“Uh, Skipper? It’s dawn. Are we moving?” Though muffled by the door, Carter’s voice was loud enough to wake Twila. His fist pounding on the door didn’t help, either.
She stared, bleary-eyed, at her impromptu bed among all the steel tools and brass gizmo parts. She’d stayed up almost the whole night, listening as the other airship’s engines grew louder and quieter. It didn’t give up the hunt, but whatever the Hourglass had slammed into in the night after their club-haul turn gave them some shelter from the searchers. They hadn’t found the Hourglass.
Neither had the Sable Tide.
The black-winged monsters had thudded against the hull blindly. Every time, Twila jumped. She could hear the rest of the crew jumping, gasping, and occasionally sobbing. By the time she’d drifted off sometime in the early morning, though, she’d grown used to it. And not a single monster had made it inside.
She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up. The gizmo—what it did, she couldn’t say—sat on the floor in front of her. Two straps for her wrist. A long brass tube like that on a [Firestarter]. A trio of trigger buttons on a fingerless leather glove’s palm. And, of course, the oblong glass bottle. Its glass, clear when Twila had started tinkering, had grown translucent with layer after layer of ice inside. She touched the glass, pulling back quickly. Then she wrapped cloth around her wrist, locking it in place with the two straps. She plugged it into her myst battery.
She had no idea what she’d made. If Becca had been there to help, she might have. But Twila only knew one thing about it. It’d work.
“Twila, we want to go outside. We can see the sunlight,” Carter shouted through the door. “I know you’re in there. There’s nowhere else you can be. Just get us moving, or I’ll get Jamis to pick the door open again.”
Twila stomped to the door and threw it open. “No, you won’t. Ship rats, get the ship ready to move. We’re gonna jump back when we can, then head for Seapike fast.”
The street rats and the rats from the Endeavor jumped to life. Rosie threw a sloppy imitation of a salute and scurried off, notebook in hand. Becca glared from the front rooms and ignored her.
And Carter kept on talking. “Thanks for waking up, Skipper. Some of us didn’t get much sleep last night. Y’know, I’ve been thinking. It’s about time for us to head back to Iswixel. I’ve got my whole family there, probably worried sick about me. And Becca might want to go back home too. I’m sure Mum would take care of her, and Beth and Grace could use a big sister. We’d make ends meet.”
“How? Didn’t they give you to some skywright?” Twila asked.
Carter flushed beet red. He glared momentarily, then took a deep breath, unballed his fists, and opened his eyes. “You actually listened to me about something? Unbelievable. Look, Twila. I want to go home. I’m with you until we get Auntie Charlie back, but then we have to go to Iswixel. Or at least Ternport, so I can walk the rest of the way. Okay?”
Twila stared at Carter. How dare he say she didn’t listen? She’d just gotten out of bed because of him! And now he was making demands? But then again, they had kidnapped him, sort of. “Deal. We can do Ternport, and we might be armed enough to land at Iswixel, too.” She spat in her hand and stuck it out.
Carter spat in his and did the same, then grasped Twila’s and shook it firmly. “Finally, you’re hearing me. Alright, let's get Hourglass ready to move. We won’t save Auntie Charlie by just sitting here, are we?” He grinned a wide, toothy grin at Twila, and for the first time, she noticed one of his front teeth was missing–how long had that been the case? Then he disappeared up the stair and onto the deck.
Twila followed. The sea breeze mixed with the Sable Tide’s musty scent. She stretched in the cool air. Her clothes almost creaked from the saltwater, sweat, and filthiness from working with myst. Then she walked to the helm. “We’ll stay here until it’s hop time. Then we’re going back.”
“What’s the plan this time?” Becca asked, a knife’s edge to her words.
“We’re not saving Auntie Charlie this time,” Twila said.
“We’re not?” Rosie interrupted.
“No. We didn’t know enough last hop, and our ambush didn’t work. This time, we’re just learning. We need to know how many Marines there are. And where they go after they catch Auntie Charlie. What else do we need to know?”
“Where they come from better than we do,” Rojir said, poking at his leg. Its bandages were a touch red but not too bad, and though pale, his voice was still strong.
“Maybe we can look at Fort Blackstone somehow,” Jamis added. “Just in case we need to try a desperate break-in at the last hop.”
No one else said anything, but Twila waited, giving everyone a chance to talk. The seconds stretched by. No one talked.
Then Becca cleared her throat. “What about finding a way to solve this without killing the guards? Could we look for a way?”
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“Sure,” Twila nodded, blinking and breathing. “But if it comes to killing them or not getting Charlie back, I’m…I’m ready to do it. Now, let’s get this ship ready to hop.”
----------------------------------------
The violet faded from Twila’s eyes again. The Hourglass started purring as it sailed toward the harbor. It slipped into a berth, and the ship rats disembarked. Becca stayed with the ship–with the starter this time–and so did Rojir. He’d complained, glancing at Jamis and Marianna as he did. But in the end, he’d agreed to let his leg heal.
Seapike bustled, just as it had the other hop and during their time at the skywright’s shop. The city’s main street was a tide of people. “We’ll group back up at the tavern and move from there,” Twila said, throwing herself into the current. The others followed.
A few minutes later, she found herself waiting at the tavern, the gigantic barrel of apples smelling crisp and clean before her. Surely whoever owned them wouldn’t mind if she took just one?
The sour juice dribbled down her chin. She smiled, grabbed another, and tucked it into her [Plate-Jack Coat] for later. As her crew assembled, hands dipped into the barrel. Crunches filled the air.
Finally, Rosie arrived, looking winded. “Sorry, I got caught up in people. There’s so—ow!” An apple bounced off her, then another one.
Twila let the ship rats mess around for a few seconds. Then, she put on her best skipper voice. “Alright, you rats. Carter, you’re in charge of figuring out how many Marines are nearby. Marianna, Jamis, you two head up to the fort. Get as close as you can without getting in trouble. No trouble, Jamis.” He nodded.
“Sam and Ellie? See if you can figure out which route the Marines could take back to the fort. Then look for ideas on how to keep them from getting there. And Rosie, you’re with me.”
As the ship rats divided into groups and started disappearing back into Seapike, Rosie grabbed an apple from the ground and took a bite. Her face puckered, and her eyes widened. “Sour! Okay, what are we here for, Twi? What are we doing?”
“We have a special job that only you and me can do, Rosie,” Twila started. Then she froze. She cocked her head to hear better. Then she grabbed Rosie’s arm and dragged her toward the barrel. “Footsteps! Someone’s coming.”
The two girls clambered up and dropped down into the barrel. As they did, the bar door creaked open. Then a gruff, familiar voice spoke from nearby. “No, I told you I don’t know what happened to Vayne. Just listen. We’ll find him and…take care of things. That disaster in Three Peaks was the final straw.”
At Vayne’s name, Twila started breathing and blinking. The pirate captain was still out there somewhere. And this was one of his crew. She had to know who they were dealing with. She poked her head up for just a second.
Then she ducked back down, eyes wide, and held a finger up to her lips.
She’d seen that man before!
[Twila Tighe, Ship Rat Mystgineer, Equipment Level 1.33 (Myst 1/12, Hit Points 1/2)]
[Head - Empty]
[Eyes - Myst Lens (lvl. 1) Myst Sight (passive) See own status block and others’ classes]
[Chest - Platejack Coat (lvl. 2) Plated Coat (passive) +1 Hit Point]
[Waist - Apprentice Mystgineer’s Bandolier (lvl. 1) Deep Pockets (passive) - Equip an additional Gizmo]
[Legs - Canvas Overalls (lvl. 0)]
[Gizmo #1 - Loaded Dice (lv. 2) - Roll the Bones (active, 1 myst/roll) - gain a random myst enhancement; Skill - Trickery]
[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 - Nola’s Embrace (lvl 2) Unknown Effect]
[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 - Condensing Battery Mk. 2 (lvl. 1) Myst Storage (passive) - 12 myst maximum, requires condenser to refill; Condense Myst (passive) - Condenses 1 myst/6 ticks]
[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 #2 - Heatblade (lvl. 2) Heat (active, 1 myst/tick) - cause the blade’s edge to superheat; Skill - Acrobatics]
[Weapon/Pair - Empty]
[Skill #1 - Trickery 2]
[Skill #2 - Perception 2]
[Skill #3 - Piloting 4]
[Skill #4 - Marksman 2]
[Skill #5 - Acrobatics 2]