Free Into the Void (The Dungeoneers) by Gavin Chappell Page A

Ferry. Unlike Kashamash, the city had no Watch, only privately hired thief-takers, and the latter were unwelcome in the Shipgate District. But Photogenia ran from the adventurers as if the police were at her heels.
     
    The four lads burst out onto the wharf. Ahead of them, a galley was prepared to set sail. The gangplank was still attached to the wharf but as he led his fellow adventurers towards it Gerald saw two things: the witch Photogenia haring up the gangplank; and the sailors of the ship hauling the gangplank up behind her as they cast off.
     
    The sails billowed. The oars began to rise and fall. Slowly, rumblingly, the ship began to move off across the blue waters of the river. Gerald watched as the mighty Shipgate itself began to rise. A boat rowed up to the ship’s prow and began to guide her through the tangled waterways of the salt marshes. Three hundred yards of greasy water already lay between the wharf and the ship, and the ship was moving sedately towards the brown waters of the delta. The river was full of shipping, but it seemed that Photogenia’s own vessel had priority.
     
    As soon as the galley passed the Shipgate, a pinkish glow flashed up from the decks. Gerald knew that Photogenia was gone.
     
    Norman ran to the edge of the wharf and began to strip off.
     
    ‘What are you doing?’ Gerald demanded.
     
    ‘We’ve got to follow her!’ Norman said. He scowled as his torso rippled with adolescent muscles. ‘Only she knows the way out of this world, if anyone does.’
     
    ‘How do you know?’ Percy asked.
     
    ‘She was the one we followed here!’ Norman said.
     
    ‘But we can’t follow her now,’ said Gerald wryly, indicating the rapidly vanishing ship. ‘It’s hopeless. She’s gone. She’s operated her dimensional travelling device and buggered off to the other side of time.’
     
    ‘Hey! We could swim after her,’ Brian said enthusiastically.
     
    ‘We can’t swim through the dimensions,’ Gerald said.
     
    ‘What about getting out of this world, though?’ Norman insisted. ‘The Shipgate Runners are after us.’
     
    Gerald shrugged. ‘Think we taught those buggers a lesson,’ he said. ‘They won’t bother us for a bit.’
     
    Somehow he no longer cared. What awaited them back on Planet Earth anyway? Birth, school, work, death; just like in the song. Sod that. He’d rather be an adventurer. Then again, even that was too much like hard work.
     
    For a while, he thought about Immiel. How he had met her. How she had vanished. How he had found her again, totally unexpected. How it just hadn’t been the same. He realised that his heart had broken and he hadn’t realised it.
     
    He noticed a nearby tavern. Plonking himself down on a bale of something exotic, he slung Brian a purse of gold pieces.
     
    ‘Get me some ale, Brian,’ he said, indicating the bar. Percy flopped down beside him as Brian took the money and swaggered towards the tavern. Norman looked at them disapprovingly.
     
    ‘Are you going to give up?’ he demanded.
     
    ‘Looks like it,’ said Percy laconically.
     
    ‘What do really you expect us to do?’ Gerald demanded. ‘Spend the rest of our lives struggling to join the real world? Or have a fucking good time of it round here? We’ve got plenty of gold pieces left.’
     
    Norman joined them petulantly. ‘I still think we should follow the witch Photogenia,’ he insisted feebly. ‘It was the quest King Rat gave us.’
     
    ‘Bollocks to King Rat,’ said Percy carelessly, as Brian returned bearing a tray of drinks. He seized a flagon of ale and knocked it back. ‘This is the life.’
     
    Gerald grinned, and took his own flagon. He sipped it. It was surprisingly tasty. He looked out across the river.
     
    ‘This is better than school,’ he said. ‘Better than work.’ He took another swig, and exulted in the liberating feeling of having utterly failed. Gone was that constant feeling that he ought to do something with his life which