The Mad Voyage of Prince Malock (49 page)

“Tell your mistress that she's an evil bitch who I
hope suffers from rust on a regular basis,” Malock said.

Hana quirked an eyebrow. “Tell her that
yourself.”

“How, pray tell, am I supposed to do that?” said
Malock.

“She's right here,” said Hana, gesturing at the
Clockwork Heart
with her head.

Malock looked at the giant ship. “She's inside the
ship?”

“She
is
the ship,” said Hana. “I told you
about our ship, didn't I? She decided to come here in order to find
out how successful your voyage was.”

Smoke blew out of the
Clockwork Heart
's
massive smokestacks, which Malock could only assume was the
Mechanical Goddess's way of confirming Hana's words.

“It was an absolute disaster,” said Malock. “A
mistake from the start. Not helped in the least by your conniving
mistress, who lied to Vashnas and caused us great misery in the
end. And I know that you knew all about it.”

Hana shrugged. “So what if I did? You think I care?
The Mechanical Goddess has had me do all kinds of horrible things
over the years. Besides, based on the rumors
I
heard, it was
Kano who killed Vashnas, not my mistress. So who are you really
angry at?”

Malock wanted to say, 'Everyone,' which would have
been the truth. He was angry at Kano, Tinkar, the Mechanical
Goddess, Hana, and everyone else who had ever caused him or the
rest of the crew grief on their voyage. He wished that he himself
was a god so he could teach them a lesson for causing so much grief
and sorrow.

Instead, Malock said, “It doesn't matter. We're
going home now.”

Hana glanced at the
Iron Wind
. “She doesn't
look like a very good seagoing vessel.”

“She will have to do,” said Malock. “We don't have
the time or money to get her fixed.”

“You know,” said Hana, looking at the
Clockwork
Heart
, “we do have some repair equipment on board. If you
want—“

“I want nothing to do with you or your mistress,”
said Malock. “And I mean
nothing
. Do you understand
that?”

Hana raised her hands defensively. “Sorry. I was
just being friendly.”

Malock laughed hollowly. “After all I've been
through, you have the audacity—the sheer
audacity
—to assume
I give a damn about what you were trying to be. I don't. I really
don't.”

Hana shrugged. “Your loss. How do you plan to get
home when your ship looks like she'll sink as soon as she gets too
full of water?”

“I said we will manage,” said Malock. He looked and
noticed that most of his crew was now on board the ship. “I have to
go. It was horrible seeing you.”

“Same here,” Hana muttered as Malock walked past
her.

Malock made his way up the ramp with little trouble,
where Banika met him at the top.

“Kinker's corpse was placed inside the medical
room,” said Banika, following Malock to the door of his stateroom.
“Ranof is currently preparing his body for burial.”

Malock put his hand on the doorknob of his stateroom
and looked at her in annoyance. “And? What do you want me to
say?”

“We are currently awaiting your decision as to what
should be done with Kinker's body,” said Banika. “We can either
take him home or dump his body into the sea.”

Malock almost said, 'Dump him into the sea,' but
then he remembered Kano killing Vashnas and he said instead, “We'll
drop off his body on Destan on the way back. Maybe we'll even stop
for repairs there.”

Banika, as usual, showed no particular signs of
emotion at his orders. “I shall inform Ranof and the rest of the
crew about your decision.”

Malock was already inside his stateroom before
Banika finished speaking. He slammed the door shut behind himself
and slouched over to his desk. He didn't dare look at the sofa, not
wanting to spark all of the memories he had of sleeping with
Vashnas on it.

He sat down in his chair behind the desk and lowered
his face into his hands. And he cried once more.

***

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***

I want to thank my uncle, James Wilhite, for his
help in preparing this manuscript for publication. I would also
like to thank the rest of my family for supporting me while I wrote
this novel. You guys rock.

***

Timothy L. Cerepaka writes fantasy and
science-fiction stories as an indie author. He is the author of the
Prince Malock World series of fantasy novels and the
science-fantasy novel
The Last Legend: Glitch Apocalypse
. He
lives in Texas.

Please visit his
website
(http://www.timothylcerepaka.com/) for more info.

***