by Sam Ryan
“Sophia, you can’t,” Madilyn said, moving to block off her path. “There is no way you could hide this ship in your condition.”
“I wasn’t planning on it.” She smiled, brushing past Madilyn and moving over to the opposite ledge. Each step was labored and most of her weight was against her cane, but every step was full of determination. “You said we could do it if the wind was on our side correct.”
Max paused as she looked up at the woman. She could see the strain in Sophia’s face as her shoulders heaved with every breath. All Max could do was nod in confirmation.
“Look, you don’t have to try and convince me anymore,” Madilyn stated, moving in beside her. “I don’t think you’re a traitor.”
“Why are you so concerned about my wellbeing?” Sophia asked, turning her head to look at Madilyn. “I kind of figured you to be the ‘at all costs’ kind of person.”
“You’re my charge,” Madilyn stated, planting her hands on her hips. “If you die then I have failed in my mission.”
“I thought your mission was already finished,” Sophia stated coldly.
Madilyn shifted uncomfortably under Sophia’s gaze. Max could tell she was trying to think of something clever to say that did not reveal her true intentions of retrieving the weapon.
There was a roar as the engine started and the gears and pistons started moving. Max raced back to the helm and started pulling levers to increase the throttle.
“Stand back,” Sophia ordered, pushing Madilyn back a step and moving as close as she could to the ledge.
Taking a deep breath, Sophia held out her cane in front of her. A slight glow started to emanate from the top of the cane and the wind began to pick up. Max looked over at the wind gauge and saw the wind shift to a more favorable direction. She looked up at the two approaching Galleys and saw that they had slowed down considerably.
“You’re altering the wind?” Max gasped.
“Not quite,” Sophia stated. “I am merely creating a gust that arcs in a way that should cause them to fight the wind as well as give us a more favorable push.”
“Merely a trifle,” Max muttered with an eye roll. But she was not about to complain about the results. As they built up their speed, the two vessels grew smaller and smaller as the distance between them grew. Though it was not a rapid change as both vessels seemed to be giving it everything they had.
“We won’t lose them entirely until I stop casting my spell,” Sophia said, referring to the shining light emanating out of her cane. “Once we are far enough away that they can no longer see us in the moonlight, I would suggest altering our course.”
“Agreed.” Madilyn wrapped her arm around Sophia’s waist, holding her up while she continued to cast her spell.
“I’ll take us into the mountains,” Max said. “We should be able to lose them quick enough there. Assuming we don’t crash into the side of one first.”
“Then I guess we’ll just have to trust in your abilities then,” Madilyn said, giving Max a reassuring look.
“Well, that’ll make one of us then,” she grumbled. The ships were getting further away but it would be some time before they lost them entirely. “How long can you keep this up?” Max asked.
“As long as it takes,” Sophia assured, though her posture lacked the confidence of her voice. The arm wrapped around Sophia’s waist looked to be the only thing holding her up at this point. “A little gust is a lot simpler than bending light from multiple directions.”
Max started chewing on her thumb in worry as she glanced back between Sophia and the two Trevelian ships. She would have to hold this spell for at least an hour if they had any hope of getting away, and she had not looked that good to begin with.
It had been a while since Max felt the need to mumble her mantra of good fortune, but she did so now, silently tapping her leg in a rhythmic fashion. This was going to be a long hour for everyone involved. And even if Sophia managed to hold out that long it would still be several more hours before they were out of true visual range and could alter their course.
“Hang in there,” Madilyn ordered, tightening her grip around Sophia’s waist. Max was sure Madilyn felt the most helpless of them all. Both Sophia and Max were actively doing something to evade their pursuers but all Madilyn could do was hold Sophia up and pray. Not that Max was com-plaining about any extra prayers at this point.
In less than half an hour the wind started sputtering slightly, coming more in rhythmic bursts than a constant gust. Max could see that Sophia’s head was starting to wobble back and forth, like she was going to pass out at any moment.
Max increased the pace of her rhythmic tapping against her leg as she continued to chant words of prayer under her breath. She glanced back at the two ships still in pursuit. Despite the unnatural wind and no reinforcements joining in with the pursuit, the Trevelian vessels did not seem to be giving up. They might be thinking that as soon as whatever magic Sophia was using stopped, they would be able to catch back up.
Or maybe.
Max pulled out her pocket watch and checked the time. Four hours until sunrise. They likely thought to keep up with them until then. Once the sun was up there was no chance of losing them. Even if they managed to continue to outpace them, they would never outrun them entirely, and as soon as the winds changed even in the slightest they would be overtaken. It could take days but it would happen eventually.
“Sophia,” Max called out.
“Yeah, I just realized that as well,” she replied, her voice firm but broken. “How do you feel about a forest landings?”
Max looked down at the large forest that spanned below them. “Not a huge fan, but I get what you’re thinking none the less,” Max said, scanning the area for what she hoped to be a decent spot to land.
“What are you two planning?” Madilyn asked. Her voice filled with worry.
“Using a decoy to continue on while we land in the middle of the woods to hide ourselves,” Max explained. “They follow the decoy, while we wait out the night inside the woods.”
“Can the Trinket handle that kind of landing?” Madilyn asked.
Her question was met only with silence as Max pretended to concentrate only on her navigating. She had never tried anything like this before and under normal circumstances she would never attempt to. Even the slightest misstep and a tree could break the Trinket in half. And not being able to see the forest through the trees was going to be a real struggle, but the Trinket was small enough that it should be able to fit between the trees just fine.
That was the hope anyway.
“Alright. Ready?” Sophia asked. Her voice labored, like every breath was a struggle.
“As ready as I will ever be,” Max said, tightening her grip on the helm. She refused to die here. Not when they were so close to getting away. Not after Sophia had done so much already.
“Here we go.” The light from Sophia’s cane suddenly shifted as it left the glass orb and hovered in front of her.
Max killed their speed and began dropping altitude, the white orb main-taining its elevation and continued on ahead. As soon as the orb was away, Sophia’s eyes rolled back and she collapsed into Madilyn’s arms. The light orb continued on despite her fainting, or possibly worse, as the Trinket dropped lower and lower.
“I’ll take her to the cabin,” Madilyn said, lifting Sophia up and carrying her.
“You might as well stay in there yourself,” Max stated. “And you might also want to find something to hold on to while you are at it. This is not going to be smooth.”
“Understood,” Madilyn said, opening the cabin door and stepping inside. There was a loud clank as the door latched behind her.
Taking a shaky breath, Max readied herself as the tree tops drew closer. She was doing her best to slow themselves down, but the Trinket was too heavy to fall lightly. That was why airships were either tethered to a floating dock or they landed in water.
Max gave a quick look up at the Trevelian Galleys. They
looked to have taken the bait and were following after the light orb. Well that was one good thing, she guessed. Now it was all up to her not to kill them all.
Max let out a loud cry as she turned the helm with all her might. The airship crashing into the tree tops.
PART 2:
THE CHASE
CHAPTER 5
It was dark in the cell. The only light was the little bit that streamed in from the windows that lined the top of the walls. And even that light was blocked by the thick metal grates. The air was also damp as moisture would accumulate on the cold metal bars of the cell then drip to the floor for most of the day.
The dripping was the real torture of the prison. The constant sound of water splashing into a puddle was enough to drive anyone insane. Sophia was convinced that was half the point.
How long had she even been in here? Months, years, decades? She had lost count forever ago.
All the guards were new. She knew that much. Not a single guard was the same as when she had first arrived. Part of the reason for that was she had killed several of the older ones. They had thought they could take advantage of what they had thought was a helpless woman. She had not even needed to use magic to snap each of their necks.
That was probably the reason she was still locked up in here. Her crime had not been so bad as to deserve this long of a sentence. But then maybe they had simply forgotten about her. The papers for her release lost in a stack of documents on someone’s desk.
Escape was not really an option given that the prison was on an island. Even if she did escape her cell, the only ship that came to the island was a large battleship that would drop people off and take people back to the mainland. And if she tried swimming, the tide would just take her right back to the island.
None of that had stopped her from trying, but after several arrows to the back and getting stabbed in the gut over and over again, she eventually gave up on trying. She had thought about playing dead, but when she learned that they burned the bodies that idea was crushed.
Now all the guards avoided her whenever possible. They thought her a demon. Maybe she was. It was as good of explanation as any as to how she had managed to live for over a hundred years. And that was back before she was placed in this cell. She had no idea how old she was now.
There was a loud clank of a metal door opening and then closing shut again. Someone had entered the cell area. Sophia could hear their boots splash in the puddles of water. At least the new sound broke the monotony. Through it was probably just a new guard wanting to stare at the prison’s resident demon prisoner.
That was probably why they had stopped feeding her, to see if that would finally kill her. It had not, though Sophia was wishing that it had. Death was surely better than this existence. Her stomach felt like a small knot inside her gut that never went away and, no matter how long it lasted, she never seemed to grow accustom to it.
“Well don’t you look pitiful right now?” a female voice called out.
Sophia immediately perked up at the sound. It had been a while, but she recognized that voice.
Standing in front of her cell was another woman holding a torch in front of her face, staring into Sophia’s cell.
“Stella?” Sophia exclaimed, raising to her feet. It was hard to do so, her body having grown feeble and she was unable to stand up completely straight. Her stomach would not allow it. “What are you doing here?” Her voice was hoarse and cracked and she was not even sure if Stella could hear her.
“I’m here to get you out,” she stated. “Say thank you Stella.”
“I’m not out of here yet,” Sophia said, leaning her chest against the bars.
“Still a smart aleck I see,” she sighed, producing a key that she used to unlock the cell door.
Stella stepped back as she pulled the cell door open. Sophia could only stand there, not sure she believed what she was seeing. It was possible that this was all a dream or that lack of food had caused her to start hallucinating.
“Would you come on,” Stella barked. “I don’t got all day.”
Sophia tried to laugh but she lacked the chest muscles to do so.
“How did you find me?” Sophia asked, taking one wobbly step out of the cell.
“Heard rumors about some woman locked up in a prison for thirty years and was still as young as the day they brought her in.” There was a coldness to her voice, but she gently took Sophia into her arms and helped her walk down the row of cells. “I had a bet with myself on whether it would be you, Tara, or Jezebel.”
“Not Allora or Elena?” Sophia asked.
“Allora would never do anything to get put in a cell and Elena would never let one hold her for very long,” Stella said.
“So who were you pulling for?” Sophia asked, genuinely curious.
“Tara actually,” Stella said. “I thought you would have enough brains at least not to get caught. So who was it? Some orphan child who stole some bread and you tried to help? Try to marry a noble’s son and they locked you away to keep you apart? Sleep with a noble’s daughter?” She glanced over at Sophia with an inquisitive look.
“I honestly don’t remember.” She shook her head. “I do think it had something to do with bread though.”
As the stepped out of the prison and into the open air, Sophia had to hold back a cry of pain. The light of the setting sun was too much for her eyes. The dim light hurt them almost to the point of burning. Even the gentle breeze felt like a hurricane to her and if not for Stella holding her up she would have likely toppled over from the force.
“How did you convince them to release me?” Sophia asked.
“Same way you convince a noble to do anything,” Stella scoffed. “I paid him a lot of money.”
“Stella, I’m sorry,” Sophia whispered, hanging her head.
“Don’t be,” Stella said, letting out a breath. “I’m sure I’ll be able to make it back eventually. It’ll just take a little time. And we have all the time in the world it seems. If this didn’t kill one of us, I’m not sure what will.”
The sound of repetitive banging stirred Sophia from her sleep. She had a splitting headache that felt like two screws being slowly tightened into her temples that was in no way helped by the banging outside. From what Sophia could tell, it sounded like a hammer or maybe an axe. It was hard for her to focus long enough to make out the difference.
It took a great deal of concentration for her to even remember why she would have a headache in the first place. And the fog that danced around her head was not helping matters any.
Her state was not surprising given that she had never been particularly strong in magic, even by present standards. And her magic was nothing at all when compared to Stella or Allora. Some of the things she had seen Allora do with water was beyond impressive. Sophia on the other hand had always been better with enchanting items to do the work for her.
With a pained groan, Sophia slowly opened her eyes. Even the dim light of the cabin made the backs of her eyeballs hurt. She was laying in the cabin’s bunk and not a prison cell, so she assumed they had managed to allude the Galleys.
She lay there in bed staring up at the wood roof, blinking her eyes repeat-edly for several minutes, gathering both her thoughts and her strength. The continuous pounding sound outside reminded her of the insanity inducing dripping sound from her time in that prison she had just dreamed about.
A slight twinge went through her as she suddenly thought of Stella. She had thought her heart more jaded than this. That the death of someone no longer had this kind of effect on her. But then she had never lost someone she had known for over a thousand years before.
Throwing the covers off her body, she tried to sit up in the bed. Half way up, the world began spinning and her head felt completely empty, causing her to fall backwards and plop back onto the pillow. Once her vision cleared, she tried once more, this time taking her time as she sat up. Pivoting her body, she placed her bare feet on the wooden deck of the cabin.
“It works!” she heard Max exclaim with excitement and triumph through the cabin walls. “Who knew a knight would be so handy with needle and thread.”
“Every squire must mend their knight’s clothing,” Madilyn retorted, though her tone suggested more playful banter than offense. “And every knight was once a squire.”
Giving the laces of her corset a few final tugs, Sophia grabbed her cane and slowly headed towards the cabin door.
The sun was bright and Sophia had to squint and shield her eyes with her free hand. Luckily, the large canvas balloon overhead did well in blocking it out. Sophia was surprised to see the balloon in such good condition given the fact it had just crashed through a forest, though she did notice it had a lot of new patches sewn into it.
“She yet lives,” Max said, looking down at Sophia from atop the upper deck. “How you feeling, sleepyhead?”
“Like I just binged drank all last night,” Sophia stated, her voice hoarse and her throat dry. “Complete with the blacking out and being sore in places and not knowing why.”
Max let out an amused laugh. “I know that feeling and I sympathize.”
Sophia turned and looked at Max, flashing her a smile. Max was wearing the same nearly shirtless outfit she always wore but she was also sporting several bandages. None of her wounds looked severe and she seemed to be moving around fine, but her body was covered in them. She must have been thrown pretty hard when the Trinket crashed into the ground.
“Glad to see you up and about,” Madilyn stated, chucking her small hatchet into the large log she had been hacking on. It looked like she was making strips of wood to patch up the hull.
Madilyn was dressed far more loosely than previously. She had taken off her dark flak jacket and had her sleeves and trouser legs rolled up to below her knees and past her elbows. Her hair was still tied back with a simple ribbon, but it was not as well-kept as it had been, with numerous strands poking out all over her head.