Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 6881794" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 87, “Accusations.”, September 11, 1882, 3:30 P.M.Freya drops George, Mina and Ruby off near the door to the Gondola's lower level, then flies up again to guard the area. Lawrence's horse with him and Abby lands shortly thereafter. The front and right walls are covered over by the remains of the balloon canvas and framing, but the rear wall and left wall are still open. It takes little effort for George to open the door. Inside the damage is horrific. A pile of dead soldiers in the front right corner piled on the smashed in section, with the large loose cannon that had been on the right wall having smashed them to pieces.The French mathematician and cartographer, Henri Poincare, had lashed himself to the largest left-side cannon. That move appears to have caused more harm than good, as one of the smaller cannon that came loose from the right has smashed and wedged itself against that cannon, crushing both of his legs to a pulp, with blood pooling around it. He is not moving and either dead or dying.Much to George and Ruby's surprise, there are two men still alive inside. The Frenchman who George did not recognize is leaning along the left wall near the front. His left arm hangs limp to his side and he has a nasty gash running from his forehead down his left cheek and to his chin, from which a steady stream of blood is pouring out. He is staring blindly ahead, apparently in shock. Beside him is a French Foreign Legion Officer, covered in ash with his uniform a tattered ruin from the earlier ammunition explosion. He is more lucid than his companion, and raises his right arm towards the door, holding in it a sawed off double-barrel shotgun that is now pointed at George and Ruby.George pushes Ruby past the opening of the door out of the line of fire as he too dives after her. Lawrence lands not far from where George and Ruby just jumped aside to. George and Ruby are clear of the doorway. The gun does not fire. George calls out in French " We want to help you, we want to heal you.” "That was close," Ruby whispers. "How can we get that gun away from him without getting killed??"George hears voices inside speaking softly in French. The conversation is as follows:1st Voice: "Snap out of it."2nd Voice: "Huh...what.....Henri!" (sound of movement)1st Voice: "Forget him, he's dead."2nd Voice: "No, he still has a pulse. I can save him, I saved you."1st Voice: "We have no time, the enemy are outside."George calls out in a loud voice in French "You have time. We are not trying to kill you. We will help you heal if you allow us" The first voice changes to a different language, one unknown to George and Ruby. Mina whispers over "It's Bohemian...he's telling his friend to leave the wounded one for you to heal." Ruby asks, "George, why would we heal them, they tried to kill us? Nana, what kind of language is Bohemian?" George says, "It is a language in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is spoke in the region of Bohemia just southeast of Germany.” Mina adds, "Their major city is Prague. Today they only speak German there, the language is ancient, used back when the land was under Roman rule."” "Yes the Bohemia were named by the Romans after the tribe of Celts who lived there." adds GeorgeGeorge continues, “Our intent wasn't to ever kill these people, we tried to let them surrender peacefully. We have downed the airship. The military officer is certainly not involved with the overall group. The other two are certainly talented men, who may have not been involved with the overall plot. Healing them saves the world their valuable talents and skills. They may also be able to help us, especially if we show them our true mettle." "Well, then I suppose this is where you come in with your diplomacy more then me with my intimidation. Start sweet talking them baby," Ruby smiles from her uncomfortable spot on the ground. "The faster the better!"George calls out in French again "Will you accept our help? We do not want to kill you, we could have done so had we wished. Is Joseph-Michael Montgolfier still alive? I do want to help you save Henri. We do not want to see further bloodshed. We believe that we can help each other, but we of course do not want to have shotguns pointed at us." The first speaker calls out in French "Wait, we need to discuss this amongst ourselves." Ruby, George and Mina then hear a small amount of shuffling-type movement inside.George whispers to Mina and Ruby, "While I do not expect anything, be prepared for an attack" says George pulling out his revolver. Ruby raises her wand of fireball and shrugs. "It's all I really have left. Well, I do have the rifle too but that's not exactly great at this close range. Then again, neither is shooting fireballs." Ruby laughs. "I guess we use what we have."Two minutes pass with no further sounds from inside. Ruby says, "It looks like they took off or are waiting for us to come in. Do we chase after them or what?" "Gentlemen?" calls out George in French. There is no answer. Abby came up quietly behind the others and kept her voice low. "Nothing from inside? They won't let us help them?" "I think they took off." Ruby quietly gets up off the ground, creeps up toward the doorway and peeks inside.The men who were conscious are both gone. Part of the tattered balloon canvas that had been draped over a window in the front looks to have been pushed back. The man Poincare is still lying by the cannon, but the bleeding appears to have been stopped by some type of healing spell. "There's one guy in here, hurt but not bleeding out. The other two who shot at us are gone," Ruby whispers back. "At least, not that I can see."George calls up to Freya still flying over head "Freya, there were men in here who have fled do you see them?" She flies lower and says, "No. Large crowds of Egyptians keep pointing up at me but they are all keeping their distance." Turning to Ruby he says "Let us get Henri out of there, he deserves more than this." says George moving into the cabin. There he begins a quick triage to see if anyone else can be stabilized. The prior healing spell appears to have stabilized his condition. It will still take considerable strength to move the cannon off his battered legs to free him.Ruby follows George in and gives a quick look over the area to make sure no one is hiding. After she is done with that she helps George look over Henri and the others. "Freya, we need your help in here! We need you to help move this cannon." Ruby turns to George. "Do you know this Frenchman?" "Yes I do. He is a talented mathematician, topologist and cartographer, and I would like to save him. Get Freya to help you i want to look for the other man I saw" says George. “I'll come with you, George," Abby said.Freya flies down and moving her tail through the nearest window pulls the cannon to the side. Without any more questioning Ruby began to help the man. "Abby, do you have any healing abilities? I have a little bit of knowledge of healing." Abby calls back, "I'm no good at healing.” "He is stable Ruby, make him comfortable. Abby and I will look for Joseph" says George as he and Abby start searching the cabin for the balloonist.Ruby nods at Abby as she goes off with George. There wasn't much she could do. "We have to get him to healing soon so don't be long." Ruby kneels on her heels next to the man and tries her best to bind his wounds. She rips a few pieces of cloth off his own shirt to tie up wounds on his legs in case the bleeding starts again. She says some silent prayers to Aphrodite to watch over all of them as she presses on her own side. Once she feels she has done what she can she looks for any signs of life in the other bodies.George heads up the spiral staircase to the upper level. The ceiling/floor appears to have partially raised during the crash landing. One advantage to the expanding/contracting spring mechanism is that everything on the upper level is firmly fastened down, with solid straps on the chairs. The only casualty on that level appears to have been the engineer seated in the starboard bow seat, who was pummeled by metal debris from the balloon remnants above. The other four men, including Montgolfier, appear injured but alive, with the pilot still conscious. Upon spotting George the pilot quietly says in French "Mr. Eastman, stay down and be quiet. That German Dragon who attacked us is right outside and may swallow us whole if it sees us."George suppresses a smile. George does crouch and speaks quietly "How badly injured are any of you? The engineer look badly off. There were two men below who delayed us terribly, threatening us with weapons. But they have fled leaving you to fend for yourselves. Who were they? There was an officer there and another man who spoke a strange language, Bohemian I think it was. Who was that man? And why would he abandon you" asks George earnestly.The pilot says, "Bohemian you say? That would be the Foreign Legion officer who was second in command, he was originally from that region. I did not catch his name, only his rank of Lieutenant. His orders were to protect the wizards, so he should not have abandoned Mr. Montgolfier." The pilot unstraps himself and checks Mongolfier stating, "Joseph-Michael appears to be okay, his leather coat and helmet appear to have buffered him somewhat from the impact." He then checks the three Engineers saying "Andre looks to have suffered some broken ribs. Pierre looks like he might have a concussion. Marc is dead.""Henri is down below and hurt very badly. I have a colleague down below watching him. We can at the least provide some basic healing for all of you." says George as he moves forward to examine the injured men and bind what wounds he can. "Can you tell me how this came about?" The pilot replies "Yes, we were attempting to help the Egyptian King suppress a rebellion. They had overtaken the palace and were firing from the palace roof onto the crowds below. When we tried to stop them an evil German Wizard who was working with the traitorous rebels transformed into a dragon and attacked our vehicle."George stares intently at the men for a moment gauging their honesty. George senses that the Pilot totally believes everything he has just told George. "Yes there were rebels in the palace, though they had not 'overtaken' the palace in any manner. There were no rebels on the roof of that I can assure you. I can tell you for a fact that Rene Bellocq was on the roof and this young lady here and I can tell you we heard him with our very own ears. We heard him cry out in Arabic the words 'We followers of Adbullah will never surrender. Death to the King! And death to you vile Frenchmen.'"George pauses a moment to let this fact sink in. "Joseph, I respect you and Henri very much and it pains me to say this, but the facts are self-evident and undeniable. Bellocq's deception clearly designed to goad this vessel into an attack coupled with the abandonment of you by the men below indicates to me that there is a faction or a cabal within your Wizard society that seeks, nay promotes the conflict in Egypt. I fear this cabal is promoting and escalating this war. We have borne witness to a variety of acts by a number of Wizards that sought to actively kill, weaken or over-throw the king. Bellocq is one as is Bernhardt. There are others we have yet to fully identify.""I know this is a tremendous betrayal to lay before you, especially in your current condition, but it is imperative that you know, imperative that you help save the Kingdom from the rogue members of your group." says George.Joseph-Michael Montgolfier unstraps himself from his seat and approaches George. He walks with a limp and winces in pain as he moves, but then stands defiantly before George. The French engineer says, "Or so you would wish us to believe Mr. Eastman. However, your true intentions are now known to me, and the facts are indeed self-evident and undeniable. I will not fall for further deceptions from you." He turns towards the pilot and says, "Jacques, do not tell this man anything further, this man and his colleagues are spies, working directly for the American military and Mr. Giffard's former partner Ferdinand Von Zeppelin. He seeks to steal the secrets of our dirigible construction."George smiles ruefully and shakes his head. "Ok. I am not here to bandy words. I am here to help save you." Turning to Jacques he says "I am no spy monsieur. For the Americans military or the German. I have no designs upon the workings of your dirigible. My apologies to you for intruding." George turns back to Joseph. "Very well, you are either blinded by personal loyalty to your colleagues, or are blinded by professional jealousy. I can respect either. However. I am telling the truth, and your aspersions upon my intentions and character are not acceptable.""However, I cannot wring water from a stone, and if faced with the truth you choose or are unable to accept it I cannot force you to. I offered only succor, safety and salvation. You choose to cling to untruths whether intentionally or unintentionally. Whatever mental reservations you have about accepting my word is yours. I cannot stand around and try to convince you of my honesty. You have chosen a very difficult path Joseph. For that I am sorry. I am more sorry for the men who serve under you, men like Jacques who are brave and loyal, men who will die in your service because of your inability to accept the truth, your blind loyalty, blind faith, blind ambition or jealousy. I bid you good day gentlemen. Good luck with your endeavors. Jacques I wish you and your men the best and you have my sympathies." with that George signals Abby to follow him and he turns and descends back to the lower level.As they descend Montgolfier yells out "Deny all you want, I know the truth Eastman! Giffard had you investigated after you showed such interest in our inventions. Do you deny that you recently visited Promise City, Arizona, where Von Zeppelin is now building his dirigible factory? Or that you are personal friends with the Mexican wizard named Manuel Gonzales? He is the man who convinced Von Zeppelin to relocate to that location, and the very same Gonzales was spotted right here in Cairo just this morning! Do you also deny that two of your colleagues have just been reinstated to active duty in the United State military, which occurred only AFTER you joined us for the balloon flight? The evidence of your spying is indeed overwhelming!"George pauses on the stairs. He turns slowly and stares intently at Montgolfier for a long silent moment. "My life is fairly open, it is not hard to investigate me. It is just as easy to misinterpret the ensuing information. So to address your allegations in order. Yes I was recently in Promise City Arizona. And yes I was aware of Von Zepplin's dirigible factory. But I never met the man. Shall I damn you for residing within the same city as General Orabi? Does the fact that you merely existed within 50 miles of him that within a city of 5 million souls, you of necessity sought him out? So if you would tar me with your accusations merely by nature of proximity? Well then sir, I can damn you with more villains within a given radius than any host of man you can name.Secondly, yes I do know Manuel Gonzales, but I was unaware of his relationship with Von Zeppelin, since as I have said I never met that later. As to the fact that he is in Cairo, well sir that is news to me, and my thanks are to you for bringing it to me. I shall seek him out. So if I am to be damned for knowing him, let me go and meet him first then you can damn me with your accusations, but not before. Thirdly, yes two members of my party were indeed reinstated to the United States military. And yes it was after my voyage on your once noble vessel, that they were reinstated. However, what your vaunted Gifford failed to deduce was that I had no contact with those two between my return and their reinstatement. Not only that but that the reinstatement had been initiated BEFORE I had boarded, nay before I had even been invited aboard your vessel.And lastly yes I showed interest in your miraculous design, as I would have with any new technological marvel.Now, if all of your so-called evidence stands up before the light of truth and reason, so be it. But that makes you either a fanatic or insane. If you will not examine evidence in the cold light of actual empirical evidence and not circumstantial, if you would damn me solely by association, then I can say nothing further. I had thought you a man of learning, a man of science. One of the most brilliant minds of our day! Where is that man now? His mind befouled by his own allegiances? Or has his mind been corrupted by the bogey-man of jealousy?I don't want anything from you Montgolfier. Not your ship, not the plans for the ship. Not for the U.S. military, not for Von Zeppelin, not for myself. If you will not see reason, if you will damn me with unfounded and unproven accusations then I say good day sir. I came to offer help, aid and succor. I have been met with accusations and the sullying and besmirching my honor and intentions. So I say good day sir. I shall leave you to your fate." says George turning away again.They descend the staircase and see that Lawrence and Abigail have managed to safely remove the injured and unconscious Poincare to outside the downed dirigible. Freya continues to fly overhead, her presence keeping others away. As they depart the structure Mina turns to Ruby and says, "Your young man is very noble and honest, very good traits, but perhaps he spoke a bit too hastily. If the French actually believed what Montgolfier just stated it would have provided our AGELESS team with an excellent alibi for our current presence in Egypt, one that has nothing to do with finding magical gateways."Mina next touches a large sheet of metal on the side of the gondola and says, "And as for our interest in this airship, this dirigible gondola would have easily fit onto the deck of the USS Franklin Pierce. The large magical levitation plates on it alone are worth in excess of a million dollars, and their immediate loss would have probably set this French wizard group back years in their efforts." Ruby says, "Well, maybe they will believe Montgolfier anyway?" Mina glances back at Ruby and gesturing to the dirigible gondola says, "So we can take it then?"Ruby says, "Why not? I don't care if we take the thing. But what would you do with it?" Mina says, "I'm sure James will come up with some good uses for the levitation plates." "Leave it to me." George walks over to the open field in full view of the gondola. There he signals Freya to come down. As she alights he has a rather animated conversation with her, out of earshot. She then flies back up into the air. George walks back to the gondola. Abby, Ruby and Mina are waiting outside. "Ok, let's see if I can't come up with Ruby's bride price" whispers George to the group.George enters the lower level of the gondola and checks that Henri is still stable. he calls out "Monsieur Montgolfier! I have arranged a temporary truce with the German dragon. The dragon has agreed to not kill you all if the dragon can destroy the rest of the gondola. You must leave now, I do not know how long a dragon will hold to a truce. You may come get Pointcare as well. But you must leave or I fear the dragon will roast you all alive."As they exit from above Montgolfier has a look on his face that could kill. The pilot and engineer are very anxious to depart, and only stop to carry Poincare after Montgolfier orders them to. George maintains a look of sympathetic concern to the French.</blockquote>

Verification