Chapter Thirteen
When Jicho and I stepped outside, the landscape was absolutely deserted. No more guards or mages lurked in the shadows. Even the partygoers had vanished. This was how Caster parties always went. Once the king left, everyone fell into a drunken stupor.
Perfect.
Jicho and I left the tower and snuck past the nearby village. With every step, we were careful to stay behind trees and in secluded alleys. In truth, there wasn’t much to hide from. Most of the Casters were drunk, asleep, or both. Jicho indicated the path we should take with slight gestures. Beyond that, he refused to tell me where we were going.
Most likely, he thought that if I knew the destination, I’d still try to find Nan on my own.
And yes, he was probably right.
Soon Jicho and I were racing along the edge of one the tributaries that connected to the main river. Moonlight glinted off the still water. The village was now far behind us. Here only a few ferns and stubby trees lined the water’s edge.
Still no sign of any people. Excellent.
After a short run, we reached a small construction by the riverside. The spot consisted of a stack of large wooden boxes on the shore. Beside them, a thin wooden plank jutted out over the dark water. And at the end of that thin walkway, there docked the strangest boat I had ever seen.
Not that I’d seen many water vessels, mind you, but I’d visited a few. Tristan, my one-time friend who’d turned out to be a godling, had told me he was a merchant. What he really was, I may never know. Even so, I’d visited Tristan’s ship from time to time. It was a stocky, wooden affair that bristled with sails and ropes. The moment I’d stepped on board, I’d instantly felt seasick.
But this boat was a sleek metal creation that had been roughly modeled into the shape of a giant shark. Round portal windows lined the sides of the vessel. The main back fin was a tent-like area that hid a small round tower. I’d seen these canister-like objects before in Amelia’s drawings.
“That’s a steam engine,” I said.
“Quite right,” announced Jicho. “Welcome to the Marvelous and Amazing Jicho Extraordinaire. I call it MAJE for short.”
“That’s quite a name.”
“Thank you.” Jicho sprinted along the thin plank of wood and landed on the ship’s top deck.
I followed him, my jaw agape. I stepped gingerly around the gleaming bronze deck. Now, if this thing had been created with magick, I’d have felt rather at home. In fact, I could imagine the exact spells I would select to fashion something similar, most likely with bat wings and whale bones. But the fact that this was made entirely from metal and without a single spell? This was a far more impressive creation.
Square metal doors lined up neatly below my feet. “The floor is covered in doors. What’s below deck?”
“Oh, all sorts of things.” Jicho stepped up to the canister-like object under the fin-tent. He began fiddling with dials and pulling on levers. “There are storage spaces and miniature engines. I’ll have her going in a matter of minutes.”
“Is there no other way to find Nan?”
“Not unless you can cast a transport spell?”
I stared at the innumerable levers, switches, and gears. They seemed to cover every open inch of space inside the boat. “How long before Rowan comes looking for you?”
And takes you away. Not that I added that part.
“One day, maybe two.” Jicho tapped a small dial with his pointer finger. “I told him my last vision was so upsetting, I was going into meditation at the main temple of the Lady. No one bothers me there.”
“I think that’s being a bit hopeful. My guess is he’ll start tracking us right away.” Not that we’d know it. Rowan was an expert at staying hidden. I could only hope we’d find the first part of the Sword before he decided to strike. “How long have you known we’d be escaping this way?”
“Oh, it’s like I told you. I’ve seen this for ages and ages.” Jicho screwed his mouth up to one side. “That’s why I asked Amelia to build the boat.” The steam engine began to hiss and sputter as it came to life. “Have you seen her laboratory lately?”
“Yes, and the fact that it overflows with metal now makes perfect sense.” I paced along the deck. Every upright surface seemed to be covered with a dial or lever. “I need to understand how to operate this thing.”
“Oh, I can explain it to you.” Jicho then launched into a lengthy description of how he helped Amelia find bolts for the hull. Bolts.
This wasn’t helping.
I cleared my throat. “Sorry to interrupt but—”
“Don’t you want to hear how we got the bolts into Amelia’s lab?”
“Very soon. But is there a manual or something I could read while you explain things? That would be most helpful.” Or helpful at all, actually.
Jicho rubbed his chin, leaving a fresh smear of grease in his wake. “All of Amelia’s plans are in this case.” He kicked at a small box that had been bolted to the deck. “Take a look.”
“Thank you.” After twisting a few of the metal knobs, I opened the airtight case. The shiny box was jammed full of random scraps of paper and plans. I sighed. This was Amelia, all right. The girl wrote everything down, but she was a true slob at heart. I pulled out a stack of papers from the top and sat down by the steam engine. The many dials gave off a soft glow that I could read by.
“Not much help, is it?” asked Jicho.
“I’ll figure it out,” I replied. “I had to decipher all sorts of ancient Necromancer texts in the Cloister library. This can’t be worse.” I scanned the top sheet. Amelia’s handwriting was nearly unreadable. “I take it back. It’s worse. Even so, I’ll figure it out. How long do I have before we reach Nan?”
“Depends on the weather and the river,” replied Jicho. “I’ve seen some different futures for us. We should reach her village by morning. Perhaps earlier.”
“Assuming Rowan doesn’t find us first.” I settled in, resting my back against the side of the boat. “Have you had a vision of Rowan finding us?”
“No,” said Jicho. “And that means there are too many ways things could happen. There are countless possibilities for our adventure here. I only see visions when there are one or two options for the future.”
“Oh, that makes sense.” I knew very little about Seer powers, and now was not the time for a more lengthy tutorial. Instead, I returned my attention to Amelia’s papers while Jicho manned the MAJE. In the moonlight, I could see the trees grow thicker along the shoreline. The air became heavier with moisture.
We were heading deeper into the jungle.
I smoothed out the sheet before me. “It looks like Amelia did the design here.”
“Whenever she got stumped, I saw what she needed to do next.” Jicho flipped a lever and a strange hiss erupted from the control panel. “Whoops.” He cranked a hand dial and the steam stopped. “Do you want me to tell you about every vision I had? I can explain once I’m done telling you about the bolts.” He scrunched up his mouth again. “Although then, you definitely need to know the story about how we get the sheet metal.”
“You know what? I’m fine. I’ll read these sheets and you get the MAJE going.”
Jicho frowned. “If you’re sure.”
“Positive.”
“I get it.” Jicho grinned. “I’ll give you a minute before I finish my bolt story. This is a lot for you to take in, what with you being so old and all.”
“Thank you, Jicho.” I think.
With that, I began deciphering what had been built into this metal contraption. After all, without magick the MAJE might my only way to get the Sword of Theodora…And the answer about how to heal the gateways without requiring my own death.
Assuming the Sire and Lady would even allow that.
I couldn’t ignore the truth. Even if I could find hybrid magick to heal the gateways, the gods might fight against me anyway. The Sire and Lady clearly didn’t like me wielding hybrid magick.
Right now, all that stood between Viktor’s war and my death were a Seer boy, a strange metal boat, and me, a mage who had forgotten how to cast a single spell.
In other words, things were not looking good.