The green glow in the flight chamber had dimmed down.

‘The snow storm last night broke us free of the tethers we had set in the ground,’ said Turq.

‘We got blown away from the Clan and ended up amongst these trees in the dark,’ said Sarah. ‘When we tried to lift clear the catalyst stuff did not respond.’

‘It’s not fully lit. It needs to be re-lit, replenished.’ Peter realized he had slipped into Thaluk and so repeated himself again so Sarah could understand.

‘So suddenly you can speak Clan?’ said Sarah.

Peter thought on that a moment. ‘I didn’t mean to. I don’t understand how all of this tulanvarqa works. Just that after a time it just does.’

‘Do you know how long it took for me to learn Clan?’ said Sarah. ‘Years of talking badly. It’s so complicated, so different to English. But you pick it up in a few days.’

‘A few weeks now.’

‘Peter. It’s been days. You knew nothing, and now you’re speaking better than me.’

‘What do we do about getting out of the trees?’ Turq pulled Peter towards the flight engine. The tall woman’s steel grip on his arm got his attention.

‘The zharaqsa floats us, and it looks like there is still enough of that, for a while at least. But when you try to fly higher it cannot lift you.’

‘That doesn’t make sense.’

‘Zharaqsa is not like a balloon. As far as I can tell it sets itself against the Earth, or Eoth. And it stays the same height, the same distance from the center of the planet. It’s not relative to the ground.’

‘So it’s like a boat that has run aground,’ said Turq.

‘I guess. We need to push the skyship off the trees down the slope.’

‘Brilliant. So we’re stuck here. The River Clan are away down the valley.’

‘We need to get the Snows and the Rivers to come together,’ said Peter.

‘Wonderful. Grey’s dream come true.’ Sarah’s gaze seemed to retreat.

‘Better to defend against the blackbirders — the invading aliens.’

‘That is a good plan,’ said Turq. ‘How do we make this all happen?’

‘We need to raise the skyship’s sails,’ said Peter. ‘We’ll sail off the forest. And soon, before the zharaqsa leaks and we drift lower until we are fully stuck.’

The vessel lurched just then. Peter whipped around to the flight engine.

‘So how does this work?’ Grey stood at the controls.

‘Leave those controls,’ said Sarah. ‘We’ll be stuck.’

‘This craft is no good to the Snow River Clan unless we are masters of it.’

‘I can fly it,’ said Sarah. ‘That is enough.’

‘Then how is it we’re stuck and need this one’s help?’

Peter sighed.

I hate this people politics. Why can’t it ever just be simple?

‘Sarah knows how to fly the skyship. We just need to sail it off this grounding.’ Peter pulled Grey away. The two men glared at each other. ‘And Sarah is a kick-ass sailor. How many races did you win at Corsair Bay? How many Canterbury Champs?’

Grey pulled himself from Peter’s grip. Turq stepped between them.

‘We’re all on the same side here boys,’ she said. ‘Now? Sarah? How about we get on deck and you can show me what we need the clan to do to get us out of this forest?’

Me and my big mouth. I really really hate heights. So why the heck am I doing this?

Peter had climbed the main mast with his heart thumping in his chest, and his grip firm on the rungs. Now he had to make his way out along the yard arm.

And no choice. Too many eyes on me to fail.

Turq and Sarah had gathered up the clan to help him set the sails. Sarah stood on deck watching and in command of more clan who had hold of the sheet ropes that would move the sails to the right angle.

Grey stood at the captain’s position at the bridge.

Not that the idiot knows anything about command, or about sailing flying skyships.

Turq called from high up the mast. ‘We’re ready. Tell us when.’

Peter stepped onto the foot ropes slung under the yardarm and sidled along. Another clanswoman followed him close beside.

Can’t back out now.

Above the clan did the same. Copying his movements. Peter locked his eyes on the horizon. The day now burned bright blue, the air polished clear until the distant mountains in the north loomed closer. The steady breeze from the south ruffled his hair, and blew out from his head, as he looked north where the curve of the great river flowed at the base of the mountains. The skyship could follow the course of the river, along the braided twisting course that fell in a constant slope towards the sea. Even if the zharaqsa dimmed, and they eased lower, they could follow the river and still get close to the mountains.

Crossing them will be another problem though.

Peter found himself at the end of the yardarm, and not a pang of fear had seized his hands. He drew breath and looked back along the horizontal spar. Six clan stood in the foot ropes and leaned over the furled sail.

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Above Turq’s crew had spread out along the yard likewise.

Peter had to look down now. To signal Sarah. He stared at her, their eyes locked, and the fear that gripped him was not just the height.

She nodded and called out. ‘Ready sail.’

Peter undid the reefing knot with the eyes of the clan on him. All copied his moves. Then he cried out. ‘Drop sail.’ And all along the yardarm the sail billowed out, and the sail spar dropped as Sarah’s crew eased the halyard rope.

Instantly the movement of the skyship altered. With the sail set on one side of the rigging the hull twisted, turned by the sail. Above Turq’s crew had set their sail too.

‘Ready to starboard,’ Peter called out. ‘Onto the other side of the yardarm.’ And his crew sidled back to the mast, and then out onto the opposite side. This time at least Peter would be close to the mast.

The skyship rolled and shuddered. A cracking came from below the hull.

‘Ready sail,’ Sarah called from below.

‘It’s coming around,’ called Grey.

No? Really?

Peter watched the trees as if studying the sea. He looked for where the trees moved and shook, if they moved as they had hoped. After an initial creaking the hull had settled into a new equilibrium.

‘Turq,’ he called up. ‘Ready to drop sail on my call.’

Below Sarah frowned. But as Turq’s crew moved to release the top sail her brow relaxed as she realized his plan.

‘My crew, hold fast until my command,’ Peter spoke just loud enough for his crew to hear.

‘Turq!’ Peter hollered as loud as he could. ‘Topmast crew let fall. I mean, drop sail.’ He held his breath, head rocked back, as he watched the topsail fall, billow out, then catch the wind.

The hull pitched forward, and the creaking increased. A sudden cracking groan ripped from below decks.

‘You’re breaking it,’ shouted Grey. ‘What are you doing?’

Peter ignored him. Sarah commanded her crew to pull the sheet ropes that twisted the upper topsail to increase the torque on the hull.

Then, like a released sigh, the skyship broke free of the tallest trees, scudded across the tops of the forest, but slewed around as the sails continued to twist the rigging.

‘Drop sail,’ Peter shouted to his crew and in one movement the clan released the reefing lines and the other side of the sail fell, caught the wind and the skyship steadied.

Sarah’s shouts to the crew on deck got the two sails set to aim the skyship downslope, off the shoal of trees and into clear skies. The bow now pointed north towards the river and the high mountains that stretched across the horizon.

Now they had got the skyship flying somehow Peter and Sarah needed to work out how to stop it.

‘We cannot get too far ahead of the Clans,’ said Grey. ‘Stop us now.’

Peter and Sarah had already found the cable room in the bow. Large hooks and plows lay ready to be dropped like anchors. Above Grey raged in frustration, his voice came through the deck grating along with the thumps of his stomps. The two sailors ignored him.

‘Who’s steering this craft? Where’s Sarah?’

‘It’s not like there’s much need to steer these skyships,’ said Sarah. ‘More like flying a balloon than sailing a boat.’

‘Yes. That’s the trouble with zharaqsa. It floats the skyship but cannot provide any grip on anything. That’s why the plough is interesting. I think it can be used to drag along the ground, allow forward movement but stopping sideways drift.’

‘Doesn’t sound very efficient,’ said Sarah.

‘It’s not. That’s why they use the rope ways.’

‘That would turn this thing into a train.’

‘You’re not wrong.’

‘So we lower the hook you think.’

‘You’re captain.’

Sarah frowned at him.

‘No I mean it. You should be the one in command. You’re clan.’

‘You can be clan too. If you wanted to. You speak well enough now.’

‘I need to get the cousins home. Somehow.’

‘Sarah?’ Grey’s cry came with the stomp of a foot on the deck.

‘He’s a child isn’t he?’ said Peter.

‘Pretty much. But don’t cross him. There’s a reason he’s head of the River Clan.’

‘Good call. So the hook?’

‘Yes. But let’s use two of them. We need to bring this skyship to a stop not just hold it in place.’

‘Yes Captain Snow.’

Sarah gave him a withering look but for some reason it made his guts flip. He took a sharp intake of breath. He covered this by turning his back. He worked to open the hatch that held the grappling hook in place, released it’s ropes and swung it outboard. Sarah worked the port side hook. Then they tied bowline knots onto the loop to secure the tether lines.

Back on deck Sarah stood in the bridge and ignored Grey’s pacing.

‘Ready to drop hook,’ Sarah shouted out.

Peter and Torq’s crew stood at the tether cables, six clan on each rope.

‘Let fall.’

They didn’t drop the hook, instead they lowered the rope hand over hand. Sarah wanted control, and not speed, when bringing the skyship to a halt. Three other clan also held a nipper rope tied to the hook. Peter held this rope up to stop the hook from catching too early.

The hook reached the ground, bounced and rattled along. The rope in Peter’s hand ripped free, the hook swung around and dug into the stony ground of the river plain. The tether began to whip about, became taut, and became to hum.

The skyship began to swing about. All sails had been furled and the wind only blew on her rigging, but it had been enough to keep them moving faster than Peter had liked.

But the tether had some stretch, and as the hum increased the ship steadied with the bow into the wind.

‘Let fall second hook,’

The crew took a less relaxed attitude to the second hook and it rattled to the ground without the nipper. It hit the ground far below but bounced and lay without digging in.

Peter shrugged. ‘Ah well. Should be good. Now? Where’s the clan?’

The cloud of dust kicked up by the marching clans grew in the distance and began to swirl through the rigging now the skyship gripped the ground.

The steel taste of the dust caught in Peter’s nose and he raised his muffler over his face. The biting cold of the high mountains had eased as they had left the permanently snow-bound plain and entered the dry edges of the braided river. He guessed that only spring when the snow melted would turn the plain green as the river flooded and spread across the land. Until then the dried glacial silt rose high in the wind falling from the mountains.

‘Bring us lower,’ said Grey. ‘We’re too high. We can’t get down to the Clans this high up.’

‘We shouldn’t. If we lower the skyship we will never rise up again.’

‘Lower it. I order this. Bobbing about like this is madness.’

Peter realized then Grey looked a bit pale. He had motion sickness.

So much for the man of action. Thought constant riding on a mount would make him immune.

‘Peter’s right,’ Sarah began.

Grey stepped away but came back with two of his men. Peter never got to know their names.

Sullen and Angry come to mind.

‘They will take you to the flight room,’ Grey said. ‘They will make you bring the skyship to ground, so do not disobey.’ He stomped off.

With the skyship on the ground the motion stilled, and even Peter sighed with relief.

‘You realize we’re sitting ducks here now,’ said Sarah.

‘I’m not sure if we can get the skyship in the air again.’ Peter worked to disengage the engine. ‘We can rest the catalyst though. It may give us more time.’

’No help if it does not get us up.’

‘I guess for it to fail now is not much worse than failing later.’ Peter did not believe his words.

We might have got higher into the mountains if we had not dropped now.

They returned to deck and watched the approaching Clans through the increasing pall of dust.

‘There’s something not right. Why is there so much dust,’ said Sarah. ‘We have to get higher.’

Sarah took to the ratlines and climbed up to the first cross tree. Peter took a breath, coughed dust, but followed her up. But Sarah kept climbing, and Peter followed, his eyes on her legs hoping for her to stop. She did stop. At the very top of the mast where a ring of wood formed a rail around the masthead where a lookout could stand.

Peter slipped beside her, breathless and shaking.

‘Look,’ said Sarah.

‘I really don’t want too,’ Peter had his eyes closed, but he raised his gaze and looked to where Sarah pointed.

The Clan moved forward, but surrounding them ran a large pack of ravening beasts, almost as if they herded the humans.

‘We’ve got to get the skyship off the ground,’ said Sarah. ‘The blackbirders will take it again.’

‘Grey’s such an idiot,’ Peter said.

‘I know. It’s impossible to understand why others don’t see it too.’

The ravening beasts broke from the Clan and raced for the grounded skyship even as Sarah and Peter scrambled to get to the deck.

‘Not too fast Sarah. I mean…’

But Sarah had grabbed a halyard, wrapped her legs around it and began to slide out and down.

‘That’s too much like a… pirate. No way am I doing that!’

And so Peter missed seeing the most fantastic thing the Clans had ever seen.

‘Damn you imp,’ Peter said later. ‘Couldn’t you have been a bit slower?’