Eletheria was trapped! The room’s walls seemed smaller and smaller every hour she was there. Her crutch, which she had used often in the past few days, was taken from her. While they did not tie her down she was as good as shackled to the bed. She was thinking about escape, but logic interrupted her chain of thought. Where would she go?

Through the window, she could hear the morning headlines being yelled at by the paper boy. She was a wanted criminal, Pirate Bonnie, and the Red Sun spotted along the Kvorth. At least her captors allowed her to open the window a little for fresh air. Even if she could fit through the small window, there was a three-story drop to the street below.

Since Ele knew how to flee the city, it appeared she defaulted into leadership. Lex lacked the confidence and could only fake it briefly before he started openly questioning himself. When asked questions about managing the sailors or of the ship, Ele deferred to the captain. Regarding supplies needed and needs for the injured, she deferred them to the doctor. On questions of routes to take to the ship during the night for stowing supplies, she deferred to Felicia. Since her leg was broken, she couldn’t travel easily and was more noticeable in public. Leader she might be, she was still trapped.

After a day to process and work out her grief over Acanthio and Sal. Ele spent the second day plotting and planning on horrible things she would do to her mother and aunt. On the third day, she refined her plots, but the anger was half-hearted, as you can only imagine killing someone a few hundred times before you run out of new ideas. Then thoughts on her sister, what type of life would she be bringing her sister into? Working on a boat and barely making ends meet? So far Ele’s little group was nothing more than a bunch of flotsam and jetsam.

After a few days to mourn and a few more to plan, she was seeing how hopeless their situation was looking. The only advantage had was that she and Lex were trained Windmasters who could possibly hire themselves out. They would have to get far away from Ascalon; the further they were, the less likely the Windmaster guild would report who they were as soon as they signed up. Ele could probably count on one hand the number of people who were at Sal or Ve’s level. At her and Lex’s power, there were maybe a hundred. Hiding themselves would be difficult if they had to get employment as Windmasters.

She thought she had a solution; they could perhaps go south and hopefully employ themselves as an airship crew there. Both Ele and Lex were trained in navigation by the stars, and keeping a balloon up in the air and in the correct direction couldn’t be that difficult. Occasionally, Cesar or Isaac would send in a crew member to check in with Ele or to find out what her thoughts were on something. When she was writing down a reply she would ask questions from the crew member about the other cultures outside of Ascalon. While she was sure the crew mates she questioned thought they were being interrogated, she honestly just wanted information about how the societies and cultures worked outside of the G’Aeris.

Upon the desk were some papers that she had delivered yesterday. These were her plans for getting a ship. She riffled through the papers and reviewed the plans for any point of failure they could prevent. The seasons around Ascalon and other areas within a thousand-league radius were odd. During the summer season, the tide in one part of the town was higher than on the other side. Then in the winter, the other side was higher. This was due to Ascalon straddling two different oceans that did not meet for a thousand leagues or so. Each side took several weeks to travel by sea to the other, making a blockade of Ascalon impossible. The mountains and high ground provided launching points for the airships.

Occasionally a captain would push their limits to try and make as much profit as possible before having to sail to the other side. Once in a while these ships became stuck in the port as the tide would permanently lower. Ele knew some ships were stuck over there as a captain was always willing to take the risk. Those ships became worthless once this occurred as their cargo would be sold quickly and everything else stripped to support the crew living on land for a few months. Those without the funding to stay a while would move on to other ships. Ele’s plan was to purchase one of those ships and install a metal bar wrapped in wire inside of it as securely as they could, then Lex and her would lift the ship into the water.

The dangers of doing this were many. The main concern was as soon as word spread; someone was raising a sea ship from the dry dock into the sea. They would only have a few hours to get underway and hide somewhere on the sea before Ve or someone else coming after them would start the chase. If Cesar and Isaac’s crew were good, then they would have a chance of getting away. If they were not, Ele hoped there were some cannons on the ship so they could at least die fighting. In the papers on her desk were a couple of purchase options for one of the dry-docked ships. Ele hoped Cesar did not have his heart set on the name of the Rattling Can, as it was a horrible name for a ship.

Ele was working on options to secure a metal bar to various ship designs when there was a knock at the door. She looked up to the window and saw the light outside was a nice orange color. Seeing that it was evening, she stood up and hobbled over to the door. Ele was able to get to the door before the person’s patience wore out. She balanced herself on one leg and opened the door. Outside of the door, Felicia was standing there looking a little bored.

“Any news?” Ele asked as she was always curious about how preparations were going.

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“Uh, no, but dinner is ready. We were going to eat on the roof,” Felicia said, then looked at Ele as if she realized what the location meant. “Oh, sorry. We, um, were not thinking.” Ele smiled, as the stairs would not be as big of an issue as they thought they would be.

“Don’t worry, I would love to join you guys. Let me grab my crutches.” Ele replied, and before she could say anything else, Felicia grabbed her crutches and brought them back. Ele went first towards the tiny spiral staircase up to the roof. They had the whole top floor as theirs, which seemed like a lot of space, but it only included three bedrooms, a common room, and a washroom. With 16 people living there, it seemed crowded at night. As much as Ele disliked being cooped up in the room all day, she was thankful she didn’t have to share it with anyone. Since they had access to the roof during the evening, they used it as a common room as it was often cooler up there than inside the building.

As Ele hobbled up the stairs, she wondered if there was enough wire around that she could use to wrap around the crutches. A few loops and some quan would power it and lift her to the roof. Ele ducked her head to avoid hitting the ceiling and remembered why it was a bad idea. If someone was used to sensing quan being used, it could draw attention to them. The attention she didn’t want as right now, the only thing keeping her and Lex safe was everyone thinking they had fled the town.

As Ele reached the roof, the conversation around her stopped, and everyone went quiet. Ignoring the sudden quiet, she looked at the city in the fading light. Ascalon was built in different sections separated by hills and, in one case, the mountain Dolomite since the city was built in a valley filled in. From the lowest point of Ascalon at sea level to the highest point of Ascalon, there is a difference of a thousand paces in elevation. The hills and mountains split the middle of the city into two sides, Hfoth and Kvorth. The place they were staying was on the low side of Kvorth’s side. That was the side with the seasonal low tide where landlocked ships were available. The Hfoth side was the current port in use. Ele glanced at the Council building built into the side of the Dolomite Mountain. The lights of the building were visible at all hours, barring severe weather.

Ele took a moment to survey the stars above, still not acknowledging the stopped conversation. As her eyes went to a familiar location, she sighed a little, as there was still a blank space where a bright star used to be. It was then that Ele looked down at the group gathered on the roof.

“Good evening, everyone.” Ele smiled best as she looked at their little ragtag group. Despite her smile, when she looked at Lex, he suddenly looked down with interest at his boots. Caesar, sitting next to Lex, also started looking at Lex’s boots. Every time Ele looked at someone, they turned their head or looked away. “What is going on?” she asked after the fourth person avoided her gaze. James was the first person to step forward.

“I’m sorry, Ma’am, we wanted to tell you but…” James stopped as if he didn’t want to be the one to provide the bad news. Ele quickly looked around and did a head count. Everyone was there, including Lex, so no one had gotten caught or killed.

“Will someone please tell me what is going on?” Ele demanded.

“You’ve been declared a traitor to the G’Aeris.” Lex stepped forward and informed her. “The Council issued a decree today that you were to be killed on sight with a substantial reward upon your body being delivered.”

Ele opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. She closed her eyes briefly and then said, “Under what justification?” As horror filled her that her people would seek to harm her. Even after being attacked by her Aunt Ve and watching Sal die, it still seemed a little surreal.

“The papers are reporting that while you were with Acanthio, he brainwashed you into helping him and a group of untouched rebels overthrow the Council here,” Lex said, quickly continuing, “We all know it is false, but it means we cannot trust anyone, as the reward is substantial.”

“What about you, Lex?” Ele asked, watching Lex’s face for any sign of distress.

“There is Nothing about me, not a mention. My father hasn’t been quoted anywhere in the papers. From what Cesar’s crew has heard, my father hasn’t left his estate.” Ele moved slowly over to Lex and hugged him.

“I’m sorry, Lex; I am sure he is doing everything he can for you.” Ele tried to comfort Lex, but he seemed stiff and did not return the hug. As she let go and backed up a little, she looked into his eyes. Ele remembered that he had asked her to marry him not even a week ago. While she was still leaning towards telling him no, she had to admit that he had grown a lot over the past few days. In his blue eyes, she could see a wonderful man. Ele smiled and turned to face everyone else.

“If there is anyone here who fears for their safety, they can leave the group. No one here is to be held against their will.” Even before Ele said those words and looked at everyone, she knew their answer. Over the past few days, she has gotten to know the main group well. There was still a good chunk of Cesar’s crew that she didn’t know much about, but they all seemed like good people. After a minute of silence, with no one leaving or objecting, Ele continued. “Cesar, any word on a suitable ship?”

Cesar stood up and responded, “Aye, mistress. It’s a small ship, but she should be fast and light—something that can outrun the pirates.” He saluted her, his closed right fist thumping against his chest over his heart.

“Lex, have you secured a metal bar and wire for the lift?” Ele asked as she turned and looked at Lex.

“Aye,” Lex replied, nodding his head. Earlier that day, he and Ele had been working on a method to control the ship as they lifted it from the ground. All their efforts had been for naught, as until they saw the ship and its condition, they couldn’t cover everything.

“Felicia, have you…” Ele started to ask but was interrupted by Felicia.

“Bah, everything is done, let’s eat and drink.” Felicia rolled a cask from the side to the middle of the group. “There is plenty of time tomorrow to discuss plans, but the night won’t last forever.”

Felicia’s words were like music to Ele’s ears. Ele didn’t want to talk about work or their plans right now. She wanted to relax and enjoy the fresh air as she would be stuck back in the room hidden from sight tomorrow. However, Ele was unsure if the group saw her as a friend or as a symbol of their vengeance towards Ve. If Ele needed to be a reminder of their vengeance, she was ready; if they wanted her to be a friend, she might not be prepared. So far, she has lost two good friends and her family. Who else could she lose before she became empty inside?

A sailor came from the room below with some bread and meat. Then Caesar proceeded to open a hole in a small cask of something. Lex started a fire inside a large bucket. Soon, some meat was cooking, and people were drinking as the city prepared to sleep. Ele accepted a mug from James and some bread and cheese from Felicia as she watched everyone relax from a long day. In the corner of Ele’s eye, she saw the lights at the Council chambers high above the city. Somewhere within those chambers Ele imagined the members were preparing for sleep or a party. Ele smiled as she started making plans while the Council was assuredly dawdling.