Conundrum

Under attack. Boom wrecked, and wench broken free. Commodore commends … He was unable to finish. His.new friends were dropping around him like drunken gully dwarves.

A moment later, a response came back, saving him the trouble of breaking the bad news to the professor. Cut me loose. Nearly out of air, anyway. Life Quest complete, as long as someone survives to record results. Will you?

Conundrum brushed away his tears and answered, Yes. Sorry. Commodore commends your bravery and sacrifice.

Cut me loose. Happy. No regrets. Thank you. See you on the other side.

Conundrum nodded to the commodore when he returned, dragging a small hand axe behind him. The commodore’s bearded chin quivered as he hefted the axe above his head. With one quick chop, the blade sliced through the thick rope, and it slithered away through the pulley at the end of the broken boom and into the water. Glancing over the side, they saw the frayed end swirl for a moment in the green depths before slipping silently into the darkness below.

Commodore Brigg stood up and shook his fist defiantly at the shore. “Hap-Troggensbottle, you shall not have died in vain! “he cried.

But the giant and the crab were no longer visible. A thick fog had descended from the city above, enveloping the beach in a warm white cloak through which little could be seen. For a moment longer, they heard the hue and cry of battle, the ring of stone club on metal shell, angry snarl and clatter of bronze claw. And then silence.

The steamy fog continued to roll down from the city’s numerous geysers and mudpits, eventually swirling across the surface of the water and enveloping the Indestructible. In this white dripping blindness, the commodore and Conundrum moved forward until they found the conning tower. They climbed up and found themselves above the mist, but only by a head.

Commodore Brigg picked up the comm tube, blew into it, then said into it, softly, “Switch power from the dyno to the flowpellars. Minimum speed. Secure aft deck hatch.” The four crew members in the engine room obeyed, and the Indestructible slipped silently forward, turning to starboard under the commodore’s hand.

“All stop,” he whispered once they were in position. “Prepare to flood aft ballast tanks.” The ship drifted to a stop, water lapping softly against her sides.

Through the fog, they occasionally heard a grunted oath or the scrape of an iron claw over wet stone. What the fog would reveal when it lifted, neither cared to guess. Conundrum stood beside the commodore and gripped the rail until his knuckles were as white as the fog. Water dripped from the rusting metal and the stone overhead.

Then the fog began to thin as though blown away by a freshening breeze. They felt the hair of their beards stir, and it brought with it a smell of brimstone. Commodore Brigg leaned over the rail to try to peer through the obscuring mist. One hand shot back and pulled Conundrum after him.

Conundrum caught at the rail to steady himself, at the same time feeling the commodore’s hand trembling. He squinted, staring ahead, seeing the fog parting like many layers of snowy veils, opening, shredding, revealing once more the beach and what stood on it, facing one another.

To the left, the crab crouched low with its rear angled up in the air, pinchers extended and open before it. Captain Hawser and Chief Portlost were visible through the gaps in its armor shell. To the right, the giant stood, back bent, stone club held defensively before it, snarling, eyes darting from the crab-

— to the dragon.

Conundrum gasped at the sight of it. Commodore Brigg began whispering urgent orders into the comm tube.

Charynsanth crouched catlike between the crab and the giant, her great reptilian head twitching to glance first at the giant, now at the mechanical crab, her sulfurous breath hissing through bared fangs. Her wings fanned the fog nervously, helping to drive away the last tatters of the mist. She was by far the most powerful of the three opponents now facing each other, but in the blindness of the fog, she had placed herself directly between them, with the water blocking her escape in front, and her natural weaknesses of mobility on the ground preventing a rearward retreat. She knew she could easily dispatch either opponent with her breath weapon or a spell, but in doing so, she opened herself to attack by the other.

The giant, though it looked a brute, was smart enough to know it stood no chance against the dragon alone. Its only hope was that she attacked the crab first. Then it could wade in with its club and crush her skull. Of course, Captain Hawser and Chief Portlost knew the same was true for them. If the dragon attacked the giant first, they might rush in and grapple her with the crab’s mechanical claws, but if she directed her attack toward them first, they stood little chance of surviving a blast of her fiery breath.

And so all three waited. Captain Hawser twitched the controls, adjusting the crab’s stance in minute increments, trying to line his machine up for the best angle of attack should the dragon turn toward the giant. The giant shifted restlessly, black eyes darting, its huge boots grinding the sand underfoot, knuckles cracking as it tightened its grip on the club. Within easy reach lay a boulder large enough to crush the dragon’s neck to bloody pulp. Moving slowly, almost imperceptibly, it inched its way closer to its chosen projectile.

Charynsanth watched them both, still unable to make up her mind which to attack first. Her tail lashed the sand in indecision. Her claws dug in beneath her, and fire bubbled in her chest. Her eyes narrowed, spotting the giant’s movement and divining its intention. A low hate-filled growl boiled up through her throat. She moved one clawed foot ever so slightly through the sand, twitched her tail around in preparation for a lunge at the giant. Captain Hawser inched the crab closer, preparing to strike. The giant froze, its huge fingers twitching mere inches over the boulder it intended to grab and hurl at the dragon.

Water dripped from the stones overhead, plopping noisily in the water. The Indestructible lay just offshore, unnoticed by the dragon for the moment. Conundrum stood glued to the rail, waiting for something to happen, feeling as though there weren’t air enough to breathe, as though he might suffocate before something happened.

And then many things happened at once. From behind the dragon, Sir Grumdish appeared in his battered, dented, no longer shiny, and bloodstained mechanical armor, already at a full run, bent broadsword raised above his helm as he shouted the Solamnic challenge to a foe. Charynsanth spun to meet this new threat, but Sir Grumdish dashed in beneath her upraised wing and sank his blade to the hilt into her exposed neck. She screamed in rage and pain, fire erupting from her gaping jaws to engulf the giant, who had grabbed the boulder and was lifting it to throw. The giant staggered back, a living bonfire, and dropped both its club and the boulder.

At the same moment, the crab rushed in to attack, one claw tearing into the dragon’s sensitive and softer belly scales, the other clamping onto her rear leg. As Charynsanth beat her wings to maintain balance and keep the crab from flipping her onto her back, one wing swept up Sir Grumdish and flung him fifty yards through the air, out across the water and over the Indestructible. He hit the water with a loud, metallic bellyflop and sank quickly out of sight, a final glint of his spurs shining up through the black water.

Commodore Brigg grabbed Conundrum by the shoulder and screamed in his face, “Get below. Stand by to fire UAEPs on my order!”

Shaken from his paralysis, Conundrum slid down the ladder and through the hatch onto the bridge, stumbled through the half light provided by the glowwormglobes, and located the two big red buttons on the weapons console. Snuffling, he wiped one sleeve across his nose and waited.

“Flood aft ballast!” the commodore shouted. With a gurgling purr, the Indestructible began to tilt backward, lifting her streaming bow from the water.

Meanwhile on the shore, Captain Hawser dug the crab’s legs into the sand and continued to push while Chief Portlost, at the controls of the pinchers, lifted with all his might. Charynsanth flapped like a trapped butterfly, her wings buffeting the crab like thunder, while her slavering jaws snapped at the metal braces protecting the two gnomes and tore off the last sections of its bronze shell.

The giant, its hair and beard smoldering, raw flesh showing through its cracked and charred skin, lunged in with a boulder and began to beat both the dragon and the crab. One blow caught Charynsanth across the snout, stunning her. Another broke off the crab claw gripping the dragon’s rear leg. Recovering, Charynsanth lunged into the air, her mighty wings pummeling the wind. Commodore Brigg sank down in the conning tower as her wingtips brushed inches overhead.

With a roar of hatred, the giant launched its boulder. The huge stone cracked Charynsanth squarely across