The moon rose higher in the sky as they flew south. Occasionally clouds obscured it but under its light the land lay like tarnished silver, dulled but gleaming with the hint of color.

The moon really is brighter here. It’s not daytime, but I can see way more than back home.

The moonlight still made it hard for Jupiter to stay awake.

I’ve not slept properly for an age. Except for nodding off and almost drowning in that hot tub.

‘I need a break.’

No one answered him. Maggie and Berg slept. Tamm seemed lost in thought as he gazed ahead on lookout.

And Tamm is probably asleep too.

‘Breeze. We’re going to have to land somewhere. I can’t keep my eyes open.’

The imp gave the kheel a spin and then yawned. The white of his front plate shone bright in Jupiter’s vision.

‘Yeah. You’ve done great. Tell Tamm to seek a place to land. A riverbed, or grassy plain. Dawn can only be a few hours away. I’m too sleepy.’

Jupiter told the imp all this as if he could somehow tell Tamm. But no matter what Breeze said the manisaurs could never understand him. More evidence that the manta egg things they had eaten had done something strange to him and Maggie.

If they were even eggs. Maybe mantas just fed their young with them. And they’re not eggs that could make baby ones.

’There’s a plateau just ahead,’ said Tamm. ‘Above a river. We’ll have a good view of the approaches.’

Jupiter pushed the tiller away, and the steering vanes brought the stern around until the sail flapped gently and they slowed. Breeze spun the kheel slower and they drifted downward.

‘There is a herd of large wild zugalu off to the west. Sail on further. If we startle them they might charge.’

Jupiter saw the tall two legged beasts with short necks in a packed group about two hundred metres away. They were like oversized dhomqari.

‘Yeah, they look wild and big. Best to avoid them.’

He ran The Jupiter before the wind with the sail angled out. They skimmed low above the grassy plateau, the outriggers almost touched the long grass.

‘Breeze, take us a little higher.’

Then they were suddenly off the edge of the plateau. Jupiter felt the change as a bump in the air. The closeness of the ground must give some small lift to the outrigger platforms.

‘Directions Tamm?’ Jupiter called. The others had awoken with the bump, but still drowsy.

‘What are you doing?’ Maggie said.

‘Looking to land.’

‘There. Away to port.’ Tamm directed him off to the left. ‘Come down over the river. On that low island.’

‘I see it.’

Breeze slowed the kheel while Jupiter steered for the grassy island. As the outrigger came in close, he turned the outrigger into the wind to luff the sail to slow. They drifted almost stationary as Breeze eased the kheel to a stop. They touched down with barely a bump.

‘Remarkable,’ Berg said. And Jupiter heard true surprise in his voice. ‘That imp is almost as surprising as this craft of yours.’

‘But you knew that already? Right?’ Jupiter said.

‘How so?’

‘You must have known Breeze for a while before we met him…’

‘Indeed no. I thought he came with you.’

‘You mean Breeze was not on the island with you?’

‘No. Perhaps he came with the pirates?’

Jupiter looked for Breeze, but he had already skipped off the outrigger.

‘Perhaps it is fated that we three should meet again.’ Berg eyed Breeze who wandered across the low island like a shadow in the moonlight. His tail flashed white as he balanced himself.

‘Agent of fate you mean?’

They rested until well after dawn. Jupiter lay under cover of the outrigger platform, on his rolled up jacket. His wetsuit, which really now served as his flight suit, was warm enough. But the chill of the ground gnawed at him until he thought to pile leaves over the bent grasses of the island.

And he slept. Not because he was comfortable, but because he was tired.

It rained. Great round blobs of wet water from an overcast sky. And hard enough that it woke Jupiter just past dawn.

The manisaurs did not seem to mind it. They carried their raincoats with them. The water bounced off their fur-feathers and did not soak in. But they bowed their heads to the stream of water that ran from the tips of their jaws.

Breeze huddled under the outrigger where the matting of the outrigger platform gave some protection.

‘That’s the problem with The Jupiter,’ said Maggie. ‘It’s a fair weather sailor.’

‘And there’s no wind,’ said Berg.

‘Yeah,’ Jupiter grunted. He shook water from this hair. It had slicked to a matted mess. ‘It’s either no wind and lots of rain, or too much wind and lots of rain. Hardly ever does good wind come with rain.’

‘Why is that?’ Maggie said.

‘Ask the weather gods,’ said Tamm.

Jupiter pulled his jacket out and slipped the hood up. Maggie’s felted fur-feather coat didn’t work nearly as well as the manisaur’s feathers, but she did not complain.

‘Get under the outrigger platform with Breeze. I’ll spread the sail over. It’ll shed most of the water.’

The manisaurs grumbled but joined the humans and Breeze under the outrigger. They huddled for warmth.

‘We really need to be better prepared for travel,’ said Jupiter.

Maggie sighed. ‘Just as well we ate well last night.’

She leaned her shoulder on Jupiter’s. Tamm sat on the other side, with Berg just beyond and well away from Breeze who had tucked himself under Jupiter’s arm. His hot heat warmed him more than Maggie. But then again he hadn’t wrapped his arm around Maggie like he had Breeze.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

’Berg? So after you left the pirate ship on the decoy, what happened?’

‘Ah, so you know of that? The manisaur that left you in the way knew one of the pirates who accompanied me?’

‘Yeah. We met up with Red Back and Captain Qharham and all the rest. Gan and his crew. On Zenska.’

Berg though on that for a time. ‘Yes. Their plans were to do some mischief on Zenska amongst the Imperial Fleet.’

He fell silent and Jupiter thought he would have to press for more. But then Berg started on his tale.

‘The decoy plan,’ said Berg. ‘Was one suggested by an enterprising pirate called Ganarasha.

‘The navy skyship chased us from Black Spire. We had risen high to catch the north winds as I wanted to come south. To Qhayuvakham where I knew they would take Zaj.’

‘Did you know the blackbirders worked for the Empire?’

‘Not then. Rumors perhaps. I learned the truth when I saw the black skyship Neqharazathesa. Their blood is indeed black. The foulest…’

Jupiter laughed. ‘Foulest… blackbirders… get it?’

’Shh,’ said Maggie.

Berg continued. ’The worst of it is that I only knew what I had read in Zaj’s shaquroa. The talisman she gave you told me nothing but the destination. Its author. And who had taken her.

‘So we sailed off with our glow globes shining under a balloon and we fooled my pursuers. They turned to follow thinking they were close to catching the pirate skyship.’

‘Why were they after you?’ said Jupiter.

‘Yes. You had been Qhawana’s prisoner,’ said Maggie

‘I had been exiled. Never a prisoner,’ Berg said. ‘Zaj’quetza. I learned from friends she sought my return from exile. She needed allies and hoped my return would change her fortunes. Some in court took exception to this. She escaped but blackbirders must have caught up with her.’

‘But she ended up on Black Spire anyway.’

‘Zaj’quetza is persuasive. But I do not know how she managed that.’

’So you sailed off in a balloon?’ Maggie said.

‘Indeed. Once we knew they had followed us, we doused the lights, and sailed on the north wind towards the south. When we came close to Qhayuhanpathi — the long land, we dropped to the sea. We paddled the rest, around the coast to Qhayuvakham. We outpaced the blackbirder’s galley that had captured Zaj’quetza by several days. Time enough to make plans.

‘I have friends still within the Imperial navy, but they knew nothing about Zaj’quetza’s capture. Or the blackbirders of course. But since the shaquroa said the blackbirders would take her to Qhayuvakham I had no choice. And I did not know where they were. I thought perhaps the blackbirders would be in disguise when they arrived.

’So it amazed me when the black skyship flew in over the harbour. I knew it for no navy vessel, and yet knew it to be a fighting ship. We kept a watch upon it, myself and my pirate colleagues. The blackbirder galley never did enter the harbour. But we were told their smaller canoes ferried people under cover of night into the fortress. My Navy friends learned then that Zaj’quetza Tesubahm-zah had been sequestered in the the garrison commander’s mansion.’ Berg stopped. ‘I amazes me even now that blackbirders passed their captive into the house of the garrison commander.’

‘Who is she?’ Jupiter asked. ‘I have been told Zaj is some lady of the court. Meant to be the mother of the next Emperor or something. That sounds like she’s a princess or something.’

‘All true. That is her place at court.’

‘The court, that’s where…’ Maggie said.

‘It is where the Emperor’s clan reside,’ Berg said.

‘Okay,’ said Jupiter. ‘So the Emperor is a member of a clan. Like Upariha.’

’Something like. But all clans are subservient to the Emperor’s clan, Rathaviri.

Jupiter understood the meaning — maintaining balance, or a return to stability. ’And Zaj is a member of this Rathaviri clan?’

‘Yes. As am I.’ said Berg. ‘My full name is Rathaviri Hamrabanarushi Thalaqvaruk-zah Zavaqara.’

‘Sheesh. That’s a mouthful.’ Jupiter thought on the meaning he had barely caught when they had met. Almost a month ago now. ‘Not guardian. Maintainer of Balance. Highland Rapids, Lord of the High Tree, In their Third Age.’ Jupiter said. It had sounded more like a song when Berg had sung it in quevantaqi.

‘What happened?’ said Maggie. ‘After you learned Zaj had been taken to this mansion place.’

‘We learned they planned a hunt. The barbarian blackbirders would run amok through the streets of the town chasing down both qvaziri and quevantaqi like were game. But with the garrison distracted by the hunt we could steal into the mansion to take Zaj’quetza away. My allies within the fortress had further reduced the guard on the mansion so she could walk out with us.’

Jupiter stared at Berg. ‘Ah. That explains…’

‘Explains what happened.’ Maggie said. Jupiter had told her some of what the events of that night. But not all.

‘She could not be found in the mansion,’ said Berg. ‘She had left.’

Breeze jerked awake with a squawk as Jupiter ducked out from under the outrigger platform. The rain had been replaced by a heavy mist. Jupiter returned with a bundle in his hands. He passed it to Berg.

‘A royal vishakala! Where did you get this?’ Berg trailed off. ‘Zaj’s. Why is she not wearing it?’

‘I asked the princess to take it off,’ Jupiter said. ‘We took her from the fortress.’

‘You…’ Berg fell silent.

Eventually the old manisaur spoke and Jupiter almost felt the anger in his words.

‘Do you know what you did? When you took her from that place? You ruined all my plans for her escape. Zaj’quetza would be safe and free now.’

‘We didn’t know,’ Jupiter said. ‘How could we know you had already had a rescue plan for her. Though I did wonder…’

‘And you failed…’

‘No. We got her out alright. I guess with your help.’

‘So why is she not with you now?’ Berg’s voice rose to a shriek. ‘Why has Zaj’quetza become a blackbirder’s slave?’

‘The hunt,’ said Jupiter. ‘We got caught up in the hunt. The blackbirders took her from us. And garrison guards stopped us from doing anything. We couldn’t do anything with the hunt raging all around us.’

‘I blame myself,’ said Tamm.

‘You. A sejrat’sha! I do not doubt this. Such as you, turned-blades, are too dangerous to remain amongst us. So this is your fault sejrat’sha? You did this?’

‘No he didn’t,’ Jupiter said. ‘It happened. Almost before we realized it.’

Berg calmed himself. ‘Did you know the blackbirders imprinted her?’

‘We rescued her again later. Took her from the blackbirders again. But she turned on us. She had become a blackbirder loyal to that black captain like the others.’

‘I too came close to rescuing her again,’ said Berg. ‘The rebel skyships had attacked the fortress, and the blackbirder’s skyship burned. But I could not rejoice as I knew Zaj’quetza flew aboard that burning vessel. I wished the rebels to fail so that she might live.’

‘We were on that skyship as it burned,’ said Jupiter. ‘That’s when we tried to rescue her, and the mantas on board. We barely escaped, and only because the mantas helped us get out underwater after we brought it down.’

Berg stared at Jupiter from the shadows. The moonlight had turned him to a black silhouette against silver.

‘I had a great vashqurak beast we had broken out from the stables,’ Berg said. ‘We three attacked the grounded and burning skyship from the beast’s back. But when I dismounted to rescue Zaj’quetza from the blackbirder captain…’

‘She didn’t want to be rescued,’ Jupiter said.

‘No. We fled on the vashqurak, made it to The Way with blackbirders in pursuit. Zaj’quetza urged them on.’

‘But The Way had been under attack when we left,’ Maggie said. ‘The rebel Captain Qharham had taken the Way Station. We saw.’

‘So we ran around the fighting,’ Berg said. ‘And out along The Way. Soon though the vashqurak faltered. It had not been imprinted upon us. It refused to carry us further. So we stole dhomqari from a staging post and ran from our pursuers along the lesser traveled fork.’

‘Who chases you then?’ Jupiter said. ‘The Air Lord’s men?’

‘They work with the blackbirders now. I did not know such a thing could happen. Does the Emperor agree to this?’ Berg warbled in a dejected manner.

‘We fly south,’ said Maggie. ‘To Naz’naska. The temple there has the only way we can return home.’

‘To Earth?’ said Berg. ‘That is a tall tale told by nuvra. We shall go to Naruham.’

‘The capital. Where the Emperor is?’ said Jupiter.

‘No. We can’t,’ said Maggie. ‘There’s only five days left to get to the temple.’

‘Impossible,’ Berg said. ‘It is a ten day journey into the high mountains. Instead we must get to the capital before the Air Lord. I must tell the Emperor the Imperial Fleet is in league with blackbirders before the Air Lord reaches him. Zaj’quetza may be lost, but the Empire is at stake now.’