Ch5-2: The Barnburner
“Really? He’s doing it again!” the blue-haired captain growled under her breath. The fingers of one hand drummed in irritation along the airship control panel.
Cecil blinked up from the course chart with a slow frown. “I’m sorry, Captain Silver. Who’s doing what again?”
She leveled a finger across the deck, indicating the windswept form of Golbez on the far end. The Master Wizard was leaning out over the railing of the airship as they flew.
“Oh, he does that all the time,” Cecil eyed his brother cautiously. The Paladin might have been more shocked at the sight if he hadn’t already grown used to seeing his brother perform such oddities. By now, he had learned that Golbez rarely did anything that made much sense to the majority of the sane populace on the Blue Planet.
The captain, however, looked less than happy. “If he goes overboard, we’re not stopping to look for his mangled body.”
“No, of course not. I wouldn’t ask you to,” the Paladin folded the maps carefully.
“So little concern for one of your own men, King Cecil?” Captain Silver retorted.
“Golbez would probably catch back up to us eventually.”
She fell silent for a long moment. When she spoke again, her eyes were a bit spooked, “Did you just say… Golbez?”
“Yes, I did,” he forced his voice to stay calm in reply.
“King Cecil, you didn’t tell me that I would be transporting criminals more infamous than myself on this flight,” Captain Silver eyed him suggestively.
“He’s… reformed?” Cecil offered jovially.
“Yeah, yeah…” she smirked. “That’s what half my crew says.”
The Paladin gave a winning smile in return.
“Well, Golbez or not, he needs to stop leaning over my rail,” Captain Silver muttered with lowered brows.
Cecil peered over at her quietly, “Would you like to be the one that tells him that?”
She eyed him for a moment, obviously gathering her thoughts for a come back. Then she fixed her gaze back on the speeding horizon with a deep scowl, “I’m only paid to pilot this ship. If one of your passengers go airborne, it’s not my problem.”
“Ah,” the young King gave a slight smile, “Though you’re right. I’ll talk to him about it. That doesn’t promise to do any good, however.”
“Pash,” she scoffed softly, “Coming from you, why does that not surprise me?”
Cecil did not reply to the young captain’s jeers. Instead, he made his way out of the sheltered pilot’s station and over the long airship deck.
Silverlining hasn’t changed a bit… I wonder how she got her hands on a beauty like this.
Despite the ship’s less than spotless reputation, the Barnburner’s planks were bright with the glow of fastidiousness. The gentle whirr of the rotary motors above his head left Cecil with a sense of confidence in the crew’s abilities. It was partially the ship’s healthy disposition and his own familiarity of the captain that had led the Paladin to hire the Barnburner as their transport ship to Troia.
Of course, I could never really ask her… Since I’d probably have to haul her in if I were to know the truth.
The solid sound of his footsteps upon the wood did not seem to register on Golbez. The Half-Lunar’s eyes were fixed on the depths of the forests that had begun to spring up below them. The expression on his face was one of fixed concentration… so much that Cecil began to grow more curious the closer he came.
Finally, stopping a short ways from the rail, the Paladin called softly, “Brother..?”
The Master Wizard didn’t respond. The only motion was the tangle of white hair and the billow of green cloak as both snapped in the wind.
“Golbez?” Cecil spoke again, striding slowly towards the rail. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Hun?” the Half-Lunar turned, blinking at the Paladin as if just suddenly realizing he was there. “Oh… Cecil? Ah, yeah. I’m fine. Why?”
“I saw you leaning over the rail here. I thought maybe you were a bit air-sick?”
Golbez shook his head quickly. “No… I never get air-sick.”
“Well, you’re giving the captain a scare, at the least. You really shouldn’t hang so far over,” the Paladin murmured quietly. “Just a little turbulence and we could lose you.”
“Well,” the Master Wizard gave a nervous grin, “You wouldn’t mind that so much, would you?”
“Come on, Golbez. You know that’s not true,” Cecil wrinkled his nose.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Pretty sure.”
The young King turned his head to observe the passing forests below. There was a sense of peace surrounding the ship…. the peace that one only got from being so far above the world.
I never even realized I missed this till I got on this ship… there’s just no feeling quite like flying.
Golbez must have taken notice. His question came slowly, as if uncertain whether he should ask. “What’s on your mind, Cecil?”
“Oh, I was just thinking about how I missed flying like this.”
“You mean, flying airships?”
“Yeah,” Cecil nodded. “I haven’t gotten to fly as much now that I’m a King.”
“You used to fly a lot then?”
“All the time. I was the Captain of the Red Wings. My second home was practically the deck of a ship.”
Golbez gave a small, unexpected smile. “I didn’t know that.”
“What… that I was Captain of the Red Wings?”
“No… that you liked to fly so much.”
“Tell me where else you can go to say that you’ve skimmed the cloud tops… or outrun the west winds?” the Paladin tilted his head, peering across the low cloud banks. “I guess it sounds a little dumb, but the world just seems so peaceful when you look down on it from up here. Nothing at all like how it really is on the ground.”
“I don’t think it sounds dumb at all,” Golbez leaned his chin down on top of his folded hands. “As a matter of fact, it’s probably quite natural that you enjoy it so much. Father was the one that brought the first ship designs here to the Blue Planet.”
“Wha…?” Cecil blinked over, suddenly distracted.
“Yeah, you didn’t know?”
“I thought Cid was the one who…”
“Oh, yeah, Master Cid was involved too,” the Half-Lunar nodded. “But it was really Father who drew up the original designs for the Red Wings. He just never stepped up to take credit for it.”
“Seriously?”
“Well, I mean, look at the Big Whale. He built that… too…” Golbez’s voice wavered off, a sudden pained look crossing his face.
Cecil recognized the look instantly. It was the same expression he had seen before, once when his brother was attempting to remember something deep within his past.
Still, the Paladin found himself asking, “How do you know?”
“I…” Golbez paused, blinking down at his hands. “I just… I just remembered… just now. Since we were talking about the ships, I guess?”
Cecil tried to keep the welling of concern that began to rise within his chest from showing on his face.
I wonder if that means that Golbez’s memories really will come back.
It was a very scary thought to consider.
And if they do return… does that mean he’d become the Dark Lord again? Even after all of this?
The silence between them had become uncomfortable. Golbez’s eyes flickered, the light behind them lost to the struggle of his own internal war once again.
When it comes down to it… what side will win this war? Who will Golbez choose to become in the end?
“Cecil?” the Master Wizard’s voice still quavered as he fought to change the subject.
“Yeah?” the Paladin blinked out of his thoughts at the sound of his brother’s voice.
“I was just wondering…” Golbez paused.
“Wondering…?” he tried to sound encouraging.
“How come we hired a pirate ship to take us to Troia?”
“It’s a mercenary ship. There’s a big difference,” Cecil choked. “Who told you this was a pirate ship?”
“I heard Kain say so,” Golbez shrugged.
“Ah, well, Kain has a way of stating things… rather… indelicately?”
“But we still hired a ship, right?”
“That’s right. Why?” the young king squinted, trying to follow his brother’s line of thinking.
“I don’t understand. Why didn’t we just use one of the Red Wings?” the Master Wizard inquired. “You can fly a ship just fine, can’t you?”
“Of course I can,” Cecil told him. “But the idea of taking a non-fleet ship like this is to hopefully throw people off of our track.”
“You think we’re being watched?”
“I don’t know. What do you think?”
“It’s hard to tell,” Golbez admitted.
“I agree. That’s why I think it’s better to play it safe,” Cecil nodded slowly. “Besides, we sent another ship off to Damcyan a few days before we left. If we get lucky, maybe the enemy will think that you and I were on the official ship and totally overlook this one.”
The Half-Lunar squinted suspiciously, “Do you know something, Cecil?”
“What… do you mean?” the Paladin froze.
“I know that one of your ships never came back from sending the message out to Troia, but…” Golbez frowned slowly. “Is that the only reason you’ve chosen to go there first?”
Cecil hesitated, a pinched look on his face.
It’s because I saw the city of Troia destroyed in my dream.
The Paladin’s fingers tightened on the wood of the railing.
But what if it really didn’t happen? What if I’m wasting our precious time on something that may have not even come to pass?
Golbez simply stood there, green eyes watching his younger brother with a deeply knowing look.
I can’t tell him… He’d probably think I’m a fool to go speeding off after some image in a nightmare.
Cecil turned away, feeling a bit intimidated.
He is a Master Wizard, after all. And me… I don’t really know a thing about all this mystical Lunarian mumbo-jumbo.
“It’s okay, Cecil,” Golbez finally spoke. The words were smooth and reassuring. “I trust your judgment. I was only curious why you chose to come this way first because…”
The way the last word lingered in the air left Cecil with a bad taste in his mouth. He gave a gentle urge, “Because…?”
“Because,” the Master Wizard turned his gaze back upon the expanse of trees that passed below. “Because… something about this forest speaks to me… There is something here that is very, very wrong. I can feel it.”
The Paladin found himself holding his breath, unable to think of anything to say in reply. Whatever he had been expecting to come from his brother’s mouth, it had not been anything like this.
Before either of them could speak again, a shout came across the deck of the ship, “Hoooo! Your Majesty!”
The two Half-Lunars turned to see Captain Silver waving to them from the pilot’s area.
“I wonder what that’s about?” Cecil murmured half to himself, turning away from the rail to answer the call. Golbez followed at a short distance behind.
Captain Silver met them both at the incline. Her eyes shifted and lingered on Golbez momentarily before she turned to address Cecil. “One of my boys just found himself an extra bit of baggage in the hold. We was wonderin’ if it mighta belonged to you?”
One of the deck hands swaggered forward from where he had been standing behind the captain. One meaty fist plunked down the shivering form of a little boy.
Golbez perked in instant recognition, “Chase!? What are you doing here?”
“Beeeeeen…” the page sniffed softly. “King Cecil… I’m sorry! Please don’t be angry at me!”
“A stowaway,” Captain Silver eyed the two Half-Lunars with a quizzical look.
“Well,” Cecil stroked his chin with one finger.
“You know what happens to stowaways, right?” she continued slowly, jabbing one finger towards the boy. “They get to walk tha plank!”
Chase gasped.
Heh… she’s going to scare the poor boy senseless. I guess I should try and get him off the hook. Even if he did jump-ship on us.
“Well, this one certainly doesn’t belong to me,” the Paladin turned towards Ben with a sly look. “What about you, Golbez?”
“Uh… what about me?” the Master Wizard blinked.
The page’s golden eyes grew round and afraid. “B… B…Ben..?”
“Does this one belong to you?” Captain Silver asked. “If not, he’s done stowed-away.”
“Well… actually,” Golbez nodded, “Yeah. He’s my page. So I guess he does sorta belong to me.”
The deck hand gave a grunt and firmly pushed Chase towards the Master Wizard. The boy instantly stumbled forward, wrapping his arms around Golbez’s waist for comfort.
“Then I’d suggest that you take care of your extra baggage,” Captain Silver smirked slowly. “And stop leanin’ over my rails. I’m not responsible if you lose a limb from your own foolishness.”
Golbez turned to the captain with a blink, “Yes, Ma’am.”
“Hrmph…” she snorted through her nose softly. “Good manners don’t smooth over bad behavior. I suggest you remove your luggage from my sight.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” he stuttered again, this time pulling Chase away from the pilot’s area.
“I swear, kids start going rotten so early these days,” Captain Silver grumbled. “What’s this world coming to?”
“What, indeed…” Cecil found himself agreeing, his eyes turning back to the tree-lined horizon with a shiver of foreboding.