"It looked like his hands were injured when the box exploded," said Teldin, shifting positions in the helm seat. The helm wasn't the most comfortable chair, and Teldin's lower back ached. The room wasn't ventilated, either, and his clothes were already stained with sweat.
"I'm afraid that I have some bad news on that," the giff said heavily, his shoulders drooping. "We've run out of all healing potions and magical curatives, and none of the crew aboard has any clerical spell power. Gaye was able to bandage Dyffed's hands after cleaning the wounds, but he lost two fingers from each hand in the explosion. Without magic, the damage cannot be repaired."
Teldin groaned softly at the news and looked away. He had somehow imagined that nothing bad would happen to the little guy. Gomja sighed and continued. "He has some burns on his face, as well as both arms and hands, but these aren't life-threatening. There were worse injuries with four of the gnomes who took part in the fight on the deck when we entered this sphere, and they're pulling through well, though we had the last of our heating potions for them."
Gomja held up a blackened box in his thick right hand, flecks of red paint still showing around the box's edges. "I'm afraid this is all that's left of Dyffed's thingfinder, sir. We're on our own as far as finding the fal's megafauna."
"Maybe that won't be so difficult after all," said Teldin, his eyes unfocused. "I don't know if it's the right one, but there's some kind of giant animal ahead of us now. I have no idea how far away it is. We should arrive there in a few minutes. Can Dyffed still see?"
"Oh, certainly he can," the giff hastened to add. "Only his nose and beard were harmed in the explosion, sir. Gaye was forced to give his beard a. fairly close trim."
Teldin sighed with relief. "Fine. See if he can identify the megafauna we're approaching. I haven't any idea if I'm supposed to land on this monster's back or head or what in order for us to get to the fal. He should know."
Gomja nodded, then had a thought and held up the ruined thingfinder. "Did you want this saved, sir?"
Teldin shook his head with a look of disgust. "No. It might still be dangerous. Dispose of it in the safest way possible before someone else gets hurt with it."
Gomja nodded agreement. "I'll send it out the back of the ship on the jettison, sir, and I'll then see if Dyffed is up to one more trip to the top deck." He opened the door, but he hesitated before leaving. "Any sign of the scro outside the ship, sir?"
Teldin took a long look aft, below, and around the ship. "Nothing so far. We seem to have left them behind for now, maybe for good."
The giff appeared pleased with the news. "I'll take care of things, sir," he said, and closed the door.
Gomja had been gone only a minute before there was another knock at the door, this one from the lower part of the door itself. Dyffed? Teldin wondered. "Come in, it's open," he called, wishing he could see everywhere inside the ship as well as he could see everywhere outside. On second thought, perhaps it was just as we!! that he couldn't.
Someone fumbled at the door. It then opened to reveal a gnome with wide brown eyes and a curly beard-Loomfinger. He peered in hesitantly, looking all around before entering.
"Um, Mister Aelfred Silverhand said you wanted to see me about something that I did, but I didn't mean to do anything wrong, honest. I was just following orders, and everything was going along fine, and I had nothing to do with anything."
"What?" Teldin said in confusion. Maybe the gnome thought he'd done something wrong while he was on the helm. "Oh, don't worry about that," said Teldin, feeling foolish now. "I don't want to reprimand you. I'm just trying to sort out something. I'm not sure it was very important, but I wanted to check anyway."
The pale gnome nodded, then pushed the door dosed behind him without completely shutting it. He looked up at Teldin with sweat beading up on his forehead, wringing his hands in front of him. "Anything you say, no problem." He swallowed. "You aren't going to grab me and throw me around, are you?"
Teldin had the good grace to be embarrassed. "No, and I do feel badly about that. I was curious about something. When did you find out about the scro fleet chasing us, after we took off from the rastipedes' forest?"
The gnome stared at Teldin, then visibly relaxed. "Oh, that!" he said. "Oh, that's what you wanted! Oh, that's simple, of course, because I was just sitting there in the helm and everything was quiet, and then First Colonel-Commander Gomja came in and we were talking and I saw the scro fleet right there behind us. I didn't know what you were talking about, and here I've been all worried and everything, and I won't let anything bad happen, I promise."
"So you did see the fleet," said Teldin. He felt doubly foolish now. He hadn't the faintest idea of why he had suspected something was funny earlier.
"That's right," said the gnome, almost gaily. "I looked right where First Colonel-Commander Gomja said to look, and there the scro were, and I told him, and he said 'Excellent,' and he left."
There was a short silence as Teldin stared down at the beaming gnome. "You looked where Gomja said to look," Teldin repeated, not believing he was hearing this. "Gomja told you where the scro were?"
"Yes, sir!" said Loomfinger. "Boy, this was a relief, I can tell you, because I had all sorts of things going through my mind about what you wanted to ask about, and gosh if it wasn't something unimportant and routine and not something I would be thrown off the ship for, like… um, nevermind. I feel so much better now, just loads."
The shock of the gnome's news was passing. In its place was a strange feeling of anger and fear, still tempered by disbelief. "I want you to find Aelfred and have him see me at once," he said. "And hurry." His helm vision was revealing more of the distant megafauna; at this distance, it resembled an earless elephant with a rhino horn.
"Get Aelfred?" exclaimed the gnome with mounting panic. "Why? Do you think I did something after all? It wasn't me, really. Please don't do it. Please don't get Aelfred, because I didn't do it!" He hid his face in his hands.
"What in the Abyss are you talking about?" Teldin demanded. "I just want to see Aelfred!".
Loomfinger peeked out from his fingers, then hastily grabbed for the doorknob. "No problem then! I'll be right back with Aelfred!" In a second, the gnome was gone.
"Thas id!" said Dyffed through puffy lips. He pointed with one cloth-wrapped arm. "Thas the megafauna on wigde One Six Nine lives. Id sdill has ids leff foreleg ub afder all this dibe. Of course, id will dake another five hundred and sixdy years for id to-"
"Dyffed," said Teldin. "Don't talk."
"Okay," said Dyffed reluctantly, and subsided.
"Wow," said Gaye, leaning on the ship's railing. "An elephant unicorn. He needs a mustache like you, Teldin."
"Idz nod a unicorn or an elephand, because idz-"
"Dyffed," Teldin warned.
"Okay," said the gnome with a frustrated sigh.
Teldin grimaced and looked away from the gnome's red, blistered face. He hoped this giant slug had some healing spells on hand, not only for Dyffed but for the other injured gnomes aboard who hadn't completely recovered from their earlier battle and from the crash into the footprint lake.
As he looked again at the approaching megafauna, Teldin wondered if he was becoming jaded after having seen the first one. Aelfred had placed Loomfinger on the now-repaired helm while the ship was still coasting through airless wildspace to allow Teldin the chance to see the creature directly from the deck; Sylvie was still asleep. This one was still a shocker: a diamond-patterned creature of black, red, and yellow that Dyffed had said stood twelve hundred miles high. It was vaguely elephantine with a rhinolike face, tiny ears, and a huge horn projecting from where a unicorn's horn would grow. A reptilian-type tail half as long as its body hung from the rear, sweeping hundreds of miles above the ground at its lowest point.