The Eye of Zoltar

‘Precisely. As the years went by the pirating business moved from captain to captain but was always fairly low key – until Sky Pirate Bunty Wolff took over. She had no qualms about plundering the biggest airliners quite literally on the wing – she would attack anything if there was rich booty to be had.’

‘So was the attack on Cloud City Nimbus III and the loss of the Tyrannic her after all?’

‘Absolutely. She always made sure there were no witnesses.’

‘She sounds like a monster.’

We had arrived at the main hall. We stepped across another half-lead pirate holding a musket, and opened two doors that looked as if they too had been salvaged from an aircraft. The hall had been made up of an entire Cloud Leviathan ribcage covered with a patchwork of aircraft fabric, still with registration numbers and the names of almost every airline I could think of. It would have been used as a meeting place, for meals and grog and shanties – or whatever it is pirates sing.

‘Three out of four missing aircraft can be attributed to Sky Pirate Wolff,’ said Gabby as we walked across the creaking floorboards, some of which were missing, revealing the swirling clouds below, ‘and she did very well out it. Murderous thug, of course; nothing glamorous in pirates – they’re criminals, pure and simple.’

‘Have you heard of something called the Eye of Zoltar?’ I asked, as Gabby seemed to know a lot about a lot.

‘No, but I presume it’s related to Zoltar the sorcerer?’

‘A pink ruby about the size of a goose egg,’ I said, ‘which seems to dance with an inner fire. It can be used as a conduit – a concentrator of wizidrical energy. But it’s dangerous, too. In the wrong hands, it will—’

‘Turn a person partially to lead?’ asked Gabby as we passed yet another pirate who had suffered a similar fate to the rest.

‘Wholly, sometimes,’ I said, recalling Able Quizzler, who must have been entirely lead to have the energy to bury himself when he hit the ground.

‘Nasty way to go,’ said Gabby, ‘but in pirating, an unpleasant death is very much an occupational hazard. You seek this jewel?’

‘That we do,’ I said, ‘and all the clues point towards Sky Pirate Wolff.’

‘Then you’d better meet her,’ said Gabby, ‘she’s in here.’

Sky Pirate Bunty Wolff

Gabby opened an inner door from the main hall and we entered Sky Pirate Wolff’s private cabin. The room was panelled with an interior stolen from the first-class lounge of a flying boat somewhere and once must have looked supremely elegant – before the rain had managed to gain access, turning parts of the panelling black with mould.

Sky Pirate Bunty Wolff had been completely turned to lead. It was a similar effect to being transformed to stone. Every pore of her skin, every muscle sinew, scar, blemish and hair, was perfectly preserved. She was dressed in traditional pirate uniform, although with a battered flying helmet in place of the tricorne hat. Her clothes had rotted badly, and a pair of pistols were still stuck in her waistband. One of her lead hands was resting on the tabletop, and the other was empty and held aloft, the fingers open as though showing us an apple or something. Upon her features was a look of shocked surprise. Her enleadening moment had not been expected.

‘Is your Eye of Zoltar anywhere here?’ asked Gabby.

‘Certain to say it once was,’ I replied with a sigh, checking an open safe behind Sky Pirate Wolff that was stashed with jewels, sadly none the size of a goose’s egg, and nothing that was ‘dancing with inner fire’. The Eye, I knew, would be unmistakable.

‘Do you know when all this happened?’ I asked.

‘Six years ago,’ said Gabby, ‘give or take. We rarely intervene when it comes to pirates.’

I returned to Sky Pirate Wolff and looked at her hand, the one that was being held aloft. Looking closer, I noticed that her soft lead fingers had been bent apart. When she had been turned to base metal, she had been holding something – and it wasn’t an apple.

‘This is where the Eye of Zoltar was,’ I said, pointing at her hand. ‘Sky Pirate Wolff was holding it. She was talking to someone who was seated right here.’

I dropped into the seat opposite the lead statue, and immediately the pirate’s dead eyes stared into mine.

‘They were talking. The person sitting here uses the Eye to change Pirate Wolff to lead, then makes a run for it. The “people into lead” spell must be the Eye’s default spell, or a gatekeeper or something.’

‘It would explain the trail of partially leaded pirates all the way out,’ observed Gabby. ‘Whoever took the jewel used the lead transformation spell to cover their retreat.’