Twila paused, staring at the musketeer. They were so close! They’d made it into the foundry and past the workers, and they’d even broken the Moa and hijacked the cart! Could she get to her pistol?
No. The guard looked her way. “Keep your hand off the grip, skipper. It’s your favorite Auntie.” The musket’s barrel went up, the wig and tricorne came off, and Auntie Charlie was, sure enough, under the uniform.
“We need the cannon shoved off the railcart,” Twila said. “Quick!”
With Charlie’s help, Rojir and Twila finally saw the cannon move to the cart's edge, inch by agonizing inch. It teetered on the edge and then crashed to the ground, rolling into the other cannons and stopping.
“Are you done? Jamis has the key,” Marianna’s voice said from the shadows nearby.
The cart rolled along the rails easily, with just a slight squeaking from one wheel. Twila’s eyes darted from one place to the next. The door to the workshop? No one. Behind them? Only the ruined Moa. Ahead? A man, unconscious on the ground, with Jamis standing over him.
“[Long Fives] are two levels up,” Jamis said as they stopped the cart beside a lift. “This gentleman had the key, though. They’re smaller than that monster you lot had to manage but still plenty heavy.”
“You, me, and Rojir will go up,” Auntie Charlie said. Twila thought for a second. She was the skipper, so she should be giving the orders. But Auntie Charlie seemed like she knew this business.
Why did Auntie Charlie know this business, anyways?
Twila nodded as the lift started with clattering gears and chains and a purple puff of mystsmoke. Jamis turned a wheel, and the three began to rise into the air. At the top, they pulled something from the shelves that glinted in the dim lamplight.
They had the [Long Fives]!
As the lift descended, a familiar sound filled the air; the Hourglass’s twin engines roaring. “Hurry! She’s coming!” Twila shouted. She and Marianna sprinted along the dock.
A howling horn filled the air! A moment later, Twila heard a voice over the engines’ howl and the lift’s clattering. “Attention! The prisoner has escaped from the governor’s office!”
Twila ran up to the dock’s end. The Hourglass slowly drifted toward her, a wide-eyed Rosie at the helm. A rope flew from the ship’s deck. Twila grabbed it and quickly wrapped it on a hook, and the Hourglass jerked to a halt and slammed against the dock.
A purple beam of myst cut through the cannon storage shelves, illuminating the cart. Rojir and Jamis pulled as Auntie Charlie stood, musket to her shoulder, and fired. As the myst beam reached out toward the workshop door, Twila saw someone drop inside.
She froze. Had…had Auntie Charlie just…killed someone?
The railcart turned the corner and crawled up the dock toward the Hourglass. A half-dozen guards in the workshop fired their muskets toward the cart. Mystshots bloomed overhead. Others burned themselves out in the cart’s frame.
Behind the cart, Auntie Charlie stood and leveled her pistol. Shots flew around her. One purple beam touched her shoulder. She screamed and spun from the force, her own shot zipping off into the sky with a tick.
As the marines reloaded their muskets in a line, Twila finally got herself moving.
She hurried toward the stalled cart. Jamis drew his pistol and fired toward the Marines. The shot went wide, punching a hole in the workshop but forcing the Marines back into the building.
Rojir heaved Auntie Charlie up onto the cart. “Pull, Jamish,” he muttered, throwing his weight back into dragging the cart.
Twila ducked. More shots poured from the building in a volley. The cart stopped - the boys had ducked down too. She saw another figure running toward them, gun in hand. Becca stood tall and pulled the trigger with a tick.
Twila had to help her friends. Her crew. She drew her [Anton’s Paired Pistols] and leveled one at the Marines. She activated her [Marksman] Skill and stared down the barrel.
She pulled the trigger.
The pistol ticked, and acrid smoke filled her nostrils. She looked in horror.
A purple beam of mystshot reached from her gun’s barrel to one of the marines. It touched him in the chest. For a moment, he stared at it. Then, as Twila watched, the musket fell from his fingers, and he crumpled to the ground.
Twila’s arm felt heavy. Why was her arm so heavy? The pistol clattered from her numb fingers. She didn’t even hear it hit the ground.
Something thumped in her ears, a deep, slow, pulsing thump. Her eyes locked on the man. The…wounded…man. She hadn’t killed him. She couldn’t have killed him.
One of the boys shouted something at her. Twila couldn’t tell what he’d said, but he shoved her toward the airship. Hourglass, she thought. Get to Hourglass, and everything will be alright.
She stumbled toward the airship and up the gangplank. Behind her, the boys dragged Auntie Charlie onto the deck and returned for the first cannon. Purple flashed across the dock. Blood pulsed in Twila’s ears. Was Rojir firing…her pistol? That wasn’t right. That was hers - but did she even want it anymore?
Rosie’s voice cut through the pounding. “Twila, the helm! Take the helm!”
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Right. The helm. She was Hourglass’s skipper. She needed to be at the helm.
Rojir and Jamis staggered up the ramp with a long brass tube. Behind them, Carter hurried up with a satchel over each shoulder. Marianna sat on the deck, tears running down her eyes, and Becca undid the rope.
The Hourglass drifted free. Both guns and all the crew were aboard.
Mechanically, Twila grabbed the ship’s wheel. She used her [Piloting] skill, and her body took over as her mind froze. Her hands reached down and moved the brass speed dial from ‘Full Stop’ to ‘Ahead Slow’.
Violet flashes zipped across the Hourglass’s deck as Rosie and Becca pulled the gangplank up. The Hourglass pulled away from the dock.
Shimmertower’s tuff pinnacle loomed in front of Twila. Her hand reached over and pulled the altitude stick until the repulsors howled. The wheel spun, and the ship slanted upward and to starboard.
The Hourglass was free. They had the [Long Fives]. And all it had cost was…what? That man’s blood was on her hands. The pulsing thumping in her ears came back. She leveled the altitude off and aimed the airship’s prow toward the north. Toward–
Someone shouted something. Fingers pointed toward the docks. Twila slowly turned.
A massive purple flash lit the dusk sky. The smell of burning ozone filled the air as a mystshot bloomed next to the Hourglass. The thunderclap filled Twila’s ears.
An airship had launched from the Shimmertower harbor. It ascended slowly, its two fore cannons trained on the Hourglass. Brass plating covered its hull, and purple flames lapped from its engines. Green and yellow flags whipped from its mast.
“Gunship! It’s a gunship!” Someone shouted.
Auntie Charlie’s voice cut through the panic, shaky from her wound but still sharp. “Alright, you lily-livered street rats! Mount the stern [Long Five]!” She tried to prop herself against the railing, but her shoulder gave out.
“Boy! Bring those cartridges to stern!” She shouted, wincing in pain. “And the rest of you ship rats, get belowdecks and follow your skipper’s orders!”
Oh. Orders. The skipper wasn’t just a pilot, Twila remembered. She had to give orders. “Rosie and Becca, at the engines,” she murmured. “Watch the, um, heat. Marianna, uh, find a safe place and hook your harness to a rope.”
The girls stood, confused looks on their faces until Auntie Charlie repeated it, with some insults mixed in.
Another purple flash ripped through the evening sky! The mystshot shattered the Hourglass’s railing and gouged a burn across the deck. Twila slowly moved the speed dial to ‘Ahead Full,’ and the airship surged forward.
She looked over her shoulder at the boys struggling to mouth the [Long Five] to its carriage. They weren’t even close. The gunship behind them fell further behind, but its cannons had to be nearly reloaded.
Her mind stuck. Was the Hourglass’s fate justice for…for what she’d done?
There had to be a way to save her friends’ lives.
There was. Maybe. Slowly, Twila pulled out [Anton’s Pocket Watch]. She socketed it into its place on the wheel mount. Then, she desperately tried to pull a lever - any lever - on the right side.
Nothing moved.
Again, a violet flash filled the edges of her sight. She heard wood splinter, and someone screamed belowdecks. The gunship’s engines roared as its captain put on as much speed as the little ship could take. It was gaining!
It wasn’t fair! She hadn’t meant to kill that man! She shut her eyes and slammed her fist into [Anton’s Pocket Watch]!
Rapid-fire ticks filled her ears. She opened her eyes in time for her vision to blur purple. The Hourglass’s engines sputtered and died.
The evening air was silent. The gunship was gone.
Slowly, the thumping in her ears returning, she moved the ship’s speed dial to ‘Ahead Slow’ and locked the wheel in place. The repulsor vents fired, and the airship steadied out.
Twila walked stiffly over to Auntie Charlie, who’d propped herself up and sat against the railing. The woman’s uniform had a hole burned through it–she’d shoved a handkerchief into it, so Twila couldn’t see how bad it was. The acrid smell of myst mixed with…something else, though…it had to be bad. Somewhere belowdecks, someone was sobbing.
She just…stood there for a moment until Auntie Charlie cleared her throat. “Well, Skipper Tighe, you’re a proper pirate now,” the woman said, a hint of something bitter in her voice.
Everything - the shooting, the dead guard, and her wounded crewmates - hit Twila simultaneously. Before she could stop herself, she pressed her face against Auntie Charlie’s chest and her arms around the woman’s waist as sobs wracked her little body.
[Twila Tighe, Ship Rat Mystgineer, Equipment Level 1.09 (Myst 1/10, Hit Points 1/1)]
[Head - Empty]
[Eyes - Myst Lens (lvl. 1) Myst Sight (passive) See own status block and others’ classes]
[Chest - Ship Rat’s Harness (lvl. 0)]
[Waist - Apprentice Mystgineer’s Bandolier (lvl. 1) Deep Pockets (passive) - Equip an additional Gizmo]
[Legs - Canvas Overalls (lvl. 0)]
[Gizmo #1 - Multitool (lv. 2) - Tool Transform (active, 1 myst/switch) - Change between many common tools; Skill - Tinkering]
[Gizmo #2 - Anton’s Pocket Watch (lvl. 4)] Redo (active, 5 myst/5 seconds) - redo the last five seconds of time, with knowledge of what’s happening (1 minute to reset); Skill - Piloting]
[Gizmo #3 - Empty]
[Gizmo (Belt) - Mystwork Lantern (lvl. 2): Mystlight (active, 25% failure chance, 1 myst/attempt) - start the light; Adjustable Light Aura (sustained, .5-2 myst/tick) - light a variable area; Skill - Perception]
[Myst Battery - Basic Myst Battery (lvl. 1) Small Storage (passive) - 10 myst maximum, requires condenser to refill]
[Weapon/Pair - Anton’s Paired Pistols (lvl. 2) Smoothbore Myst-Shot (active, 1 cartridge/shot) - fire a ray of heated myst; Rapid Shots (active, 2 myst/shot) - fire twice/tick; Skill - Marksman]
[Weapon/Pair - Empty]
[Skill #1 - Tinkering 2]
[Skill #2 - Perception 2]
[Skill #3 - Piloting 4]
[Skill #4 - Marksman 2]
[Skill #5 - Empty]