As soon as Eletheria stepped out of the captain’s chamber, she took a deep breath and wiped her hands against her pants. Most of the blood was wiped off her hands, but they were still tinged with a bit of red. She pressed her lips together in a straight line and worked on controlling her breathing. Her hands trembled some as she hobbled towards Lex, and little earthquakes throughout her whole being turned into little earthquakes. Ele had to rein in her fury as she bent over to touch Lex’s shoulder.

“Felicia…, Felicia… is… gone,” Ele told Lex, who appeared to be locked in concentration to hold the ship aloft.

“Oh, I’m sorry… to hear… that,” Lex replied in a halting voice. After a minute of silence, he said, “I think I can split quan into two.” The ship wobbled a little before becoming steady. “Still need more practice.”

“Here, let me…” Ele started to say but Lex interrupted her.

“Ele, I have this. We are not out of danger yet. Find out about the other ship. If we have to outrun it, then both of us will be needed,” Lex replied as he stared at the mast the wires were wrapped around. Ele hobbled back to the front of the ship, where Cesar was again looking with a spyglass at the approaching balloon.

“Are they friendly?” Ele asked Cesar looking towards the balloon in the distance. It was definitely heading in their direction. The balloon was still a way out so Ele turned towards the ship that was chasing them. The ship behind them was still in pursuit, but it was moving at an angle that would place them further away. The side profile of the ship was becoming more visible as each second passed. “Cesar, can you tell me what they are doing?” Ele asked as she watched the other ship. Cesar turned and lined up his spyglass with the G’Aeris ship.

“They are lining up their starboard guns, probably have a longer range with them.” Cesar reported then yelled, “INCOMING!” as he saw three puffs of smoke appear by the side of the ship. Ele hobbled to the nearest railing on the side of the ship to grab a hold of it. The thunder of cannons being fired caught up to the ship then the crack and explosion of wood as one of the shots hit the ship on the port side. Ele started to hobble over to Lex to try and help steer the ship. It only took her a few moments to get to Lex, she quickly sat down close enough so they could transfer some control over to her.

“Lex, transfer starboard control to me,” Ele said. After she grabbed the wires she remembered for starboard, she counted, “Three, two, one, now!” The ship wobbled a little as she started channeling quan through the starboard, and Lex relinquished it. “Now transfer…” Ele started to say but was interrupted.

“INCOMING! THREE!” Cesar yelled. Ele immediately threw more power into the starboard lift, and the airship started to turn as the roar from the cannon fire got to them. As they turned towards the port side, the whizz of cannon balls flying by was followed by a thud and crash as one of the cannon balls clipped the rear of their ship on the port side.

“Lex, transfer port control to me,” Ele calmly requested just like she had been taught. Briefly, she remembered the many hours of training she had done with other Windmasters as they had classmates yell and throw insults at her to prepare for doing a transfer in the middle of combat. Back then, she had hated that training and thought of those days as the worst days of her life.

“Ele, you going to start counting?” Lex asked with some strain in his voice. Ele had gotten lost in her memories and didn’t realize some time passed.

“Three, two, one, now!” Ele counted and took control of the port lift. “Taking evasive maneuvers! Hard to PORT!” she yelled towards Cesar who she already knew was tethered to the ship; it was more for the benefit of all the other sailors. Then, with a count to five, she waited before starting a major turn. Ele reduced the power to the port lift and increased the power to the starboard lift. The time she waited should have also given the sailors some time to change the facing of the sail so that when the ship angled to turn left, the wind would help push it as it took a sharp turn left.

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“This is much harder than on a G’Aeris ship,” Ele said as they were turning. This time, the ship did not protest too much regarding the turn as it did with the previous changes, of course, they had done.

“Yes, but this ship wasn’t built for flying, either,” Lex replied, the strain on his face had lessened once Ele had taken the two lifters from him. Ele wondered if he had been trying to work on splitting his quan in order to be more helpful.

“We need more speed!” Cesar yelled across the deck towards Ele and Lex.

“Lex, pass control of the forelifter to me,” Ele asked, trying to remain focused on her task and not on the destroyed captain’s chamber.

“Ele, you cannot split into thirds,” Lex said as he held onto the wires.

“Sometimes I can manage it, now pass them to me.” Ele shouted back and then started counting, “THREE! TWO! ONE! Now!” Once she started counting, Lex reluctantly held the wires for it, and Ele quickly grabbed them and powered quan once she said now. The ship remained steady during this transfer. “Increasing speed!” Ele shouted in the direction Cesar was last in but didn’t see him as she couldn’t turn all the way around.

Ele cut the quan she was channeling to all that she controlled. Starboard and port lifters were reduced to zero quan and the fore lifter was cut by a fourth. This caused the front of the ship to dip downwards and the ship to start falling. Under the deck there was the sound of a thump of something hitting wood rather hard. Since there was still lift from Lex’s lifter in the middle, the ship didn’t fall like a stone, more like a wet feather. After a moment of free fall, Ele slowly added quan back to the lifters she controlled.

The dive to gain speed and the pull out of it caused Ele to slide across the floor. The rope she had linked to her belt prevented her from sliding too far, but she ended up sitting side by side with Lex instead of across from him. In the background, Ele thought she heard someone cry in pain, but she ignored it. With their increased speed, Ele pushed more power into the front lifter to give them more elevation.

“INCOMING! Three!” Cesar yelled again, and despite herself, Ele held her breath. The roar of cannon fire was just the precursor to the actual danger. A moment later, the whine of the cannon balls caught up to them, and a crash of wood surprised Ele. She exhaled and tried keeping focus on keeping the ship level. For some reason, the starboard side was starting to dip down. Ele threw more quan at the starboard lifter and a crack of wood was the only answer to her question as to why more quan wasn’t working. Without a lifter in its starboard side, the ship tilted on its side. Both Ele and Lex slid so they were hanging from the rope on the starboard side. Ele thought she heard a scream but wasn’t sure if it was someone else or her when she slammed into Lex once they both stopped sliding downward. Ele cut the power to the lifter on the port side but it didn’t help right them. They were flying sideways and slowly turning starboard.

“WE GOTTA CUT ALL QUAN!” Ele yelled at Lex, who was shaking his head as if dazed. “DROP QUAN FOR A COUNT OF 1!” Ele yelled at Lex. Lex shook his head and then nodded in confirmation and dropped quan from the main lift. The ship started to fall towards the sea. With the sail, still out the ship righted itself but still fell. Ele started the count, “One! NOW!”, after she said now the main lifter was not engaging. “LEX!” Ele yelled and she looked over at him. Lex was half-slumped over and Ele noticed a trickle of blood from his head. Ele reached over and took his wires out of his hands and threw everything she had into them. The ship slowed its fall but they had fallen too far for her to keep them airborne.

The Flying Bucket slammed into the ocean. The momentum of falling pushed the ship forward through the waves at a speed much faster than the wind would have pushed it. The ship creaked and groaned at the impact and waves sloshed onto the desk. Ele was still pushing all her quan through the main lift and a groan and loud crack accompanied the crash into the sea. Near the main mast, about five paces from where Ele and Lex were sitting to the side of it, the deck buckled and wooden splinters showered everyone nearby. A hole appeared in the deck and something flew upwards from it at a speed faster than the eye could see. She looked upwards to see if she could track the path and saw the lifter had also torn a hole in the main sail on the ship.

“FAEX!” Ele cursed. She turned and looked at Lex, who was still sitting up but did not seem to be focused on anything. “Lex, Lex, you ok?” Ele asked while holding his shoulder.

“Ele, I… tried… …couldn’t…” Lex replied, his words slow and not making much sense.

“It is okay, you did well.” Ele told him and slowly helped him lay down on the deck. Once Lex was lying down, she grabbed a crutch that hadn’t slid away and used it to stand. Ele looked around and saw that Isaac was still at the wheel steering the ship through the water. She briefly wondered if he had stayed hanging onto the wheel the whole time or if he had rushed over there once they hit the water. Cesar was still towards the front of the ship with his spyglass, looking both at the ship ahead and the ship behind them. Ele hobbled over to Cesar, who put away his spyglass once he saw Ele was making her way towards him. To save her some trouble, he met her halfway.

“So ends our run. You two did well, Windmistress,” Cesar replied and smiled at her as if proud. Ele looked up to look him in his eyes and saw them watering.

“Is this it?” Ele asked, her voice a little shaky.

“No, not while we still have wind in the sails,” Cesar replied and then he looked up at Isaac. “Keep us moving, full sail!” he then looked at some of the sailors who were still on the deck tethered to a railing or pole. “Get moving, you lazy dogs! The flying is done, but your job is not!” Cesar gently put a hand on Ele’s left shoulder, “Ma’am if you could be ready with the two lifters we have left in case we need to make a sharp turn.”

Ele smiled, nodded, and turned around to head back to where Lex was sitting. Once she got there, she sat down and tethered herself. As she picked up the wires for the ship’s remaining lifters, there was a shout that made her blood run cold.

“INCOMING! Five!” Cesar shouted.