CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHT - THE GREAT GREY WALL

It took a long time for the scale of the Grey Wall to make sense. At first it was just a vague line over the horizon; grey, of course, but the dark grey of something hidden in shadows.

Then we continued to move, flying forwards through the early morning on a straight path towards the wall. It felt like it was taking forever to reach it; even as mid-morning passed, the wall was still just a huge thing in the distance.

It wasn’t until we were so close that the shadow of the wall was below us that I really started to take in the scale of it.

We were a kilometre off the ground, and the wall was blocking our view of the horizon.

Its sides looked like smooth stone, with the top built as tiered segments, each covered in battlements that looked like they were wide enough to fit a house between them.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Clive asked.

I nodded and leaned against the rails of the quarterdeck to better make out the little details of the wall. Not that there were many. It looked like whoever built it made sure that it was as flat and plain as it could be on the outside. “It’s so big!”

“Took near-on a century to build,” Clive said. “And by the time it was done, airships were becoming common enough that it’s hardly worth much at all.”

That was true. As a defensive thing, it was pretty useless if people could just fly around it. For that matter, there was ocean to the north and south of the walls, two different oceans. I could imagine someone just sailing around the wall.

“It’s really impressive though,” I said.

“Aye, there is that. I suppose most folk would think twice about wanting to pick a fight with someone who can build something like that. I certainly wouldn’t want to be aboard a ship that made itself an enemy of the cry.”

“Why not?” I asked. Not that I planned to be anyone’s enemy, of course.

“They can bend light, and use strange and powerful magics that can make the very air burn, no matter how far from them it is,” Clive said. “Not something that you want to face when you’re aboard an airship.”

I nodded along. That was scary.

The Beaver continued along, bobbing and bouncing as we met a bit of turbulence near the top of the wall. Clive spun the wheel and soon we were skimming along the edge of the wall, using it as cover from all the wind.

When we were within a hundred or so metres of it, I moved to the side and shielded my eyes from the sun to better take it in. It wasn’t quite as smooth from up close. There were little holes, and... windows?

I stared at a little balcony as we flew past it. Just a little thing, with some flowers in planters and a stone door behind it. People lived in the wall? That was so cool!

“Captain, I think we’ll be needing all hands on deck soon,” Clive said.

“Got it!” I hopped down to the main deck, then stuck my head into the door leading into the cabins. “Everyone! All hands on deck!” I shouted.

There were some grumbles, but soon enough my friends came up and we started preparing the ship for some more complex maneuvers. “We’ll need to deploy all sails, then retract them in a hurry. Gordon, get your flags ready.”

A section of the wall ahead of us was jutting out. Long metal beams stuck out and held up an entire village of wooden homes with tin roofs. Above and below the village were docks for airships, though only about one in five had any ships in them.

A tower stuck out of the side of the wall, and from it came a flash of light, then a bunch more. It was like morse, but a lot quieter and also brighter.

“Gordon, do you know what they’re signalling?” Clive asked.

I squinted at the light. “They’re saying... They want to know if we’re looking for permission to dock.”

Clive looked at me. “You know light code?”

“I guess so?”

He nodded, seemingly impressed. “Can you flash them back?”

“Don’t encourage her!” Amaryllis shouted from mid-deck.

I stuck my tongue out at her and moved to the Beaver’s side. I didn’t have a mirror or anything fancy like that, but I did have fire magic! Cleaning magic didn’t glow nearly as bright, so I pinched the tip of my tongue between my teeth and created a burst of Fire mana that I quickly shut off.

It was really wasteful, mana-wise, and it wasn’t as fast as the flashes from the tower. I imagined the people reading my message felt as if I was talking really slowly. “Hello! We are the Beaver Cleaver, we want to stop for fuel,” I muttered as I sent a reply one word at a time.

A return message came back a moment later.

“What are they saying?” Clive asked.

“Start,” I translated. “Move to dock twelve. Upper level. Wait for inspection. Stop.”

Clive nodded. “Aye, upper deck, twelfth dock it is. That’s a handy skill to have, captain.”

“Thanks!” I replied. “I kinda cheated though.” It’s not like I had studied to learn it; it was all my weird Riftwalker magic doing the heavy lifting for me. It was hardly fair to someone that studied and learned things the hard way.

The Beaver nosed up a little bit as we gained altitude. It rose over the top of the wall, where we had to fight with the wind a little to keep steady.

It was a nice day though, with some puffy clouds above, but not too much wind. A decent, if chilly, day for flying.

The little town growing out of the wall grew clearer as we approached, and I could make out some numbers next to the docks built above the town. The little forms of workers around dock number twelve suggested that they’d already been informed of our arrival.

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I felt a bit useless as Clive took over and called out some quick orders while handling the engine and the helm all on his own. He was a really impressive pilot, and we were slowing down to a gentle coast on our approach to the docks.

Seeing that we were in safe hands, I leaned over and took in the top of the wall. There were some large wooden poles sticking out of it every hundred meters or so. Trebuchets? I didn’t know if those would be dangerous to an airship, but I imagined they’d be bad news to any army walking up to the wall.

Workers jumped off the dock, and I felt my heart skip a beat until they started to fly towards us. A mix of harpies and sylphs, all of them with long ropes trailing behind them.

They landed on deck, and one of them, a short sylph woman in overalls, ran up to the quarterdeck. “Who’s the captain?” she asked.

“Hi! I am,” I said.

“Good! Permission to come aboard?”

It was a bit silly, since they were aboard already, but I appreciated the politeness all the same. “Sure!”

“We’ll be mooring you to the dock’s bits,” she said a moment before waving to her companions. They undid the ropes around their waists even as Clive set the Beaver’s engine to full reverse, slowing us down to a bobbing stop.

Soon enough, we were linked up to the docks and being pulled in by a set of huge winches. Big pads were brought up, and the Beaver slid into its moorings with barely a scrape.

“Tie her up!” the sylph said.

“Actually, the Beaver’s a he,” I said.

She blinked, then shrugged. “Okay. Well in either case, welcome to Wallwatch.”

“Thank you!”

The sylph saluted, a quick and lazy thing. “Don’t forget to watch your step!” she said before flying off. Soon, the others on-deck leapt off, more ropes trailing after them as they moored the Beaver more securely.

I jumped down to the main deck and found that our usual away-crew was already gathering together: Amaryllis and Awen and Bastion. The Scallywags were looking a bit nervous too, and I saw them gathering on the Beaver’s other deck to talk in quick whispers that I couldn’t catch, not even with my big ears.

Were they thinking of leaving? We never really had a solid agreement with them. They were aboard for however long they wanted. Amaryllis was sure to pay them fairly, and I figured the experience would help a bunch too, if they were looking for more work later, but they could take off and find their own adventure whenever they wanted.

“We’re not here to sightsee,” Amaryllis said, snapping me out of my temporary distraction. “We need fuel, some foodstuffs to replace our perishables, and that’s it.”

“If that’s the case, then why are all of us getting ready to go?” I asked. Amaryllis was dressed for adventure, and even Awen had her big heavy coat on.

Amaryllis huffed. It was an interesting new huff, I think it meant ‘because I know that what I’m saying and what I’ll do aren’t the same, but I need to put on a facade anyway.’ It was definitely one of the more interesting huffs I’d heard from her. “Because with our luck we’ll run into trouble.”

“Then we just need to make trouble our friend,” I said.

“Idiot,” she said. “Come on, I’m sure you’ll insist that we walk around and take in the sights.”

Awen stepped up next to me as we started to head off the Beaver after telling Clive that we’d be back eventually. “Do you think Amaryllis is projecting?” she asked.

“Projecting?” I repeated.

“I can hear you.”

Awen nodded. “She’s blaming you for something that you might do, but it’s like... she’s basically letting you do that thing already. I think she just wants an excuse.”

“What do you take me for?”

I pinched my chin. “You know, you might be right. That sounds real clever and cunning, and Amaryllis can be that way sometimes.”

Awen paused by the edge of the ship, screwed up her nose, then jumped over the gap between the Beaver and the pier. She landed with a little stumble, but I helped her stay even. “I think my mom used to do that kind of thing. She used to be very good at projecting.”

Amaryllis huffed most mightily and scowled at us. “Don’t compare me to your mother. And I’m not projecting!”

“So you don't secretly want to go on an adventure?” I asked.

“No!”

I grinned. “No, you don’t, or no, you’re not being secretive about it?” I asked sweetly.

Awen giggled by my side, and I noticed Bastion paying very close attention to the sky.

Someone coughed, and we all froze a bit then stared at a man in a suit that didn’t quite fit. He had a little pin to his lapel that read ‘port authority.’ “Hello. I hate to interrupt, but I have the bill for the docking procedure and the pier for the remainder of the day.”

Amaryllis stepped up and took the papers the man extended, then she made a big production about how everything was far too expensive before they started bargaining in earnest. I don’t think Amaryllis actually knew how much a berth cost—she was just going to argue for a better price because that’s how she worked.

I let her haggle while moving to the edge of the pier. There was an entire town here, maybe even a city if there were more homes within the walls. So many people from so many races, and soon we’d get to explore, even if it was just a little bit.

I was looking forward to it!

***

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