Chenda and the Airship Brofman (17 page)

“I can't take you anywhere, Fen. You steal the best girl in the room every time.”

Fenimore smiled back at Verdu and then looked at Chenda. “He didn't hurt you did he? Just say the word and I'll go back in there and clean up what Verdu left behind.”

Chenda felt shocked more than anything else. “I'm fine. I think he mistook me for one of the working girls.” She frowned. “What do you suppose that says about me?”

Verdu and Fenimore laughed out loud. They stepped to either side of Chenda and each took an arm to steady her. “Let's just walk back to the airship tower. It's about a mile this way – the stroll should clear your head. But only if you feel up to it.” Fenimore said.

“Let's give it a try.” Chenda replied.

They walked while Fenimore whistled a bouncy tune. The night was cool and the breeze off the ocean smelled clean and fresh. The narrow path beneath their feet soon became all that separated the atoll’s waters. To the left was the deep, dark water of the sea, and to the right, the shallow water of the lagoon shone pale blue in the moonlight. It was a glorious night.

Suddenly, the sound of quick and heavy footstep came from behind them. Chenda dropped Fenimore's arm and turned to look behind her, thinking she might have to scoot out of someone's way. That's when she saw the burly man from McNees's racing up to Verdu, fists flying.

Verdu, turning his attention too late to defend himself, shoved Chenda backwards as he took a blow to the side of his head. Chenda stumbled, lost her footing on the narrow path, and fell to the water to her left. She hit the sea and it felt as pleasant as sinking into a warm bath. She rolled backwards and down, her back scraping against the rough coral fingers of the atoll. She held her breath and calmly believed that by the time she floated back up, Fenimore and Verdu would likely have ended the dust-up with Mr. Burly-man. He was big, yes, but it was two against one.

But she didn't float back up.

 After a few seconds, she realized she was stuck, peering up to the surface, in deep water. She panicked. She started to kick her legs wildly. She couldn't find what was holding her down. Her feet were free. Her hands weren't caught. It started to feel like the middle of her back was glued to the rock behind her.

Her lungs burned. She needed to breathe. She struggled again, willing her lips to stay together. She could only hold on for a few seconds more before she sucked in the dark water. It filled her nose, her mouth, her throat. She gagged, sucking more water down into her lungs.

A hand gripped her leg. She reached for it with her own, frantic for contact, desperate to not die alone. The rough hand smacked her clutching fingers away and grabbed her under her arms. It pushed her deeper into the water then away from the rocks. She was free and floating upward, but her vision was darkening.

Breaking the surface, she tried to breathe in the cool air, but there was too much water inside her already. Verdu reached down from the path and pulled her out by one arm. He dropped to one knee and wrapped both arms around Chenda's waist. He curled his torso around hers as he tipped her forward, bringing her head down, pressing her torso from all sides with his own body. The sea water burst out of her. Out it flowed, more than she thought possible.

Verdu released his crushing grip and Chenda gasped and coughed. Verdu rolled her onto the ground, holding her on her side as she brought up even more water. She pulled her knees up to her aching chest. Verdu wiped the seawater and dirt from her face and looked into her panicked eyes.

Fenimore appeared in her line of vision, just over Verdu's shoulder, dripping wet with a look of horror on his face. “Oh, gods, Verdu, is she going to be all right?”

“Fen, it's okay. She's coughed most of it up already,” Verdu said, but he still looked worried. “I squeezed her pretty hard, though. We'd better get her back to the
Brofman
so Kingston can take a look at her.”

Chenda coughed and gasped once more as Verdu hauled her up and slung her over his shoulder. He started trotting up the path and Chenda saw the burly man sprawled several yards back down the way, out cold.

“I knew you would have him taken care of before I floated back up,” she mumbled, and then she passed out.

Chapter 10

EASTWARD

Chenda found herself in a wide open space, surrounded by blue sky. Soft clouds floated past her. The air around her felt good, neither too cold nor too warm, and as still as the grave. This she found odd because little white puffs of cloud scooted by her in a quite a hurry. Sunlight warmed her back and it soothed her aches almost completely. She looked down at her feet and noticed they were bare. That surprised her only slightly less than the fact she was standing on nothing. She was floating.

Oh, my. I'm dead,
she thought
.

“No. Not yet,” said a voice behind her that Chenda would have known anywhere. She willed herself to turn around and it was done, without movement – instantly. Out of the sunshine walked Edison. He moved toward her down a path of cloud.

She sprang forward, half running and half swimming through the air to his open arms. Chenda wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face into his cheek, and he gripped her firmly around the waist, holding her close to him. They held each other for a long time, slowly turning in the air.

Finally Edison released one arm from around her, and he brushed his hand up her back to the short spiky hair on her head. “This is new,” he said, brushing his hands through her hair, stroking his fingertips all around her, tracing around her ear and down the edge of her jaw to her neck. Edison cupped his hand under her chin, tilting her face up, eye to eye with him.

“You, darling, are a mess. I'm sorry you have had such a rough time of it since I had to leave. You have to know I didn't want to,” he said.

Tears spilled from Chenda's eyes as she looked up into his face. His scars had softened and faded. His eyes, ever so haunted by the past, stared clearly back at her, now full of hope and joy. There was no pain. There was no sorrow. He seemed younger somehow, more vital than she had ever known him.

“Daniel killed you,” she said.

“I know.”

“He tried to kill me.”

“That I also know. And then you took him.” He brushed the tears from her face. “I forgave him, and he me, for all my sins against him and his family.”

“I'm not sure I forgive him. He took too much from me. He took you.”

“Don't hate him for causing my death. I consider that my punishment for my sins against you.”

“You never sinned against me. You were ideal as --”

“NO.” He cut her off. “No, I held you away from the world, selfishly. I needed to be where I was, apart from people. I needed the solitude. The mystic Pranav Erato can tell you about that, because I'm running out of time. The pouch of pedradurite stones has allowed me to stay with you until now, but I had to leave the limbo of the stones to reach you. My soul will drift free now, to go wherever souls go when they are not bound. I'll have to go soon, and you need to wake up. You're really scaring your friends.”

Chenda's body tensed in Edison's arms. “No, I want to stay here.”

“Impossible,” he said looking around at the clouds as they darkened. “I can't even hold myself here much longer.”

Talking quickly, he said, “Chenda, you are doing very well in the task I set for you.” He placed a hand over her chest, and turned his head slightly as if listening to her body through his hand. “I'm glad you have poured out most of your sorrow over me. It wasn't fair of a broken old man to take a bride so young and turn her into some matron of solitude. I want you to try to be young again. You need to feel the power of your youth before it's too late. Promise me that,” he demanded.

“You ask it of me, so I'll... promise I'll try.” Chenda whispered.

“You don't know it yet, but fate, in the last few days, has given you most of the elements you need to follow your destiny. Erato will help you put it together. Now listen carefully, as we only have seconds left. You need to take Verdu and Fenimore with you when you leave for the
Tjalk
. They are now tied to your destiny. You need them, and what they know. Keep talking to them, they are half bound to you already. They MUST come along.”

“Tjalk
?”

“The captain has found a boat that will take you the rest of the way into Tugrulia. You'll find out about it when you wake up.”

He paused, and looked at her with complete love. “I am dead. I won't be able to come to you again -- ever. You must live your life, and love again.” He let out a long breath that Chenda couldn't feel. “You were the love of my life, but I was not the love of yours.”

“That's not true.”

“From this side of death, one can see things so clearly. Love is still out there for you, and someday you'll find it. I can give you a clue. You will know the love that is meant to be yours forever when you feel it, and it will feel something like this...”

Edison pulled her face toward his, and kissed her like he never had in life. His lips met hers with hunger and desire, and waves of tingling energy rolled over her. Flames radiated down her spine and blew away all sensation except for her need to return the kiss. Her body responded fiercely. An animalistic groan escaped her as she pulled her legs up and around Edison's hips. His hands moved to embrace every part of her, sliding down from the small of her back, fingers raking delicate skin. They rolled together through the air, tumbling and falling though bliss. It rained over them. No breathing, no thinking, no sound or sight. She could only feel and taste an unbridled passion that was being channeled through Edison. She knew at that moment she would search for this feeling, even if it took the rest of her life, because she couldn't – no, wouldn't – live without it. Her heart became a bigger place. Alive.

Edison untangled his wife from his body, and cradled her to his chest in the complete darkness that surrounded them now. “I wish I could have done that for you in life,” he whispered. “Know that your every touch made me feel that way.” He kissed her on the top of her head, a kiss like so many that Chenda remembered from their marriage, and she floated free. Edison's last kiss was also the final message he needed to deliver.

Goodbye
...

She knew he was gone forever.

Her arms grasped outward, flailing and reaching out of the darkness. Her eyes burst open and flooded with light. The weightless sky was gone and all of her pain flooded back to her; the burning from her lungs, throat and sinuses, the scrapes down her back, and the aching of her ribs charged forward. She groaned her agony.

A large pair of hands grasped her flailing arms, restraining her. The light burning her eyes settled and her irises adjusted. Two faces came into focus: Fenimore holding her hands together, firmly but gently, and Verdu, who cradled her to his chest.

“Take it easy!” Fenimore demanded.

The strain on Verdu's face showed that he was doing his best not to drop the flailing woman. Chenda froze. She looked around to discover they were all in an elevator car. Wide eyed, she asked “To the airship?” Her own voice sounded strange to her, rough and raw. It was painful to talk.

Fenimore sighed his relief as he dropped Chenda's still hands. “Yes. Thank the gods you are finally making sense! We thought you'd dashed your head on the reef. And then you were thrashing around. Then you made some, um, yummy noises... and then more trashing. I'm just glad you opened your eyes and – ”

“Shut up, Fen,” Verdu said. “Let her breathe.” He bounced Chenda upward to get a better grip on her. She turned her head toward the big man's chest and pressed her forehead into his shoulder. She tried to remember all the details of her dream, not wanting them to slip away from her. Edison.
Tjalk
. Fen and Verdu. Erato. Passion.

She mouthed the words
Edison. Tjalk. Fen and Verdu. Erato. Passion.

The words tumbled out of her mouth, “Edison.
Tjalk
. Fen and Verdu. Erato. Passion.”

Fenimore and Verdu looked at her, their mouths agape. “What?” Fenimore said.

“I'm trying to remember my dream, the message,” she said quietly. “How long was I out?”

The elevator doors slid open. Verdu carried her off and said, “Just a few minutes. When you passed out, I started to run back to the ship. We figured that if you were really bad off, Kingston would be the man we needed. I hope he's made it back to the
Brofman
already.”

Verdu moved quickly down to slip seven and up the ramp onto the airship, passing a very surprised Germer on the deck. He was about to carry Chenda down the steps to find Kingston, when Chenda tapped him on the arm. “Stop,” she said. “I'm okay. Just hold on. Let me catch my breath.”

Verdu stood there holding Chenda, one foot on the deck and the other on the stairs. Fenimore stood right behind them. “What's wrong?” he asked. “Why are you standing there?”

“She said stop.”

“She's half drowned and perhaps has a blow to the head. Not to mention a few strong drinks. You're listening to her?”

“Shush,” Chenda said. “I want to stay up here, in the open air.”

Verdu frowned slightly, and turned to Fenimore. “She's heavy after a bit,” he warned as he stuffed Chenda into Fenimore's arms and tromped below deck. Chenda looked up at Fenimore and gave a halfhearted grin.