Pirate ships, Grath glanced to and fro about the Flounder as if he could already see them massed like hornets about a wounded ant. "We got to drop altitude," Grath breathed, barely audibly. Trarn nodded as Grath reached for the large drag balloon's lever. He pulled the lever.

Click, clunk...

The quiet sound felt like the crack of distant lightning in his eardrums. The balloon reeled out rapidly, and the Flounder dropped away, falling deeper into the cloud. Cloud mist whooshed by; a slight breeze buffeted them about, but otherwise they seemed to be in the clear. Grath took deep breaths and collected his weapons: dagger, paddle-wood sword, cord cutter (that one was always on him). He was ready. Grath burned to fight pirates to break the monsters on his blade. But as much as he had taken risks, this was one too far. They stopped their descent after falling an imperial strand's distance. Then they reeled the drag balloon back in. This would pull them up some of the distance they had fallen but not all of it, as the larger Flounder took more power to move than the balloon. Drifting along, they plotted their next move. Grath spoke first:

"We gotta get distance."

"Drop a balloon and glide?"

"We go too low we risk rain and sopping."

"Doesn't this class of ship have good lift?"

"It does... but I hate storm riding."

"More than pirates?"

Grath contemplated this. The Flounder had the lift. If they tossed all big weights, it could handle a major rain soakage. Lightning and winds were more risky, but it could handle the strikes... probably...

"Alright, let's drop it in. You get the rain reject dust and look for wet spots. I'll pilot."

"Okay."

Grath went back to the small balloon he had been dumping cloudwool from earlier and pulled more of its fluffy guts out. As they fell slowly down, darkness fell over the little ship...!

Wait, we haven't dropped that much; it shouldn't be this dark?!!

Grath looked up abruptly! Above them, a massive ship hovered, blocking out the weak light of the sun that barely penetrated the dark cloud. Its lower decks alone were larger than the Flounder. Ballistas stood in rows at its flanks. Its black flags and tail ribbons rippled lightly in the wind. He heard a small sound from the ship's belly: a shout, like a tiny squeaking mouse across the expanse of clouds. Then men appeared like ants crawling out of a disturbed mound. Ballistas began to rotate down and towards the Flounder!!!! Grath judged the distance in precise terror. They were too close, he knew. He struck out, his hands flying, releasing the drag balloon and every lift balloon except the second to smallest one. The Flounder creaked and drifted down sharply. The first ballista bolt slammed into the hull balloon 30 digits from him. Grath ignored it, feverishly turning levers and pulling lines; he forced the Flounder into a spiral. Trarn aimed up and loosed a splitter bolt towards the pirate vessel. Screams rang out. Multiple screams? How many people did he hit with that one bolt? Grath pushed the thought aside.

"Keep it up!!!" he shouted. Letting go of the controls, Grath left the Flounder in its spiral and ran towards the ballista bolt stuck in the Flounder, as multiple more ballista bolts rained down at random across the ship. Each with a tiny silken line attached. Grath sprinted about, cutting lines all across the ship. But he would be no match for them soon. Trarn loosed bolt after bolt. From the cover of the top tent, he cocked the giant crossbow lever and let loose glass salvoes again and again. Each splitter bolt sent a flurry of glass shards, and each time they flew, two or even more pirates were struck. Even if the pirates ducked behind their armored hull for cover, Trarn would hit them as soon as any part of their body was exposed. He was like a rain of death. But it will not last. The pirates had not been aiming to kill. At first, they meant to take them alive and make them slaves, but with every death of a pirate, this possibility dwindled. Grath knew he had little time. He panted desperately. The air was thicker now, but he was exerting himself well beyond what his lungs could keep up with for long. He rasped ragged breaths as he clambered down the Flounder's side to cut yet another line. But suddenly, the line went taut. The Flounder rolled violently, flipping Grath up into the air. He came down hard on the Flounder's side and bounced so forcefully he was flung free of the craft. His dagger came free of its sheath, spiraling into the abyss. He clutched his sword and cord cutter. Only his tether line saved him. He swung violently from it. The line tied about his waist threatened to tear Grath in two. He screamed under the gut-rending pressure before slamming into the Flounder yet again. There he clung like a drowning rat holding to a piece of driftwood. The Flounder was strung up now. Five different harpoons with twisted cords were plunged into the Flounder. Grath gasped desperately for air, then fumbled in his coat pockets. He pulled a small vial of klienah flower nectar from where he had left it tied. A little he had kept after selling the rest. With shaking hands, he uncorked it and slurped it down. The effects were not instant. He scrambled to the harpoon cords for now.

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Trarn was tired too. The ship's tent had kept him from being flung free like Grath had been, and few ballista bolts had come near him. He knew better than Grath; the pirates weren't going to try to kill him. And they wouldn't give up easily either. Blessed Cloudkin are a rare commodity—one worth a few lives to pirates used to risking it all for plunder. But Trarn would not go easy. He loaded a flat wide-headed glass bolt. Now that the Flounder had stopped spiraling wildly, Trarn's accuracy was even higher, and the pirate ship was even closer. It likely had a lift bladder as well as the top lift balloons, but this would still slow them down, Trarn assumed. He unleashed the broad cutting bolt directly for the largest remaining balloon's connecting cord. It floated away quickly; as the cord separated, the pirate ship drifted down more rapidly now. Rain began pelting both ships as they descended into the storm cloud's lower depths. Trarn groaned, visibility was getting worse. He loaded his second and last cutting bolt and aimed at the next largest balloon. But suddenly he spotted a harpoon bolt arching up from the top of the pirate ship. It stabbed deep into the free-floating lift balloon he had cut loose earlier and began to drag the balloon back down!