something new later today, but first, feedback?

Hi,

OK, so if anyone wants to post feedback on the Liza and the Air Pirates book (aside from the horrible title) that would be cool. I may try to do a poll thing too.

Thanks!
-D H Richards

Chapter 40 (Conclusion) Liza and the Air Pirates (NaNoWriMo work in progress- unedited)

Chapter 40  

 

The journey back to London was quite different than the journey to Navasaa. Whilst the group of six had crowded into the Generals wicker sedan on the way over, they and a crew of pirates had plenty of room on the large Navassan airship on the way to London. Although the mood was somber with the passing of Henri, there had been a small celebration as John announced that the airship would be renamed The Henri in memory of his late father.

As they approached the other end of the Atlantic Liza and Mary found themselves at the prowl of the airship watching the sun rise. They had spent several days crossing, a pace that felt ti Liza to be interminable.

“Another morning and we are not in the ministry speaking with the war minister.” Liza said, her voice tight.

“I am sure it will be alright Liza, after all we do have the upper hand. Inglessdin has nothing.”

“But he can promise. He is not a success because he is stupid or gives up easily. I just wish I knew what he was up to. I want to have all the facts I can when we make an offer.”

Mary put her hand on Liza’s arms. “Liza, dear, you keep saying ‘we.’ I don’t wish to be rude, but I also hope you are not thinking you will go to the ministry with your grandfather and Will?”

Liza jumped slightly and her eyes lit up. “And why shouldn’t I be there?”

“It is not a matter of should Liza, and you know that. You are as qualified as anyone, but can you imagine if you, a woman, walks in there?”

“What of it. I have just as much right!”

“No doubt, but those crusty generals and MPs won’t think so. They won’t listen to a word you say.”

Liza started to say something but then just looked away, to the front of the ship. Tears began to flow down her cheeks.

“Liza! I’m terribly sorry, I did not mean to make you sad. I just wanted to save you from hurt later on. Oh, I have gone a ruined it all haven’t I?”

Liza turned and forced a smile. “No Mary, you have only talked sense into me. It is just… it is just that I feel I will be lost somehow…”

“How? You have been on an adventure of a life time!”

“That is just it, you see, what happens next?”

“You could write a book about it!”

“Yes, I suppose, but that sounds dreadfully boring. Oh Mary, what will I do? Grandfather, Mot and Will will no doubt be very involved in whatever deal is made. And you will be gone…”

“Me!? Where on earth will I go? Not back to the country house, that is for sure…”

Liza looked at Mary with a puzzled expression for a moment.

“Where will you…?” Liza said, confused, “But I thought you would stay here with John…”

Mary let out a loud bark of a laugh and then clapped her hand over her mouth.

“Oh Liza! Honestly! What make syou think that?”

“The way you two have been mooing about…”

“Mooning? Oh Liza, sweet Liza, no, no. John is quite handsome, I’ll admit. And he does appear to be some sort of king or something, right? A girl could do worse. But… well, he’s not for me. Can you imagine, me, cooped up on this ship, thousands of feet from the nearest shrub or plant? Oh Liza, is this what has been bothering?”

Liza blushed and turned away. She then broke out into a laugh. “Well, I suppose it is. I tell you Mary, growing up most girl friends I have met ditched me for a handsome beau at some point. I just assumed…”

Mary took Liza’s hand and smiled. “Liza, dear, whatever happens, whatever men come between us, we’ll always be friends, I promise. And I will never abandon you. Now, I suppose I should go break the news to John, although, I can assure you, he will be very nonplussed about our break up. I never got any sense from him that he was interested, to be honest!”

 

It was midday when Liza and the rest, including John, alit in the General’s sedan and came out of the clouds to touch back down at the General row house. Very soon everyone was busy making plans up and down the house. The General placed a call to the Ministry and up to the roof to where Liza, Mary, John and Will were busy helping the house maids to unpack the sedan. Moto was working in the sedan on the engine.

“Well, I’ve just spoken to the Minister’s under-secretary. We have a 4 pm appointment with the minister himself. He is very keen to hear what we have to propose.”

“Good news, now you have my write up Grandfather, and John knows what to press for-“

“I am sure we’ll do fine Liza!” her grandfather said, not unkindly.

Liza bit her lip and nodded.

“So, John and Will we’ll meet in about an hour downstairs and I’ll have the driver take us over to the ministry. Don’t worry, I am sure we’ll do a smashing job and get everyone the best deal possible!”

 

30 minutes later Liza was coming down the stairs with a box of tools she wanted to get cleaned. She heard the front door bell ring and the butler answer it. As she headed into her room she heard Mary as well, saying she would see to whoever was at the door.

 

It was then that she heard a large commotion and a short scream from Mary. She dropped the box of tools and ran full tilt down the stairs. She saw the butler in a heap by the wide open door. She vaguely was aware of Will coming up behind her. Liza burst out of the doorway into the street to see a large produce lorry motoring down the street at top speed. Will bounded up beside her.

“What happened?” he demanded, out of breath.

“I don’t know, there was someone at the door, Mary answered it and then screamed. I fear she is in the back of that lorry!”

There was a moaning behind them and Liza turned to see the butler trying to get up on his feet.

“XXXX, what happened?” Liza asked as she helped him up.

“’ Ldy, I’m not sure. I opened the door and a well dressed young man was there asking for Mary. When she came to the door two other men came out from beside the doorway and grabbed her whilst the young man pushed me aside. I tried to stop them…”

“It’s alright…” Liza said with false bravado. She looked up at Will with searching eyes. But Will was bending over, picking something up off the ground.

“What is it?” Liza asked. Will grimaced and handed her a calling card. It has one word on it ‘Inglessdin.’

“That beast!” Liza said. Will nodded.

“No doubt this is part of how he means to stop us. We must go after her.”

“No!” Liza said, surprising herself. “You must go with grandfather and John to the Ministry.”

“But what of Mary?”

“Leave her to me and Moto.”

 

Just then the phone rang and the Butler stumbled towards it, but Liza brushed him aside. She picked it up.

“The General’s Residence.”  She answered.

The voice on the other end was smooth and clam and sent a chill down Liza’s spine.

“I have a message for the General. We have the Colonel’s niece. As long as he cooperates, no harm will come to her. No, listen carefully, tell him to cancel the meeting with the ministry and to wait for more details.”

 The line went dead. Liza turned to see Will waiting.

“Change of plans. Meeting in the parlor right now, get John and Moto, I’ll fetch Grandfather. We have to put off the minister for another day, we have a rescue mission to go on!”

 

 

The End

 

To be continued…

Chapter 39 Liza and the Air Pirates (NaNoWriMo unedited work in progress)

 

 Chapter 39

 

Despite John’s objections, the party set out for Port au Prince by climbing into the General’s sedan and floating gently down onto a small farm outside the capital. Although it was early morning, farm hands were already out and about and they came running when they saw the balloon.

“they know you then?” Mary asked as men came running up tot eh balloon.

“Yes, but not much about me, so it would be wise to remain silent.”

“They speak French then?” Mary asked, tilting her head.

“Not these men, but people in town will, yes.” Mary nodded in agreement.

 

When they were firmly on the ground they climbed out onto solid ground. Liza smiled when she realized she had not set foot on solid ground since the Azores. She wasn’t sure, but she felt almost wobbly, as if the ground was moving. She looked at Mary, who had a look of alarm on her face.

“The ground..” she said, her tone serious.

“Yes” Said Will, dragging the chained up figure of Ingellsdin’s man behind him. “Terrestrial Feet Syndrome is what it’s called; at least what we called it. In a few minutes you’ll get used to it. Your  legs are still adjusting for the slight movement that is always occurring in a balloon.”

“You seem ok…” Liza said.

“This isn’t my first time” Will said with a large smile.

“Well, this is hardly-“

“Come on now!” John said from up front. “The men say we can borrow a wagon. We’ll get to town much faster.”

“And the telegraph office?” Liza shouted, brushing off Will’s offered hand and making her way unsteadily towards John.

“They have told me the address. It is not far, come along.”

 

Twenty minutes later they were in the capital of Haiti, the bustling Port au Prince. People, noises and color swirled around them. It was a world far away from the dull grey streets of London, and gone were the black dress that so many Englishmen wore. Here there was clothing and material of all colors, many of multiple colors. Men strode by in clean white shirts and pants of every shade imaginable. Women brushed by in outsized dresses in loud fabrics. Everywhere there were people, busy going places, selling goods, and buying goods. And all around them were the shouts of street vendors, the honking of a few desperate automobiles trying to make their way through streets crowded with horses, mules and donkeys, and, of course, people.

It struck Liza that nearly everyone she saw had skin a shade of brown, from almost black to the lightest of cinnamon coloring. No one looked the same, every hue imaginable was on display.

“Amazing.” She said to John and Mary, who were upfront with her, John was driving. “The world’s only African Republic.”

“If you don’t count Liberia” Mary said with a smile.

“Yes, well, still, so remarkable. These people, able to govern themselves under democracy, amazing.”

“Not so amazing, they are people after all…” John said.

“Well,yes, of course, I did not mean-“

“I know Liza, I am only chiding you a little. Besides, it is not exactly paradise. True democracy does not exist here more than anywhere else, and even less so for most. Here the strong do what they can-“

“- the weak suffer what they must!” Mary said and laughed. “Yes, John, I read Thucydides too.”

“Is it that bad?” Liza asked.

“There is tremendous poverty here.” John said matter of factly.

“Yes, well in London as well.”

“Hmmm, perhaps, but I wager poverty in London would be comfort here. Still, it is all relative, yes? And here we are, the telegraph office.”

 

Will and Moto stayed with the prisoner in the cart while Mary, Liza, the General and John went into the office. Inside the air was still and the sound of the street was distant. A clerk came up to the window and smiled. Liza gave a carefully written note to John, who arranged for the clerk to have it sent to the British war office.

Liza and the General had worked on it late into the night. It read:

            HOLD CONTRACTS. INGELLSDIN DOES NOT HAVE GOODS. WE DO, WILL CONTACT W/I 5 DAYS

 

The clerk took the note and returned a moment later with a receipt. The message had gone out. It was all they could do.

 

The group left the office and went back into the street. Although Liza had argued voraciously to be the one to talk to the prisoner, the rest had agreed that any message might have more weight if it came from the General. So when the prisoner was manhandled out of the cart it was the General he faced.

“Well, see here, young man,” The general began, “It is your lucky day, perhaps. Up there certain death waited for you, now you have a chance to earn your freedom.”

“I will never tell you anything!” The man replied in a heavy accent.

“That is acceptable.” The general said ‘ But we are hoping you can tell your employer a message for us. Tell him that we now have the contracts with both the Arawak and the Navassians and that if he knows what is good for him he will slink back to the rock from which he crawled out of. Do you think you can tell him this?”

The man nodded.

“Well?” the general continued. “Can you?”

The man gave a slight sigh. “Yes.”

“Yes what?” The General was playing like a cat with a mouse now, but appeared frightfully serious.

The man gritted his teeth and all but spat out “Yes, sir!”

“Good lad, now off you run!”

 

The man did indeed run, scrambling down the street until out of sight.

“I still don’t see how that will help, it will only serve to warn your enemy.” John said “That man will find perhaps another telegraph or circle around to this one and then it is all over.”

“Perhaps, but hopefully not” Liza replied. “For now when Ingellsdin tries to go to the War Ministry, they will be waiting for him.”

John did not say anything but just smiled and shook his head.

“I told you not to mess with her” Mary said. “Now, let’s grab a decent lunch and then…?”

“Back to London, of course!” Liza said. “We’ll be back just in time for the season too!”

Mary’s mouth fell open and Liza laughed. “I am joking, there will be a great amount of work to be done to hammer out an agreement!”

Mary and Liza dissolved into laughter as the men stood by with slightly puzzled looks.

 

Final two chapters coming next week -

Hi everyone
Thank you for following along so far. This has been a busy week, so I did not finish as I had hoped, but I think I will wrap up the story in a chapter (or maybe two) next week.

I would love any feedback you might have, good or bad, positive or negative.

Thanks for staying tuned so far.

D H Richards

Liz and the Air Pirates Chapter 38 (NaNoWriMo work in progress, unedited)

Chapter 38

 

Liza and Will made their way over to the knot of Navassians who were standing around the body of Henri. John knelt next to his father, laying his head on the dead man’s chest, tears rolled from his eyes but he made no sound. There was not a sound made by anyone, but most had tears. Liza and Will went up to Moto, who was standing with the General and the colonel.

“Where is Mary?” Liza asked in a hushed voice.

“In one of the ships, helping a wounded man.” The general said with a note of pride in his voice. “Did you speak to the queen?”

“Yes” Liza said. “We need to go to Port Au Prince as soon as we can. We have the Ingellsdin man that survived. I have a plan, but we need to get to a telegraph office first. Tell me Grandfather, are you still in contact with people in the war office?”

“Absolutely. What do you suggest?”

“An offer. Once it is appropriate I will speak with John and ask him about the… political situation.”

“Is he not king then?” Moto asked. Liza shrugged.

“It would seem to me, but who knows how it works here.”

“Does anyone know what happens next?” Will asked. Everyone shook their head. So they waited. After what seemed like a very long time underneath the unrelenting Caribbean sun, the group of Navassian pirates broke up and they began to wander back to the airships. Some went around and collected various guns and other tools from the camp, leaving the dead Ingellsdin men lying where they fell.

“What about the men, the dead?” Liza asked. No one had an answer.

“We leave them to rot!” John said as he came up to the small group, who had sought shelter underneath a large beach umbrella Will and Moto had found.

John’s face was etched in anger, so Liza did not say anything. She did shudder a little, thinking about how it might have been if she had died and the dead men around her has lived. Would they have left her to rot?

Will stood up, brushing off his pants. “I suppose, if it were all the same, Moto and I could gather them together and put them in the trench they dug in front of the main building?”

John spat on the ground. “Suit yourself.” He then turned and walked away.

“We’ll all help” Mary said, Liza had not seen her slide up to the group. “John is upset, he will calm down and he would regret if we did not at least try and give the dead a proper burial.”

 

So the small band gathered up the dozen or so men who has been killed and placed them as best they could in a small trench that had been dug as fortification. Moto and Will agreed that only a small layer of dirt was needed as there were no animals on the island that might dig up the bodies. Liza felt like getting sick the entire time, but kept telling herself she had to confront the dead, not look away.

Several hours later the six of them were spent, but all of the bodies had been buried. One of the pirates came over and spoke to Moto, who told them that the airships were leaving. So they all trudged back , silently, to what had been Henri’s airship.

As they lifted off from the small island the empty camp and the dirt scar where the bodies had been buried came into full view. Liza felt like crying, but no tears would come. She just hoped that whatever came of all this was worth the cost.

 

It was a silent, hushed atmosphere back on the main ship that night. Liza had tried to speak with John, but Adi had stepped in front of her and motioned her to the side.

“Do not bother him now child. He is sick with grief.”

“I Know, I know Adi. I am sick even thought it was not my father, what he feels I cannot imagine. But we do not have much time. The prisoner we have below grows less valuable with each hour.”

 

“I will try to speak to him. What is it we need?”

“We need to get to Port au Prince, to a telegraph office. We need to contact the British Army office before Ingellsdin does. He is the man behind the group that we did battle with today.”

Adi nodded slowly. “I will speak to him then.”

 

It was not a half an hour later when Liza, who had been talking with Mary about how she had been able to help several wounded pirates, looked up to see John standing before her.

“Liza, can you not let a man grieve his own father’s death?” Liza looked up, afraid he would be angry, but saw that he was more weary than angry.

“Time waits for no man.” Liza said standing up. She took John’s hand. “I am truly and deeply sorry about your father John, but if we do not get a message to the army office soon, he will have died in vain.”

John nodded, but was silent. Then he spoke quietly.

“My father used to say that work makes the heart sing. We will set down in Port au Prince in the morning. We’ll use your basket, if that is alright? Who needs to go?”

“Well, myself and Mary, and my grandfather, since he will send the cable. We’ll need Will and Moto too, to help us.”

“With what?”

“The prisoner.”

“Ah yes, what do you propose we do with him then?”

“Well, it is obvious, isn’t it? We set him free!” Liza said with a smile.

Chapter 37 Liza & the Air Pirates (NaNoWriMo work in progress, unedited!)

Chapter 37

 

As Mary worked on cleaning up Liza’s wound as best she could, shouts rose up from outside the ship. John smiled.

“The dyab say that the battle is over. They have killed all of the white devils.” Then his face fell. “Oh, but not quite, it seems. Ach! Too bad for him! They have caught one of the devils!”

Liza bolted upright. “We must go and see what they are doing. John, I am serious, they cannot do anything to the man. I will not allow it, custom or not.”

John put his hands up. “Alright, alright. We will go see what is going on.” He went over and looked down the hatch and yelled down, speaking to the pirates still below. Soon they all climbed out and helped John unfurl a rope ladder off the side of the ship. Within a few minutes Liza and Mary found themselves surveying the battlefield. Liza waved as she saw Will, Moto, the General and the Colonel coming over from Henri’s ship. They seemed no worse for wear.

“Liza!” Will shouted, his expression shocked as Liza cheerfully waved. It was only a sharp pain that reminded her of how she must look, her bloused soaked in blood.

“I am alright! Grazed is all!”

The General picked up his pace and so was breathing fairly hard when he got to where Liza was standing.

“Young lady! You are hurt! Unacceptable.”

“General sir, I have checked her out, she is okay, I promised!” Mary said, giving Liza a sideways smile.

“Well, still not acceptable.”

The Colonel tottered up, evidently he had been able to already secure a bottle of liquid courage.  “Are you alright Mary dear?”

“Yes Uncle!” She said, rolling her eyes.

Soon a small knot of them were standing around as Henri disembarked and came over. He raised his hands and smiled.

“Wonderful!” He shouted several times. “Good, good!” he said several more, and then crumpled to the ground.

“Papa!” John yelled. The colonel spun around and for some reason decided that this was his moment and quickly followed John as he ran to help the fallen Henri.

“There’s a sniper someplace” Will yelled as he spun, trying to find out where the person could be hiding.

“Everyone take cover!” Will shouted. Liza spun on her heels too, looking for a place a sniper might hide.

“Get down!” Will yelled, but Liza did not pay attention and instead reached for her elephant gun. With one smooth motion she cocked it and brought it up. She had seen a small cart tied up to a low bank. She aimed at the cart and then shot just below it. A scream went up and a man limped out from behind the cart.

“I have him!” Liza yelled just as another shot rang out and the man crumpled falling into the hard earth face first. Liza spun around to see Will still holding his pistol out. She glared at him as she put her own gun away.

“I had him Mr Cogsworth.”

“I  know, I just… wanted to be sure…” Will said, sheepishly, but Liza just brushed by him as she ran over the figure of Henri. John was cradling him in his lap as Mary, who had also rushed over, tried to stop the bleeding from a large wound in Henri’s shoulder.

“How-“ Liza started but Mary just looked up and shook her head. Within a moment there were a dozen of the Navassians surrounding the dying king. Liza eased her way back out of the closing circle. As the pirates formed a wall around the king she thought she heard a frail voice speaking in Creole.

“Liza, Look, I am sorry-“ Will came up to her as she walked away, she put her hand up to stop him.

“Not now, not now. We have bigger issues ahead of us Mr. Cogsworth.”

“I wish you would call me Will.”

Liza ignored him. “We need to find the General and cement a plan. With Henri gone things will be in disarray here, perhaps. We must wrap things up here and make our way back to England as fast as possible. Ingellsdin will already be there… Where is the captive?”

Will pointed to a small knot of Arawak who were tying up the last surviving of Inglessdin’s men to the outside of a basket. The man looked terrified.

“Stop!” Liza said as she strode up to the group, who looked shocked and momentarily took a step back. Will ran after her.

“Liza, please, we need to be careful!”

Liza spun on her heels. “Yes.. Will, we do! We must be careful that these… that the Arawak do not kill this man.” She continued up to the tied man. “Do you speak English?”

The man nodded and managed to croak out “Yes.”

“Good, tell me, is Ingellsdin here, in the Caribbean. I know he’s not here.”

The man cleared his throat and looked around. “Even if I knew Iw ouldn’t tell you.” He spat. Liza grimaced.

“Fine, well, then, Will, you are right, useless. Anyone here speak English” She said looking to the Arawak. The man who had translated the day before pushed his way forward. He looked at Liza and gave a short bow, which Liza reflexively returned.

“Please miss, the man here is ours, to take back to the queen.”

“I see, where is your queen?” Liza asked, looking around. The man pointed to a larger basket behind the pirate balloons. “She is here?” the man nodded. “Tell me, I am not familiar with your customs, is it possible to… buy or ransom the captive?”

The translator tilted his head. “He is a great prize…”

Liza smiled, she has traveled enough to know where this was going. The fact was he could be ransomed; now it was just a matter of deciding the price. “Let’s go talk to your queen, shall we?”

 

The man nodded and gave a short order to the men surrounding the captive. They moved closer to the man, who gave out a pitiful cry. “Wait, miss, take me with you! I speak Arawak too! This man here will cheat you!”

Liza turned and smiled. “Oh, I hope not, I have such limited funds. Perhaps not enough?” and then she spun back and walked to the Queen’s basket.  

 

 

Will followed Liza and the translator as they went behind the pirate ships. When they came to the basket they found two large guards in front of it. The translator said something and the top of the basket popped off. Rather like a Jack-in-the-Box, the Queen appeared at the top of the basket, at least her head did. A rapid fire dialog occurred between the Queen and the translator. After a few back and forth exchange, the translator turned to Liza.

“She says you have no right to the prisoner, and, respectfully, you are to be off and not bother her about the matter anymore.” The man looked vaguely worried, but Liza just smiled. Will cleared his throat. Liza glared at him. She then turned back to the translator.

“Well, yes, of course, but I would like to remind her majesty of several things. The least of which is that I just saved her life- she could have easily been the one shot at by the sniper instead of Henri. But that is beside the point…” Liza paused here, and let he man translate, as she knew it was not beside the point at all. Then she picked back up.

“Plus, I am to go an argue with the King of England to fetch her a fair price, am I to be denied this single prisoner? Such a denial would put me in a most foul mood I suspect. But if I am being honest, I need the man as a bargaining chip. He will help us weaken the position of Ingellsdin. If he is dead, that does not help our position…”

 

After another exchange the man came back, his face wide with a smile. “Her majesty says you make a good point. 30 gold pieces should be enough.”

Liza sighed inwardly. She has expected at least 100, but she, again, had been around enough to know how to handle the situation. She let her face fall and raised her voice a little.

“30? 30! For one man, not even an important man? I was considering being generous by offering 10. I will say 15, but that is only because of my deep respect.” She was having trouble not laughing as she saw Will’s face, he looked shocked.

The man came back quickly. “Her majesty says you have a funny way of showing respect. 30 was a low offer, because she likes you. 30 stands firm.”

“17, and that is all I have.”

The man shook his head after speaking to the queen. “For you, 28, but she is growing impatient.” He added in a low voice. Liza smiled. 

“Well, he is not worth that much trouble. Tell her to have fun, hope he is worth 17 coins.” Liza smiled up at the queen and turned to leave. A rapid and quite angry sounding conversation followed.

“Wait!” the man said “Wait, 25 is all she is willing to do, for the sake of good will and understanding.”

Liza turned and looked directly at the translator. “22 and I will personally see to it that the King gives her a medal.”

The man smiled and stuck out his hand “Done!” He said, not even bothering to translate. He then turned back to the queen, who must have told him to get the prisoner before Liza changed her mind because the translator fairly ran over, yelling at the Arawak around the prisoner. Soon they were untying him from the basket and frog marching him over to Will and Liza.

Will leaned over to Liza. “and how will you secure the queen a medal, exactly?”

“Oh Will, use your imagination. I’ll lift one of Grandfathers if I have too, he wouldn’t even miss it.”

update

Well, the story is now past 50k word. It should wrap up soon. Feedback is always welcome.
After this IW ill return to John Mule and once that is done I should also start on a sequel to Levels, although I may first post a finish sequel to the Hare, The bow and the Girl.

Fun times!