In a world of steamships and Progress, no one who sails due south across the Wild Sea ever returns.
No one knows why.
Dale Mortensen intends to solve the mystery. With the help of an old sailor and a reformed playboy searching for his missing sweetheart, he locates a captain and crew ambitious—not to mention crazy—enough to undertake the journey across the Wild Sea.
The Infinity and her crew sail south, but the truth of what really lies on the other side of the horizon is more amazing—and terrifying—than anything they can imagine.
It’s the adventure of a lifetime—and it may just get Dale and his friends killed.
Find out how this Young Adult steampunk adventure unfolds chapter-by-chapter every Thursday! Click here to start from the beginning. Or if you want to read it at your own pace, buy the ebook for $7.99 from Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords or Sony, or get it as a trade paperback from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Book Depository.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HORIZON
E. R. PASKEY
TWELVE
RAPHAEL’S BED WAS EMPTY BY THE TIME Dale awoke the next morning, and he was nowhere to be found when Dale dragged himself down for breakfast. The thought of his friend braving the Wild Sea in a flying mechanical contraption took Dale’s appetite away. He had not had many friends in his life thus far, and he considered Raphael a friend.
Raphael’s defection cast a sour pall over the entire day. Having nothing better to do, Dale browsed the local market for a new book and some fresh fruit before heading back to the ship. When the first mate asked where Raphael was, he could only shrug. He did not know where his friend was, and he most certainly had no idea if Raphael planned to return.
But Raphael did return.
That evening, Dale lay in his bunk with his hands locked behind his head, frowning up at the overhead of the deck above, when the cabin door opened. He glanced over at the door out of habit, and almost fell out of his bunk when he realized it was Raphael.
Dale said nothing, but his frown deepened. Why did he come back? He seemed dead-set on going.
Raphael opened his foot locker and stowed a few purchases in it before turning to Dale. “He would not take me.” His voice was hollow, his eyes empty.
Despite the spike of triumph this announcement brought, Dale found himself asking, “Who, Peabody?”
“Yes. He said I had no experience and he did not want my money.” Sinking down on the nearest bunk, Raphael rested his head in his hands and hunched his shoulders in quiet misery. “When I told him I would be back day after day to ask again, he said he would have the police arrest me.”
Dale winced and sat up. “You told him why you wanted to go?”
“It made no difference to him.” Raphael did not raise his head “He is only interested in attaining glory by crossing the Wild Sea; he cares nothing for anyone lost to her.”
“Sounds like you’ll be better off without him.”
Raphael did look up at that. “But Elena—”
“We’re going to find someone as crazy as we are who has a ship,” Dale told him, with more confidence than he felt just then. “This Peabody is crazy enough—he just doesn’t have a ship. We want someone who does.”
He leaned over to clap his friend on the shoulder. “Hold on a little while longer, Raph. Our luck is about to change—I can feel it.”
“I hope you are right, my friend.”
~oOo~
BY the time Peabody’s dirigible lifted off, Dale and Raphael were back in Port Ruby. Their captain intended to unload their cargo and take on more, but Dale had enough time to stop by the bank to make a deposit and to check if Uncle Liev had sent any more money. He had not.
Dale expected that, but it still added a little more disappointment to the ache in his chest. He did not even have any letters. Usually, he had at least one from Gail. Her letters always ended the same way: with a plea for him to come back to visit.
He had yet to make the time to do it; he was always afraid somebody would put together a venture while he was away.
Raphael, on the other hand, had several lengthy missives from various members of his family. He skimmed through them while he and Dale were on the top deck, leaning against the railing to enjoy the evening breeze. His face tightened with every word he read; when he finished, he casually set the letters on fire. As he watched the edges blacken and curl, and the flames devour elegant swirls of ink, he said, “They want me to come home and ‘stop this foolishness’.”
“Ah.” Dale was hardly surprised; the same sentiment was expressed whenever Raphael got letters from home.
“Nothing has changed, except that my father is now threatening me with disinheritance.”
That was new. Startled, Dale looked over at his friend. “He’d do that?”
“Apparently.” Raphael let the ashes of the letters flutter away on the wind.
His tone was too nonchalant; Dale could not tell what he was thinking. “What are you going to do?”
Raphael let out a short bark of laughter. “What am I going to do?” He looked over at Dale with a wry smile. “I am going to find Elena.”
“Even if your father disinherits you?”
“Yes.” Raphael waved a careless hand. “A year or two ago, that would have been enough to deter me. I had not met Elena.” His eyes abruptly blazed. “But I have met Elena and I cannot go back until I find her. If my father cuts me off, he cuts me off. It is not the end of the world.”
“You’re probably the only rich man I know who would say that.”
“They forget that it is only money,” said Raphael gravely, looking out over the ocean. “Money comes and money goes, but a woman like Elena is found only once in a lifetime. After I bring her back, I will talk to my father.”
Dale had to admire his friend’s confidence.
When they next docked in Port Ruby, the first thing Dale did—along with almost the entire crew—was check the news to see what progress Peabody’s dirigible had made. They had barely made it down the gangplank before a passing sailor greeted them with the news that the dirigible had disappeared.
“Disappeared?” asked Dale sharply.
“Oh, aye. Nothing’s been heard from him, and nobody’s set eyes on him.” The sailor glanced around uneasily. “The Wild Sea’s claimed another batch of fools.”
“Still regretting you didn’t get to go?” Dale nudged Raphael in the shoulder.
Raphael’s face took on a peculiar expression. “I hardly know.”
Talk of the vanished dirigible followed them all the way back to Port Ruby. It ranged from fearful and superstitious remarks to ludicrous and downright mocking comments about storms and how no one should have expected the dirigible to actually make it anywhere. Dale was heartily sick of it all.
“No one will take us seriously, if this keeps up,” he said irritably, stomping down the gangplank to the dock. He had slung his seabag over one broad shoulder and kept a half step behind Raphael to keep from knocking his friend in the head.
“You worry too much, my friend,” said Raphael over his shoulder. “Where are we going? The Bonny Swan?”
“Works for me.”
They struck out along the dock, weaving their way through the usual traffic. They were an unusual-looking pair; Dale, tall, broad, and brown-haired, and Raphael, short and slim with curly black hair and a goatee.
By this time, Mrs. Puca was well-accustomed to seeing the pair of them together. “Brothers in spirit,” she had called them a few months before. She greeted them cheerfully enough as they entered the pub, but lowered her voice to add, “There’s been a man asking after the two of you the last few days, waiting for you to make port.”
“Belly Skoog?” asked Dale.
Mrs. Puca shook her head solemnly. “Never laid eyes on this one before in my life.”
“He’s not blond, is he?” The only other person Dale could think of was his Uncle Liev, but he could not imagine what would dislodge his uncle from Falconcrest.
“No.” Mrs. Puca discreetly tipped her head toward the back corner. “That’s him, there.”
Raphael and Dale both turned to follow her gaze. A trim, wiry man occupied the corner table. A tankard sat before him, but he appeared to be drinking it very slowly. The bulk of his attention was fixed on the door, which meant he was staring straight at them.
Dale and Raphael exchanged glances. “It is possible my father sent him,” said Raphael with a slight shrug, “but it seems a little, how do you say, far-fetched?”
“Best see what he wants.”
Sliding through the crowd in the pub, the two young men made their way to the back corner. The stranger watched them approach, his face expressionless, save for his dark eyes, which narrowed slightly.
Dale stopped in front of the table. “I hear you’ve been looking for us.”
The stranger tipped his head back to look up at him. “If your name is Dale Mortensen, and his is Raphael Avarez,” he nodded in Raphael’s direction, “then you heard right.”
“Raphael Franco Avarez,” Raphael corrected him, but the stranger ignored him.
He motioned to the empty chairs at the table. “Have a seat.”
Exchanging glances again, Dale and Raphael complied.
The stranger waited until they were both settled before pressing his fingers together in a steeple and regarding them over his fingertips. “I hear tell that the two of you are interested in the Legend.”
“Oh, really? From whom?”
Dale had no idea how Raphael managed to sound that bored; his own heart had begun hammering in his chest.
The stranger looked from Raphael to Dale. “Sailor by the name of Belly Skoog. Know him?”
“Yes.” Dale’s voice sounded funny to his own ears. He cleared his throat and leaned forward. “Who are you?”
“Kyle Inzin. First mate on the Infinity, a steam-sailer out of Safir.” Inzin polished off the last of his ale and set the tankard back on the table with a thud. “My captain wishes to speak to you.”
A steam-sailer. Dale looked at Raphael, the same thought reflected in both their faces. This could be it.
“When?” asked Raphael.
“Soon as possible.”
“Now?” Dale’s heart hammered harder than ever.
Inzin smiled, his teeth a splash of white against his dark brown beard. “Absolutely.”
~oOo~
INZIN, as it turned out, had been staking out the Bonny Swan for the better part of a week. “The ale is good,” he said as he ushered Dale and Raphael through Port Ruby’s darkening streets, “but I must confess I was gettin’ a wee bit tired o’ sittin’ there night after night.”
“You’ve been waiting for us that long?” Dale hiked his seabag up on his shoulder.
“Aye.” Inzin cast a sideways look at him. “As I said, the Captain wishes to speak with you.”
Well, thought Dale, that is a little odd. Usually, someone lower in the chain of command was dispatched to collect people.
Raphael was thinking the same thing. “Why is the first mate sitting in a pub waiting for people? I would think you have more important things to do.”
Inzin glanced between them again. “We’re, ah, a bit light on crew at the moment. And I was only promoted to first mate five days ago.”
Five days? Dale almost stopped walking, but remembered Belly had given the captain their names and quickened his pace.
Unless they’ve having you on about Belly, pointed out a dry voice inside his head.
Only one way to find out. He nodded to Raphael, who was looking askance at him behind Inzin’s back.
Inzin led them through the docks like a man who had passed this way so many times he could have walked it in his sleep. Dale found that interesting; he did not recall ever seeing the man before. Still, he reminded himself, a lot of sailors pass through these ports on a daily basis. You haven’t been doing this long enough to know even a quarter of them.
“Here we are, lads.” Inzin came to a halt and swept an arm toward the ship before them. “The Infinity.”
Dale scrutinized the ship as best he could in the darkness. As ships went, steam-sailers hailed from an older generation—a compromise between the past and the future. All he could see clearly at the moment were the outlines of the Infinity’s square-rigged foremast, the taller mainmast, and the shorter mizzen-mast. “What kind of engine does she have?”
“Compound. Only one screw, but she makes good headway.”
Inzin led the way up the gangplank and Raphael sidled closer to Dale. In an undertone, he asked, “Are you familiar with this ship?”
“The name’s familiar, but beyond that it’s not ringing any bells,” replied Dale in an equally quiet voice.
“Interesting.”
They followed Inzin up the gangplank and past a beefy sailor camped in the shadows beside it with a pistol at his side. He nodded to them as they passed, but the cool, calculating expression on his bearded face did not change.
Inzin led them across the deck to a set of steps leading down below decks and then along several passageways until they reached one door in particular. He rapped sharply on it with his knuckles. “Captain? It’s Inzin, sir.”
“Come in!” called a deep voice.
Inzin looked back at Dale and Raphael with a nod. “Just in here, please.” Opening the door, he motioned for them to step through it.
Nerves tingling with a keen sense of impending urgency, Dale crossed the threshold. Raphael followed close on his heels, but slid around Dale because he was too short to see over him. They stood side by side in a rather spacious cabin.
Two lanterns filled the cabin with a cozy glow, illuminating a middle-sized man in his late fifties who had been leaning over a chart spread out on a table in one corner. He had weathered brown skin, kohl-rimmed brown eyes, and kinky gray hair shorn short. He straightened up to look at the pair of them.
“Dale Mortensen and Raphael Avarez,” said Inzin. He had slipped in behind them.
“Raphael Franco Avarez,” Raphael corrected him again. “The middle name, it is important where I come from.”
Inzin looked from him to his captain and back. “Raphael Franco Avarez.”
“Thank you.”
“Good work, Inzin,” said the Captain. “I’ll take it from here.” Inzin nodded and retreated to the door, but he did not leave.
Clasping his hands behind his back, the Captain studied Dale and then Raphael in turn. “I am Captain Norbert Ruben.” He held one hand out palm up. “This is my ship, the Infinity.”
“And a lovely ship she is, Captain,” said Raphael smoothly. “At least as near as we can tell in the dark.”
Ruben smiled, revealing one gold-capped tooth amid the white of his smile. “I’ve been warned about you, Mr. Avarez.”
“By whom?” Dale kept his voice even, despite the mingled curiosity and suspicion rapidly growing within him.
“Old Belly Skoog, naturally.” Ruben’s smile shifted, turned what Dale could only call fond. “That old coot and I go back a long way.”
“And what did he say?” inquired Raphael lazily.
Instead of answering, Ruben motioned to the chairs scattered around his cabin. “Gentlemen.”
Glancing at each other again, Dale and Raphael both took seats. Ruben settled himself into a chair as well and lit a pipe. He puffed several times and then fixed them with bright eyes. “I understand you gentlemen are interested in the Legend.”
Raphael nodded to Inzin. “He said as much.”
“Is that what Belly told you?” Dale wanted to hope this was their moment, but he hardly dared.
“Partly.” Ruben puffed his pipe again. “He also said that if I was looking for men willing to cross the Wild Sea, I should add your names to the top of my list.”
For a second, Dale could scarcely believe his ears. He leaned forward, hazel eyes widening and then narrowing as his mind processed that. “You’re going to sail south on the Wild Sea?”
Ruben removed the pipe from between his lips. “Yes, I am.”
“You are serious?” demanded Raphael abruptly. His face had paled and his eyes burned brightly.
“Oh, yes.” Ruben tapped a finger against the bowl of his pipe. “You see,” he addressed Dale, “like you, the Wild Sea has fascinated me since I was a little boy. I want to know what lies beyond the horizon. I must know.”
“Why now?” Dale shook his head. “Why not nine years ago, after the tsunami? Or five years ago?”
“My wife.” Ruben shrugged. “She begged me not to leave her to go off on some damn fool adventure, as she called it.”
Raphael inhaled in sudden understanding. “Your wife, she has gone to God now, has she not?”
Ruben nodded slowly. “A month ago.” He glanced away, a far-off look in his eyes. “It’s taken me this long to straighten out all of our affairs.”
It occurred to Dale that what he was about to ask was a rather personal question, but he forged ahead anyway. “Do you have children?”
“Not anymore.” Ruben made a brisk motion with one hand. “So, in case you were wondering, lad, I’ve only myself and my crew to worry about.”
That reminds me… Dale glanced over his shoulder at Inzin, who remained a silent shadow. “Inzin said you were a bit light on crew.”
“Ah, yes.” Ruben half-smiled. “That would be why you’re here. When I announced my intentions of crossing the Wild Sea to my crew, I gave them the option of finding another berth or coming with me. Quite a few of them believe my brains are addled and I would be leading them on a suicide voyage.”
His smile sharpened around the edges. “It takes a great deal to drive a man to attempt a voyage such as this. Great curiosity, great lust for money or acclaim, great passion…” He looked at Raphael as he said this. “I know your prospective father-in-law. Not well, mind you, but he was a passenger of mine a few years ago.”
Raphael nodded slowly. “And you are surprised he did not immediately attach an anchor to my feet and drop me off the stern, eh?”
Ruben let out a hearty guffaw. “I think you’ll do just fine, lad.” He nodded to Dale. “As will you, if you wish to accept my offer and join my crew.”
Wild joy was swelling in Dale’s chest, but he managed to keep his face relatively impassive. “Terms, sir?”
“Food, a bunk, and the greatest adventure anyone in this century will have ever seen. Including that fool Peabody.”
“What, you think flying a dirigible across the Wild Sea is foolish?” asked Raphael lightly.
“Exceedingly.” Ruben shook his head. “No one knows what lies beyond the horizon. If he ran into trouble, he had no way of knowing if there was any place for him to land.” He rose to his feet. “Will you join my crew, then?”
“I can’t speak for Raphael, sir, but I’m in.” Dale stood and came forward to shake the captain’s hand. “I’ve been waiting for a venture like this my whole life.”
“Good.” Ruben turned to Raphael. “And you?”
“A chance to sail the Wild Sea? Of course I will take it.”
Ruben grinned, showing off his gold tooth. “Welcome to the Infinity, lads.”
Find out how this Young Adult steampunk adventure unfolds chapter-by-chapter every Thursday! Or if you want to keep reading right now, buy the ebook for $7.99 from Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords or Sony, or get it as a trade paperback from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Book Depository.
Copyright © 2013 E. R. Paskey