“Skipper, we’ll catch the Harpy’s Wing just as they reach Iswixel unless you have more speed in these engines,” Sam said.
“Good,” Twila said. She reached reflexively for the speed dial, but it sat where it had most of their run toward the cliffside village, firmly on ‘Flank Speed’. The Hourglass’s engines no longer hummed after two days of running hot. Instead, they screeched and clattered as badly as when Anton had nursed it into Iswixel. She had Ellie and Becca running buckets of seawater to keep them cool. The bursts of steam poured through the stairway to the hold, adding white fog to the emerald-and-amethyst mystsmoke pouring from the engines.
The Hourglass had given the chase its all. But as Iswixel loomed in front of them and the Harpy’s Wing’s tiny dot grew, Twila grinned. The Hourglass was the fastest ship over the Sunset Sea. Their pursuer hadn’t been able to gain. Its engines chugged back a few miles, much too far to pick a fight.
“Twi, the code!” Rosie stuck her head up through the sticking cloud fog and ran over, holding out the map. “It’s dates and places of Kerr’s visits! Look!”
Twila locked the wheel. The Hourglass roared in a straight line gamely, reeling in the Harpy’s Wing. “Slow down. What do you mean, dates and places?”
Rosie took a deep breath and pointed. “I was puzzling over it. I thought it was a coordinate on the map or something. It’s not. This code here, (IT18F87), isn’t a coordinate. It’s a place and time. It’s Iswixel/Ternport, the eighteenth of February, 1687.”
“That’s….years ago. Longer than we’ve been alive.”
“Yeah, and it’s the newest date on the whole list. There’s Brelven and Drelven, Three Peaks, and Shimmertower. He must’ve hidden the key at the last place he went, just like Vayne said.”
“The farmhouse.” Twila kicked the lock and angled the Hourglass a little differently, picking up the wind again. The hull creaked, and the myst condenser’s mast shivered back and forth as the sloop went even faster.
The Harpy’s Wing turned slightly away from Iswixel a few minutes later. Vayne must be trying to extend the chase, Twila thought. She grinned a toothy, predatory grin. “We’re gaining on them.”
----------------------------------------
Three storms approached Iswixel. The first, the villagers prepared for every night with lanterns and locked and shuttered homes. The second, from the north, they knew how to weather. Its rains meant water for their gardens, and its lightning and winds meant nothing to them. But no one in Iswixel had seen the third but from a distance.
“Fire!”
A mystshot line burned purple against the gray waves below. A moment later, an ear-splitting crash filled the air as the air over Iswixel superheated and collapsed.
“A miss, Skipper! Reloading!”
As the Hourglass darted toward the Harpy’s Wing, Twila spun the wheel. The airship creaked, spine almost bending; she’d never tried a full-speed turn at ‘Flank Speed’ before. The closest had been the bootleg off Seapike, but the engines hadn’t been running then. And without the damn pocket watch, she wasn’t as fast or precise as she’d like.
But both airships roared over Iswixel. The Harpy’s Wing dove toward the farmhouse and the Hourglass plowed through its mystsmog even as Rojir and Ellie reloaded the bow [Long Five].
Twila stopped the turn. The Hourglass’s stern fishtailed out from behind the bow, opening up the stern gun for a shot. Twila wanted Vayne’s crew down before they got to the farmhouse.
Another flash of purple light filled the evening air, the sour, acrid smell filling her nose a second after the boom filled her ears. The shot punched the other ship’s hull, and the Harpy’s Wing flipped around as Vayne pulled on the wheel. She saw the [Puckle Gun’s] bore swing across her ship.
“Down!” She screamed, but the [Puckle Gun] fired before anyone could move. Myst scattered across the gulf between the two ships—then arced downward and rained on Iswixel’s streets and roofs. Twila spun her wheel and dropped speed.
Just as she’d hoped, the Hourglass was out of range of the Harpy’s Wing’s guns. Her ship outmatched Vayne’s in every way, and if she kept the Hourglass between it and the farmhouse, she could fire away with her [Long Fives] with impunity.
The bow gun fired again as Twila pulled away from the Harpy’s Wing’s charge. Its bow splintered from the force, and she saw something inside burning. A few figures ducked into the hold while Vayne’s crew reloaded their [Puckle Gun] and Vayne himself struggled to move the unwieldy sloop around. Twila smiled grimly, blinked, and breathed. She’d scream it out later. Hopefully.
Cannons and [Puckle Guns] fired, flashes of color and booms filling the air. After another hit, Vayne must’ve realized he couldn’t fight The Hourglass. He dove for the pathway below, and for the little farmhouse.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
The stern [Long Five] roared; this time, it caught an engine. Twila breathed a sigh of relief. She’d brought the Hourglass through the fight without any damage, and Vayne’s airship, half-ablaze, dipped toward Iswixel’s gate. Purple mystsmoke mixed with black smog from the burning hull as it crashed down, crushing the gate beneath it.
She turned the speed dial to ‘Ahead Slow’ and dropped altitude. “Alright, we’re putting down next to the Harpy’s Wing. Any survivors who surrender can stay at Iswixel, but if Vayne wants to fight, we’ll…do what we need to do.”” The phrase didn’t sit well with Twila. Not yet.
“Get the ropes and ladder ready. Drop the cloths to slow us do—”
Something smashed into the Hourglass’s hull. Something massive. The ship groaned as Twila jammed the speed dial to ‘Ahead Full’ and looked over her shoulder. Behind them, their pursuer steamed toward them, its myst-cloud blanketing the village below. Before she could give the order to brace or return fire, another crack filled the air.
Massive chunks of wood exploded into the hold. Someone screamed below—Twila couldn’t tell who. The Hourglass shuddered as its stern [Long Five] crew returned fire. The Hourglass slipped past the pursuer, and Twila read the brass name on its side. “From Hell’s Hart. Governor Hart?”
She didn’t have time to think more. The From Hell’s Hart bore down on the Hourglass, cannon crews loading, as Twila cranked the ship’s wheel over to starboard. Iswixel’s lower gate slid below the airship, then the lower village’s houses. Twila cursed. The Hourglass was flying the wrong way!
“Skipper, your room’s trashed! They punched through the Hourglass’s armor,” Rosie yelled from the stairs. “We can’t fight that!”
Twila nodded and cranked the speed dial to ‘Flank Speed.’ Rosie was right. The Hourglass was an excellent little ship, but it couldn’t fight whatever’d hit it. They’d have to outrun their attacker. “ Someone check on Charlie! Guns to starboard! We’ll break for Ternport!”
The stern gun fired. Its purple lance pierced through the engines’ smog. The gun crew shouted and cheered as the beam smashed a hole in the From Hell’s Hart’s bow.
But the bigger ship kept coming. Its engines vomited more smog than Twila had ever seen—except for the Royal Romney in Shimmetower. And it was gaining on the Hourglass. “Get those guns ready,” she ordered.
The stairs and octopus-signed pub drifted underneath the Hourglass. They’d have to make a stand soon. “Gunners, Puckle crews, to the helm!”
When the crew assembled, Twila rattled off a quick plan. She pointed in front of them toward the dock cave and the building above it. “We’ll turn on the From Hell’s Hart there. Be ready for a rough ride. It outguns the Hourglass, but we’ll have to do our best. We can’t make it to Ternport.”
The crew nodded. She looked at her gun crews as the skywright’s shop grew closer. They waved readiness, faces pale. Twila gulped and closed her eyes for a moment. She looked over her shoulder at the looming From Hell’s Hart—it was now or never.
She spun the wheel for all she was worth. As she glanced over, she saw the From Hell’s Hart’s skipper doing the same. They locked eyes for a moment, then both yelled the same word.
“Fire!”
[Twila Tighe, Ship Rat Mystgineer, Equipment Level 1.33 (Myst 12/12, 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 - Empty]
[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 - Empty]
[Skill #4 - Marksman 2]
[Skill #5 - Acrobatics 2]