The Enchantments: Book 2 - The Key of Gandar

Chapter 16: Tip of the Iceberg

The light of the lantern broke the gloom of the cabin as the three kids stepped through the open hatch and into the belly of the ship. Simeneon began the search in the main cabin of the captain, but something in the ship didn't seem right. She followed the contours of the walls looking at everything with the eye of an explorer. But what was the problem? Why was everything so clean and unused? Then it hit her; the usual mess made by a crew was mysteriously missing, this ship looked as clean as the day it was launched.

"What do you see?" Tanya asked as she saw the perplexed look upon Simeneon's face.

"This whole ship, just look at it. When a boat travels as far as this one did, wouldn't there be signs that a crew was here? I mean this ship has no signs of life. No rotten food, no supplies, and heaven forbid skeletons. How did this ship make it all the way across the ocean and end up here trapped in the ice without a crew?" She motioned around trying to prove her point.

"You're right, so where do we go from here?" Tanya asked as she watched Charles began his own search of the cabin.

"There has to be something around that could tell us why it's out here. Take a room and try to find something out of the ordinary. Look for anything that seems... uh... futuristic" Tanya and Charles nodded their agreement. They each took their lanterns and hesitantly walked through the door to the other cabins at the back of the ship.

Simeneon stayed behind leafing through different drawers and finding them empty. Things that should have been obvious in captain's quarters were missing. Logbooks, clothes, and even personal grooming products were not there either. It seemed strange enough to find a ship from Malistof in the Arctic but to find that ship barren of everything was another.

"I FOUND SOMETHING!!!" Yelled Charles from what seemed like the other end of the ship.

Simeneon met Tanya just outside of one of the cabins and they followed the sound of Charles excited voice as they walked cautiously down the wood planked floors. They passed a few empty rooms finally making it down to a smaller compartment where Charles stood staring at a metallic object anchored into a wood desk.

Simeneon stared intently at the brass object and marveled. It looked like a large plate turned upside down and around the outside; the same glyphs from the artifacts from Malistof were etched.

"What does it say?" Tanya asked, her breath billowing out in cold clouds in front of her.

"Don't know yet, but..." She took a closer look at the center of the artifact noticing a few notches directly upon the center.

"But..." Charles finished.

Simeneon ignored them for a second, instead brought her pack upon the table and felt around the bottom. Her face brightened as she pulled out what she needed.

"Wow... That's beautiful. Tanya exclaimed. "What is it?"

"The Orb of Malistof and it has a wonderful way of opening anything that belonged to the empire where it was made." Simeneon placed the object between her two palms and lightly began to turn. Tanya and Charles took a step back as small beams of light began to softly shimmer from the glyphs on the outside of the key. Suddenly the writing began to fade out of existence, leaving a blue glowing orb in its place. The orb began to rotate spraying beams of blue light from its surface.

Tanya stood in awe as she watched the orb begin to pulsate gently before her eyes. Simeneon smiled and gently put the Orb of Malistof upon the artifact upon the table. The notches fit perfectly giving Simeneon that excited feeling she felt the first time she stared upon the key and what it could do.