Dreams of the Quill

Twenty-seven

The Joker looked back over his shoulder as Gem waved to Mana one last time. The Guardian Heir stood radiant upon the hill, his hair shining red-gold in the midday sun. The Joker was shocked to note that though he glowed, Mana was less brilliant than when they’d met by the shores of Lake Vise. During what had felt like an eternity spent in UnderMist, those blue eyes had lost some of their glitter. Nowhere near an eternity, the Joker reminded himself. I’m beginning to think in human time, he laughed internally. Then Gem had passed him and he turned once more, heading for the airship.

It was a small affair, for an airship, the Joker observed. It looked as though it would only fit ten horses side by side between the port and starboard railings. There were men scurrying about on board, about two dozen rugged looking sailors, securing knots in the rigging, adjusting the railing around the ship’s perimeter, checking the sails and propellers. While Oberon had informed the Joker and Gem that they would be picked up in an airship, the general had given no indication that it would be this small, and with this small a crew.

“Gem, it’s almost like—”

“I know, Luke. It’s a pirate ship.” Gem urged his horse forward as the men on board let down a long plank. With the boom in airship traffic and the increased use of airships to transport the goods of merchants, pirates had also become common, preferring smaller craft for maneuverability. “But it’ll be alright. Much as I hate him for what he did to my family, I trust the general, and he is the one who arranged this flight for us.”

“‘Pirate ship,’ Roof-runner?” came a bemused voice. “Is that how ya refer teh’n ol’ acquaintance’s vessel?

“Sir!” called Gem, surprised, galloping up the ramp. “You are an airship pilot now?”

Standing just to the side of the wooden ramp was a huge man, easily seven feet tall, with golden eyes like a cat’s and a good-natured grin. He was bare-chested and the Joker was impressed by the man’s muscle; it seemed plentiful enough to rival a weaker Ly’ban’s armor. A mane of gray hair streaked with bits of bronze covered his head and shoulders. Traces of similar hair, much like fur, dotted his arms and chest. Had he been bearded he would have looked like an aged lion.

“Who is this, Gem?” the Joker asked, walking up the plank and leading his horse behind him by the reins. As soon as the demon was on the airship, anchors were pulled and propellers spun into motion. With a jerking motion that set the horses neighing in fright, the airship took off.

“This is Edge, our pilot,” Gem said, as soon as he was sure of his balance, then, turning back to the man, “and this is the Joker, a friend of mine. He shall be accompanying us.”

“Very well! How d’ya do, Mister Joker? How d’ya do?” Edge extended one of his great mitts and the Joker hesitantly placed one of his leather-gloved hands within it.

“Well.”

“Edge is the one who got me into the Underworld back in Verga,” Gem explained quickly, sensing that the Joker’s question hadn’t been answered yet. “As you can tell from looking, he is a demi-human. If I remember correctly, he came down south with one of the last groups of Kriss and then loitered in Verga for several dozen years, doing odd jobs for the Underworld.” Edge nodded.

“The Underworld, eh?” the Joker asked suspiciously. “Not here to get Gem’s head, I hope?”

“Oh, no, no,” Edge beamed. “I heard ’bout the Roof-runner’s situation from Prince Oberon, yeah? I’m not with the Underworld either, anymore, ya know? This ‘as a looong time ago, but I used to do work fer the Marauders, too. Back when it was jus’ Gem, and the Kriss.”

“What?”

“Ya know, the old days. When the Marauders—ah, never mind. Anyway, ‘ventually the Underworld decided I ‘asn’t trustworthy anymore, an’ they told me I could leave the western countries, or die. I left.”

“An interesting story,” the Joker remarked, inwardly confused. How old could this man be? He must be at least one hundred years old to have been around when the Marauders were formed…

“I owe a lot to you, Sir,” Gem commented as the Joker passed him and Edge and moved further away from the edge of the ship. “Thanks to your recommendation, I managed to make a good living for myself in Verga City.”

“But now Verga City’s gone, an’ I hear from Prince Oberon that you got Lord Miles’s ‘get out or die’ treatment, too, yeah?”

“… yeah.” Gem shrugged half-heartedly, silently saying that he wasn’t too bothered by the threat. The Joker knew that he was still upset about Verga.

“Well, puttin’ that to the side,” Edge smiled, “off we set, yes?”

“Where to?” the Joker asked.

“Atlantis, Luke,” Gem chuckled. “That is where we are headed, right?”

“You can’t get there by airship,” the Joker sighed.

“Right he is, Roof-runner! I’m takin’ ya to the coast. Ya’ll be in the care of a proper ship’s captain before ya know’t, yeah?”

“By ship, you mean—”

“Good ol’ wood on water. ‘ere, le’ me show ya teh yar rooms. Follow me.” Edge walked toward the ship’s stern, headed for the stairs down. Gem and the Joker followed him, a sailor taking their horses. They descended into the ship’s innards, walking past pipes and gadgets that jutted out from the walls. The floor represented wooden planks and churning gears equally. “Sorry, this ‘ere’s no lux’ry craft, ya know? Wi’these smaller crafts, ya gotta kill comfort fer functional machinery.” Arriving at their cabin, they found that it was more or less a closet, about large enough for the two of them to stand in at the same time. Gem laughed when he sat it. “I got teh get back teh pil’ting, yeah?” With that, Edge turned and went back the way they’d come.

Gem made to follow the pilot back to the deck, but the Joker stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong, Luke?”

“There’s something that bothers me about that Edge fellow.”

“He’s a demi-human, like I said. That’s all. Is it so hard for you to accept?” Gem sighed as he asked this. The Joker, understanding this to be a question of tolerance—demi-humans, much like their magic-using creators, were generally treated miserably—shook his head.

“Demi-humans, those unfortunate people who are born of magical experiments involving men and beasts. If he’s one of those—and I don’t doubt it—then he’s at least older than the Purge,” mused the Joker. “But even so, there weren’t any Jikkuu users where he comes from… you said he came from north of here, right?”

“Yes, the wastelands.”

“So he comes from the Kriss homelands. In all the millennia of my existence, not a single one of the Kriss was blessed with the talent of Jikkuu. No magi went there because it was too hostile for human life. None of my brethren went to Gaia because there were no humans to torment. Your friend sure has some mysteries to him.”

“I had never thought of that,” Gem admitted, “but does his birthplace matter? He is who he is, much as I am Legend Reborn. Demi-human is just a tag the Palace came up with several hundred years ago, right? What does it mean, anyway?” Shrugging the Joker’s hand away, the bounty hunter moved away from the demon and headed back to the deck.

“Yeah? ‘What does it mean…’ did you catch the bit about him knowing your great-grandfather?”

Gem looked back over his shoulder at the demon, puzzlement in his eyes.

“I thought you grew a brain, but you were just smiling and nodding back then when he was trying to tell me the story of his life! That demi-human knew your great-grandfather, Gem al’Kondo, around the time of the Marauders’ forming. They were in the organization together.”

“Gem al’Kondo was a Marauder?” the bounty hunter asked, surprised.

“You didn’t know? Kid, your great-grandfather founded the Marauders! He was the first Marauder Lord!” The Joker sighed heavily. “Ah well. I suppose I could have trusted you not to know that. You’re always busy studying lore, after all. No time for recent history.”

“Gem al’Kondo, you say? He founded them?”

“Yes. When he was exiled, about eighty years ago, he formed the Marauders with the help of a band of Kriss who had come down from the wastelands. From Edge’s tale, I would guess he was with that band.” As the Joker spoke, Gem recalled the book he had found in his cousins’ hideout—the one entitled “The Two Sons of Kondo,” the one written by a non-human. A thought struck the bounty hunter.

“I need to go ask Edge about something,” he said, and hurried off.

“Wait,” called the Joker.

“What is it?” asked Gem from the stairs, hanging from the railing and looking back at where the Joker stood, just outside their cabin.

“… nothing,” muttered the demon. Gem eyed him quizzically and then leapt up the stairs, disappearing onto the deck. The Joker stood motionless, his eyes fixed on the staircase ahead. “What are you doing here?”

“Don’t mind me, Luc,” came a harsh rasp, “I’m just here on the master’s orders. He has no use for you anymore, so I won’t be dragging you back, and, unless you get in my way, you won’t need to die.”

“What did Kieku tell you to do?” the Joker asked, addressing the darkness of the hallway.

“Kieku? Who’s that?”

The Joker didn’t respond.

“Well, I’ll linger here a while longer, Luc. Once we’re out of Gaia, I’ll take his head.” Grating laughter followed, and then silence. The Joker remained immobile, watching the darkness whence Ji’Lopan’s voice had come. Questions flew through his mind and he answered them himself, piecing together the puzzle that was Ji’Lopan’s presence and words.

Understanding in a flash, he took one step forward for the stairs.

Immediately, the walls of the hall changed, the pipes snapping out, multiplying and sharpening, becoming a sea of giant spears aimed at the Joker’s chest. The shadows shimmered; the wooden walls moved forward and groaned as they grew horrible, twisted smiles. The darkness had become a lake, and, as it rippled, giant tendrils of purple shot out, wrapping around the Joker’s body.

“Uh-oh,” laughed Ji’Lopan, “I can’t have you be telling him. That counts as interference, Luc.”

“How did Maha get you back, Lopan?” the Joker asked angrily. “Why did you go back to the Inferno?”

“What are you talking about?” Ji’Lopan laughed. “I’ve always served Father for the greater goal of Libra’s complete destruction.”

“Always…?” murmured the Joker.

“You so much as tell Legend that I’m here and I’ll make sure it’s the last thing you tell anyone. Once we get into eastern Libra, this ship goes down, him on it, and that’ll be the end of his story. You’ll survive easily, but the Net is closed right now, so whether or not you stop me from killing him, he’s going to die. And no, you can’t try to regain control of the airship. Father gave it to me.” As quickly as it had morphed into something out of a nightmare, the hallway returned to its previous state, spikes and tendrils and demonic visages fading away into the mundane reality of wood and steel. Ji’Lopan remained invisible, hiding somewhere in the shadows.

How disgusting, the Joker thought to himself. Even when we were in the Inferno together, you never called him Father, Lopan. You’re completely under control.

“But blazes, Luc! You sure are dedicated to him.”

“I am,” the cloaked demon declared. So were you.

Ji’Lopan laughed briefly, but spoke no more. The Joker took another step toward the stairs, testing the waters, and the hall remained normal. Sensing no magic in use, he walked slowly back up to the deck, where he met Gem with a casual “hey.” The Joker didn’t say anything about Ji’Lopan. He stepped softly over to the side of the ship and watched the land fly by beneath them. From his vantage point, he could see hills stretching in every direction, the famous terrain of the southern half of Gaia.

He wished that those hills would continue to be all he could see for a long time, but he knew that soon enough—within only a few days—they would be out of Gaia, over the forests of northern Libra, and then over the coastal region of the east. As long as those hills were the only thing in sight, Gem was safe, and he wouldn’t need to fight. The Joker cursed quietly. If I try to stop Ji’Lopan before we get out of Gaia, the bastard will just destroy the airship in an instant, and dozens will die. I could save Gem with my magic, but the sailors, and Edge… and were I to start using my magic, Lopan would trigger the ship’s destruction before I could save everyone. Sooner or later, the sailors will most likely die.

Shaking his head, he turned from the railing and addressed Gem, who was standing by Edge at the ship’s wheel, watching as the demi-human piloted the craft.

“Is this your first time in the air, kid?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t seem too excited about it,” the Joker commented. “I would think that a first-timer would be more wide-eyed.”

“It’s your first time on an airship, too, right?”

“Yes,” replied the demon, “it’s not too common for someone like me to wander the Overworld with company, much less by air.”

“You’re none too giddy yourself.”

“That’s true.” The Joker turned back to the railing, reminding himself not to mention Ji’Lopan’s presence.

“I’m worried, Luke,” said Gem suddenly, stepping down from the platform around the wheel and joining the Joker by the railing. “I’m afraid of Kieku and Zukro. I’m worried about the job Nai is going to give me. I’m worried about the Crystals being reunited. I’m worried about what Underworld politics will do to Lord Miles for letting Mana go. I’m worried about Mana. I’m even worried about Ji.” Gem turned his head and looked over at the Joker, his eyes wide as though seeking an answer.

“I thought you made up your mind to go forward with this journey without hesitating,” murmured the Joker.

“I’m not going to hesitate,” replied Gem, his voice slightly calmer, turning back to look at the sky, “but I can’t help but be a little anxious.”

“I won’t hesitate either.”

“What?” asked Gem.

“Nothing,” sighed the Joker. I’m worried about you, Gem.

“Well… putting all that aside,” began Gem, “we’re going to be on this trip for a while, won’t we? Do you know how far it is from Libra to Atlantis?”

“I have no idea,” admitted the Joker. “I’ve never been there before; as is the case with Gaia, it’s not in the usual scope of Ly’ban expeditions.”

“I heard that it is a country completely submerged in the sea.”

“I’ve heard that, too, and I believe it. It’s governed by the God of Water, after all.”

“I cannot wait to meet him.”

“There’s a saying, Gem—like father, like son. It’s safe to assume that what you hated in Oberon will be present in Nai’s character as well.” The Joker chuckled lightly with this. Gem, too, laughed quietly. “It’s good to relax a bit, Gem. Our time in Terra was exhausting; we should use this ride to unwind.” So saying, the cloaked demon let go of the rail and fell backwards, landing with its back flat to the deck. Gem, looking down at his companion, smiled.

“Right as always, Luke.” Turning from the sky, Gem faced the ship’s main mast and slid down into a sitting position, his back against the railing. “Worry won’t help anything right now. We just need to make it to Atlantis, get Nai’s request, and meet up with Mana again.”

“What if his request keeps us from going to find Mana?” But before that, we need to make it to eastern Libra safely. We’re both right, Gem—worry won’t help anything. But we’re also both right to worry. I guess all you can do for now is relax. I can’t tell you anything without risking the lives of all these sailors and your old friend, so I’m going to lie here, and pray.

“Then I will tell Nai to wait.”

“Keeping a god waiting, eh? You’re not getting ahead of yourself, are you, kid?”

“I made a promise,” said Gem sheepishly as he shrugged.

“And you have that sword to make sure you keep it.” Gem nodded. The Joker smiled to himself. “You’ll be fine, Gem. You’ll be fine.” I’ll protect you. I’ll protect you from Maha and Chaos and Fate.

“Heh, you think so?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Gem closed his eyes and leaned his head back, letting the wind play with his hair and headband. “The wind feels nice.”

“Doesn’t it?” Just keep feeling the wind, Gem.

“Yeah. It’s like being back on the roofs in Verga.” Gem sighed as he recalled the feeling of dashing around at night, looking down upon the streets below. He had felt powerful back then, before he’d been pitted against Shades, before he had met the Broken Angel. In comparison, spending weeks in Terra in fear of being found by Kieku had left him with almost no sense of control. He had found himself threatened at every turn; the Underworld was on the lookout for him, the entire Ly’ban army had descended upon the place where he had been staying, Kieku and Ji’Lopan had come for him twice, even Julien had attacked him. It was his destiny, he knew, and he cursed Fate for it.

The Joker, sagely watching Gem, knew that Fate wouldn’t leave the bounty hunter alone until it was done away with.

I’ll protect you.