Skyworld Book I

Chapter Eight - The Jeweled City

The subconscious is not always a helpful thing when the mind requires a place of solitude and rest. Sometimes it can manipulate recent events and reshape them into internal displays that play across the mind in the form of twisted dreams.

It was such a carousel of images that awoke Gideon from his slumber. All to vividly he'd found himself back aboard the airship Minault as it dropped out of the African skies. Only now it was falling onto the Wind-Runner and just as it collapsed over the smaller, wooden vessel, he saw Althea trapped on the bridge. Gideon scrambled to escape the gondola and get to her, only to have his legs tangled in coils of steel wire. As the two ships from different worlds collided, his last sight of the princess was of her covering her face with her hands in a final, futile gesture.

Gideon awoke screaming her name. Immediately alert, he realized his faux-pas and looked about the small room to see if his outburst had roused any of the others. Thankfully not, as the three off-duty ensigns and Prof.Romaine continued to slumber, each locked in private dreams of their own.

Shaken by his nightmare, for that was what it had been, he slid quietly from his bunk, donned his pants and tunic and carefully tip-toed out into the hall. Maybe a stroll along the deck and some fresh air would help ease his troubled spirit.

As expected, the ship was all but deserted, save the three man off-shift crew made up of Ensign Lanal and a helmsman on the bridge and the watch sailor assigned to the vaulted crow's nest atop the middle mast. Dent waved to the ensign, who returned his silent gesture with an informal salute. Then he proceeded to move along the railing towards the bow.

It was eerie being in a world without nights, but somehow he sensed a difference in the cool air that filled the giant sails overhead. Maybe Romaine was right. Maybe there was an inner biological clock that allowed to the senses to relax and affected how they perceived this particular time frame. Somehow, on a molecular level, it felt like night. Even as he had the idea, it rang in his thoughts as screwy, but then again, he didn't have a better one. What was it Romaine had suggested? When dealing with the impossible, the saner course was to merely accept and adapt.

Dent stood at the railing over the ship's bow and watched the skies. The Purpleheart moved as if she were weightless and floating through the ether. Every so often he would sight a floating island and once again his awe for this world was renewed. He thought he sighted other flying boats as well, but they were always too distant to be sure.

"You seem lost in thought, Gideon Dent?" Her voice surprised him and he jumped.

"Princess. You startled me."

"Forgive me," she smiled, wrapping a heavy cape around her shoulders. She was still dressed as he had last seen her. "I didn't expect to find anyone else here at this hour."

"I couldn't sleep, so I thought the fresh air would do me some good."

She came up to stand beside him and look out at the clouds and floating islands. "Yes, I can well imagine. This being all so new to you."

"What about yourself? Still worried about what will happen when you get home?"

"To a degree," she shrugged. "What I told the Skymarshal was the truth. There really is nothing to do but get there and deal with my brother then. Worrying will only cause unwanted tension."

"So, if not that, what is keeping you up?"

"You are." She turned and looked up into his face.

"Oh. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" He had trouble looking into her face. It was so near and so beautiful, it filled him with a familiar desire. A desire he fought to keep in check.

"What you did back on the Wind-Runner." She paused, then reached out and touched her own lips.

"You mean the kiss?"

"Yes. Why did you do that?"

"Because I love you." There it was. Just like that. Althea put her fingers on his lips.

"No, please. Do not say that. Ever."

Gideon took her hand and kissed her fingertips. "But its true. I've known it since the first time I saw you."

"You don't understand. Nothing can ever come of this?"

"Why? Because you are a princess?"

"Yes." He released her hand, a pained expression washing over his face. "You're a stranger here. You don't understand our traditions."

"We have similar traditions back where I'm from, princess. About commoners not mixing with the blue bloods."

"Then you must realize, I have an obligation to my family and more importantly to my people. Regardless of my own feelings."

"Whoa, wait a second! Are you saying you feel something for me?" Gideon took her by the shoulders before she could answer. She looked up into his eyes and he saw the conflicted emotions in her face.

"I..I.."

And it was all he needed. Gideon pulled her to him and brought his lips to hers a second time. She instinctively tried to pull away and then she was returning his embrace with ardor. The kiss lasted for only seconds but it seemed an eternity and he could feel his heart racing wildly.

"NO!" Althea broke his hold and stepped back. "This cannot be! If you do love me as you say, then you will respect my wishes, Gideon Dent."

"But this is nuts.."

"No, it is our way. When we reach the capital city of Corveir, we must never see each other again."

With that, she twisted about and hurried away. He watched her go and felt like the village idiot. One moment he'd been filled with the purest happiness he had ever known and then it all turned to ashes in his mouth.

No, he would not accept this rejection. Now that he knew she loved him, he vowed to find a way to make things work for them. Balling his right hand into a fist, he smashed it into the palm of his left with a single thought: God help anyone or anything that got in his way.

---

"MELAND SIGHTED!" came the loud cry from the crow's nest. The spotter waved his arms and pointed to ship's starboard.

Dent and Prof.Romaine, in the middle of a deck tour conducted by Lt.Tand, turned to peer in the direction indicated. A gigantic island rock formation was looming ahead of them. It was larger than any other island Dent had seen to date. The three men hurried up the stairs to the bow deck and stood in admiration of the massive world they were speedily approaching.

"It's huge," Dent muttered. "Nothing like the smaller islands we've passed."

"Indeed. Most of the major principalities of Skyworld are to found closer to the center core. Apparently their increased mass is compensated for here, whereas the further you go away from the core, the smaller in bulk the sky islands become until you reach the rim."

During the professor's discourse, the Purpleheart had started to climb pass the rock bottom of the massive island and was now approaching a green, forested domain. Dent's eyes were glued on the startling vista before him. Like any sea-based island on Earth, Meland was made up of a magnificent, lush topography that included mountains, hills, valleys, lakes, rivers and forests. There was also life aplenty everywhere he looked.

The most amazing were the birds that swooped up at them from the green forest roof. Of all shapes and colors, these exotic creatures gave out piercing cries as they flew around them.

"Birds!"

"Indeed."

"But I hadn't seen any before?"

"Not too many can traverse the openness of Skyworld, my boy. But like our own seagulls back home, there are certain wide-ranging species. But they are rare and not often seen. These here are mostly nesters who may go from one nearby island to another, but no further."

"Fascinating."

"I ran out of adjectives a long time ago. Everything in this world is fascinating."

Forcing his eyes back to the floating landmass, Gideon began to spot villages and towns between the thick forest and mountain ranges. Ribbons of dirt roads that connected these communities began to multiply the further along they flew until they merged into several highways all pointing towards glimmering glow on the horizon. The immensity of the sky-island was slowly dawning on him. From the time the Purpleheart had begun passing over it, several hours had elapsed without any end in sight.

Now, with the bright shimmering ahead, he began to sense the culmination of their journey quickly approaching. "The silver spires of Candlemar," Prince Althea said with a particular reverence as she appeared behind them with Captain Cloud at her side. "At last, Gideon Dent, you are about to see my home, the capital city of Meland."

It began as small neighborhoods very much like the country conclaves they had already flown over. Then the clumps grew tighter together until they became a sprawl that he surmised housed thousands of people. Edging his way past the professor and Lt.Tand, Gideon went to the bow and for the first time saw the crystal like towers that rose up out of the apron of smaller domiciles. They were magnificent structures of silver and gold, glass and steel. Like some Arabian fairy kingdom he'd read about in his youth, only this was not a fanciful whim of some writer's imagination. This was before him, rising in pomp and splendor.

The closer to the majestic city, the more details became pronounced, including the dramatic fact that Candlemar was set on an independent land mass floating at the tip of the main body and was joined to it by a massive, ornate bridge that would have made the folks in New York City marvel. The Brooklyn Bridge had nothing on this fantastic span. It was an engineering masterpiece of construction.

Dent felt his mind bursting from the images it was receiving, each one more startling than the last. And, as if the jeweled city of Candlemar, independently afloat, wasn't breath-taking enough, the final frosting on the vista before him were the myriad skyships filling every free inch of space above and below the shining metropolis. There must have been hundreds of stationary crafts of all shapes and sizes in rigid position.

As they drew nearer, the earthling was able to recognize other ships flying the crossed lightning bolts of Grandar. Understanding the significance of such pennants, he spotted dozens of cruisers and frigates sporting a white field divided into four equal portions by a blue cross at the center of which shone a bright golden starburst. It was of particular interest to Dent as he had already sighted a similar flag waving atop the central, castle like building at the heart of the city.

"The white flag with the starburst?" he queried Romaine. "The state flag of Meland?"

"And the House Corveir," the old man added.

Dent nodded and turned to the princess. "I see you've got company."

Althea looked at the gathered armada surrounding her city and grimly nodded. "My brother chooses to commit his crimes in front of the world. His ego shall be his undoing."

Lt. Tand pointed to one of their sister ships moving out of formation over the castle and coming to greet them. She was followed by a Meland cruiser.

"I see them, Lieutenant. Signal them we have found the princess and wish permission to land in the main concourse."

"Aye, aye, Captain." Tand called a name and immediately a young sailor appeared carrying two huge pennants, one black and one white. He listened to Tand's instructions, then ran to the railing to Dent's left. Here he had a clear view of the two approaching ships. Immediately he began waving his twin pinafores in a series of hasty and precise moves. Dent recognized it as a form of semaphore communications he had seen practiced by navies on Earth.

The Purpleheart began to drop out of the sky as they drew closer to the grand connecting bridge. Below them was a public park that reminded Dent of the famous Boston Commons. At the center of this was square shaped meadow that could easily have accommodated half a dozen football fields. Luckily there seemed to be few people occupying the bucolic area and those that were hastily beat a retreat from where they were landing.

No sooner had the crew of the Purpleheart tossed over heavy iron anchors, then the Meland cruiser that had come to greet also set down behind them. As Captain Cloud was escorting Princess Althea, Prof.Romaine and Dent down the long wooden ramp his men had lowered, a group of sailors from that ship came racing across the grass.

A young captain stopped smartly in front of Althea and gave her his best fist-against-the-chest salute. "Princess, it is so wonderful to see that you are safe."

"Thank you, Captain Nulre. It is good to be home." Althea glanced around the near empty park. Some brave citizens were beginning to mill in closer. "Tell me, Captain, were is everybody?"

"Ah.." the officer fidgeted from one foot to another. "Most of the population is at the royal palace, your highness."

"The palace?" Althea looked across the bridge.

"Yes, your majesty. It is Coronation Day and your brother, Prince Arkurn, is being crowned king."

"Hmm, yes. Has the ceremony begun yet?"

"No, Princess. The Vizier Gemor had only just entered the main hall when your ship was sighted. I believe the program was stopped until we could determine your identity."

Althea looked at Captain Nulre and then smiled. "Well, come along then, good captain, we mustn't keep my brother waiting." "It would be an honor to escort the Princess and her entourage," Nulre came back smartly.

"I am grateful, captain, but in this instance I would prefer that privilege go to my rescuers." With that, Althea turned to face Captain Cloud. "Would you be so kind as take me just a little further, Skymarshal?"

Dent swore the dashing Cloud's chest doubled in size as he came to rigid attention. "Madam, you do me and my crew a most singular honor."

Cloud spun about and snapped an order to Lt.Tand who was standing at the top of the boarding ramp. "I want a squad of the ship's Royal Cadre out here on the double!"

"Yes, sir!"

Two minutes later, Tand jogged down the ramp followed by six fully armed and gaudily dressed Skyworld marines. When the men had taken their positions around Althea and her friends, Cloud once again bowed. This time he swept his arm towards the silver shining enclave.

"When you are ready, Princess?"

Althea nodded and then addressed Captain Nulre. "You may join us, Captain, if you'd like."

"Madam, I wouldn't miss this for the world." The young Melander stepped into place beside Captain Cloud and Dent.

Seeing everyone ready, Lt.Tand cried out a command and the Royal Cadre began marching forward. They expertly kept pace with Althea and her group.

While all this exchange and protocol had been playing out, Dent had used the time to study his surroundings. From what he could see of Candlemar up close, it incorporated very fancy, complex architecture that was both practical and decorative. Having traveled extensively in his career, Dent likened most of the designs he saw to middle-eastern countries. The tall spires and bulbous domes evoked images of Turkey and Russia.

As for the people, they too wore gaudy but comfortable clothes. The women were by far more gaily attired, whereas the men seemed at ease in loose, baggy pants, boots and sandals and shirts of light materials.

As the military procession started across the massive bridge, the number of people following along to either side began to increase noticeably.

"I believe we are starting to gather a crowd," Professor Romaine quibbled, as they made their way across the cobblestone that covered the long, wide bridge.

"Word is spreading of your recovery," Captain Cloud deduced. "It didn't take long."

By the time they had reached the royal grounds, they were being shadowed by thousands of eager and happy Melanders. No sooner had the princess stepped onto the tiled pathway leading between two powerfully erected stone walls then a cheer rang out through the gathered multitude.

"The princess has returned. LONG LIVE PRINCESS ALTHEA!" It was picked up by others and soon was a deafening chant that echoed over the circular courtyard they were now facing. Assembled here were dozens of Royal Cadre, all wearing Meland colors.

At the sound of the commotion, they charged out and took up positions to block the main entrance to the royal enclave. When the officer in charge recognized Althea, he bowed, saluted and ordered his men to break ranks thus allowing her a clear path.

Dent was caught up in the euphoria of the moment. The happiness put forth by the people at the sight of their beloved princess whom they had thought loss, was almost physical. Like an emotional wave that was engulfing them all. For her part, Althea was basking in the overwhelmingly loving reception she was being showered with. Waving her hands, she beamed her beautiful smile to her constituency as she continued to move into the palace grounds.

The pageantry and splendor of his surroundings was not lost on Dent. It was all deliriously splendid and he was reminded of the tales of King Arthur and Camelot he had devoured as a child. That magical realm could not have been more wondrous than this place into which he was entering. Damn, he thought, live long enough and even the most impossible dreams do come true.

And if he thought things couldn't get more joyous and raucous, he was proven wrong by the blast of horns that pealed across their heads. Looking up, he saw at least twenty men and women skirting the blue marble staircase into the main entrance of the palace. They were each blaring away on long, thin, horns who's sound announced a glorious and triumphant moment.

The crowds, refusing to be kept out of the historical events happening before their eyes, pushed and jostled their way into the courtyard to witness what would occur next. The military units, dedicated to protect the royal personage of the princess and her kin, struggled valiantly to create a cordon about her party, aided by Captain Cloud's marines. Still it was a tight squeeze for all.

As the musical fanfare died out the giant double doors opened and out came the elite of Meland. Counts, dukes and their ladies resplendent in their best finery. Obviously the word of Althea's return had made its way into the palace's grand hall. From this pack, three youngsters came charging down the polished stone steps.

"Althea," they all cried happily and immediately encased her with hugs and kisses.

"The baby brother and sisters," Romaine smiled. Dent had assumed as much. But there remained one sibling whom, according to what he knew, would not be so happy at this reunion. That thought then took form in the figure appearing at the top of the stairs.

By his regal carriage and the way the others moved to allow him to pass, Dent knew he was looking at Prince Arkurn of the House Corveir. He was almost a male version of Althea, with the same height and strikingly handsome features. Moving down the steps with the same lithe grace of a dancer, the only differences lay in their sexual orientation. Arkurn was physically superior to his sister's sinewy physique. Still, by the time he was standing before her, Gideon was unnerved by the mirror image of their facial similarities. No one in the universe could have looked at this pair and not seen a brother and sister.

"Ah, it is true," Arkurn began and Dent was jarred by a real difference in their make-up. The man's voice contained not an ounce of warmth. It was cold. "You have returned to us. How wonderful."

"Is it, brother?" Althea could chill her own words as needed.

"But of course, dear sister. We all thought you lost?"

"Arkurn, your scheme to have me eliminated has failed. I suggest you cease this idiotic pandering and prepare to face your justice."

A hush dropped over the assembly like a stage curtain ending a particularly dramatic act. Dent tensed, wondering what the prince would do now. It was clear Althea was not about to dally in seeing his plans exposed and his scheme of usurping the throne ended.

Arkurn laughed, startling everyone. He took a step forward and slapped Althea across the face with a hard backhanded blow. Dent started to jump forward, only to have Lt.Tand and Prof.Romaine hold him back.

"Very well, dear sister," Arkurn spoke, wiping a hand over his black hair. "Then I challenge your right to ascendancy with a duel of Champions."

End Of Chapter Eight