image [https://i.imgur.com/AGPxkJ7.png]

Lord Salidar was flanked by two underlings. One was Yorid, his ever-frowning steward, now carrying a recurve bow over his shoulder and a quiver of arrows at his waist. The other, whom Durrin didn’t recognize, was a korrik with an impressive array of knives and brass knuckles tucked into his belt and vest. He was probably one of Salidar’s bodyguards.

“This is a surprise,” Durrin said, his mind still reeling from the conversation he had just had with Halorn.

“Indubitably,” said Salidar. “Life is full of surprises.” He gestured to the staircase leading up to the aerial docks. “After you.”

The docks? Did Salidar want to give some last instructions to the Hakiru pirates before they embarked? But why would he risk associating himself with them right before their mission?

Durrin led the way up the stairs, followed by the korrik, then Yorid, with Salidar taking up the rear.

Durrin could sense the korrik twitching with uneasiness behind him. As they reached a landing, the korrik paused and cleared his throat. “Your Excellency, might I ask—”

“I’m afraid you can’t,” Lord Salidar said coldly. “Onward.”

There was a disdain in Salidar’s voice, mixed with a touch of urgency that went beyond his normal brisk demeanor. Something was definitely afoot.

Durrin glanced back to see the korrik eyeing him suspiciously. “And who are you?” the korrik grunted, idly fingering a bludgeon at his belt.

Durrin hesitated, glancing back at Lord Salidar. The nobleman shrugged, as if he didn’t particularly care how Durrin responded. Durrin opted for subtle intimidation.

“Just a three-time fifth-level Kymar champion,” said Durrin easily. The korrik scowled, leaving Durrin wondering whether he knew what that meant. Pyromantic terminology could be a bit jargony to the uninitiated.

Presently they reached the aerial quay. A strong wind had picked up from the west, and the cloud frigate was groaning like a slumbering giant as it strained against its mooring ropes. As Salidar’s retinue approached, the Hakiru pirates spotted them and left off their work on the rigging, climbing down to the gondola’s deck or standing at the edges of the quay. Durrin spotted Twigly among the crew, staring at them curiously.

“Your Excellency,” the korrik interrupted. “Why are we here? Who are these . . . scallywags?”

“I have always wanted to see Imperium with a griffins-eye view,” Salidar said. “These honest Hakiru traders have offered to take me on a short trip.”

Durrin glanced at Twigly, who was close enough to overhear the comment. She looked as surprised as he felt. Salidar was coming aboard?

The korrik cursed. “Your Excellency, I must—”

The vizier glared at him. “Can you remind me when I instructed you to make my decisions your concern?”

The korrik shut his mouth.

“Ah,” Salidar said. “That’s right. I never have.” He turned back to Twigly. “Inform your captain that my companions and I will be coming on board for a few minutes.”

Twigly turned to the rest of the crew, barking out a few phrases in their strange language. Immediately, a skinny teenage boy among them waved his hands back and forth, his face full of alarm as he jabbered back at Twigly.

Twigly scurried down the ship’s ladder, holding up a paw to stop Salidar from starting to climb aboard. “Not so fast, you landlubbing lobber!” she exclaimed, her nose twitching. “You think you can just spring three extra people on us without a moment’s notice and expect to waltz on board? You’ve got to weigh two hundred pounds apiece!”

Salidar stepped back, his eyes widening with afront at the snippen’s insolence.

“Our weight-master here says we’ll need to jettison some ballast and generate more lift,” Twigly said. “Give us ten minutes. Rendhart, could you assist us on board? We could use your pyromancy.”

Salidar glowered at her for a moment, then turned away with an angry swish of his cloak. Twigly began babbling to the other pirates again. In moments, the ship was a bustle of activity.

Durrin followed the snippen up the ladder to the gondola. As he did, he examined the cloud frigate more carefully. The balloon was long and sleek with tapered ends, perhaps a hundred and fifty feet long and fifty feet wide and tall. The gondola hanging beneath it had two strange contraptions mounted at the stern. They looked like the blades of a windmill, except thinner and more tapered, and were positioned out away from the hull by long wooden trellises, one on each side.

The deck of the gondola was best described as highly organized chaos. Dozens of lines and ladders stretched upward toward the balloon. Various trapdoors gave access to compartments for storing cargo and supplies. The rest of the deck was crowded with bedding, crates, weapons, and pirates. It was going to be a cramped trip.

Twigly guided Durrin to the middle of the gondola, where a large metal brazier was burning charcoal. Above the brazier was a funnel of cloth leading to the balloon. Durrin nodded in understanding. Fire would heat the air in the balloon, making it expand and rise, providing lift to counteract the weight of the gondola.

“How is the heat enough to keep the balloon afloat?” Durrin asked.

“It’s not enough on its own,” Twigly said. “Inside the balloon is prime vapor.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Prime what?”

“Prime vapor. It’s a different kind of air. A lighter kind.”

“A different . . . kind of air,” Durrin repeated. “How do you have a different kind of air?”

Twigly winked. “That’s the Hakiru’s little secret.” She gestured at the brazier. “But we’re off topic. Can you make this fire hotter?”

“I can make the air hotter directly, if that’s what you’re after,” said Durrin. He swept his hands in an intricate pattern, then channeled a plume of fire into the funnel. The fabric above them rippled and visibly expanded, and Durrin felt the gondola bob upward in response.

Twigly’s eyes were wide. “Stars, but we’re going to love having you on board, Rendhart,” she said. “Keep it up. We’ll be bringing the rest of the crew on board soon, along with our three surprise passengers, so we’ll need as much lift as we can.”

Durrin continued for the next five minutes. The gondola bobbed up each time he released a plume of fire and bobbed down each time another crew member came on board—particularly the humans, who were the heaviest. The cloud frigate preserved a delicate equilibrium indeed.

Once Salidar, Yorid, and Salidar’s bodyguard were on board, Twigly held up a paw. “Hold a moment.” The only pirates still on the quay were two other snippens, standing at the ready at the last mooring ropes. “Let her sink a little so we can loosen the lines easier.”

Durrin stood at ease, grateful for a break. Gradually, incrementally, the ship began to sink, until the mooring ropes were no longer taut.

For the last ten minutes, Salidar’s korrik bodyguard had been scanning the scene with a scowl on his face, muttering curses under his breath and glaring at any pirate who came too close to him. Finally he turned once more to Salidar. “Your Excellency, I stridently object. You cannot entrust your safety to this ramshackle vessel and scurrilous crew. As your chief of security, I—”

Salidar cut him off without even turning to look at him. “Trust me. I know how much you care about my security—or how little.”

The korrik looked puzzled.

Durrin, processing the implications of Salidar’s words, moved into a battle stance, dropping a hand to his sword hilt.

A moment later, Salidar spun and released a throwing dart he had held unseen in his hand.

image [https://i.imgur.com/P8JI97S.png]

The dart hit the korrik in the neck, causing him to recoil. Then anger filled his eyes, and he lunged forward, drawing a knife from his belt. Durrin stepped forward to defend his master, but Yorid was already there, grabbing the korrik’s arm and twisting it behind him. After a moment’s struggle, the korrik’s movements slowed and he collapsed to one knee, clawing at the dart still buried in his neck.

Salidar stood over him. “I would have liked to interrogate you, to find out how long you were in Lord Skyfang’s employ. But this will do.”

The korrik fell to his hands and knees, wheezing. His eyes, now tinged with red, stared wide-eyed at the nobleman above him. “How . . .” he croaked. Then he crumpled to the floor of the gondola.

The pirates began to shout in angry tones in their indecipherable language. Tadgh, the Dorinian navigator, pushed his way to the scene. “Yeh murdered him!”

“He was planning to murder me,” Salidar said calmly. He knelt and retrieved his dart from the korrik’s neck. “I learned just this morning that he was under the employ of one of my rivals in court, an ambitious politician named Lord Skyfang. Skyfang had ordered him to assassinate me at high noon today. So I struck first.”

“But you killed him!” Twigly said. She had moved to stand next to Tadgh and was staring at the body with wide eyes.

Salidar carefully tucked the dart into a pouch at his waist, avoiding the tip. “Indeed. Rock viper venom, undiluted, full dose. Works quickly. Highly effective.”

“But couldn’t you have had him arrested?”

Salidar cocked his head. “Hmm . . . let’s see . . . I could arrest him, spend the better part of a month arranging for his trial, and then have him executed. Or I could execute him now.”

“But—”

“Enough!” Salidar snapped. “Do not question my actions, scrawny dreg of the aerial seas. Understood?”

Durrin scanned the angry crowd of pirates, his hand still on the hilt of his sword.

For a moment, all was silent except for the thrum of the rigging in the breeze. Twigly glared at Salidar with narrowed eyes, then finally nodded. “We understand.”

“Good.” Salidar turned away. “Then let’s cast off. We leave immediately.”

Twigly opened her mouth, a question on her tongue, but stopped herself.

Tadgh asked instead. “How far are yeh coming with us?”

“The whole trip,” said Salidar.

Now Twigly couldn’t stop herself. “What!?”

Salidar gestured at the floor. “That bodyguard was not the only spy in my household. I recently learned that there are several others, each with orders to assassinate me when the opportunity presents itself.”

“Agents of Elandria?” Durrin guessed.

Salidar shook his head. “Agents of Lord Skyfang, or perhaps others like him. I am not without enemies in court. My rivals, too cowardly to confront me openly, are resorting to the basest measures to thwart my glorious vision of Calamar’s future.”

Salidar strode to the railing, looking out over the city. “It will take several days, if not weeks, for my own agents to root out the assassins and eliminate them. So I needed a way to get out of the city quickly and unexpectedly, without taking a large retinue with me.”

“I see,” said Durrin.

“You and the pirates will continue exactly as planned, only with me and Yorid on board. You can toss the korrik’s body overboard as soon as we’re past the city.”

Twigly swished her tail angrily. “This is not what we agreed upon.”

“I’m afraid the alternative was you returning here with the prize, only to find your employer dead,” Salidar said. “Explain to your captain, ensign, that every plan requires adaptation.”

After glaring at Salidar’s back for a second, Twigly turned to the rest of the crew and gibbered to them in Hakiru. This turned into a lengthy and spirited discussion, though Durrin couldn’t tell how much the pirates were angry and how much this was the natural animated nature of their language. Finally, with a series of gestures from Wingcaptain Bladebeak, the crew set to work, tightening lines and securing cargo. On the quay below them, snippens scrambled to untie the last mooring ropes keeping the ship anchored to the dock.

Durrin watched the vizier out of the corner of his eye. He was pretty sure he knew an additional, unmentioned motivation behind Salidar’s actions: the vizier wanted to personally ensure that Queen Adara’s elimination went as planned. Did he not trust Durrin? Or did he not trust the pirates? Either way, his presence would make this mission even more complicated than it already was.

A moment later, Durrin felt the ship jolt. The last mooring rope gave way, and the airship began to drift east, wholly at the mercy of the wind.

“Give her all you got!” Twigly barked to Durrin. “Or we’ll crash into some unlucky bloke’s palace.”

Durrin obliged, channeling massive gusts of heat into the balloon. Slowly at first, then faster and faster, the airship rose. Durrin looked out in amazement as the cityscape of Imperium fell away beneath him. There was the Mancery Mayhem arena, where he had fought in front of crowds of thousands. There was Salidar’s castle, brooding over the city. There was the Imperial Palace itself, a majestic mountain of pinnacles and domes, now looking as small as a doll house.

Durrin leaned over the edge of the gondola, studying the streets below them. For a moment, he thought he saw the miniscule figure of a farmer from Caradell, staring up at them from far below. Then the ship caught a gust of wind and turned, causing that particular street to slip from view.

Durrin turned to look east. They were quickly rising above the nearest line of hills. Beyond that was a farther ridge, and then a farther one. And far beyond that, he knew, waited another city. Another palace. Another chance for him to earn the knowledge and power that he sought.

But at what price?

image [https://i.imgur.com/oKm398h.png]

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THE END OF PART 1: THE PRICE OF JUSTICE