The Magical Key. Martie Florence
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massive houses and walls looked almost monolithic.
Facing the port, the nearest inn had a roomy pub hall on the ground floor. They plunged into the drone of voices of numerous visitors, mostly Dwarfs, though some three knights in long black cloaks were also sitting at one of the sturdy wooden tables.
"Delighted to see you, master Huges!" a human, a stout man in a white cook's garb, smiled and made a wave to the servants. Two young Dwarfs, neat aprons over dark suits, promptly brought trays with tankards, big plates and silver jugs. A broad vacant table was instantly laid for the new-comers.
"Bring me another beer!!" one of the knights, a narrow well cared-for face, small conceited eyes, roared and pursed his thin lips arrogantly.
"Please, do not make noise," the cook said politely, "we shall serve you in a moment…"
"Shut up and do what I say!!" the knight squealed fastidiously.
The cook suddenly became not a soft-hearted laggard but a strong resolute man. He promptly grabbed the offender by his cloak collar, hauled him from the chair into a standing position and gave him a violent push towards the exit. The knight flew across the hall, tumbling head over heels, the hauberk clanking, and flopped down not far from the door.
His mates shrank in fear, sidled away from the table and minced retreating, squinting at the cook apprehensively. They took their companion under his arms to lift him from the floor.
"You will be punished!" being dragged through the doorway, the knight whined before leaving the inn. "Trolls will destroy you with my machinery!"
"Hush! Don't reveal it!" his fellows got even more frightened than before, restless eyes denoted uneasiness, faces turned pale.
The Dwarfs chuckled, and the dinner went on. Rich dishes with chopped meat, pepper and stewed vegetables, beer in tankards and red wine in bowls.
"Hmm, they help trolls!" Jim murmured thoughtfully, not sharing the total merry mood, "it looks like a serious conspiracy!"
"Relax!" Huges was optimistic and life-asserting, "there have always been enough scoundrels with nefarious purposes, but we must never let them spoil our life!"
"Still, I advise you to abstain from new mining expeditions for a while," Jim tried to get focused on his plate.
"You know the situation better," Huges gave him a shrewd glance, "do you think this mess will be for long?"
"In a day or two, I believe, my friends and I shall make the uninvited guests leave this coast."
Soon distant but clear chimes sounded from the city clocktower. Jim stood up, made a ceremonious bow of goodbye with his palm on his heart and walked out into the street.
He dropped in on a jewellery shop. Two men in rich black camisoles were admiringly surveying showcases with sparkling platinum necklaces and gold rings on dark-blue velvet cushions.
"Would you exchange it for cash?" Jim put an emerald onto the counter.
"Oh!" the goldsmith, an imposing bearded Dwarf in a dark-grey suit, examined the precious stone through a magnifying glass, nodded and readily gave him a dozen of gold coins. "Excellent! Very pure! Do you have more?"
"I'll use them later. But right now you can deal with master Huges."
"Has he come back, at last?! Nice!" the goldsmith exclaimed gladly. "What could possibly delay him?"
"A horde of trolls and some greedy troll-like humans," Jim explained to the shocked goldsmith, the two customers listening to the news agape. "These days are not propitious for voyages."
"We should adjourn our evening departure!" one man said to the other.
After that Jim left the jewellery shop and went to the port. Workers kept on fussing, loading or unloading boxes and packages, doing repairs. Despite all those crowds he noticed the same three knights standing on the embankment and viewing the ships in the harbour. He stealthily came closer and hid behind a heap of some huge grey sacks to overhear the talk.
"All the Dwarfs and all the yachts are as like as two peas," the uncultured knight grumbled through gritted teeth, "how can we possibly find that very captain?"
"One more vessel has arrived lately, but it's full of Elves," his mate folded his arms haughtily, "not what we are looking for."
"We sold only two airships to trolls, let's take the last one," the third fellow uttered in a not less supercilious manner. "We shall intercept anyone who will sail towards the island!"
The knights strode away from the docks. Jim waited till their dark cloaks got out of sight, then he hurried to his yacht.
The Elves had mounted a tremendous arbalest on the deck, a construction on a wooden stand. A wide bow, a big lever of the straining mechanism, a steel trigger. There was a stack of missiles for that construction, long lances with feathering at ends. Bunches of usual small arrows had been brought and piled up too.
"Three humans co-operate with trolls," Jim worriedly informed them, "they are going to pursue us in some airship, as I heard…"
"An airship? A gigantic flying bean-pod they call a zeppelin? Well, we'll see…" the reply expressed no particular disquiet of the Elves, they looked ready for any trouble.
But all of them were quite attentive when passing the gateway channel between the watchtowers, leaving the fortified lagoon and going out into the open sea.
The troll flotilla had been awaiting for them within an easy reach from the coast line. This time the hostile boats flocked together and rushed to attack as a united pack, far outnumbering the yacht defenders.
Having deviated from several hurled javelins which flew over them and stuck into the deck, the Elves met the approaching enemies with a shower of arrows, shooting uninterruptedly and not missing.
The quivers getting empty quickly, Jim helped the archers to unbind the additional bunches of missiles.
In a minute the fight was over, hoarse snarling and screaming of monsters changed into silence, and the unruled boats drifted away without crews.
Then an increasing low rumble became heard. A grey sinister silhouette, a titanic zeppelin was moving towards them flying not very high above the sea, throwing a long shadow onto the water surface.
"The airship," Jim muttered when the apparatus lowered to them, and the bulky balloon covered seemingly a half of the blue late afternoon sky, two large propellers thundering.
The three knights leant out of the wooden gondola, their physiognomies grinning viciously, and threw a long thick rope with a massive iron hook at its end. That piece of metal thudded onto the deck, scratched the planks and caught hold on the board at the prow, near the bowsprit. The rope stretched tight, and the airship started tugging the yacht towards the shore.
"They want to smash us against the coastal rocks!" Jim took his battle-axe and dashed to hew the rope, but it turned out to be too thick and firm to be cut quickly.
Two Elves pulled the straining mechanism lever, another two loaded one of the huge arrows onto the enormous crossbow and, rotating that weapon on its stand, aimed it at the zeppelin.
The immense missile launched with a swish and pierced the balloon through.
Quickly reloading the arbalest, the Elves went on shooting over and over again, making more and more new holes.
The hot gas which had been keeping the apparatus in the air now was leaking, gushing out of gaps with torrents of steam. The zeppelin began to lose height.
The tension of the rope weakened, the Dwarf finally separated it from the yacht and flung the hook overboard.
The airship plopped down into the water and started to sink gurgling loudly.
"In an hour or two we shall be at the island!" Jim declared cheerfully, taking the steering-wheel and regaining the control over the yacht, making a turn and heading to the golden setting sun. "Maybe, Iven is already there."
"According to the plan," Sebastian pronounced, "we are gathering at the old portal."
"Can the enemy possibly get to the Dryads?" the