“We are going to lift ship, she’s ready to go.” I sat in the charge room next to the refractory array, testing the storage bank as I frowned and wrenched out a dead crystal. Sorting around in a small supply closet in the charge room for a spare crystal came up empty as I expected. The closet was filled with dead crystals and burnt out cables. Looking back at the racks of storage crystals I winced, seeing that less than a third of the racks were full of functional storage crystals. Some of them were flickering, and starting the slow decline before they too would burn out.
The boy was sitting next to me watching my work with rapt attention. “I’m going to have to leave those two water barrels behind, don’t need the extra weight for the trip anyways.” I muttered and wondered just what had happened to my loaned rain barrels.
I began explaining the basics of how an airship worked. “You can shunt power directly to the ballast in a pinch, but it’s generally a better idea to feed it from the storage banks.” I showed him a dead storage crystal.
“Storage crystals are low-grade living crystal. They are a lot different than your typical ballast which is grown in higher concentration to raise the grade. Some are ancient crystals like mine and no one knows how to make ballast like that anymore. I don’t exactly know how old the Sweetwind is.”
“Grown?” I nodded at his question.
“Yes, well all crystal is grown, but typically ballast is grown in a specific way. There are different ways to grow ballast, and use it. Some ships have one large crystal like mine, those ships are typically small craft, larger craft will have sacks of smaller ballast crystals or several large crystals in an array.”
“How do they do their thing?” He asked and gestured up with his hand. I smiled and pointed at the nested ballast crystal in the refractory compartment.
“The ballast pushes against the lifeforce of the planet, and the enchantments along the hull and keel enhance and shape that energy. There are trim crystals on the stern of the ship that help me balance out the ship, typically it’s called the rudder.”
Pointing at the rather worn and patched mountings around the ballast crystal, I winced and continued. “The crystal can also turn, and move the ship, inverting the lines of force to let me do sharp maneuvers without trimming the ship itself completely around with just the rudder. That mounting does the turning, but I kind of wrecked it fighting that stupid wyvern and had to do some emergency repairs.”
“It’s like a gyroscope?” He said and I nodded, surprised that he knew what he was looking at. “Yea… well sort of.” I said and he smiled and traced his fingers over the dead crystal he was holding.
“Its actually pretty efficient once we get airborne. Just staying in the air doesn’t take much energy, it’s pushing with the ballast to get more speed or maneuver that uses up my strength. That’s why we have sails, so Sweetwind can ride the winds whenever possible.”
Outside I heard the distant rumble of thunder and I smiled. That storm had obliged me and decided to rain its fury over the island as it hurtled past. It was a boon for me, as I knew I could cultivate the energy from the storm and get enough charge to quickly lift ship. I could probably fill a few of the storage crystals too.
“You… are going to help me fill crystals.” I pointed up and gestured towards the approaching storm.
“I’m going to do a tandem cultivation with you on the storm. It’s easy, I’ll show you.”
He looked at me skeptically and I gestured for him to follow me as we wove our way through the narrow corridors to the bow control pod. I pointed to the mechanician station and showed him where to place his hands. “Those are the charge leads.” I sat down in the second harness seat next to him as we strapped in and I directed him to place his hands down on the leads.
Around the ship I could feel the pounding of the waves as the chop picked up and my body buzzed with the energy of the storm. I yearned to draw on its wealth of power, and I felt myself tremble in expectation.
The mechanician station was a more advanced version of what I used on the pilot’s console and easier to manipulate and control the flow of power. After he placed his hands down on the leads, I placed mine over them and I took a deep breath and let my awareness flow out and into the ship’s systems.
I felt for the weave of the enchantments that would let me siphon off some of the storm’s power from inside the ship. My racing heart was beating in time with the ship, and the expectation of power. Mentally I could feel the boy’s aura hovering on the edge of my awareness and I spoke softly, calmer than I had a right to feel.
“Try to imagine your mind drifting into the ship, try to follow me. Shadow my presence and mirror what I do.” I instructed and I felt his power slowly flow into the ship. It tasted different than my own crackling of wind and lighting. His was the ebb and flow of the wind and rain, the turning of tides and the energy of motion. It was different, yet familiar to me somehow.
I could feel his heartbeat, as if it was my own ponding heart and feel a touch of his nervousness and anxiety at the task as well as his own reaction to the approaching storm. I pushed calm towards him on an instinctual level and I felt his heartbeat slow along with my own.
“Right now, stretch yourself out from the ship towards the storm. Follow me, I’ll show you.” My own awareness expanded outwards and I let the energy of the storm carry me along. I was racing through the clouds, my body tingling with the crackle of power and the roar of the wind and rain. He was beside me riding in my wake, trying to stay with me as I began to slowly absorb. He shuddered along with me as the rush of power filled us.
“Push that power back through the link, the ship will feed off of the link and pull the power into its storage cells.”
With the two of us, the link was stronger and we could fill the storage banks swiftly. It took only a couple of hours and finally, when the small squall had blown over, we released the hold on our cultivation and were both left tingling and gasping as we rode the after affects of cultivation.
“That… was weird.” He said and I laughed. “You haven’t seen nothing yet, that was just a squall. Wait until you do that with a typhoon or something, it’s much more intense.” I smiled as his expression of horror and nodded.
“Most aeronauts don’t do cultivation, as it takes a properly equipped ship, and someone who knows the technique. Luckily we have both.”
“Are there other types of cultivation?” He asked and I nodded. “It’s possible to do it with all the elements if you have an attunement to that element. You can probably also draw on the tides or the flow of water in rivers or streams. I’m better able to draw on the heat friction and static charge of the storm, the lightning and the wind.”
I watched him stare at me and I smiled back. “You can use me as a conduit to help you draw off of storms, and it widens the channel of power we can send back to the Sweetwind.” I explained and he just shook his head in wonder.
Glancing over at the gauges, my eyes bugged out when I saw that we had nearly a full charge in the storage crystals. “Great gods…” I cried and tapped the gauge in disbelief as I shook my head in wonder, hoping that none of my crystals had blown during the cultivation.
Pulling down the zephyrscope, I tracked the winds and smiled. It would be a bit tricky. As I trained the view out to above the low hanging squall, I saw that we could ride the winds higher up and make very good time towards Bagliona. If all went well, we could be in port before sundown.
“Well let’s get changed, I think I’ll take us up to around ten thousand. It’s not going to be too cold here but won’t be very comfortable in our duty clothes.” After we got into our full kit, I adjusted my cap and pointed to the altitude mask hanging next to the mechanician station. I had to explain how it worked and had it put it on him while I adjusted the straps on his head for it. “It unclips like this so it can hang by its straps.
“Alright, going to do a quick inspection and make sure everything is tied down. Stay here. I left and did my quick tour of the ship, stowing a few loose tools in the refractory and checking cargo straps in the two small holds at either end of the ship. Stopping by the galley I snagged my small silver thermos and filled it with some leftover kava and stuffed it into it’s slot on my pilot’s harness. I had tooled that slot when I had first started soloing with the Sweetwind and it was invaluable.
On the way back, I stopped at my small altar to my patron and knelt, offering a short prayer as I always did whenever possible before taking Sweetwind aloft. When I was finished, I rose and kissed my fingers, tapping them to the images of the winds and closed my eyes. Steeling myself, I turned and made my way back to the bow.
When I was strapped in, I ran over the checklist in my head as I checked gauges, moved the shunt into position and slowly fed power to the ballast as I flipped the outriggers back up into the hull.
Sweetwind slowly lifted off the steely grey chop and I tested the trim for load distribution. It felt well balanced, and evenly distributed as I swayed the ship back and forth. The boy had turned his chair and was gazing out over the island. “Look!” He pointed down towards the beach and I saw tiny figures waving at us.
If I squinted just right, I could make out the hulking forms of Tombason and Kirk watching us as we tilted up and I poured power into the ballast. I could hear the grinding of my jury-rigged fix on the mountings and I winced as I went easy on my old girl.
The climb was slow, and I relaxed and leaned back in my harness as Sweetwind took her time leisurely passing upwards into the heavens. Soon the islands were all visible on the horizon and I pointed out each of them. “These are the horsetail islands” I pointed along the vector I had set the navigator’s lens to and marked the compass bearing.
I did some quick calculations in my head while I set the vector and bearing, moving my map tablet along as I plotted our course, consulting the zephyrscope as I tracked the winds. There would be quite a bit of tacking for some of the ways, once we got around the storm I could set the autohelm and let it keep course.
The flight to Bagliona was shaping up to be a smooth one and that was just what I needed right now. It felt like I had come home, and that anxiety of being disconnected with the windsong was over as I felt the ship riding the winds once again as I spread sail and cruised high above the ocean.
“So, lets find a name for you.” I said kicking my feet up and leaning back in the pilot’s harness. I looked over at the boy and thought for a bit. I didn’t know much about travelers but I had heard about their odd naming conventions.
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“My name is Neil” He huffed and I turned to study him. “Well Neil, welcome aloft the Sweetwind it’s good to have ya.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out a special token that was keyed to the ship. Reaching over I slapped it against his forehead where it pulsed and a small sigil glowed there briefly before it faded.
“You are now a member of the Messenger guild, as my apprentice on a registered guild ship. Do you confirm?” I asked and he meekly nodded. I shook my head at his typical lack of conviction that made me cringe inside a bit. It was definitely something I would have to work on with him.
“You need to confirm or deny. Once we land in Bagliona you will be officially inducted, but it is important that I make sure you are my charge before we land. I’m not permitted to allow non-guild magi to crew my ship as it’s registered as a messenger. Doing so can compromise my writ of neutrality.”
“Yes, I confirm that I’m your apprentice.” He said and the sigil on his forehead flashed and faded again.
He had a thoughtful expression for a bit, and smiled. “What are messengers anyways?” He asked and I pointed out the cockpit towards the horizon. “We are a guild that carries messages all across Endaria, everywhere even to the other realms.” I explained and he stood up in his harness suddenly and stared at me.
“Other realms?” He asked and I shrugged. I knew that other messengers used the worldgates to travel on foot around but there were few worldgates that an airship could fit through, even one as small as a skiff.
“We are on what is called by humans, Prime. There are other places though, that only the worldgates go as well as a few realms that are accessible by… other means in Endaria. I’m not too familiar with those other places as I was born and raised only in Prime.”
Neil looked at me for a long while then out over the expansive ocean. I could see his steely blue eyes lit up with the prospect of such a massive world that he was just now discovering and I smirked at him.
“Prime is big enough to get into plenty of trouble. Besides, the worldgates are hard to get access to. They are tightly controlled and heavily regulated. Me, I prefer the freedom of the open sky.” I sighed and sipped my cold kava and smacked my lips as the brew numbed my tongue with its bitterness.
I glanced down at the altitude on my gauges and secured my mask. I pointed to it and he nodded as he clipped his own on. The concentrated air woke me up a bit and I yawned, breathing in a sigh of contentment as the wardings on the enchanted crystal glass a bit against the glare of the morning sun.
Something caught my eye, and I squinted and peered down through the canopy at small white dots blanketing the ocean far below.
Pulling out my spyglass, I pushed some of my power into it, reinforcing the enchantments as I brought up the colorful flags and banners streaming from the massive fluted sails. They were Yamani, and two of them were dragon carriers. A small war fleet sailing along the coast north. I had heard rumors that fighting had broken out between the League of Silvania, and the Samarak Republic as they and a few other kingdoms fought the Empire of Nadir, but this display made me shiver and be glad that I wasn’t a mercenary.
War was reaching it’s grasp all over Prime, I could feel the fear and uncertainly everywhere I went. It was only a matter of time until Mageos chose sides and when that happened it would be a truly massive conflict. The Yamani were already siding with the Empire against their rivals and Mageos had started to back up it’s threats with troop movements.
I handed the spyglass over to him and pointed to the tiny dots circling the ships with a grin on my face. He peered at them and I heard Neil give a squeak of alarm as he saw his first dragon. “That thing is… a dragon!” He gasped and I laughed. It was truly ironic that the travelers had thought for even a moment that a wyvern could ever closely compare to a dragon in size or majesty.
“Yep, those are the Divine Order’s pride and joy, the Yamani draconic forces. Each one of those dragons is nearly three times the size of Sweetwind, and could burn us to cinders without even breaking a sweat. Of course, I can easily outclimb them and outrun them, that’s what makes airships so valuable.”
His jaw was slack as he looked upon them in horror. “There are people and tent-like structures… all up and down the dragons, they have a crew?!” He asked in astonishment and I nodded towards the dragons.
“They have to, when dragons fight, they fight in close quarters where boarding actions play a big role. The large crew are mostly their marines and the Yamani priesthood.” My jaw clenched and my eyes narrowed at the disgusting sight below me. I hated the Divine Order, those conceited bigots. They considered non-humans and half-bloods like me in the same category as animals. Them and the slave holding Empire of Nadir were born for each other. It was my deepest hope that their enemies would manage to wipe them out.
Last time I had been in their territory I swore never to return for any size of purse or treasure. I had almost been burnt at the stake for the crime of simply being a half-blood. Only one of my fellow guildmates had managed to save me in time by bringing his own ship down between me and the mob that was chasing me. He had paid for it by nearly losing his writ. It still galled me how badly the local messenger’s guild had come down upon him for saving my life.
It wasn’t always that way. I had quite fond memories from my childhood spent in Yamani’s cities as my father would often stop by there to trade, his massive harvest ship landing and hordes of merchants flocking to bid on our stock.
That had all ended with the ascension of the One Prophet, and the extermination of the royal family. Since then, it was only conquest and war that Yamania exported, not the beautiful textiles woven from sky whale husk. Now their priests weren’t Prime’s most endeared scholars, they were crusaders bent on exterminating the other races, and any unbelievers.
From far below I saw flashes of light from the lead ship. Recognizing the pattern of a heliograph, I quickly gestured for the spyglass, dreading what I was reading in their signals. They had spotted my guild sigil and wanted to call in a message delivery. Just great. If I refused to carry their message and they complained to the guild I would have to come up with some sort of believable excuse and honestly, I didn’t have one.
Yes, I was late, but my own charter dictated my actions, and perhaps I could used this at my board of inquiry over my late fees. I knew I would have to declare the wyvern’s pilot’s belongings before a prize arbitration and swear by a truth stone over the events of the fight or I could be branded a pirate and my ship seized and my writ revoked. The fact that I had stopped and picked up a message wouldn’t hurt when they considered my case.
“They are calling for a delivery.” I grumbled and leaned forward as I shunted power out of the ballast and pulled in my sails. Sweetwind dropped like a stone as I streaked downwards, the entire ship shuddering with the force of the dive. I pulled slowly out of it, going as gently as I could. Even so, I winced at the pops and crunches I felt through the ship and the jerky way my ballast trimmed out.
If this kept up, I may have to land in the sea for repairs before I made it to Bagliona. If I could manage to make proper repairs at all. The mountings were ready to fracture, I had already done what I could for them.
I felt sick with fear and dread as the massive forms of the dragons rose up to escort me in. Banners of each of the prophetic sects unfurled. The image of a book, and a white sunburst whipped in the wind on either side. Grim armored figures clung to the sides of the harnesses glaring at my vessel with distrust, and the priests stood gripping podiums behind the heads of the dragons where they were lashed in their spots on the harness. Holy scrolls and warded tassels fluttered behind them, affixed to their bodies with seals of spell wax.
“Um… Neil you are going to have to receive the message.” I suddenly blurted out, my breathing coming quick and my head turned down, trying not to attract any attention from the aloof gaze of the priests.
He gave me a nervous look, and his face went pale as parchment. Quickly I explained the etiquette of receiving a message and what to say to whomever was sending it. I prayed to Zeus that somehow, they wouldn’t be insulted at me not coming in person.
As the signaling vessel drew near, my stomach dropped at the sheer size of the massive dragon carrier. My vessel was tiny in comparison to even the smallest of the dragons, and dozens of them clustered around the deck being tended to by a small army.
I deployed the outriggers and followed the directions of the ground crew as they waved flags and directed me to a spot between two dragons, both of whom regarded me grumpily as they were shifted away to make more room by their pilots.
I could hear the bellows and roars of protest from the sleepy creatures and my heart pounded in my chest as my worst fears echoed in my mind. There were few times an airship was more vulnerable than when it was landed. Landing next to an irate dragon was something that was pure nightmare fuel. If the priests found out what I was, I had a feeling I wouldn’t survive the encounter.
Sweetwind groaned and shuddered as the outriggers absorbed the landing and I tried to shut my eyes and calm my breathing. One glance at Neil told me he was about to be sick all over my deck, and I doubted it was from the sky jimmies. Just great, I get some stupid kid who is scared of his own shadow talking to a bunch of crazy zealots who were easily offended by any unbelievers.
“Just stick to what I told you to say! Whatever you do don’t start talking religion with them, and if they say something insulting just ignore it.” He nodded and I saw him stagger towards the hatch under the cockpit. The rope ladder unrolled until it thumped against the deck of the carrier and I watched him from the compartment’s bubble glass as he shakily climbed down and rushed to meet the small procession that came to receive us.
Wincing, I saw him nearly trip over his own feet and the looks of pure distain form on the face of the priest who was clutching a message scroll. A tall looking priestess was fanning her face and preaching to him from a scroll while one of her underlings handed him the message tube. They made him sit on a small folding bench and listen to the little impromptu sermon before they pointed back towards the Sweetwind and snarled at him.
As he turned to leave I saw the looks of outrage on the faces of the priests and groaned. He turned and quickly bowed to them after they kept yelling at him, but the priestess gestured to my ship and started shrieking at him. I glanced nervously around at the agitated dragons, one dragon was wincing and trying to curl its head between its wings to muffle the agitated screeches. I could see it start to build steam as its agitation grew.
Pulling my goggles over my eyes and making sure my aviators cap was secure, hiding my ears and hair I ran for the ladder and quickly slid down it, my legs feeling like jelly as I pounded down the polished deck and skidded to a halt next to Neil who was clearly terrified at whatever venomous threats the priestess had been hurling at him.
Bowing low, in the grand bow of submission then standing up and clapping my hands, I recited the great tenants back to the priestess in greeting. She smiled at me condescendingly and fanned her face in return as she clutched her holy book to her chest and looked down her nose at me. Her painted face was a mask that could barely conceal her irritation.
“The ancestors smile upon us all on this day most holy one.” I nodded to her and pulled Neil back to me.
She studied me closely and I saw her eyes soften. “You are not an unbeliever? You know of the prophet’s most holy message?” I nodded and recited the five pillars of ancestry.
Grinning as if I was but a small dog that had done a neat trick she reached into her pocket and flipped a coin at me. “Take my favor with you child and remember the light of his words wherever you go.” She bowed by the first degree of general accent and turned her back with a flourish as she stalked away.
My heart was still thundering in my chest and I tried to keep my legs from shaking as I quickly grabbed Neil and pushed him towards the ship.
“Go!” I bellowed and he took off like a terrified rabbit, clutching the message tube to his chest as I walked at a relaxed pace, as if I belonged nowhere but on the deck of this wretched ship. I had to give the image of a confident captain who had just been praised by a high-ranking priestess.
At each step I half expected someone to call out for me to halt, but nothing happened and my heart leapt as I finally climbed up the ladder and back into the bow helm compartment. Pulling up the ladder I looked behind me and saw Neil wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Can I see the message cylinder?” I asked and he nodded. I checked the address and gave a sigh of relief when I saw it was to be dropped off in Bagliona. They must have tracked my heading.
“What happened?” I finally got out as I eased Sweetwind aloft, wincing once again at a few grinding shudders from the refractory compartment.
“I don’t know!” He stammered and I just shook my head at him.