Chapter One Hundred and Sixty — You're Grounded, Young Lady
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty — You're Grounded, Young Lady The sun was well on its way to setting by the time we finally slipped over the Darkwoods and began to cross a wide open field, one filled with a myriad of foot-tall stumps.“Get ready to drop the anchors!” Clive called across the deck.Steve and Gordon were already at the anchors on both sides, hands grabbing onto the levers that would loosen the mechanism holding them in place and let the iron weights fall to the ground below and hopefully grab onto something.“Awa!” Awen called. “There’s something over there!”I rushed over to her side of the ship and hung off the side to look out ahead. We were only a hundred or so meters away from the ground now, but we were still moving along at a decent pace.I followed the direction Awen was pointing in and squinted.“Buildings out ahead!” I shouted. “Off to port!”Clive nodded. “Aye!” he replied.I went back to hanging off the side of the ship, one hand holding my hat in place while my ears flopped back with the wind. The buildings out ahead weren’t anything impressive. A lot of long, low houses made of wood set in orderly rows, a couple of warehouses and one bigger building near the middle.The machinery around it, and the presence of a large sawmill gave away their purpose. A lumber yard.That explained all the cut-down trees, at least.“Drop the anchors!” Clive said.The engine roared, and the propeller started to spin in the opposite direction as usual.The Beaver tilted strangely and pitched as we started to slow down.With a great rattle, the anchors dropped, their chains jangling as they fell to the earth below.“Stow the sails!” Clive said.Every sail alongside the ship pulled in, taking away the Beaver’s great big wings that caught in the air.I hopped over to one of those that needed to be manually stowed and started spinning its crank as quickly as I could.Then, finally, with the snapping of ropes and the rumble of the engine, the Beaver came to a lurching stop. The anchors caught onto something and the ship wobbled about for a moment before settling.A glance over the edge showed that we were only a couple of dozen meters from the ground now.The engine sputtered and choked off as Clive cut the gas. It was surprisingly quiet when there was no wind whipping at us and no engine rumbling away in the background. “Let’s crank him down,” Clive said.Steve and Gordon got to work winding up the chains leading to the anchors, and the Beaver started to lower his way down to the ground below. I wiped the back of a hand across my brow, then grinned over to Awen. “We made it,” I said.“Ah, I guess so,” she agreed. “That was a bit... a lot stressful.”I gave her a quick hug, because that was the best way to reduce stress. “No worries, we’re safe now,” I said. “I’m going to go check on Clive and the others.’Awen nodded a bunch, then gestured towards her cabin. “I’ll be down below,” she said.I waved her off as I skipped across the deck towards Clive. The older harpy was leaning on the wheel, looking quite tired. “Ah, Captain,” he said when I approached. “That was a good bit of flying, if I do say so myself.”I nodded. “I’m really happy you’re onboard, Clive, I don’t think we would have made it down here in one piece without you.”“Bah, I’ve been in worse scraps. Mind you, I was a pinch younger then.”“I can imagine,” I said. “Will the Beaver be alright now?”“Aye, he should be just fine. If the weather’s kind tomorrow morning we can take off and head down south. I’ll have to look at the fuel for the engine. I think we burned through a chunk of it there. Still plenty in the bunker, but not as much as I’d like for a trip as long as ours.”“You mentioned Needleford earlier,” I said.“Aye. Nice little port. Quiet and out of the way. Lots of lumber and the like passing through. Should be able to get a decent price on fuel there if you do the negotiating,” he said.“Me?” I asked. He knew a lot more about ships than I did.He nodded. “They don’t like strange folk, and they think that harpies are mighty strange. They’ll be kinder to you.”Oh. That wasn’t very nice at all. Not much we could do about it now though. I glanced up and to a sky turning orange. In an hour or two the sun would set and we’d be wrapped in night. “We’ll need to set up a rotation for the night,” I said. “You should get a full night’s sleep though, your job’s too important to do half-awake.”“If I was a few years younger I’d protest,” he said. “But I’ve learned better since. I’ll take a night’s rest if I can afford it.”“Cool,” I said. “You certainly deserve it after the day we’ve had. I just hope that our next bit of flying is a lot smoother. And... and I'm sorry about leading us so badly off course. I didn’t mean to.”Clive waved the comment away. “It’s fine, Captain. No one was hurt, and the worse that happened was that we got blown off course a fair way. It’ll cost us a day in the long run, but that’s all.”I nodded, then paused as I saw Steve looking over the side of the ship with narrowed eyes. “Captain!” he said.“You get some rest,” I told Clive before jogging over. “What is it?” I asked.I really didn’t need to. The thing bothering Steve was painfully obvious. There was a group of humans heading our way, maybe a dozen in all.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.They were on foot, all of them in rough work clothes and with axes by their sides. They had scruffy beards and looked to be a bit nervous as they took in the Beaver in all of his bright yellow glory.“Ah, darn. I think we landed in someone’s field,” I said.“Should we prepare to pull the anchor?” Steve asked.I shook my head. “Nah. Can you go get Amaryllis and Awen? And maybe tell mister Bastion too.”“Aye, Captain,” Steve said before running off.I eyed the group for a bit. They were still a ways off. It would take a while before they arrived. They didn’t look like they were out to cause trouble. We’d probably just spooked them by landing so close.Running my hands down the front of my skirt, I made sure everything was nice and neat, then I adjusted my hat while placing one foot atop the railing.I pushed some stamina into my leg, then shot out ahead and through the air. My feet came out ahead in a wide V and I kept a hand atop my hat to keep it in place.I landed a dozen meters away from the lumberjacks, rolled twice to bleed off some momentum, then came to my feet while pushing a bit of magic into my Cleaning aura to make sure my battledress stayed nice and presentable.Doffing my hat, I brought it around with a flourish and pressed it over my chest as I bowed.I think that maybe wearing such a feathery hat was making me a bit theatrical. “Hello,” I said. “I’m Captain Broccoli Bunch, of the Beaver Cleaver,” I said. “I hope we haven’t landed on your field?”The lumberjacks all looked over to each other. They were big guys, all of them well-muscled and looking quite tough. I probably seemed rather silly coming up to them with nothing while they had axes and such, but I wasn’t there to fight.They seemed to elect a leader among their group, an older man with shrewd eyes and a beard that was turning grey at the edges. He stepped up past the rest of them and came to a stop at the front of the group, the head of his axe thumping into the dirt.“Ahoy,” he said. “Pleasure to meet you, Captain Bunch. I’m, Edmund, of the East Mattergrove Company’s Woodland Harvesting Division.”That was a mouthful for a company name. I nodded to him and placed my hat back on with only a bit of wiggling to fit my ears back into their holes. “Neat. I hope we aren’t bothering you by landing here?”“Not really,” he said. “At least, not for now. If you plan to stay, that’s another story.”I shook my head. “No, nothing like that. We got caught in a bit of wind over the Darkwoods,” I said. “It dragged us over here. The ship’s pilot is really good though, and managed to land us safely. We’re planning on heading to Needleford tomorrow morning.”Understanding flashed in his eyes, and he gestured to his friends who all seemed to calm down a bit more. “The skies over the Darkwoods can be mighty dangerous,” he said.“We sort of realized that,” I said. “It was my mistake that got us caught up in them, but it might be for the best in the end.”He nodded. “Well, it’s one way to get to Needleford. Usually you’d need to skirt near Port Royal then all along the Seven Points. Where’d you hail from?”“Fort Sylphrot, en route to the Bracklands,” I said.Edmund frowned at that. “You went way off course then.”I smiled sheepishly. “Oops?”He laughed once, a big barking thing, as rough as he looked. “No matter. Most days I’d say that you ought only keep a watch overnight. But we’ve been having troubles lately. Dryads in the woods have attacked our camp a few times. We’ve... negotiated a sort of peace, but it’s cobweb-thin.”“Dryads?” I asked. I’d only ever met one dryad. Oak had been nice. Especially his chin. “How come they’re causing trouble? And if you’re at peace with them, why is it so thin?”Edmund rubbed at his chin. “It’s a bit of a long story, I think. Just some nasty business that’s blown up into nastier business. Now we have officials from the East Mattergrove Company here to sue for peace, but it’s not going so well.”“Huh, that’s unfortunate,” I said. “I met a dryad once, he was actually kind of nice.”He looked at me strangely. “Nice? Never met creatures more tenacious and violent than those walking trees. Good warriors, some of them. I’ll give them that. But nice isn’t how I’d describe them.”I shrugged. Maybe we’d met different dryads, or maybe they’d met some under different circumstances.“If you want, captain, you could dine with the gentlefolk from the company. I'm sure they’d appreciate some company that ain’t as rough as us.”I glanced over to the Beaver and saw that Amaryllis had made her way down already. Surprisingly, Bastion was with her, and there was a rope ladder extending down the side all the way to the ground, with Awen climbing down rung-by-rung.“You know, that might be nice,” I said. “We have a bit of good food aboard. If you guys have a couple of good cooks we could make a big meal of it.”Edmund’s eyebrows rose up. “I’ve never had bun food, but I’ve heard good things about it. I wouldn’t say no to a meal that isn’t something we foraged here mixed with some oats.”I grinned up at the man. “Then we can call it a little party. I love making new friends! And maybe you can tell me about your dryad problem. I haven’t spent all that much time around the tree folk, but I can maybe lend a hand.”
* * *
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-One — You Can See The Forest Because the Trees Are Chopped Down
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-One — You Can See The Forest Because the Trees Are Chopped Down I asked around the Beaver for anyone interested in coming with us. In the end, Steve and Gordon both volunteered to stay aboard the ship, and Clive insisted that no amount of partying was more enjoyable than a few hours spent sleeping in his bunk.So, with the lumberjacks leading the way, Amaryllis, Awen, Bastion and I carried a few platters and plates with us as we headed towards the lumber camp.We didn’t have that much interesting food, just a bit of salty meat and some bread and some meat in glass jars filled with yellowish vinegar. Bastion was carrying a heavy bag full of veggies, and Amaryllis had a box of nuts that rattled with every step.“Hey, Amaryllis?” I asked as I skipped over a bit of rough ground. The area looked nice and hilly from afar, but in reality it was filled with pits and dips in the terrain, with large roots poking out of the ground to snare passing ankles and ruts just waiting for a careless foot to drop into them.It was pretty obvious that the entire area had been a forest not so long ago. That... was kind of disheartening.“What?” Amaryllis asked.I couldn’t tell if she was in a good mood or not. “Why is so much of the food aboard the Beaver seed?”Amaryllis huffed. “Seeds and nuts are a delicacy among us harpies. You ought to just enjoy them without complaint.”“You have bird seed?” I asked.She puffed up. “They’re nuts!”I nodded. “You really are.”It took a moment for the joke to register, but when it did, Amaryllis was quick to toss her box atop Bastion’s back so that she had free arms to swat me with.I giggled as I moved on ahead and skipped over to the lumberjacks to be out of her reach.Edmund served as my shield until Amaryllis calmed down a bit and returned to carrying her precious bird seed.“I’ve got to say, Captain,” Edmund said. “Your crew is mighty unique.”“Thanks,” I said. “They’re all my friends, and great people besides.”He smiled a bit through his beard. “I see. You must live an interesting life, then,” he said.“That’s how you find all the most interesting people.” I said. “Like you guys! How long have you been a lumberjack?”He chuckled. “Hardly that interesting. I’ve been a woodcutter my entire life, as far as I can reckon. Got the class from working with my da’ and started working the saw when I was a teen. Picked up the axe a bit later and just never stopped.”I nodded. “That’s really neat,” I said.He grinned. “Aye. I got my second class the natural way too, by felling half a woods all on my lonesome. Even the World knows that old Edmund’s the best chopper around.”“A natural class?” I asked. “Like... like getting your first class?”“Aye,” he agreed. “Mighty uncommon. Most folk need to venture into a dungeon, but that’s dangerous, and if it isn’t dangerous, then it’s expensive.” He gestured to his buddies. “Most of these meatheads are stuck at ten.”There was some jeering and insults flung at Edmund for his insult, but it was done in the same tone that Amaryllis called me an idiot sometimes. I had the impression that all of these guys really did care about their nominal leader.“That’s too bad,” I said. “You’d think more stronger people would be a good thing.”Edmund shrugged. “Maybe. Some folk would disagree. Lots of power comes with being strong, and I think that some folk would rather not let that power get around.”Having spent a bit of time around nobles recently, I could imagine some of them agreeing to that. “Hmm,” I said. “Maybe.”The ground closer to the camp was a lot more even. Some effort had gone into flattening it and pulling out stumps from the ground. It meant that it was all quite muddy, and soon we could hardly talk on account of the squelching of a dozen boots.Amaryllis grumbled at all the mud clinging to her legs and Bastion beat his wings to hover over the worse of it. Awen scrunched her nose and kept going until, finally, we reached the hard-packed earth of the camp proper.There were about a dozen buildings in the camp, all of them looking to be in decent repair. The lodges, obviously built to act like dorms of sorts, weren’t decorated or anything, but they were clean, and the bigger buildings by the centre seemed almost new.I jumped on the spot a few times to get the worse of the mud off of my shoes, then let my cleaning aura take care of the rest. Amaryllis came to stand next to me, a look in her eyes that said that she wouldn’t ask me to clean her, but that she would appreciate it if I did.“So, Edmund,” I said as I pushed more mana into my aura to make the mud wick off Amaryllis’ feet. “Where do we bring all of this food?”“Ah, right this way, Captain,” he said as he began leading us towards the big building in the centre of the compound. “You’re in luck. We have two representatives of the East Mattergrove Company in, and they brought a small retinue with them.”“Oh?” I asked.He nodded. “They’re here to negotiate with the dryads. Maybe sue for peace.” He sounded a bit... torn on the subject.“Peace is usually a pretty good thing,” I said.“Aye,” he agreed. “But, well, these woods belong to the East Mattergrove Company, not to some walking trees.”I blinked. “When did the company buy the land from the dryads and the others in the woods?” I asked.He looked a bit uncomfortable at that. “It was purchased from the crown.”Amaryllis snorted. “This is an old story,” she said. “Let me guess, the crown never informed the locals that this land belonged to them?”The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.“Those aren’t matters for a man like me,” Edmund said.I hummed along while letting my mind wander a bit. It sounded as though maybe Oak and his family were in a spot of trouble. The deforestation around the camp was pretty nasty looking at first glance. I couldn’t imagine tree people being okay with that.“What kind of peace are you looking for?” I asked.Edmund glanced my way. “There are different kinds?”I didn’t get to answer right away since we arrived at the big building and stepped through a set of double doors into a large open room filled with tables and chairs. Posters for products that I didn’t recognize decorated the walls, and there was a board near the door with what looked like a chore list on it.“Kitchens are at the back,” Edmund said with a gesture to the far end of the room. “I bet you girls are a good hand in the kitchen?” he asked with a good-natured smile.I looked at Awen and Amaryllis, neither meeting my eye. “No, none of us can cook well,” I said.“Ah,” Edmund said. He rubbed at the back of his head. “Well, no matter, we’ve got a couple of lads with Cooking, they can figure it out. Just put everything on the counter and find yourselves a seat. Main meal’s usually served at about this time, so the lads who are hungry ought to be coming around.”“Alright!” I said. We reached the front, put our stuff on the counter there, then moved over to the biggest table in the room, one obviously made from a huge trunk cut lengthwise down its middle. “I guess that they have plenty of guys around who know how to work with their wood,” I said.Bastion started to cough halfway through the motion of sitting down. Amaryllis had to pat him on the back. “It’s okay,” she said. “You’ll get used to it.”It only took a minute of sitting around and chatting about nothing before more people started to fill the room. A pair of men rushed back towards the kitchens, and soon there was the sound of pots and pans banging together to fill the awkward silence.We were getting a lot of stares, and I could see some of the younger guys ribbing each other and pointing our way. I guessed that there just weren’t all that many girls around a camp like this one.Edmund left, then returned a bit later, looking like he’d freshened up, and without his big jacket. He rolled up the sleeves of a cotton shirt, then pulled out a seat next to Bastion’s. “We usually have a couple of lads going around serving everyone,” he said.“Ah, did you want us to help with that?” I asked.“What? Oh, no, of course not. That’s not a job for a guest. The folks over at this table get served first. That’s myself and a couple of the older lads usually, the foremen and the blacksmith, but with the big-wigs from Mattergrove here today... well, you’ll have better company than this old lumberjack,” he said.“Nonsense,” Bastion replied. “You’ve been nothing but cordial so far. So, what kind of wood do you source from here?”The boys were soon in a deep discussion about... hafts and handle woods, of all things. Bastion seemed very open. I guessed that maybe his job meant that he had to be quick about making friends too.The room slowly filled with banter and laughter, a few pipes were lit up, giving the air a strange earthy scent, and someone lit up a fire in the hearth to one side. Candles were moved about, casting orange-red glows across every wooden wall, and I found myself relaxing into my seat.A small group of people showed up from a staircase off near the back. They weren’t lumberjacks, that was immediately obvious. The woodcutters were all big hefty men, with beards and, in some cases, mighty fine chins. These new people were all a lot thinner, in suits that had little ascots and with a look about them that reminded me of some people who were camping for the first time.It was probably rude to assume that they were all city people though, so when part of the group came to our table I greeted them with a nice big smile. “Hello!” I said.There were only two aiming to sit at the big table. A bigger, older gentleman who reminded me a bit of Awen’s dad, only a smidge older, and a thirty-something man who was all bones, with a pair of spectacles perched at the end of a long nose.They both paused on seeing us and looked across our little group with obvious, rising confusion and consternation.“My name is Broccoli,” I said.“Ah, right,” Edmund said as he interrupted his conversation with Bastion. “These are sirs Sebastien Faleaf, and Geoffrey Hardnut. Distinguished officers from the East Mattergrove Company.”Geoffrey, the older of the two, pointed at us with a gnarled finger. “Edmund, who are these harlots and where did you find them?”I saw Amaryllis’ passive, neutral expression turn into a beautiful smile, and I started to worry about Mister Geoffrey’s health.“I’m Broccoli,” I said before Amaryllis could fry anyone. “Captain of the Beaver Cleaver. Our airship made an emergency landing just a little ways away.”Geoffrey huffed. “You landed on company property?” he asked.I nodded. “Yup. These are my friends, Bastion Coldfront, a Paladin and royal guard from Sylphfree, Princess Amaryllis Albatross from the Harpy Mountains, and that’s Awen, Awen Bristlecone. I... actually, I don’t know what her title would be.”“Just Lady Bristlecone,” Awen said. “Um, I could become a countess one day, but that’s not really important, I guess.”Geoffrey and Sebastien were looking a pinch pale. “Sit, sit,” I said. “We brought some food from the Beaver to share!”
* * *
