Chương 594: Chapter Five Hundred and Seventy-Eight - Maker's Marks

Amaryllis wasn't happy with the old village head, but I was half-certain that that was just the morning grumpies. Still, she insisted that we have an all-hands-on-deck meeting about the Black Avatars and to decide what our next move would be. There were a few things to look over. The timer, the device, both letters, and now the little knife pendant that the village head had given me. He said that it was payment for help rendered, which I took to mean that I could keep it.

I wasn't sure if it would help us find the Black Avatars, but it was the best lead we had at the moment, maybe.

"Are 'all hands on deck' moments usually this literal?" Desiree asked.

"I guess so. This must be where the phrase comes from," I replied. We had gotten a few chairs out from below, as well as some stools and a long plank from Awen's workshop to serve as a makeshift bench. It was enough seating so that everyone had a place to rest their butts while we had a chat. We sat in an oval so that everyone could see everyone else. The day was warming up pretty quickly, and I was actually happy for the shade provided by the Beaver's balloons. It kept the sun off our heads.

"Okay," I said as I stood up. I was the captain, which made this my job. Well, technically, Orange was an admiral, but she had relocated to Caprica's lap and was snoozing, so since the admiral was predisposed, it fell on me to officiate.

"We're gathered here today to..." Awen's giggles interrupted me.

"Sorry," she said.

"It just sounded... wedding-like?"

"Heh! No, not for that," I said.

"We've gathered up some clues! Now we need to figure out what they all mean, and Amaryllis wants to rant a little and she's happier when there's an audience to listen."

"Pardon me?"

"Forgiven," I replied with my cheekiest grin.

"So, let's start from the top! The village head confirmed that the Black Avatars once had a base here. A sort of castle. Only one day they up and left with their castle and now live in the clouds above the sea." I gestured north, towards the not-so-distant shores. If it wasn't for the trees and a few hills, we might have been able to see the sea from here.

"That's sure something," Calamity said.

"Picking up your home and leaving ain't so uncommon with more nomadic sorts, but those sorts don't usually do castles." I nodded.

"Honestly, it would be surprising, except we live in a fantasy world, and so flying castles are a must."

"A fantasy world?" Caprica asked.

"Yeah, with dragons and knights and magic," I said.

"Uh... sorry. It's a thing from my home? I'm just saying that flying castles make sense to me? At least, according to the stories I read when I was a bit younger."

"What's so fantastical about dragons and knights?" Caprica asked.

"And just about everyone has some access to magic."

"Nevermind," I said. A fairy princess wouldn't understand.

"So, the first clue we have, so far, is that the village head said that the Black Avatar's keep is somewhere over the Moonstruck Sea, to the north of here."

"That sea ain't small," Clive said. He was cleaning out the inside of his pipe with a little cloth and smearing some sort of polish over the old wood.

"Big place if we need to scour the entire thing."

"If it helps, he did say that the keep was floating atop some storm clouds," I said.

"That does help," Caprica said.

"It'll at least be visible up to the horizon line, but even if we can search a wide swathe at once, the sea is still a dozen times wider. We'll have to fly around, perhaps in a grid?"

"I think it's safe to assume that if this flying keep is wandering around the sea, it'll be nearer to the southern shore of it," Amaryllis said.

"Oh?" I asked.

"The northwestern part of the Moonstruck sea is close to the capital of the Endless Swells. Even if they have no idea what they're dealing with, they'd still complain and gossip about a permanent storm interfering with their shipping lanes, and they'd definitely try to do something about it. The northeastern part of the sea is close to the Snowlands. They'd likewise come out to investigate. Besides, we know that they left from nearby, don't we?"

"Yup! I asked, and he said that the keep used to be on a sort of island just over that-a-way," I said, pointing in roughly the same direction the village head had.

"It's barely an island, really. There's a way to walk all the way to it when the tides are lower. Apparently they used to just cart things over when it was possible." The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Interesting defence," Bastion said.

"With the exception of a force that can fly, having a keep on an island with limited, timed access to land would make a siege complicated. If there are cliffs and other natural protections around the area, then it could make for a formidable defensive location."

"I bet the Black Avatars chose it for that," I said.

"And then they made the castle take off and fly away. I guess that also makes it pretty good against sieges?"

"That... would, yes," Bastion agreed after a small pause.

"It would be like trying to lay siege to an airship."

"That's just a boarding action," Awen said.

"Exactly." I giggled.

"Okay, so, we have three things to examine. Does anyone have a preferred order?" I'd draped a cloth over a crate and laid the three items in question on top of it. There was that timing device that Rainnewt had given Booksie as a wedding gift, the thing we'd found around the dungeon's core with the letter next to it, and the small sheathed knife that Headman Eikon had given me.

"Let's start with the obvious," Caprica said.

"The letter?" I nodded, unfolding both letters and laying them out on the table, pinning them down with some random knickknacks.

"That... looks the same to me," I said. A few of my friends crowded in a little closer, but it was Desiree that confirmed it.

"That penmanship does seem very similar. Look at the shortened loops on some of his letters, and the way he puts a dot at the end of every sentence."

"A period," I said. It was a little different from how people in this world wrote their own punctuation.

"It's an Earth thing. At least, in some languages."

"Dirt?" Amaryllis asked.

"No no, my planet of origin," I replied.

"Ah, I see. So, that's another point--pardon the pun--in favour of this being Rainnewt's work," she said.

"Yeah. I think so. The other passages are in a different handwriting, so he has at least two friends. Which is more friends than I'd expect him to have."

"It could well be nothing more than lackeys," Desiree said.

"Could be," I said.

"Just to be sure, though--Awen, have you looked at the thing we found in the dungeon yet?" Awen looked up, blinked, then slowly shook her head.

"No, not yeah, ah, but I can? I didn't bring my tools, but I can use some inspection skills on it. It'll be non-destructive. What am I looking for?"

"Well, we're about ninety percent sure that Rainnewt made that thing, but you've seen some of his other work. Can you confirm it?" I asked. Awen nodded slightly, then approached the things. The clockwork timepiece had been thoroughly inspected already, so she focused on the device meant to wrap around the dungeon's core. Mostly she gave it a poke and a prod, and then looked at it crooked.

"I think it's him? See how he joined these pieces? This is solder, for some reason. I would've just bolted it; it'd be less hassle. Ah, there's a few other little things, overall it mostly looks like the same kind of construction style? I can't be completely sure, of course. It does look... cleaner? The welds are better."

"Maybe he levelled up a skill or two?" I asked. It wouldn't surprise me if Rainnewt had a Doomsday Clockworks skill of some sort.

"That could be it," Awen agreed.

"The stuff I make now is much better than the things I made just a month ago. Maybe Mister Rainnewt is experiencing the same kind of growth?"

"Let's hope not," Amaryllis muttered.

"But... that's a lot of things that match. I think we can consider this definitive proof? The letter, the device, the... style of this whole thing. It's definitely that man's work."

"Okay, so, knowing that, should we keep chasing the Black Avatars?" I asked.

"We can always return home," Calamity said.

"But that sounds dull, don't it?"

"I'd rather not abandon the quest halfway," Caprica replied. I nodded.

"Right, so last item. The village head said that this was a way to call out to the Black Avatars." I tapped the little knife.

"Should we try it?"

"I'm curious to see it at work," Amaryllis said.

"But let's take some precautions, yes?"