The Alchemist Chapter 22

 

Chapter 22

We cast off the next day. I had signed on to a two month contract, during which we would fly over the valley of Morbunda and into dragon sky. This land was inhabited by groups of nomads, who did not create large settlements, mostly because the rainfall in the region did not support crops and there were no nearby rivers. It was a dry, scrubby landscape, which took three days to sail towards.

Lifting the camera on board had been hard, but eventually we succeeded. I set the camera up on the ship’s forecastle and took some test photos—though I didn’t bring a dark room with me, as that would be too difficult. I just wanted to have some photos of the landscape as seen from a sky ship.

“How does this ship fly?” I asked, as I leaned over the boat’s bow. Kelin was standing next to me with his arms crossed.

“Boy, if you were smart enough to understand how cloud magic works, you wouldn’t have signed on to this ship.”

“Try me,” I said.

“When Skymetal radiates heat, it creates a negative aura that lifts things. All you have to do to lift something big is heat the metal on one end while the other is open to the elements.”

“I understand,” I said. “So, that’s what those bands of metal are doing around the ship.” I looked overboard, and noticed that they were beginning to get red hot. “How hot do they get?”

“I’m surprised,” said Kelin. “Most sailors wouldn’t have understood that explanation.”

“I’m not a normal sailor,” I said. “I’m educated. I can read and do math.”

“You may be stranger than I anticipated,” said Kelin. He turned around and walked back to the helm. Before he got out of earshot, he looked back at me. “Ogle the technology all you want, but try not to fall overboard.” He then walked away.

I peeled away from the fascinating display of magical technology and walked back to where I was storing the camera. At the moment it was covered by a sheet. The silhouette was of a long, thing apparatus that appeared a bit spooky.

The funny thing about riding a sky ship is that, unlike a ship on the sea, there was no rocking back and forth. I suffered no seasickness—or in this case, airsickness.

At that moment the cook rang the meal bell. I went down below and sat around a table with a number of crew members. I hadn’t learned everyone’s name yet, but I was in no hurry, as I had two months to work with.

“Eh, we’re in dragon territory now,” said a red-haired man with a short, well-trimmed beard. “If my reckoning’s right, we’ll see one before too long.”

The man’s name was Johan. He sat down at the table and put his feet up.

The cook came in, a young-looking elf with a scrubby haircut. He was carrying several dishes full of food. After setting them down on the table, he pulled away and waited patiently in the corner.

The five of us around the table dug in—the ship was crewed by eight people. Kelin, the captain, was not with us at the moment. The food tasted fine, but the main course of hard tack and molasses did not do me any good.

Since this was a sky ship, flying over land, we could gather fruit wherever and so the meal also included several strange apple-like pieces that had the flavor of an Asian pear.

The sailor on watch gave out a call. “Dragon sighted!”

I rushed up to the ship’s deck and shielded my eyes from the sun. In the distance, a shape emerged from between clouds. Our ship turned sharply and put us on a course to meet the flying beast.

I pulled the cloth off of the camera, aiming it towards the dragon. I would need to take the perfect picture in order to fulfill my promise. A picture so gruesome that anyone who looked at it would have their mind changed about the hunting of dragons.

The ship’s three harpooners manned the harpoon guns. These guns were operated by compressed air, pumped in by the person who aimed it. Two other crew members, including Johan, grabbed muskets from the armory. These were, of course, the guns that my shop had developed and about which the dock foreman had spoken.

The dragon change course and began to fly away. If dragons were as intelligent as humans, one would suspect it knew what was coming.

The dragon hunting ship, however, had a trick up its sleeve. Several magical stones at the ship’s back ignited and the ship burst forward with the force of a rocket. We gained speed with frightening power, faster than the dragon.

Still blazing magic from our rear, we pulled up alongside the dragon. The dragon roared, turning to try and fight us. This dragon had mottled gold and red scales, shining like the sunset. It released an electric breath weapon. Two of the crew members were vaporized instantly. At just the moment when the crew members’ skeletons were visible like in the cartoons, I took my first shot. The flashbulb reflected off of the dragon’s irises.

This would be a good one. Two harpoons fired, both of them finding their mark between the dragon’s limbs. We began to pull.

The dragon fought to stay away from the ship. Jonas pulled out the kill device: a long bident designed to go around the dragon’s neck.

The device connected and began to glow red hot. The dragon screamed in pain, releasing a huge flood of blood and gore. I took my second shot. The flashbulb illuminated the crimson and golden blood. It was an image of carnage.

The dragon died with one last breath of electricity that flew over our heads.

Human casualties: two. Dragon down.

We pulled the dragon onto the ship’s deck and Jonas and one other crew member began the disassembly. During the process I took several more photos, until the crew told me to stop bothering them with my flash bulb. I wrapped the camera up and carefully stored the film in a safe location. I wasn’t anywhere close to my contract’s end, so I would have many more chances to take photos.

The dragon’s butchery took about a day, during which we sailed further into their territory. The ground changed from shrubbery to desert. We followed the course of a river towards the center of the valley.

Three dragons appeared on the horizon two weeks later. I knew instantly that they had come for revenge. They were intelligent, after all. Even more intelligent than any ordinary mortal.

Kelin stood beside me at the railing. “Aye, that’s a killing squad if I’ve ever seen one,” he said.

“Does this happen every time you kill a dragon?” I asked.

Kelin shook his head. “I’ve heard tale of them, but I’ve never encountered one myself.”

“Doesn’t this make you think?” I said. “Why they’re coming. They want revenge.”

“Stupid beasts they are,” said Kelin, “But their revenge is legendary. We’d better turn and run.” He turned to the helm. “Activate the push crystals! We’re getting out of here!”

My skin began to crawl. Even though I was on this boat in order to help the dragons, there was the small fact that I was, of course, on a dragon hunting boat. Maybe I could try to bribe the dragons if things went to hell. I ran over to where my camera was secured and made certain that there were no loose knots. Just as I finished my inspection, the ship leaped forwards with the power of a kicking bull. We accelerated away from the dragons.

We were too slow.

“I can only maintain this speed for another five minutes!” said the helmsman.

“Make it ten!” yelled Kelin. “We need to get out of here!”

The three approaching dragons came close enough that I could distinguish details.

“Man the harpoons!” yelled Kelin. One of the harpooners had been killed by the breath weapon of our first quarry, but there were still two left. We fired everything we had. One dragon was hit. It spiraled down, almost hitting the ground before it recovered and began gaining altitude again. The second dragon, a bright blue creature, severed the line between the harpoon and the ship.

The three dragons surrounded us. All of them at once displayed their ferocious breath weapons. Two shot poison gas, while the third fired off boiling water. I dove beneath my camera and held my breath, hoping to stay alive long enough to have a chance to negotiate.

Kelin disappeared into a scalding waterfall. His screams echoed through the air, along with the coughing and screaming of the rest of the crew.

This was bad. At this rate, I would be dead before I could talk.

One of the dragons grabbed the ship and shook it. The ship began to tear apart.

“Not my camera!” I yelled, hanging on to the device as it split from the deck.

A gigantic dragon eye appeared a foot away from my face.

“You have a treasure there that I have not seen before,” said the dragon, in a deep, rumbling voice. “I will lay claim to it as partial payment for the loss of my brother. And, I will keep you alive until you teach me how to use it.”

Well, that was a relief.

Somewhat.

I stood up and looked the dragon in the eye. “Do you know a dragon named Yonas?”

“Ah, Mistufieldious Excantor Nomibor. The outcast, the wanderer. How do you know him?”

“I was sent to take pictures with this device,” I said.

“Pictures?” said the dragon, appearing less hostile and more curious. I was hoping his greed would get the better of him and he’d leave me alive.

“Automatic paintings,” I said. “Though at the moment I can only do them in black and white.”

“Hm, yes,” said the dragon. “Very well. I shall bring you to my lair so we can lay judgment upon you at a later date.” He pulled away, grabbing some rigging that somehow created a perfect basket to lift me, the camera, and a portion of the deck into the air. The three dragons departed the ship, leaving it to slowly descend into the desert, where it would crash and stay as a reminder of the dragons’ wrath.

We flew for several hours before we came to a large mountain at the top of a steep range. The air was beginning to get thin.

“You are emitting a large amount of mana,” said the dragon who was carrying me. “You are no ordinary human.”

“No,” I said. “I was given the power of alchemy by Meliapolis.”

“Ah, yes,” said the dragon. “We know him. He is the only member of your cursed pentaty who respects us.” The dragon turned its head to look at me. “You may call me Wile. My companions are Disc and Rote.”

“Um, nice to meet you,” I said.

“You will explain to us what your device does after we land,” said Wile. “If you do not cooperate, we will eat you and figure the device out ourselves.”

“I’m going to need a certain number of chemicals to show you exactly how the device works,” I said.

“We shall secure them,” said Wile.

“No, like, these are chemicals that are really obscure and hard to get.”

“Do not underestimate the power of a dragon’s hoard,” said Wile.

We landed at the entrance to an eerie, and even here at its opening I could see a large amount of treasure laid out. Classic dragon’s treasure.

Wile set me and the camera down, and then curled his body around it. “Tell me, human,” he said. “What is your story?"