Tradewinds 17: Underneath: XXI

“Wait a minute!” Maximilian exclaimed, looking around now that he could see clearly, “I know this place! I’ve seen this before!”

The cave entrance was situated in the midst of a fenced- and hedged-in garden, long overgrown from apparent years of neglect.

“You do?” Max remarked. The young man had been so quiet since they escaped from the cavern, he was pretty sure this was the first time he spoke up the whole while.

“Yeah!” Maximilian told them, “But I haven’t seen this place since I was a kid. Come on!”

And so he proceeded to lead them around a corner, and into the garden proper. Though just as abandoned as the rest, looking back it was clear that the area with the cave was meant to be a secluded section. Up ahead was a seaside mansion.

“So, where are we?” Justin demanded, having never seen this place before.

“I don’t get it…” Maximilian stammered, abruptly stopping short “How could we possibly—”

“Young Master!” a familiar voice cried out from the nearest doorway. “It really is you!”

“ ’Bastian!” Maximilian greeted him, sounding as if he’d never been happier to see anyone in his entire life. “You’re safe!”

Sebastian stepped out of the doorway, rushing forward and throwing his arms around him in a fatherly embrace.

“That should be my line, Young Master,” the butler told him. “You were gone so long, I feared I’d lost you! But what are you doing back here?”

“While we’re on the subject,” Shades quipped, “what are you doing here?”

“And where’s here, for that matter?” Max added.

“Well, this is the Vandenbergs’ estate on Amarrah,” Sebastian told them. “This is where I’ve been hiding from Freedan’s men all this time.”

“You see,” Maximilian elaborated as he led them inside, “this house hasn’t been used since I was little, so we figured Freedan…”

“Wouldn’t know about it,” Sebastian filled in. “It’s a very obscure Vandenberg holding that’s been off the books for years. I don’t know if anyone ever told you this, but this was your mother’s favorite place. After she passed on, Master Percival refused to come here anymore, but he also refused to sell it… Tell me, where is Master Percival? Did you find him?”

“I’m sorry…” Maximilian hung his head. “By the time we found him… I was too late…”

“I see.” Sebastian bowed his head in resignation. “I feared as much… And what of Freedan?”

“He’s dead.” Maximilian’s voice cold yet somber. “Rawne, too… Yet I find no satisfaction in it…”

“Young Master…” Sebastian placed a hand on his young charge’s shoulder. “I doubt your father would want to be avenged if it cost you your own life. By now, you may be the only legacy he has left.”

“Only legacy…” Maximilian mulled that over. “What do you mean by that?”

“Amarrah?” Shades backed up, that last part finally registering as he looked out the window. “How the hell did we get way over here?”

“I have no idea,” the butler admitted. “I was hoping you might tell me. You’ve been gone for days, and I have had no word about Freedan or Rawne, either…”

“Days!?” Justin gasped. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Yeah,” Shades remarked, double-checking his watch, “we were only down there for a day, day-and-a-half, at most…”

“More like eight days,” Sebastian informed them.

“But… that’s impossible…” Maximilian stammered.

“Perhaps we should all step out for some fresh air,” Shades suggested, gesturing to the glass doors leading out onto a veranda overlooking the sea. Time dilation… For real? “I have a theory, but it’s mostly speculation…”

Out on the veranda, they could very clearly gaze upon the expanse of water between them and the city of Alta, vaguely discernible on the horizon.

“You don’t mean…” Max second-guessed him, “when we went to the weird place…”

“Don’t tell me…” Justin muttered, already seeing where this was going.

“I think we may have passed through a different dimension,” Shades said it plain. “One where time flows differently than in this one. Not only is there this huge time disparity, but no matter how you look at it, the distances in that place and in this one just don’t add up.”

“But how…” Maximilian floundered.

“I have an idea about that,” Sebastian told them. “It’s not a widely known fact, but Edric originally bought this land because that was where he returned to the surface after his original expedition. I think it’s because it’s connected to where he found the treasure, though he was never able to find his way back to that place. Later generations sealed it, most likely not wanting anyone to get lost down there.”

“I remember going down there when I was little…” Maximilian recalled, even the dead end he found at that sealed doorway. “That’s why that whole place seemed so familiar to me.”

Though he decided it wasn’t worth bringing up, Shades couldn’t help wondering about what happened to Rawne there at the end, pondering if Edric would have sold that dagger if he had any inkling it might be a potential key to that mysterious portal.

“Oh, I almost forgot…” Sebastian dug in one of his pockets, producing an ornate ring. “I believe this is yours now, Young Master.”

“Father’s signet ring…” Maximilian reached out reverently. “So that’s what happened to it. When I didn’t find it on… his remains… I thought Freedan took it, along with the journal…”

“No, Master Percival left it in the secret room when he left,” Sebastian recounted. “In spite of his desperation, I fear he knew his real chances far too well. I was afraid to give it to you before, for fear that Freedan might take it, given how much he was poking around the study before… But I fear it may do you little good now.”

“What do you mean?” the Young Master demanded.

“Don’t forget, you’ve been gone for almost eight days,” Sebastian reminded him, “and your father has been missing for almost twice as long. And no one has heard from Freedan or Rawne in all this time, either, so the other investors…”

“They foreclosed on the company, didn’t they?” Maximilian sighed, visibly crestfallen.

“I’m so sorry, Young Master…” Sebastian shook his head. “The investors pressed their investigation. The good news is that they found evidence of Freedan’s treachery. The bad news is that neither he, nor anyone of the family, was around to confront about any of it, nor to recover the stolen monies, so the Assembly ruled to liquidate the Vandenberg Company assets to pay your father’s outstanding debts. It’s been the talk of the island for the last couple days. Because of Rawne’s men searching for me over here, I have been able to do nothing but hide this whole time.”

“It’s not your fault,” Maximilian assured him. “And after all that’s happened, I’d rather you still be alive than a single credit to my name and nothing left of my family.”

“You’re too kind, Young Master.” Sebastian bowed his head. “Since you’re still alive, perhaps you might yet appeal the Assembly’s decision…”

“Perhaps.” Maximilian looked out to sea.

As did the others in that long, awkward moment.

Which was interrupted by something flashing and strobing out in yonder Alta Harbor.

“What is that?” Max asked, pointing.

“Looks like a shootout…” Shades speculated, even as those flickering lights started moving out from the seaport, away from the city.

Justin whipped out his crossbow, peering into the scope and zooming in on it.

“Looks like a chase…” he told them, spotting one ship fleeing from another, larger ship. “Judging from the rig, I’d say they’re Cyexian, though I wonder why they’d attack someone in the middle of the port like that…”

Looking for clues, he zeroed in on their quarry, wondering why the other vessel looked so familiar… until it hit him.

“Hey! That’s our ship!”

“You sure?” Shades pressed, hoping his friend wasn’t jumping to conclusions.

“Sure as shit!” Justin shot back. “Some assholes just stole our fucking ship!”

And all they could do out here was just stand and watch it happen.

“Guess it’s a good thing we brought Bandit along after all…” Max remarked, as he could think of only one Cyexian pirate who would attack their ship in public like that, deciding that perhaps it was for the best that they were all out of town for that part.

“You know, even though they just stole our ship,” Shades commented, his tone distant, “I still feel bad for them. Whoever they are. No clue what they were getting themselves into…”

“I sure as hell don’t!” Justin snarled. “I hope they do catch up with those bastards! I hope they get what they’ve got comin’ to ’em!”

“What we’ve got coming to us,” Max amended, already quite certain who that was, and what it was all about.

“Mistaken identity all around then,” Shades shrugged. “Easy come, easy go.”

Maximilian cleared his throat.

“I fear I may not have as much in the way of hospitality as I did last week,” he invited, “but I would be honored to let you stay with us for the time being. I owe you my life, so it’s the least I can do…”

They all nodded absently. Battered, exhausted, empty-handed for all their trouble, and now homeless, as well. Each of them stuck with the sinking feeling that, regardless of how Maximilian’s appeal went, they were going to be staying in this realm even longer than any of them really wanted to.