05
Our passage across the islandless Donata Sea was uneventful - some 22 "days" by my com link. On the far end, we began to encounter clouds - a sure sign of islands. The clouds quickly grew into a pall of dense, dark, rain-thick clouds that wrapped their cool, wet greyness around us.
'I can smell the islands, Wilitang. We're likely amongst the smaller ones already, so keep a sharp lookout ahead,' said KaRaya as I came aft after my watch below.
The air was cool and streaming with floating rain drops that did smell of vegetation. 'It's certainly thick enough. Will they clear soon?'
She shrugged. 'Hard to tell. Cloud banks this thick were likely formed by a recent serrata. The serrata winds can carry off whole lakes on the islands large enough to havethem, so I'm thinking we could be close to one of the larger islands. You might even see some fish about if the birds and lizards haven't' found them yet.'
'Carry off lakes?'
'It doesn't take all that strong of a serrata to blow half a lake into the sky, even on the biggest of the Donta islands.'
'I suppose it wouldn't?' I nodded, thinking of the wave action on the low grav lakes on the moons.
'Call me if you see or even sense an island. In this part of the Dontas, we've nothing to fear from the inhabitants, so we can lay up and wait on any island for the clouds to clear before we set our final course.'
'Right,' I said, exchanging places with KaRaya who went below for her nap.
I turned up the collar of my jacket and pulled down my cap low over my eyes, and squinted to keep the floating raindrops from drifting into my eyes. The chug of the steam engine under the deck and the whooshing of the propeller behind me were almost silenced by the thick clouds that we were pushing through. Occasionally the grey shadow-form of a bird or winged lizard would flash in and out of the gloom, so we were indeed close to islands. I may've even caught a glimpse of a small fish, still wiggling amongst the drops of the floating lake.
We found our island later in my watch. We had approached it so gradually that I never noticed either the deepening darkness as the dragon boat sailed into the shadow of a great island dead ahead, nor the fact that I needed a foot against the cowling of the engine room hatch to keep my place at the tillers. It was only after the boat emerged from the thick cloud bank and I found myself facing, or rather, looking down on a dim-lit forest as far as the eye could see, that I realized we'd made our landfall. The island was still 10 kilometers off, but when I stood up to get a better look at it and found that I had to hold on to the tillers to keep my place. I suddenly realized - too late - that we were already within the gravitational well of a large island.
I swung the boat parallel to the island and called to KaRaya.
She scrambled up to the deck, and looking at the island ahead - or rather below us - rattled off a long string of curses which greatly alarmed me. She pushed past me to the tillers and swung the boat around to stand it on its tail in order to sail directly way from the island which had us standing on the stern bulkhead, though the gravity seemed lighter than any of the inhabited moons I'd visited.
'Sorry. I called you as soon as I saw the island. I guess I didn't notice the light touch of gravity.'
'Never mind. Couldn't be helped.'
'So why the curses? Isn't this one of those large islands we were looking to find?'
'Aye, it looks and feels like one all right. And we're likely too close to escape it.'
'And we want to escape it?'
'Aye, we do. You may've noticed, our dragon boat only has steering rudders. This boat wasn't designed to sail over large islands. It lacks the wings a boat needs to keep aloft over an island large enough to keep people on the ground. We're likely already falling towards it, and I suspect, we'll continue to fall despite the best efforts of our little engine to push us away.'
I considered that. I'd landed enough boats on worlds and moons, that landing even an underpowered boat on an island with perhaps .05 standard gravity, did not greatly alarm me.
'The engine should make our descent very gradual even if we can't escape. If need be, we can set the sail and use it as a parachute to slow us down even further. I don't think we're in any great danger of crashing.'
'Oh, we can land safe enough, Wilitang. That's not my concern. Where we land is. We don't want to land down there, if we can help it,' she said with a sweep of her hand.
'It does look rather wild, but still, aren't these big islands well populated?'
'Yes. But not in the shadow lands. And from the look of the land below, we're in the middle of the shadow lands.'
'The shadow lands?'
'On these big islands it gets rather dark and a bit cooler on the side facing away from the bright sky. Farming in the shadows doesn't pay, so the deepest shadow lands are lightly inhabited. Some big ranches on the prairies and primitive, rather unfriendly people in the woods and mountains.
'I thought we'd left the unfriendly people behind in the Outward Islands.'
'For the most part, we have. But in the deep shadow lands and on the smaller fringe islands of the Dontas you might find some less than friendly people. Not like the savage people of the Outward Islands, but let's say, not very welcoming people. Nothing we can't deal with? My main concern is that if we're forced to land here, we'll have a very long walk ahead of us to reach civilization.'
I gave her a hard look. 'Well, how did you expect this voyage to end? Arriving from the Outward Islands, we'd always be arriving at these islands from their shadow side.'
'Aye. But I had expected to see them in the distance and steer first for one of the smaller islands that we could land on. And then after we'd gotten our bearings, we'd sail for the offshore island port of the nearest of the larger islands - big ships don't land on the big islands themselves, but offload their cargo and passengers on the big islands' nearby small island port, which are then carried down on winged boats. We never needed to go down to the big island. We could've sold this authentic Vantra boat for enough coins to charter an Outward Island trader to take us back to your boat. I wasn't expecting the serrata clouds, nor striking one of the large islands dead center.'
'Your typical disaster.'
She gave me a bright smile, 'Yes, it is. Amazing, isn't it? Still, we've made it safely to the Dontas, so my luck of surviving them is still intact. We'll get out of this disaster as well, we may just have to take a long trek through the wilds of the shadow lands. And after the Outward Islands, that would be a walk in the park.'
'Any reason to suspect that that won't be a disaster as well...'
She shrugged. 'We'll get clear of it, if it is. But what we need to do now is stop talking and start working to keep aloft long enough to make the bright side of the island before we land.'
'How?'
'We'll rig the sail to act like a wing - it should keep us aloft for quite a while. Hopefully long enough to make the bright side, and then insure a soft landing when the time come. Let's get working. We haven't time to waste,' she said, lashing the rudders and springing the hatch in the cage to get at rolled up sail and mast that was secured along the top of the grating. I followed her through the hatch and climbed along the grating. Even in the slight gravity, this was a bit trickier now. We brought the sail inside and quickly tied lines to it so that it could be deployed flat between the two light spars the Vantra boat carried to form a fabric wing - a crude version of the fabric wings I'd seen used on personal fliers over the blue seas of Belbania. We lashed two spars to the rigging, attached a sail to each, and tied their back edge to the grating where we could adjust the angle of the sail to get a bit of lift out of it. When we were done, I glanced down at the island below us. I didn't think we'd gained any altitude, but we hadn't lost much either. Once we had the sail wing set to deploy we climbed back down to the deck.
'Take the tiller, Wilitang and pick a horizon to steer for, and set her nose a little above it. I'll look after the sail-wing.'
'You know these islands and I don't. Tel
l me what direction to steer to.'
'I've no idea what island this is. I've not seen its full shape or characteristic landmark. Pick the brightest looking horizon and trust your luck. Then get that bucket of bolts of yours working at full steam - we need to build some velocity to set this sail properly.'
'Right.' I wasn't eager to rely on my luck - it was proving to have a mind of its own. But I wasn't about to waste even a second arguing about it. I looked down and around, seeing nothing but dark forests and rugged hills rising like mountains - and good sized ones at that. There was no distinct edge in sight - the forests and hills faded to grey in the mists and no horizon looked brighter, so I choose one that seemed to have fewer mountain peaks, and Neb, help me, swung the bow of the boat down and around, pointing it towards the horizon I'd chosen. No longer standing on our whirling tail, the boat lurched forward as KaRaya struggled to get the sail-wing drawing right, adjusting the lines to set it at an angle that provided some lift to the boat as we drove it ahead.
Several hours later - by my com link - found us sailing over a broad mountain valley with a lake at its center, surrounded by dark green and mauve forests and bordered by a wide margin of reeds and mud. Hundreds of little streams were flowing into it from the surrounding woods. Off to starboard, the higher peaks of the mountains now towered above us, and ahead, a line of foothills loomed, nearly level with us. We were aiming for a notch in these hills, still some kilometers away. Clearing that notch looked to be a close-run affair, even with our engine racing and our boat's nose pointed up to maintain as much altitude as possible.
'The serrata must have emptied half the lake,' said KaRaya, peering over the bulkhead. 'What wasn't carried off as clouds is now flowing back into it.'
I nodded absently. I was far more concerned about what lay ahead, and the height of what lay ahead, to find much interest in local meteorological phenomena. There didn't seem to be another range of mountains beyond the notch, but that didn't mean anything. It could just be hidden around the island's uncertain horizon. According to KaRaya, none of the Donta Islands were ball-shaped. They were all long, broad, but rather thin islands - perhaps large shards of an inner shell-reef. We'd no way of knowing if we were traveling parallel or perpendicular to this island's longest length. Nor would we know when we landed, unless a definite brighter horizon could be found. It did seem vaguely brighter beyond the notch, but that might have been only wishful thinking on my part.
'Think we're going to make the notch?'
KaRaya peered ahead. 'We might.' She gave me a grin. 'I'm doing everything I know how to keep us aloft. Any suggestions?'
I shook my head. 'Should we try to lighten the boat? You're the expert.'
She shook her head. 'Not enough to matter at this point. Just give me all the power you can.'
'Right.' I stepped forward and added some more peat moss chunks to the fire. We were at the red line for pressure and the little engine was giving its all.
The island's gravity wasn't much, less than half an average moon's gravity, but still you weren't going to achieve escape velocity by jumping. Gravity came as a great shock to Hissi. She could no longer just float to wherever she cared to go, which annoyed her greatly. She quickly floated down unless she worked at flying. Unlike many dragons, her arms and legs did not have an attached membrane to act as a wing, though she did have long feathers on them that served somewhat of the same purpose. She usually used her arms merely to steer, relying on her long tail for propulsion. Now, she needed to flap her feathered limbs and work her tail eel-like just to maintain altitude. This was far more work than what she was used to. She landed heavily and draped herself over my shoulder and looking up at me, complained bitterly in sharp hisses and angry barks, as if I was to blame.
'Nothing to be done,' I explained. 'You'll have to get used to flying in gravity, what little of it there is, or you'll just have to learn to walk. That's the way things are now.'
She gave me a dark look with her small black eyes, and a low menacing hiss.
'It's only for a while. I'm a free-fall sailor, with places to go, so we'll be back to where you can float sooner or later.'
'Sooner,' she seemed to say with a sharp hiss and dark, dangerous look.
'I realize young lady, that so far you've grown up in some rather iffy company. I'm sorry about that. But I'm not going to put up with a sulky, demanding, egotistical Simla dragon as a companion. The Pela doesn't revolve around you, and right now, if things don't go just right, you might end up with no one to hiss at. And no one to play cards with. Think about that.'
She gave me another dark look, but said nothing more. I'm sure it was the cards remark that got to her. I'd a feeling Simla dragons only came in egotistical.
The notch in the ridge line lay just ahead. On either side, the hills were now rising above us, so it was the notch or nothing. Below us, the tops of the trees marched past, the next one a little closer than the last. It did, however, seem definitely brighter beyond the notch. KaRaya, now at the helm, was cheerfully optimistic about finding our way to civilization, assuming we survived our eventual land fall. There were times that KaRaya could be too cheerful and optimistic.
'If we get too deeply into the trees, kill the propeller. We should have enough momentum to carry us over. We'll need the propeller on the far side,' she said as the top edge of the notch approached. It looked to be a close-run affair.
'Right.' And with one last glance at the approaching tall, pine-like trees, I slipped deeper into the engine room hatch to grab the lever that engaged the propeller. 'Tell me when.'
A moment later I could hear a sibilant rustling and smell the scent of pines as the bottom hull brushed over the tops of the pines. The propeller, as was customary, was enclosed in some cowling, I suppose to protect it from getting entangled in trailing vines and such, so that as long as we didn't get too deep into the trees, it should be safe. We were, however, in the trees - I could see the wispy tops of them over the bulwark - they were dark green or mauve, with needle leaves. I could smell their sharp perfume as the propeller chopped through these small branches. I turned to KaRaya at the tiller expecting to get the order when she broke into a smile, as the tree tops disappeared from my view.
'We're past the heights,' she exclaimed.
I stood and climbed back onto the deck to look out. We had reached another broad, forested valley. Several kilometers ahead, stretched another line of foothills. KaRaya was already steering for the lowest point in that ridge line.
'See if you can get a few more revs out of your engines, Chief. Don't worry about the red line.'
'Right,' I said, slipped back down to my engines. I'd leave the navigation to the deck crew.
But I did worry about the red line on the pressure valve, but pushed it beyond anyways. The emergency release valve should kick in before the boiler blew. Or so I told myself. It was brighter ahead, and I'd rather fly than walk. With the steam valve to the engine wide open, the engine whined a little louder, its cylinders pounded up and down a little faster, the propeller whirled a little faster, the boat sped up, and settled a little slower.
I stayed at my post nursing my engine as we approached the next ridge line, out of my sight beyond the bulwark. It is the fate of every engineer, to man his or her engines heedless of things becoming undone all around them. I only knew when we reached the next ridge line when I heard the branches brushing against the hull. And within moments I could hear branches snapping and breaking...
'Just a little longer, Chief It looks clear ahead. I think we can still push through these trees...' KaRaya said as the tree tops began to tower over the bulkhead. 'If I can avoid going over the main trunks...'
The bow struck a trunk that didn't bend or break. We swerved sharply. 'Kill it!' KaRaya yelled.
I did, even as I saw the engine jump as the propeller came to a grinding, unexpected stop. I hit the steam release valve sending up a cloud of hot steam - we'd no longer be needing steam.
'Finished wi
th engines,' said KaRaya with a grin, as the boat started to slow down and sink, grinding deeper into the trees.
I stood and climbed up to stand beside KaRaya by the tillers. We must've passed the ridge line's high point, since by the time I reached the deck we were once more sliding over the tops of the trees, bending, cracking and snapping beneath the boat's hull, down toward a broad valley with green meadows sloping down to a wide river with stands of mauve and green trees scattered about. It stretched port and starboard out of sight. The horizon was definitely brighter beyond the next ridge. If all went well, thanks to the light gravity, we'd just brush along the tops of the trees until we'd reach the meadow - alive and intact.
The trees ended abruptly, long before we reached the meadow. Suddenly we found ourselves in the air, half a kilometer or so above it, teetering over a tall, perpendicular cliff with piles of rocks and debris at its foot. Without power, the boat lurched downwards towards the rubble.
'Hold on!' yelled KaRaya, needlessly. 'Brace yourself on the hatch cowling, Wilitang! We'll ride her down.'
Not that we had any choice.
I dug my boot's talons into the deck carpet to avoid being flung into the boat's bow and lifted Hissi off my shoulder - pushing her out of the grating. 'Fly, Hissi and stay clear of the boat. See you at the bottom,' I said. Like it or not, she'd have to fly. I'd have to take my chances with the boat. I grabbed hold of the cage and watched the valley floor get closer and calculated the odds of survival.
On any regular planet those chances of surviving the crash would be nil, but with the light gravity of this island, I figured we had a fair chance of surviving. It'd be a matter of luck, good or bad.
As the dragon boat plunged bow-first downwards, trailing a cloud of steam, I had more than enough time to anticipate the impact as the meadow rushed up at us. The bow hit a protruding rock column with a crunch that twisted the keel, displacing the engine and boiler and breaking a steam line or two. A cloud of hot steam exploded from the engine room hatch, along with a shower of burning sparks and embers which flew past us from the firebox door jarred opened by the impact. With the bow snagged on a rock, the boat's stern began to swing down, so that it, or the upper grating above us, seemed to be the likely point of impact.
'To the bow!' I yelled, launching myself forward.
In low gee this was all happening in relative slow motion, allowing us a few seconds to react, though being thrown about, even in low grav, made reacting more or less the same thing as falling forward. I buried my face in the crook of my arm to try to keep it from being scalded by the hot steam as I pushed off for the boat's bow, KaRaya at my side. The impact sent all the unattached fixings and cargo forward with us. The boat, inside the cage, was a slow-motion hurricane of burning embers, fittings and cargo. My plan was to duck under the deck forward and I may've made it before the second impact sent everything crashing to the bow, pelting me with debris while I waited for everything to settle, one way or the other.
Part Three - The Shadow Marches
Chapter 15 The Magistrate's Lieutenants