Chapter 51: Acrobatics

The girls had put on one hell of a show, though according to Kokashi they were going easy due to Sapphire. They had gone about holding formations through various turns, rolls, dives, and climbs. They even played chicken with each other, Which apparently was a very useful maneuver for helping each other get someone off their tail. Tom guessed they would be going past each other, bows drawn ready to shoot down the ones chasing if it was for real.

They had also dived down low and fast, pulling up at the last minute. Some of them were nearly brushing the grass with their chest, as they leveled out. Sapphire went a bit easy on that one, clearly worried about putting too much strain on her newly healed wing.

As he sat and watched, the precision and agility they showed was incredible. He had heard pilots say you're one with the aircraft, hell he had even said that about driving once or twice before. It wasn’t likely he would be doing that again. This was taking that notion very literally.

He had seen them fly before, quite a lot in fact, now though they were just showing off. The closest he had gotten to this was when Jackalope decided to try and scare him all the way back on his first voluntary flight. It looked more like they were dancing around the sky without a care in the world.

They did loops like it was nothing and their turning circles were just outrageous when they were at low speed. They even played a kind of tag it looked like, he guessed it was a fair bit more serious when it came to combat, but still, it looked like a bunch of kids running around the sky.

It was clear speed counted for a lot here. Still, Fengi did manage to give Jackalope the slip with a clever tight turn a few times. To the evident frustration of Jackalope, the older and larger huntress continuing to try and catch the small nimble Fengi. That had been quite good fun to watch. Tom gave them a round of applause for some of the more impressive maneuvers, he even got Kokashi to join in.

“Yeah, they are quite something” Kokashi interrupted Tom’s little admiration session. “Rachuck still sometimes tries to whip us up to that level. It’s just not happening.”

“Don’t worry you’re still better at it than me” Tom gave the guard a playful hit to the shoulder, being rewarded with a chuckle.

“I guess. Are you just admiring the show or trying to figure out how to shoot them down?”

“Admiring the show”

“What about if they were darklings?” What are you playing at here Kokashi? Tom thought to himself.

He thought on it for a second though, switching from admiring the skill being displayed, to try and track targets. With all the maneuvering they were doing they weren’t going that fast. Their movements were unpredictable and violent though. The armor they usually wore was not fully covering, and they also liked flying in close formation a lot.

At least they were training that part quite a bit and he had seen them fly into battle with no more than a meter between wingtips. They needed to speak to each other after all, at least before the shit show started.

“Scattershot” Tom answered after a minute or two “Blow them all out of the sky in a single shot. Maybe a few if you miss.”

“Hey, just because I thought you might be related to a songbird doesn’t mean I will fall for anything, okay.” Tom just broke out his songbird impression again. It would take a long time before that one got old. “You had me worried for a moment their dude”

“Wasn’t joking, not saying it would be easy. It's a tricky shot with a very big gun. But it could be done. If they don’t know what they are up against.”

“You can be damn scary, you know that right?” Tom just gave another bird whistle.

“You were the one who asked.”

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Oh, this was the life, up here soaring through the sky with her friends. No need to worry about what x was, or why the gears needed to be a weird size. Just freedom. She still had to be a bit careful though. She didn’t want to lose this sensation again any time soon. They went through their formations and various maneuvers just like they used to. Even if they went quite a bit slower for her sake. She didn’t care about that though. She was too busy enjoying every moment.

She had become so lost in what she was doing she hadn’t even noticed that Tom had landed and was sitting looking up at them with Kokashi. She felt quite sorry for him at that moment. He would never experience this. His people would likely never experience this. And yet there he was happy as could be staring up like a little kid. He even did that thing where smacked his hands together when they pulled off something he found impressive. It was clearly some form of cheering. She still didn’t get why you would hurt yourself to show happiness or appreciation, but the effort was appreciated.

They had made sure to stay overhead where he could see them, that was the least they could do after having brought him out here. Besides, it did feel kinda good to have somebody cheering you on even if you were just doing some training work. They were doing chasing maneuvers right now, Sapphire getting caught by everyone obviously.

It had been so bad Jackalope had let Sapphire catch her so she could try to go after Fengi again. That had been quite humiliating. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had to do that. She did still have tactics to work with though. Being the easiest target was never easy, but it was useful training after all. Perhaps it was time to try and play Tom for once and try some hiding?

There were no convenient clouds anywhere to hide in nearby though so the bright midday sun would have to do. She spent the time Jackalope used chasing Fengi to get some altitude. It was a dirty trick but hey, she wasn’t winning any other way. She was sure Dakota would forgive her considering her current condition. Speaking of which, where was their fearless leader?

She began scanning around the sky, still, she couldn’t spot her anywhere? Esmeralda was over with Fengi enjoying the show, but she couldn’t find Dakota anywhere. Sapphire knew she too was still a little worse for wear even if she had mostly recovered over the last week.

“Somebody is having bright ideas?” really a pun? She didn’t even need to turn her head to know who it was then.

“Now what would Apuma be doing up here?” Sapphire went in her most sarcastic voice. Dakota had learned much from her mother, but her sense of humor had, unfortunately, come from her father. ”Didn’t take you for one to go hiding, oh fearless leader?”

“I am keeping an eye on the battle that is all” Really now? Simply observing was the excuse?

“Kinda far away though. What would you do if you were needed by your sisters in arms?”

“You mean Tom?” Sapphire had to laugh at that one. “I could ask you the same, what are you doing up here?”

“I’m wounded and retreating”

“Bad direction to retreat then. Tag you're it!” Sapphire felt a finger poke her shoulder as she sighed.

Dakota rolled into a vertical dive. The older huntress continued to roll all the way down trying to keep Sapphire guessing as to when she would break off. Sapphire knew she couldn’t risk pulling up along Dakota from a dive yet, so she didn’t bother to follow her into it.

Instead, she simply banked into a large spiral, keeping her distance, descending more slowly. When Dakota finally pulled up she had a good few hundred meters on Sapphire, but it was all altitude. Sapphire then pulled in her wings tight to her sides rocketing down attempting to end up above Dakota. The maneuver bought back most of the distance Dakota had made in the dive but didn’t get her close enough to land a tag. Dakota was the golden huntress of the keep for a reason and she had seen it coming, no problem.

In response Dakota rolled over pulling up hard in a downwards turn reversing back the way she had come, forcing Sapphire to overshoot. Sapphire had gotten so used to being able to turn harder than everyone, except sometimes Fengi. This was damn hard to do while trying to hold back.

When Sapphire had gotten back onto Dakota’s tail they were down to the same altitude and Sapphire was behind a few dozen meters at least. She wasn’t even close enough to shout at Dakota that she had won. She wouldn’t risk trying to catch her in a straight line after all. That was when Jackalope came up beside Sapphire holding a finger in front of her mouth.

Sapphire just answered with a sly grin breaking off the chase. Pulling up, scrubbing some speed. She wasn’t much for letting Jackalope win at anything, but she could make exceptions every now and again especially if it was fun. Besides Jackalope was supposed to be the one currently chasing right now, Dakota had just decided to have some fun. It was a shame she couldn't hear what was said, but it was clear Dakota was rather surprised when she started hearing wingbeats behind her.

She apparently didn’t realize immediately she was being chased by Jackalope as she tried to put on more speed. None of them could win in a straight line against Jackalope, not even Sapphire on her best day could keep her off for long. The results were predictable and by the time Dakota figured out something was wrong, looking behind her. She had lost almost all her lead.

Dakota pulled into a hard backing turn attempting to pull inside of Jackalope, who with her greater speed and larger frame would struggle to follow the turn, but Jackalope knew that. So instead she pulled up hard reversing direction and gaining some altitude on Dakota who by then had come around nearly three-quarters of a turn placing her a few meters beneath Jackalope.

Jackalope then simply tucked in her wings and fell, good arm outstretched, nicking Dakotas tail as she went past. It had been a rather unusual display of tactical brilliance by Jackalope. Sapphire guessed it wasn’t the first time Dakota had tried that one then. She would need to keep that one in mind for the future. She was in much the same position against Jackalope after all. Sapphire was usually the one doing the climbing though she was lighter than Jackalope so it helped if they were going upwards.

She looked down to see Tom once again doing the hand smacking thing, it had been a good show on that they agreed. Dakota was wiggling her wings, rolling back and forth indicating they needed to get over there for a chat.

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“Not that sporting to get Jackalope to do the job for you?” Dakota went panting. The chase clearly having been a bit of a workout.

“She was the one chasing, did you forget? No use tiring myself out trying to do something I can't’”

Dakota didn't seem to have a counter-argument for that one, and Sapphire cracked a grin.

“I think we need a break, let’s go down to the boys” Dakota went after sulking for a bit.

Sapphire wasn’t really tired yet since she wasn’t going all out, but some of the others looked like they needed it following all the chasing. They all descended down landing in formation, only to find Tom had gotten the sketchbook out again and was explaining something to Kokashi.

“Really? Sapphire asked as she landed. “You can’t even stop working out here? Look at the weather, it’s a beautiful spring day.”

“I’m not working I’m drawing it’s fun” Sapphire craned her head in to look at what he was drawing.

“That doesn't look like the scenery” It did in fact look like yet another machine of some sort. ‘Not working my ass’, she thought to herself “That looks like work to me. You know I brought you out here to relax a bit, right?”

“Then why are you all panting? I’m very relaxed right now” He wiggling his shoulders as if to get a bit more comfortable, leaning up against his backpack with a grin on his face.

“You're just jealous,” Jackalope concluded. Not the kindest comment ever to someone who couldn’t fly. Even if he could sort of glide Sapphire thought to herself looking at Jackalope with a disapproving face.

Tom just shrugged “a bit, that is what this is for.” Tom held up the drawing for all to see.

“It’s some sort of flying machine,” Kokashi clarified. Sapphire switching to look at him face unchanged. “I might have started asking questions” He went shrinking down a bit.

“You know what happens once you start asking Tom questions, Koko. He just keeps going” Tom looked like he couldn’t figure out if he should be insulted he was apparently not part of the conversation in which he was the subject or if he should be laughing at Koko.

Sapphire had picked up on that he did seem to enjoy some of the nicknames they used for each other, even if he hadn’t started using them himself.

“Sorry I just asked him how he would plan on fighting darklings in the air. One thing led to another and we ended on how they fought in the air back home.” Sapphire looked back at Tom. They didn’t need any more projects, they could barely keep up with what he was already doing.

“It’s a jet fighter from back home, a Euro fighter to be accurate. I tried from memory so not perfect. One of the fastest things we ever built”

“Fastest thing ever, I'll be the judge of that” Jackalope went walking over. She had a look at the weird drawing, Sapphire too was trying to figure out what exactly she was looking at. It didn’t seem like there was any way that could fly. The wings looked like plates more than anything and how did it flap them? and such a weird shape, it looked more like an arrowhead to her.

“I don’t get it” Jackalope finally concluded. Sapphire winced a little internally as Tom launched into another lengthy explanation. She did try and listen though and he was being a bit more basic than usual. Especially after Fengi asked how the wings flapped. Apparently, they didn’t, the thing was basically gliding all the time being pushed along by two of what he called jet engines.

She knew about engines, there was one in the chain saw and one in the quad bike. He had explained there were many kinds and this thing apparently had 2 jet engines with afterburners whatever that meant. It was huge too. Nearly half the size of Archeon by Tom’s estimates and apparently this was a rather small plane. She had gotten a bit more used to the scale humans appeared to work on but still what would a big one look like?

“How fast is it?” Jackalope had inevitably asked, after a few minutes of explanation. Sapphire’s mind went back to the feast where Tom had mentioned they had things that could outrun sound. She looked worriedly at Jackalope.

“Over two times speed of sound around 2500 kilometers per hour” Tom replied matter of factly. “Or around 15 times faster than you. In a straight line.” At that one, he smiled a bit.

Jackalope just froze with her finger held up and mouth slightly agape. It was rather hard to argue with that.

“Don’t worry you are still the fastest around here” Tom added with a chuckle at the stunned expressions around him.

Dakota gave Jackalope a pat on the back. “You're faster than me that’s for sure” Jackalope finally appeared to snap out of it.

“yeah, yes I got you good there. Are those the things you talked about at the feast? you know the battle of what was it… brikan?”

“Britain” Tom went with a smile ”Yes and no, this is what they fly today. Back then though they were a lot slower more like 400 to 600 kilometers an hour”

“Well, that's just crawling along” Jackalope replied. Doing a little hop and dance and sounding about as sarcastic as it was possible to do in Sapphire's mind.

“Wait you said that big war wasn’t too long ago. like 80 years right” Dakota questioned, sounding a bit confused. Sapphire could get why. That wasn’t even a single lifetime, it was barely over half in fact.

“Yeah, thereabouts why…”

“You made your planes over three times as fast in 80 years?” It seemed to dawn on Tom why they found this impossible to believe as he looked up from the drawing.

“Oh… Right yeah. We move quickly”

“You move quickly... Tom, how long ago did your people learn to fly?” Dakota asked, her tone shifting to incredulous.

“About a 110 if I remember correctly”

“You went from flightless prey to masters of the sky of 110 years?!” Dakota pressed on. Sapphire could see Tom did look a little miffed at that comparison.

“Hey, we weren't helpless okay, the rifle is around 200 years old” What kind of insanity was this. 200 years... was that it?! The keep had stood for at least 700! It had been under Bizamti rule for at least 150. Meaning when Nunuk’s grandmother took the keep Tom’s people hadn’t even learned to fly yet.

“Tom, any chance you can make one of those? like before I die” Jackalope went pointing at the drawing. She was sounding uncharacteristically cautious for once.

“Don’t think so” Tom admitted. “Takes thousands of people decades to develop something like this and we lack everything. Not to mention the cost of building one.”

“Thank the gods,” Esmeralda added with a sigh Kokashi had perked back up again, realizing he wasn’t about to get scolded for getting Tom started again.

“Well, your gun was like four or five gold. How bad could it be?”

Tom pulled out the little black thing again, the screen lighting up as he tapped on it a few times.

“Just a moment… 1.300.000 gold roughly… Each” With that Dakota just fainted. None of them even managed to catch her standing stunned. Sapphire did feel kinda bad when she heard the thunk though.

She knew Dakota helped Apuma with their finances around here. Nunuk had never been much for the numbers after all. That sum of money was likely more than would ever come through the keep, not just in their lifetime but for possibly millennia. They usually traded for around a thousand gold a year, but almost all of that would be to buy things needed around the keep. The rest often being spent on the occasional luxury good, like wine or nice clothes and equipment.

Sapphire looked down at her necklace. It was probably the most valuable thing she owned since that armor technically belongs to the keep. Still, it was maybe worth maybe 50 gold tops... Was she poor? Tom caught her looking at the necklace and chimed in.

“Don’t feel bad no one could afford to buy one themselves. We even have a saying, worth the tip of a jet fighter, meaning something ridiculously expensive” He did sound sincere, not even chuckling this time.

It did make her feel a little better. It wasn’t like it mattered anyway, still, maybe a job would be even better than that shopping trip she had fantasies about. Fengi beat her to the question though.

“How much money did you have back home?”

Tom pondered that one for a bit.

“I have debt in the house still so technically negative” Fengi raised a finger opening her mouth to speak then seemed to think better of it, lowering the finger again.

“Dakota can you do that?... Oh... right.” They all looked down at their fearless leader still lying on the ground drolling slightly. They quickly got her sitting upright and started brushing her off. It took a little before she came back, so they had her mostly cleaned off when she did.

“Tom I would like to arrange a loan” She went in a groggy voice as she was coming back to her senses

“Sorry, my money doesn't work here. Besides, I’m technically in debt.”

“Right, you just borrowed some money before leaving. Kinda smart that.”

“Didn’t do that actually... Dammit, that would have been smart.” He looked a little annoyed at that revelation.

“Then why were you in debt? You haven’t spent it on jewelry that is for sure” Sapphire asked. Tom rubbed his arm where they had put on the armbands, they had been a little tight after all.

“I took a loan to buy the house. It's very normal for my people. The house is... was the most expensive thing I owed after all”

“What was that worth then?” Fengi asked again. She had always been interested in money, growing up alone did tend to do that to you. Sapphire could remember just how important every copper had been from her two years in the capital. Fengi had been born there after all.

“Tom thought about it for a bit. Around 6.000” He went looking a bit nervous.

“Holy shit!” Jackalope went scoring a slap to the back of the head from Esmeralda. “Sorry, but come on that is a lot of money!”

Sapphire couldn't argue with that, still, it wouldn’t change his position as the second richest person here. The keep itself was worth a fair bit more than that she was sure, so that title still went to Nunuk. Not to mention her armor and other things she had, be they passed down, bought by herself, or earned.

“If you are curious I usually made a bit more than 1.000 gold a year when I was working before tax. you pay taxes too by giving some to the crown right?”

“Yeah we do, once a year usually autumn the collector comes, we usually don’t pay in money though. we give them supplies. It’s much cheaper for us. That and the fact they can call us to war if necessary.” Dakota answered.

“That makes sense, sounds like how we did it a long time ago. Now though some of every gold I earn goes to my country, around half in fact.”

“That’s absurd” Fengi protested, “half of everything you earn is taken? also, did you say 1.000 a year or ever?” She did sound a bit timid at that last point.

“How do you think we pay for jet fighters?” he replied with a smile“And yeah 1.000 a year, after-tax more like 500 though.”

Fengi had a bit of a think about that one, still, it was clear she found the notion insane. 500 gold a year was crazy even if it was just half of what you had earned. They would be lucky to make 5 on a good year. They didn’t really need any money, but it was the thought that counted. They got everything they needed from the keep after all. So it was mostly spent on jewelry or other trinkets and things, traders brought with them.

That would make Tom some kind of noble at least and not one of a frontier keep like this one. That was capitol or mayor keep levels of noble. He didn’t seem like one though, not at all actually. In fact, Sapphire had a hard time coming up with people she considered less like a noble. He had even helped and in fact, outworked them with both plowing and spreading manure. She even had a hard time imagining Nunuk agreeing to that kind of work. Not to mention some pompous prick walking about in gold-lined silks. It couldn’t hurt to ask though and she was fairly sure Tom wouldn’t min.

“Are you a noble of some kind then?” She was right. In fact, he started laughing a bit at that before he got it back under control looking a bit shamefully at them.

“No, not even close. I was an engineer, remember? Well educated sure and I had a good enough job, but still just a worker.”

“Any chance we could go to where you were from instead. I would like to try to be rich” Fengi added incautiously, a hint of dreaminess to her voice. Yeah, that job idea didn’t seem so bad to Sapphire either right now.

“Not that I know of. I didn’t just go here after all. don’t you think some of all the things we are working on is gonna be worth a lot of money? Not even mentioning the sugar plan.”

Fengi’s ears perked back up at that Dakota just nodded sagely. Sapphire caught herself thinking about just some of the luxuries she had seen in the capitol. Silk clothes, magic swords, sweet foods. That last one might be happening in the not too distant future in fact. She couldn’t help but feel rather lucky all things considered.

“Do you even get paid?” Tom then had asked, causing all heads to turn to Dakota.

“Well, sorta… When the keep makes money we all get a share depending on rank. Besides it’s not often we get to spend it on anything.”

“Like a pirate crew then.” there was silence for a moment as they waited for Tom to explain what a pirate was but he apparently decided not to.

“Sure… I think. Anyway, we don’t tend to make much out here. Leather and pelts are only worth so much and most of what we earn is spent buying the things we need, but can’t make.”

“Well, that’s about to change” Tom replied in an optimistic tone.

“Damn good thing Nunuk got you to swear those oaths. I can’t wait to try sweets again” Esmeralda added. That had been a rather brilliant move. Sapphire didn’t get the feeling Tom was wanting to depart anytime soon though. Nor was she certain an oath would in fact stop him.

“Well, while we are here. Kokashi, I am going to need a vow of silence” Tom then produced the little box of sweets from way back when.

It took the guard a second before he figured it out and nodded eagerly. “Complete silence, no problem.”

They were just as good as she remembered, so sweet! It almost felt wrong to eat something that valuable, but if this was their future Sapphire was so ready.