Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Five — Panic at the Ball
Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Five — Panic at the Ball Bastion threw me to the ground.My breath left with a whoosh, cutting off any protests I had to the rough treatment. And then the sylph jumped up onto me and covered my torso and head with his body just as bits of masonry and wood started to rain down around us.The noise wasn’t as loud as I would have expected, more of a muffled thump followed by a heavy shift from the ground under me, as if it had dropped down half a foot.Harpies all around us squawked and screamed, and the band's music ground to a discordant halt amidst the shattering of plates and glass.The moment the worst of it was done, the crowds across the dance floor started to shift and move, rushing towards the exits. Some had gashes and cuts from the stuff falling from above.“Are you well?” Bastion asked.I nodded and pushed him off me so that I could breathe. “What happened?” I called back.He looked up again. I could see the horror in his gaze as he took in the location of the explosion.The third floor, where the Sylphfree delegation was sitting. “I need to get up there!” he said.I nodded and jumped to my feet before scooping him up. For all that he was pretty well muscled, and wearing armour, he was still a very lithe man, and short at that. It was no harder to pick him up than picking up a kid.My legs bunched up under me while he started to protest, and then we shot up and towards the third floor.I was worried for my friends, but they had all been below, near the dance floor, and they had each other. Rosaline and Awen would look after each other, and I didn’t doubt that Amaryllis would find Clementine and make sure she was okay.All those worries faded back as my jump carried me and Bastion into a thick cloud of white-ish smoke that obscured everything.I pushed some mana into my cleaning magic aura and the smoke receded away from us with a wave just as I landed.“Thank you,” Bastion said as he regained his feet. The paladin didn’t wait so much as a second before rushing towards the back of the room.The smoke was thicker there, so I followed close after him.We only made it halfway to the back before Bastion paused.It didn’t take much to see why. There was someone on the ground. A familiar sylph face, with unseeing eyes looking towards the ceiling.Bastion paused and fell to one knee next to Countess Evalyn. He closed her eyes while I watched. I... I didn’t know how to act, what to do.“Captain?”I’d seen dead people before. In funeral homes and in movies, but those had always been at a distance, far away and...“Captain Bunch!”I snapped around towards Bastion who was looking at me. “Can you clear the air some more?”I nodded. The dead could wait for the living. There could be others who were hurt.A bit of concentration later and I pushed a good three-quarters of my mana into a burst of Cleaning that pushed out of me like an expanding bubble. The dust on the ground faded away, the smoke cleared, and soon we could take in the scene in full.It wasn’t nice.There were sylphs tossed about all over and more than one was obviously injured.Inquisitor Storm stumbled our way, somehow still graceful despite being quite bloody and disheveled. “Bastion! That one!” She pointed.Bastion and I both turned towards the far end of the balcony where a dark-feathered harpy was running towards one of the little exits meant for the serving staff.“After him!” Bastion cried.I didn’t need to be told twice and kept after the paladin to charge across the dining area after the suspect.The door was slammed shut before us, but Bastion removed his sword from his side with a flourish. He spun while still running, and sliced up. The door burst apart into heavy wooden chunks.The harpy was in the middle of a long corridor, shoving a pair of maids aside so that all the plates and platters they were holding crashed to the ground.“Halt!” Bastion roared as he shot ahead. His wings beat at the air, giving him more of a lead.I started to bounce after them, wishing I had my spade.On the way past the maids, I grabbed a platter. It was a big thing, made of silver with about as much heft to it as a plate and with rounded edges. It wasn’t the perfect weapon, but it would do.The harpy got to the end of the corridor and turned.By the time we rounded the bend, he had disappeared around a fork. “Left or right?” I asked.“World dammit,” Bastion swore. “Go left!” he said before he darted to the right.I shot towards the left and down another passageway. There was a door at its end, left ajar and leading into a much fancier part of the building with large windows and nice vases on pedestals.The harpy was there, running down the end and towards a large set of French doors leading to a balcony.“Stop!” I shouted as I pushed some stamina to my legs and rushed forwards.The harpy shoved a no doubt expensive vase down behind him, letting it smash against the ground and filling my path with porcelain caltrops.I hopped over them and swung the silver platter forwards like a frisbee.It scraped against the floor, skipping once before sliding under the harpy’s taloned foot.He went sprawling forwards, into and through the glass doorway with a crash and a roll, but he was spry and ended his roll by jumping to his feet.That was just in time for me to arrive on the balcony too. “It’s over!” I said.He looked up to me, surprise registering on his features before he brought an arm up and swung it my way.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.A heavy gust of wind came out of nowhere and slammed into my chest, sending my right back and almost into the corridor. It was only grabbing onto the door frame that stopped me from being swung all the way back.“You surprised me there, Miss Bunch,” he said.I knew that voice.It had been a long time since I heard it. Maybe a week or two, but I still knew it. “Mister Rainnewt?” I asked.The harpy grinned. “Of course not,” he said. Reaching into the back of his servant’s jacket, he pulled out a small knife. “I do apologize,” he said as he started to walk towards me.And then thunder came roaring out from the clear sky.Rainnewt screamed as a jolt of lightning hit his side and made him writhe.I looked off to my left, and through the lightning blindness, I could make out Amaryllis on a balcony one floor down.I gathered mana into my hand and stamina in my legs. I wasn’t going to be caught flatfooted.But before I could do anything, Rainnewt's body transformed before my eyes. One moment he was a harpy, the next a dark-haired sylph in the centre of a growing windstorm. “Well played,” he said before flinging off his too-small jacket to reveal wings that spread wide. “The world won’t thank you for that sacrifice,” he said before jumping backward.He darted just out of the path from another bolt of lightning.The winds were carrying him up and away when I formed a set of nine fireballs and let them loose.Rainnewt merely flew around them, then dipped down and over the fence between the mansion we were in, and the next.I got ready to jump after him, but the wind turned ugly and I found myself with an arm raised to cover my face as it whipped around.What had happened?I stood panting as Bastion barged onto the balcony and looked around. “Did you see him?” he asked.I nodded, then pointed off in the direction he went. “He left that way,” I said. “He can shapeshift, and control the wind.”Bastion paused. “Shapeshift?”“He turned into a sylph, then said something about the world and flew off.”Amaryllis was the next to burst through the doors. She looked miffed. Not angry, just annoyed. Probably because her spells hadn’t taken Rainnewt out. “Did that bastard turn into a sylph?” she asked. “Or was that an illusion?”“I don’t know,” I said. “I... didn’t you say that illusion magic isn’t that good?”“Not usually,” she said. “But most people who dabble in it are assassins and the like, so who knows what kind of skills they have?”I swallowed, the image of Evalyn still fresh. “Oh, yeah, I guess.”Bastion hissed and turned back towards the exit. “Thank you, Captain, Lady Albatross, your aid won’t be forgotten,” he said, before stomping off.Amaryllis watched him go, then allowed herself to slump a little. “You see anything about the assassin?”“It was Rainnewt,” I said. “The voice...and he recognized me.”She blinked. “Huh. Well, that’s unexpected.”“The others?” I asked.“Fine. I was coming back from finding Clementine when I heard glass breaking. I figured it was worth investigating.”“Thanks,” I said.“No problem. Now come on, I’m certain we’ll have plenty of curious stickybeaks asking all sorts of questions before the night is out. Maybe this ball is more amusing than I first thought.”“People died,” I said.Amaryllis winced. “Ah. I didn’t know.” She sighed. “Well, that makes it an absolute mess, doesn’t it?”I nodded. “Yeah. We... uh, I guess we should go see the others? Or, do you think we could help?”“There are some healers around already, near the duel grounds, and I don’t doubt that the sylph delegation have their own. They do have a reputation for having the world’s greatest healers.”“Oh, okay,” I said.I didn't know why, exactly, but I was hit by a wave of tiredness that just dragged me down. So I moved over to Amaryllis and wrapped my arms around her shoulders and stuffed my head into the crook of her neck.“What are you doing, you idiot?” she asked softly as she returned the hug.“Recharging,” I said.She snorted. “Idiot.”I nodded into her side and just let the stress ebb away. “Hugging makes things better,” I said.I couldn’t see it, but I just knew she rolled her eyes. “You are far too affectionate for your own good. We should go see the others. Awen was worried about you.”“Right,” I said as I pulled back. “Thanks for the hug.”She shook her head. “Don’t mention it. Literally. Don’t. I don’t need a reputation.”“It wouldn’t be that bad,” I said. “A reputation of being a caring and loving friend.”“Of being a soft-hearted fool, more like. Speaking of, that Bastion man, what do you think of him?”“He’s a bit, uh, formal. But I think he has a good heart. He tried to shield me when the explosion went off, and he seemed to care for the others in his group.”“Hmm,” Amaryllis hummed. “That’s not much to go on. I suppose we’ll have to see. Now come on, I suspect that this party is over.”“Not the nicest way to end a party,” I said.“No, no it truly wasn’t. I expect the city guard to be crawling all over the place being ineffective in no time. We should see about getting back home before that. And perhaps we ought to get ready to move sooner rather than later. I have the impression that things are going to take a turn for the complicated, and I left the world of politics and backstabbing for a reason.”“I bet you were really good at politicking,” I said.She rolled her eyes, this time right in front of me. “Come on, idiot.”
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Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Six — Plotting
Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Six — Plotting The day after the ball had passed in a sort of haze. We were all tired and other than Awen who had a sudden powerful urge to make stuff, the rest of us all lounged around being lazy all day and mostly just relaxed.That was yesterday. Today, I put off the shackles of laziness and got to work. I had to show off the ship to one of its most important crewmates.“And this is the main deck,” I said as I set Orange down. Carrying the cat up was a bit complicated, but I had managed.Orange looked about with... a distinctly feline lack of interest. She didn’t seem to care all that much about the Beaver.“Don’t look like that,” I said. “We’re all going to have a bunch of fun on this ship, and you have an important role to play too!”Orange stared up at me, her expression hinting that that role had better involve sleeping.“See, ships have rats and stuff in them,” I said.Orange’s eyes narrowed.“And we need to capture and carefully put them outside where they can go frolic elsewhere with their rat families,” I continued. “Oh, and our figureheads need guarding.” I started walking towards the front of the ship and Orange padded along silently.I patted one of the ducks.“These beaver-ducks need guarding,” I said. “We’ll all be very busy doing ship stuff, so I was hoping that we could hire you to be our chief ship figurehead guardscat.”Orange did not look amused.“Um... first cat mate of figurehead guarding?”She looked away, uninterested.“Cat captain of the figureheads?”Now she seemed a little interested. She started to lick her paw, enticed.“Fine. Grand admiral of the figureheads.”Orange gave me a kitty smile and sauntered past, rubbing herself against my leg for a moment before bouncing up and settling herself down atop one of the duck heads.“Wow, you’re really taking to your new job,” I said as I reached up and ran my hand over Orange’s side. Spirit cat fur had a strange texture to it, probably owing to how it wasn’t quite there.“Broccoli!” I heard Amaryllis call.I gave Orange one last pat before moving to the side of the ship so that I could look over the rail. Amaryllis was there, along with Clementine and Awen and three other harpies that I wasn’t familiar with. “Hello!” I called down.“Permission to come aboard, Captain?” the oldest of the harpies asked. He was a weather-beaten gentleman, with a craggy face and narrowed eyes. Not an unfriendly face, but one that had spent long hours out in the sun and wind. The other two with him were a great deal younger, maybe in their mid-twenties.“Sure thing!” I said. I wished that I had my awesome captain’s hat, but it was stuffed away in the guest bedroom the Albatross had given me.The group scurried up the ladder, ladies first, and gathered up on deck. “Welcome aboard,” I said.“A pleasure,” the older harpy said.Clementine brushed down the front of her pants, then took a moment to inspect the top deck of the Beaver. It was sparkling clean, and the fresh coat of paint on all the metal bits and varnish on the top really made it look like a brand-new ship. “Nice work,” she said. “I saw Awen’s... unorthodox modifications already, and with all of this repainting and refurbishing, I think this vessel might actually be worth something.”“Thanks,” I said. “I’m quite proud of the Beaver. I bet we’ll have all sorts of adventures together.”“She’s a nice ship,” the older harpy said.“He,” I corrected. “It’s a boy ship.”He blinked, then chuckled good naturedly. “Fair enough.”“This,” Clementine said. “Is Clive. He’s one of the most experienced harpy shipmen in all of the Nesting Kingdom.”“Wow,” I said. “That’s impressive. Did you serve on a lot of ships?”He nodded. “Oh yes. I was on the Condor, the very first harpy airship. Just a normal sailor then, mind you. I’ve been on every sort of ship for the past thirty-odd years.”“We brought him over because we figured the Beaver could use at least one experienced talon aboard,” Clementine said.“I know my way around navigation and the like,” Amaryllis said. “But I’m dead weight on the rigging and so on. And this ship is just big enough that there’s no way we could pilot it with just the three of us. Hence these two.”“Ah, yes, this is Steve and Gordon,” Clementine continued. The two harpy boys gave us quick salutes. “They’re your crew, basically.”“Wow!” I said. “So that makes... a crew of eight. Not bad.”“Eight?” Clementine asked.I nodded. “That’s if we take on Bastion from the sylph. I don’t know if he’s good on a ship, but he seems capable enough to help.”“That still doesn’t add up,” she said.“Did you forget to count Orange?” I gestured to the cat currently in loaf mode atop one of the figureheads.“I don’t think the cat counts as crew,” Clementine said.Clive cleared his throat. “Matter of fact, ma’am, many a ship does count her cats as crew. Important fellows too, when it comes to keeping the cargo nice and safe.”I could almost feel the smug radiating from Orange.“So, are you guys here to see if the Beaver’s ready to set sail?” I asked.Clive nodded along. “The boys here will give themselves a tour, check the rigging and the sails, and make sure everything is tip-top.”Steve and Gordon saluted again and snapped off to do as they’d been asked.“Both are navy-trained,” Clive said. “Good lads.”You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.“Indeed,” Clementine said. “I was hoping to look over a few charts. If you’ll be leaving soon, then we’ll need to chart a course sooner rather than later.” She tapped a small satchel that hung off her hip. “Do you have a place where we can look things over?”“Sure,” I said. “There’s plenty of room down below.”I led everyone over to the port cabin where we’d set up a bit of office space. Amaryllis had brought a few books to fill the shelves, and we had a couple stools bolted to the floor around a little desk. It was meant to be a captain’s room, but since we barely had a captain it felt nicer to just have a sort of office everyone could use.Also, the port cabin had windows and a little balcony and was much homier and brighter.Clementine set her satchel down, then laid a map onto the table. It was a big one, with little markers for distance and penned-in labels for the different cities between the Nesting Kingdom and the Sylphfree mountains.“Here.” She tapped at a city marker. “This is Quickwood. It’s a smaller city, with a decently large port. And it’s probably going to be your destination.”“Is it the capital?” I asked.“No, that’s Goldenalden.” Her talon moved up and tapped at a bigger marker. “Here. But traveling through the Sylphfree mountains without a local guide is treacherous, long, and rather expensive. It would be much cheaper to park the Beaver in Quickwood and then charter a place on one of the transports heading to and from the capital. Maybe you can even arrange for a teleport between the two.”“Neat,” I said. “So what’s the trajectory from here to Quickwood like?”“Ah, I’ve done this one a few times,” Clive said. “Easy enough, what with the Golden Peak acting as a landmark the entire way. Just keep it to port and keep moving straight and you’ll get there eventually.”“That is the usual route, yes,” Clementine said. “But I think that would be a little bit more dangerous than you’d want. There have been a lot of reports of privateers around Cinderlock and Fort Ignoble. The Trenten Flats deny all of that, of course, but they certainly wouldn’t mind if a war was sparked between the Nesting Kingdom and the sylph. It would feed into their expansionist agenda.”“Um,” I said as I looked at the map. “I can’t see a way to get to Sylphfree without crossing them, unless we circumnavigate the world?”“No, there’s another path,” Amaryllis said. “Southwest, through Deepmarsh, skirting the coast of the Empty Sea, then north across the Hoofbreaker Woods and finally into Quickwood. It’s a much longer route though.”“And not always safer. The Empty Sea may be very quiet year-round. But the Insatiable Ocean to the east, she’s hungry for ships and men.”“Hrm,” I said. “Which path is the most dangerous, Clementine?”“The fastest route. Your ship is small, easy prey for the cervid pirates. I think going south might be the safest. It will add two, maybe three days to your travel time, but you have plenty of room for that kind of fuel and the provisions you need, and if you leave tomorrow, that will still mean you’ll arrive at Quickwood a full three days before the official delegation leaving in a week or so.”“What do you think, Awen?” I asked.“Ah, um... I think that if the Beaver will have troubles it’ll probably be sooner rather than later. And we’ll be over Deepmarsh at first. They’re nice. But if we go straight, then we’ll be over the Trenten Flats.”“That’s true,” I said. “Also, going south and around just looks a lot more fun.”“Yes, because the amount of fun we have is the most important factor in all of this,” Amaryllis deadpanned.“Exactly, yes,” I said.Amaryllis rolled her eyes. “You’re an idiot.”“I try my best,” I said. “But really, isn’t the entire goal of this to get stronger and more experienced? I bet there’s a lot more to learn when going through a long trip than with a risky hop over to our destination.”Clementine didn’t seem to react much to that. “Well, it’s your ship, do as you please.”I grinned back at her. “Yes ma’am! So, are we really ready to leave tomorrow?”“At first light, if everything checks out,” she said. “I don’t think this truly counts as the ship’s inaugural flight, though if you want to break a bottle on its side I’m sure we have something laying around.”“I think we’d rather keep the bottle and its contents. World knows I might need it when flying with her,” Amaryllis said with a gesture my way.“Hey!” I protested.Clive laughed, a deep belly laugh that sounded rough, and yet grandfatherly. “Oh, I think this might be one of the more interesting crews I’ve ever been part of, and on an interesting ship, no less.”“We strive to be interesting,” I said. “So, tonight’s our last night here?”“I suppose it’s not too late to have Gen-Gen and the others prepare a feast. I’m certain that Rosaline would appreciate a last meal with her beau.”Awen’s face burst into colour and she suddenly focused really hard on the map.“I think that would be nice,” I said. Clive, do you want to join us?”“I’m not much for fancy feast-like things, ma’am,” he said.“Nonsense! You and Steve and Gordon should join us. It’ll be a bonding moment. We’ll get to know each other a bit and it’ll make it easier to work together in the future.”“Ah, if the lady insists,” he said. He didn’t look all that contrary to the idea. “Though I won’t be spending too long, I’m afraid; I do need to get some affairs in order before we leave on the morrow.”I gave him a big thumbs-up. “Sure thing. I think that this flight is going to be super smooth sailing.”
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