In the Depths

The shot echoed throughout the caverns, freezing Stef’s blood. “Get back,” he hissed, pushing Izza behind an outcropping. He looked around the room, trying to find the source, but it had come from somewhere deeper in the cave system.

“Who was that?” came Travis’ voice from behind them. His rifle was out, his hands alight, priming it to fire back.

“We don’t know,” Stef said, twisting to see the elemental. “But who else has a gun?”

The question was answered when two men fell into the room, stopping Travis’ answer in his mouth. Their size was similar, but the rest of their appearance was a symphony of contrast. The first man, who had stumbled in backward, fists up in defense, was shirtless, but covered in tattoos. Meanwhile, the second wore a crisp white shirt under a dark leather jacket. His eyes were dark and angry, and in his right hand, he carried a pistol.

“By the Fires,” Travis whispered. “What have you done, Guilderbrand?”

“Radarack!” Stef shouted, stepping past the outcropping. “You’re safe!”

The tattooed man threw him a glance, missing a roundhouse that sent him reeling back. The man in the jacket, Guilderbrand, stepped forward, following it with a swing, using the butt of his pistol as a club.

“Guilderbrand!” Travis raised his voice and his gun, jutting his chin, “Stand down!”

Guilderbrand finally seemed to notice them there, and took a few half-steps back, his hands still prepared to fight. “Afternoon,” he said, with a short nod in their direction.

“Put the gun down,” Travis ordered, taking a step forward.

Guilderbrand looked at the gun, then tossed it to the side. “It’s empty anyway,” he said, straightening his jacket and taking another step back. “I only needed the one shot.”

Radarack was inching toward Stef and Izza, out of line of Travis’ gun. “My defenses caught it,” he said, watching Guilderbrand warily.

“You cheated,” Guilderbrand said with derision. “I would’ve broken you with my hands. And wouldn’t that be more fitting for someone like you?”

“I don’t want to have to shoot, Guilderbrand,” Travis said, a light threat hinting in his voice.

“I don’t want you to shoot, either,” Guilderbrand said. “But where do we go from here?”

“You tried to kill the man we came here to save,” Stef said. “So you go back with us to face justice with the Agency.”

Guilderbrand laughed, one of his harsh, knowing laughs. “The Agency can do nothing against me. Ask Mr. Bentham, and he can confirm. The only reason I’m here with all of you in this mutually beneficial expedition is because I respect Chesterfield. Believe me when I say I’m not afraid of him.”

Travis nodded in acknowledgement. “I am aware of the stipulation of you joining this mission. But there are still punishments that the Agency can instate,” he said. “Are you willing to turn yourself into custody to face trial?”

Guilderbrand was already shaking his head. “I refuse, so long as he remains free,” he said, nodding toward Radarack.

“Radarack had done nothing wrong,” Travis said. “At the very least, he hasn’t tried to kill anyone in this room.”

Guilderbrand snorted a laugh. “You really believe that he just happened to get separated from you in Dragontooth,” he said, looking at Stef and Izza, “Then was captured by those pirates and just happened to get free once they got to the island?”

“I have been free for some time,” Radarack said, “I only made my escape when we made landfall. Attempting to leave while at sea would have caused my immediate capture and return to confinement.” He lifted his hands at the other man. “You’ve misread all the signs. Just accept that you were wrong, and allow yourself to be bound. I will not request your life to end from Chesterfield.”

“Chesterfield couldn’t kill me if he tried,” Guilderbrand said, then shook his head, turning his attention to Travis. “I’m sorry. But I can’t willingly go into custody if you allow him to walk free.”

“What if we took both of you?” Travis said. “Just until we sort out-“

“No,” Stef said forcefully, raising his hands. “There is no reason to imprison an innocent man.”

“All I’m saying,” Travis started, but was cut off as Guilderbrand ducked away, back into the caverns he had come from. The fire elemental ran to the entrance, but did not follow. He spun back, lowering the gun at Radarack. “What happened out there?”

“I have been hiding in those caverns for a day and a half,” Radarack said. “He found me, and spouted some nonsense about bringing justice, then shot me.” He pressed a hand against of his chest tattoos. “Fortunately, my ink stopped it.” He looked behind him, as if the other man would appear in the doorway. “I believe he is in search of the Fountain of Youth, and believes me to be a threat to that goal. If we want to find him, I suggest we find the Fount before he does.”

“But Guilderbrand doesn’t believe in the Fount,” Izza said, “He thinks there was something else keeping the pirates alive, given what they look like currently.”

“And you trust what he tells you?” Radarack asked. “Guilderbrand?”

Stef and Izza exchanged glances. It was answer enough for Radarack.

“I suggest we make our way to the Fountain as soon as we can,” he said, looking to Travis for confirmation.

The agent had lowered his gun, sighing. “Why Chesterfield didn’t come is beyond me,” he said. “Izza, can you contact Tinker, make sure they’re back on the boat?”

Izza pulled a radio off her belt and lifted it to her face. She sighed, then said, “Gremlin? Are you there, Gremlin? This is SABI.” There was a pause, punctuated by another sigh, then, “Over.”

“Her call sign is ‘Such a Bad Idea,’ because that’s what she says about a lot of stuff.” Stef said to Radarack, with a laugh. “You take the first letter of each word, and come up with SABI.”

Izza threw him an eye roll as the radio crackled.

“SABI, this is Suleiman,” said an electronic voice. “Tink – Gremlin – is not available. She appears to have been captured by pirates.”

Izza stifled a curse, then replied, “You sound awfully calm. Does that mean she’s okay?”

“I have no idea,” Suleiman replied. “But as a robot, I do not understand such things as being flustered. Calm is my default, so unless a setting gets changed, I will remain as such.”

“Why does she keep that thing around?” Stef asked. Travis just shrugged. “Can you track it?” Stef asked. “Maybe we can find them that way?”

“Does Gremlin have her radio?” Izza asked.

“No,” Suleiman said. “But Glorp hitched a ride, and I can follow it. I am just inordinately slow.”

“Great,” Stef said. “Find the robot, the robot finds the stuffy, the stuffy leads us to Tinker and the pirates.” He looked at Radarack. “And if we’re lucky, maybe we’ll get to the Fount before Guilderbrand, too.”

“Guilderbrand may be in coordination with the pirates,” Radarack warned. “Perhaps they are headed there now.”

“This is too convoluted,” Travis said. “I’m going to kill Chesterfield for this.”

Izza was fiddling with the radio, staring at a small LCD screen. “Suleiman is… That way,” she said, gesturing vaguely toward the way Guilderbrand had gone.

“Tell me which way to go, but I’ll go first,” Travis said, lifting his gun.

They made their way through the caverns, following the faint signal from Tinker’s radio. Finally, they came to where Suleiman was tottering through the dirt, clutching a radio that was almost as big as he was.

He looked up as they entered, doing his best to look like he was assessing them. “There you finally are,” he said. “What took you so long?”

“Long is a subjective idea,” Stef said, picking the little robot up. “Well done on making your own opinion and stating it.”

“I do not deal with opinions, only facts,” Suleiman said. “Therefore, you took a long time.”

“A wizard is never late,” Stef muttered under his breath. “Which way to Tinker?”

“The Glorp is that way,” Suleiman said, pointing in the direction he had been walking. “I can only hope that Tinker is with it.”

They walked on, being careful not to be too loud. It was slow going, with Suleiman giving the occasional direction, but all attempting to make as little noise as possible. Travis checked the rooms before the others followed, and Radarack brought up the rear, checking behind them for any surprises.

“I can hear them,” Travis warned as they approached a new room. “Suleiman, can you go ahead quietly and find out what’s going on?”

“I am not the quietest, but yes,” Suleiman said. “I will do my best.”

Stef put the robot down, and it made its way through the entrance, waddling slightly with each step.

“How does he not fall over?” Stef asked to no one in particular.

“Magic?” Izza said with a shrug.

Radarack’s head perked up. “I hear something behind us,” he said, creeping back to the door they had come through. “Stay hidden.” He slipped out of the room.

Travis and Stef exchanged a glance and a nod. Stef went to follow, but had barely reached the door when men and women ran into the room from the sides. They wore ancient sailor’s garments, a faint bluish-green light emanating around their bodies. It was only a second later that Stef registered the swords and guns they brandished.  

A musket fired, filling the air with smoke and a burst of rock from where the bullet hit. The pirates went for Travis first, disarming him before he could fire his rifle. His gun would be useless to them, powered as it was by his elemental nature, but better to have it away from him than near.

Izza was taken next, forced to the ground, while Stef found himself facing a row of sharp blades. He lifted his hands in surrender, which were roughly pulled behind him. A heavy rope bound his hands together, and he was pulled away. Through his peripheral vision, he saw the same being done to Izza. Travis, on the other hand, had been given chains.

They were shoved through the exit, into the cave where they had sent Suleiman. Distantly, Stef hoped that Radarack had escaped, and hadn’t run into Guilderbrand again. The man’s strength would be their escape, he knew.

He was forced to sit, his head cracking against the rough stone behind him.

“That was a nasty hit,” came a bright voice next to him.

Stef opened an eye, looking at the smiling face of Theresa LeFesse, their Tinker. Beside her, with concern in his eyes, was Tebrick Abridd, the tattooist who had been an initial cause of… whatever this madness was.

“Are you okay?” T asked. “That sounded pretty loud.”

“I think I’m alright,” Stef said, blinking away the pain, still radiating in the back of his head. “I’ve taken worse.”

“And he has a pretty thick skull,” Tinker said, imitating Izza’s voice. “That’s what you’re supposed to say next,” she added, looking past Stef.

Izza, who had been more careful when she was seated, rolled her eyes. “I thought you didn’t like conversational tropes,” she said.

“Some things just need to be said,” Tinker said. “And that’s one of them. Makes you seem cool. Which you are. Cool, I mean.”

“I haven’t seen Guilderbrand or Radarack,” T said, looking down the line. “That’s good, right?”

“Well,” Stef said. “About that.” He caught them up on the fight between Radarack and Guilderbrand, and T grimaced.

“So, we’re banking on them not killing each other, not to mention one of them along being strong enough to rescue us.”

“Or we could escape ourselves,” Tinker said. “We are strong, independent people who do not need the support of old, ethnically ambiguous men.”

“Radarack is from Turkey,” Stef said. “I don’t know about Guilderbrand.”

“He looks European to me,” Tinker said, “But I’m not sure.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Travis said. “There’s something older about him than European descent. But if I didn’t know about magical ancestry, I’d put him there, too.”

“So I was right when I said ethnically ambiguous!” Tinker said. “But, regardless, we can do without ethnically ambiguous or Turkish support!”

Izza was looking across the cavern, where a single captive was tied up against the opposite wall. “Who’s that?” she asked, nodding at him.

“A relative, I think,” T said. “He has the same name as my great-great grandfather.”

“And you’re sure he’s not your great-great grandfather?” Travis asked. “If he got to the Fountain of Youth, that’s probably what he’d look like.”

“No,” T said. “I don’t think he’s still alive.”

“Captain Henrickson talks to his skull!” Tinker said, more cheerily than Stef thought was appropriate. “It’s pretty weird, but I have a robot and living ball of yarn, so who am I to judge?”

“Does it…” Travis started, trying to figure out how to ask his question, “Does it talk back?”

“No,” T said. “It’s just a skull that he yells at.”

“I get the impression that Captain Henrickson and Captain Abridd didn’t like each other very much,” Tinker said. “Not that I’m an expert on sociology, or anything.”

Their conversation was broken as one of the pirates stalked over to them. He was tall, with a brown leather sea jacket that hung to his boots of the same material. He wore a stern expression, and his eyes flickered with distaste.

“So, you are the pursuers of the Elmwood,” he said, his voice echoing and stretching in his throat. “I had expected more of you.”

“And who might you be?” Travis asked, a calm smile slipping on his face.

“My name is Captain Jeremiah Henrickson,” the captain replied. “And you are Travis Bentham, fire elemental and agent for Chesterfield’s Agency.”

“Oh,” Travis said, putting it together, “You’re the one into skullduggery. Well, skull-chattery, anyway.” When there was no response, he added, “I’m also a comedian. Did your intel tell you that?”

“A comedian?” Captain Henrickson said with a humorless expression. “I’m sure you’ll appreciate the irony that I’m not laughing.”

He turned to the next person in line, Izza. “You must be Isabelle. And Stefan! Still in jeopardy, but not in Jeopardy. You’re a long way from home, my friends.”

“What do you want?” Stef asked. They stayed under the radar as much as possible, but the way this pirate threw around their catchphrase furrowed his brow and tightened his gaze, trying to burn the knowledge out of the captain’s mind.

“We just need you out of the way for now,” Captain Henrickson said. He motioned to the figures behind him, all of which had the same aura as him. “We are sick, and we are looking for a cure. A chance to escape and return to our lives.”

“Oh,” Tinker said, rolling her eyes in understanding. “You’re like those pirates in that movie, who are immortal, but actually zombies, and so have to return all the gold with some of their blood, but they killed the one person, so now you need to use the blood of the descendant, so you kidnapped that other Abridd, so you can use his blood, except now you’re going to say, ‘Let’s not risk it! Let’s drain every drop of his blood!’ and try to kill him. And the monkey stays undead.”

There was silence, until Tinker whispered. “Glorp can be the monkey, if you want.”

Captain Henrickson laughed, looking at Travis. “I thought you were supposed to be the comedian.”

“Everyone’s a hater,” Travis muttered.

Captain Henrickson turned back to Tinker. “No, little one. Mr. Abridd was merely our guide to get to the Wandering Isle. Now, it is up to science, perhaps some magic, to fix the problem that afflicts our mortal frames.” He smiled, but not in a pleasant way. “Then, once healed, we will return to civilization with our savior.” He took a step back, motioning to all of them. “You have all willingly followed the Agency thus far, but a new choice stands before you. Join our crew, and work for none but the betterment of yourselves.”

As protests were raised, Captain Henrickson lifted a hand. “You protest now. Allow us a demonstration of what we will become, and then choose for yourself what life you would have.”

At his order, his crew lifted them to their feet. Stef stumbled forward, off-balance as he tried to get next to Travis. They were forced through the doorway to the next room.

Stef pulled to a halt, his mouth falling open. In the center of the room was a deep pool, glowing with the same blue-green light that followed the pirates. Standing over it was a big man, his face turned away, but immediately recognizable.

His throat tightened, and he heard Izza curse behind him.

The man turned, looking at them with those deep, familiar eyes. There was no smile now, and any friendliness that was hinted there seemed fake – a threatening shadow of what should have been.

“Welcome, my friends,” the man said, opening his arms and motioning to the water behind him.

“Welcome to the Fountain of Youth.”  

Trying to figure out who our heroes are? You can read their origins in The Miracle Mile (Stef and Izza) and Fire and Snow (Travis) respectively. As for the others, head to Adventures in Fantasy or check out their names in the tags.