In keeping with the idea folks have had thus far, I'm posting up my NaNo novel as well. HUGE WALL OF TEXT AHEAD. Also formatting may have gone iffy here and there.
Asunder: Beyond The Sky
Chapter 1
The soft sound of rain on plate metal awoke Rufus from his sleep. With a groan, he sat up, pulled himself out of bed and wandered over to the window, taking a peek out from behind the curtains.
Darkness... but a hint of sunlight on the horizon.
Time to get up.
He set about pulling on his clothes - a sturdy pair of trousers, a pair of well broken-in boots, a fresh work shirt and a long, heavy, tan brown leather trench coat. Heading to the door of his room, he also picked up a long scarf, wrapping it round his neck, and grabbed the large, heavy-bladed Gladius Gun he kept on his person from next to his door. Slinging its harness over his shoulders, he exited the room. The heavy metal door clanked shut behind him, the sound echoing down the empty corridors that lay ahead. He let out a heavy sigh and began to walk, his footsteps making a steady click of metal against metal as the toes of his boots met the floor grating.
It hadn't always been like this. Only about a month ago this place had been filled with life - his crew; nay, his friends, were still here back then. It wasn't too long ago that at this time of day he would have gotten himself out of bed, got dressed and then gone to rouse the rest of his crew to get the airship moving on towards their next destination... but now the only sounds breaking the silence were the creaks and groans of the ship's hull, and of the cables outside attached to the anchor balloons.
He headed into the galley, shaking his head, and set about getting himself some sustenance. Thankfully with where the galley was positioned, the food hadn't been lost in the storm - alas, those that would normally partake of it also were long gone. As he began to eat, his mind wandered, straying far from his current whereabouts to times long since past...
Sixteen years prior, Rufus had been only ten years old - and awed by the ship his father had finally finished building, with the assistance of several other skilled men. Back then, the Republic of Silverhead was still very much a republic, although it was nevertheless slowly becoming integrated with the rest of the Atlan world. Rufus, like his father, was a red kite. Many of his home town's occupants were avian as well, of varying species.
That day had marked the completion of the Republic of Silverhead Airship, Spirit of Adventure. It was a fine vessel to behold, and its metallic hull gleamed in the sun, its designation and name etched along the side of the hull in lettering that stood out proudly.
"Can we go in and take a look, dad?" he'd asked.
"Aye, son." and a smile had crossed his face. "In fact laddie, how's about we go start her up? Ye can have the privilege of gettin' her running for her maiden flight."
He'd been overjoyed at that, and the two of them had headed inside the freshly painted ship, to its flight deck. Everything was new, shiny and polished.
"She's all ready to go lad. Go ahead."
At that, Rufus had been the one to throw the switches and then press the big black button on the controls before him. There'd been a hissing of steam, and then the muffled clanking of the huge pistons in the engine room starting to move. The massive rotors overhead had started to slowly spin, soon building up to a steady pace, with a dull THWUP THWUP THWUP as they sliced through the air.
"She's alive!" he'd yelled happily.
"Aye lad, that she is. Nicely done!"
The words echoed in his mind now, as he stood before the ship's wheel. The glass windscreen was mostly missing, what pieces were left in the frame were cracked and stressed. The carpet still smelled of salty water, and was probably starting to get a little rotten. A number of the instrument dials had water in them as well, and some bits of flooring had been torn up. All in all, it was a far cry from the former glory it had held just over one and a half decades back. Getting in and out of here was now a risky business too, thanks to the large hole present in the adjoining slanted corridor from the flight deck to the main body of the ship. He glanced up toward the main body of the ship itself, noting areas on it where the outer plating had been stripped away when the storm had hit. He shook his head slowly. Regardless of how unfit to fly she currently was, the Spirit of Adventurestill had to move. Rufus was unsure of his current location, but one thing he was certain of was that he was currently still several miles from help - in every direction the great cloud sea stretched for miles, into the horizon. Not a single speck visible either. No ships, no planes, not a sign of civilisation as he knew it. Not even any sign of a salt redwood, the great giants of trees that stretched their mighty branches up from the depths and to the skies above. No-one had ever seen the roots of these trees; all that every native of the world of Atlas knew of them was that they grew up toward the sky from somewhere deep within the cloud sea. No-one in living memory had ever ventured down into those depths, for it was well known that doing so was a dead man's journey: no-one who had ever attempted to venture into those deep and dark roiling depths of cloud had ever returned to tell the tale. Either the turbulent nature of the seas had proven too much for their ships to bear, or the vicious denizens of the deep had claimed them.
That or, as Rufus now mused to himself as he climbed back up the corridor, they had simply died out in the open seas, if they had managed to escape from the deep. For he now found himself in this situation also - one who had fallen into the vicious depths of the great cloud sea, but had returned alive to tell the tale. Although with that said, he wouldn't be telling any tales from where he currently sat. There was no-one else around to hear. The only audience he held was the ship's log, which already ran into the hundreds of days that they had been at sea. As he headed into the engine room of the ship to get the fire going, his memory again wandered to more recent times.
Four years previous, Rufus had become a man in his own right. The Spirit of Adventure had been given him by his father, as he now considered himself too old to venture out into the open skies himself. Rufus hadn't blamed him: his father was now a man of many years, weather beaten and old, yet still warm and friendly and with the kind of toughness to him that only several years' hard work and travel of the skies could bring. Although he had shed no tears, Rufus had seen the brief glimpse of sadness in his father's eyes as he had spoken of the end of his days of travel one evening, as they'd been stood on his ship's flight deck.
"Rufus my lad... I can't keep gallivanting as I have these past several years. Much as I still have the soul of a man of the skies, I can't keep denying that nature has moved on..."
"Come now dad, you're not thatold."
"I'm not lad, but part of being a man is having wisdom. Ye have to be smart enough to know your own limits. I know mine, ma lad. I'll be three score and nine years old this spring, and it's becoming all the more clear that I'm not the man I was."
"Dad..."
"And that's why, son, I want to give you this." He had then stood to the side, indicating that Rufus take the wheel of the ship. Rufus had done so, hesitantly at first.
"You're giving the Spirit to me, dad?"
His father nodded.
"Aye. She's a fine vessel Rufus, maybe even the best Silverhead's ever seen. So see that you look after her well."
"Dad, are you sure...?"
"Sure as I've ever been about anything, son. Now c'mon... we're nearly in Tellà rain. Bring her in..."
The fire was lit, the boiler now producing plenty of steam. Rufus headed back down to the flight deck and, after adjusting a few controls, hit the big black button. The rotors started to whirr into life. Now was the difficult part - deflating and retracting the flotation anchors without the help of a crew. He raced back up the corridor, and up to the ship's upper deck, bracing himself against the wind and rain. The wind... that at least was a good thing. Considering that the forward thruster propellers had been horribly damaged, he was primarily at the mercy of the wind currents to push the ship toward civilisation. With a grunt of effort he began the lengthy process of winching in the anchors, something which was a painfully slow process since the mechanism that would normally perform this task for him had been damaged some time ago. Nevertheless, he worked steadily upon his task, gradually letting some of the gas out of the balloons and back into the supply tanks. Nearly two hours later the balloons were all winched in and stowed in their compartments. He shook his head with a grunt, shaking the water off of himself. With a full crew, this shouldn't have taken more than maybe quarter of an hour. He stretched a bit, his muscles complaining a bit about the task he'd just subjected them to, and then made for his room. The rudders were already set to direct the ship toward the general direction of Diadem City - hopefully it would not take more than a few weeks to reach it.
Some minutes later he now sat in his room, pulling from a drawer in his desk the Ship's Log - or more accurately, the Dhià rnan Expedition Log. He opened the thick log book at the most recent empty page, took up a pen and, after a few moments' consideration, began to write.
Captain's Log, Dhià rnan Expedition, Day 736.
It has now been 26 days since the storm which ripped away much of the Spirit's fixtures, along with her crew. No ships have passed by, and I lack the means to properly repair my own.
Progress toward civilisation has been painfully slow. I am reliant solely on the mercy of the winds, plus a little propulsion from what remains of the surviving rotors to drive us in any one direction. I estimate that in approximately thirty days or thereabouts, I should once again be in Diadem - or at least close enough to it that some kind soul should spot the Spirit and come to look for survivors.
I can only hope and pray that fortune should be kind enough to smile upon me these coming weeks, for if not I shall likely perish and these past 2 years shall have been for naught - yet if the worst should happen, then let it be known what has been captured in these pages. It is of vital importance this log be returned to its providers, that they may be enlightened as to the nature of this world of ours.
Chapter 2
It was a bright and sunny day in the city of Zeal those two years ago. The warm air blew gently through the city, turning wind vanes and pushing small windmills here and there, and rustling the leaves of assorted small plants and saplings. Much like its counterparts, Zeal was a city built upon an enormous, specialised airship, known as a city carrier - for somewhat obvious reasons of course. At least six others of these were known to exist in the world. One could truly call himself adventurous if he had seen them all, for many hundreds of miles of open sea lay between them. Less obvious to a casual observer was the fact that Zeal was a city also referred to as the City of Knowledge, primarily thanks to its abundance of research and exploration organisations, and the many technological innovations that had been born from there.
Nevertheless, that was the aim of Rufus Falcon. His father's tales of sailing the seas and seeing all six cities himself, not to mention the countless other amazing and terrifying things he'd seen in his day were somewhat compelling. Since Rufus had become old enough to learn to fly an airship himself he'd wanted to get out into the world and see it for himself. Now that he'd had time to accumulate some savings to help him get around, and had an airship to take him, the world was his oyster so to speak. Or at least that was what he'd believed in the beginning, but reality had been a tad more harsh - travelling the world was a costly business, and he found himself in need of work to keep things going. Not to mention there was also the fact that, as much as he would have liked to try, he couldn't run the ship on his own. He'd already recruited similarly minded individuals to that of himself from other places: adventurers and dreamers who nonetheless had experience of sailing. However, the ship still lacked a full crew, and so it was that as they'd made a stop in the City of Knowledge he looked to recruit more adventurers.
As he headed into the offices of the Pathos Geographers' Association that fateful day, he held the belief that perhaps his luck may change soon. He wasn't wrong either.
"Hail, friend!" spoke a rather old looking human man from behind a sturdy-looking desk. "What brings you to our humble abode of knowledge?" he added with a kindly smile. In reply, Rufus held up a poster he'd snagged that he'd found plastered to the side of a building outside.
"This." he stated plainly. "You're looking for people to scour the world for you, right?"
The older man's eyes gleamed as he looked from the poster to Rufus and back again. "Why yes, we are indeed. Our plan, young lad, is to successfully map out this entire world of Atlas of ours. It's an arduous task, you know. The six great cities don't have a fixed location after all, so it's more a case of having to map out their routes. And as for the smaller towns and settlements... well, it's practically a nightmare."
Rufus nodded. "But I take it, sir, that you still need help with all this?"
"Oh yes, absolutely! We need bold men and women to go out there and take an active interest in this world of ours, and how it is laid out. You know," and with this the older man leaned forward in his seat a bit, "one of the things we really want to get is an accurate record of all the salt redwood forests - where they grow, their location in respect of our cities, all that kind of thing. It's a little dangerous though. I'm sure you've heard of the kind of things that make their home in those places."
Again, Rufus nodded as he replied. "Aye, giant fish, huge tentacled monsters, all sorts of beasties. My dad told me all about them."
The older man chuckled. "Ah, so your father was the adventuresome sort as well, was he? I doubt you're the kind who'll be easily dissuaded then. That's good, we can make good use of that sort of attitude. So tell me young man," he asked as he got to his feet, "what do you call yourself, and where're you from?"
"My name is Rufus Falcon, sir." Rufus answered. "I was born in the Republic of Silverhead, in the town of Tellà rain."
"My my, you're a fair way from home then indeed. So tell me, Rufus of Tellà rain, how did you end up here in the City of Knowledge?" The old man's eyes twinkled as he asked this question. He seemed to be the kind who enjoyed a good story. Rufus smiled, slightly apologetically.
"Well to be honest, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Sorry if it's a disappointment, but I don't really have any fantastic tales to tell."
"Ha-ha, not yet you don't young lad, but I dare say you will in due course." the older man smiled. "Alright then, let me ask you a different question. Have you a ship of your own?"
At this, Rufus had puffed his chest out just a little with pride as he proceeded to tell the man that he did indeed have his own ship, and not only that but it was one of the finest ever built in his home town. The older man smiled once more.
"A Silverhead airship, eh? Well well, can't really ask for better than that, short of military grade aircraft. Very well lad, we'd be happy to take you on. It just so happens that we've been putting together a crew of individuals to undertake our latest expedition. If you'll be willing to take them along, I'm sure they'll be willing to help you run your ship. How does that sound?"
"It sounds like a rather fine deal to me." Rufus answered honestly. "Are they all sea-worthy individuals? After all, cargo hauler as she may be on occasion, the Spirit is no pleasure cruiser."
The older man nodded. "Aye Rufus, no worries there. Oh, beg pardon, I've not even introduced myself." He extended a hand toward Rufus with a friendly smile. "James Archimedes, Chief Geographer of this fine Association." Rufus took the man's hand and shook it firmly. Now that he'd stood up, Rufus could tell a bit more about the man. He had the same sort of toughened and weather-beaten look as Rufus's father, but had more obvious signs of age. What hair he had left had turned white, and his face had many a wrinkle. Nevertheless, the man's eyes were bright and alert like those of a young man as he regarded the young red kite before him.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr Archimedes." Rufus smiled. "So, are these people of whom you speak here currently?"
"They are as it so happens." James replied, and he headed to a large door to the side of his desk. "Come along Rufus, I'll introduce you to them."
The young kite nodded, following James through the door. "I should let you know now, I do actually already have a crew aboard my ship. Although with that said, we're by no means operating at capacity..."
"Well good!" James replied heartily. "The more the merrier, as they say. Besides, our crew isn't especially large. It'd be better to call them a team, really. About four of them."
"Aha? That'd be quite handy then. Four's the number I have aboard already, not including myself." Rufus had replied cheerily. "That'll certainly help matters if they're all ready and willing to sail the world with me."
"We'll see, lad, we'll see." James replied. They had headed down a set of stairs, and now walked into a large hall. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and there were more shelves lined up across half of the hall as well. In the middle of all this was a huge table, with an enormous sheet of paper spread across it. It took Rufus very little time at all to figure out that this was a chart of the world - and that it looked to be, for now, somewhat empty save for the locations of several well-known places. The clearing of James's throat alerted those gathered round the table to his presence.
"If I might have your attention for a moment, my fellow scholars," he began, "I've a young man here with a ship who'd like to take us up on our next venture." This was met with assorted murmurings from around the table. As this was going on, Rufus took a few moments to look around at the other people gathered. A few more humans, a well-groomed wolf, a smartly-dressed eagle, a sprightly-looking squirrel... and then his gaze stopped on the last person he clapped eyes on.
She was a black kite, her golden eyes keen and her gaze sharp, her plumage a deep jet black. She seemed to be a bit more well-off than most of the rest of those gathered there, going by her clothes. She had a bit of a haughty seeming demeanour as well. However, Rufus also noted that in spite of her appearance, she had hanging at her hip what had to be a folded boomerang blade. He'd seen those before of course, but he found it a bit strange that someone who looked like she probably spent most of her time being pampered had one.
Still, she was undeniably quite pretty. He couldn't help staring at her for a few more moments, before he realised James was looking at him quizzically.
"Ahem. Sir? You were going to introduce yourself, yes?"
Rufus blinked. "Right! Yes, sorry. I was miles away for a moment there." he said, mentally slapping himself. Way to make a great first impression, you idiot!
"I am Rufus Falcon of Tellà rain, captain of the RSA Spirit of Adventure, currently docked here in Zeal. I'm a man who seeks to sail across the entire world of Atlas, so that I can see it for myself. Seeing as my goals and those of this Association happen to coincide, I decided to pay a visit and see about taking you up on your request for assistance."
The assorted geographers murmured among themselves, before one of them spoke up. "Colour me interested then, sir." it was the squirrel, whom Rufus now noted was female. She had deep red fur and a charming smile, and her voice was as energetic as she looked. "I've been wanting to set out ever since this venture was planned. I'll be happy to go if my team-mates are." She glanced round at the others present, some of whom Rufus assumed must be those who would be accompanying him.
"RSA, you said? As in, Silverhead?" the slightly gruff sounding voice belonged to the tall grey wolf he'd noted before. Rufus nodded to him in answer. The wolf grinned at that. "Well then, I've no complaints. They're gorgeous vessels, and pretty damned sturdy as I recall."
The eagle spoke up next, his voice quite quiet. He had golden coloured plumage and the look of a studious individual. "Pardon me if I sound uncouth or unappreciative, sir, but I must inquire nonetheless for my own peace of mind."
Rufus tilted his head at the man, but nodded. "Don't worry too much about it. What's your question?"
The eagle pushed the glasses he was wearing back up his beak a bit. "I assume that you already have at least some individuals aboard your vessel, serving in the capacity of crewmen... permit me to inquire, are they honest and hard-working or...?"
Rufus blinked, confused for a moment, before he caught the gist of what the eagle was getting at.
"Are they slaves, do you mean? No, I assure you every man and woman aboard my ship is a free individual. The only slaves you'd ever find on my ship are someone else's, when they're loading or unloading cargo. We undertake some freight work every now and again, the Spirit's well equipped for the task. But no, no slaves. Even if they've done something to deserve being in that position."
The eagle nodded, a small smile forming on his features. It was a well-known fact, after all, that the Atlan militia, better known as the Red Wings, would often sentence those found guilty of piracy to several years of hard labour as slaves. The Red Wings themselves were the world's peacekeeping agents of sorts - funded in part by taxation collected by the ruling noble Houses of the great cities, their role revolved around keeping the skies safe for everyone. That essentially boiled down to making sure the Houses didn't fight with each other too much, and more immediately hunting down and capturing those involved in illegal activity. The system worked fairly well, more or less.
"Well then," concluded James, "that leaves only one person who hasn't voiced an opinion." His gaze fell on the black kite stood to the side. "What say you, Miss Otra?"
The girl's head turned, her gaze fixing itself on Rufus. It made him feel slightly uncomfortable. "Well," she started, her voice cutting through the air with the same sharpness Rufus imagined her weapon must have, "I will admit that I have my reservations." Her tone on that word was somewhat icy. "But with that said, I am nonetheless clearly out-voted. And besides, we do not know when we shall next encounter someone willing to indulge us on such a bold venture. Thus... I'm in also."
He couldn't be certain, but Rufus thought he heard a quiet collective sigh of relief from those present.
"Good!" smiled James. "Well then, Captain Falcon and I shall go and work out the details. Those of you embarking on this venture should see to preparing. I imagine you will want to leave as soon as you can." He glanced at Rufus. "And I imagine you will want to be moving on soon yourself, yes?"
Rufus nodded in reply. "Aye. We've been aboard Zeal a few days now. We were planning to head to Diadem next." He followed James as the man headed back up the stairs. "They seem like a fairly cheerful bunch. Well, 'cept for prissy-boots. What bit her?"
James laughed, once they were back up at his desk. "Amberley, you mean? That's just how she is. I don't think she was too happy with you eyeing her up."
Rufus found himself glad of his red plumage when he heard that. "Eh? Uhm, well..." he said, flustered, before laughing. "I guess it was a bit obvious, wasn't it? She is pretty after all. But she's got a hell of an attitude."
"Yes well, she's also got a fair bit of money too." James grinned conspiratorially. "For whatever reason, she takes great interest in learning more about the world - and it so happens her dad's got quite a bit of money to spend on his favourite-not to mention only-daughter."
"Aha. So she's at least partially responsible for funding then." Rufus grinned. "Makes sense. So I take it those four will be accompanying my crew and I on our voyage of discovery, so to speak?"
"More or less. There're some papers to sort out and get signed. Standard stuff, merely stipulating what's required of you and what's required of them. I imagine you've done this kind of thing a few times before, seeing as you already have a crew."
"Mmm." Rufus nodded again, and soon after found himself working through some paperwork with James. The man was quite amicable, and rather entertaining. Rufus got the impression that, like his dad, if James were any less elderly he'd be jumping on the ship himself.
He let out a small sigh as he finished reading the log entry: Day 1 of the Dhià rnan Expedition.
...and so it is that we now find ourselves shouldered with the none too small burden of helping to create a map of our world. But more than that, perhaps we shall be the ones to finally discover Dhià rnan, or Atlasaria as it is more commonly known. This is our hope-nay, the purpose of our journey, that what we learn of our world as it is now will lead us to discover that which still eludes us and which many have dismissed as legend.
My crew and I hold high hopes. Truly, today marks the beginning of our greatest adventure.
Here's Chapter 3. It's long.
Chapter 3
"Up and at 'em, ya scoundrels!" Rufus's cheerful cry echoed through the passageways of the crew's quarters, rousing them from their sleep. "We've only a short distance to Diadem!"
With that, he headed up toward the ship's sky deck-the upper deck of the ship, exposed to the elements. Owing to the fact that not all of his crew were naturally gifted with the ability to fly, he'd had to invest in some Personal Flotation Devices in case the unthinkable happened and someone fell off whilst up there. The life jackets hung in a small cupboard built into the wall, just below the shaft leading up to the sky deck. Of course, Rufus had no need for one himself, and he climbed up out of the shaft and on top of the ship. The cool morning wind whipped around him, and he stood for a moment breathing in the fresh air. He began to walk along the deck, towards the nose of the ship. The flotation anchors above him swayed slightly in the breeze, the cables lashing them to the ship making a slight groan. Upon reaching the ship's nose, he was slightly surprised to find someone else already here.
It was Amberley.
Rufus frowned slightly to himself, puzzled. It wasn't like her to be up this early. Granted she was no slouch, and she'd proven far more capable than he'd expected of someone from a mildly wealthy background, but she was usually about the last person to show up for breakfast in the mornings.
"Good morning, Captain." she said politely as he approached, her gaze fixed on the open skies ahead.
"Good morning Amberley." he replied, rather pleased with the fact that in spite of being awake this early, she still had a pleasant demeanour. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence so early in the day?" He stopped, standing next to her. She was sat on the edge of the nose of the ship, her legs hanging over the edge.
"Nothing in particular." she stated, but then seemed to change her mind. "...well no, actually..." she sighed. "I couldn't sleep, to be honest. I don't know why... I've been on this ship now for almost a month, I should be used to it by now."
Rufus grinned, taking a seat next to her. "Then I guess we can rule out seasickness for a start. So that only leaves stuff like insomnia or other discomfort." He glanced round at her. "You've made sure to eat right, yes? Last thing I want is to have to tell your parents that you've gotten sick on my ship and you have to stay home."
Amberley looked round at him with a frown. "Of course I have! There is nothing wrong with my diet!" Rufus's grin broke into a laugh. "What's so funny?" she demanded of him. She didn't like his humorous attitude toward her discomfort one bit.
"Nothing, nothing." he smiled. "I'm sorry Amberley. You just... need to learn to take things a little easier. Don't get so easily worked up." His expression became a little more serious. "I'm just trying to make sure I look after you properly, as with the rest of my crew. You've all put your lives in my hands, and it's not a responsibility I take lightly."
Amberley's expression went from one of being cross, to calmness and then as he finished speaking, she even looked like she respected him a bit. "I see..." She sighed again. "I'm sorry, Captain. No, it's nothing like that. Just... well..." she averted her gaze. "Ugh, this is so embarrassing!"
Rufus cocked his head a bit, confused, but he also gingerly put a hand on her shoulder. "What is it? You can trust me."
She looked back round at him, blinking once or twice. He could see she was trying very hard not to let tears out of her eyes. "I'm..." she started, then turned her head away and hid her face in her hands. "I'm homesick!" she cried, sniffing slightly. "How pathetic is that? It's not like I've never been away from home before!"
Rufus blinked, and tried hard not to laugh. In this sort of situation, he reminded himself, it was important to keep morale high. So he did the first thing that struck him as the right course of action... and put an arm round her shoulders. He wasn't certain what shocked him more when he did: the fact that she hadn't immediately scolded him for it, or the fact that it seemed to be having a positive effect.
"Hey, it's alright. Come on now Amberley..."
She sat up, looking at him through slightly watery eyes, which she now wiped with a handkerchief. "I'm sorry, Rufus. I'm making you worry when you probably have hundreds of other more important things to think about already."
He smiled, shaking his head. "Don't be daft. The well-being of my crew is one of my top priorities. A ship goes nowhere unless it has a crew to move it." He squeezed his arm round her a little, and then let go, getting to his feet. "Come on. We're going to miss breakfast if we don't move." He offered a hand to her, which she took with a smile, pulling herself up to her feet.
"Thank you, Rufus."
"Not at all-hang on." he smiled. "Did my ears deceive me, or did you just call me by my name, rather than by my title?"
Amberley's smile broadened, and she rolled her eyes, but her tone was still friendly. "Yes, Rufus, I did. That would be the third time now. Is it a problem? I do prefer to address my friends by their actual names, after all."
He laughed, at that. "No, it's no problem at all. I prefer it that way. So long as my crew still respect my position, I'm not too fussed what I get called, as long as it isn't anything bad."
"Good! Then it's settled. Let's not keep everyone else waiting then-though I dare say they've all started breakfast before us anyway." And with that she started on her way back towards the entrance shaft back down into the ship's quarters. Rufus followed her, shaking his head with a smile. She waited for him at the bottom of the ladder down from the sky deck, and walked with him toward the galley.
"What's the plan for today, Captain?" she asked with a smile.
"Well, we're not too far from Diadem City now. We should reach it with maybe an hour's travel, give or take a bit. We'll take some time to restock and rest whilst we're there, and it wouldn't hurt if we could recruit one or two more crew as well. It'd be nice to let everyone have a little more recreational time, after all."
"I thought you said your ship wasn't a pleasure cruiser."
"It's not, but nor is she a slave ship." he grinned. "If we have more people aboard to help out, we can spend longer at sea before everyone needs a break. We're going to need that kind of capability if we want to sail all the way around the world."
"Makes sense." Amberley agreed. The two of them headed into the galley. This got a few looks from some of the other crew members, which caused Amberley to quickly find a seat away from Rufus and see about helping herself to some food from that laid out on the table. Rufus said nothing of it, suppressing a smirk from appearing on his face, and took his usual seat at the head of the table.
"G'morning Cap'n!" the red squirrel on his left beamed.
"Morning Rachael. Sleep well?"
"Aye sir, like a rock so to speak. Y' reckon we'll reach Diadem today then?"
Rufus nodded. "Aye, shouldn't take more than an hour or so, weather permitting." He glanced over toward the eagle sat a few seats down on his right. "Ken, it's your turn to be lookout today."
"Ah, splendid." the eagle nodded. "I imagine little shall be required of me whilst I am up there, seeing as our travels shall not be far."
"Probably not, but keep your eyes open anyway." Rufus winked. The eagle gave him a mildly exasperated look.
"Come now Captain, I only dozed off the once." A small snigger arose from a few of the other crew.
"True, and you learned not to afterwards. And you're pretty much the best lookout we've got." He then looked over to a jet black coloured fox on his left. "Gavin, once you and Liam have fed yourselves I want you to bring in the anchors." The fox and the wolf next to him both nodded an acknowledgement.
"Should Christine and I help them with that?" Rufus turned his gaze on the buzzard that had just spoken up, and the white eagle whom he'd just referred to.
"That'd be good, Max, aye. I'll take the wheel for the trip." he looked over to Amberley. "Amberley, can you clean up in here after everyone's done?" The black kite nodded in reply. "Aye Captain."
Rufus smiled. "Alright then. Once we pull in the anchors, you guys can give her a hand." he said, glancing around at Gavin and Liam. "Max, Christine, I'll want you in the engine room. Amberley, I'll want you on the flight deck once you're done in here."
Liam spoke up. "And us, Cap'n?"
Rufus grinned. "If anyone else needs a hand, lend it, as per usual. Otherwise, take some time to relax. We'll be making our next stop today after all: I'm sure you'll want a little energy left."
The wolf nodded in reply. "Very kind of you, Cap'n."
About an hour or so later, the ship was chugging along through the sky nicely. Rufus heard footsteps behind him before Amberley appeared on his left.
"You wanted me, Captain?"
Rufus glanced round at her with a smile. "Aye Amberley, I did. Can you pilot a ship?"
"Well, I know some of the basics..." she replied with a hint of uncertainty.
"Good!" he smiled, stepping back from the wheel. "Take the wheel then." and he let go of it. Amberley let out a brief shriek of alarm as he did that, grabbing the wheel and steadying it.
"Rufus!" she exclaimed.
"What? You're doing just fine. Keep it steady.... that's the way."
"That's not what I'm cross about! ...oh, what's the use?" she shook her head, a hint of a smile spreading on her features. "You're a terrible man sometimes, Captain."
"One has to be sometimes. Just keep her on an even keel."
The black kite smiled, testing the controls a little. "Aye Captain. Hmm, she's more sensitive than I thought. I've never flown a vessel this size before."
"Aye, she is a bit sensitive, but it's better that way in my opinion." Rufus replied. "On a different note... as you likely guessed I didn't ask you to come down here just to give you flying lessons."
She laughed at that. "Well yes, I did have my suspicions that you may be harbouring some sort of ulterior motive. So long as it is nothing untoward though then I have no reservations." She glanced round at him, keeping her hands on the wheel. "What did you want?"
All looking good so far. Here's hoping you can continue to match quality to quantity throughout this tale! I'd post a more constructive comment here, but I'd have to read over the story again, and I don't think I've enough time to do that before I have to get offline...
Okay, I've looked back over it & I've not really got anything bad to say about it. There are however, one or two points that I shall briefly mention, but I'll do so assuming that you may have had time to edit your work since you posted it here...
- Rufus got the impression that, like his dad, if James were any less younger he'd be jumping on the ship himself. Just a minor grammatical error here. Ideally you should have said either that, "if James were any younger he'd be jumping on the ship himself," or possibly, "if James were less elderly he'd be jumping on the ship himself". You've probably noticed this anyway since, as you're well aware, to be "less younger" is to be older. But as I said, that's a minor error, and about the only one I've noticed so far, so kudos to you for that! [/list:u:00af910979]
- [*]and grabbed the large, heavy-bladed Gladius Gun he kept on his person from next to his door. There's nothing wrong with this sentence in and of itself, but (unless you're writing specifically for an audience who know what this item is), a short parenthetical statement to identify it might be in order. For example "...the large, heavy-bladed Gladius Gun (a sword & hilt-mounted gun)..," or, "...Gladius Gun (a sword & gun as one)..," or something like that. Thanks to your preceding descriptive terms, a reader can take a good guess at what the item in question is, but a short, sharp (pardon the pun!) definition like that might help. Unless, as I mentioned, you're writing for an audience that already knows what a Gladius Gun is, in which case forget this comment!
[/list:u:00af910979]
Well, that's all I can really find to pass comment on. So I guess I'm just nitpicking here. All the best on your continuing effort & here's hoping you cross the finish line in time!
Finished another Chapter.
Here it is. Forewarning, this may be a little trickier to read, as I pasted it to Notepad then to here and applied the formatting, because otherwise it makes a tonne of html formatting that it doesn't need, and I aslo have to pick my way through and move all the speech marks so every sentence doesn't start on a new line after a single speech mark.
Chapter 4
"Hail, friend!" the tavern keep spoke up spoke up as Rufus and his crew trailed into the mostly empty building. "What fair wind blows you?"
Rufus looked to the man with a smile. "Good morning! My crew and I have travelled far, and we seek rest and good food."
"Especially good food!" Liam piped up from behind him, which made Rufus laugh. The tavern keep was a stout, middle-aged man, with a ruddy complexion and a receding hairline. You could tell by looking at him he was no stranger to a good meal and a stiff drink. A smile spread across his face, a jolly tone in his voice.
"Some rest and some good food, eh? Well I assure you my friend, both can be found in abundance in this establishment of mine. And it so happens we do indeed have a few rooms lacking occupants right now."
"That's by far the best news I've heard today." Rufus grinned. "Well then, that being the case we'd like to take up occupancy of said rooms, if that's alright?"
"Aye laddie! I'll take your names in a short while, but first off why not take the weight off your feet? I'd wager the lot of you have been on them for many a day."
"The man's a mind-reader, Cap'n!" Gavin joked. There was an assortment of titters and laughs from the rest of the crew.
"We'll do just that then, sir." Rufus snickered.
"Albert, the name's Albert." the man interjected. "No need to be callin' me sir, I'm not some high-faluting toff or anything snooty like that." Rufus nodded, not daring to look at Amberley.
"Fair enough then, Albert." he corrected himself. "We'll find ourselves some seats... ah, and what sort of drinks do you have knocking about?"
The stout man grinned, his reddish cheeks gleaming. "Whichever you may be after my lad, we likely have it. Find yourselves some seats, I'll have a lass or two take your orders."
"Alright then!" the red kite agreed, and headed through the large double doors to the left of the tavern's reception desk, his crew following.
The tavern itself was pretty big, yet somehow still managed to have that homely feel about it. There were already a number of patrons scattered about, helping themselves to platefuls of delicious looking food. The scent of alcohol hung very faintly in the air, somewhat muted by the far more delicious smells wafting through from the kitchen behind the bar. The bar itself appeared to be quite well-equipped-as did the barmaid, as Gavin was quick to point out. This got him a requisite round of groans and rolling eyes from the women of the crew, barring Amberley who simply narrowed her eyes and gave him a look of disdain. He simply pretended not to notice that.
No sooner had they seated themselves and gotten comfy than a waitress sauntered over. A few minutes more saw the whole crew settled each with a drink of their preference, and in rather agreeable spirits. So it was that Albert now came over, pulling up a seat next to the table.
"Now then, might I get your names for the guest register?" he inquired, a smile on his face and a notebook in his hands. Rufus turned to look at him, nodding.
"Aye. I'm Rufus Falcon, and these are my irreplaceable friends, though you could also call them my crew."
"I see!" Albert nodded, a grin creasing his features. "Tight-knit bunch then?"
"Yup! We sail as a family, work as a family, and fight with each other like a family too!" Gavin explained. Liam clapped a hand over the fox's mouth. "Forgive my 'little brother', he's a mouthy brat." he grinned. "Oh, and his name's Gavin Tolstoy. Mine's Liam Aston."
"Gavin Tolstoy, Liam Aston... uh huh. And who are these lovely ladies with you?"
"Rachael Gibbs," spoke up the red squirrel, "and this is Christine Ashforth. Pleasure to meetcher Albert, an' thanks for puttin' us all up on such short notice."
"The pleasure's mine, I assure you." the tavern keep grinned. "Who's this gent?" he asked, looking over toward the gold-plumed eagle.
"Kenneth Griffin. A pleasure to make your acquaintance sir, and allow me to also extend my gratitude for your tolerance of our presence in this establishment."
Albert laughed. "You're a man as likes his words, ain'tcha Kenny? Well that's alright, all are welcome under my roof, long as the colour of their money's good." His gaze then fell on Amberley. "Well now, who's this lovely lady?"
Amberley apparently was not keen on having this level of attention directed towards her, as she looked back at him with a less than friendly gaze. "Amberley Otra." she stated in sub-zero tones, adding "Of the House of Otra, before you ask."
Albert looked slightly taken aback. "Well well, pardon me miss! Not often as we get nobles comin' in 'ere. 'scuse me manners and all I'm sure!" It was rather difficult to tell whether or not he was actually being respectful, or just mocking her sudden aloofness. Either way, he moved on from the subject rather quickly. "Well, that's all yer names noted. So, Capn' Falcon. What's your business in the City of Spring, if you don't mind me being nosy?"
"A few things. We needed to make a stopover as supplies were getting a little thin, plus we're in the market for some business, and perhaps a few more crew as well. Oh, that and I've personally never been here before. Same goes for one or two of my friends here, so there's all kinds of reasons for us being here."
Albert's face moulded itself into a wily expression. "First time here, y'say? Well let me give you a few pearls o' wisdom, so to speak. Be careful who you let know you've not been here before, there's men and women in this city of ours with fewer scruples than myself, if you catch my drift."
Rufus nodded. "Anything else we should know?"
"Aye. Watch your tongue round the Red Wings here. They're a damn uptight bunch most of them. Throw you in the clink at the drop of a hat. 's not their fault mind, it's just the ruling House here are a bit strict."
Amberley made a face. "The Dublette House, isn't it? I heard tell Lord Dublette has an awfully hard time keeping his daughter from running away all the time. Apparently she's a little hellion, if my dad is to be believed." she sniffed derisively. "I've not met her myself though, so I couldn't say one way or the other."
"I have, once." Albert replied, which made Amberley's eyebrows go up. Noticing this, he cracked a smile as he started to explain. "The little scamp somehow escaped from her caretakers. Disguised herself as a waif and found her way in here. One of my maids took care of her when she saw her, she thought the wee lass had lost track of her parents or something. Well, imagine my surprise when about twenty Red Wings came barging in and told everyone to keep still and remain calm. That was quite the riot!"
"Jings, what happened next?" Rufus inquired.
"What else? They went and found young Lady Dublette and carted her off back home. She put up a heck of a fight too. She's a rapscallion, that one-though don't let her hear you say that."
"Hmph. If you ask me, it's likely the fault of her parents for being far too restrictive, or perhaps not paying enough attention to her needs. Or at least that's how it sounds to me." Amberley stated matter-of-factly.
"Aye well, whatever the case may be, I've met her the once - and once was more than enough!" Albert grinned, which roused a laugh from the crew, even Amberley. He then got a thoughtful look on his face. "You said yer lookin' fer a few more recruits, possibly?" he asked.
"Aye, maybe. We're not at full capacity. The extra hands'd be a big help." Rufus replied.
"Well, you're certainly in a prime location. Plenty of fine individuals in this city of ours eager to get out into the great beyond."
"That's good to hear." Rufus smiled. "Ah, this looks like our lunch."
"Cracking!" Gavin declared, a hungry look on his face. "Nothing beats a good proper meal once in a while!" Liam for once made no effort to quiet his vulpine friend, as he shared the man's sentiments-a fact made evident by a brief glimpse of his tongue licking his chops.
"I'll leave you ladies and gents to eat then." Albert nodded, rising from his stool and setting it aside. "Enjoy, and if we can make you feel any more comfortable somehow, let us know."
"Much appreciated, friend!" Rufus beamed. The tavern keep nodded again in reply, heading away from their table.
The crew were already seeing about demolishing their meal, raw hunger for the moment mostly overriding manners. Only the three ladies, plus Rufus and Kenneth, seemed to be making any sort of concerted effort to not just gorge themselves. The task wasn't made easy owing to the fact that the ship's food supplies had started getting a bit thin - they'd slightly overestimated what had been left on their departure from Zeal, so there had been precious little left in the pantry by the time they reached Diadem. Hence the meal they were now devouring was all the more appreciated-it was real food, not something that had been preserved some way or another for so many days and lost half of its taste in the process. Rufus could practically feel his strength returning with every bite.
No less than half an hour later, everyone at the table had more or less cleaned their plates. Rufus sat back in his seat with a contented sigh. "I don't think I've ever been more grateful for a fine meal as that in all of my days." he stated.
"You can say that again, Captain." agreed Max.
"I'm surprised with the quality, all things considered." Amberley noted. "I was expecting less of such a humble establishment. I guess the proof, as they say, really is in the pudding."
"Nonsense lass, you're just biased as the only time you went out to eat with us common folk was that one time back home, and you ended up puking your guts out in the..." Rachael had started to say, but she trailed off as the black kite's icy glare hinted to her she might want to rethink finishing that sentence. "Ahem. Uhm, I mean, your view's just biased because of a negative past experience." she corrected herself, even going as far as to properly annunciate for a change. Amberley nodded.
"As I said, better than I expected, from past experience." she stated, casting a brief frown at Gavin who had apparently just found something pretty hilarious and was trying not to laugh.
"Well then," started Rufus, suffocating Amberley's air of annoyance hastily, "shall we take a look around town? There's bound to be some business for us somewhere or other, and if we're lucky we might find some extra hands to take on as well." There was a collective hum of agreement from the crew. "Alright. Dismissed then, shipmates. I'll see you all back here for dinner, aye?"
"Aye aye!" they replied almost in unison. Everyone started to get up, leaving Rufus to sort out the matter of paying for lunch (as he'd stated he would anyway, and besides it counted as a running expense of the ship technically) and also for accommodation. He was pleasantly surprised, but by no means displeased, to find Amberley outside the tavern waiting for him after he'd tended to the financial matters. He gave her a smile and a nod as he started walking away from the tavern, and she followed him, walking alongside him. They walked along together through the city, along wide gantries spanning the space between huge city carrier balloons, through the astounding indoor market housed inside one of the balloons itself, and around winding narrow stairways leading hither and thither. Rufus learned a few things about his friend he hadn't known previously, such as the fact she was left-handed, and that she was quite accurate with her boomerang. He wisely avoided questioning her about her previous experiences of tavern food though, as that seemed to be a sore spot for her.
Presently, the pair found themselves in a ship parts merchant's shop. Rufus set about eyeing up the wares on offer, whilst Amberley stood around looking a trifle bored. It wasn't that she didn't know anything about ships, it was just that looking at equipment for them wasn't her idea of entertainment. She was about to voice this opinion when a slightly accented voice drew her attention.
"'scuse me, lass..." the voice was female. As Amberley turned to its owner, she also learned that it belonged to a deep red furred fox, roughly the same height as her. "Can I get by ye here? I'm wanting a look at them compasses." Amberley blinked, then moved out of the woman's way.
"Oh yes, sorry." she replied politely.
"Thankin' ye kindly..." murmured the fox as she stepped past. Amberley watched her with an air of interest. The fox herself began to scrutinise the compasses, but she then noticed Rufus and approached him, displaying the same sort of level of interest in him that Amberley had just taken in her.
"Pardon me asking, ma lad..." she began, and as Rufus turned to look round at her she continued. "Would you perchance happen to be Cap'n o' yon bonny Silverhead ship down at the docks?"
Rufus blinked once or twice, slightly surprised. "I am, yes. How did you guess?"
The fox looked rather pleased with her deliberation. "Well, you're in here for a start, so ye clearly have a ship. That means yer either a navigator or a Cap'n. And then there's the matter of yer plumage, lad. I've been to the old republic myself, so I've seen the folk there. Lot of folks like yerself, specially up north, so I figured altogether, p'raps that's where you're from."
Rufus shook his head with a laugh. "Pretty good guesswork there. Aye, you're right, I'm from those parts. The Spirit of Adventure's my ship, and she was built with pride in Tellà rain itself." He gave the fox a slightly bemused look. "And what brings a lass such as yourself in here? Captain of a ship yourself?"
"Nay lad, I'm afraid not." she replied. "I said the only two kinds you find here are Captains and navigators, aye? I'm the second of those two kinds. And a damn fine navigator I am too!"
Rufus shot a glance at Amberley, who raised her eyebrows briefly and nodded. "A navigator, you say?" he asked. "Tell me, are you currently in the employ of anyone in that capacity?"
The fox shook her head. "I'm not sir." She grinned. "Are you, perchance, short of a navigator?"
Rufus nodded, grinning himself. "Not short of one exactly, as I'm probably the best we have-but we could certainly make good use of an experienced one."
An air of pride crept into the fox's voice as she drew herself up to her full height. "Well then! Look no further than me, sir! I've navigated nearly all my life, and never have I not known where I was."
"That's quite a claim, miss. Can it be verified?" Rufus asked.
"'course it can!" the fox stated. "Why, just ask around. Heck, ask ol' Tom here!" she said, pointing at the shopkeeper. Rufus turned and looked at the rather old looking collie behind the counter.
"Has she ever gotten lost?"
"Whut? Och, wee Shona? Narr, never in 'er life!" the shopkeeper replied sagely.
"Shona's your name, is it? Would you be willing and able to undertake a rather long voyage away from home?"
"I'd need about a day or so to prepare and put my affairs in order sir, but yes!" Shona replied.
"Hmm. What do you think, Amberley?" Rufus inquired of his friend.
"Huh? I've no objections, Captain. It's your ship after all." she stated plainly, apparently slightly surprised her opinion was requested.
"Alright then." Rufus acknowledged, returning his gaze to Shona. "Drop by the Wandering Albatross tavern later on today and we'll have a chat. Sound good?"
"Aye sir." she replied, smiling broadly. "I won't let you down!"
Some hours later, the two had started on their way back to the tavern. They'd stopped along the way at the docks though, for two reasons. One was that it was on the way to the tavern anyway, and Rufus had wanted to take a quick look to ensure the ship was still fine (which it was). The other reason though was that when they'd arrived on the jetty next to the ship, they'd found someone looking up at it rather intently.
"Something I can help you with?" Rufus asked the man slightly suspiciously. The man who was eyeing up the ship turned, surprised. He was a bi-coloured collie, and seemed to be fairly young. He blinked at Rufus before quickly deducing the cause of the kite's demeanour.
"Ah? Oh, sorry... this is your ship, sir?"
"Aye, it is. Any reason you're hanging around her?"
The young man nodded. "Yes sir. Sorry if it's a nuisance, I've never seen anything quite like her before. Where was she built?"
"Tellà rain, in the old Republic." Rufus informed him.
"Republic... as in, Silverhead!? Goodness me!" the man exclaimed, looking up at the ship again. "I've never seen such a huge vessel from there!"
"No? Well granted, I can see why that would be." Rufus conceded. "Certainly we don't churn out so many as we used to. Quality over quantity, after all. That's what my dad always said."
"I see. Sorry, I didn't get your name." the collie apologised. "Mine's Alan, Alan Randall."
"Captain Rufus Falcon." Rufus responded. "And the young lady with me is Amberley."
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance sir, and ma'am." Alan smiled. "What sorta business do you go on with such a ship as this?"
"She's multi-purpose." Rufus explained. "She can haul cargo and occasionally carry passengers. The only thing she isn't is a warship, but I'm guessing you figured that out already." That was certainly true. The ship didn't have many armaments, and they weren't exactly powerful either. It had a scant few front-mounted steam powered dart cannons, and one or two mounted at the rear and on the underbelly, normally concealed by large shutters. They hadn't seen much use thankfully, as Rufus had seldom strayed into unfriendly skies or gotten the ship attacked by large unfriendly beasts.
Alan nodded at Rufus's words. "I had figured as much , yes. So how does she run? I can see she's a hybrid after all."
"Aye, that she is. Flotation anchors doubling as a buoyancy cushion, propulsion by normal means."
"What happens to her top rotors when you're in flight?"
"They just keep on going." Rufus blinked. "Why wouldn't they?"
"They do? That must be expensive on the fuel..."
"...it isn't. Once we're moving forward at an even keel, we disconnect 'em from the engine. Then they just spin on their own, something about airflow. I don't remember the specifics."
Alan looked shocked. "She's a gyro-dynamic hybrid!?"
"Um, probably?" Rufus cocked his head. "Not sure. Explain?"
The young man quickly explained in sketchy detail that what he meant was an airship that took off vertically using rotors, then propelled itself forward whilst stopping the powered turning of its rotor blades in order to let them turn on their own thanks to an upward flow of air, resulting in the blades acting in a way similar to a fixed wing on a smaller aircraft.
"But it's dead uncommon to see that on a vessel as big as this. Usually you'd only see that on a smaller ship, like something you'd use to flit across to one of the outlying settlements around here."
Rufus shrugged. "I wouldn't have known, I'm no mechanic. I just know enough to get by, and how to fly the thing."
"Well, I am a mechanic sir. If it would be alright with you, I'd love to take a look around her some time."
Rufus glanced to Amberley, who glanced back at him with a knowing look and a smile.
"Funny you should say that." Rufus said with a hint of a smile. "After all, we're currently short of a good mechanic in our crew. If you were willing and able, I'd be happy to take you on."
The collie's eyes went wide with astonishment. "Seriously, sir? I mean... I've never... I don't know... um..."
"Slow down Alan. It sounds like you'd have to think about it and maybe talk to a few people. That's fine, we'll be in Diadem for a few days yet." Rufus assured him.
"A... alright sir, Captain Rufus sir!" Alan replied, stumbling over his words a bit. "I'll go and have a think, talk to a few people, then... will you be staying here the whole time?"
"Pretty much." Rufus confirmed.
"OK. OK then! I'll uh, see you tomorrow then, maybe!" the young man grinned widely, and dashed off.
"What an energetic young man." Amberley noted.
"He certainly seems to be passionate about his interests." agreed Rufus. "I hope it translates into knowing his stuff as well."
"Likewise. Still, we've had some considerable luck: first the navigator in the merchant's shop, and now a mechanic as well. You seem to have a talent for attracting people, Captain."
Rufus laughed. "Thanks for the compliment, Amberley. Shall we head back to our tavern? I imagine the others will be waiting on us by now."
She nodded. "Let's."
A chill breeze blew through a missing pane of glass in his room, ruffling the log's pages. Rufus muttered something to himself, folding them back over to where he had been reading from: Day 24.
I feel that we now stand on the brink of many a new discovery, such that no living thing among us has witnessed. What wonders lie beyond the horizon? What strange creatures, places and peoples? Perhaps we shall find the answers to questions Atlans have asked for many a year.
Of one thing I am certain - many discoveries await, and we shall be the ones to find them!
Have some more walls of text. Here's Chapter 5. I'll post Chapter 6 as a separate post to break things up, because these are HUGE.
- Chapter 5
- The sun shone brightly through Rufus's room window, stirring him from his sleep. Even though he'd pulled the curtains the previous night, the glare was now strong enough to penetrate the thin veil of material sufficiently strongly to rouse him. He rose from his bed and began to dress himself as per usual, the same ritual he'd been performing for just over a month now. A part of him was on the verge of giving up hope-it would be a simple enough matter to take a dive over the edge of the ship and into the unforgiving depths below, leaving the ship to float for someone else to find.
- Thankfully, he thought to himself, it was a very small part of him that harboured such dark thoughts, and it was overshadowed quite significantly by the drive to keep himself alive, and spread the word of what he had seen.
- As far as he could tell, no-one had plunged so far as himself and his crew had that fateful day, which would also mean that no-one else had borne witness to what lay below the clouds. Common speculation was that the sea of clouds was as deep as it was long and wide, going down infinitesimally until you reached such depths that you couldn't see a thing.
- Rufus knew differently. The cloud sea's depths were not infinite, although certainly the depths were somewhat dark.
- He also knew, however, that hardly anyone at all would believe him once he spoke of what he'd seen-and rightly so. What sensible person, after all, would believe such nonsense as a sea of water beneath a sea of clouds? The very idea of it still struck him as hearsay and madness as well. Yet, in spite of this, he couldn't deny what his eyes had seen that day. Not least due to the fact that it had been the same day he had lost all of his crew, those whom he had called his irreplaceable friends. For that reason alone he kept going, he reminded himself. He had sworn to uphold their memory, to be certain their loss would not have been needless. It was this that still kept him from losing any sense of will or drive to continue on.
- So it was that after a sombre breakfast and the usual ritual of setting the ship adrift once more toward the City of Spring, he now sat at the nose of the ship, watching the clouds drifting past. This spot was one of mixed feelings for him: it had been the place he had stood and watched many a setting sun, a good number of those in the company of his trusted First Mate. He had also stood his ground and fought here when he and his crew had encountered pirates-and not only that, they had fought and won.
- Indeed, the ship had seen several memories over the past several months: times of gladness, times of sorrow, times of suffering and loss, and yet also many more pleasant memories of happiness, camaraderie, celebration and thankfulness.
- It was a bitter-sweet feeling, still being able to revisit the places held dear to memory whilst all the time knowing that those with whom the memories had been made would never again be able to reminisce with him. How he had managed to cheat death himself was still a mystery to him.
- Still, he knew it wouldn't be healthy to dwell on such thoughts. Instead he cast his mind back once more into the past, to a time when he and his crew had sailed these same skies...
- "Anchors retracted, rotors at full! Up we go!"
- "Cranes away! Clear for take-off!"
- "Propellers full reverse! Turning one-eighty degrees to starboard!"
- "Turning one-eighty degrees, roger!"
- "Propellers to forward! Full speed ahead! Spread the wings!"
- The steady CHUG CHUG CHUG of the ship's engine echoed from above and behind the flight deck as the Spirit of Adventure began to pull away from Diadem. Rufus gave the wheel a gentle spin, bringing their heading to a north-north-easterly direction. On his left stood Amberley, keeping an eye on the assorted instruments on the panel before her, assisted by Alan, whom Rufus had asked to give her a hand learning. The latter had also issued commands to the engine room minutes beforehand in preparation for their departure. The ship now proceeded forward smoothly, plumes of white smoke puffing out of the angled rear chimneys.
- "Where are we headed for next, Captain?" Alan inquired of him.
- "We're aiming for Salabashtar. Could be a bit of a long journey, but Shona's plotted a course for us with a few stops en route. Our first major port of call will be the Great Forest of Gaoracchia."
- Alan's eyes widened, and Amberley looked round at him with an expression of surprise as well. "Gaoracchia Forest, Captain? As in, that place known to be one of the most hostile environments in the world?" Alan ventured.
- Rufus nodded. "Aye, that place."
- "...the one that I've heard tell is mostly inhabited by fierce savages who wouldn't think twice about eating us for breakfast...?" Amberley queried.
- "Yes."
- "...Captain, I'm starting to have some reservations about our voyage..." Alan mumbled. Rufus laughed.
- "Come now, both of you! D'you honestly think I've not heard tell of them either? Aye, some people say it's an incredibly hostile environment filled with nasty great beasts that can swallow you whole. And yes, I've heard the stories about how it's also filled with primitive savages who'd also happily cook you for breakfast, but come on! You don't honestly believe all the scary tales you hear, do you?"
- The two of them looked at the floor. Rufus shook his head.
- "Let's be rational, my friends. It can't be as bad as it's made out to be, or no-one would ever go there. And besides, our current undertaking requires we visit it anyway. We don't know enough about the place as it stands, so it's important we learn more of it."
- Amberley slowly nodded. "You have a good point Rufus... but let's be careful, alright? I'd rather not end up on the menu of a cannibal."
- "Likewise!" Alan agreed rather hastily.
- "No worries!" Rufus replied heartily. "Now then, how's about you keep an eye on things for me again so's we don't end up breaking down or anything before we're even there?"
- "Aye sir!" Alan smiled. Rufus turned his gaze back to the open skies ahead.
- Time passed, and the sun rose higher in the sky.
- "So Alan, what do you make of this fine vessel?" Rufus ventured after they'd been chugging along steadily for a good few hours.
- "Ah?" Alan looked round from his position, then smiled. "She's a fine vessel indeed, Captain. As I said first time I saw her, I've never seen anything quite like her."
- "Good good. Have you had a look around her engine room yet?"
- "Not yet sir. What with helping out getting us moving and one thing and another, I've not had time to really get to know her properly yet."
- Amberley let out a small laugh. "To listen to you two going on, anyone would think you were talking about a woman you both know."
- Alan looked round at her. "Well, the two aren't too dissimilar, Amberley."
- "They aren't?" she seemed amused with this remark. "Well by all means, do explain to me what you mean."
- "Well, uh... It's like... you've got to know how to handle them properly. You can't be too rough with 'em or you'll end up breaking something. And uh... yeah, you gotta be sensitive to their needs. I mean, you can't just go throwing a switch or yanking on a lever without knowing what it does, or you'll end up having something blow up and killing yourself, you know? And uh... help me out here, Captain?"
- Rufus smirked. "I think what he's trying to say is, just like with a person you care about, you have to treat a ship with love and respect. Come here a sec." he gestured to Amberley to come and hold the wheel, standing to the side and grasping it just with the one hand himself. She did as requested, grasping the wheel with both hands.
- "Now then." Rufus continued, moving round behind her and reaching under her arm to grasp the wheel on both sides himself also. Amberley almost jumped at this, but kept her position. "You feel that, in the wheel there? It's sensitive enough that you can feel the rudders move when the wind blows against them. Like just now..." and he let go of the wheel. Amberley let out a short, surprised squawk as the wheel started to turn in her hands, and she pulled it back into a straight position. Rufus then grasped it once more, keeping it steady. "See? Whilst I'm stood here holding the wheel, I can feel even the slightest breeze like that. I trust the ship to tell me when that happens, and I keep her steady as a result."
- Amberley slowly nodded. "So I see." She let go of the wheel, moving her hands down and placing them gently on top of his as he held the wheel steady. Rufus became thankful at that moment of his bright red plumage, as it rather usefully masked the blood flushing his face.
- "And uh, yeah. You can't just go grabbing the wheel and yanking it this way or that. You'd probably end up damaging the ship, and everyone on board would end up getting sick as well."
- "That's true." she agreed.
- Alan spoke up. "Cap'n, I'm going to go take a look round the engine room just now, if that's OK."
- Rufus blinked and looked round at him. "Huh? Oh yes certainly, go right ahead." he smiled. "Just remember to be gentle with her. Don't touch anything unless you're certain!"
- "I got it, Rufus." the collie grinned as he headed out of the flight deck and up the sloping corridor.
- "Guess he couldn't wait..." Rufus thought out loud. He blinked a little in surprise though as he felt the weight of Amberley's upper body lean into his chest a bit.
- "That might be it..." she said, in a slightly dreamy tone. "Or it could have been something else..."
- "Something...?"
- She laughed, a playful tone in her voice. "Perhaps he felt he should leave us alone, Rufus? Give us some privacy?"
- "But why would he do that?" Rufus wondered aloud. "I mean, it's not like we... I mean... like you..." his tongue had gotten a bit ahead of his mind it seemed, a problem she soon nipped in the bud, turning her head up and to the side a bit, a mischievous spark in her eye.
- "It isn't?" she queried, almost in a whisper. "And why would that be, pray tell?"
- "Er..." Rufus's mind was having a problem with this. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. She wasn't supposed to be the one making him all flustered! That wasn't how these things worked! What was she thinking? And yet, the best excuse he could come up with was...
- "Um... because I... didn't say anything yet...?"
- Amberley laughed melodiously, her smile broader than ever. "That's the best excuse you have, Rufus?" she teased. "Well then, hadn't you better get around to saying what it is you haven't yet said, so I can hear it?"
- "I, er..." he stuttered.
- "Yes?" she questioned, her smile lingering still. Come on, she thought to herself, hurry up and spit it out!
- Rufus closed his eyes for a moment, composing himself. This was a bit of a difficult thing to manage, seeing as he could still feel Amberley leaning against him. He knew there was no doubt she could feel his heart pounding in his chest, now that she'd put him on the spot like this. He opened his eyes, meeting the gaze of her golden-yellow eyes with his own, and took a deep breath.
- "Amberley." he said clearly.
- "Yes, Rufus?"
- "I... I've developed rather strong feelings for you. I think that..." he sighed sheepishly and smiled. "Sorry, let me try that again. Amberley, there's no point to me trying to avoid what I feel any more, and I think it's obvious now you already guessed."
- Her smile still persisted as she nodded, not interrupting his speech.
- "So I guess what I want to say is... Amberley, do you feel the same way about me as I do about you?"
- She turned around to face him, and threw her arms round his neck. "Yes, Rufus. As mad as it sounds to that part of me that wants to be logical, I can't deny what I feel. And I realised some days ago how you felt for me too. The subtle little things... and some of the not so subtle things too." Her embrace around him tightened as she laid her head against his shoulder.
- Rufus let out a relieved sigh. "Well... thank goodness we got that out of the way." he said, laughing a little.
- "Mmm..." Amberley agreed in a soft murmur.
- He let go of the wheel with one hand, wrapping his arm around her instead, gently.
- She responded by pulling herself a little closer to him, but then let out a small giggle.
- "What's funny?" Rufus inquired with a smile, glancing between her and the skies ahead.
- "Oh nothing... just... well, isn't it considered somewhat risky or unprofessional to have an involved relationship with a fellow crew member?" she questioned jokingly.
- "That depends on your profession my dear." Rufus asserted sagely. That caused her to laugh openly this time.
- "I suppose it does, at that." she let go of him, stretching up on her toes for a moment to plant a small kiss on his cheek. "I'd better get back to keeping an eye on the instruments, hadn't I Captain?" she smiled. Rufus nodded, lifting an arm to let her get out from between him and the wheel.
- "Aye, you better had." he agreed. "Goodness knows what people might think if they found I was letting you slack off whilst on duty." he added with a wink.
- "Quite so." she concurred, heading back to her post at the instruments panel.
- For the rest of the day, the Spirit's crew noted that their Captain seemed even more upbeat than usual. No-one asked why-everyone had his or her own little theories, and the majority of them took account of the fact that the ship's resident slowly defrosting ice queen was somewhat less chilly than usual too. Not that she hadn't been pleasant enough already by now to the majority of the crew, but even the latest additions noted how cheerful and even cordial she seemed now. Nothing was said of it directly to either of them though-or at least not for the time being. There would be time to ask about it later; and besides, such things had a rather common habit of becoming somewhat obvious given enough time anyway.
And Chapter 6.
- Chapter 6
- So it was that about a month onward from that day, the telephone in the flight deck rang shrilly. As it was currently Liam stationed at the instruments panel, he pulled the receiver from its bracket and answered it.
- "Flight deck here, Liam speaking. Over."
- "Lookout here. Christine speaking. Over!"
- "Go ahead lookout."
- "Forest of Gaoracchia spotted, over!"
- Liam glanced out the windscreen, straining his eyes. "I don't see it, over."
- "Well of course you don't, silly!" came the giggled reply. "You've not got the best view of it. Hard a-port and we'll be on target!"
- "Port? OK, gotcha. Thanks Christine. Over and out!"
- "Roger!" The line made a soft click as Christine hung up. Liam turned to the large bear holding the wheel. "Hard a-port, Barta. Christine says the Forest's close to hand."
- Barta simply made a short grunt in response, spinning the wheel. He was a giant of a man, standing easily just over seven feet tall if he wasn't stooping. Black, coarse fur covered the majority of his body. He wore a long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and partially unbuttoned at the front. Whether this was a personal preference or simply due to his shirt being unable to fully contain him, Liam wasn't sure. The bear's legs were clad in rough-looking and well-worn tattered cloth trousers, sheared off part way down the shins to make way for the extremely sturdy looking boots he wore. He also had a crimson-coloured neckerchief hanging slightly loosely at his neck.
- As for where he'd come from, that had been an adventure in and of itself. About ten days' journey from Diadem they'd come across a lone vessel floating helplessly in the cloud sea, far from the nearest hint of civilisation. It being far from any of those aboard the Spirit to leave a stricken vessel for dead, they'd drawn near to see if anyone was alive on board. There they'd found this man, Barta, alive but looking a bit the worse for wear. From what he'd told them, he'd been attacked without any warning by a marauding group of pirates whilst he was out there. To make matters worse, although he'd managed to fight them off, his ship was beyond repair. All he'd been able to do was keep it afloat and hope for the best. He'd been on the verge of giving up when the Spirit had passed by.
- That had been about all he'd said though, and the most he had said the entire time. He said little of himself, and refused to give anything more than his first name when asked. Whether this was thanks to memory loss or some other factor, Liam wasn't sure. One thing that was certain however was that the man was an excellent sailor. He had agreed to be put to work on board in thanks for saving his life, and had proven himself an invaluable addition to the crew. With that in mind, most of those aboard had deemed it unnecessary to pester him further about his background, deeming it best for now to simply get on with the voyage at hand and simply keep an eye out in case the man turned out to be hiding anything.
- "Ah, there it is!" Liam exclaimed, as the tops of the enormous trees came into view. "The Great Forest of Gaoracchia." Crikey, he thought to himself, it's even bigger than I thought it'd be.
- The forest was indeed massive. The titanic trees that composed it were more than likely hundreds if not thousands of feet tall and could grow to be a few miles in diameter. Such was their size that often it was possible to find smaller symbiotic plants and animals living on or inside them. To an extent this classification included the forest's inhabitants. None but the hardiest of folk lived here, due in large part to the fact that the forest was a hunting and breeding ground for various unfriendly beasts that roamed the cloud seas. There were benefits to living out here as well though; the thick canopy of leaves trapped a lot of warm air, creating a rather warm environment - although it had a tendency to become uncomfortably moist during the spring and summer months, when a combination of constant sunshine and condensing water meant the humidity became far worse than any airship on a hot day. Then again, this was also countered by the fact that it was quite easy to hollow out small lakes in the huge branches of the gargantuan trees. Such an exercise was usually of little detriment to the plant, the sheer overall size of it negating any downsides that a lesser tree would suffer.
- A brief flash of light caught Liam's eye. He looked toward where he thought he'd glimpsed it. There it was again: a signalling light flashing from high in one of the trees.
- "Keep her steady, Barta." he requested, grabbing hold of the ship's own signal light, and flashing it rhythmically in response. After some flashing of lights back and forth, an anchor site had been negotiated, information regarding which Liam relayed to the man at the wheel.
- Thus a short while later, the Spirit of Adventure floated under the shelter of the forest canopy, moored firmly to a tree branch that must have been nearly as thick as the ship itself was wide. The ship's inhabitants had disembarked, and now stood on a firmly made wooden board walk, looking around in an awed fashion.
- "Blimey!" Gavin stated with his typical eloquence. "Look at the size of 'em trees! They're bloomin' enormous!"
- "They are indeed." Max agreed. "Also, is it just me that's finding it a tad warm here?"
- "Nope." Liam reassured him, making a concerted effort not to start panting. "It really is quite warm. Goodness knows why, we're heading toward autumn already."
- "This effect, my dear colleagues, is the result of warm air being trapped by the leaf canopy." Kenneth began to explain. "And I fear it is affecting me too. I curse my lack of forethought!"
- All four ladies, meanwhile, seemed relatively untroubled by it. Liam had later questioned Christine on why it was they were fine, to which she had smiled and asked him who was the idiot now for bringing along more changes of clothes than they'd need. Nevertheless, the crew were for the most part not ones to find themselves at a loss, and they quickly adapted-which essentially meant that the men stripped down to a shirt or less on their top half before they continued on their way.
- The forest was a fascinating place. Homes had been hollowed out of the trees themselves, and even complex systems of tunnels and passageways weaved their way through the wooden giants. Rachael had commented as they made their way along that to these titans the people of Gaoracchia must have seemed to be merely a mild case of woodworm infection and nothing more.
- "I can believe that." Shona agreed. "I'd always heard tales about the huge trees of these forests, but this is the first time I ever actually saw them. I still can't believe the sheer size of these beggars."
- "So Captain, what's our plan of action here?" Alan inquired enthusiastically.
- "Well," the red kite replied, "the ship's water supply was starting to get a little low, so we're having her topped up. There's plenty here after all."
- They came to a large, wide platform which seemed to act as a meeting place and a stage for various purposes. "And I'd like to take some time to look around too. Find out a bit more whilst we're here." he added. "Take a few hours to wander around guys, but careful where you go and what you say. I think the locals here might take offence easily if we do anything stupid."
- With those words he'd headed off, with Amberley in tow. The rest of the crew hung around a bit, exchanging glances and the occasional wink or nudge.
- "Those two're knocking boots I reckon." Rachael stated matter-of-factly a little later. Her, Liam, Gavin and Shona were wandering around the forest village together. Gavin smirked at her remark.
- "Uh, yeah? Newsflash, this has been obvious since a while ago now, Rach."
- "Hold on now, you can't be certain they're up to that much." Shona stated evenly. "You've no solid proof. And besides, if you ask me, there's no way a lady such as her 'd go with a commoner like our Cap'n. I mean, aye, he's a nice laddie and all... but she's, y'know, a proper lady--"
- "Ha!" Rachael interjected. "You'd say otherwise if you ever saw her that one time at the Octo's Arms. She wasn't too ladylike then, I can tell you!" she chuckled. Then her face fell slightly. "Ach! I'm not supposed to talk about that!" she said, looking quickly around as though any moment she expected a well-aimed boomerang to lop her head off. "Forget what you just heard, folks." she advised, before then adding wickedly "Although, it was a tremendous sight. Poor love."
- Liam rolled his eyes. "Women." he remarked pointedly, which got him a dirty look from the two present."What?" he protested.
- "See mate, it's stuff like that is why you've never had the pleasure of the company of one for any great length of time." Gavin pointed out sagely. Liam shot him an evil glare. "What was that!?" he growled. The fox grinned at him, moving over a bit so the two ladies were in between himself and his lupine friend.
- "Take it easy, Lee!" he teased. "I'm just making an observation, that's all!"
- "Hmph. What would you know anyway?" the wolf snorted. "I doubt you're as much of an expert on the topic as you think you are yourself."
- "I think the both of you need to simmer down and stop being such immature boys." Shona said pointedly. "Did you forget what Rufus said about not drawing undue attention to ourselves?" she reminded them. Both men sighed.
- "Sorry ladies." Gavin apologised.
- "Yeah, likewise." Liam agreed.
- "Good boys." Shona smiled. "I've trained you well." she added shortly thereafter, which earned her a poke in the side from Gavin with a shake of his head. She snickered at him with her best angelic smile. "Aww, come now. Don't be mad." she pleaded sweetly.
- Gavin rolled his eyes at her in an exaggerated gesture of forgiveness. "Oh, very well." he said, suppressing a grin. "I suppose I can let you off this time."
- Liam just shook his head, chuckling. "I take it back Gav, you do know something after all."
- "Yeah?" the fox smiled in an ego-inflated manner.
- "Aye. You know exactly how to roll over for a pretty girl when she bats her eyelashes at you."
- The fox's jaw fell open and he shook his head in disbelief at his friend, a twinkle of a smile in his eyes. Rachael burst into a fit of giggles at Liam's remark, and even Shona couldn't help letting out an ill-disguised snort of laughter.
- "Well played, you jerk." Gavin finally grinned, throwing his hands up in a forfeiting gesture. "You win this one."
- Liam chose to remain silent, letting his wicked smirk say how pleased he was with that one.
- Christine meanwhile was wandering around in the company of Kenneth and Alan. Max and Barta had apparently wandered off in search of a bar, or nearest equivalent thereof, and no-one had a clue really where Rufus and Amberley had wandered off to-though it was generally assumed they'd probably gone to look for accommodation for the rest of the crew. Plus, pretty much everyone had concluded the two would want to be left alone, regardless of how much either one of them denied being attracted to or involved with the other.
- Christine could understand that, to a point. After all, it would likely be something that would be frowned upon by her peers if Amberley was thought to be romantically involved with Rufus. Not that he wasn't a fine young man, but it was the whole matter of class issues. Amberley was a young lady from one of the noble houses, whereas Rufus on the other hand would likely be considered some sort of unwashed heathen from a strange place with a funny name, and thus hardly suitor material. Granted, he was from a strange place, with a funny name at that, but... Christine sighed to herself. It didn't strike her as fair that something as silly as that should drive a wedge between the two-although as far as those around them could make out, it wasn't really seeming to be that big of a wedge, regardless of how much the two of them denied anything was going on.
- Alan's voice cut through her internal musings.
- "Hey, Chris... what's eating you?" he inquired.
- "Huh? Oh... ah, it's just the whole silly thing with the Captain and Amberley, you know?"
- Alan grinned. "What, you're jealous?"
- Christine shook her head furiously, perhaps a little too vehemently for someone trying not to appear embarrassed. "No, absolutely not!" she declared, hurrying on into her next sentence before he could suspect otherwise. "No, it's just... I don't think it's fair that they feel they have to hide their relationship from us. I mean, it's clear to anyone with half an ounce of sense they like each other a lot, regardless of what they keep telling us. But you know why it is they keep fibbing, don't you?"
- "Cos he's some country yokel and she's a snob?" Alan grinned, obviously not too serious about the terms he'd used to describe them.
- "Yes, exactly. Though I doubt you'd get away with calling either of them that to their faces."
- "I do feel it is a rather unnecessarily complicated affair also." Kenneth piped up. "Really, one's social standing should not be allowed to impact on who one chooses to partner themselves with." he continued.
- "I know, right? I don't see why those snobs think they're better than us anyways." Alan affirmed. "Just cos yer born with a silver spoon in your gob doesn't make you any more or less of a normal person than the next chump."
- "True. ...should we really be talking about this, anyway?" Christine asked, feeling slightly guilty for having been the one to bring it up.
- "Probably not currently, no." Alan muttered, before brightening a little. "Naa, we should enjoy ourselves whilst we're here. None of us have ever been here after all, the Cap'n and Amberley'll still be there to speculate over after we leave here too."
- Christine nodded. "They will at that. We should talk to the both of them some time... I mean, I honestly don't see a reason for them to keep pretending as they are. It's not like they're doing a good job of fooling us, and I don't think anyone on board really gives a damn about the difference in class between 'em."
- "Quite so. I say, goodness me. Look at that!" Kenneth exclaimed. The two followed his gaze and gasped themselves, having looked around just in time to see a young and athletic looking leopard, dressed in brightly coloured clothing, go sailing through the air, having leapt from a high branch. The three of them ran to the edge of the walkway they were on, peering over the side whilst leaning up against the safety barriers there. They were just in time to see the man spread his arms and legs and dig a set of long metal clawed gauntlets he was wearing into the thick bark of a tree far below, sliding down its surface.
- "Where do you suppose he's going in such a hurry?" Alan wondered aloud.
- "No idea... still, that looks like a very convenient means of taking a shortcut when you want to... hey, look at that!" Christine said, casting her gaze upwards. The other two did likewise. High above them in the tops of the trees, several more men and women dressed in garb similar to that of the young leopard who'd just shot past were moving about, leaping from branch to branch with astounding agility and ease.
- "Skies above." Alan breathed in awed tones. "They're not even wearing PFDs or anything! Rather them than me doing that..."
- Christine turned to a passer-by dressed similarly to herself and her companions.
- "Excuse me," she asked of the man, "who were those people we saw passing above just now?"
- "Huh?" the man responded. "Oh, up there in the trees? That'd be the Kalthu'un, the locals. They're native to this here forest. Been here since goodness only knows when."
- "They're native? I guess that explains the lack of PFDs then, I spose they're confident enough to not need 'em." Alan pondered aloud. The man laughed.
- "Heh, more like they've never had 'em and they don't intend to change that any time soon. Naw, they're quite a fearsome bunch. Heck, they start teaching their children to hunt when they're still barely able to walk. It's frightening."
- The three crew members collectively raised their eyebrows.
- "Goodness!" Kenneth stated. "Quite the savages from the sounds of it."
- "Whoa, shh, quiet down there pal!" the man quickly advised, glancing around. "Don't go saying that, they might hear you! They don't like being called that." Then he added in quieter tones "Even if it might have some truth to it."
- "...got it." Alan nodded. "Keep quiet around the locals."
- "Yeah. Something like that."
- "Thanks for the advice sir." Kenneth smiled.
- "Hey, no worries right? You folks take care now." the man grinned as he went on his way. The three of them watched him go, the turned back away from the edge of the walkway they were on.
- "Anyone else really wanting to meet one of those guys now?" Christine grinned. Alan laughed.
- "Might've known. But... yes actually. I'll admit my curiosity's been piqued."
- "I too will admit that I find these people fascinating." the gold plumed eagle agreed. "Should we happen upon one, we must definitely take the opportunity to ask of them what we may."
- Their opportunity would come sooner than they thought, but not that same day. Aside from the overbearing heat getting to everyone, the day passed otherwise without incident. The crew found themselves staying in a rather nicely fashioned inn, partially carved into the side of one of the enormous trees. The novelty of this was lost on no-one - even the usually silent Barta took the time to express his opinion of their chosen accommodation. Admittedly his opinion of it consisted purely of the word "quaint", but it was still more than he'd said in some time-or at least it was the first intelligible thing he'd said in a while rather than just grunting or making some other sort of noise.
- A pleasant evening was spent trying out the local cuisine the inn had to offer. It was as a result of this that Christine discovered a hitherto unknown allergy to certain kinds of mushrooms, resulting in her being violently ill somewhere outside. Amberley secretly found herself wishing something like that would happen to Rachael instead, as it would make a rather nice comeuppance for her, but fate was not on her side and the rest of the evening was relatively peaceful.
- As the sun sank towards the clouds, the crew turned in for the night.
- It wasn't until after they were all settled in their beds that the oddities began.
- Christine was the first to notice something going on outside, because she was the one sleeping the least well out of everyone owing to her rather delicate condition. Thusly it was her who heard the soft "thunk" outside as something hit the side of the inn. She sat up in her bed, looking around. Had she imagined that? She couldn't tell... but then on the edge of her hearing she heard a faint scraping of metal against the bark of the tree. She frowned, getting out of bed and moving over to the window. There was nothing there, however. She shrugged, moving back toward her bed, but then the noise came again. This time it was definitely closer by.
- Several options presented themselves to her at this juncture. Whoever it was outside was probably a thief, or maybe worse... regardless, she wasn't feeling in the best of health, and even if she was, she knew she wasn't a skilled fighter. She didn't even possess any special abilities either-in fact, come to think of it, neither did any of the other members of the crew. Mind you, no-one in the crew was involved in star chasing, so the chances of them coming into contact with the mysterious nethicite ore harvested from falling stars (and thus gaining any sort of mysterious abilities from it) was pretty low. She decided therefore to do the most sensible thing she could think of, and rouse at least one person who would be capable of fending off an attacker, and tiptoed over to said person's bed.
- "Amberley!" she whispered, poking her friend gently. "Amberley, wake up!"
- The black kite made a mumbled protest, but then stirred from her slumber, blinking up at her eagle friend. "Christine? ...it's the middle of the night. What's wrong?"
- "I heard something outside. I think that-ah?" she began to say, but then the sound of the window being slowly and carefully prised open was heard. That woke Amberley up rather more speedily, and she picked up her boomerang from where it lay next to her bed, the bladed end of it swishing out from its sheath with a masterful flick of her wrist.
- "I think someone's in a hurry to get themselves killed." she muttered quietly. Christine was rather surprised at the change in her friend's demeanour, but she put it down to sullenness at being woken in the middle of the night and anger at whoever was trying to break into their room in such a way. Amberley tiptoed over and stood beside the window, out of sight of anyone who may be looking in. The window slowly opened... and then a smallish figure leapt nimbly through the opening and crouched low to the floor... right before getting to feel the cold steel of Amberley's boomerang blade dangerously close to the back of their neck.
- "Don't even think about moving a muscle," the black kite instructed, "or I assure you it's the last thing you'll ever think."
- The intruder froze where they were. Whoever it was apparently hadn't been expecting this. They did, however, let out a low hiss. Amberley remained unfazed, her blade held steady. "Get the light, Chris." she instructed. "Let's see what we're dealing with here." Moments later, soft lamplight glowed from the lantern Christine now held as she walked over toward Amberley and the intruder. Both of them however gasped slightly in surprise once they got a good look at the figure hunched under the blade of Amberley's boomerang.
- "...she's just a child!" Christine exclaimed in a hushed tone.
- "She certainly doesn't look to be more than a teenager." Amberley agreed.
- Indeed, the brightly garbed figure appeared no older than about seventeen at the most. She was a cat, svelte of figure and with tabby orange markings. A rather large longbow was slung over her shoulders. She raised her amber-yellow eyes up slightly toward her captors.
- "So what if I'm still young?" she spat. "I've been able to use a bow since I was three years old. That's the way things work round here-either you learn to defend yourself and live, or you fail to learn anything and die."
- "Harsh." commented Amberley, moving her blade away from the young girl's neck. "Come, stand up. I won't hurt you-on this occasion. But you'd better tell me what you were planning."
- The cat stood up. She was a good inch or more shorter than Christine, but it seemed what she lacked in stature she made up for in spirit. She was also a bit taller than Amberley-but that made her no less wary of the latter's large blade.
- "Hmph. Well if you absolutely must know, I was planning on relieving you of any reasonably worthwhile goods you might have had." she stated nonchalantly.
- "You're a thief, in other words." Christine frowned.
- "We should probably notify whatever constitutes as the authorities around here." Amberley sighed.
- "No, please!" the cat pleaded, suddenly looking in an alarmed fashion at Amberley. "You... you mustn't do that!"
- Both avians were puzzled by this response. "Entertain us as to why not." Amberley frowned, placing the end of her boomerang on the floor and leaning on it slightly. The young feline looked at the floor, hanging her head.
- "Please, don't tell on me. If... if the elders found out what I was up to... well, I'd probably be thrown into the depths to die."
- Christine raised her eyebrows. "That's pretty harsh, young miss... uhm, what was your name?"
- The cat looked up at her hesitantly. "Lume... my family name's Lume." she said after a few moments.
- "Pretty name. Do you have a first name as well, young miss Lume?" Amberley questioned her.
- "...Jennifer." the cat replied. "Look, seriously... don't tell anyone. Please?"
- "What I'd like to know myself," stated Christine, "is why you decided to try stealing from us in the first place."
- Jennifer cast her gaze down again. "It's a really stupid reason." she mumbled.
- "Then you won't mind telling us." Amberley asserted plainly.
- "...it was... I was dared to, by some friends of mine. They bet me I couldn't do it, I bet I could... well, it looks like I lost."
- "Sounds like you've a poor choice in friends."
- "Shut up! What would you know anyway? You don't know what it's like living out here, how hard it is to get by. Have you any idea at all what it's like, being stuck in a place you hate every day of your life, desperate to be free but never having that opportunity?" Jennifer glared, her question more of a challenge than anything else.
- Amberley's icy gaze fell upon the girl, and yet there was a hint of kindness in her tone. "Yes. Actually, I do. That's the life I've lived for the past twenty-three years, or thereabouts. Granted, I've not had the hardship of having to eke out an existence that you surely have in this place, but my freedoms have always been carefully monitored."
- Jennifer regarded her with an air of suspicion, yet it was clear a part of her could tell there was some truth to what she was saying. "Alright, maybe you do understand. A bit." she stated tartly. "That being the case, how'd you escape?"
- "Simple." Amberley smiled. "I found something I really enjoy, and convinced my family they should let me go and be the best I can at it."
- "...that's it?" Jennifer frowned. "That doesn't sound very likely."
- "No? Well here's a challenge for you, then." Amberley smiled, and she folded the blade of her boomerang back inside the hilt. The mechanism made a soft click as the blade was tucked away. "We'll let you go free and not tell anyone-on condition that you promise not to try anything stupid like what you did tonight again. And..."
- "And?" the cat frowned, her fiery gaze set firmly on the black kite.
- "And also, I want you to promise to try what I said. Find something you're good-no, find something that you're excellent at, or can be, and pursue it. Grab hold of whatever dream you have with both hands, and don't let go of it."
- Jennifer frowned, looking thoughtful. "...a lot of people tell me I'm pretty good at my archery..." she ventured.
- Christine smiled. "There you are then." she stated. "We'll see you out in the wider world when you've become great enough that your people can't help but let you venture outside to show the rest of the world how great you are."
- Jennifer looked round at her with a bemused look. "You must've gotten hold of some crazy mushrooms or something." she said, raising an eyebrow. Christine gave her a hurt look, but not for the reasons Jennifer no doubt presumed. "Alright, sorry." she apologised, and sighed. "Fine. I'll give it a shot. See how good I can be, maybe it will get me somewhere."
- "Good girl." Christine nodded, her pleased expression returning.
- "OK then." Amberley agreed, and moved aside from the window. "Go on, scram. Don't let us see you again, unless it's in broad daylight and you're stopping to be sociable."
- "Got it." Jennifer mumbled. "I'll be going then." Without waiting for any further commentary from the two crew members, she took a few swift steps forward and dove out the window, vanishing into the night. Christine pulled the window shut and locked it properly.
- "That was a rare experience." she noted thoughtfully.
- "Quite so. But who knows? Maybe she'll make something of herself." Amberley yawned. "She won't come back again though I'd wager. I'm going back to sleep." And with that she headed back to her bed and climbed in, pulling the covers over herself. "Do try to get some rest yourself, Chris." she added in a sleepy tone, her eyes already shut. A few moments later and her breathing was audibly deep and relaxed. Christine couldn't help being jealous of her friend's ability to drift off so quickly under the circumstances. If her stomach were less upset she'd probably manage to as well, but currently... She sighed in a slightly annoyed fashion and climbed back into bed as well, deciding to make the most of it whilst she could.
- Morning came, finding Christine still dozing peacefully on her bed. Mercifully, her crew mates let her sleep-at least one of them was already aware of the small ordeal she'd been through last night, mushroom allergy notwithstanding.
- Thus the rest of the crew gathered sooner or later for breakfast at a table set aside for them in the inn's dining area. What conversation there was revolved mainly around everyone's impressions of the place they found themselves in now. Max inquired of Christine's whereabouts, but wasn't surprised to learn she was still in bed due to feeling somewhat delicate. Amberley made no mention of the visitor they had had last night, preferring for now to keep the matter to herself. Besides, she didn't want to unnecessarily alarm any of the others-especially not the Captain. It wasn't until everyone had eaten that Christine finally showed her face, looking a little less under the weather than she had done last night. She apologised for worrying anyone, which was somewhat typical of her. She sat down next to Amberley on the bench the former was sat upon, and whispered "You didn't say anything about last night, right?"
- Amberley shook her head and whispered back "No, not a word. I think it would be for the best if we kept the matter to ourselves for now, you know?"
- Christine nodded in agreement. "Sounds good to me." she whispered, then raised her voice to normal speaking tones. "I must say I'll be glad to get going... as nice as it is to be somewhere warm like this, the humidity's really killing me."
- "Killing you?" Liam smiled. "It's absolute murder for us guys."
- Christine giggled at that. "Hey, like I told you the other day, not my fault you didn't plan ahead. You've only yourselves to blame!" she said with a smile.
- Liam laughed. "Good to see you're feeling better, Chrissy." he replied.
- "Yeah, what he said." Max agreed.
- "Thanks guys." the white eagle smiled.
- "So Captain," inquired Kenneth, "what's our plan of action for today?"
- "Well," began Rufus, putting down the mug he'd just taken a drink from, "we should have a full water tank again by this afternoon, so once we do we'll be spreading our wings again." He smiled. "I'm sure the most of us are eager to get going anyway, what with the climate here being a tad warm and all."
- The crew nodded their assorted heads in agreement. "You can say that again, Cap'n." Rachael piped up. "I mean aye, it's nice here an' a', but the heat's a killer. Even if there're a buncha scantily clad well-built strapping young lads knocking about the place, that on its own ain't quite enough to persuade me to want to stick around."
- Amberley let out a giggle. "Lock up your sons, mothers, here comes Rachael." she smiled. Her friend just grinned back. "Ain't gonna argue with that, Amberley. You know me too well." she laughed.
- "Rachael's appetite notwithstanding, we'll want to get going around midday." Rufus smirked. "We've a fairly long haul ahead of us to Salabashtar. Thankfully I've been able to pick up some business from here to help sweeten the voyage."
- "Aha? What sort of a deal have you cut whilst we weren't looking?" joked Max.
- "Nothing terribly exciting. Just some hauling of mail from here to there. As I'm sure you can understand, they don't get many visitors out here, and the normal mail freighters only pass through about once every month-if they're lucky. Or so I'm told."
- "You're right, that isn't terribly exciting." Gavin flatly agreed. "Mail, huh? Well, at least that's nice and straightforward."
- Rufus nodded. "It's not. But with that said, we're getting paid a reasonable recompense for our trouble." He glanced around at the rest of his crew. "Well, I think that covers any items of business we needed to discuss. Anyone have anything else we need to talk about at the moment?" His question was met with silence and shaking of heads, so he continued "OK then. I'll expect everyone back at the ship in no more than three hours from now. She needs to be ready to go no later than one this afternoon."
- His crew all gave their acknowledgement and one by one got up to leave the table.
- Captain's Log, Dhià rnan Expedition, Day 54 Rufus read.
- We departed from the Great Forest today, making a heading for the city of Salabashtar. In the hold we are carrying a few large postal sacks-letters from the lumber harvesters, salt refiners, water collectors and many other people, to the outside world. It must be a strange feeling, to be situated so far away from the civilisation you are familiar with-yet these people amaze me nonetheless. They have adapted well and even thrive here, in spite of adverse conditions such as sweltering heat and oppressive humidity.
- Our plotted course will take us through sparsely charted skies. I admit I am somewhat apprehensive, and yet at the same time somewhat excited. I believe it is the knowledge of the uncertainty ahead that stirs these feelings in my heart. However, I have every faith in my ship, my crew, and myself, that we shall pull through whatever hazard may lie ahead, and reach our destination unscathed.
Oh snap, didn't update for a while.
Here's Chapter 7.
Chapter 7
"To arms! We're under attack! Prepare to repel boarders!" Rufus's alarm cry rang clearly through the halls of the ship, echoing clearly through the intercom system. After repeating the alert once or twice, he left the wheel in the hands of Rachael and headed up toward the ship's upper deck, pursued by most of the rest of his crew.
Rufus was first out of the access shaft, followed closely by Amberley, then Max, Barta, and the rear was brought up by Liam and Gavin. The rest of the crew remained below, taking care of keeping the ship moving and anything else that needed done.
The red kite's hand went for the hilt of his blade, pulling it out of its sheath. His trigger finger instinctively curled partly round the pistol's grip, not grasping the trigger yet. Amberley had already pulled out her boomerang and extended the blade, and was now hooking it up to the retraction cord mechanism strapped firmly to her belt. Max, Liam and Gavin had all drawn their weapons of choice, ranging from a pair of daggers for Max to a rather lengthy cutlass for Liam. Gavin meanwhile had a short sword in one hand and a small steam-powered dart-gun in the other, the latter of which was of similar design to the kind that was present in Rufus's weapon. The main difference of course was that the Gladius Gun wasn't designed for use as either a sword or a pistol on its own, instead it made a good amount of usage of both. There were several ways of wielding it, but Rufus tended to wield his in such a way that the point of the blade was towards the floor, with the pistol held normally - if he was aiming the pistol part anyway.
As for Barta, he wasn't even holding any sort of weapon at all - though this was probably due to the fact that he possessed a perfectly functional set of large claws on the end of each arm, and had considerable physical strength to match.
The lot of them now held their gaze on the hostile airship that had come very close, and the black pennant flying from a pole at its front that identified it as a pirate vessel. It was strange, Rufus found himself thinking momentarily. After all, if you wanted to go about attacking other ships, wouldn't you want to not give the game away so soon by flying a black flag? Of course, he supposed, it likely made it easier for pirate vessels to better identify each other... but it still seemed a bit odd to him that they'd do it. He shrugged his shoulders, loosening up a bit. By now the other ship had drawn near enough that he could just about make out the pirates standing atop the other ship. He narrowed his eyes.
"Alright guys, here's the plan. We'll let them come in just close enough to grapple us. Once they start trying to board, we fend 'em off. Then we'll give 'em a big surprise."
"What sorta surprise, Cap'n?" questioned Liam. His vulpine friend grinned impishly.
"The kind they won't be expecting, Lee. You'll like it, I promise!"
Amberley cast a sidelong glance at Rufus. "You guys have done this sort of thing before, haven't you?" she said quietly.
"Maybe once or twice." Rufus smirked, then his expression hardened again. "Look alive, here we go!"
Sure enough, large weighty hooks had been hurled onto the deck and were now pulled back, sticking fast on the guard rails. The pirate ship, which was a little smaller and speedier than the Spirit, started gaining altitude. It was pretty much a standard boarding tactic - if your ship was higher up than the one you were boarding, you could easily slide down the ropes or cables you'd attached to your hooks. In this case, the pirates in question had primarily used some rather sturdy looking ropes, which now strained at their hooks but held firm. Rufus took a glance at the meter on his pistol. It was ready to fire at any time.
And now, down the ropes, the boarders came, one or two at a time. Rufus frowned, carefully aiming the pistol at the nearest man... and there was a loud PAF as he squeezed the trigger. The stricken boarder screamed, losing his grip on the rope and tumbling into the clouds below. There was another similar sound as Gavin picked off another pirate, with similar consequences. However, there were more pirates than either of them could shoot down, what with how much time the weapons required to re-pressurise.
Of course, that was why both of them had a blade to hand, and it was also why the other crew members were there. There was a brief swish-zip sound as Amberley's boomerang flew from her hand, slicing through the air with frightening speed. The sharp edge met the end of one of the ropes about halfway along its length, and neatly sliced through it before arcing back round and down to Amberley's waiting hand. Rufus was quietly impressed by this, but he saw to hacking through another rope himself. Liam had meanwhile engaged one or two boarders in single combat as they'd actually made it on board the ship. Gavin soon joined his friend, evening out the numbers. Perhaps most terrifying of all though was Barta, who could be seen at the hook end of one of the ropes literally throwing the pirates off their line as they came. It didn't take more than a few minutes of this before Gavin and Liam's opponents joined the rest of their friends. Glancing up, Rufus could see that no further members of the opposing ship's crew seemed to be in any hurry to try boarding - indeed, they seemed to be in a greater hurry to hack away the ropes attaching their ship to the Spirit, of which there were now only two remaining. Rufus grinned. "Any moment now." he said. Sure enough, the ship suddenly lurched upwards underneath them, and there was the sound of metal shutters being opened.
Realisation dawned on the faces of Liam and Amberley almost simultaneously. "We're sinking them?" Amberley blinked in surprise.
"Sinking them? No, not exactly." Rufus shook his head. "Granted, some of them were foolish enough to want to be pirates, and try attacking other people for their own gain." He glanced over at the pirate ship as their own now drew nearly level with it in altitude. "But I guarantee you there are some aboard that ship who'd rather not live and die by the sword, so to speak. So we're going to let them think about it carefully." Almost as soon as the words had left his mouth, there was a colossal BAM from below them, and the Spirit shook beneath their feet as its cannons opened fire. Even though they were not especially high grade weapons, they had been kept in excellent shape-and at such close range, the chance of them missing were very small indeed. This fact was soon evidenced by three or four large gaping holes punched in the hull of the other ship, one of which now had smoke beginning to pour out of it.
"Well, we know where their engine room is." Rufus noted. He then slashed through one of the remaining ropes, and Amberley sliced through the other, freeing them from the now stricken pirate vessel. The Spirit now started to easily pull away from its attackers now that the latter's propellers were out of commission. Rufus watched the ship as they pulled away, putting his weapon back in its sheath. The others on deck slowly followed suit.
"...do you think they'll be alright...?" Amberley ventured quietly.
"The ones that could fly or had PFDs should be fine." Rufus assured. "But if there were any that didn't..."
"Then they've probably returned to nothing." Barta stated bluntly, a grim look on his face. The rest of those on deck turned to look at him. "Don't waste too much time mourning their loss. They were pirates after all." he finished, then turned and walked away, retreating down the access shaft. The rest of the deck-hands stood there for a few moments mulling over what he'd just said.
"...subtle as a smack in the jaw, but he's right." Liam stated after a moment. Gavin nodded in agreement, as did Max after a moment's consideration.
Rufus slowly nodded as well. "True." He looked over toward the access shaft where Barta had disappeared. "...and I think that may have been the longest sentence I've ever heard him utter." he added. He shook his head with a sigh, then headed for the shaft. "Well, we've taken care of that distraction. Let's get back to work. There're still several miles to cover. Chop chop!" he smiled, with a clap of his hands accompanying the last two words. Max, Liam, Gavin and Amberley blinked and nodded, as though just snapped out of some sort of trance. The lot of them headed back down the shaft and returned to their duties. Rufus himself headed for his room, closing the door behind him once he reached it and sitting down at his desk with a sigh. If there was one thing that always got to him, it was times like these. Granted, he knew that the majority of those who'd tried attacking the ship would be fine-but it still bothered him that there likely would be a select few whose PFDs failed, or had simply not worn them in the first place. He shook his head, taking from his desk drawer a small hip flask, and downing some of the stiff alcohol therein. The strong, fiery bitter taste in his mouth made him cough a little and shake his head briskly as though trying to clear it. It did help a little, and he pushed any grim thoughts to the back of his head. They were matters that didn't need his attention, so they could wait. What now demanded his attention was working on the papers laid on the desk in front of him. They related to what supplies were still left and for how long they would last, the amount of money they were getting for assorted tasks that had been undertaken, and a number of other administrative issues that, whilst annoying, were a necessary evil of running a ship. Besides, engaging himself in this would distract his mind from what had just been going on.
Hours passed, and just as he finished scribbling down some notes in a small leather bound book he kept locked safely away, a knock sounded at the door.
"Come in." he said plainly, putting the book away and locking his desk drawer. The door opened and Amberley walked in, carrying a small plate of food. Rufus blinked at her in surprise. "Hello Amberley." he said. "Any reason you brought your dinner with you?"
She laughed a little at the question. "This isn't my dinner, Captain. It's yours. We had ours nearly three hours ago. You must have been working awfully hard."
Rufus blinked again and glanced over at the clock he kept on his desk. Sure enough, by the particular hours they normally kept, dinner time had indeed long since passed by. "Jings and gee-whiz, you're right." he admitted. He smiled and filed the papers away into the larger book he had open on the desk, closing it and putting it aside. The smell of the food Amberley had brought was already getting to him, his stomach suddenly reminding him that indeed he hadn't eaten for quite some time now and he should perhaps do something about it. "Well," he said slightly sheepishly as his stomach growled audibly, "I suppose I'd best eat."
"Indeed you should." Amberley nodded with an amused smile. She'd also brought some cutlery for him which she placed on the desk. "Go right ahead."
Rufus needed no further encouragement to do as advised, tucking into the meal with gusto. Whilst he was taking care of that, Amberley wandered over to the large windows at the back of the room, gazing out at the sky beyond. It was already darkening in that direction, the clouds below starting to take on an orange-pink wash of colour as the sun sank further below them. The moon would probably be visible soon - possibly even more than one of them. It was well known after all that Atlas had at least four moons, although very rarely was it possible to see more than one of them clearly in the sky at the same time. Nevertheless, it did happen in some parts of the world, and there existed some very beautiful paintings and the occasional photograph of such events. Amberley had seen a few of these back home, although she'd never witnessed such a thing happening in person.
Rufus finished up the meal she'd brought him and wiped his beak. "Thanks Amberley." he said gratefully. She walked back around the front of the desk with a smile, picking up his plate. "You're welcome, Rufus. It was my pleasure." she added sweetly.
"You're too kind lass." he smiled. She leaned forward over the desk and kissed his cheek.
"And you work yourself too hard sometimes, sweetheart." she replied as she straightened up.
"I suppose I do, but it's important to set an example, y'know?" he replied. It was a bad excuse, but she let him off with it this time.
"Oh very well, I suppose I can't argue when you put it like that." she laughed. "Just don't go setting too good an example, OK?" she went on in a softer tone. "I do worry about you sometimes, you know."
He smiled. "I know." He got to his feet with a shrug. "I'll take a break just now then, will that make you happy?"
"Very happy." Amberley replied, picking up his plate and cutlery. "I'll take this down to the kitchen and clean it up, everything else has already been washed. Why don't you go and stretch your legs, get some fresh air?"
"Capital idea. I'll get right on that." he nodded. It was a good idea after all. He'd been sat here for so long now his legs had started to cramp up a bit. He walked to the door a little stiffly, holding it open for Amberley. She thanked him with a smile and a nod of her head as she exited the room, heading down the short flight of stairs into the ship's main corridor. She disappeared round the corner in the direction of the galley. Rufus let his room's door shut behind it before locking it securely, and he set off along the corridor as well, taking a slightly different route. A little while later he was at the sky deck's access shaft, which he ascended. The air was pleasantly warm as he exited the hatch, with a very slight breeze blowing. The ship had already been anchored for the night, the anchors floating overhead swaying slightly to and fro. He was pleasantly surprised to find he wasn't the only one who'd come up to get some fresh air and a walk around: Christine and Rachael were up here too, and so was Kenneth. They were sat near the nose of the ship, and they looked round and greeted him happily as he approached.
"Good evening Captain!" Kenneth said cheerfully as Rufus approached and sat down between him and Rachael. "I trust the day finds you well?"
Rufus nodded. "Aye, I'm not doing too badly."
"I can imagine." Rachael agreed. "Certainly not after receiving personal waitress service from young Lady Otra." she added with a wink.
"Huh? How did you know about that?" he asked without thinking. Rachael grinned.
"Who do you think gave her a hand in the kitchen washing up after dinner tonight? She felt really bad about you missing it, so she made dinner for you herself once we finished washing up and said she'd take it to you herself."
"Ah, right..." he smiled sheepishly. "Well, I can't really deny an eyewitness account. Yes, I rather did enjoy my dinner. I was touched she came and delivered it too, she didn't have to do that."
"She did not, no, however it is often said that when we love someone that we will go the extra mile for them, so to speak." Kenneth asserted.
"What are you suggesting?" Rufus said a little too hastily, his slightly panicked expression poorly concealed. Kenneth shook his head with a smile, and both Rachael and Christine let out a giggle.
"Forgive me should I sound at all disrespectful, Captain," Kenneth began, "but are you really that foolish? Do you believe that we others of your crew do not possess eyes, ears and intellect?" The eagle's piercing gaze bored into Rufus's eyes from behind his spectacles. It was a friendly look he had on his face, but Rufus also detected a hint of a challenging tone in his voice, along with perhaps the slightest note of hurt.
After a long pause, Rufus smiled, his expression softening into a smile. "Not for one moment I don't, Ken." he said, and his smile broadened. "There's really no point trying to hide it by now, is there?"
"So you two are, ah, romantically involved then?" Christine asked in a slightly shy tone, unsure of exactly how to term it. Rufus nodded.
"Yes... yes, we are. However, I'm not letting it affect how I do things-well, not too much anyway. But I'm trying to not let it get in the way of me still being the best ship's captain I can be."
Rachael grinned. "Aye Cap'n, we figured as much. And you're doing an admirable job of it, so don't worry so much."
"OK." Rufus replied, then let out a deep breath. "OK." he said again. "Heh, it feels good to finally own up to that." He was slightly surprised as he finished his sentence to feel a pair of arms slide over his shoulders from behind, and someone cuddle up to his back. He didn't need to try guessing who it was doing it though.
"Probably just as well you did Rufus, you'd have a lot of explaining to do right now otherwise." Amberley's voice cooed in his ear. The other three sat with him laughed.
"Subtle, ain't she?" Rachael commented.
"As a brick." Rufus agreed. "Hello Amberley."
"Hello Rufus." she smiled, wrapping her arms snugly round him. "You weren't planning on going anywhere, were you?"
"Not any more." he chuckled.
"Good." she glanced round at the others with a smile. "I was wondering when he was going to let the cat out of the bag. If he'd taken any longer about it I'd have had to do it instead-though from the sounds of it you'd all already guessed. I have to admit I'm a little disappointed in myself for not managing to be as covert as I may have liked." she said in mock sadness.
"You do seem to go together rather well." Christine said with a small smile. "I'm pleased for you, Amberley-oh, and you as well of course, Rufus."
"I'm glad to see you net yourself someone at last, myself." Rachael grinned cheekily.
"Oh shush, Rachael." Amberley smirked. "You know very well it's not like I've never been chased after before. It's just that I have standards."
"Aye, that's true an' all." the squirrel conceded. "Guess it's fortunate Roofy here meets 'em then, eh?"
"He exceeds them, definitely." Amberley said with a slight hint of smugness.
"...Roofy!?" Rufus exclaimed, giving Rachael a pained look.
"Sorry Cap'n!" the squirrel chuckled. "Couldn't help myself, I do that every so often." She leaned forward surreptitiously, lowering her voice. "Come talk to me later and I'll tell you her nickname."
Amberley's eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare...!"
"Right, of course I wouldn't." her friend replied with a Cheshire Cat grin.
Kenneth chuckled. "Ah, it is good to see everyone in such high spirits." he smiled.
"Aye, it is. Alright you two, cut it out." Rufus instructed Rachael and Amberley, who had descended into making silly-sounding threats at each other. They did as instructed, both offering their apologies with a daft grin.
"Say, Rufus..." Amberley started.
"Yes?" he replied, turning his head slightly to look at her.
"Seeing as we're out here, why don't we bring everyone up and have some fun?"
"Hmm... what did you have in mind?"
"Well," Amberley began, "I don't know about everyone else, but it feels like too long since I heard a good song, or even just a lively bit of music."
"Now that you mention it, it has been ages since I heard a good tune." Rachael agreed. "I could do with some music to sooth me tired bones, so to speak."
"I too would enjoy indulging in some musical recreational activity." Kenneth stated.
"So long as you're going to sing us a song, Amberley." Christine smiled.
"Ah?" Amberley said, as though taken by surprise. Her voice went a little quiet. "Well um, I suppose so..."
"Alright then!" Rufus grinned. "I'll go spread the word and grab my mandolin. It has been a while since I gave its strings some plucking after all." He got to his feet as Amberley slightly reluctantly released her grip on him and headed back down below deck, first heading into his room to pick up the aforementioned instrument, and then heading into the galley. That was the usual gathering place for the crew when they were off-duty, and once the ship was anchored and everyone had eaten dinner, those who were off-duty usually meant just about everyone on board. Hence it was no surprise that Liam, Gavin, Shona, Max, Alan and Barta were all in there either playing cards or just nattering away to each other.
"'Evening Cap'n!" Max cheerily greeted him from where he sat at a table with Liam, Gavin and Barta. "To what do we owe the pleasure?" he asked in a slightly joking tone.
"Just thought I'd stop in and see how everyone's doing." Rufus explained. "That and to ask if you fancied coming topside for a little evening music."
"Ah, a bit of song and dance is it?" Gavin grinned. "I'd love to Cap'n, though not just at the moment." he indicated a pile of peanuts in the middle of the table. "I'm currently winning."
"Emphasis on currently." Liam smirked from behind his cards.
"What he said." nodded Max. "Sorry Cap'n. Start without us, we'll come on up once we're done putting him in his place." he added with a devilish grin. As for Barta, he just glanced at the cards, at the table, then at Rufus and then back at his cards with a slight grunt. Rufus could tell what that meant more or less.
"Fair enough then lads." he looked round at Shona and Alan, who were sat idly watching the card game. "And you two?"
Shona got to her feet. "Aye, I'm in. It'll be more fun than watching these lads getting beaten over and over." she smirked.
"Yeah, likewise." Alan smiled, rising as well. "The only music I've been listening to of late is that of the engine. Not that she doesn't sing a very lovely song as far as my ears are concerned, but you know what they say-even the most beautiful music descends into monotony when heard often enough."
Rufus nodded, noting to himself that perhaps he should place Alan on engine room duty a little less often for a while. "Alright then. Let's head on up." he smiled. "See you boys later!" he called with a wave to the card players as he and the other two exited the galley and wandered along the corridor.
"Never knew you were the musical sort, Rufus." Alan piped up, noting the mandolin he was carrying.
"I'm not-well, that's not wholly true, I'm not bad I guess." Rufus admitted. "But I'm nothing special-heck, if I was I'd be making money from it. Naw, I'm better suited to running a ship than tickling the strings, not that I don't enjoy both."
"That I can believe." Shona nodded. "I can sing a little myself, but in my case I'm definitely better at navigating than stretching my vocal cords, or so I'm told."
"Well don't let that stop you if you still feel like singing." Rufus smiled. Shona shot a grin back at him.
"Fair enough Cap'n, but don't say I didn't warn you if yer ears hurt after."
The three of them climbed back up to the sky deck and headed back over to the group sat near the nose. Rufus sat back down, and Amberley threw her arms round him again and hugged him without thinking. Rufus didn't stop her either-it was only once it was a few seconds too late to do so that the both of them suddenly got a panicked expression on their faces and slowly looked round at Shona and Alan.
The both of them just burst out laughing at that.
"Skies above Cap'n, your face is a picture!" Shona managed to say between gasps of laughter. Alan on the other hand couldn't get a word out for several seconds until he finally managed to stop laughing and get some breath back.
"You both knew then?" Amberley asked.
"In all fairness lass, you didn't exactly hide it too well." Shona smiled. "Nor did you." she added, looking at Rufus.
"I guess I did a far poorer job of it than I imagined." Amberley admitted.
"Ah, don't let it get to you." Alan reassured her. "I think I speak for everyone when I say if we thought you - either of you - were making a mistake we'd have said something about it by now." The assembled other crew members nodded.
"Well then," Rufus smiled, plucking the strings of the mandolin experimentally, and starting to tune it, "anyone have any favourites they want to hear?" When this was met with several moments of silence, he said "I'll get us started then. This an old song from back home, so I'm not sure if you'll have heard it at all."
He plucked the strings melodiously and started to sing:
O'er Tellà rain
Where wand'rers fly
To take their rest,
Where ships and men are
The finest ones you've met:
Our old republic
Though time may march on
We'll soar back to you
Time and again.
The skies once echoed
With sounds of war
And voices brave
We fought and died here
Tis here you'll find our grave:
Our old republic
Where battles blazed long
We'll soar back to you
Time and again.
The skies are calm now
The clouds are few
And far between
But our hearts know this
Silverhead will still be:
Our old republic
Your mem'ry lives on
We'll soar back to you
Time and again.
There was a hint of pride in Rufus's voice as he finished his song. It was something he couldn't help really; the song had been taught to him by his parents when he was still a child, and the tune had stayed with him since. Amberley let out a faint sigh of admiration next to his ear. "That was a wonderful song, Rufus. I've never heard anyone make such poetry of Zeal. You must promise me you'll show me Silverhead some day."
"I will." he replied, then glanced round the rest of the group. "Any requests, folks?" he smiled.
"I have one." Christine piped up.
"Aha?" Rufus looked over at her. She was pulling something from a pocket. It turned out to be a small flute made out of some kind of wood he'd never seen before. She smiled.
"Care to play along for a bit?"
"Lead on, maestro." Rufus nodded.
Christine obliged. The flute's sound was high-pitched yet hauntingly pleasant somehow. It took a few minutes of her playing before she found a tune Rufus was suitably familiar with in order to accompany her.
Some minutes later she stopped, lowering the flute from her mouth with a smile. The other assorted crew members applauded, bar Rufus who still had his hands full with his own instrument.
"That was lovely, you two." Alan commented.
"I had no idea you knew how to play such an instrument." Shona said, looking at Christine with new-found admiration.
"Well, it's not often I have the call or chance to." she said shyly. "I've only been playing a few years though."
"You seem to have a natural talent for it or something." Rachael grinned.
"Yep, you do at that." Rufus agreed.
"Thank you everyone." Christine replied, a hint of redness around her cheeks. "Perhaps we should do this more often."
"I'd be happy with that." Rufus grinned, then glanced to Amberley. "Are we going to have the pleasure of your singing tonight as well?"
She nodded. "Yes, I'd be happy to. You know how to play..." and she leaned close to Rufus's ear and whispered, before leaning back again from it. "...that song, right?"
He nodded. "Of course! I've heard it many a time." He began to pluck the strings again, producing a gentle melody. Amberley let him play a few bars, before beginning to sing gently.
When all the world is a hopeless jumble
And the raindrops tumble all around,
Heaven opens a magic lane
When all the clouds darken up the skyway,
There's a rainbow highway to be found
Leading from your window pane
To a place behind the sun,
Just a step beyond the rain
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.
Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Far above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true
Some day I'll wake and rub my eyes
And in that land beyond the skies
You'll find me
I'll be a laughing daffodil
And leave the silly cares that fill
My mind behind me
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true
If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?
About halfway through her song the rest of the crew from below deck had wandered up and sat down among their fellows. There was a smattering of applause from all of them as Amberley stopped singing.
"That was pretty good!" Liam complimented.
"Aye, didn't know you had that sorta talent Amberley." Gavin agreed.
"Thanks guys." Amberley smiled, looking slightly embarrassed. She then sat back down next to Rufus, as she'd been standing when she started to sing in order to get the most out of her voice. There was a little bit of surprise among the four who'd come up from below though when she then snuggled back up to him and he put his arm round her, though they soon just grinned at that.
"Finally came out about it then, did you?" Max smirked.
"It was really this obvious the whole time?" Rufus asked, looking slightly crestfallen.
"Cap'n, you might be good at keeping other people's secrets but yer rubbish at keeping your own." Gavin snickered. Rufus gave him a slightly hurt look, to which he replied "Hey, don't look at me like that. Just stating a fact is all. You're still a brilliant Captain even if yer flawed."
Rufus smiled. "Well I suppose when you put it that way I can't really find it in my heart to argue with you." he laughed.
They spent almost another hour or two sat there at the front of the ship, singing songs and telling tales, sharing jokes and generally becoming a closer-knit group.
"Here's to you, my friends." Rufus spoke quietly to the empty skies as he stood now at the end of the day, watching the sun begin to sink into the clouds from the nose of the once beautiful airship. "May your souls find rest wherever they may have fled to. Some day we shall meet again." He turned and walked back along the top of the ship, his footfalls echoing across the endless seas of cloud below.
And Chapter 8. 2 for the price of 1!
Chapter 8
Morning found Rufus awake early as per usual. Something, however, felt different. He couldn't put his finger on it, but for some reason he felt as though today would be different. He mostly shook the feeling off as he pulled on his clothes and headed to get his breakfast, going about the usual routine he now found ordinary despite his not wishing to.
His surprise came, however, when he headed up to the sky deck to take a look around. Just visible maybe half a mile away was a ship. Not just any ship either - it had a large set of decorative wings adorning it, and they had very distinctive bright red tips, with further stripes along them.
"...the Red Wings!" Rufus gasped. "Skies above, I never thought I'd be so glad to see them!" he grinned madly. He started to wave as wildly as he could. "Ahoy! HEY! Over here! Help!" It was then that he remembered he actually had something to hand for this sort of occasion. Fishing in his pocket, he pulled out a small, blunt-tipped dart for his gun. This was no ordinary dart however, as was shown moments later once he'd loaded it into the gun, pointed it upwards at an angle and pulled the trigger, looking away from it. The dart flew up into the air, making a screaming high-pitched whistling sound, and summarily exploded in a shower of bright sparks and ash. Exactly what was in it Rufus wasn't sure, nor did he care right now. All he did know was it contained a small amount of nethicite and one or two other interesting things which made it do that.
He looked over again at the Red Wings' vessel, and was elated to note its change of course. "At last! Goodness me... I guess I can't be too far from Diadem now."
Some time later, the large Red Wings vessel floated alongside the Spirit. Its captain stood on the Spirit's sky deck, flanked by two of his crew. All three of them were dressed smartly in the distinctive Red Wings uniform - a hard-wearing deep maroon coloured long coat, sturdy black boots, and dark red shirt and trousers. Both of the captain's escorts carried Gladius Guns, which Rufus knew from some research and experience of his own were a grade or two more powerful than his own. Their captain himself carried a rather impressive looking halberd. Rufus guessed this must be a matter of personal preference, although the fact the man also had a steam pistol in a holster attached to his belt didn't escape his attention either. The captain's outfit also differed from that of his subordinates in that the shoulders of his coat were decorated with pauldrons, and he also had a few badges attached to his shirt. The man himself was a solidly built badger with a gruff but friendly voice.
"Blow me down my boy!" he said emphatically upon seeing Rufus. "It's a wonder you're still airborne!" Rufus couldn't help but agree.
"I won't argue with you there. She's been through one hell of a storm has this vessel of mine-I'm frankly astonished either of us pulled through."
"I don't blame you." the badger nodded, looking Rufus over. "You look like hell yourself. Are there any other survivors aboard?" Rufus cast his gaze downward, the man's question bringing to the front of his mind the stinging reality that everyone he'd spent the last two years or thereabouts caring for and enjoying the company of were gone. "Hmm. That's a no then." the badger nodded grimly. "I'm sorry to hear that, lad. Are you the captain of this ship?"
"Aye sir." Rufus replied, standing up straight as he could. "Captain Rufus Falcon of the RSA Spirit of Adventure, at your service."
"Oh, the one sent out to chart the world? Aye, I've heard of you. Some good work you're doing, it's come in very handy." the badger grinned. "Ah, where're my manners? Captain Brock Campbell of the 3rd Red Wings Air Fleet, at your service sir."
"And grateful I am for it as well, Captain Campbell. So, I must ask... will you be able to tow my pride and joy here back to Diadem?"
The badger frowned for a moment in thought. "Hmm... aye, Rufus. I reckon we just might be able to. How badly is she faring?"
"Brilliantly, all things considered. She's still in the air for a start. I've partly lost rudder control, plus one of the forward propellers is completely shot, and she's gotten a tad draughty what with how much she got dented and stripped, but she'll fly straight as an arrow or near enough if she's being towed."
Campbell smiled. "Glad to hear it. She's a tough old bird by the sound of it. They don't make 'em like that any more."
Rufus grinned proudly. "Ah, they do in some parts of the world, Cap'n. Just not as often these days."
"Heh. True, that." the badger conceded with a laugh. "Alright my lads!" he said to the two men flanking him, "head back aboard our ship, get some tow cables. This poor man's been stranded long enough, so I reckon." The two men nodded, saluted and climbed back aboard the Red Wings vessel via the boarding landings they'd put out on their arrival. Campbell turned his attention back to Rufus. "How long have you been out here, if you don't mind my inquiring?" Rufus squinted for a moment, thinking.
"Hmm... just over a month, it's been. I consider myself lucky in that regard."
"A whole month? Stars above, you must have nearly cracked!" Campbell exclaimed.
"I sometimes wonder if I haven't done already, to be honest." Rufus conceded. "After all, with what I've seen... I know everyone's going to think I'm crazy."
"That, my good man, sounds like a tale to be told whilst in the comfort of safe and secure surroundings whilst we head back home." the badger said with a twinkle in his eye. Rufus gave him a thankful smile.
"That's by far and away the best thing I've heard in weeks, Captain. I'd be happy to oblige you. Let me fetch a few things from on board and give your men a hand fixing up the tow cables and then I'll be set."
"Very well! I'll look forward to it!" the man said heartily, before heading back aboard his own ship. Rufus in turn quickly headed back below deck, heading to his room and gathering together a small bag of valuables, including the log book and the other books he used for tracking accounts and other things. With those things gathered, he returned to the upper deck. A few of Campbell's men were aboard, attaching sturdy cables with clamps to suitable mooring points on the ship. Rufus quickly went to their assistance, as he knew where the best points to attach the cables were. Not long thereafter he climbed up one of the boarding walkways onto the Red Wings vessel.
This ship was different to his own. Newer, more modern, the design was typical of a decent sized warship. It wasn't as long as Rufus's ship, but the design was more uniform, more sturdy. And more well-armed for battle too, he noted. He was soon noticed by the same two men he recognised as being the captain's escort from before, and they soon directed him toward the badger's office. He knocked firmly on the door.
"Enter!" came the gruff bark of Campbell's voice from the other side. Rufus pushed the door open. "Ah, it's our castaway." Campbell beamed. "So, we're all set then?"
"Looks that way, Captain Campbell." Rufus confirmed.
"Good. Good! I must say you're quite lucky we were passing through."
"I know. I'm not certain how many more days I would've lasted. I'll admit there were a few times I considered just taking a short-cut to the inevitable." Rufus stated grimly. Campbell nodded his head slowly.
"Mmm. I can see why the thought would cross your mind, certainly. Nothing quite so horrible as being shipwrecked and stranded at sea." He leaned back in his chair, indicating for Rufus to take a seat also.
"It's at least a day to Diadem, Rufus, probably more with us towing you. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear a bit more about what you've been up to. The skies around here are usually quite quiet, so we've not many tales to tell ourselves. A good story would warm my tired bones."
Rufus sat down as offered. "Alright, I suppose it'd be best to at least give you some idea of what's been going on with me." he agreed.
"My crew and I began our journey just over two years ago. As you've heard, we were charged with the task of charting the whole of the skies, at the bequest of the Pathos Geographers' Association." he began. "We went far and wide across these skies of Atlas. We came through wind and rain, hail and snow, thunder and lightning and more besides. We endured extreme heat, freezing cold... I've seen some of the great forests and even spent the night in some of them."
"Goodness, sounds like you've been having quite the adventure, lad." Campbell grinned.
"I have... I've seen many a thing along the way too. All the great cities of the world, the smaller settlements too..." he trailed off.
"Something troubling you, Rufus?"
Rufus looked the badger in the eye. "Yes. It's been troubling me ever since the day just over a month ago now. What I saw when my ship got pulled into the worst storm I've ever encountered." He pulled out the ship's log book. "Perhaps you should have a read yourself." he said, opening the log at the entry in question.
Captain's Log, Dhià rnan Expedition, Day 710.
I'm lost for words. Last night the ship was caught in the worst storm I have ever witnessed in all my years aloft. The damage has been disastrous, to both ship and crew. I have not yet begun to search, but I believe at this point I may be the sole surviving crew member aboard - how ironic that the captain should be the one to go down with his ship, and ultimately live...
The initial damage assessment is bad. Both wings have been shorn away, and the front windshield blasted out. I strongly suspect severe hull damage and that the forward thrusters have suffered also. Indeed, whether the ship will be anything more than an island now remains unclear.
However, what has removed my speech more than anything else is the sight I witnessed last night during that terrible maelstrom. We were sucked down into the very depths of the cloud sea - and lo! Through the black and roiling clouds below, there was water. Water as far as the eye could see... it is this that caused so much damage, as it rose like an enraged beast to smash upon us.
I will carry out a complete damage assessment in due course - at this stage I believe I shall have time enough to do so, as the Spirit is in no shape to fly. For now, I feel I must commit these words to paper lest I forget what I witnessed!
Campbell's eyes widened as he read over the log entry, then read over it again a few more times. "Were I a lesser man, Rufus, I'd call you a heretic, or perhaps a lunatic. Maybe even both." he stated plainly. "But I like to think I'm a better judge of character than that. You don't strike me as the kind to make something as fantastical as this up for the sake of controversy." He closed the book and slid it back across the table to Rufus, who placed it back in his bag of personal belongings before leaning forward slightly in his seat.
"Then permit me to beg the question, Captain. Do you believe me?"
Campbell's eyes narrowed, and he regarded Rufus for several long seconds with a calculating gaze before he spoke. "Aye, Rufus. Your tale's just crazy enough to be true. I've sailed these skies many a year, and found truth to often be far stranger than fiction. But," he leaned forward in his chair as he said this, "this matter doesn't leave this room, understood? Start telling my men about a sea of water under the clouds and you'll get yourself into trouble very quickly. They're paid to focus on their duties, not day-dream about possibilities."
Rufus grinned. "Understood, Captain." he confirmed, leaning back in his chair. The badger did likewise. "Let me tell you then about what happened when we visited Salabashtar for the first time."
"Ahh, that place." Campbell nodded. "Only been there once or twice, bit warm for my liking. Go on, though."
Rufus nodded. "Well..."
The telephone on Rufus's desk rang shrilly. He picked up the receiver, tapping the blunt end of the pen he was holding on his desk. "Captain here, go ahead."
"Flight deck here. We're approaching Salabashtar, sir!"
"Ah, marvellous! Alright, you know the drill. Signal when we're within range and bring us in to land once we're cleared."
"Got it Cap'n!" The line clicked as the current helmsman, Max, hung up the receiver. Rufus continued writing for a bit, finishing up the paperwork he'd been sorting out, and then got to his feet and left his office, locking the door behind him. At the bottom of the short flight of stairs up to his door, he almost bumped into Rachael.
"Ah, afternoon Cap'n!" she greeted him in her usual cheery manner. "We nearly there yet?"
"As it so happens, this time, yes!" Rufus replied with a broad grin. Over the past several days Rachael had been making a habit of asking him at least once per day if they were nearly at their next destination. It was understandable: this city and Diadem were many a days' journey apart.
"Oh! We are, finally?" she grinned back. "Well, about time too!"
"Aye, quite so. You're free currently, aren't you?"
"Not doing anything that can't wait, Cap'n."
"Good. Head topside and winch in the Kite, will you?"
"Aye aye sir!" Rachael smiled, heading off down the corridor and up on top of the ship. The vessel Rufus was referencing was of course the small glider that the ship towed behind it for use as a lookout post. It was more useful than a simple crow's nest, as it could be raised much higher above the ship and would get a clearer all around view. At this particular point in time it housed Shona, though she certainly had no objections to being brought back inside the ship.
Rufus meanwhile had headed through to the flight deck to get his first look at their destination. They were by now already heading into the city's port for docking. It was a fascinating city however, quite different from the two he'd seen so far. The overall construction methods seemed different for starters, and the architecture also was a far cry from that of either Zeal or Diadem. The buildings were more elegantly curved for one thing, not to mention there was a greater variety of colour adorning the walls of said buildings. Of course the design of the native ships here was different as well, but this was something he was accustomed to. At times like this, his ship was the rarity rather than the norm.
Something that really did strike him though, along with the rest of his crew, was the temperature around here once they'd left the confines of the ship.
"Good grief, it's roasting out here!" Liam exclaimed as he encountered the heat for the first time. "I thin this might even be worse than the Great Forest!"
"No kidding." Gavin agreed. "This is horrible, I can hardly think."
"Which is saying something, cos you rarely do much anyway." Liam smirked, which earned him a friendly punch on the arm from his vulpine companion.
"Hilarious, aren't you?" he chuckled.
"Now now, boys," Shona chided them, "play nicely. You can't start fighting already when we've only just arrived."
"You never let us have any fun, mum!" Gavin teased, earning him a smack round the ear from his target.
Rufus shook his head as he watched the three. "Alright, settle down guys. Let's not get ourselves thrown out of town before we've even had a chance to look around, hmm?"
The three of them nodded, Liam and Gavin each giving him a slightly daft smile. "Sorry Cap'n." they said in almost perfect unison.
"They're like twins, aren't they?" Shona noted.
"And at least one of them is calling you mum, Shona." Amberley pointed out.
"Hey! Stop making me feel old!" Shona said with a hurt look, though the tone of her voice said she didn't really feel as upset as she looked.
"All nuttiness aside, shall we go and have a look around this city?" Rufus asked. "It's rather different from where we've been so far. Be on your best behaviour, everyone. Especially you two." he said with a knowing look aimed at the crew's resident pair of troublemakers.
"Understood, Captain." Liam stated in a more serious sounding voice.
"Likewise, Rufus." Gavin acknowledged.
With that they set off to explore the city. As per the previous two occasions, Rufus instructed that they each head off to explore as they pleased, on the condition that they returned to the docks at an agreed hour to re-group and share their findings. Granted, none of this was a major part of their over-arching mission of mapping the skies, but it certainly made for interesting subject matter for the logs, and it also gave them all some direct experience of different people and cultures. After spending so many days at sea on an airship, such a thing was always something everyone ended up looking forward to, as it was a real breath of fresh air. This time around, the group generally stuck together initially. Perhaps it was because they were hungry, or maybe it was the enticing smells wafting through the air, but they all ended up wandering into a restaurant in the city's central plaza.
"Man, what are all these smells?" Shona wondered aloud. "I've never come across such an array of so many different tantalising scents in so small an area!"
"Salabashtar is famed for its spice and herb plantations." Kenneth spoke up. "Apparently this climate is ideal for their cultivation, so they make use of that for producing plenty."
"That explains a lot." Christine nodded.
"Ken sure knows his stuff." Rachael grinned. "So Ken, you know anything about the food in these parts?"
"I am afraid not, I must confess." the eagle stated. "Although I would assume that a general lack of knowledge among us all is one of the reasons we have congregated here, is it not?"
"Well that and we're hungry." Max grinned.
They found themselves seating at a free table. Unlike what they were used to, it seemed that it was customary in this region for the seating and tables to be lower to the ground. It was an odd feeling, but strangely comfortable too. Then they got a look at the menu, finally.
"Whoa, um... is it just me, or is this not written in standard Atlan?" Max queried, peering with a confused look at the menu.
"Hey, you're right..." Alan agreed. "I can't make head nor tail of this. What's going on?"
"By the looks of it, I'd say this must be one of the main languages in these parts." Kenneth stated. "It isn't completely unheard of. Granted, Standard is the spoken language in most parts of the world, if only for trade conveniences... but it is not quite so prevalent in writing." As he finished speaking, a waiter came to their table. He was dressed in long, loose clothing made of light-weight materials with bright colours. His accent was quite pronounced, and it took a few moments for those assembled round the table to notice that he was even speaking standard Atlan.
"Excusing me, customers." he said. "Are you all ready to be placing orders?"
"Ah... I'm afraid not. Sorry, this is our first time here." Rufus began to explain.
"Oh, first time in our humble restaurant? You wish recommendations sir?"
"Uh, no... our first time in this city. In this part of the world. Sorry."
"Ah!" the waiter smiled, nodding vigorously. "Apologies, travellers, it is not often we have the privilege of entertaining guests from outside of the area. You will of course try some of our famed cuisine nonetheless, yes?"
"That is why we're here after all." Alan stated matter-of-factly, an apologetic smile on his face.
"I fear however we may be hindered in our efforts to decide upon what we should sample under these current circumstances of illegibility." Kenneth stated.
"Beg pardon, sir?" the waiter asked, tilting his head at the eagle.
"What he meant to say was we can't read the menu, and we'd be extremely grateful if we could get a look at one written in standard Atlan, if it's available." Rufus translated.
"Ah! You should simply have said so, sir." the waiter smiled, ignoring the scowl the golden eagle was giving Rufus. "I shall take these, then." he continued, taking the menus from them.
"Thanks, we really appreciate it." Rufus nodded.
"It is no trouble, sir. Please be bearing with me, I shall return with something you are being able to understand." And he headed away with the menus.
Rufus glanced over at his bespectacled avian friend. "Come now Kenneth, you can't expect everyone in the world to be able to speak standard fluently, let alone with as many words as you use."
"No... no, I suppose I cannot, at that. Alas, I fear this language barrier has only just begun to rear its ugly head. I shall have to be far more prudent about my choice of phrase from here on out."
"Smashing, Ken. Maybe us low-lifes will have a better chance of understanding ya too!" Gavin grinned. Kenneth didn't grace that remark with an answer, choosing instead to let out a rather theatrical sigh. Gavin imagined that at that point the poor man was internally saying "I'm surrounded by idiots!". The thought amused him to no end, although he chose not to let that show outwardly as he didn't want to cause any sort of uproar when they were likely going to be having some food soon. Any temptation to the contrary was coaxed along out of his head by the return of their waiter, new menus in hand. Thankfully these were somewhat more legible to all concerned than the previous ones they'd had hold of, which made figuring out what they were getting a lot easier.
Of course, something none of them had taken into account was the point Kenneth had mentioned before regarding how the people of this particular region of the world had a taste for hot and spicy food. Hence some time later, the whole crew could be found drinking quite a lot of water.
"Jings and gee-whiz Kenneth, you might have warned us!" Gavin panted between gulps of water.
"I did, in a manner of speaking!" the eagle managed to retort.
"Save it, please." Rufus advised them both. "I feel like my whole throat's on fire. Whatever that dish might have been, it certainly wasn't chilly."
"That's probably why it was spelled slightly differently on the menu, Cap'n." Rachael offered.
"Aye, maybe." he conceded.
Several minutes later though they were all mostly in better spirits, as the burning sensation had subsided somewhat.
"That was something else." Max stated plainly. "I hope there aren't any more nasty surprises like that waiting in store for us around here."
"Likewise." Alan agreed. "Though I do hope there are some surprises left nonetheless. This has been quite an interesting experience so far."
"If by interesting you mean painful, I wholeheartedly agree." Liam mumbled. Still, even he couldn't disagree entirely that, indeed, so far their experience of the city had been somewhat interesting indeed. Everything from the buildings to the plants and even the people themselves were quite far removed from what they were used to. Not to mention the baking heat that prevailed the whole time. It was like visiting another world entirely, almost - everything seemed familiar and yet it was still strangely different at the same time.
"Can I interrupt you there for a moment, Rufus?"
"Huh? By all means, Captain. What's the matter?" Rufus gave the badger a quizzical look.
"The stuff you ate... they called it chilly on the menu, but it was actually really hot?"
"Like you wouldn't believe. Felt like I'd swallowed a falling star practically."
"That seems like a mighty under-handed trick for them to play on unsuspecting foreigners." Campbell stated, but his voice held a hint of amusement.
"Don't tell me it's giving you some bad ideas, Captain Campbell." Rufus smirked.
"Wouldn't dream of such a thing!" the badger replied, his voice now masking his amusement far less subtly.
"Of course you wouldn't!" the red kite grinned.
"So anyway, you were saying? Your crew and yourself arrived there, sampled the local cuisine and ended up nigh-on breathing fire, correct?"
"That's about the size of it."
"Hmm." Campbell looked rather thoughtful. "I'll have to keep that in mind should I ever visit the region myself. Sorry, I'm rambling on. Do continue."
"Well in all honesty, I don't think I can fairly put in words how extraordinary we all found it. To be honest though in some ways it may have been too much of a culture shock. We didn't stay too long. About the most amusing part of our stay there was when Max dared Liam and Gavin to try eating a whole of one of those accursed fiery peppers they have there. The two of them were just stupid enough to try and out-do each other... it didn't end well, and they both reeked of the stuff for a few days after."
"I take it they all got their fair share of retribution for that." the badger mused.
"Something like that. I had the two damn-fool idiots spend their whole day cleaning the ship from top to bottom until the smelt more of polish and soap than peppers."
"And the other one that put them up to it?"
"He got to supervise. Without being allowed to clamp his nose, I might add." Rufus smiled.
"Heh! Sounds like the other two got off lightly, all things considered."
"I guess so. Anyway, we managed to at least partially re-stock on supplies whilst we were there."
"And I suppose you were on your way after that?"
"That's correct."
"Sounds like it was a regular adventure on your ship. So, where was it that you were bound for after taking in the culinary delights of our spice-loving friends?"
"Well, perhaps we were crazy, maybe we just wanted to cool down after being there for so long... but after we'd been in Salabashtar, we started heading north."
The badger's eyes widened slightly. "Hang on a moment. North? All there is up there is a lot of cold and hellish weather, and precious little else."
"That's what everyone else tends to think too, Captain, but I assure you there's more than that."
"Well now! Sounds like you have quite the yarn to spin, Rufus. Let's hear it."
Just a short post here to say that I have indeed managed to complete my novel. Final word count is 50,402. I'll post up the remaining chapters when the prospect of correcting the html formatting of three chapters' worth of writing terrifies me less x_x
ALL THE FINAL CHAPTERS X_X
Hold on to your hats, there is a LOT here.
Chapter 9
The air was starting to get cold. The Spirit had been flying north now for a few weeks. Each day the temperature seemed to drop just that little bit further and further. Although he didn't like to admit it, Alan was a bit worried. He'd reassured the Captain and crew a number of times that as long as they were careful the ship should be able to keep moving. Rufus had assured Alan on a few occasions that he was pretty certain that the somewhat resilient vessel would handle just about anything they threw at it. Certainly it had already proved its worth on a number of occasions now, having already endured suffocating humidity and searing heat. However, they were now venturing into colder territory, and even the least attentive individual at almost any school could tell you what happens to water when it gets very cold, and why that in turn is bad for an airship that relies on water being rather hot.
His fears for now though remained unfounded - in spite of the sheer cold that seemed to grow worse as time went on, they had somehow miraculously still managed to keep things hot enough in the boiler to produce enough steam to keep them moving. It was little surprise to him that just of late the engine room had become a favourite haunt of a number of the crew members. This was fine by him, it gave him ample time to chat to his fellow ship mates and become better acquainted with them. It also gave him more of a window into the individual lives of his friends, and let him see a little more clearly the relationships that had woven themselves together over the course of their time together. Liam and Gavin, he noted, were practically inseparable. Of course, the same could be said of Rufus and Amberley whenever the two of them were not busy with tasks related to running the ship, but Alan could say quite confidently that the reasons behind that were entirely different.
Something that had caused quite a stir though was what happened in the morning one day not long after breakfast, as the crew set about bringing in the flotation anchors.
"Hey... what's this stuff lying about on the deck?" Rachael had asked. She'd stepped cautiously on the fluffy white feather-like stuff, and pulled her foot back in surprise upon doing so. "Ack! It's cold and... wet!"
"What? Rach... you've never seen snow before?" Christine asked incredulously, fluffing her feathers up round herself a bit more against the cold.
"Can't say I have, Chrissy. I've lived most of my days in warmer bits of the world. So this is what it's like, huh?" The red squirrel scooped up some of the soft flakes experimentally. "Fancy that... it's not quite as I imagined it."
Christine giggled a little. "With the way your imagination works sometimes, Rachael, that may actually be just as well." she teased.
"Ha! You're picking bad habits up off me, Chrissy!" her friend smiled. "Best be careful, next thing you know you'll have the guys chasing their own tails."
"What? You're kidding Rach, you've never gotten them to do that."
"Maybe not while they were sober I haven't." Rachael replied with a devilish smirk.
"Well then, in that case it doesn't count. Come on, let's get the anchors in."
"Yeah, let's." agreed Max, as he'd also been sent out to help.
"I agree, let us make haste." Kenneth was out here as well. Although he'd never openly admit it, he'd found Rachael's reaction to seeing and feeling snow for the first time somewhat amusing. He kept this to himself though as the four of them worked on bringing the anchors in and stowing them away. The ship was already starting to slowly make its way forward as they retreated back below the deck, and as though possessed by a single mind-set the four of them headed to the engine room to take the chill of their hands.
"Good morning guys. How's the weather out there?" Alan smiled as they trooped in toward the boiler.
"Much as can be expected, Alan." Max replied. "Though we've had snow today."
"Ah, we have?" The collie glanced at Rachael. "So what did you make of it then?"
"It wasn't quite what I'd hoped for, but it's not bad." she said simply.
"Didn't make that much of an impression then, huh? Ah well, I guess right enough there wouldn't be that much. The way the Spirit's shaped it doesn't lend itself too well to gathering a lot of it. Probably just as well, we can do without any additional weight holding us back for the time being."
"That's true." Max nodded. "On a related note, does Shona know exactly where this place we're heading to is actually located?"
"She hasn't said one way or the other. Going by what she's said of it though, I'd say she has a pretty good idea of where it is. Hopefully enough to get us there in one piece."
"Well, some idea's better than no idea, and a good idea's definitely far better than a vague idea. I think for now I'll go with remaining cautiously optimistic that we won't get lost in a blizzard or something equally nasty."
"Heh, let's not go too overboard with the optimism, now!" Rachael snickered. Max let a small smile form on his features.
"Ah c'mon, you know I'm just having some fun. I have faith in our navigator's ability. She's managed to keep us on track so far, that's good enough for me."
"As you should. After all, everyone aboard this ship takes pride in their ability to do what they're here to do, whether it be navigation, making charts, captaining the ship or-uh oh." Alan's sentence finished on a rather uneasy note.
"Uh oh?" Christine repeated, a hint of unease in her tone.
"I don't like 'uh oh', Alan." Max said with a frown. "What's wrong?"
"OK, well, nobody panic," he began, which didn't help settle their minds, "but the fire just went out."
"...it what!?" Rachael said, her eyes wide.
"It's gone out. Hey, I told you not to panic!"
"Little difficult to do that right now! Rather not fall out of the sky!"
"Uh... is it possible that might happen?" Max questioned Alan.
"No, of course not!" Alan stated confidently. "So long as we get the fire burning again that is."
"Any idea what's made it go out?"
"None right now. Maybe a back-draught from the exhaust? That could cause it... I'd like to not speculate right now though. Can we focus on the problem at hand?"
"Good point. Alright, what do you want us to do? And how much time do we have?"
Alan pulled open the door of the boiler's furnace. "What we need to do is get a whole load of easily burnable fuel in here, and quickly. Wood, spare paper, anything dry that burns fast. We just need a good flame to get the coals burning again."
"Burnable stuff, right." Christine nodded. "I'm pretty sure there's a good ration of alcohol on board, that'd help right?" Max gave her a horrified look. "Hey, desperate times, desperate measures!" she frowned.
"...I suppose so." Max replied, looking defeated. "Alright then, Rachael and I will go and fetch some of the... some of the rum..."
And off they went to do so.
"Christine, can you give me a hand here? We'll need to get the coal piled up a bit so the fire gets going properly again."
She nodded. "Alright Alan." The two of them headed into the furnace. It was still very hot inside, although starting to cool down alarmingly fast, a fact Christine noticed as they got to work. "Is it just me, or is it getting cold in here a little quickly?"
"No, it's not just you." Alan shook his head, frowning. "I think there might be a larger problem at hand. I'd rather investigate that when we're safely docked somewhere though. It'd be too risky to try whilst we're still at sea."
"Yikes. I don't like the sound of that one bit, I'll admit." Christine said in a quiet voice. "But you're the mechanic after all. Do you think we can make it to where we're going safely?"
"We don't really have any choice over whether we can or can't-we simply need to so I can get this sorted." Alan stated plainly as he piled lumps of the dusty black fuel up together. Between himself and Christine they'd soon built up a decent pile, which they supplemented with more coal from storage.
"We're going through our fuel a little quicker than I'd hoped as well." Alan noted as they finished piling up the coal. "I suspect it's this cold weather doing it. It's taking more effort to keep the water boiled than it would otherwise as it's cooling down far quicker. There are only so many ways of keeping it from freezing solid after all."
Max and Rachael returned, the former with a somewhat sombre look on his face. "We really have to go through with this?" he asked.
"Afraid so, Max." Alan nodded. "Unless you fancy the other option."
"Which is?"
"Running out of steam and falling to certain death. Well no, that's not entirely accurate, I suppose if there's enough gas we might just manage to stay afloat with the anchors, but I dunno how well that'd work or for how long we could keep it up for. And we'd still be stranded anyway unless we get this fire going again."
"Well when you put it like that, Alan, I guess there's little choice. Alright then... where should we put it?"
Alan tore a small strip of cloth from his own shirt and, taking one of the bottles of the dark liquid from Max, dipped the end of the strip into it. "Just sit them around with the caps off, the fumes more than the liquid are what's needed to keep the fire going."
"Got it." The buzzard and his squirrel companion set about arranging the bottles they'd brought in the pile of fuel, removing the stoppers from them as they did so. Once they'd done that, Alan pulled some flint from a pocket, striking it with another piece together until the sparks caught the end of the alcohol soaked cloth.
"Fire in the hole!" he warned, and threw the bottle into the middle of the furnace, slamming the door shut right after it. There was a big fwoosh from inside as the bottle exploded, fuelling the fire that burst into being as the fumes fed it. Alan peered carefully through the furnace's window at the flames, and was relieved to note the coals starting to glow once more.
"That did it, thank goodness." he said, letting out a sigh of relief.
"That's great... now, if we would please, a moment of silence?" Max asked.
"Huh?" Christine blinked at him.
"In remembrance of the fine liquor we had to sacrifice just now that we may live." Max stated piously. Alan let out a snort of laughter.
"You're terrible, Max! We could have ended up in quite a bad way just now."
"We're in a terrible way anyway! We just lost some great grog!"
Christine rolled her eyes. "You go right ahead, Max. I think the rest of us will just be happy that we're not plummeting to our doom, if you don't mind."
The buzzard laughed. "Ah, fair enough. Alright then, seeing as we've gotten that problem out of the way, I'm going to go and get this coal dust off me. You might want to hit the showers yourself, Christine. You're starting to look like Amberley's long lost sister."
"Oh, no worries there Max. I was planning on that anyway, I just wanted to make sure we weren't dead first." she sniffed derisively.
"Hey careful, you don't need to start sounding like her too!"
"Alright, enough guys." Alan interrupted. "You should just go and get yourselves sorted out. I think things should be fine down here, and I'd rather like to be given some time to calm down myself. That ain't gonna happen if you two are going to start messing about in here, OK?"
"Sorry Alan." both birds apologised almost at the same time.
"Alright then. Catch up with you later, OK? Oh, and can someone let the Captain know we had a brief little problem down here? I doubt he didn't notice anyway, but I'd like to keep him up to date on these things."
"I'll handle it." Rachael volunteered.
"Thanks Rach."
"No problem. See you later!"
The three of them exited the engine room, leaving Alan to look after the fire with a more attentive eye and ponder to himself what may or may not need worked upon. As he'd said of course, he wouldn't have time or the ability to sort it out until they reached whatever destination Shona had them pointing to, so he hoped it wasn't too far away.
His fears were allayed only a day or so later. Somehow, through the thicker by the day snowfall that they had started to encounter, they managed to catch sight of the small floating settlement drifting forlornly in the polar skies. Somewhat mercifully, the village had a large enough landing pad to accommodate the sizeable form of the Spirit. Granted, said landing pad was ordinarily used as a town square of sorts, but under the circumstances the townspeople agreed to the temporary use of it as a landing pad.
"Where are we, anyway?" Gavin had wondered aloud as he and a few of the other members of the crew disembarked. For general safety and comfort reasons, Alan had stayed aboard to examine and work on the ship, whilst Kenneth and Rachael had volunteered to assist him. This was probably because it meant avoiding the cold outside, and the workings of the ship's engine were still relatively warm, even after the fire had been extinguished.
So it was that the rest of the crew had ventured outside, their general whereabouts prompting Gavin's question. He didn't go too long before he got an answer.
"We're in Frosinn Himinn, as it's called locally." Shona explained. Everyone turned to look at her. "Oh, and this is also where I was born." she smiled.
"Ah! That'd explain how you knew where it was then, right enough." Gavin noted with a nod of his head.
"That's pretty much the size of it. I think the local engineers may be able to give us a hand with sorting things out, and hopefully stopping the water freezing in the boiler."
"That'd certainly be a help." Rufus stated honestly. "After all, last thing I want is for us to end up stuck out here. Although if you've family here then I guess there are worse places it could happen." he added with a smile.
"Yep, family and friends both. I owed them all a visit, plus I always said I'd put our little town on the map some day. I never imagined I'd be a part of quite literally doing so, though!"
"Well then, we'll rely on you to be our tour guide while we're here."
"Got it Captain. Anywhere you'd like to go first?"
"Aye. Anywhere that sells thick warm coats. I'm freezing!" The others stood outside with him voiced their agreement, stood as they were hugging their arms to themselves, stamping their feet and shivering a bit. Well, except for Barta, who merely looked mildly uncomfortable. Shona laughed a bit.
"No problem folks, I know the very place. Follow me!" She set off at a brisk pace along a walkway jutting out from one side of the large platform the ship was sat on. As they came out from under the shelter of the huge vehicle, the snow hit them full in the face. It wasn't that it was windy or being blown in their faces, it was just that there was a lot of it and it made it a little difficult to see more than a few feet in front of themselves.
"Blow me down, this is more snow than I've ever seen in my whole life!" Max exclaimed, being careful not to let too much of it get in his mouth.
"No kidding!" Liam agreed. "I've seen some pretty cold winters in my time, but I've never seen anything quite like this before."
"Will you guys stop talking about the cold just for a few minutes?" Gavin complained. "It's not helping!"
"Just for once I agree with Gavin." Amberley stated shortly.
"There's one for the record books." Rufus snickered. "They have a point though. Shona, are we nearly there?"
"Better than nearly, we are there!" the fox replied, pushing open a door that Rufus could only just see through the white-out now he was close enough. He heard the sound of a shop's bell as he followed Shona through the doorway, grateful for the blast of warm air that hit him as he entered. He was closely followed by the rest of the shopping party, and it wasn't long before all of them had gathered by the large fireplace in one corner. All of the save for Shona that is, as she seemed far less troubled by the cold. However, her having been born in the area was likely the cause of that.
"Well now!" the shop-keeper declared. "I'd ask if this is your first time here in this little village of ours, but the answer's pretty obvious." he chuckled. He was a wolf with a lean build and a dense coat of thick white fur. "And my goodness me, is that little Shona you've brought with you?"
The red fox smiled at him. "Sure is, Karl. Less of the little though."
"Indeed, I can see that. You were just a little girl when you went off to study. How have you been?"
"Pretty good, pretty good. I don't really have time to stop and chat for too long though, right now. My friends here, as you can see, are feeling the chill. None of them have a coat suitable for our village, so I was wanting to get them properly kitted out."
The wolf scratched his chin with a thoughtful look, eyeing the party up. "Hmm, yes, I see. Well, I believe I should have some suitable attire knocking about. I'll go and fetch up some stock and we'll get your friends here properly outfitted, shall we?"
"You're a gem, Karl. Thanks!" Shona beamed at her friend.
"Not at all. Be right back." the wolf replied, disappearing through a curtained off doorway behind the counter he was stood at. Shona trotted over to the fireplace and started warming her hands.
"I had no idea you were from such a remote little village, Shona." Gavin piped up.
"Well of course you hadn't, after all I never did say much about it." she replied with a sly grin.
"True, you didn't at that." he conceded.
"I'd always thought you were from Diadem or somewhere." Rufus admitted.
"I can understand why, it is where we met after all."
"That man-Karl-that you were speaking to just now... he said something about you leaving home to study?" Amberley said with a curious tone.
"Yes - I left the village when I was twelve in order to go on into secondary school." Shona explained. "Frosinn Himinn is so small that we only have a primary school. A lot of people who live here have a tendency to move to one of the larger towns around here, or even the capital, when their children are old enough to go onto secondary school. It's that or send them to board around there while they learn, and a lot of folk are less happy about doing that."
"Ah, I see. And I suppose because of that, it means there aren't enough children to warrant having a secondary school in the village itself." Amberley nodded.
"That's about the size of it. Plus," Shona added with a smile, "no teacher in their right mind wants to live around here. And can you blame them?"
"If I'm perfectly honest, no." Amberley replied with a laugh. "I don't believe I would want to live here either, given the choice. Not unless I was someone who was born into it, at least."
"And that's why things are as they are." the red fox stated, a slight hint of melancholy in her tone. "Of course in my case I did end up sent to boarding school. It was a little tough, but I got used to it in the end. And it wasn't all bad, my mum and dad came to see me every weekend, and I always got to go home for the holidays."
"And she made a right little pest of herself as well if she had half a chance." Karl said as he came back in from behind the curtain.
"Karl!" Shona whined at him in a childish tone, which made her crew mates laugh.
"Aye, just like that." the white wolf grinned. "I see that hasn't changed."
Shona looked at him with a hurt expression, her ears drooping, and even making her bottom lip tremble slightly.
"Gah, no, don't..." Karl started, frowning. "I'm not falling for that trick!" It didn't stop Shona though as she continued to stare at him in the same manner, looking more upset by the moment.
"Argh... alright, fine, I'm sorry!" he finally said in a defeated tone. Shona's expression perked up immediately, a smile spreading across her face.
"I forgive you, Karl!" she said in a sing-song tone. Her friend just shook his head.
"You're a damned extortionist, Shona Rae. I see that hasn't changed either." he said in a slightly grumpy tone, although a hint of amusement was present on his face.
"And you're still a sucker for it." she replied with a wicked smirk. "Alright folks, let's have you try on some of these expertly made and highly fashionable-practical, rather-garments that my good friend here has made."
This suggestion was met with grateful approval by the now re-heated crew. The shop-keeper had brought from the back a number of coats in an assortment of sizes, presumably according to the guesses he'd made regarding what everyone would need as they'd stood there beforehand. After a good few minutes of swapping and changing, everyone except Shona and Barta had a coat to fit. Making some estimates, they'd also picked up a coat each for the crew still waiting on the ship. Rufus noted rather happily the somewhat larger than usual hood the coats possessed. That would certainly be a help for keeping the snow out of their eyes as they wandered around here, and it'd likely be a help stopping heat escaping as well.
"What do we owe you then?" he asked, pulling a small bag of coins from his pocket.
"Well let's see..." Karl said thoughtfully, sizing up the purchase. "It'd normally be, say, about two hundred and fifty silver for the lot. But seeing as you're getting a good number of 'em at once, and you're friends of a friend, I'll give you a discount. Let's call it even at, say, two hundred?"
Rufus took a quick glance around his crew for any dissent, no-one voiced an objection. "Done then." he smiled, opening the bag and starting to count out the coins.
"Said it before but I'll say it again, you're a real gem Karl." Shona grinned.
"Ah, you're too kind." the shop-keeper replied.
"If there's anything we can do in return, do let me know." Shona told him.
"Will do, young 'un. You folks take care now, don't go wandering over the edge or anything."
"We'll be careful!" Shona smiled as she led her friends to the door. They stepped out into the cold once again, quite thankful for their freshly purchased winter-proof coats.
"What's the plan now then?" Liam asked once they'd exited the shop.
"Well, it'd probably be best if we found everyone somewhere to sleep for tonight. I don't think we'll be tking to the skies again before the day is done." Shona volunteered.
"That sounds more than likely going by what Alan was saying." Rufus agreed. "Well Shona, you know this place better than the rest of us. Is there an inn or some such around that we can make use of?"
The red fox nodded. "There is... but, I don't think there'll be sufficient room for everyone. So what I'll do is pay my parents a visit and ask if they mind having a few people round to stay."
"Are you sure, Shona?" Amberley asked. "We're total strangers to them after all. Do you think they'll be alright with letting us sleep in their home?"
"Are you kidding, Amberley?" Shona grinned. "My parents would be more than happy to have friends of mine over, of that I'm fairly certain. You'll have to let me go and talk with them about it of course, but I don't see any reason at all why they'd object."
"That sounds promising to me." Rufus said happily. "Alright then Shona, you go and do that. The rest of us will... well, I suppose we could take a little look around, although the visibility's appalling right now."
"Don't worry Cap'n. Just stick to the paths and watch for the safety rails and you can't go wrong."
Rufus gave a nod of acknowledgement, and the fox was on her way. Her friends watched her vanish into the falling snow, then after a bit of chatter among themselves set out to explore the winter wonderland. Frosinn Himinn, Shona later explained, was the local language's way of saying "Frozen Sky". It suited the little village quite well: a layer of snow covered almost everything in the whole settlement, and anywhere there was a body of water it was currently frozen over. Shona explained regarding this as well that the ponds weren't always frozen - in summer the ice would melt and remain liquid for several weeks, although the ponds themselves would still be rather cold. What was more intriguing though was the fact that in spite of the water freezing over in the winter, it didn't mean the creatures living in there died off. Apparently it was customary to cut holes in the ice every so often and go fishing, as particular species of fish inhabiting the waters would have just about reached maturity by this time, and also would have a decent supply of fat making them a useful and vital supply of sustenance. Another thing that the crew witnessed on their wander around was a number of children and adults alike sculpting simple replicas of each other out of the snow. This brought back memories for some, and inspired intrigue in others who had never seen it. That activity however paled in comparison to what they saw upon wandering into a large workshop near the edge of the village.
An awed hush fell upon the group of friends as they walked inside. The workshop had a showroom at the front, and it was here that they had walked in. The sign on the workshop's door had stated it was open, and curiosity had gotten the better of them. Lining the walls and the floor of the showroom were several blocks of ice, masterfully sculpted into beautiful statues of people, places and fantastical creatures.
"Wow..." Christine breathed. "This is something else."
"It sure is. I've never seen a sculpture of ice before. Stone or wood, yes, but never something like this." Amberley agreed, somewhat captivated by a delicately carved sculpture of a woman. "Whoever these belong to is incredibly talented. There's so much detail on them!"
"There is... and they're so realistic too!" Christine agreed. Even the men of the group were suitably impressed, each of them wandering around and gazing in awe at the masterful work on display.
As they were so engaged, no-one noticed as a rather old-looking rabbit walked slowly into the room, hunched over slightly and wearing a few layers of thick furred coats over his own snowy white fur.
"May I help anyone?" he inquired in a polite tone, his voice slightly raspy with age. Everyone was a little startled, and it was only through quick thinking and sheer force of will that Christine managed to avoid destroying the gorgeous sculpture of an airship she was now eyeing up.
"Goodness me, when did you get here?" Amberley queried, having also narrowly avoided damaging something.
"Why, I've been here this whole time, young lady," the rabbit replied, "although I was through in my studio working away on my latest creation. I heard people wandering my showroom, so I decided to come through and investigate."
"Oh, so you're the one responsible for all these?" Christine said as she approached him, more than a hint of admiration creeping into her voice.
"I am indeed, dear girl." the rabbit replied, a small smile showing on his face. "And I see you and your friends are rather taken with my work. I am glad to see you have an appreciation for the finer things in life."
"I'll hand it to you old man, you've got quite a talent. It must take a lot of patience to sculpt ice like this." Gavin stated truthfully.
The rabbit chuckled. "My thanks young lad, though you need not draw so much attention to my seniority." he said with a jolly tone.
"Oh don't worry about him, he's always like that." Liam grinned. "No sense of propriety and always shooting his mouth off."
The rabbit laughed at that. "Ah, so you would be the one charged with keeping him properly in check then, I see."
"Aye, something like that."
"Pardon me if I interrupt this lively conversation," Rufus smirked, "you're the owner of this establishment, yes? I assume it's alright for us to be in here, right?"
"Of course dear boy! All are welcome in the workshop of Archelon. Come come, make yourselves at home. Take your time looking, it is seldom I have guests."
"Thank you sir, we shall. Oh while we're about it, let me introduce myself and my friends." Rufus began. "I'm Captain Rufus Falcon of the RSA Spirit of Adventure, currently, uh, parked in the town square."
"Parked in the town square?" the rabbit repeated. "That's a turn-up for the books."
"Well, thing is we ran into a few mechanical difficulties while we were on our way here, and our mechanic said it would probably be best to set down for a while so he could take a better look and get it sorted out."
"Ah, I see, I see. I may have to come and take a look at this for myself at some point, it sounds like a very rare event indeed that we'd have a ship visit sufficiently large to occupy the square... ah, sorry. I'm rambling. You were going to introduce your companions?"
"Right." Rufus affirmed. "This is Amberley, Christine, Max, Barta, Liam and Gavin. Three of our crew are back on our ship, and one other's a resident of this village, so she's gone to visit her parents."
"A resident of these parts, you say?" the rabbit mused, scratching his chin. "It isn't little Miss Rae, is it?"
Rufus raised his eyebrows, a little surprised. "If you mean Shona, then yes, it's her. How did you know?"
"Intuition, my lad. Or perhaps you could call it elementary deduction. About the only child from this humble little village of ours that left to pursue a career heavily involved with ships was young Miss Rae. Add to that the fact that people usually only end up here if they are guided intentionally or on rare occasion they have gotten lost in a blizzard, it makes sense to reach the conclusion that it was her."
"I suppose it does at that."
"So um, Archelon sir, how long have you been scultping like this?" Christine piped up, fascinated by the man. He turned to look at her with a wise-looking expression.
"Many years now, young lady. I believe it may have been near to six decades now, and I started doing this when I was still a child."
"That long? Were you always this good?"
"Alas, no. Granted, whilst I perhaps have some natural talent for creation, I nevertheless slaved away for many a year to refine it to such heights of intricacy as you see arrayed before you now."
"And if you'd been this good when you'd started out, you'd be even better by now, wouldn't you?" Amberley pointed out.
"Aye lass, that I would." Archelon smiled. "So tell me, what brings you folks all the way up here to our icy skies? It can't have been the lovely weather."
"Nope, it was an airship that brought us." Rufus answered snappily with a smirk. "Though in all seriousness our actual task at hand is that we're-well some of us are-geographers, and we're making a chart of the whole world. Including the bits people might rather avoid, no offence."
"Aha, that makes sense. I do remember years ago little Miss Rae used to say she wanted to put our town on the map. Well I suppose now she's doing so literally."
"She sure is. Speaking of which, we should probably go and find her. You wouldn't happen to know offhand whereabouts her folks live, would you?"
"I would, actually. I've lived in this village all my life, and little gets by me. You should find them just along the path a little way from here actually, just down that way." the rabbit pointed.
"Ah, thanks Archelon." Rufus said with a nod, then turned to address the rest of his assembled friends. "Shall we head on then?"
"If you don't mind, I'd like to stay here a little longer." Christine said with an apologetic smile. "Perhaps I could catch you up?"
"Alright then." Rufus said with a slight laugh. It seemed Christine was rather taken with the place.
"I'll keep you company then." Amberley stated.
"Sounds fair." Christine agreed with a smile.
"Alright. Then the rest of us will go and find Shona." Rufus said, glancing round at the rest of the crew to check they were coming, which they were. It seemed, as with Rufus, they weren't quite as interested in the sculpted ice as the ladies were.
"What is it with girls and arty things anyway?" Gavin asked once they were back outside in the snow. "I've never understood it."
"Beats me, Gav." Liam agreed. "Personally I'd like to know why they just don't understand the brilliance of a well-made ship."
"I hear you there, Liam." agreed Rufus. "You talk to almost any girl about how fast your ship goes or how big it is or stuff like that, she doesn't care. Start talking about the really pretty weather you saw somewhere though and then they perk up. Or so I've seen." He shook his head. "Women, eh?"
The other men grunted in agreement. Before long, they'd managed to find their way to a modest-sized house a little way down the main thoroughfare from Archelon's workshop. The nameplate on the door was Shona's surname, so Rufus raised a hand and knocked. It wasn't long before the door opened, and Rufus was greeted with Shona's smiling face. She was holding a large mug of something hot, steam rising from the surface of the liquid.
"Captain!" she said happily. "Do come on in, I was just thinking I should come and find you and the others soon!"
Rufus obliged her, followed by the rest of the men who were with him. Shona closed the door after glancing around outside for a few moments.
"No Amberley or Chrissy?" she asked a little bemusedly.
"Not as yet. We stopped by, what was his name... Archelon's workshop, just along the way there. The girls said they wanted to hang around there a little longer to admire his art." Rufus replied in a mildly derisive tone. Shona laughed.
"That doesn't surprise me a bit. That old man's a miracle worker with the ice. I used to spend hours in there watching him work. I'll have to stop by on him myself before we leave." she said, adding "Oh, do take your coats off and come in, make yourselves at home. I was just discussing with my folks who to accommodate and how." as she led the way through to the living room. It was refreshingly cosy; the room had a large fireplace with a blazing fire burning in it. This immediately attracted Rufus and the others, save for Barta who found himself a spacious enough corner and sat down. There was a general sigh of relief from those gathered round the fire as the heat permeated their hands. Rufus gave a slightly apologetic look to the pair of older looking foxes sat on a nearby couch. The pair of them just smiled knowingly in return.
"Mum, Dad, these are most of my friends I was telling you about whom I've been sailing with. I imagine they'll introduce themselves properly once their teeth aren't chattering." Sh
silvershadow is a fun writer, his story is very nostligic to how stories were when i was younger. i already told him my opinion but i'll repost it here 
oh and if you're a sonic fan (of course we all are) you'd love to know it's animal humonide characters. which is usually hard to make a story with, but he did it interstingly, with some dramatic scenes but mostly quest based story.
It was a clever set, i loved rufus and how the story goes, the idea of him writing in his novel about the events kept the story interesting all the way, and i loved all the characters, and silvershadow's sketch of rufus was cool.
you write very well, i really felt like i was reading a piarate story, and you pictured everything clearly. the whole time i was reading it, felt like something between skies of arcardia and treasure island, i kept picturing your story in that style of art.
it was very fun to read, if this was a real contest i'd root for you to win. as fun as the other's stories were, your adea had more effeort i can feel.
i don't think a lot of people would've choosen a pirate story for a fan fiction contest
as for my favorite part i think how rufus was all alone on the ship, holding on by a small hope.
so thank you so much for a good read, and i wish you could make it into a story book or better yet a comic 
it's very enjoyable and clever... and i think a story like this comes very rarely. it's not too complicated and there's no hidden ideas it's just a smooth flowing tale. which makes it easy and relaxing to read.
so good luck to you <hug> can't wait for the next episode.
anyone who didn't read it, really should... and reading it works well while listening to sonic adventure 2 music 
Allow me also to re-iterate what I said in PMs - thanks very much for your comments and compliments!
Skies of Arcadia is one of my all time favourite games, and it was a source of inspiration for this. Hence, having parallels drawn between my story and Skies makes me a happy man.
And I'm glad you enjoyed how it was written and so forth - considering this was all written over the course of 30 days and in a bit of a rush, being told it was well written is a huge compliment.
So yeah, thanks for taking the time, and I'm glad you enjoyed it
