Royal Trouble: The Mysterious Sea Read online

  Royal Trouble

  The Mysterious Sea

  Hope Erica Schultz

  Illustrated by

  Jeff Crosby

  The Mysterious Sea

  * * *

  Text Copyright © 2019 by Hope Erica Schultz

  * * *

  All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without express permission of the copyright holder.

  For more information, write:

  CBAY Books

  PO Box 670296

  Dallas, TX 75367

  * * *

  Children’s Brains are Yummy Books

  Dallas, Texas

  www.cbaybooks.blog

  * * *

  Paperback ISBN: 978-1-944821-44-9

  ebook ISBN: 978-1-944821-45-6

  For Ciaran S, who has all the brilliance

  with far fewer explosions

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  About the Author

  1

  Zap stood on its stubby legs and took a step closer along Donal’s work table. “Five more minutes elapsed. Commencing shock in ten … nine … eight …”

  Donal was busy with his latest project. He didn’t even glance at Zap. He tightened two wires together, then hooked a spring over both of them. “Nearly there …”

  Zap was not programmed to respond to that. Two more small steps, and a blue spark came from the little android’s hand.

  “Yow!” Donal grabbed a set of tiny plyers to twist the wires and spring into place … and the room’s gaslights went out. He finished the maneuver in the darkness, then stood up with a sigh. “Who programmed you to turn out the lights?” Donal paused a moment as the lights flickered back on, then looked at Zap. The clock that made up the android’s middle was at quarter to two. “Right. I did. Party today.”

  The mirror on the wall showed a smudge of soot on his nose, and his blond hair was a little on end from the electric shock, but all in all, Donal thought he looked presentable. He rubbed at his nose with his sleeve and, when Zap raised its right hand again, reluctantly turned away from his latest project.

  Someone knocked on the door as he approached it, and he opened it up to find his mother. Queen Melia was holding a box out, a strange expression on her face.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong,” she said. Her smile looked a little crooked. “I just wanted to bring you something before the party.” She handed him the box.

  “Zap, sleep,” Donal said absently as he put the box on the table. His mother was twisting the edge of her sleeve.

  “Before you were born … your father and I talked. He was an adventurer, and he knew he wasn’t cut out to be a good father, and he didn’t want to be a bad one. So, he left. This is one of the things he left behind. He said it was for someone who wanted to go places but also wanted to be able to find their way back.”

  My father. It didn’t sound right, not like my mother, or my friends, or my uncle all did. Donal opened the box carefully. Inside was an intricate brass device with a spyglass attached, two mirrors, and a sweeping bottom edge marked in tiny lines.

  “It’s a sextant, for measuring latitude,” his mother offered.

  Donal nodded. Latitude was how far something was from the equator and on which side. “What about longitude, how far around the world you’ve gone?”

  His mother smiled and gestured at Zap. “For that, you just need a clock, set for true noon where you’re starting, and measured against true noon where you end up.”

  Donal held the sextant carefully. “I can’t wait to figure it out.”

  There was a distant thudding of the front door knockers, and Donal frowned. He shrugged and set the sextant down. “After the party.”

  * * *

  There were not a lot of other kids that Donal hung out with at home. Kids his age didn’t tend to be ready for the kind of inventing he did, and their parents complained about the explosions. Besides, he lost track of what he was doing and where he was supposed to be when he was in his workshop.

  The kids from the other three Waveborn islands were different. For one thing, they were all royalty, too. Mom and her friends had fought pirates, and Mom had been the one to figure out how to raise the islands from the bottom of the sea. She had ended up ruler of West Waveborn.

  Then, the four kids had all had a massive adventure in the spring when their parents had been kidnapped and replaced with android Regents, bringing them all closer together. After that, they all knew they could count on each other, no matter what.

  The first through the door were Jes and her parents, King Willem and Queen Eris of East Waveborn, with Jes’s big sister Alex right behind them. Jes was wearing a fancy blue dress, but with her boots peeking out underneath. She handed Donal a present as she came in. “It’s new goggles with lenses to slide up and down depending on the light.”

  “Jes!” Queen Eris reproved.

  Jes winced. “Sorry! I’ve just been thinking about it the whole while here. It was a four-hour trip because Daddy didn’t want to fly.”

  Given what had happened the last time King Willem had been in an airship, Donal thought that was understandable. “Thank you,” he said out loud.

  Amalia and her parents, King Phineas and Queen Anya from North Waveborn were next. Amalia was also wearing a dress, but with a sword. She shoved a present into his hands. “I was going to get you a sword, but I remembered that you don’t like them, so I got you goggles that you can adjust to see tiny things or things far away.”

  Donal’s mother looked like she was trying not to laugh, and the other adults were looking at the ceiling. Donal smiled. “Thank you, they sound great.”

  Chris ran in well ahead of his parents, King Darby and Queen Lily of South Waveborn. “Donal! You gotta open this! It’s a pair of goggles with night vision!”

  The adults were laughing out loud now. Donal ignored them. “That’s so cool! Now I have goggles for EVERYTHING!”

  Jes nodded. “You can’t have too many of your favorite things. Like books.”

  “Swords!” Amalia cheered.

  “Implements of destruction!” Chris’s stomach chose that moment to growl. “And food!”

  Donal’s mother laughed. “Well, we have food. Come along in.”

  * * *

  Uncle Kegan joined them in the Dining Room, clutching a package wrapped in brown paper and twine. He moved like a bird, quick and nervous. Looking at him, Donal always felt like he was looking at himself in a mirror, but older.

  Presents were pushed off for food—meat pies and soups, but mostly food the way Donal liked it, one thing by itself, nothing mixed together. Chicken, vegetables, and potatoes were better when you could tell what they were. There were also fancier foods for the grown-ups, Alex, and Chris. Chris, Amalia had once pointed out, would eat anything that didn’t try to eat him first.

  Even Chris was winding down when Kegan slid the package over to Donal. “Happy Birthday.”

  “Kegan, you’re worse than the children,” Donal’s mother scolded.

  “It’s better to allow some time to digest before dessert,” Kegan answered. “I’m the oldest one here, so I get to go first.”

  Donal ignored the argument as he examined the package. It was shaped like a length of pipe, about the size of his forearm, but it was surprisingly light. He carefully untied the string and peeled back the paper.

  Inside was a rolled piece of leather with drawings on it. Words in a language he didn�
�t recognize were interspersed with numbers he did. Longitude and latitude, and a curved mark almost like an X.

  “It’s a map,” he said. It was hard not to jump up from the table and go study it immediately.

  “A treasure map?” Chris asked.

  “Possibly,” Uncle Kegan said. “That language is a little like ancient Dorish, but I’m only guessing at what it says. It’s much older than it should be, for how well preserved it is. Leather usually only lasts a century or two.”

  Donal did calculations in his head. “It’s not that far from here. A week by ship, but only a day or two with the skiff.”

  King Willem looked slightly green. “That’s the little submersible airship that looks like a giant bubble?”

  Amalia dashed over to see, with Jes and Chris close behind. “Summer break is just starting! The four of us can pack supplies and go exploring, just like old times!”

  King Phineas cleared his throat. “No,” he said.

  Amalia turned to him. “But Daddy …”

  “It’s not really appropriate to send four nine and ten-year-old kids out alone like that,” her mother, Queen Anya, said.

  Alex stood up suddenly. “Are we all going to pretend that last Spring never happened? These are the same kids who outsmarted five androids and a pirate, saved King Gregor, and kept the Waveborn islands from being sunk back into the sea. Now you’re worried about a camping trip?”

  Donal’s mother stood up too, but she was smiling. “They are the same people who did that. They were brave and capable and managed it all on their own—but they shouldn’t have had to. Let them be children a little longer. Let there be someone to help them.”

  “Maybe Alex could—” Queen Eris suggested.

  Alex made a chopping motion with her hands. “I can’t. I have to study for the entrance exams at the University.”

  Donal was not sure if he was disappointed or not. Alex could be great, but she and Jes fought if they were cooped up together for very long.

  “Uncle Kegan?” he asked. It was the most logical choice.

  “I’m afraid I’m prone to sea sickness. And air sickness. And time away from my lab sickness.” Kegan smiled. “But I can’t wait to hear all about it.”

  If we even get to go, Donal thought glumly.

  Jes spoke up from beside him. “If Mrs. Clemens would agree, we should bring her.”

  All the adults seemed to take a breath and let it out with sounds of agreement.

  “Who?” Chris asked.

  “Our housekeeper,” Jes explained.

  Amalia and Chris opened their mouths, and Jes made a jabbing motion with her hand. “Trust me,” she hissed.

  Donal considered having a housekeeper along. He wasn’t even sure who their current housekeeper was; the last one had quit just a few weeks ago after a day of more than typical explosions. None of the ones he could remember would have been of any use. Still, all that mattered was going.

  It was only after dessert that Jes found a moment to whisper her explanation. “She’ll be perfect. She was a navigator under Dark Mathis.”

  “Your housekeeper is a pirate?” Donal asked.

  Jes nodded enthusiastically.

  Donal smiled. “Do you think they’ll let us leave tomorrow?”

  2

  Packing for an expedition did not, it turned out, happen in one night, or even in one day. They needed water and food that wouldn’t go bad too quickly. There were plans and contingency plans. Amalia insisted on bringing materials to make booby traps, several coils of rope, and a second sword in case something happened to her first. Jes kept a list of everything anyone mentioned, and it just got longer and longer. And in the meantime, Donal had to add a fifth seat to the skiff and go over every piece of equipment on board.

  On the sixth day, they were gathered in Donal’s library, around a huge wooden table, going over final details. It was starting to get dark, and they had turned on the gaslights. A fire warmed the evening chill, and the room felt cozy. It was also beginning to feel like a cage. It was great that the adults were leaving them alone to prepare … but did there have to be quite so much to do? Were they ever going to get to leave?

  “This book says that the most dangerous thing on a ship is fire. What do we do about that?” Jes asked.

  “Can’t we just let in some water?” Chris objected, juggling three candlesticks. “I know this is important, but isn’t there ever an end to the planning?

  Jes hauled over two huge books and dumped them on the table in front of him. “Fine. Every time you drop a candlestick, or whatever you’re playing with, try to look up one of the words on the map in these. That will keep you out of trouble.”

  “Hah! As if I’m going to drop—” Chris fumbled a candlestick and turned to the books with a sigh. “Right. On it.”

  Jes turned back to Donal. “Fire. Without drowning, preferably.”

  Donal smiled. “That, I have an answer for.”

  From the half dozen pouches hanging from his belt, he pulled out the green one. “Alchemical fire extinguisher. Never leave home without it. It’s the only substance that will stop alchemical fire quickly, and it works just as well on regular fire.” He shook a single, marble-sized, black pellet out of the pouch and into his hand. “Go ahead, throw it on the fire.”

  Jes looked at him dubiously. Amalia stepped up and picked up the pellet. “That’s a pretty big fire,” she said, gesturing at the fireplace.

  “No, a house fire is a pretty big fire, and you’d need more than one of these to put out that. This is an ordinary fire. One will work on a bonfire, usually.”

  Amalia shrugged and tossed it in. The fire flared up, incredibly bright, and then went out.

  Chris looked up from the dictionaries. “I’d like twenty for my birthday, please!”

  They all laughed. A knock on the door stopped them, and then a footman peeked in cautiously. “Mrs. Clemens is here to see you, Prince Donal.”

  * * *

  Mrs. Clemens looked like somebody’s grandmother. She was only a little taller than Donal was, with a round face and graying hair. She handed him several sheets of parchment when he greeted her, and she didn’t smile.

  “What are these—” Donal began, looking at the sheets. There were four, all in different handwriting.

  “Letters of reference, Captain Donal. I wouldn’t expect you to hire me without some proof of what I can do.” She tilted her head slightly. “Do you prefer your title instead?”

  Donal blinked a little. “You can just call me Donal.”

  Mrs. Clemens shook her head. “On land, if you like, but not aboard ship. I need to remember that you’re the one calling the shots and calling you Captain is the fastest way to do that.” She pointed to the parchment. “And speaking of shots, you’ll see that I’m capable with black powder, cannon, beam weapons, cutlasses, and frying pans.”

  Donal blinked again. “Frying pans?”

  “That was to see if you were paying attention. I can navigate, provision, cook, repair less complex machinery, and follow orders. I don’t know how to pilot either an airship or a submersible, but I can learn if you’d like to teach me.”

  Donal felt like his eyes had to be crossing, but Mrs. Clemens, housekeeper and pirate, seemed to be content to wait for an answer. He glanced again at the references. “Thank you, I think you’ll do.”

  “Thank you, Captain. I’ll see to stowing the supplies then if that meets with your approval. Did you want to leave in the morning?”

  I want to leave right now. It had taken almost a week to fit a fifth seat into the skiff and update all the equipment. Still it was evening, and by the time the supplies were packed, it would be night. A good night’s sleep was probably smart.

  “First thing in the morning,” he confirmed and went to tell the others the good news.

  Jes and Amalia were now gathered around the copy of the map that Donal had made while Chris still had the two dictionaries in old languages.

  “The closest
word in old Dornish is vallere, a verb meaning to ignite. In ancient Kesch, it’s voler, which means light.” Chris looked up, his short knots of hair bobbing.

  “Light and fire and sight all have overlap, so I’m betting it’s a word with one of those meanings,” Jes said.

  “Still it would be nice to know if it means we’ll see something or be set on fire by it,” Amalia pointed out.

  Donal cleared his throat. Everyone looked up, and he raised his hands in victory. “We leave in the morning!”

  Amalia and Chris cheered while Jes looked at the map. “We’re going to have to bring the dictionaries with us.”

  “Bring them,” Donal agreed. “We may find clues once we get there.”

  “We may find treasure!” Chris crowed.

  Amalia laughed, and Jes shook her head. “What would you even do with treasure?”

  “Brag about finding it. A lot.”

  Chris put his dark hand down on the map, and Amalia put her brown one on top of it. Jes’s pale hand was next, and then Donal put his tanned hand on top, sealing the bargain. “To adventure,” Donal said, “with or without treasure.”

  * * *

  Donal realized by the time the others were down to breakfast that he might as well have forgotten about the good night’s sleep. Chris had talked to him until Donal had to sic Zap on him and then had apparently gone off to talk to the girls until crazy late. Chris was as chipper as ever, but Amalia and Jes were bleary eyed. Amalia asked for coffee, adding in about half a cup of sugar, and after a few minutes, Jes did the same.