Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty — Captain's Logs
Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty — Captain's Logs Squaring things away didn’t take long, not with the size of our rooms and the few things we brought. I don’t think anyone had plans to really get changed for what would be a day-long flight.“So, we’ll be reaching the capital before night, right?” I asked.Amaryllis situated herself on a bench at the very front of the passenger quarters. There was a small porthole there, but because we were at dock, all there was to see were some metal struts a meter or so away from the window. “I think so, yes. It would depend on when we leave. They’re still unloading the ship.”“Really? How do you know?” I asked. The noises from the other side were all clangs and bangs, nothing really telling.Amaryllis pointed to the window. “We’re rising, slowly, but it’s visible.”“Huh,” I said. “You’re such an observant bird.”She huffed.“I wonder if I can look around the ship later,” Awen asked.The door leading into our compartment opened and Captain Galebane slid into the room and clicked the door shut behind her. “I would be honoured to show you around,” she replied. “We have a mechanic aboard, all ships do as a matter of protocol, but he’s an apprentice from Goldenalden. A little wet behind the ears, but well-meaning.”“Hello captain,” I said. “Your ship’s very neat.”“Why thank you,” she replied. “I came to ensure that you were all settled in. My first mate is taking care of things above. He needs the experience as well.”“That’s two new people on your crew,” Amaryllis said.The captain nodded. “Indeed. I think over half the crew is green, or nearly so. Most of the better sailors have been dragged off to the navy. Promises of better pay and the like are robbing us of a lot of good experienced people.”“That’s unfortunate,” I said.The captain shrugged a shoulder. “It is what it is. I don’t blame them for accepting more gainful employment, even if it might only be on the shorter term.”“Aren’t you worried? Such a green crew can be troublesome,” Amaryllis said.“Oh, there’s no worry. Most of those green sailors are from the navy. Sylphfree allows companies in good standing to hire personnel to train them further and give them a bit of applicable experience. It means that part of their wages are covered, and the navy gains more people who have a wider breadth of experience.”“That’s clever,” I said. “Our crew is pretty mixed, experience-wise.” The captain was being very forthcoming about things. I looked at her, and had the impression she hadn’t had the opportunity to rant about things in a good while.Captain Risa nodded. “Your ship is that... interesting twin-hulled vessel? I saw it while coming in to dock.”“That’s the Beaver Cleaver, yeah,” I said. “He’s a good little ship. Though I guess he’s a little weird-looking.”“Certainly unique,” the captain agreed. “Have you been a captain for long, Captain Bunch?”“Nope!” I said. “It’s been... uh, about... a week?” How long ago did we leave the Nesting Kingdom? I know that I spent a few days sick, so that might have been throwing off my sense of time.“A week,” she repeated.“A very busy week,” I agreed. “We got off track over the Darkwoods, then we ended up stopping a smaller war between a big company and some dryads, then we visited Needleford where Awen was kidnapped by pirates. We damaged their ship-wait, is it sinking a ship if the ship is an airship?”“It is,” she said.“Cool! I thought so, because ships kind of sink out of the air,” I said. “Not that we sank the pirate ship. We just did a number on their engines.”Awen looked like she was holding back a giggle, and Amaryllis just shook her head and pulled a book out from her bags and started to read it.“You took out a pirate vessel?” Captain Risa asked. “I’ll admit, I have ten years as a captain, but they were mostly safe. Other than a few run-ins with some nasty creatures, I’ve never had the misfortune of fighting a pirate aboard my vessel.”“Oh, we didn’t use the Beaver for that. We used a skiff. The pirate was called Golden Rogers, and he’s a nasty, mean guy.”“A skiff?”“Like, a really small boat that flies?”“I’m aware of what a skiff is. What sort of vessel did the pirates have?” she asked.“Uh,” I replied. I couldn’t recall the name of the ship. “It was quite big. Maybe half again the size of your ship? But more water-ship like. His crew was rather large, I think. But we managed to save Awen, even though she’d mostly managed to save herself, really.”“It was called the Golden Grove’s Revenge,” Awen said. “And it couldn’t operate because I destroyed the engines and I think Broccoli lit the insides on fire.”“Just a little,” I said. “It was me, Amaryllis, and Bastion. It was very scary.”“Three of you took on a pirate ship?” Captain Risa didn’t sound entirely convinced.I crossed my arms. “I can hold my own in a fight, you know. And Amaryllis is scary too. Not to mention Bastion. He’s a paladin, so he’s great at butt-kicking.”“Ah,” she said with a nod. I had the impression that everything just clicked for her. The people in Sylphfree seemed to think very highly of paladins. “I suppose that it was quite the adventure.”“I know! And that was only in the first three days! Then we got to Innsmouth, fought in two dungeons, then we ran into some very angry cry and had not one, but two battles in the air against them! They have rocket-powered planes and airships, but it turned out okay because we have Awen and we made some cry friends. Did you know that lasers are terrible for airships?”This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.“I can imagine?”“They really are. We ended up almost-crashing on the Lonely Island,” I said.“The penal colony?” she asked.I nodded. “That’s the one.”“I imagine that must have been harrowing, landing in a place so hostile,” Risa said. She smiled as if it was entirely self-evident.“Huh? No, not really? I mean, the airship fight we had over the island was scary but the people of the island were pretty nice. Not super welcoming, and I wish we had more time to spend there so that I could make proper friends there, but they seemed about as nice as the people from Granite Springs, for example.”“Ah.”“Anyway, then we made it here after some repairs. And that’s about all the adventures we’ve had since launching the Beaver Cleaver. It’s been a busy week and a bit.”“I... see,” the captain allowed.The door to the passenger quarters opened, and in walked Bastion, looking as fresh as ever with a bag by his side and some equipment in a sack slung over his shoulder. “Bastion!” I called out as I bounced to my feet. “I was getting worried.”“Hello, Broccoli,” he said. “Amaryllis, Awen, and you must be Captain Galebane?”The captain stood taller. “Indeed. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir,” she said.“Likewise, captain. Your first mate gave me permission to board, but I had hoped to meet you at some point.”“O-oh?” Risa asked. Was she blushing?“It’s nothing very urgent,” he said. He tossed his bag into one of the rooms where it landed on the bed with a thump. “Were you entertaining others?”“Broccoli was telling her of our adventures,” Amaryllis said off-hand. She turned the page in her book. “As it turns out, Broccoli has a gift for understating things in such a way that they sound grander than they were. It’s outright bizarre.”“I didn’t exaggerate anything,” I said.“You didn’t,” Amaryllis agreed. “If anything you did the opposite, but you also listed more wild adventures than most sane people would experience in a lifetime.”I wiggled my ears in thought. That made sense, I supposed, we had been through a lot together. “I kind of like having big adventures though,” I said. “It’s fun. But... well, do you guys like that kind of thing?”Amaryllis snorted. “It’s harrowing and terrifying, but you have no idea how rapid our growth is compared to most.”Awen shrugged. “Uncle’s stories were about as full of adventure, so I think it’s kind of normal.”“I’m not sure if using Abraham Bristlecone as a measuring stick is entirely wise,” Bastion said. “But I suppose compared to the likes of him, this crew’s travels have been quite calm.”I grinned. For all that the passenger section on the Little Atlas was a bit cramp and spare, it was still a lively, happy place. Mostly because it was filled with so many nice people in it. “How did things go?” I asked. “With the general and the commander and all the soldiers?”“Relatively well,” Bastion said. “The... event fell into disarray once the main threat was eliminated. Fortunately, it was the better sort of disarray. Some of the miners had cooking equipment, and the mole people brought some barrels of mushroom ale and shared it around. There was something of a party, though I doubt the official reports will call it that.”I laughed. “That’s great. It’ll give everyone a chance to make friends.”“Indeed,” Bastion said. “There are some crates of salted meat coming with us, as well as some decently large segments of amphiptere leather. A fine reward for a day’s work.”“I'll ensure that everything is properly secured, sir paladin,” Risa said with a small salute.“Thank you, Captain. But I’m certain that your crew will do a fine job. Now, if no one minds, I haven’t slept since yesterday, I’m quite overdue for some rest.”I raised my arms for a hug as Bastion moved by, and he allowed me to give him a quick squeeze. More experience! And more hugs too!“If anyone needs me, then feel free to wake me up,” he said before carefully closing the door to his quarters.Captain Risa placed her hands over her face. “I didn’t offer him my cabin,” she muttered.“I don’t think he minds,” I said. “Bastion seems like a simple sort of guy. Anyway! We have a long trip ahead of us, is there anything you do for fun? Usually on the Beaver I’m too busy doing captain things or training. I like both, but I don’t think we can do either here.”“I’ll bring over a deck of cards,” Captain Risa said. “Maybe I can teach you a few games later. There are a few that are quite popular with the crew, and there are the more noble games, of course.”“Noble games?” I asked.Amaryllis lowered her book. “Some card games are considered lowbrow, often depending exclusively on chance; more involved games are customarily the purview of the nobility. They tend to be a little more complex and rely more on deception and one’s ability to read people than on pure luck, though there’s usually some element of luck at play.”“Oh! Why didn’t we ever play any of those?” I asked.“Because you have about as much chance to deceive someone as a puppy has of hiding a misdeed,” Amaryllis said. “And at the same time, your ability to read people would make playing against you just plain irritating. You’d be at once a terrible opponent and a terrible player.”“I bet I could beat you though,” I said with my smuggest grin on.Amaryllis carefully dog-eared the top corner of the page she was on and set her book down. “Captain, would you be so kind as to get that deck? I have to teach my dear friend here a lesson she’s unlikely to ever forget.”
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Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty-One — Airtime Naptime
Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty-One — Airtime Naptime Amaryllis glared at the cards on the table.Then, with slow and careful solemnity, I lowered my hand next to those cards. “Flush,” I said.The corner of Amaryllis’ eyes twitched. ‘You didn’t cheat,” she said.“I’d never,” I said. ‘That would be unfair and mean, only bad friends cheat.”“And you never even tried to bluff.”“I’m not good at lying,” I admitted.“How?” Amaryllis asked. She let her own hand fall next to mine, a bunch of cards with numbers on their tops and coloured shapes in their middle splaying out across the table. “How?”“I guess I got lucky?”Amaryllis stood up suddenly, her chair squeaking back. “I’m going to go read. At least the pages in my books don’t have Dirt’s own luck on their side.”I held back a giggle. It wouldn’t be nice to laugh at Amaryllis. She was making an effort to be a good sport about losing too, even though this was the fifth round she lost. We weren’t even betting anything, mostly because I insisted that gambling was wrong.We had started playing with four of us. Amaryllis and Captain Risa explaining the rules, and Awen joining in even though she didn’t seem to get it, entirely.The captain had to run off to do captaining stuff, which was fair, and I think Awen just found the game a bit boring.Which meant that now I was all alone at the card table.Sighing, I picked things up and shuffled the deck idly for a moment before fitting it back into its box. It was the captain’s deck, so I didn’t want any of the cards bent or stained or anything.I leaned back into my seat and glanced out of the nearest porthole. We were moving, that much was obvious. Mountains surrounded the Little Atlas on all sides, their sheer walls passing by at a slow crawl. The cargo ship felt like it was heavy, big, and cumbersome, despite the amount of lift it needed to stay afloat.The Beaver could likely fly circles around this ship, but we weren’t in the Beaver.I was a little bored, which was a nice change of pace from the high-energy excitement I’d been going through nearly every day for such a long while. Still, I wanted something to do. I couldn’t practice most magics in a confined place, and it might be rude to cast spells in someone else’s ship besides. Training physically was right out. The passenger quarters were small and a bit cramped, and already pretty warm.Standing up, I moved towards my little room. Maybe I could flop down in bed and just take a nap? That felt very unproductive, but at least it was something to do.I saw Amaryllis engrossed in a book in her room, then I crossed by Awen’s quarters and saw her on her back, staring at the ceiling.Maybe I wasn’t the only bored one?I walked to Awen’s door and knocked. “Bored?” I asked.Awen tilted her head up. “Yeah, a little.”I stepped in, then sat on the edge of her bed. She scooted over, so I flopped down next to her, put my feet up on the bed, then stared up at the ceiling too. “I’m bored too.”“There's nothing to tinker.”“I can’t make friends with the crew because they’re working.”Awen bobbed her head. “Boring.”“Yup.”If I leaned my head back a bit I could see out of the porthole in her room. It was mostly cloudy skies, but once in a rare while a mountain’s peak would float by. “Do you know anything fun about the capital?” I asked.“You mean Goldenalden?” Awen asked. “Not really. I guess there’s a lot of sylph there. And there’s some gold, I guess.”“That makes sense, with a name like that.”“Yeah, the sylph are supposed to be very rich. They have a lot of mines all around their nation, and a big army. I don’t know if they do a lot of trade with Mattergrove. We’re far away.”“There’s a whole mountain range between the two of you, and like... at least two other countries.” I squinted as I tried to remember where the nations were. ‘Unless they go all the way around, like we sort of did.”“They could come in from the north too, to the south of the Snowlands,” Awen said. “That’s Trenten Flat’s territory, but they only started to colonize that later, so it’s still very wild.”“Huh,” I said. “The entire bit to the north of your home is all independent, right? Like Rosenbell was.”“Mostly, yeah,” Awen said.“We should visit there someday. And we should go all the way west.”“To Pyrowalk?” Awen asked. “I hear that it’s a very weird place. Sometimes we’d get visitors from there.”“Oh, and the Ostri desert too. And whatever is beyond Pyrowalk. Maybe we could even find out what's south of the known world, off the bottom edge of the maps.”Awen giggled. “There’s a lot of places you want to visit.”I nodded. “I want to visit all the places. And see all the cool things, and make even more friends. I have a very long bucket list, you know. I didn’t think I’d get to check off ‘ride a dragon’ so early.”“I’d like to visit the Snowlands,” Awen said. “It’s cold, but they have a lot of machines, and everyone says that their airships are the best in the world.”“Then we should go there,” I said. “Maybe after all this stuff in Sylphfree is done?”“That would be nice.”“Yeah, I think so too.” I yawned, jaw cracking and ears shivering in delight. I should have gotten up and moved, but instead I shifted a bit on the bed and kept on staring at the ceiling. Getting up takes way too much energy.“I’m sure we’re going to...” Awen paused to yawn herself. “Have plenty of adventures after this one.”“Mmhmm,” I agreed. “Maybe one day we’ll have to settle down or something, but I hope not.”“Uncle Abraham never settled down.”“That’s right,” I agreed. Things were a little fuzzy, and I couldn’t help but blink at the ceiling a bunch. There was some warmth coming in through the window. Did we fly over the clouds at last? It was nice.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.Awen shuffled next to me, and I felt her head settling in next to my shoulder, so I leaned to that side.My eyes closed, and suddenly I was asleep.“Broccoli?” Someone shook my shoulder and I blinked awake. Awen was leaning over me, blonde hair tucked behind her ears. “Broccoli, I can’t get out.”“Huh?” I asked before a yawn cut me off. I looked around and... yeah, I was between Awen and the edge of the bed. And next to me was Orange, currently rolled up into a furry ball with her face tucked in close to her middle. The sort of puffball cat-shape that looked very nice to pet, but that would inevitably lead to scratches if touched. I carefully swung my legs over the edge and sat up.“It’s okay,” Awen said. “I think we’re nearing the city.”“We are? How long was I sleeping for?”“I don’t know, I took a nap too,” Awen said.I wobbled to my feet, thankful that Cleaning magic made sleeping with my shoes on acceptable, then I wandered over to the doorway. Amaryllis was sitting at the little table we’d been playing cards at, along with a Bastion who was finishing off a plate of something that smelled nice, and Captain Risa was there.“Hey,” I said as I stumbled closer. I flopped onto the seat next to Amaryllis. “Where are we?”“About twenty kilometres from the capital,” Captain Galebane answered. “We should be within visual range within the next ten to twenty minutes. Which means, unfortunately, that I’ll need to head back up.”“That’s too bad,” Awen said as she joined us and sat next to Bastion. “We didn’t get to talk much.”“Do you think you could show us the capital from above?” I asked.“That should be doable, yes,” the captain said. She stood up. “If you want anything to eat, Captain Bunch, Miss Bristlecone, then there should be some left in the mess. I’ll be moving to the topdeck, I need to keep an eye on the crew as we come in for docking maneuvers.”“Those are pretty tricky,” I said. “Can we eat on the top deck?”“As long as you stay out of the way, you should be fine,” she said.I stood right after the captain, then stretched until my toes and ears both shivered in delight. “I’m going to grab a bite and see the sights!” I said.“I guess I’ll come with you,” Awen said as she stood up too.“Oh! I didn’t say hi to Bastion!” I waved to Bastion. “Hi Bastion.”The sylph grinned. “Hello Broccoli,” he replied. “Sleep well?”“It was a good nap. Been a while since I had one of those. What about you?”“Well enough. I think I might have a hard time sleeping on anything that isn’t an airship. I’m growing quite used to the constant rocking.”“It is nice,” I agreed. “Will you join us later? I bet you know the capital really well! You too, Amaryllis.”“I’ll see it in due time,” Amaryllis replied. “You enjoy yourselves.”“I’ll finish up my meal first,” Bastion said.I nodded, then with a final wave goodbye, skedaddled. The mess, as it turned out, was a section at the rear of the ship’s bottom deck where a small kitchen was tucked away. I think the stove used the same flue as the engine above to spew out any smoke it created. The chef, a big burly fellow (for a sylph) with a big apron and a bigger smile, was more than happy to give Awen and I a pair of bowls full of still-piping-hot stew and some wooden spoons to eat it with.Awen and I moved up to the top deck where sailors were busy spooling ropes, adjusting sails, and chatting amongst themselves. Mostly it looked as if the Little Atlas’ crew was doing busywork while staying sharp in case they were needed.I guess that on a bigger crew, that was going to happen a lot. Moments of hectic work when they were nearing or leaving port, but then long drawn-out times when there wasn’t much to do.We moved up to the foredeck. The ship didn’t have a figurehead, which was really a shame. Still, we installed ourselves by the rails there and blew across our stews while a chill wind breezed by. I had the impression that we weren’t all that high off the ground, relatively speaking. It was likely all the mountains around us providing all of that chill.Goldenalden appeared before us as we went around a particularly sharp mountain top.“Whoa!” I said as the city stretched out before us.I’d been to some pretty big places in my admittedly short time on Dirt. Awen’s home city was pretty big, sprawling out across a large patch of arid land. And Port Royal was quite large, the way it was split on multiple levels lending it a sense of grandness. Even Fort Sylphrot was pretty big. That city was built up rather than out.Goldenalden was so much bigger. It spilled out over the sides of a mountain that looked as though it was shaved off at the top. Plateaus all around, built on dozens of terraces that formed walls.That wasn’t to mention the actual walls around the city.It was obvious that whomever had designed it had added more walls as the city grew. There was a maze of stone walls cutting all across the city, but none were as impressive as those on the exterior, huge slabs of stacked stone with guard towers every hundred metres or so.They didn’t compare to the Gray Wall, but they were still really cool!There wasn’t just one port, but at least five of them that I could see. With airships big and small docked in place, and dozens of them dotting the skies around the city and either moving towards or away from it. And that wasn’t including the military airships. Small, boxy ships like the ones that escorted the Beaver back in Granite Springs were constantly moving around the city, like schools of metal fish in the sky.At the very top of the city was a castle, an imposing, blocky building with towers all around it, all topped with golden roofs.“Pretty, isn’t she?” Captain Galebane asked as she walked up next to us. She looked proud, and for good reason.“It’s gorgeous,” I said. “I can’t wait to see it for myself!”
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