Mana Soul: Chapter 40 - The Airboat - Tina

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After Hilda had cleared everything with the soldiers that had come to their ‘rescue’, Tina was tempted to hitch a ride on one of the soldiers' horses but decided in favour of riding in the driver's seat of her now golem animated horseless carriage.

Between the two of them, Hilda and Markus carried a visibly weakened Aela into the cab of the carriage and then got in themselves.

Zoe looked like she wanted to approach, but the firm grip of her aunt’s hand around her arm held Zoe fast. Assuming they were going to make arrangements with the soldiers, perhaps to get Hilda’s other carriage hitched to a couple of new horses, Tina decided it would be best to get going before more trouble found them.

Six soldiers on horseback accompanied Tina’s carriage down the mountain and back into Skalisberg proper. Judging by their continued vigilance despite having now entered the relative protection of the city, Tina could only assume that problems in the Jarldom were worse than Hilda had let on.

When Markus had originally found the hidden enchantments on Hilda’s armour, it seemed like typical underhanded roguery of the nobility. But the attack by the ‘bandits’ changed things greatly. For her uncle to strike in the open like that, he had to be either desperate or incredibly confident. In either case, remaining in Skalisberg was only going to expose them to greater levels of danger until Hilda’s uncle was dealt with, one way or the other.

Tina had been so distracted by her own thoughts that she hadn’t really paid all that much attention to the Golem’s uncanny nimbleness. Compared to her driver, who had months of practice under his belt, Puck was, for lack of a better word, a natural. Nearly imperceptible turns and alterations in speed mitigated the worst of the otherwise jarring jolts the springs of the suspension were exposed to, making the ride surprisingly comfortable.

As they pulled into the courtyard inside of the curtain walls of the keep, Puck brought the carriage around to the steps leading into the keep itself where a squad of older elite soldiers was waiting for them.

Hilda and Markus helped Aela out of the carriage and were escorted by the soldiers inside.

Hopping down from the driver's seat, Tina was going to head inside but caught sight of a familiar carriage parked at the far end of the courtyard. Painted dark red and bright yellow, the door bore a black outline of an arch and lowered portcullis. It was the colours and crest of her family house, house Irongate. The presence of the carriage almost certainly meant her grandfather had finally arrived.

Knowing that Markus was in no state to favourably receive visitors, Tina hurried after Markus and Hilda so she could intercept her grandfather or his manservant in case either showed themselves.

Spotting an old yet able-bodied man wearing a crisp dark suit with red and yellow accented ribbons tying back his wispy white hair standing at attention by one of Hilda’s family servants at the far end of the hall, Tina hastily waved to get his attention.

Bertrum’s family had served the Irongates since before their exile, which gave the old manservant no small amount of deserved pride. As such, he very quickly interpreted Tina’s warning motions and gave a nearly imperceptible nod in return. Besides bowing in deference as Markus and Hilda passed, Bertrum remained silent and respectful, much to the confusion of the servant next to him.

Thoroughly relieved, Tina let out a sigh of relief before making her own way over.

“Lady Irongate,” Bertrum bowed again and placed his hand on his heart before straightening again, “After hearing the rumours, I am glad to see you are well.”

Tina embarrassedly waved away the old man servant's concern, “You need to let the old man know that Markus needs space. What happened out there...He won’t be in a listening mood…”

Bertrum raised a single eyebrow inquisitive but said nothing, his eyes flickering momentarily to the lingering servant nearby. “As you say, my Lady,” Bertrum confirmed, “Is there anything I can do for you in the meantime?”

Tina shook her head, “Just make sure to tell the old man,” she repeated before heading off in the direction of her room. Thoroughly relieved her grandfather wouldn’t be jeopardising their relationship with Markus, Tina nearly collapsed after closing the door to her room. Instead, she chose to get changed into different clothes to better distance herself from the events of the hotsprings.

Tina felt much better after changing and using a damp rag to remove the worst of the dried sweat.

After all the stories, and fighting alongside them in the dungeon, Tina had thought she knew what chimaera was capable of. However, what Tina had seen at the hotsprings was far beyond what she had expected. If anything, the stories of chimaeras savagery were understated.

A knock came at the door. “My Lady, it is Bertrum. May I enter?”

“Door’s unlocked,” Tina called out while retrieving her sketching materials and laying them out on the desk.

The door opened and Bertrum entered her room. After carefully and quietly closing the door behind himself, the old manservant tutted under his breath as he set to work tidying the clothes Tina had casually discarded earlier. “My Lady, your grandfather has asked for an explanation to elaborate why you deem it best to delay negotiations.”

Sitting down at the desk and opening her leather case of sketching charcoal sticks, Tina briefly glanced back at the elderly manservant and sighed, “It’s more complicated than this, but Markus’s lover, the uh...ahem, chimaera, ahem, was injured, maybe even poisoned during the attack on the hotsprings. He...He seemed a little unhinged by it…” Tina felt a familiar chill run down her spine, “Just trust me...Gramps will want to give things a few days to calm down before inviting Markus over for a chat.”

Bertrum remained silent for a short time and then nodded, “As you say, my Lady, I will convey this information to your grandfather.”

Left alone again, Tina began sketching designs for the armoured waggon Markus had suggested earlier. She took special care to add the enclosed cab for the driver and the mounted ballista on the roof. Later during the design process, Tina added slide bolt windows that would allow crossbows to be fired out of the primary cabin at potential attackers and changed the driver access to the primary cabin.

Wanting to test a new means of steering, Tina sketched a three-wheel design for the undercarriage that would use two separate motion gear-chests, one for each of the larger front wheels. In theory, by setting the motion of one wheel forward and the other backwards, it would allow the carriage to make turns anywhere up to and including the centre of the front axle. If it worked, the new steering system would not need the awkward speed adjustment wheel, leaving more room for the driver. In fact, adding clutch ratchets to the lever for each wheel’s gear-chest, it would better allow the driver to maintain a heading without growing tired. It was one of the few complaints Tina’s driver had ever given her in regards to driving the horseless carriage, so she would be happy to see how it compared.

Knowing from experience that the local wainwrights were likely to pitch a fit over her custom request, Tina resolved to request the parts individually and have the soldiers responsible for taking care of the waggons help her put it together. Since the carpenters were still working on the final details for the boat, Tina decided to pop down and offer them a contract to build the armoured cab of the waggon.

While walking about town, Tina made sure to bring four of Hilda’s family’s soldiers as an escort just in case. It was perhaps just as well that she did. After lingering for five hours outside the largest smithy in town, a small gang of rough-looking men was spotted lingering nearby. After staying just long enough to collect her parts for the levers and gear-chests, Tina and the soldiers returned to the safety of the keep’s walls.

The carpenters had already made significant progress in putting together the outer frame of the armoured carriage and were halfway through finishing the floor. Since the armoured waggon cap was effectively just a rectangular block, Tina didn’t expect them to take much longer than another day to complete just about everything.

Inspired by Markus’s monster detection enchantment, Tina had ordered a number of translucent quartzite panels to use in the armoured waggon. One large sheet would serve as a forward-viewing port for the driver, while another pair, one on each side, would allow the driver to look in either direction. Smaller panels would be fixed to the interior of the passenger cab that would allow passengers to view the outside from the perspective of a dozen small rectangular plates of quartzite mounted on the exterior.

Granted Markus would have to do the enchanting to make it work, since it was beyond Tina’s specializations, but she doubted he would refuse. With how prone to danger Markus seemed to be, Tina was hoping that showcasing the armoured waggon would return him to a more sanguine mood.

Attending dinner in the evening, Tina wasn’t surprised to find Markus and Aela were both absent. However, she was a little surprised that her grandfather had decided to dine in private. The old man was usually painfully outgoing. This left only Tina herself, Hilda, Phillipe and his sister Kassandra, as Hilda’s mother was still attending court at the princedom’s capital.

Tina elected to sit next to Kassandra, opposite Hilda and Phillipe.

Hilda was understandably quite furious and practically attacked her dinner, Phillipe was little better, and Kassandra seemed unusually quiet.

Tina had just about finished her honeyed pork and potatoes when Phillipe began trying to get her attention from across the table.

“The situation is getting too dangerous here. It’s only a matter of time before that bastard Dolf tries something else. He has too many followers hidden amongst the regular soldiers, we need to leave Skalisberg and head to somewhere where he has less influence,” Phillipe explained, “I know you have a deal going with Markus already Tina, so I won’t pressure you to be part of this. I just wanted to let you know so you don’t get caught up in whatever happens after we leave.”

“You are just going to head back to your family’s holdings then?” Tina asked somewhat sceptically.

Phillipe slowly shook his head, “Things aren’t great at home for me either,” he admitted dourly, “Joffrey is still cementing his claim. If I were to just suddenly appear back home-”

“He would take it as a threat,” Tina finished for him and nodded in understanding.

Phillipe signed and nodded in agreement, “Joff knows I wouldn’t do something like that, but people will talk…”

“Fucking rumourmongers!” Kassandra muttered while pushing her dinner around on her plate.

“Have you considered asking Markus to tag along with him?” Tina asked hesitantly. Normally she wouldn’t go out on a limb for people, but Phillipe was by far the best team leader she had worked with, and easily the most tolerant of Artificers and their limited personal combat potential.

Phillipe seemed hesitant, “You think he would let us stay with him in Arngier Castle?” He asked dubiously.

Tina shrugged, “So long as you bring something to the table that offsets the risks on his end,” she elaborated and then shrugged, “Who knows? He is pretty sentimental and Aela seems to get along well with Hilda.”

Hilda had calmed down for the most part as the conversation had worn on but now seemed embarrassed, “Can’t be abusing friendships for shelter…” She insisted with embarrassment.

“Why not?” Tina countered, “Isn’t that what friends and family are for?”

Phillipe cringed, “There is more to family than that Tina, and besides...If anyone owes anyone, we already owe Markus-”

“Then there is your reason,” Tina interrupted smugly, “You need to tag along in order to repay the favour.”

“That’s not how favours work,” Kass interjected before her brother could say anything in reply, “What about aunt Malinda? We could stay at her estate for a couple of weeks at least, she’s always been fond of you,” she suggested optimistically.

Phillipe frowned and shook his head, “She will just use it as another opportunity to try and make me reconsider marrying Bethany.”

“Oh yeah…” Kassandra agreed dejectedly.

“You're overthinking it,” Tina insisted, “Markus seems to care about three things, his adopted daughter, Aela and artificing, and since Hilda was personally responsible for saving one of those three…” She held her arms out expansively and sighed, “You might as well ask. Worst case, he says no.”

Phillipe frowned, “Then why did you delay introducing your grandfather to Markus?”

“I never said you had to ask him right now!” Tina rebuked, “At least wait until Aela is up and about again. Show some damned tact why don’t you.”

Phillipe remained silent and seemed to be considering her advice.

“But Aela was only being in danger because of me,” Hilda insisted, “I suggesting visit hotsprings, deserters-” She struggled to pronounce the word and was visibly incensed by it, “-come for me. Aela was hurt, poisoned, in protecting me!” Hilda seemed equally ashamed and angry by the explanation of events.

“So?” Tina ignored Hilda’s incredulous expression, “There is every chance that it was your soldiers that drew the attention of the wyverns that nearly killed Markus. We all know monsters are drawn to large numbers of humans, so there is no way he hasn’t considered it.”

Hilda’s frustrated expression shifted to one of wary curiosity as she waited to see where Tina was going with her argument.

“Markus doesn’t care who the wyverns were after, only what transpired when they did,” Tina declared triumphantly, “Markus is giving out free top of the line prosthetics, with full sensory input, to every damned soldier who was injured fighting the wyverns. Now, why is that?”

Hilda and Phillipe both remained silent.

“It’s because those soldiers were injured protecting something important to him,” Tina explained somewhat smugly, “He’s sentimental.”

“So you're saying we should take advantage-” Phillipe began to comment disapprovingly but was interrupted.

“Yes!” Tina exclaimed exasperatedly, “Markus probably wouldn’t have even gone to that dungeon unless you invited him. So if it helps you feel better, think of it like settling the score on the balance sheet. Besides, if you really feel that bad about asking, just think of something you can offer him in return for it.”

Tina left the others to their highly exaggerated moral dilemma and returned to her room. Resuming her sketching, Tina began compiling a mental list of enchantments she would need Markus to take care of for the airboat and armoured waggon. Tina could handle most of them herself and would do so, but the more complex and combined enchantments were still frustratingly beyond her abilities. Tina still believed she would be able to emulate them in time, but she knew she would need much more time to observe the enchantments being made in order to make any real progress.

As the natural light through her window waned, Tina shuttered the windows, locked the door and then went to bed.

After a light breakfast, Tina returned to sketching new inventions to facilitate safer transport. Unless she missed her guess, they would be in high demand once Markus began pushing to claim deadlands territory.

Every so often, Tina would check on the progress of the armoured waggon by opening her window and looking down into the courtyard. The carpenters would be finished with the bulk of their work by the afternoon at their current pace, and the ordered parts from the wainwrights were waiting for Tina to make her own necessary modifications.

Spending the afternoon assembling the undercarriage with the help of soldiers to do the heavy lifting, Tina managed to have the armoured cabin mounted and attached to the completed undercarriage by the early evening.

After sending some of the house servants out to purchase blankets and cushions to be stored in the waggon once it was completed, Tina had the carpenters paint the cabin’s exterior black so it could be repainted to suit Markus’s preference later.

The oilskin bladder for the airboat had been completed and delivered as well, so Tina had begun making final modifications to the boat to better facilitate its eventual launch. The spinning blades that would propel the airboat forward would run the risk of shearing into the ground. The simple solution would be the addition of sled runners to the bottom of the boat, which Tina figured would act somewhat as rudders to help keep the boat on course while in the air. The rotatable gear-chest the propelling blades would be attached to was relatively simple so far as the simple ratchet mechanism was concerned, but Tina was still proud of it. The ratchet would allow the propelling blades to be fixed in a specific direction without needing to strain your arms maintaining that course. Similarly, the lever on the gear-chest would determine the speed of the rotating propulsion blades.

The anchor was one of Markus’s more mundane but effective suggestions. Since increasing the weight of an item was almost mana neutral, Markus suggested a form of conditional weight increasing enchantment that would be added to the iron bracing already used to reinforce the interior of the boat. The conditional component would come from gemstones each enchanted to increase the weight of the anchoring effect. The gemstones would be linked to the bracing and complete the enchantment only when the bridging metal from the latch came into contact with the hardened steel containing each of the gemstones and the rotating selection mechanism.

The final component, and arguably the most important, was the first to be completed by the blacksmiths. Appearing rather mundane by comparison to the rest of the components, a length of bronze pipe roughly the same width as Tina’s hand and roughly ten feet tall was connected to a large bronze kettle.

However, the relatively benign appearance of the kettle and pipe concealed some of Tina’s more revolutionary mechanical innovations. The bottom section of the pipe contained a custom housing and propelling blades intended to draw gas from the kettle and funnel it up through the pipe and into the oilskin. From experience, Tina knew the powerful airflow would provide a suction effect that would mean the kettle’s spout could remain open if necessary. All the same, Tina made sure to put a latch lock lid on the end of the spout. Markus had been somewhat cagey regarding his explanation of why the slime monster he had made didn’t attempt to flee the original kettle.

A second set of propelling blades could be activated farther up the pipe and reverse the airflow out of an emergency vent. The emergency vent was kept closed by a large latch and could be opened or closed by hand so long as the person making the attempt was at least as tall as Tina herself. Knowing from experience that the gas was both flammable and dangerous to breathe, Tina already had a special helmet and air bladder she could use in order to avoid breathing in the gas for at least a few minutes.

Another custom housing built into the deck of the boat would hold the kettle in place while also providing additional support to the lower section of the bronze pipe. A comparatively lightweight canopy would be erected over the boat when everything was ready for the first test run inflating the oilskin. Tina already knew from previous experiments that elevating the whole oilskin in advance would make the inflation process go much more smoothly with the pipe-fed design. As an Artificer, Tina knew that she ‘could’ enchant the oilskin bladder to be lighter than air, and she had done so on tiny scale experiments while still using hot air as the primary source of lift. However, the mana drain involved would be astronomical and ultimately pointless considering how easily mundane means provided the solution.

Once the rope netting was secured around the oilskin bladder and firmly attached to the boat, Tina would be able to take the airboat on its maiden voyage. But there was one small problem, she needed a source of mana for the large chunk of Quartzite that would serve as the primary power source. The same was true of the armoured waggon as well, and given that they were both very nearly finished, Tina decided to check in with Markus sometime in the morning.

Making her way to dinner with a skip in her step, Tina felt quite pleased with herself. Seeing the completed armoured waggon would almost certainly put Markus in a good mood and better cement their partnership. Which was good, because Tina wasn’t quite certain how well the maiden voyage of the airboat was going to go.

This anxiety was partly because of the danger presented by the volatile gas, but mostly because she had never actually spent much time on a traditional boat, let alone sailed one. One solution was to pay one of the local fishermen to steer the airboat, but Tina dismissed it out of hand for being practically insane. A fisherman would have as much experience flying an airboat as she had sailing a fishing boat.

Sitting herself down at the table, Tina was surprised to see Phillipe and Hilda were absent. Not an entirely uncommon occurrence, she didn’t think much of it until Kassandra made a point of trying to get her attention.

“Do you think Markus would really let us stay at his castle?” Kassandra asked uncertainly.

“Probably,” Tina answered confidently, “You have to remember, he isn’t from a hereditary and established noble house like the rest of you lot. Favours aren’t ‘favours’-” She accented the second use of the word with a dour tone, “-doing Markus, or the people he cares about, a good turn carries a great deal of weight. Even more so because Hilda wasn’t expecting anything in exchange.”

“And that makes all the difference?” Kassandra asked sceptically.

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“It can do,” Tina replied cheerily, “Try to think of the last time someone did you a genuine favour without expecting something in return or because they were otherwise obligated to do it.”

Kassandra frowned as she thought about how best to answer the question. After a lengthy silence, she shook her head in defeat, “Besides my parents or Phillipe-”

“Which don’t count,” Tina interjected.

“Right,” Kassandra agreed, understanding Tina’s point, “Besides them, I can’t think of anyone just doing me a good turn for the sake of it.”

“Exactly,” Tina grinned, “It’s the nature of the nobility to compete for advantage. Don’t get me wrong, it’s similar amongst the merchant families too, but there are limits to what ruthless self-interest can get you as a merchant, and far less for a commoner. Markus hasn’t been a noble nearly long enough to become so ruthless. Like I said last evening, he’s sentimental.”

Kassandra nodded, “I think I get what you mean now,” she agreed, “It explains why he is so...weird.”

Tina shrugged. She didn’t think Markus was particularly strange so long as his actions were taken in proper context. The more time Tina spent in Markus’s company, the more she had come to recognise and anticipate certain behaviours. His outburst at the hotsprings had been unnerving and unsettling, but in hindsight, Tina realised she should have seen it coming.

Tina was broken from her musings as Hilda and Phillipe took their seats at the table.

“He agreed,” Phillipe stated bluntly with a mixed expression of confusion and relief.

“Told you,” Tina grinned victoriously and raised her feet onto the underbar beneath the table.

Phillipe just stared back at Tina for a moment before nodding, “It’s like you said, Markus felt he was the one who owed Hilda…”

“So what did you offer to do for him in return?” Tina asked, knowing Hilda’s character far too well to think she hadn't made an offer of one kind or another.

Hilda smiled, “Just keeping Aela company,” she admitted sheepishly.

“There really isn’t much we can do for him that Markus’s growing wealth and golems can’t do for him already,” Phillipe admitted. “The merchant he has been sponsoring, a Mr Peabody, suggested I could work as a sort of intermediary with other nobles-”

“Like a chamberlain,” Tina commented.

“-Like a chamberlain,” Phillipe agreed.

“When Markus starts carving up the deadlands, it’s going to make Hilda’s claims on Skalisberg more complicated. You know that right?” Tina observed with a smile.

Phillipe’s expression turned sceptical, “You don’t really think he is going to be able to hold anything substantial do you?”

Tina grinned, “Between his golems, gramps’ mercenaries and my artifices, I would be genuinely surprised if we couldn’t,” she bragged.

Kassandra nodded slightly in agreement, “You don’t need to be a Warrior if you have enchanted bolts, Markus proved that already, didn't he?”

Hilda nodded much more energetically, “Soldiers killing high-level monster like wyverns is completely new.”

“Imagine how it would have gone with my self-loading and repeating crossbow,” Tina pressed proudly, “Those flying lizards wouldn’t have stood a chance!”

Phillipe still seemed somewhat sceptical but nodded in agreement, “Assuming you can make so many,” he agreed and then his expression turned quite thoughtful, “Actually, a decent pike or halberd formation with that enchantment could really make a mess of a lower-tier horde, or something like we faced in that last dungeon.”

“Pikes supported by swordsmen and archers or crossbowmen,” Kassandra added thoughtfully.

Phillipe nodded and began to smile, “I think you’re right Tina, Markus and your grandfather just might be able to carve themselves a whole new kingdom out of the deadlands if they play their cards right.”

“Would still be a nightmare convincing anyone to live there,” Kassandra added conservatively, “But I guess that is more a matter of time, isn’t it? Small villages still exist on the borders despite the danger, so clearly, some people are crazy enough to do it.”

“You haven't even properly considered Markus’s golems yet,” Tina added smugly, “If they can beat Dimos, a veteran of the last war and level fifty-ish to boot, imagine what they can do to monsters?”

Phillipe looked surprised, “I forgot about that…” He muttered in shock, “And didn’t Markus say it killed that giant too?”

Still grinning, Tina nodded.

“Abyss take me…” Phillipe swore, “Forget the deadlands, Markus could take the whole damned southern kingdom if he had enough golems…”

If it weren’t for Phillipe’s tone, Tina would have taken that as further agreement with her earlier point.

“When the king or one of his cronies figures out how much of a threat he is…” Phillipe paled, “I think Markus doesn’t realise how much danger he is in. Once it gets out how many golems he intends to create and what they are capable of...I wouldn’t put it past the older noble houses to put a contract out on his life, or worse, his capture.”

On that sombre note, Tina excused herself from the table and quietly made her way back to her room. Phillipe’s assessment of the situation wasn’t much of a surprise to Tina, but it did serve as a reminder that Markus’s position, and by extension that of her own family, would be precarious until they were able to prove they were not to be trifled with. Unfortunately, that would almost certainly involve repelling the open attack of at least one of the noble houses of middling strength or greater.

Tina was reasonably confident that the Fighting Geese at full muster could fend off any levies a middling noble house could muster. But the telling factor would be whether Markus’s golems could match or counter their Warriors and Mages. Tina’s inventions would play a role in keeping things in their favour, but the higher-level adventurers were certainly not a force to be taken lightly.

Then again, it was Markus’s precarious position that gave her family its best chance at forming a lasting and productive relationship with him. So long as the old man had the sense not to present these facts in any way that could be perceived as a threat, Tina didn’t doubt Markus would agree to the intended partnership.

Wanting to get as much sleep as she could, after locking the door and latching the windows, Tina retired to bed early.

Waking up early, Tina set about finalising the last details of the armoured waggon and airboat. Attaching the spotting lights to the front of the armoured waggon was quite straightforward. The large polished bronze bowl with the quartzite sphere suspended over its centre was slotted into recessed holes in the wood and then nailed in place through its exposed rim. A mesh of steel was then anchored into place by hooped staples to make sure nothing could snatch the quartzite. Deeper in the bowl.

Similar to how the weight enchantment was implemented in the airboat, Tina had a simple rod inserted in the cab behind the bowl that could be depressed and make contact through the hollow funnel the quartzite was attached to. Once the rod made contact, the enchantment would be complete and the light would shine onto the polished bronze bowl and illuminate the path ahead of the armoured waggon. Tina also included the solution she had found for her horseless carriage, adding a leather strap and catch to hold the rod in place and prevent the waggon’s jostling from knocking it free and disrupting the enchantment.

The airboat required a more flexible approach, so Tina mounted the dish in a pot and then attached that pot to a swivelling tripod that was in turn then mounted in the frontmost section of the boat’s deck with thick nails. The light used the same rod system, but Tina had to send the pot back in order for the smith to punch the extra holes she needed to be able to strap the rod in place.

With all the last-minute fiddling out of the way, Tina excitedly headed back to the guest wing of the keep and towards Markus’s room. “Markus?” She knocked loud enough that he would notice if awake, but not so loud to wake him if he was asleep. Tina wanted Markus in a very good mood when showcasing her work. After all, Tina wanted him to continue paying for all of her experiments, and if things went well, she would be able to give her grandfather the go-ahead.

There was no reply, and after a number of minutes, Tina considered knocking again.

Before Tina could reach out to knock, the door opened and revealed Aela standing on the other side of the threshold.

Suppressing the sudden panic that flared in her heart upon seeing the chimaera, Tina willed herself to keep smiling. “Good morning, is Markus awake yet? There are a couple of artifices I want to show him and get some help with.”

Aela’s interest waned somewhat at the mention of the artifices, which was odd considering her interest in Markus, but she nodded and left the door open as she headed back into the room. “Tina is here to talk artifices,” Aela declared loudly while flopping unceremoniously face down onto the bed.

Entering the room, Tina found Markus stripped to his waist and towelling himself off on a chair in the corner. Pretending she hadn’t noticed the half-healed scratches on his back, Tina loudly cleared her throat and looked towards the nearest window.

“Just freshening up,” Markus apologised awkwardly, before pulling on a tunic and boots. “What was this about artifices?” He asked after stiffly getting to his feet.

“I uh, hem, I have just about finished a couple of artifices and would like your help with a couple of the enchantments and to see what you think,” Tina explained, quickly regaining her earlier excitement.

“Oh!” Markus seemed just as excited as she was, “Do you want to come as well Aela?”

“Mmmmhhhh,” Aela groaned unenthusiastically from her position face down on the bed and waved them away.

Not put out in the least, Markus walked over to the bed, brushed aside Aela’s hair and gave her a warm peck on the cheek before ushering Tina out the door and closing it behind them.

“Which artifices have you been working on?” Markus asked, “I think I remember you mentioning the airboat, but what else?”

Tina grinned, “It’s not strictly new per se, but I think you will like it,” she teased, “Or at least you should, considering how much of your input I took on board when designing it.”

Intrigued, Markus increased his pace and Tina had to do the same to avoid being left behind.

Upon seeing the armoured waggon, Markus ran over to take a closer look. “Wow! That’s pretty much exactly what I was talking about!” He exclaimed excitedly while circling around to take it all in, “No ballista yet?” Markus joked while pointing to the bare roof and trapdoor.

Tina grinned, “I don’t have my tools, and it’s not like the army will just give me one to work on.”

Markus nodded absently and took a look inside. “It's really big,” He observed, “You sure this is going to be okay on the roads?”

Tina nodded, “Should be fine, it’s only about half as wide again as most carriages, and only a little wider than most wagons I have seen around the place.”

Markus made no reply, he was too busy playing with the levers by the driver’s seat. “Is this one of the things you wanted my help with?” Markus called out while pointing to the quartzite window.

Tina climbed inside to better save her voice, “That, and the panels in the back,” she agreed. “I was hoping you could put the mana detection enchantment on this one so the driver can spot monsters that might be hidden behind bushes or in fog. I put more quartzite around the outside so you could connect them with shared vision enchantments so the passengers can keep an eye out without opening any of the windows or doors.”

Markus nodded and took a closer look at the panels in the back, “I can probably do that,” he agreed thoughtfully, “But the mana cost would be quite high if you just left all of them going like that. Why not set up a conditional enchantment like the light on the front?”

“Ah…” Tina had overlooked that. Each of the shared vision enchantments individually required very little mana to maintain, but collectively it added up to rather a lot. “I’ll think of something to do that later,” Tina promised.

Markus shrugged, “It’s not that big a deal. We can put off enchanting them until later anyway. I did notice that everything seems to be individually powered though, have you considered having everything running off a centralised source of mana?”

Tina shook her head, “Not really,” she admitted, “I guess it would make recharging everything more efficient,” Tina conceded.

“That and making it a golem,” Markus agreed.

“Why make it a golem though?” Tina asked curiously.

Markus looked thoughtful for a short while before shrugging, “A golem would be able to access all of the enchantments and even drive the waggon if the driver is tired or missing. It’s not that a golem would be an improvement so much as provide a reasonable contingency,” he amended.

Tina thought about it for a bit and then nodded, “I think I understand what you mean,” she agreed, “But you could also get most of that benefit by having a human-shaped golem too, right?”

“Probably,” Markus agreed thoughtfully. “But as you said, the centralised mana source would certainly save a great deal of effort when it needs to be recharged. So I think that is definitely worth looking into.”

“Alright,” Tina agreed amiably, already able to see the benefits and unwilling to get into a fight over it since Markus was paying for everything anyway.

“I wouldn’t mind trying my hand at driving it around once we are out of the city,” Markus chuckled as they headed off towards the shed the airboat was stowed away in.

Tina set about instructing the soldiers and servants to remove the boat from the shed, attach the oilskin bladder and secure both together with the thick rope netting.

All throughout the process, Markus would excitedly take a look at one thing or another before moving on to the next.

Once everything was assembled, Tina had the servants bring out the prepared waste to be fed to the slime inside the kettle.

The only thing left to do was charge the large piece of quartzite and link it to the other smaller artifices. Tina had already been feeding large amounts of mana into the quartzite in preparation for the maiden voyage, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough if something happened to go wrong and her flight was otherwise extended beyond an hour or so at most.

Markus was incredibly hesitant about contributing his own surprisingly limited mana supply. In spite of defeating three dungeons, including the high-level dungeon that had increased Tina’s own mana reserves by no small margin. Markus did however provide something of a compromise.

“You could always install Puck in the airboat,” Markus suggested with thinly veiled amusement. “The horseless carriage still has a lot of mana left in it.”

Tina firmly pressed her lips together and considered her limited options. Theoretically, Markus should be able to craft another one of his reinvigoration artifices, but Tina couldn’t be sure that the required materials would be available in Skalisberg. All she knew for certain was that Markus was somehow able to generate mana beyond his own capabilities through the use of an artifice he had thus far decided to keep to himself. All the same, Markus did have a point. The large chunk of quartzite inside of the horseless carriage’s gear-chest was probably still close to half full.

After making a last-minute adjustment to the chest containing the anchoring weight enchantment so Tina could securely mount and lock in the quartzite containing Puck, Markus spent about twenty minutes connecting the golem’s core to all of the enchantments.

In the meantime, a string of servants had been pouring a slurry of melted animal fats and offal through a large funnel and into the mouth of the kettle containing the gas emitting slime. This had required Tina to turn on the extraction propelling blades inside of the pipe connected to the kettle to stop the gas from escaping. With the oilskin bladder slowly filling with gas, Tina also activated the anchoring weight enchantment, just in case.

The first indication Tina had that Markus was finished, was when the gear-chest at the rear of the boat began waving from side to side of its own accord. It also reminded Tina that the golem has something of an irritatingly exuberant personality. On the upside, the golem didn’t seem to have any means of communicating besides Markus’s tablet, so Tina was spared from having to listen to it.

“That should do it,” Markus proclaimed excitedly as he awkwardly stepped out of the boat. “You sure the boat doesn’t need additional rudders or something in order to steer?”

Tina smiled and shrugged, “I don’t know,” she admitted, “Maybe? That’s what I hope to find out on this maiden voyage!”

“Fair enough,” Markus agreed excitedly, “If this works, it might make carriages and wagons obsolete.”

Tina hadn’t thought of that, and her imagination quickly began upscaling the airboat into a much larger airship. It could carry tonnes of cargo up and out of reach of bandits, cut straight to its intended destination while ignoring long snaking roads through sunken valleys, carry hundreds of soldiers over enemy lines...

Clambering into the boat, Tina put on her leather cap and riding goggles before carefully looking over each individual artifice and piece of machinery. Finding nothing out of sorts, Tina settled onto the bench seat and practised steering while the oilskin bladder finished inflating.

Markus played with the spotting light for a short while before stepping back and watching from a short distance. “I don’t suppose you have considered tying yourself to the boat, just in case?” Markus asked with a hint of worry.

“Ah…Right…” Tina sent the servants to fetch some rope and then had them tie a length around her waist and the seat, leaving a few feet to allow her to stand, but not enough that it could drag back into the propelling blades behind the boat.

“Making a number of attachment points around the boat and having a closing hook of some kind could allow for better movement around the boat while staying reasonably prepared for an accident,” Markus suggested thoughtfully.

Tina made a point of remembering that suggestion for later. If she was ever going to scale up her concept to a large ship, the crew would need certain measures to avoid being blown overboard or otherwise falling off the deck. Even with a heightened guardrail of knotted rope, that wouldn’t stop the crew from being badly injured or even killed while rolling about the deck.

With the oilskin bladder now straining against the rope netting, Tina adjusted the anchoring artifice to reduce the weight multiplication by one step at a time until the airboat began gradually floating up into the sky.

Clearing the walls of the courtyard, Tina realised she may have overlooked something important. They hadn’t officially warned any of the city’s soldiers of what they were doing and she could see no fewer than five ballistae in her near vicinity that looked like they were entering a state of panic. “I don’t suppose Markus put that durability enchantment of his on the oilskin bladder?” Tina muttered nervously to herself while quickly reactivating the anchoring artifice.

“We forgot about the soldiers!” Markus called up to her in nervous amusement.

Tina held her thumb up to show she understood and tried to decide if she was embarrassed or irritated by the oversight.

Markus had already sent soldiers from the courtyard out to the city guard and soldiers manning the ballista’ on the walls, so they had little left to do but wait.

“What did you mean by extra rudders?” Tina asked curiously to pass the time.

“Hrm? Oh, I was thinking something like the fins of a fish on the sides, only large enough to catch the wind on one side or the other in order to catch the air and help turn the boat,” Markus shrugged, “Just an idea.”

“Hrm,” Tina considered the idea and could understand what Markus was going for, but sails would probably be more effective. In her mind, Tina’s imagined airship now had a sail deployed on either side and a large one deployed below. “But how would you attach them?” She wondered aloud.

Markus shrugged, “I dunno. What about using your ratchet and gear-chest mechanisms to pull the rudder open from one direction and closed from the other? The gear-chest does the opening and closing, while the ratchet holds it in place in the meantime.”

“That could work,” Tina agreed and thoughtfully rubbed her chin, “Maybe we should have a talk with one of those fishermen about the sails?” She suggested.

Markus shrugged, “Most of them weren’t using sails though,” he reminded her.

“Right…” Tina agreed and then shrugged, it was another problem they would just have to see to later.

Once the runners returned, Tina lifted off the ground again and began floating into the air above the keep. Almost immediately, she felt the airboat begin to drift under the pressure of a strong southbound wind. Attempting to correct for the drift, Tina began experimenting with steering by directing the propelling blades.

After twenty minutes of being blown farther and farther south, Tina was forced to admit that the propelling blades even on their fastest setting were not enough to directly cut into the wind. The best she could manage was cutting across the wind at a severely compromised angle. To make things worse, turning at higher speeds resulted in a much larger turning distance than Tina had expected.

Feeling quite glad Markus had convinced her to install the additional mana source, Tina wondered how exactly she was going to return to the keep when the airboat began moving of its own accord.

The airboat began lowering towards the ground, and Tina found that the wind became much less severe and she was able to make better progress in her preferred direction without compromising so much of the angle.

For whatever reason, the golem had seemingly decided to return to the keep. So, Tina surrendered the steering to the golem as well. She wanted to see what else it had managed to learn on their short outing.

After reaching about one hundred feet or so off the ground, the golem ceased the air boat’s descent and began interchangeably angling into the wind. First, it would steer north-west for a time, then northeast, and then north-west again. Each time it changed direction, the airboat drew closer to the keep’s curtain walls up on the hill.

Once the airboat drew close, it began quite rapidly rising into the sky again to better clear the walls now below them.

Watching all the mechanical elements of her artifices functioning independently was somewhat unnerving for Tina, but it was also fascinating. She hardly noticed when the airboat landed in the courtyard again, only that the artifices had stopped moving.

“Puck says you had something of a steering problem?” Markus asked worriedly.

Tina shakily got to her feet and untied the rope from around her waist. “That’s what I thought too…” Tina answered uncertainly while eyeing the golem controlled airboat, “Your golem, Puck, it actually did a good job bringing me back.”

Markus nodded in understanding, apparently finding no problem with what Tina had just said. This was in spite of the fact that the golem shouldn’t have had any way of being able to see in order to know which way would take Tina back to the keep courtyard, much less to Markus’s side...