by C. Litka
03
The big ships were noticeably closer - the closest, perhaps now only three kilometers back. We were into the second round of the chase. One ship had the lead while two others were several kilometers behind it. Naylea had the watch, sitting at the stern, tillers in hand, the engine chugging away before her. She had defiantly changed back into the blues of the Order. Py was feeding the boiler and keeping her company. Siss and Hissi were napping, as I had been.
I stood, stretched, and made my way back to them.
'They seem very determined,' said Py.
'Yes. I hadn't expected them to be this vindictive.'
'They intend to bring our head back on poles,' said Naylea. 'It is a matter of honor, not of vindictiveness.'
'That's nice to know,' I muttered. Honor or anger was neither dust nor gas to me - if our heads ended up on poles.
I studied the ship and considered our options. It had all its sails spread wide - fin-sales on either side and kite sails flying from the various masts, top and bottom.
'Do you think we should spread our sails?' asked Naylea. We had fin sail spars lashed on either side of the boat.
I shrugged. 'I wish I knew. I'm an engineer, not a bridge officer or a deck hand. The big ships may benefit from them, but I'm not sure our small sails would do more than drag on the engine. Let's give it another watch or two. If they keep closing we'll give them a try.'
I stared at the ships for a while longer and shook my head. 'I wager they're still pursuing us because they don't know that we acquired a second boat's supply of black-cake. They're expecting us to run out of black-cake any moment now. I don't believe they really intend to chase us all the way to the far side of the endless sea just to put our heads on poles?'
'Will we reach the far side?' asked Naylea. 'We've burned through almost half our black-cake already.'
'Who knows? We know there are islands somewhere ahead. The serrata that carried us to Blade Island must have carried us from islands on this side of this endless sky-sea. How far away they are, or even if our course will take us to them is an open question.
'In any event, I can't believe they'll chase us much farther, and we still have more than enough black-cake to make our way back to Blade Island, if they abandon the chase anytime within the round.'
'We've used more than half of our supply,' said Naylea, with a nod to the empty black-cake hampers lying about.
'That because we're running flat out. Once we can start sailing at an economical rate of speed, the boat's original supply will last for a dozen rounds or more. They'll abandon the chase soon. Remember, they're putting the Assembly rounds behind them as well. I don't think they'll want to miss it just for petty revenge.'
'It's for honor, Litang, not revenge.'
'Honor or revenge - let's hope missing the Assembly is too steep of a price to pay for our heads in either case.'
I relieved Naylea at the helm, and she went forward to prepare a meal in the black-cake fired iron cooking pot. Siss and Hissi woke up in time for dinner.
Py, Naylea, and the dragons joined me at the stern of the boat for the meal. As we ate, Py, making an effort to lighten the somber mood, started telling some stories about our time together in the marches of Daeri. Hissi must be a very witty Simla dragon, since she had Siss barking with laughter and hissing with sarcasm throughout Py's stories, even in the parts that neither Py nor I thought were all that humorous. I got to thinking that two sarcastic Simla dragons, in stereo, so to speak, might be two Simla dragons too many.
And after a series of stories, he asked Naylea how she came to be Adept NyLi. I suspect he did it for my sake, sensing the tentativeness between us, which would be another disappointing ending.
She obliged him, perhaps because he was the senior advocate by time in Order. 'I left the Talon Hawk after a 150 rounds or so to see something of the islands. I wandered on foot, sailing here and there for a while - big islands and small ones, living a simple life on the coins I'd stolen from DeKan,' she began. 'It was a rather shiftless, aimless life. I had no skills that I cared to offer, besides that of a cook. I was looking for a new way to live, but I was in no hurry to find it, since I'd not spent all my coins. I guess I was simply trying to put my old life behind me, trying to forget, so that the more I roamed, the more I saw, the more real life I experienced, the further away from the old life I drifted, and so I kept on drifting.
'I may've rambled for something like two hundred rounds - I stopped counting - when I came upon two Laezans in the market of a small town on the island of Tydora. They were putting on a display of their martial arts skills with their staffs, like we often do, to attract the attention of young and foolish boys and girls, to sow the idea in their heads that living the Way, even within the Order, can be an interesting life,' she said with a hint of a smile and more than a hint of the old Naylea Cin.
'And look just how interesting it is!' Py exclaimed with a broad grin, sweeping his arms to embrace our situation - the empty black-cake hampers piled under a cargo net forward, the empty, endless sky all around us, save for the three Temtre ships piling on sails to get near enough to murder us. 'However, I was born into the Order, so I didn't need any such demonstration to lead me to the Way and all this excitement.'
'No, my dear Teacher. You were born to live this life,' I said, with a sarcastic sweep of my own arms.
He grinned and nodded. 'I was born lucky.'
'I hope so,' I said.
'Litang was also born lucky - which, no doubt, explains our circumstances,' said Naylea, sweeping her own arms as well.
'It explains why I'm still alive,' I replied with a smile.
The dragons barked their laugh, while Naylea and Py smiled, after which he asked, 'So what did you do next, Sister?'
'Well, as I watched them work out, I could see through their routines. And since they were similar to the ones I learned, I felt I could give them a good work out. So when they invited anyone in the audience to test their skill, I volunteered.'
'And sent them scurrying with bruises,' I said.
'I did not. I gave the senior Laezan a serious workout, but I was out of practice and shape, so that I could retire gracefully, and honestly without embarrassing the Laezan. She was, however, impressed with my skills, and we fell into talking over a cup of tey. In the end, I accompanied her back to Jade Peak with the idea of exploring the possibility of taking some minor orders and teaching martial arts within the community. Long story, short - I stayed on as an instructor and eventually took up the yellow sash. By that time my mentor was aware of my past life, and life skills, and suggested that I give the advocate life a trial as an advocate's assistant. Which I did for several hundred rounds before becoming one myself. I completed several missions before the Way led me to the SaraDal islands. I was the perfect choice for the mission, since I was not only familiar with the technologies that were to be deployed to track ships within the SaraDals and could see that they were positioned and used in an effective manner, but I was familiar with the Temtres as well. And since I held DeKan's golden token, I could use it to hitch a ride to the Assembly and deliver the Order's warning to the full Temtre council when it came time. So, you see, the Way has led us all here, one way or another?' she ended, with a sad smile.
Py, never discouraged, continued to bring out her story in greater detail, as well as mine as we sailed through the empty skies, slowly losing the race with the pursuing Temtres. Glancing back, every now and again, I figured we'd be within their rocket range early in the next round if they didn't abandon the chase.