by Sam Ryan
“Look, it’s still possible they haven’t spotted us,” Sophia said, trying to gain control of the situation. She had only a few seconds to convince Madilyn to trust her. “Judging by their distance and how low they are to the ground, we have less than a minute to do something. We are far too exposed to try and run and if we fight, we will lose.” Sophia paused a beat, letting her words sink in. “Now I have a plan, but you are going to have to trust me. I know that is hard for you to do right now but ask yourself this.” Sophia stared the knight right in the eyes, showing her how serious she was. “At this point, what do you have to lose?”
“My chance to kill you,” Madilyn said coldly.
“No one said you had to lower your sword,” Sophia pointed out. “You can keep that thing pointed at me and run me through if anything happens.”
The two stared each other down for what felt like an eternity. Every second that Madilyn spent trying to come to a decision was another valuable second lost.
Biting down on her lip, Madilyn lowered her blade. “Fine. But I swear I will end you before they kill me.”
“Whatever.” Sophia was no longer paying attention as she glanced around. “Elistien, dismount,” she ordered, rushing over to the horses.
Elistien hesitated for a moment, not sure what was going on or who he should trust. Madilyn, sheathing her saber, nodded her head, signaling for him to do it. With a sigh, he kicked his leg over and dismounted his horse. Before he was even fully off, Sophia slapped the flanks of the other two horses and sent them bolting off into the distance. She then turned and did the same to Elistien’s horse.
“What are you doing?” Madilyn asked, but her voice was calm and even. She was not angry, simply curious.
“Hopefully they will follow the horses and not us,” Sophia said, picking up her cane from off the ground and shaking the dirt off of it. “That and they would never be able to stay quiet enough. Now get close to me.” She held out her arms, beckoning the two to move in.
With a bit of reluctance the two pressed in close to Sophia, Elistien’s gaze focused on the approaching airships while Madilyn’s gaze never left Sophia.
Twirling her cane out in front of her, Sophia began channeling her magic down her arms and focusing it into the crystal glass bulb on top of the cane. With a fierce cry, she slammed the tip of the cane down into the ground, unleashing her magic. The glass ball on her cane glowed brightly as the magic poured out of it and surrounded the three of them. The magic was invisible to the naked eye but anyone trained to could feel it encompassing their bodies.
Madilyn gasped in surprise by the display but did not question what she saw.
“It’s only an illusion,” Sophia stated, her full attention focused on main-taining the spell. “They can’t see us but they can still hear and touch us. So we have to remain perfectly quiet and any sudden movements will give us away. So try to remain still.”
The two nodded in understanding, Madilyn moving in even closer. She gripped Sophia’s arm for comfort though Sophia was not sure whose comfort it was for.
Several minutes passed by as they stared and watched the small dots in the sky grow bigger and the outlines of the airships became more visible.
“Trevelian Galleys,” Madilyn whispered. There was no way the Trevel-ians would be able to hear them from this distance, but her caution was still appreciated. “Fast attack vessels, used primarily for boarding parties.”
Several of the airships broke off from their original course and angled their ships. There was a loud thud of cannon fire as the airship began firing into the ground. The earth shaking with each impact.
“I think they caught our horses,” Elistien stated.
Guess they were walking back, Sophia thought. Though she was not thrilled by the fact that the Trevelians had just opened fire the way that they did. It would seem they were not interested in taking them alive and had orders to shoot on sight.
The two remaining Galleys continued their course until they were right over head. Everyone took in a breath as the shadows cast by the airships fell over them. Sophia’s heart was pounding in her chest as she forced herself to maintain concentration on her spell. To slip up even for a moment would reveal them all.
She had already been holding it for almost five minutes now and it was starting to take its toll on her. Madilyn seemed to notice this and gave Sophia’s arm a concerned squeeze. Sophia did not reply, not wanting to do anything that might break her concentration.
Ropes fell from the sides of the airships and soldiers repelled to the ground, kicking up dust as they landed. The soldiers were all dressed in thin steel plate armor that poked out from underneath their red uniforms. They wore full helmeted gas masks that hid their faces. Two large tubes snaked out the front, connecting to an air filter on their chests. They all had large rifles slung over their shoulders and short swords on their hips.
With trained precision, the soldiers raised their rifles and started to secure the surrounding area. None of the soldiers seemed to notice them and, despite a few of them getting close, none bumped into the three of them as they stood frozen in place.
Sophia saw that all of them had lightning bolt patches sewn onto their shoulders. She did not recognize the designation but considering how prom-inent it was on their uniform, it seemed important.
“Any sign of them?” one soldier asked, his voice muffled because of the mask he wore.
“Negative,” another replied in an almost identical muffled voice.
Sophia could feel a hot liquid drip from her nose. She resisted the urge to sniff, not wanting someone to hear. Madilyn seemed to have noticed it as well, her grip on Sophia’s arm tightening even more.
“I swore I saw ‘em,” one grumbled.
“You think they are using magic to hide themselves?”
“For that long? Impossible.”
Not quite. Sophia thought, tightening her grip on her cane. Though it was far from easy. Her vision was starting to get dizzy and it felt like she had just finished spinning around in circles for an hour. Her body was covered in sweat.
“Doesn’t matter,” the one who seemed to be in charge said. “Use anti-magic gas just in case.”
The soldiers reached into their belts, pulling out large metal canisters with ringed pins on top. Pulling the pins, a blue gas started seeping out. They waved the cans around, spreading the gas out before tossing them forward so they would cover a larger area.
Sophia could feel the tension from the other two as the gas seeped around them. Sophia made a show of taking a deep breath but never broke the concentration on her spell. She had seen this kind of gas many times before. There were small particles in the gas that disrupted the caster's magic.
Luckily, the kind of magic that Sophia used was much older than any-thing that was used today and, while annoying, she could overcome its effects so long as she could keep herself conscious. Not easy considering she was already feeling her vision blacken out.
Sophia then felt a cloth being shoved in her face. She glanced over and saw Madilyn using the sleeve of her shirt like a mask to protect them from the gas as she shoved her handkerchief in Sophia’s face to do the same.
“Anything?” the commander asked as the smoke began to settle.
“Nothing sir,” came the reply.
“The horses were only a decoy,” another said. He was different from the others, having on a large backpack with a tall thin metal wire sticking out the top. “Captain wants us to board back up and create a perimeter around the site.”
“Alright, stow it and climb it,” the commander ordered, slinging his rifle behind him as he hooked his carabiner to the rope.
The other soldiers did the same, their gloved hands gripping the ropes tightly while they waited.
“What do you think did this?” one of them asked his comrade.
“Some kind of weapon maybe,” the other offered.
“One of ours I hope.”
Then all of them began to lift off
the ground and were pulled back up onto the waiting airships. After another moment, the airships began turning and then drifted away. Even after the ships had moved on, the three of them stood there motionless, not saying a word.
“Alright,” Madilyn said, pulling her handkerchief away from Sophia’s face. “We’re good. Drop the spell.”
“No.” Sophia gave a quick shake of her head. “Not yet. They can still see us.”
“Sophia, you can’t take much more,” Madilyn stated. “You are going to kill yourself.”
“I’ll be fine,” she assured. Though while she knew she would not die, she was still feeling the effects of such intense magic use. Her knees were starting to wobble and she had lost feeling in her fingers and toes. Anyone else would have probably already been dead.
Only once Sophia was sure that the airships were out of visual range did she finally drop the illusion spell. With a gasp, she fell forward against her cane. Madilyn and Elistien catching her and keeping her on her feet.
“How in the name of the Algod did you do that?” Elistien asked. “Even with anti-magic gas they still couldn’t see us.”
“That’s not important right now,” Madilyn stated. “Though, I do expect an answer later,” she added, glaring at Sophia. “Right now we need to figure out what to do next.”
“We have to get back to the Trinket,” Sophia said, though her voice lacked any real force behind it. She was doing everything she could to stay conscious at this point.
“If they knew we were here then it’s likely they know about the Trinket as well,” Madilyn stated, using her handkerchief to wipe the blood from Sophia’s nose. She counted herself lucky that a little nose bleed was all she had. Any longer and she might have started bleeding from her eyes. She was already sure they were blood shot.
“Then that means that Max is in danger and needs our help,” Sophia stated.
Madilyn’s body tightened as she wrestled with the idea of mounting any kind of rescue operation.
“I’m not asking your permission,” Sophia added, glaring at the knight as she yanked her arm away, refusing her help. “My mission is done remember? I gave you my analysis on this site, and I am not a soldier. That means I no longer have to follow your orders.”
“We should at least assess the situation in the city,” Elistien stated. “If our covers really are blown then I need to burn my notes and get out of New Dentin. If not, then I need to remain and maintain my identity.”
Madilyn pursed her lips together, thinking the situation over. “Alright.” She nodded, grabbing Sophia’s arm and throwing it over her shoulder. “But first let’s focus on getting past that perimeter that those soldiers were talking about.”
“Give me five minutes,” Sophia said. “Then I’ll be ready for another round.”
***
Max chewed on her thumbnail as she paced back and forth across the deck of the Trinket. It was a bad habit of hers but she could not help it. She only did it when she was anxious and there was nothing she could do about it.
Madilyn had said they would be back before sundown and that they were going to depart for Noxiss as soon as they returned. But the sun had set hours ago and all of their cargo had finished being unloaded hours before that.
Max was beyond worried. Had something happened? Had they been caught? Was Sophia really a traitor after all? She did not want to believe it but it was the only conclusion she could come too.
Though if Sophia had been a traitor then Max would have thought the Trinket and herself would have been detained by now. While Max had seen an increase in military airship patrolling overhead, indicating that something had indeed happened, no one had made any move against her.
“Maxine,” a voice called out.
Max rushed to the edge of the deck and peered out into the darkness searching for the source.
“Madilyn?” Max called out, keeping her voice just below a shout, not wanting anyone to hear her. Something that was hard to do given her cur-rent confliction of emotions. She was both relieved and excited to know that they were alive as well as worried and anxious to know what had happened to them.
There was a long silence as Max waited for a reply. The longer the silence drew on the faster her heart raced. Max scanned the dock, trying to spot the knight. But besides having a general idea due to the direction of her voice, she could not see anyone in the dark shadows cast by the other ships and buildings.
“Do we have permission to come aboard?” Madilyn called out finally. There seemed to be a hidden question in what she said.
Max shifted her eyes from side to side as she tried to think what that question might be. Was she worried that there was something on board that would be dangerous?
“Yeah,” Max called back, not sure if that was the right answer.
After a few more moments of silence she finally saw movement out on the pier. Madilyn walked out of the darkness with a wobbly Sophia draped over her shoulder.
“What happened?” Max asked, so relieved to see the two she felt like she was about to cry.
“We ran into the Trevelian military,” Madilyn said, stepping aboard.
Max instantly glared over at Sophia, not even trying to hide her look of accusation.
“It wasn’t her,” Madilyn assured, peeling Sophia’s arm off her neck and letting her sit down against the railing.
“How can you be so sure?” Max asked, keeping her distance.
“Because she nearly killed herself casting an illusion spell to keep us hidden,” Madilyn stated.
“Sophia can cast magic?” She reeled back in surprise, looking down at the woman. “I saw you doing some simple things before but I thought your cane was just enchanted.” It was expensive but not uncommon for people to buy items that had enchantments cast on them so they could do simple spells.
“It was.” Sophia nodded, her voice cracked and there were pauses between her words as she tried to catch her breath. “But it was me who cast those enchantments in the first place.”
“We can talk about that later,” Madilyn interjected, moving in close and sticking out her hand to get Max’s attention. “We need to get out of this city right now. Is there a way we can take off without making any noise?”
“Sure.” Max turned and began moving towards the helm. “If I don’t start the engine then this ship will be just like a regular hot air balloon. We won’t get anywhere fast, but we will be quiet.”
“Good. Do it,” Madilyn ordered.
“Yes sir.” Max darted up the stairs to the upper deck and grabbed a thick black cloth from a compartment under the helm. “Prepare for silent running.” She wrapped the cloth around the flame of the balloon, making sure that people would not be able to see the light it gave off. On a dark night like tonight, even a small light would still be noticeable to anyone watching. “Knight Captain, if you would please untether us from the dock.”
“Got it.” Madilyn nodded, moving over to the edge of the railing where a single solid rope connected them to the dock. In one fluid motion, she drew her saber and cut the rope with a powerful downward chop.
“Fuck!” Max cried out, at the woman. Reaching a hand out as if to try and stop her. “Why would you do that?”
“You told me to untether us,” Madilyn stated, turning back with a confused look on her face.
“So untie the knot,” Max chided. “It takes a whole two extra seconds. Do you know how long it takes to make a rope that thick? Much less how much it costs? Not to mention that probably damaged the railing. Sword cuts don’t just sand out, you know?”
Max could see Sophia still sitting against the railing, her head hung down but her shoulders bounced as she chuckled to herself. Max was glad one of them seemed to find it amusing.
“Get over it,” Madilyn ordered, sheathing her saber. “Now get us out of here.”
“Bloody nobles,” Max cursed under her breath, tugging on the pulley that released the hot air into the balloon. “No appreciation for things.”
“Do we have a destination in mind?” Max asked, pulling on the rope again, releasing another burst of hot air. “Or is our bearing ‘get us the hell out of here’?”
“Let’s do that part first.” Madilyn nodded, moving up next to Max. “But our destination hasn’t changed. We are going to Noxiss.”
“Really?” Max cursed, throwing a glare at the knight. “They’re obviously on to us. We really going to risk it?”
“Yes.” Madilyn glared. “That’s an order lieutenant.”
Max pursed her lips together, her grip tightening on the helm. “Aye, aye sir,” she said, locking her attention directly in front of her. She could not believe that Madilyn was still so hell bent on doing this.
“Hey ladies,” Sophia called out. “Am I wrong in thinking those two ships are bearing down on us?” Sophia pointed her finger and the two followed it.
“Oh, shit, fucking, balls,” Max cursed as she spotted the black silhouette of two Galley type ships off in the distance. “They must have spotted us as we rose in front of the city and blocked out the lights.”
“Can we outrun them?” Madilyn asked, gritting her teeth. Her hand was clutching tightly to the hilt of her saber.
“With our engines running at full and the wind on our side, yes,” Max stated. She glanced over at the wind gauge. “Neither of which is the case at the moment. Our engines are cold and they will be well within firing range before they are up and going.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Sophia said, using her cane to force herself to her feet. “Just get the engines going and I’ll take care of the rest.”
Max nodded, locking the helm in place she darted for the engine hatch. Hastily putting on her gloves, she opened it up and began cranking the primer.