Chapter Forty-Three — The Silver Boot
With all the warnings I had received about the docks I had kind of built a mental image of what the place would look like. There would be rough people on every corner and graffiti all over, and some people peddling drugs and stuff out of long trench coats.Instead the docks were merely a very busy place. Hundreds of people moving about between wagons and carts. Formations of guards stomped across the middle of the road with plenty of space around them and the only groups I saw waiting on the corners of streets were grenoils and some humans with signs saying they were looking for work.The place even smelled a bit better than the rest of the city, maybe because the road ended with a railing overlooking a huge cliff and that meant that there was a constant wind blowing past to take any smells away.With Gabriel at the front, we had no trouble cutting through the crowd. People seemed to just get out of his way, and when he did deviate from his straight path it was always to avoid a wagon that would have blocked our path in a few steps.“So cool,” I said as I looked to my right where a huge zeppelin-like ship was coming into dock. It was the size of a modern jet. One big balloon with some green banners on its side and a bunch of ship-like parts protruding out of the bottom. I could see people running around inside through small portholes.There seemed to be two kinds of airships. Big blimp-y ones. Basically large balloons with some engines sticking out of them. And airships that looked like sea-going ships but with a whole lot of crystal bits jutting out of the hull and big engines that spewed blue-grey smoke out of big pipes.“Stop staring like a country bumpkin,” Amaryllis said. “We’re getting close. If you fall behind I’m not coming back to fetch you.”“Oh, right!” I said as I snapped back to attention. It didn’t last very long, my eyes kept darting around to take everything in.The docks were built on a few levels, with a wooden pier one level up that shook and thundered with the footsteps of the people moving about and another level below ours that stuck out of the cliff face and stretched out into long piers that ships were docking at.“Zat’s our ride,” Gabriel called out as he pointed down one pier.The ship docked there was one of the smaller airships around, maybe thirty meters long. It was one of those strange hybrid sorts with sails folded by its sides and a large engine sitting in its middle. Two huge propellers stuck out of the back, spinning idly in the breeze.The crew crawling over the rigging and running across the deck all wore deep blue shirts and, wonder of wonders, were nearly all human-save for a few grenoil.“Hoh there!” a man called as he stepped across the gangplank leading to the ship without so much as a glance at the fall below. “Are you the group from the Exploration Guild?” he asked.“Yeah, we are,” Gabriel said. “You’re Isaac?”“That I am,” the man said. He doffed his big tricorn hat and placed it over his chest as he gave our group an extravagant bow.I couldn’t resist, even if it was a little bit rude...A proud Sky Captain, level ?.“Is that your ship?” I asked, pointing to the vessel next to us that was gently bobbing in the air. “It’s gorgeous.”The captain, Isaac, rose up and stared at me. “Um,” he said.The Silver Boot, a Mattergrove airskiff captained by Isaac Pinewood, well-maintained.“It is, yes,” the captain said, his chest puffing out a little. “She’s been with me for some years now. The sleekest skiff east of the Seven Peaks. We’ve fought through storms and flew out of the grasp of air pirates on more than one occasion together, and she’s never once failed me.”“Sky pirates,” I repeated. “You are the coolest person I have ever met,” I said.Isaac scratched at his chin right next to his really cool mustache. “Well, thank you, I suppose.”“Right,” Gabriel said. “Enough fawning over ze dry skin, let’s get aboard and get out of zis hole.” He crossed the gangplank then shouted over his shoulder. “Where’re ze cabins on zis zing?”“Let me show you,” Isaac said before jumping ahead of Gabriel and leading him, and us, over to the back of the ship. It took a few steps to get used to the swaying underfoot, but that was a small price to pay for stepping onto an actual airship.“You really are a country bumpkin,” Amaryllis said as she looked at me. Her expression was hard to read, but it was somewhere between horror and disgust.“We don’t have airships where I’m from,” I said truthfully. “We do have aircraft, but it’s not the same. And what’s wrong with looking for the wonder in the things I see? Isn’t that the whole goal of the Exploration Guild?”“I suppose,” Amaryllis allowed. “Just don’t get in my way. This expedition will be over soon enough, I hope.”I let the comment go. I didn’t want to push her just yet.Isaac showed us to a lower floor of the airskiff where there were tiny rooms with hammocks strung between the walls and tiny portholes to see out of. The inside of the ship was a bit cramped, and there was a persistent smell like burning rope and motor oil, but I could live with it. “And this leads onto the gallery,” he said as he opened a door onto a balcony. I followed eagerly, then gripped the edge of the rails as I suddenly found myself looking down at a drop of hundreds of meters to the rocky ground below. “Watch yourself there,” he warned.“Right!” I said.“I can give you a proper tour once we’ve taken off and the ship has settled. In the meanwhile, please keep to this deck. The galley is towards the bow and the head is on the port side. Don’t use it until we’re no longer docked. It’s a bit of a faux-pas to empty the head at port.” He grinned at the group and pressed his hat down on his head a moment before a gust of wind blew past. “I need to get things sorted up top. It might be better if you wait in your rooms.”The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.“Yes sir,” I said with a sloppy salute. I wasn’t about to get on his bad side, especially if it meant losing any privileges aboard the Silver Boot.We returned to our rooms. The twins France and Florian had their own, and Gabriel had a bigger room all to himself. That left me and Amaryllis to bunk together in a space that was smaller than my closet back home.Not that that was too bad. I had a pretty big closet.“I’m taking the top,” my partner said without a second glance before she tossed herself onto the hammock above.“Okay,” I said. The bottom had a better view out of the porthole anyway. I stashed my things to the side then pulled out my copy of A Guide to Manipulating the Essence and sat on the ground with my legs stretched out. The hammock wouldn’t let me feel the rumble of the airskiff and it would be harder to read with the heavy book hanging above my head.The first few pages were filed with warnings about practicing magic without proper supervision and some of the dangers that came from uncontrolled magic. The kinds of things that I expected to see in any manual for a complicated machine, but with a magical edge to it.Of course magic was dangerous, all the best things in life were a little risky.“You know magic?” Amaryllis asked.I looked up just in time to see her shifting around to stare back at the ceiling. “Not really,” I said. “I’m hoping to learn though. I’ve been practicing really hard and trying my best, but I’m not very good at it. Cleaning spells are pretty much the best I can manage for now.”“Tch. Cleaning spells are for peasants.”“I practice mine on the undead. It’s really effective.”Amaryllis looked down again. “What?”“I think it’s because cleaning magic is close to holy? Or maybe it has some sort of purifying effect? I’m not sure, but I’m positive I’ll find out if I read enough about magic.” I looked up a big grin. “You’re a mage, right? You must be super good at magic stuff?”The harpy crossed her arms (or were they wings?) over her chest. “Of course I’m good. I went to the greatest academies in the Nesting Kingdom. I certainly know more about magic than some peasant like you.”“Neat,” I said. “Maybe I’ll know something you don’t, and we can trade lessons later. I’d love to learn more about magic and how it all works.” The skiff shuddered and I felt it starting to move underfoot. “We’re taking off!” I said as I dropped my book to my side and rushed to the porthole.The docks were slowly receding as we moved backwards out of the port, the propellers behind the ship whirling like mad to pull us away. Then we slowed to a stop and the entire ship shifted so that its front was pointing to the sky.“Whoa,” I said as we shot forwards. I had to hold onto the walls to stop myself from falling. The city outside of the window flew past. Not at the kinds of speeds a plane back home could reach, but still plenty fast, and we were far closer to the city than any plane would dare fly over back home.After a moment, the skiff stabilized and its flight became a little more even. That’s when someone knocked at our door.“C’mong kiddies,” Gabriel’s gruff voice called out. “Get to ze galley. We’ve got missions to talk about and I want to get it over wiz before I drown my sorrows.”“Is he the one that smelled like alcohol?” Amaryllis asked.I nodded, then because she couldn’t see me, answered aloud. “He is. It’s really not a good example to set. Still, I trust that the guild wouldn’t send someone too bad to accompany us.”Amaryllis landed on the ground next to me. “I hope you’re right,” she said.I tucked away my book which had slid across the floor, then followed Amaryllis out into the corridor and to the front (bow?) of the ship. The area was little more than a very basic kitchen with a desk and a few chairs, all firmly bolted to the floor. Gabriel was at the head of the table, two stacks of paper before him with a knife through each to prevent them from moving.The twins had beaten us to the mess and were already sitting down.“Hello again,” I said as I sat between Gabriel and Amaryllis.“Hrm,” Gabriel said. He pulled a flask from his belt and took a swig. “Alright tadpoles, let ze old man chat for a bit, and zen you can run off to do whatever.”He tapped one of the folders before him. I was mildly surprised to see paper being used for such frivolous stuff, I thought it was more valuable, but maybe there was some sort of paper-making magic out there? Or a paper dungeon with paper drops?“Zis is an easy one. Even you brats ought to be able to pull it off. Twins, zere has been a shift in ze magical ley lines. Can either of you sense mana well enough to track ze source down?”“I can do zat,” Florien said.“Good, zen do it,” Gabriel said as he removed the knife holding one file in place and slid it to the twins. “As for you two. Zere is an old fort, made when we zought zere would be war with ze Trentans. It’s been decommissioned and left to rot. Check it out, map ze roads around it.”He pulled the second knife out of the table and handed me the file.“Now I’m going to go get very drunk. Don’t bozer me.”
Chapter Forty-Four — A Step Around the Boot
“I want to look around and get the big tour,” I said to Amaryllis as soon as we were back in our little room.“And leave me to do all the paperwork?” she asked acerbically while waving the file we had been given around.I shook my head. “No, no! Let’s look at it now, then... we could take the tour together? It sounds like a lot of fun?”The harpy rolled her eyes and sat down onto my hammock to place the folder onto her lap. “No. But you’re not wrong about looking over these now rather than later.” She fumbled with the edge of the folder, her talons not exactly suited to handling the paper, but when I reached out to help she glared and tore the folder open. There were only two sheets within and they seemed identical. “Here, tell me if you don’t understand anything,” she said as she passed one over.“Thanks!” I took the page and sat down on the ground next to my backpack to read over it.Exploration Guild Official Expedition SummaryExpedition No.124 of Year 398PC, Port-Royal BranchMission Statement: To explore, scout, and map the region around decommissioned Fort Froger and return to meeting point.Estimated time: Approx 3 daysDifficulty: Low to NegligibleThat left me with a few questions. Notably, what did the PC in the year stand for and who named the fort we were going to explore? Asking about the year would be suspicious so... “Did they really name the fort Fort Froger?” I asked.Amaryllis looked up from the page and shrugged. “Why not?”“Isn’t that a bit... racist?”She tilted her head to the side in a way that immediately made me think of a bird. “I think it would be speciesist, actually. And no, it’s okay if the Grenoil themselves named it, I think.”“I guess,” I said. “So this isn’t really heavy on the details. Do you know anything about this fort?”“No, I don’t. It sounds like one of the projects that went up just after the skirmish with the Trenten Flats. I know Deepmarsh went mad building fortifications for a few years, only for half of them to go unmaintained when nothing happened.”“I’m not familiar with the history,” I said.Amaryllis sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose with her talons. “I’ll tell you once we’re on the ground again. Go do your country bumpkin routine with the captain.”“Alright!” I said. She didn’t need to tell me twice. I scrambled to my feet and tucked the page into my bandoleer before I noticed Orange’s head looking around. I bit my lip. “Hey, before I go, can you watch over Orange for me? I don’t want her to get hurt while I’m looking around the ship. Thank you!” I tossed the spirit cat onto Amaryllis’ lap, the kitty looking none too pleased by the sudden motion, then walked out of the door.Now I just needed to find the captain...As it turned out, that wasn’t too hard. The moment I climbed onto the deck I spotted him with his awesome hat standing next to the ship’s wheel, a collapsible telescope in one hand and a folded map in the other.I made sure that I wouldn’t bump into anyone on the crew as I made my way to the rear section of the ship. I knew it was called a castle or something, but I wasn’t quite sure. I had to brush up on my nautical terminology before I became a sky captain myself.“Ah, hello there, Broccoli,” Captain Isaac said over the rumble of the Silver Boot’s engine and the whistle of the wind.I pulled my hair back out of my face, then started to tie it into a rough bun. “Hello, captain!”“This is excellent flying weather,” he said. “We should be making it to Green Hold just before nightfall.”“Green Hold?” I asked. Since he wasn’t looking right at me, focused as he was on his map, I decided to take a moment to scan the ship. Other than a few people coiling up ropes or sitting back and taking a break, there were few people on the deck.The rest of the space was taken up by the big magic engine thing in the middle, two shirtless men both working around it with shovels in hand, occasionally tossing some glowy rocks into a burner at the back.The front of the ship had another man with a telescope who was leaning against a large ballista while looking around. There weren’t any canons or anything like that, which was a little disappointing.“I take it this is your first time aboard an airship?” Captain Isaac asked.“It is!” I said. “And it’s wonderful.”He laughed, full and from the belly. “Count yourself lucky that the trip isn’t even a day long. I love the Boot, but people who aren’t born for the sky can find it hard to stay aboard a ship for a long while.”“That’s ridiculous,” I said. How twisted and evil would someone have to be to not enjoy time spent on an airship of all things?“It is what it is,” he said. “Did you want a bit of a tour? We still have a good six hours before we make landfall.”“Wait, we’re arriving today?” I asked.“You thought the trip would take longer?”I shifted from side to side and pressed my fingers together while fighting a bit of a blush. “Well, I was kind of hoping for a grand airship adventure. You know, sky pirates and maybe a fight with an evil dragon?”The captain blinked, then tilted his head back to laugh. “No! No, I'm afraid there’s a dearth of sky pirates over Deepmarsh. And as for dragons, well, we have our banners.”“Banners?” I repeated. Captain Isaac pointed to the rigging where a pair of big green banners with a strange symbol in the middle. It had wavy lines that probably represented water, and a big mouth like a crocodile’s chomping its way out of the waves. Its long forked tongue was shaped a bit like a mangrove tree.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.“You didn’t hear it from me, but most dragons are on the wrong side of greedy. The sky belongs to them, so if you want to pass through their territory you need to pay a tax. The banners are a sign that you’ve paid your part. They’re imbued with the dragon’s own magic. They see the banner, they leave you alone. They don’t and your ship is fair game. Worse, if they see a rival’s banner then you’d best hope you know the featherfall spell because your ship is going down.”“Whoa,” I said. “You can’t fight them off?”Isaac laughed, but this time it had a tinge of actual horror in it. “No, no you can’t. A young dragon will usually be in its fourth tier. A match in sheer level for the Kingsguard. The older dragons are, well, no one knows.”“Cool,” I whispered. I couldn’t wait to find one and ask it if I could ride it. It didn’t even need to be into battle. “Oh, so about that tour?”“Of course young miss, I would never forget a promise I made only a scant few minutes ago. Let me show you the Silver Boot in all of her glory!”What followed was some of the most fun I’d had in weeks, and it was the best kind of fun, the sort where I learned a whole bunch.“This is our gravity engine,” Isaac said as he tapped the side of the big motor in the middle of the ship. “Careful, it’s hot.”“How does it work?” I asked. I didn’t know all that much about motors. My dad had shown me how to boost a battery and change the oil, and that was about where my experience ended. Everything else I knew was from television and books.“I haven’t the faintest clue,” the captain said with good cheer. “I do know that it burns through quite a lot of mana-rich coal, which boils an alchemical reagent that, in turn, flows through a complex array of runes inside the metal casing. That’s what gives us our lift. The boiling reagent gives off heat that pushes out of a cylinder. That also makes a flywheel turn, ah do you know what that is?”“It’s a big heavy wheel that soaks up energy and keeps turning for a while,” I said. “I know what it is, yeah.”“Smart girl. There are belts leading below deck and to the control mechanism for our two propellers, and we have a switch that allows the pilot to change the direction they’re turning in. It breaks quite often, but most of our forward momentum comes from our sails and some rune work. The propellers are merely more convenient than playing with the wind.”I waved goodbye to the two young men working on the engine and they smiled and waved back.“Does working on an airship pay well?” I asked.Isaac made an indistinct gesture in the air as we moved to the front. “For myself and the officers it’s decent. Most of the crew are quite mixed. I’ve got blacksmiths and bakers and farmhands. There aren’t that many classes suited to the work we’re doing here. Still, the pay is better than what they’d get in some little town and they get to travel. It has its perks.”We got to the very front of the ship where the lookout stopped staring ahead with his binoculars to give us a jaunty wave.“This,” Captain Isaac said as he gave the big balistea a proud pat. “Is a Rever mark four. Imported all the way from the Snowlands. Cost me a pretty copper but it’s worth it.”“You don’t use cannons?” I asked.“Cannons? I don’t think placing a heavy lump of steel on my ship, then loading it full of explosives would be a good idea. Besides, cannonballs cannot be aimed with the assistance of marksmanship skills. At least, I haven’t heard of enemy-seeking cannons yet.”“Sir,” the lookout said while pointing to something out ahead. “Grey clouds on the horizon, dead ahead.”“Ah, damnation,” Isaac said. “I’m sorry Miss Broccolli, but perhaps it would be best if you returned to your cabin for now. I wouldn’t want to have to explain to that grenoil gentleman accompanying you why one of his charges had gone overboard.”“Ah, yeah, alright,” I said. I wanted to stay atop the ship, but it wouldn’t do to be impolite and end up dead, or worse, in someone’s way. “Thank you for the tour. Your ship is wonderful!”“It was truly my pleasure.”When I returned to the cabin it was to find Amaryllis swaying lightly in her hammock, one leg over the side and her head leaned forwards until it was almost tucked into her armpit. She was snoring lightly. Orange was rolled up in a ball on her tummy, back to sleep again.I held back a giggle at the ‘chuu chuu’ noises she was making and slid into my own hammock with my book on basic magic. The day so far had been plenty productive, and I looked forward to seeing all sorts of new places later.My first mission had so far been exciting, but it lacked... something to make it truly awesome. I figured it would come eventually, maybe as we finally hit the road and started on the adventure proper.My hammock rocked from side to side, accompanied by my new partner’s ‘chuu-chuuing’ and I tried to imagine what the future could bring. There were dragons to ride, and airships to travel on, and sky pirates to battle. There was magic to learn and awesome skills to discover.I was smiling like a very silly little girl as I refocused on my book. The adventure was underway, but that didn’t mean I could slack off. I had to work hard to make the best of friends and to see all the wonderful places the world had to offer.
