I was a hero, and it’s time for action.

Ketal, the ghostly Master Servitor that we had met onboard Prison Ark 2–3–7, had told us that the ship had suffered damage, and we needed to secure the ballast tanks next.

“Right!” I said, drawing my sword. “Onwards!”

“Ahem,” called out Ketal as I strode away, and I glanced around to see him pointing towards the other direction up the corridor. “It’s that way. Big blue door on the left. You can’t miss it.”

“Just where I was about to go,” I replied, turning on my heel.

Eshami fell in alongside me. The row of doors was to my right. As I went, I noticed that each one is a subtly different color. Only a minute or so had passed when I saw one that had a vivid blue sheen to its metallic surface.

“Looks like we found the ballast tanks,” I said with a grin. “Easy.” I then hammered my fist against the panel alongside the door.

Nothing happened.

I hit it again, then pressed my palm firmly against the small panel, but still nothing.

“Damn thing’s broken,” I murmured.

But before I had time to consider going back to ask for help from Ketal the Master Servitor, Eshami murmured an enchantment, and the door slid open obligingly. Inside there was darkness.

“Even here, the gods provide us with blessings,” she said with a slight smile. “For the true of heart, anyway.”

“Good, good,” I replied. “Perhaps if you could now summon up a light spell?” Without waiting for a response, I stepped forward into the dark area beyond.

And found myself falling.

“Shit!”

Still clutching the hilt of my sword, I tried to bunch myself into a ball. Soon I thumped against a sloping surface below, then again, and then found myself sliding downwards.

I briefly wondered whether I was going to fall right out of the magical ship, and somehow end up back in Pendown. But before I could think too much more about that possibility, I landed with a splash in around a foot of water, and found my feet with a groan. Moments later, Eshami landed much more nimbly beside me, and looked around.

I was in a wide area surrounded by metal tanks. The floor was covered with a brownish liquid, and here and there were scaled humanoid creatures, each around four feet tall.

I recognised them — they were kobolds, dangerous denizens of the caves of Pendown. I had slain many of their kind over the years.

These ones seemed to be holding… mops? With buckets alongside them.

*****

A special "Thank you!" to JF Danskin for his original contribution to the series (on which this chapter is based)