Chapter Four Hundred and Twenty-Two — Sunrise Over Smoulderglen
Chapter Four Hundred and Twenty-Two — Sunrise Over Smoulderglen We took off as the sky was brightening. From the ground, the sun wasn't up yet, but as we gained a bit of altitude, we could see farther over the horizon, and it rose up in a hurry. I waved my goodbyes to Ferrell, the older guy who’d let us use his docking space, then the Beaver continued to rise until we were some two hundred metres or so off the ground. Not that far up, really, but high enough to avoid some traffic and see any other ship coming.“I’ll hold him steady, captain,” Clive said from behind the wheel.I was thankful for that. Keeping an airship stable in flight wasn’t impossible, but it was hard to do. Clive had to carefully balance our thrust against the push of the wind while making small, minute changes in direction to keep the Beaver hovering in the same spot.I could only barely manage it, and only if the wind was steady. The winds over Smoulderglen were anything but predictable. The city was warm, and the number of small factories below spewing out smoke and steam created a lot of hot air that rose up past us. So not only did Clive have to deal with the wind, he had to keep us floating evenly by nudging the gravity engine’s output up and down.The gulf of experience between someone like Clive and myself felt so wide sometimes.“I see her!” Calamity called from the bow. He had a hand on his hat, keeping it in place against the wind. “She’s coming on up.”I followed his gaze through squinting eyes and spotted the Shady Lady gently rising out of the city. The ship seemed in good enough shape, all things considered. Raynold had found some replacements for missing parts and had patched up the damage they’d gotten during the race. With the amount of patches already on the Lady the new ones were barely visible.Raynold was on the bow, reeling in some rope and quickly looping it around to stow it while Abraham was at the helm. The grenoil looked over, then waved a hello.“Clive!” I called back. “Bring us about, facing southbound! We’ll come alongside the Shady Lady.”“Aye aye!” Clive shouted back before giving the wheel a spin. The Beaver started a slow, controlled turn away from the Lady who rose up to about the same level we were on. It took a bit to manoeuvre both ships so that they were side-by-side and flying at the same speed. I was doubly glad that Clive was at the helm when I felt all the turbulence between the ships.“Hi Raynold! Hi Uncle Abraham!” I called out over the gap.“Haha! Hello there, Broccoli!” Abraham called back. “How goes the flying?”“Fantastic so far. I think we’re the slower ship, so we’ll set the pace, it should be a straight flight from here to Port Royal. Do you have enough fuel?”“We’ll be fine!” he called back before thumping a hand onto a large tank stuffed next to the cabin at the Lady’s back. “We got an extra tank, just for the trip.”That hadn’t been there for the race. Then again, it probably weighed a heap, so it made sense to remove it. In any case, the Shady Lady was probably still much faster than the Beaver. I loved my airship, he was the best ship, but he was also a bit... non-aerodynamic.Awen came up to the main desk while wiping her hands clean on a strip of cloth. “Oh, uncle’s here,” she said. She gave Abraham a wave which he returned. The Shady Lady was already pulling ahead of us with its much better acceleration, though we were rising a little faster.“Mhm! I think I’ll set up our rotation soon. It’ll be interesting flying at night with the Shady Lady around. We might want to get some lamps out. Do... we have lamps?” We had a few here and there on the ship, magical lights that I didn’t quite understand but which provided plenty of light at night, but I was thinking more about signal lights.“I think I can work something out if we don’t,” Awen said. “You can cast a light ball spell, right?”“Yeah, sure,” I said. “I don’t know how long they last though.”“I think Sally knows how too, and Amaryllis and Caprica know as well. If they only last a few hours then we can just rotate?” Awen said, she didn’t sound super certain of her idea, but I liked it.“I’ll make sure there’s at least one person that can do that in each rotation,” I said. “Were you going to make something for the lights?”“Just a bit of glass magic. Uh, I’ll have to experiment to see what works best.”I nodded along. We had a while to do that. The lights would mostly be to help navigate at night. We didn’t want to crash into the Shady Lady.There was a lot of work to do, especially since we had just taken off. The Scallywags were out in force, and I saw Steve up in the rigging checking things out.I was just about to start helping when I noticed the Lady slowing down. Or maybe we were just catching up to her. Either way, Abraham was close to the side, and when he called out to me, I heard it loud and clear. “You were falling behind!” he called out.I feigned a gasp. “Are you challenging us?” I asked over the wind.“Haha! We’ll have you beat for speed, but maybe not when moving up! A race to the clouds!”Laughing, I agreed to the race, not expecting Abraham to immediately bring the bow of his ship up and start rising. “Clive!” I called back. “We need to climb!”“Captain?” he called back. “We are?”“No, I mean, faster! Let’s show Abraham what the Beaver can do!”“Alright, captain!” Clive chuckled, rolling his sleeves up and tightening his grip on the wheel. “Everyone prepare for rapid ascent!”Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.The Scallywags caught on to what was happening, and their cheers echoed across the deck as they prepared for the impromptu race. The Beaver, in all its non-aerodynamic glory, seemed to rise more eagerly now. Our thrust increased and the nose of the ship pointed towards the soft, golden-touched clouds of the morning sky.With the sun still kissing the horizon to our right, the Beaver felt like it was climbing above the sun’s light. Smoulderglen was starting to shrink behind us. I clung to the railings, letting the wind whip through my hair and ears and letting the thrill of the race fill me with giddy excitement. The rush of adrenaline was electric."Calamity! How're we doing?" I called to the catfolk who was still handing out by the bow.He squinted, eyes darting between the Beaver and the Shady Lady. "Pulling ahead!" he hollered back, his voice barely audible over the rush of wind. "Keep pushing!"A few tense minutes passed, the sound of the engine working overtime filled the air. The Shady Lady, sleek and fast, fell by as we continued to rise. Then it disappeared as we hit the clouds. A few more minutes, and we broke through the topmost layer of clouds, their puffy white texture contrasting sharply against the clear, azure sky.Victory!“Alright, everyone, let's ease off,” Amaryllis called back to Clive as she walked onto the deck. “No need to burn all our fuel before the journey’s even begun.”Clive did as she asked, letting up on the gravity engine and levelling off our flight. For a moment, I felt suddenly buoyant as the pressure of our ascent let up. I saw the Shady Lady burst out of the clouds some ways ahead. It was still the faster ship, at least when it came to horizontal flight.“Did you have your fun?” Amaryllis asked.“I did!” I said with a grin.The day transitioned smoothly as we sailed towards Port Royal. The sun climbed higher in the sky, casting a warm glow over the ship's deck and turning the white clouds beneath us into a gleaming sea of cotton. The Shady Lady stayed at a steady distance, sometimes pulling ahead, sometimes falling behind.Awen was hard at work, her brow furrowed in concentration as she manipulated shapes and forms with her glass magic. She was meticulously crafting a new one, her fingers moving with practised ease as she moulded the glass.Every now and then, she would pick up a sphere and inspect it for imperfections. Sometimes, she would nod in satisfaction, while other times, she would furrow her brows even more, place the sphere back on the deck, and continue her experimentations.“How are your experiments coming along?” I asked some time after lunch.She looked up, brushing a lock of hair from her face. “I think I’m getting there,” she replied, holding up one of the spheres to the light again. It threw a mesmerising pattern of light across her face. “If I can perfect the shape of the sphere, then it won’t change the way light is dispersed. That way, it can protect the lightball within. The spell isn’t very strong. We should find a way to place some of these on the Shady Lady too. Us being visible is nice, but we might run into Uncle’s ship in the night.”“I’m sure Raynold at least will pay attention,” I said. “Do you need help sticking this onto the Beaver?”Awen shrugged, accepting the help without complaint, though it mostly amounted to me carrying the globes she’d already made while she fashioned some brackets out of magically summoned glass to hold them in.When evening came around and we were all filled up and those of us not on early watch were thinking of bed, it came time to light the signal globes, which proved to be a problem.“Obviously, the lights on the bow should be white,” Amaryllis said.Caprica next to her nodded. “To tell other ships that it’s our front.”“And the rest of the lights?” I asked.“The port and starboard should be different colours, to let others know which direction we’re facing at a glance,” Amaryllis said.“Oh! I get it, that’s clever. Which colours?”“Blue and yellow,” Amaryllis said.“Green and red,” Caprica said at the exact same time.They glared at each other. “Blue and yellow are the standard around the Harpy Mountains,” Amaryllis said.“And green and red are the international standard for signal lights,” Caprica countered tersely.In the midst of their squabble, Awen let out a sigh of defeat. “This is exactly why we need to standardise this across the Kingdoms,” she said, shaking her head.I let my friends squabble for a while, because while they were arguing, they were both enjoying it, and it seemed kind of pointless to me. “Right, Amaryllis, you have first watch. So blue and yellow. Caprica, you have the morning watch, so green and red,” I said with a nod. “I’m in the middle watch. So... turquoise and... pink!”That didn’t solve the argument at all.The night passed without incident, with Awen's newly crafted lights illuminating the Beaver in a soft glow. Despite the brief conflict over the colours, they served their purpose, clearly marking our position and direction in the dark. I spent my watch relishing in the crisp, cool air of the night, and maintaining a vigilant eye on the compass. It was a peaceful night, where the only sounds were the whispers of the wind and the hum of the ship's engine.Following my watch, I retired to my bunk to catch a few hours of sleep before dawn. The day had been long, and the soft rhythm of the Beaver's flight lulled me into a deep sleep.The sudden chaos of the early morning shattered my rest. I was not expecting to be yanked from my dreams by the harsh shout of 'Pirates!'
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Chapter Four Hundred and Twenty-Three — Awake at the Witching Hour
Chapter Four Hundred and Twenty-Three — Awake at the Witching Hour I flew out of my room while tugging my armoured skirt on and hugging my cuirass under an arm. By the time I reached the stairs leading up to the main deck I had cinched my belt on and was starting to squeeze into my chestpiece when I realized I’d run out of my room barefoot.I hesitated for just a moment at the edge of the stairs. Did I have time to get my boots on? Could I fight without them?There were some noises behind me, the others not on watch coming awake.Another call of ‘pirates!’ from above.“Ah, shoot,” I swore before fiddling my armour on and running up the steps. Without my gambeson on beneath, the cuirass was loose and uncomfortable, as if I was wearing one of my dad’s too-big shirts or something, only it was made of cold metal. “Where are they?” I asked as I ran onto the deck. There was barely any light to work with. The clouds above masked a quarter moon, and there was nothing to see beyond the deck of the Beaver and the circle of light created by our navigation lights.I recognized the voice of the one calling out the alarm. Gordon was running across the bridge between decks, looking a bit panicked. “Captain!” he said. “Pirates on our starboard stern, I spotted three ships.”“How close?” I asked.He shook his head. “Two klicks, captain, but they’re closing. Could be more of them, visibility isn’t great and there’s clouds.”I ran past him, feet thumping along until I was stopped by the rails on the starboard deck. My upper half dangled off the edge of the ship as I looked back.It took some squinting to see the first of the ships, but I spotted it soon enough. It was hard to tell the size of an airship with nothing around it for scale, but I judged it to be a bit bigger than the Beaver, at least in length. The balloon was a dull grey, which hid it well within the clouds, but it had a red blotch on either side of the balloon that gave it away.The other two took me a while longer to spot, they were flying a little lower, and some cloudy pillars obscured them partially.“How do you know they’re pirates?” I asked Gordon as he joined me.He pointed a talon towards the ships. “They have markings. Don’t you see them?”“The red things?” I asked.He nodded, then realisation flashed in his eyes. “Ah, right, harpies have good eyesight for this kind of thing,” he said. “Sorry captain. They’re Red Wing pirates. All of their ships have their markings.”“Are you sure they’re after us?” I asked. Maybe the pirates weren’t the bad sort of pirate and they were just heading off to adventure in the same general direction as us?“They’re gaining altitude,” he said. “And heading our way.”I sighed and pulled myself back. “Keep flying us straight and keep an eye on them, I’ll make sure everyone’s awake. Then we’ll prepare the Beaver for a fight if we need it.”“Aye!” Gordon said before running off to the poop deck and the helm. He wasn’t supposed to be the only one on the morning watch. Awen was supposed to be up too. Then again, she might just be working on something. One of the Scallywags was meant to be up too. Joe, I thought. As I started to run back to the other end of the ship I noticed him up by the helm. So he wasn’t napping on duty, that was good.I ran back to the port hull, then towards the cabin at the back only to meet Amaryllis in the entrance. “What’s going on?” she asked.My best harpy friend looked dishevelled and still more than a little tired. She was in her PJs still, but had her dagger-wand in talon. “Pirates,” I said. “Red Wing Pirates, they’re coming up behind us,” I said before squeezing past her.“Where are you going?” she asked.“To wake the others and get dressed!” I said.Amaryllis said a few words that weren’t fit for proper company and then ran down after me only to dart into her room.I banged a fist against every closed door. “Wake up! It’s an emergency! Red alert! This is not a drill! All hands to battle stations!” I called as I knocked on each, then I ran into my room and started to prepare properly. That meant throwing off my armour which bounced on my undone bed, then grabbing a shirt and then my gambeson and slipping into it.Usually getting dressed took me a couple of minutes every morning. It wasn’t hard or anything, but in the rush I was making silly mistakes that I didn’t usually make. Still, I don’t think I’d ever gotten ready so quickly before.I grabbed my captain’s hat, then secured it firmly on my head before picking up Weedbane and tugging my boots on.I was as ready as I could be.Bursting back into the corridor, I almost ran into Caprica, who was striding by while securing a sword to her hip. “Captain Bunch,” she said, sounding far more formal than usual. “I heard you had a pirate problem.”“A probable pirate problem,” I said. “It might be nothing, but...”“Rather safe than sorry,” Caprica said with a firm nod. “Let’s go see what we can do.”“Not without me,” Amaryllis said as she stepped out of her door while tugging her coat on.“Of course!” I said. “I wouldn’t want to tangle with pirates without my friends!”We made it onto the deck and Amaryllis looked around. “The lights are still on,” she said. “Where’s Awen?”“I haven’t seen her yet,” I said.“I’m going to start removing the lights on this side, get Awen, we’re going to need her. Caprica, can you start with the lights on the other side?”Caprica nodded, then jogged over to the other deck. It made sense, the lights were fairly bright, casting the deck and the underside of the balloon above in greens and reds. The entire point of the lights was to make us visible at night, which was great for safety — but which I now realized might also attract pirates, in the same way a lamp attracts moths.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.Awen showed up while I was removing the lights on the rear deck. “Broccoli, what’s going on?” she asked.I glanced back and noticed that she was dressed for work, her long coat off and replaced by a sweater with rolled up sleeves. “Pirates,” I said. “We’re taking the lights off to hide in the dark better.”“Oh... oh no,” Awen said. “Where are they?”I pointed back and down. “You can see them. They’re getting a little closer. Do you think you can do anything to help?”“I can push the engine harder for a while,” Awen said. “We’ll move faster.”That wasn’t a bad idea. The best way to avoid the pirates was probably to outrun them now and hope that they’d lose us in the cloud cover. “Alright, you do that. I’m going to check the charts. Do you know of a way to talk to your uncle?”“Where’s the Shady Lady?” Awen asked while glancing around as if the ship would swoop out of the night sky.“I don’t know,” I said. But it couldn’t be too far. There was a faint buzzing echo in the air, a sure sign that the Lady’s engine was still going. The problem was pinpointing the direction the noise was coming from. Above? They were probably just out of sight and hidden by our balloon. “We need to let them know about the pirates.”“Maybe we shouldn’t,” Awen said.I looked at her. “Why not?”“Because Uncle will want to do something about them,” she said.“Ah.”Yeah, I could imagine Abraham leaping off towards the pirates with nothing more than a ‘haha!’ “I’ll see if Amaryllis can manage something,” I said.Awen nodded, then ran off to do her work. I checked the helm and noticed that Clive was now standing next to the wheel, lighting his pipe while Joe hung on and kept us flying straight. That was good, Clive was the best pilot we had, so if he was by the wheel, things were going to be alright.My heart was pitter-pattering harder than ever as I jumped ahead and jogged over to where Amaryllis was stacking the lights in a crate. “We need to get a message to Abraham,” I said.Amaryllis nodded. “Makes sense. Go ask Caprica.”“Caprica?” I asked.“She’s the one with the most military training. I know a few spells that can relay messages, or we could use a light code to send a message, but she has better spells and more experience with them than I do.”“Oh... that’s surprisingly humble.”Amaryllis stopped her work to give me a look. “It’s not a question of humility, it’s a question of common sense, something that I’m aware you are very unfamiliar with.”I grinned. It was nice to have Amaryllis calling me an idiot. Comforting, really.With my heart beating out a staccato rhythm in my chest, I sprinted across the deck, dodging crew members as they hurried about. Caprica was busy at the other side of the deck, methodically unplugging the lights and stacking them in another crate. As I approached her, she glanced over at me, the glowing orbs reflected in her dark eyes.“We need to get a message to Abraham,” I panted, leaning against the railings as I tried to catch my breath.Caprica raised an eyebrow, her hands pausing for a moment. I quickly explained the situation. When I finished, Caprica was silent for a moment, her eyes staring off into the distance. Then she nodded. “I can help with that. I have a decent spell that can send messages over a short distance.”“Does it need anything special?” I asked.“Just that the receiver be willing to accept the message,” she said. “I think it might be best to target Raynold first. He seems the more... reasonable of the pair.”I bobbed my head in a nod. That made perfect sense to me. “Okay... can I leave you to it?”She sniffed. “Of course. I have always taken my duties seriously. You might want to find someone to take care of these lights. For what little it’s worth. The sun will be rising within the hour.”“The pirates might reach us before then,” I said. I couldn’t, and didn’t want to, hide the worry in my voice.“We’ll be fine,” Caprica said. “Probably. Most of us can put up a better fight than the average merchant. They won’t be expecting the amount of trouble we bring. Find someone for the lights, I’ll get to casting.”I kinda wanted to stay and see the spell at work, but she was right, I needed to get to work. I bounced my way back up to the helm, then tapped Joe on the shoulder and told him to go help with the lights before I turned to Clive. “What should we do?” I asked the pipe-smoking harpy.Clive exhaled a cloud of fragrant smoke, his gaze steady on the pirate airships in the distance. “We can try and outrun them, but our ship isn't the fastest and they'll most likely catch up to us. We can try and fight them off, but we don't know how many of them there are or how well-equipped they are. Or we can try to outsmart them.”“I don’t know if I’m smart enough to do that,” I admitted.Clive chuckled. “No worries, captain. Pirates are hardly known for their smarts. Cunning, yes, but not smart.” He took another puff from his pipe. “We could try to lose them in the clouds. Still dark out. We can dip into the clouds, turn hard, then go quiet and coast along as much as we can.”I bit my lip, thinking. Running seemed to be the best option, especially if Awen could give us more speed. But if we couldn't outrun them... “Let's start with the clouds,” I said, finally. “If we can lose them, we can avoid a fight. And if not, we'll be ready to face them.”
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