men visibly started.  They looked at each other in confusion and hesitated, reluctant to speak.

“Well? Speak his guilt,” said the sikh.  Impatient for his trial to end, he tapped the fingers of one hand along the arm of his chair.

The man with the broken leg opened his mouth to speak, but the other talked first.  “Your eminence, this is not the man we saw last night.”

“Of course it is, who else could it be?  He is Janus van Koonns, captain of the Sky Drake.  He was arrested just this morning.  Look again, fool.”

“I am sorry, but this is not he.  The man we saw leading the attack was also blonde, but much taller and thinner, with a sharp face.  This man’s face is rounded and his hair is short and shaggy, while the other had long hair slicked back,” said the man with the cast.  He looked severely apologetic.  “This is truth,” agreed the other.  “Though each has blond hair, they look nothing alike.  This Captain Janus was wounded, it seems, while the man from last night escaped with no harm to his person.  I am sorry your eminence.  You have our deepest apologies.”

Janus’ mouth hung open in shock.  The two men had risked their lives to tell the truth, and had perhaps inadvertently saved his life.  He glanced at the sikh, who had a similar expression on his face.  Murmurs spread through the watching crowd.

“Captain Janus, do you know the man they describe?”

“He was my first mate, your lordship.  I was attacked last night at sunset, cut by my attacker, and spent the rest of the night at the inn called the Wandering Crocodile.  Two of my crew were with me, and the rest were out drinking.  They’re all in the city right now.  My first mate, Ruther Slyne, betrayed me as well.  I had no idea what his intentions were until one of your guards mentioned the stolen gold to me this morning.  My crew and I were actually supposed to take on a load of cloth and spices and leave for France this morning.”

“If what you say is truth… I must think on this matter.  Take him back his cell.  Do him harm, and give him food and water.”  Janus nodded in thanks, and gladly followed the guards.  It wasn’t the best outcome, but it was better than hanging.