I want to be honest, the true lands are a scary place. The massive waves of ice mana that can completely over turn the sledder and the nearly unpredictable storms. Things could fine in front of you now.in two minutes, it would devolve into one of the worst storms I have ever seen in my life. Cloak is a master at predicting these storms and he does so skillfully that I have yet to enter a storm though i have had to dangerously skirt around a couple of them. It does not mean that my work has been easy though.
The experience of driving a sledder has been quite unique if I have to admit it. At its core, sledder and an airship are the same things, be it shape or function. The point of difference is related to the way they propel forward. If the airship is like a balloon using the propulsion formation to push itself forward, the sledder is like a man swimming. The two bases of the sledder push against the ground which in turn push the entire thing forward.
The two processes are quite similar in most things, except when it comes to handling the damn devices. The basic controls of both the devices are almost the same but the difference comes in the way that it feels. The airship is a distant almost faraway type of control. You move forward, you get the feedback of it too late to actually be able to react to it. Hence, you create a set of processes and trust it in the heat of battle. The sledder is like a reactive little child, i move forward and i realise that the instant it happens. A bit too quick in my opinions, as it essentially causes me to paralyse whenever there is a sudden change. it will greatly increase my skill with this whenever I do get used to it though.
Somehow i find it hard to believe that this only due to the nature of the way the two ships move as cloak explains to me. Such a difference is more likely to occur if the environment monitoring formations were much much better in the sledders than in our ships. As an analogy, this difference would be at a level of an apprentice sculptor trying to copy the work of master sculptor. The master sculptor just has all the features of a man set in such a man that the sculpture might look as if it is about to rise up and slaughtering all the people around. The apprentice would never be able to copy that, no matter how many times he sculpts the sculpture. As for how exactly this is being done don't ask me. This is very foreign magic to me.
Also, another point of difference for a sledder would be the fact I can only move in two dimensions. When your first instinct is to pull up and to outrise your opponents position and you try to pull the same thing in a sledder. The results tend to be quite disastrous, if i were to be put it into more friendly terms. When you try to fly away from a storm and end up charge right into it because you can't do that with a sledder you do not like to admit it to others. Sadly cloak will exist as a proof of my incapability. Atleast I did not charge head on into a storm at the very least.
That has been a very stressful however long it has been. Telling day and night in the truelands is a futile activity. They also do not seem to have a particularly strong timekeeping device. I have to admit that i have not been this attentive even when dealing with the pirates. The pirates did not hold the ability to instantly shred your boat into shreds though. That is what is supposed to happen the instant that i blunder into one of these storms.
Regardless of all of that, it is time for me to focus on the matter at hand. At the moment I am sitting in my sledder waiting for cloak to call on me. For my first time, it has been decided that i let cloak do his thing. Without their language, i can do very little in what I have to assume is a bloody debate in their council. Any action of mine, heck my presence might be counted as an insult among the council. That also means I do not get to look at a tribe in action in their homeland. Well, curiosity can be sated when i am sure that it will not get me killed in an instant.
"The council does not like outsiders in what is their heart, especially for one with ties to the legion.", was what cloak replied to me when I pressed him on this. That means that at the moment, my life is completely dependent on cloak. The man could say the wrong thing and i would be killed on spot. I am not particularly worried that it will happen though. My master is a capable man, he should know what he is doing.
All of that is true but powerlessness is not a pleasant feeling in the least and I do not have any work to do at the moment to stop my mind from working. I could try and study these wonderful puzzles of a formation that have been engraved into the ship. While i am sure I will learn nothing of importance from it anytime soon but it would have kept my mind busy. I cannot do that because I am sure trying to break their formations in front of them would be quite provoking wouldn't it.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
And so most of my day went like this as I sat in the privacy of the ship, ruminating on so many different thoughts in so many lines that by the end I don't really remember anything of the grand jumble of thoughts in my mind. Most of them were related to impractical plans of escape though.
This useless waste of time was finally broken by cloak, who appeared like a ghost behind me. The man managed to nearly fail my heart when I turned deep in thought and the man was behind me. No rustle of the door, no activation of formations to mark his presence. Men like this would be making quite a killing in the black mountain.
"Well, I will have to admit to you, kid. I do not know whether you are lucky or unlucky, little wolf.", cloak spoke, clearly not noticing the fragile state of my heart. Well, fear in front of a stranger is inviting his blade tomorrow.
"Well, i can venture a guess on that. What happened.", I ask. Well it is not like my head might be depending on this particular exchange.
"Well, the council has agreed that you do not be destroyed on the spot since you do not know of the hidden arts. What you showed could have been learnt by any man, even enemies of the legion who might be interested in taking them down. You actually do not know any of the hidden arts, do you?. If you do, don't actually admit it. I don't won't so much of my work wasted because you are an idiot.", cloak speaks. "Before you celebrate though, you have managed to insult a soldier of the council. They would be the people that you call as snowlords. That means that soldier shakok of the tattoo tribe, the person that you have defeated by the usage of unfair means has the right to ask for you head in the council. Generally that would mean that you would have to fight him hand to hand in the circle."
"That massive brute, from what angle was that beating him. I began to finally injured the man and then he literally managed to freeze me into a block of ice and nearly blow up the fort that I was in. I can't call that a victory in any angle.", I reply, thinking back to the fight. From what angle could that be considered a victory. An admirable fight, I agree but no way my victory.
"Well, that certainly makes more sense. You certainly would not be able to take shakok. Well, let me tell it to you as the council sees it. Soldier shakok, appeared on the platform with banadges covering his legs, his arms and his chest. He then claimed that his present state was caused by the spawn of the sages. That he had honorably gone to conquer a fortress according the laws of the council. That means for every person that enters the attacking party, you can send a person to duel him for the fort.", cloak began, sitting down. "Rather than send a person to match him in a duel, you lured him into the fort and then trapped him in a formation. He even used such flowery language to describe your formations. "Bolts of water that can pierce anything.", "spears of water that rise from the ground and pierce their opponents flesh.". Things like that can intimidate the council quite the bit."
"Well, how else is a formation mage supposed to fight.", I began. "I certainly did not manage to injure him in that fight, anyways. Well then is there any way to negotiate some kind of a solution in which i can survive. I don't even mind building them formations."
"Well, that would have been enough normally if you were anybody else. The council always needs formations but You are an orphan of the legion, kid" cloak spoke. "You have learnt from the embodiment of evil and are the spawn of bastards to those that sit in the council. Do you think they honestly need to believe that man's story to try and hurt you. Normally they wouldn't even need a flimsy excuse like this to get rid of you. The fact that they have to rely on scheming like this has been quite the bit of hardwork on my side."
"So what is to be my fate.", I ask him.
"Well, the council needs to be convinced of your innocence and that shakok is lying in the first place. That will be very hard if i were to keep you away from the council anymore. So it looks like you will be meeting with the council the next time we meet.", cloak speaks. "Which means that i will have to accelerate your teaching of the sledder. I wanted more time for that part atleast."
"Wait a second, why did the sledder come into this.", I ask, quite surprised by the man's sudden change in topic.
"Well, the council has only two ways of settling complains of slighted honour like that. First is the traditional fight to the death. Both fight until only one side is annhilated. That is what happens in ninety nine out of a hundred case. Sometimes though, things can get blown up like the present situation. A child challenging his elder or running away with a girl from the enemy tribe or stealing his elders weapons also come under slighting honour you know. At this time you want to have a method of punishing your child without having to kill him, so the council set up the winters loop for cases like that.", cloak spoke.
"That still doesn't explain the necessity of a sledder.", i speak.
"Well, simply put winters loop is a game that is played between two sledders and two captains. Both will charge into a storm and whichever ship falls to the storm first is called the winner.", cloak replies. "And yes, before you ask, this is one of the safest games that we play. While a sledder might be lost we of the truelands won't truly die in a storm. we will suffer, a lot but nothing that correct first aid at the right time won't fix. I don't know what is the case for an outsider. I am sure you will live."