Gideon & the Last Voyage of the Betty-Lou

The Dragon

                   

We sat and chatted about his tales of sailing as a merchant in the southern drifts.  I could have listened to him all day.  In fact, that is what I intended to do.  We had lunch and then shortly afterwards, we arrived at the destination which the Betty-Lou had chosen. 

As soon as he saw the mountain peak above the clouds, grandfather's eyes misted over and he used his sleeve to wipe tears that threatened to fall. 

"What's wrong grandfather?"  I asked.

"Tis nothing.  It is just that this place holds many a fond memory and many a sad one." He continued softly, "When I was a young sailor on this very ship, we came to port here and this is where I first met your grandmother, bless her soul.  I did'na know it at the time, but I was to return here often, drawn by the beautiful brown eyes and flowing auburn hair of Milly McBride.  She had a smile that could warm even the coldest sailor, but what I liked most was that Betty-Lou liked her."

"So where are we?" I asked.

"Betty-Lou has brought us to the Isle of Noonday."

"Your grandmother and I were married here and lived here a good long while.  Your dad met his darling here too."  And then grandfather got serious, "and here is where he was taken from us."

"Grandfather, I was always told that he died in a terrible storm just as he arrived here. Struck by lightning because he did not wear his grounder."  I knew there was another reason.

  "Aye lad, tis a sad tale, and it breaks my heart to recount it to yeh, but now you must know the truth.  Your father was a brave man, contrary to what you have been told, and that bilge of a story about him having an accident was not my idea, it was your mother's.  You see she was not in favor of sailors and she did not want you to be one either.  She preferred a man with his feet firmly planted on the ground.  Yet she loved your father like no other and he loved her.  She was willing to wait to see him every time he came to port because her love was so strong.  Yet as time went on and you came along, her patience waned and she longed to have your father at home.  While you were yet an infant, one day your father announced, "I have one more voyage to take that will provide for us in a way that I will never have to leave your side."  She was overjoyed.

He was gone for six months and when he returned, something terrible happened.  A storm arose like none I had ever seen before or since.  Suddenly, the full fury of lightning struck the helm where your father manned the till.  But that is not what did him in.  It was mutiny.  He had a traitor in the crew that wanted to steal the hard earned rewards your father had acquired.  The scoundrel took advantage of the distraction of the lightning and threw your dad in the brig, and turned the Windlass into a pirate ship."  As grandfather pronounced these words, the Betty-Lou shuddered.

"It wasn't seen or heard of again for ten years. When word came back to me it was found as a wreck on the air shoals south of the Ilse of Manning .  There was no sign of your father either.  During that time your mother wasted away because she couldn'na stand not knowing.  Your mother could never forgive me for encouraging my son to be a sailor and hated the Betty Lou for being an airship like the one that stole her love.  She refused to come aboard or to ever see it again.  So the last voyage of your father was never mentioned again and no one knows the outcome, but Betty-Lou knows and I believe that she wants to show you."

The Betty-Lou descended into the clouds slowly and soon enough we reached the municipal docks of the Ilse of Noonday.

"Here ye be lad." And grandfather gave me a small dagger and a curved sword.  "We can'na be too careful.  Always watch yer surroundings and stay close."