“Don’t speak too soon,” Anise says. “We’re not in the clear yet.”
“And we’re kind of figuring out how to fly this thing on the fly,” I say. “I read books! But the only skyship I actually flew on was way bigger and more advanced than this.”
“Yeah, I have flown on skyships myself, but I wasn’t allowed to actually steer,” Anise says. “I only horribly crashed one skyboat, too!”
My new skyboat matches the description given of an aether pinnace from the last book on skyships I read. It’s 9.5 meters long from prow to stern and 4 meters wide in the middle. The sails seem almost comically small for the size, each being a meter wide and 2 meters long. This setup allows for greater maneuverability and control at the expense of speed.
The “rudder” acts more like a joystick for the boat’s magitech controls. I kind of wish it had been put at the front rather than the back, since it’s not actually steering us through water, but maybe there’s some reason for the setup that I’m not seeing yet.
I aim to get us away from Amroth rather than toward it, and Amroth is to the west so I turn us right and keep us below the top of the domain until we’ve put some distance between us and the city. I don’t know what the local laws are for flying around the city and someone flying by who very clearly has never flown a skyboat before would draw unwanted attention.
Rowan looks down, toward the vast wilderness of Thorn, toward the empty Void beyond, and lets out a shudder. “Okay, not looking into the Void again. That just looks wrong.”
“Forget the Void looking wrong, what about gravity?” Basalt says.
“Even the smallest skyboats have gravity,” Anise says. “Kind of necessary. Don’t worry, even if Drake starts doing barrel rolls, the boat’s gravity will keep pointing toward the bottom of the hull.”
“Please don’t start doing barrel rolls,” Rowan begs.
“It probably doesn’t make its own air, though, so don’t try to leave the skymote in it,” Anise says. “Of course, the skymote’s air bubble is waaaay bigger than the domains in it so you won’t hit the edge of it unless you’re trying to or something has gone very, very wrong.”
The aethersilk sails react to the aether moving in the air much like normal sails react to wind. Although since they’re physical objects rather than purely metaphysical constructs, normal wind plays a role as well. That makes steering more complex, but since these sails are fairly small, the effect of the physical wind isn’t as high.
The skymote’s primary aether core, Tiganna, shines brilliant gold under the violet sky. Constant waves of aether flow away from it, trying to push the boat into the side of the domain. Fighting against those currents is a struggle, and I hesitate to tell my fledgling crew to “trim the starboard sail” for fear that they’d take it literally. They have probably spent less time reading about skyships than I have. Still, I try to give them the best telepathic instructions I can. I’m more concerned about not running into anything than getting it perfect, so I make sure we have plenty of margin for error.
“I’m not seeing anyone chasing us,” Rowan says, squinting against the light of Tiganna. “Yet, anyway.”
It would be much more difficult for someone who can’t see aether to steer one of these. Even the weakest dungeon cores give off aether. I didn’t detect any reincarnators on the ledge, but there’s probably other skills to help.
The side of Tempest is covered in bands of slightly different colors, marking the edges of each layer. In the middle lies an ocean like a sandwich cookie, and since it is currently winter, Tempest is currently an ice cream sandwich cookie. The crust, alas, does not taste like chocolate.
I can tell we’re safely far enough away from Amroth when we start hitting resistance from another core in front of us. I don’t recall which is the next Hearth down the “coast” but it doesn’t matter. I take this as my cue to take us up Topside.
I grip the rudder in both hands and pull up. We immediately start gaining elevation, draining energy from the sigils. [Anise, give us more juice!]
“Sure thing!” Anise calls out. “Let it not be said that this Sorcerer can’t do basic Wizardry!”
Anise grips the railing and concentrates, her aura roiling. The flow of vis into the sigils is uneven and the boat rises in spurts and sputters, but rise we do.
We crest the edge of the domain and I awkwardly get us to start turning, slowly learning how to steer and adjust the sails as we go.
The hull clips the top of a pine tree, sending snow flying into my face. I sputter and squeeze my eyes shut reflexively. It’s all I can do to keep us rising and not crash. While I don’t need those eyes to see aether and vis, having them stinging is more than a little distracting.
“Hold still,” Anise says, and a soft cloth wipes the snow and pine needles off my face.
I thank her, and make sure that we’re roughly on course, by which I mean pointed away from the edge since I can only really see behind us. It’s close enough for the moment, and I need to get us out of the skymote’s aether trade winds.
The edge cuts off the orange light from Tiganna as we veer further inland. The skyboat flies over the snow-covered fields and forests with all the grace of a drunken turkey, but we stay aloft.
Without the aether wind from Tiganna, we’re now only receiving the aether from Tempest and whatever Hearths or dungeons are nearby. Since most of the aether we’re receiving is moving up and out from the Black Mountain in the center of the domain, our flight is slower and rougher but no longer trying to slam us into solid rock.
[Anise, which way is the Splott Cave entrance?] I ask.
Anise goes up to the prow and yells back, “Bit further to the right!” She makes a sweeping gesture with her arm to point off into the distance.
I adjust course to get us pointed that way, telepathically sending instructions to Jade and Basalt on the ropes. It’s too bad we couldn’t have practiced this ahead of time, but it’s not like we had a skyboat to begin with to practice with. We’ll have plenty of time to spend on that if we can get this home in one piece.
“How long do you think it’ll take us to get there?” I ask.
“No idea!” Anise says cheerfully.
“Drake, we’ve got company!” Rowan calls out, pointing out an object in the distance that’s rapidly growing larger.
It takes a moment longer for my lower Perception to make out the object. A ship is behind us, maybe twice as big as the one we’re flying but with much larger sails. Those would make it easily several times as fast even if I were able to get top speed out of this with our current level of skill. They’re closing fast and probably not coming to celebrate our act of ethical sky piracy.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“I could try to set them on fire,” Anise says, leaning against the stern rail next to me. “But I don’t think I have the Inspiration to both keep us in the air and destroy their ship.”
“We need go up higher, too!” Basalt calls. “We’re about to hit some more trees!”
I steer us further into the air, which sends us straight into a low-handing snowcloud. Visibility drops to nothing and frost starts covering the ship. I hope that doesn’t interfere with the sigils because it’s already hard enough to fly as it is.
“You think we might lose them?” Rowan wonders, shield at the ready to defend me in case they start firing shots.
“Brrr…” Basalt says. “I can’t feel my fingers. Can I get a warming spell? I can’t work the ropes like this.”
“I only have so much Inspiration and my Wizardry skills are low,” Anise says. “I’m barely keeping us in the air as it is.”
“What, you don’t find mortal peril inspirational!?” Basalt exclaims. “Drake can get Inspiration just by staring at the sky!”
“I never bothered to unlock Enhanced Heart (Perilous Inspiration),” Anise replies. “In hindsight, I really should have!”
“No time like the present!”
[You do have the ‘fantastic’ version, though… Let’s try this.] I start sending her the text of one of the books I had put into my [Mental Library] in case I needed [Fantastic Inspiration], because you can’t have too many sources of Inspiration.
“Oh, hey, I haven’t read this one yet!” Anise says. “Is that the one you just bought?”
“Focus, Anise!” Basalt says.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got this!”
Warmth surges around Anise, dispelling the bitter cold and melting the frost on the deck. Basalt returns to the ropes to steady the starboard sail. Snow melts into icy rain as it gets close to the boat, soaking the deck.
The snowcloud does not remain unaffected by suddenly having a source of warmth in the middle of it. Warm and cold air clash around us and our cover soon dissipates, leaving us in the middle of a tiny cyclone that does nothing but make it even harder to steer.
“Well, crap, that didn’t really help,” Anise says. “Well, on the upside, they’re now close enough to set them on fire!”
“That’s not an upside!” Rowan exclaims.
Anise starts throwing fire bolts at the oncoming ship. Rowan puts his shield firmly between me and any projectiles that might come my way, so I can’t watch with my physical eyes.
“Can you burn their sails at least?” Basalt asks.
“Aethersilk isn’t flammable,” Anise says. “Wood is, though! Provided it doesn’t have fireproof sigils, but those can be overcome with enough force.”
Anise ducks behind the stern rail at the sound of small objects striking the hull and Rowan’s shield. Our altitude is starting to dip again, even with the flow of Inspiration I’ve been trying to send her way.
From directly below us, I see an Epic rank surge of vis with a familiar tinge to it. We’ve reached the Splott Cave entrance and Aunt Savannah is here waiting for us as I’d hoped.
An oak tree rapidly grows into the air between us and the hostile ship, creaking sounds echoing across the landscape. Snow falls off of the stretching limbs that are suddenly too wide to cover. Out-of-season leaves spread across the branches, creating a lush, broad barrier in the sky.
“It’s a treeus ex machina!” Basalt shouts.
The enemy vessel tries to veer aside to avoid striking the suddenly giant tree, but loses control and lists too far before crashing into the forest. Trees snap like toothpicks as the ship digs a furrow into the forest and comes to rest in a smoking heap in a fallow field half a kilometer away.
We’re still losing altitude ourselves. We crash through the top branches of another pine tree, spraying snow all over the ship. Rowan quickly lifts his shield to cover me so I’m not blinded again.
“I’ve got it, I’ve got it!” Anise exclaims, pouring more Inspiration into powering the ship’s flight sigils.
Our flight steadies out and we ascend past the treetops (except the ridiculously high treetop that is behind us and three times the height of the formerly-tallest pines).
[I’m not sticking around to see if anyone survived,] I send to my crew. [Let’s leave it to Aunt Savannah. Point me a course back to Corwen!]
“It is completely ridiculous that you had to have your son read you a story to replenish your Inspiration,” Rowan comments. “We were already in the middle of an adventure novel. You could have just listened to him narrate what we were actually doing.”
“Oh yeah, good point,” Anise says.
We bounce some ship names back and forth. Basalt insists that I commit no trademark infringement, even though I’m pretty sure trademarks died with the heat death of the universe.
“Maybe, but you can be more than just a copy of your favorite starship captain,” Basalt says.
Watching the landscape move beneath me makes me feel like we’re flying incredibly fast. Although that’s still fast in comparison to how fast we’d be able to walk this distance. Corwen Hearth is still many kilometers away from Amroth.
The Black Mountain is visible in the distance. It is not a giant mountain, merely an ordinary-sized mountain. It’s not even especially black, more of a dark gray, really. The raging storm over it looks more impressive than the mountain itself. I sincerely hope for no further weather-related incidents, but my crew assures me that it’s clear skies ahead.
“We’re coming up on Corwen Hearth!” Anise calls out.
Jade and Basalt rouse from their nap groggily (but without any grog). We’ve flown all through the night, and it’s green by the time we arrive.
[Furl those sails and slow us down,] I send to my crew.
I don’t know how to dock this boat at the skydock. I’m not even sure how to land. And I’m exhausted. So I play this as carefully as I can and aim to put us down in the largest open area within the walls.
I have to circle the village a few times as we lose enough speed to land safely. We carefully nudge the ship over the village green between the school and the guest house. I tilt the rudder down and we gently descend.
Anise yells over the side of the boat, “If anyone’s down there, I suggest getting out of the way!”
When we get within a meter of the ground, I finally let go of the rudder. The aether pinnace softly sets down in the grass, and a system window pops up in my head.
Oh, absolutely choose a new name. That’s terrible.
Besides. I’ve already decided on a name.
Aunt Savannah made it back here ahead of us, because of course she did.
I run up to hug her as soon as I spot her aura. “Aunt Savannah! Thanks for the hand. Or tree, as the case may be.”
“My nephew told me that he intended to attempt something dangerous,” Aunt Savannah said. “It behooved me to remain nearby in case he required aid.”
I’d never truly understood what it meant to have a family that always had my back.
“That tree was amazing!” Anise says. “I wish I could do that.”
“It is not something a Druid ought to do often, or casually,” Aunt Savannah says. “But there was no way you would have been able to overpower or escape from that vessel on your own.”
“So there’s now a very large tree marking the entrance to Splott Cave,” Basalt says. “Is it going to stay there? Is that permanent?”
“Yes, that was accelerated growth, not a mere temporary buff spell. And the tree itself is likely to be stronger and more resilient for having been touched by the vis of an Epic Druid. It took a lot out of me to coax out an unnatural massive growth cycle in midwinter.”
“I guess that will make finding the entrance easier, for better and worse,” Basalt says. “We’ve made some enemies here. Did anyone survive?”
“I sent one of the Basic pirates who was begging for mercy back to Amroth to deliver a message.”
“Man, I didn’t expect a Druid to be so ruthless,” Rowan says.
“Was Carter the Heroic gnome aboard that ship?” I ask.
“There were no gnomes present,” Aunt Savannah says. “Their captain was a Heroic human man. I did not catch his name before I strangled him with briars. Perhaps I should have left him to the Elites for the experience, but he was annoying and insulted me.”