The following night, Adam left Penumbria with Solara and Tenver, traveling to secluded outskirts where no one could see them.
Adam and Solara had privately agreed to let Tenver lead this little dance, even if they were already aware of his plan. The knight was clever, but not omnipotent – his spies hadn’t been able to uncover that Vasco also did business with that very same airship. Keeping Tenver in the dark about that would make him feel more trusted. Solara also believed that the airship’s captain was trustworthy, so overall, this plan was...probably safe.
While it pained Adam to leave the city nearly unguarded against a coup, Vasco would stay for long enough, and Esteban was at least unlikely to side with the nobles if it came to that. Plus, much as he loathed to admit it, Tenver’s executions and heads-on-pikes had proven quite effective at cowing them into submission. It should be fine. And if things go wrong, I’ll just fix it when we get back.
Adam turned to face Tenver, intending to ask him a few questions about the Puppet Mines. Solara beat him to the punch. “Lord Tenver,” she began, “why have you asked us not to bring horses? Surely you don’t mean we should walk all the way to–”
“Of course not.” Tenver held up a medallion in his right hand. “If you’ll allow me a degree of brazenness, I feel like going to Gama would take too long, and risk us running into the Hangman along the way. Thus, I have arranged for another method of travel to the Mines. The merchant who brought my father and I there gave me this, you see – said to use it if I needed another trip.”
Adam coughed. “There’s...a lot to unpack in what you just said.”
“Your father?” Solara questioned. “The former Emperor? What was he doing in the Puppet Mines?”
“Being a better father than I deserved,” Tenver said, stretching his arms above his head. Solara seemed about to press him for more details, but before she could, he gestured at the sky. “Look – our good old captain is here.”
The wind seemed to shift into something else. A large object suddenly appeared in front of them, but not as if it had moved there. Rather, it was like the object had been slowly approaching for a while now, and only now decided to show itself.
Adam’s initial reaction wasn’t one of shock. To him, a flying ship was no more strange than the monsters and magic he’d witnessed since coming to the Painted World. Instead, his first reaction was to peer around and see how Solara was behaving. Are flying ships common here? Should I be acting like this is normal? Or...
To his surprise, it seemed like this was unusual, even for this world. Though hard to tell with only moonlight illuminating them, Solara’s expression looked like a mixture of shock and annoyance, her eyebrows twitching in a sort of disbelieving fury.
She was a damn good actress.
“Tenver,” the elf hissed. “When you said you’d handled our travel plans, I thought that meant you’d designed a route where we wouldn’t run into the Hangman – some hidden mountain path, at best.”
“I would if necessary,” Tenver told her, with a vague shrug. “But why do so when I had this available? It’s silent, easier to move at night, and payment was already arranged a decade and a half ago. Not to mention we can head in the opposite direction of the Hangman, avoiding him entirely.”
Solara wasted no time prodding him for answers. “Lord Tenver – is that the rumored Imperial Airship? Have you spoken to the current Emperor?”
“I haven’t, nor do I know if they’re still trying to make these. Too expensive, and the man with the Talent to create them died. In any case, no, that is not an Imperial Airship.”
Tenver paused, tilted his head to one side, and then the other. “Well, not anymore. The captain defected – with my father’s unofficial blessing – after he decided that an illicit trade route with the Dragon Puppets was too profitable to pass up on. In exchange, he’s expected to lend his aid when called, and understands that he will not receive the same aid in return.”
In other words, the late Emperor wanted access to their goods and technology, but didn’t want to open diplomatic channels, Adam thought. Wait, hang on! That’s not the point!
“Tenver,” Adam sternly said, “what are you hiding?”
The knight grinned. “I didn’t hear the three magic words.”
“Go to hell.”
Tenver appeared to consider this. “Not the three words I had in mind, but I was admittedly unclear.”
It was at this point that Adam had an important, yet disturbing realization. Yes, there was a large element of truth to what they’d discussed the night before. Tenver feared Adam’s ability. Being unpredictable was a matter of self-preservation.
But what Adam hadn’t quite rationalized until then, at least not to this degree, was that Tenver enjoyed acting strangely. Their reactions were a treasured form of enjoyment for him.
“Your Imperial Highness!” said a new voice from aboard the ship. “The medallion alerted me to your request yesterday. I came here as soon as I was able.”
Adam could scarcely make out the visage of a white-bearded man aboard the ship. He was far away, barely an outline in that dark night, the ship itself shadowing some of the faint starlight above. Yet even from a distance, it was easy to detect the nervousness in his face and tone.
“Took you long enough,” Tenver said, grinning. “Allow us in. Show us that beautiful staircase.”
“Of course, Your Highness. Only...because it was so short notice, I – there are other passengers. Please forgive me.”
Tenver shook his head and shrugged. “Ah, well. Not much we can do about that. Extend the stairs.”
At first Adam thought the knight had meant a ladder or something of the sort. Turns out there was no mistake; Tenver meant exactly what he said.
The white-bearded man made a gesture with his hands. While the details of his motion were difficult to see in the darkness, their effects were immediate. An ephemeral, almost translucent set of steps began cascading down from the ship’s deck all the way to the ground. It snapped together silently and quickly, producing a gust of wind when it stopped just before the three of them.
Tenver stepped forward, testing his boot against the first step a couple times, as if ensuring it was solid enough. Satisfied, he pointed towards the staircase. “Come on now, you two. Let’s get going.”
Adam gaped at him open-mouthed, so many objections running through his mind that he wasn’t sure which one to pick. Solara had no problem voicing her own. “Really now,” she said, her tone dripping with undisguised suspicion. “And how do we know that you aren’t simply going to take us straight to the Emperor the moment we board that ship?”
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“Because of my lord’s presence, of course.” Tenver nodded at Adam. “If it came down to a matter of life or death, I wouldn’t put it past him to take down Penumbria’s walls and use his Lord Talent. At that point...why, I would be quite dead, wouldn’t I?”
“What if you have someone with a stronger Talent than Lord Adam waiting up there?” Solara shouted. “It would be easy for you to kill us! Lord Adam, we’ve entertained this lunacy for long enough – let us return to Penumbria, grab a pair of horses, and make our way to my contact.”
Adam wasn’t sure if she was still acting or not, but he took a moment to consider the point regardless. While he was fairly confident in Solara’s information, the possibility remained that she’d been outmaneuvered somehow. Nothing was ever guaranteed. This could always be a trap.
Although, if this is a trap, maybe it’s one I wouldn’t mind walking straight into. It would just give him a morals-free excuse to steal the airship – an asset he would make very good use of.
Still, his gut feeling of ‘I can take anyone’ wasn’t good enough for him to bet his life on. He was Penumbria’s lord now; his life held great importance to the people who followed him. Let’s see...are there any more last-minute guarantees I can think of?
To his surprise, there actually was one. He reached for his backpack.
“Lord Adam,” Solara hesitantly said, as he pulled out his tablet. “With all due respect, are you trying to paint the airship?”
He shook his head. “Not at all. Just bear with me for a second.”
While he’d put his abilities to the test in many ways, there was one aspect he hadn’t been utilizing much until now. His tablet could tell him the name, title, Talent, and Orbs of anyone he was looking at. He’d used it on Tenver and Esteban when they first met. The ship captain was a little far away, but maybe he was still within range.
If it doesn’t work, no harm done. But if it DOES work, my decision will get a lot easier. Tenver said this man was a deserter...any chance this will confirm that?
To his surprise, it did.
Baltsar, Ex-Captain of the Empire
Talent: Ship Captain
Orbs: ~972,873
Would you look at that, Adam mused. The captain really was a deserter of the Empire. It wasn’t enough to completely remove all doubt, though. For example, he could be attempting to get back in the Empire’s good graces by using Adam as a bargaining chip. Those odds were significantly lower than the odds of running into the Hangman on Solara’s route, though, so when faced with riding a sketchy airship or blundering into an early meeting with that monster...the choice was obvious.
“We’re heading aboard,” Adam declared. “There’s no perfect decision, so I’ll have to settle for this.”
He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. Then, he walked onto the translucent staircase, feeling as though each step could be his last. He didn't need to look back at Solara to feel a glare more pointed than her ears on his back. Hey, I'm going along with our plan, remember? Adam thought, as if she could hear him. Don’t get upset at me just because it sounds like I’m ordering you around. We planned this together.
Tenver followed, falling back to keep pace with Adam, a wide smirk on his face. After several pensive moments, Solara stomped after them.
Despite its translucent nature, the staircase felt surprisingly solid. Vaguely, in the corner of Adam’s mind, the sight of pale moonlight hitting the stairs reminded him of something he’d seen in an art installation. The rest of his mind was dominated by the insistent notion that he shouldn’t look down.
He suppressed a sigh of relief when he finally reached the top. Rather than an open deck, the staircase led to an enclosed – yet sizable – room. Adam’s first impression upon entering was that it seemed closer to a living room than a ship cabin, with numerous couches, tables, and drinks set everywhere. There were two doors aside from the one they’d taken to enter; one leading to what Adam assumed was the open deck, and another leading deeper into the airship.
“My Prince!” the white-bearded man said, falling to his knees. “It is my greatest joy to finally fulfill the oath I made to your late father, the true Emperor. Why, I–”
Adam tuned out the captain’s groveling. Instead, he looked around the cabin, taking note of the three individuals within, each seated in a corner as far away from each other as possible. The ship captain appeared to notice this, because he bowed once more to Tenver, then hurried to Adam. “My lord, mayhap introductions are in order?”
“I can agree with that.” Adam kept his gaze fixed on the other occupants in the room, his hand still gripping at his tablet. Trust nothing. “I am Adam, Lord of Penumbria.”
Solara stepped up. “And I am Solara, First Heir of Gama.”
There was no reaction from either declaration. Really now? No interest in the mysterious lord who usurped Aspreay’s throne or the elven heir to Gama? It was almost enough to appease concerns. If this was a trap, they would’ve made an effort to give a ‘natural’ reaction. And judging from the glance he exchanged with Solara, she shared his assumptions.
Adam lifted up his tablet as the ship captain gestured rapidly.
“This swordsman is Ferrero Acero,” the captain said, gesturing at a man no older than Adam himself, and draped in a heavy cloak.
Ferrero Acero
Talent: Duelist
Orbs: ~734,834
“And this wise lady, master of communication between distant lands...” The captain gestured at someone so covered by cloaks and fabric that Adam wouldn’t have been able to tell she was a woman if not for the announcement. “...is Serena Concorda.”
Serena Concorda
Talent: Communications
Orbs: ~1,239,403
“And finally, let us speak of this fine scholar.” He gestured at the last occupant in the cabin. Unlike the others, she wasn’t covered in heavy cloaks, instead dressed similarly – if not more extravagantly – to Adam’s traveling party. The woman had long golden hair, and was the only one of the three to acknowledge their presence. She stood up, walked towards them, and bowed respectfully. “This is Lady Valeria, daughter of Lord Edmundo, and a traveling scholar.”
Valeria Araja
Talent: Detective
Orbs: ~2,192
Adam refused to let his surprise show on his face. One of those...is not like the others.