The twins explained very early in Minerva's rigging lessons that they specially bound each spar of the hammer sails to the base of the mast, allowing the entire construction to come free, if necessary. Controls at the helm, called sail cutters, could also perform this function, albeit somewhat less reliably. Upon reflection, the twins never explained why this might be necessary. Worst of all, after the earlier rain, nearly all the sails were hammers, from the top sails to the course sails.
The Skyraker bucked as a large bolt struck the sailcloth, and white shards of daylight punctured the canopy above the ascending ship.
Luff landed in front on Minerva as he jumped from the aft deck, rolling towards the mainmast. Leech bounded down after him, and together they struggled to release the bindings of the sails. Another tree impacted the uncontrolled ship as the twins worked, and it knocked them aside. They tumbled wildly towards the side before catching themselves on the railing.
Minerva hated herself for her inaction. Everyone was doing something to help—anything to help—and she was just hiding. Her heart ached as she watched Olbus and the twins labor against a force they could not hope to overcome, and she decided to act. She pulled herself out from cover, just as the Skyraker struck another tree, rolling the ship and knocking Minerva's head into the stair. The impact left her vision twisting as badly as the deck, but she refused to go back down, and drew Velvet from her bun.
Gags recoiled in fear when Minerva extended Velvet to her full length.
"You didn't see that," she said, and then ran for the mast.
Minerva clamped down with both hands on the hilt of Velvet to avoid dropping the weapon. It was drawing sparks from the cloud around her, numbing and weakening her hands. The ropes encasing the mainmast sliced easily, and a severed string streaked up past her face as the staysail hauled itself off into the sky.
Daylight engulfed the Skyraker as the ship crested through the top of the forest, sailing higher and higher into the noonday sun. As they escaped the world of darkness below, so too did the swarm of spiders remain behind, reluctant to depart from their home.
Minerva didn't notice the absence of the threat, so she continued her efforts to free the sails. Whole groupings of rope severed cleanly beneath the sharpness of her weapon as she denuded the mast of its bindings.
"Stop!"
Minerva looked over her shoulder as the twins rushed forward.
"Stop!" they repeated, as she sawed away at the last few lines.
With a vibrant twang, the remaining stretch of hemp that bound the sails escaped overhead, leaving a forest of ropes dangling in the wind. Minerva followed the gaze of the twins upward as they watched five liberated sails ascend majestically away from the ship. Five sails finally free of their prison, to float where they pleased and come down where they desired. The scent of fresh ozone blew in and the Skyraker slowed its climb.
The twins put their hands on their hips, watching the sails carry on without them. "Well now – that's terrifying," they said.
Minerva gasped heavily, leaning on the mast. "I know. I was scared for my life."
Luff and Leech eased their attention in her direction. "Was?" they asked incredulously, and then they looked up again, waiting for her reply.
"Yeah, I mean, there were spiders everywhere, and they really hurt when they, um, when they—" Minerva stammered as her mind took the time it needed to reorient itself to what they said. Once complete, shrew grew suitably distraught, and dashed over to stand behind the twins, looking up at the masts as she counted the remaining lift sails. "How many are still rigged up?"
"Two on the fore. One on the mizzen. A smattering of jibs – here and there."
"Is that enough to get back down?"
"Of course. We'd come down with none."
Minerva felt her body lighten as the ship slowed at the peak of its arc. "This is no time for jokes," she replied.
"When's your next – laundry day?" they asked.
"What? Why?"
The two of them gave her a wicked smile, and Minerva felt the weight of Velvet diminish in her hand as the Skyraker crested before its descent.
"Because we hope you've got – a fresh change of underwear."
There it was, all over again. The unmistakable sensation that she was truly flying. Sadly, gravity still wanted to be right.
Chapter 55
Coming Down
Minerva screamed as a massive wooden trunk tumbled past her. She frantically scrubbed the lone hammer of the mizzenmast, and darkness engulfed the ship once more as the Skyraker smashed through the forest canopy. Captain Glass wasn't steering the wheel so much as he was clinging to it.
"Able bodies to the sails!"
Olbus commanded the crew with a disturbing level of calm. He didn't even flinch when the ship bucked sideways as they caught the top side of another tree.
"Tie kites! Fly the jibs!" the twins ordered to the men down on the deck.
Sailors of every age scrambled to control the Skyraker's descent, lashing spare sails to the rails. They scrubbed the additions fast and hard, and released them into the rigging as free-floating kites.
A flurry of foliage exploded out from beneath the Skyraker as it landed on the crown of a tree, sending swarms of spiders fleeing away.
A little help now would be nice, Minerva thought spitefully, as several branches lodged in the hull netting.
The debris pushed the Skyraker aside and sent the ship tumbling into a titanic slab of bark on the port side. The huge tree effortlessly sanded the blue siding off the ship, spraying dust and splinters across the sailors. Minerva clung to her safety line to avoid falling from the boom, leaving only one hand for scrubbing. It didn't help that the strength of the wind rushing upwards put the sails in a wild state, making it impossible to lay down a solid stroke. For all her effort, they didn't seem to be slowing down much.
Far away, ahead of the bow, Minerva saw a small gathering of lights. Soft golden lights, like a city.
The Skyraker spun wildly as the kites pulled up, and the ship struck another tree on the port side. The jagged monstrosity shredded half the rigging on the fore mast, tore off several kites, and sent the entire vessel listing sideways. Every sailor aboard scrambled for a handhold, and those that failed to find one fell overboard. Minerva clung to her safety rope with all her might, and accidentally released her broom; she watched it fly down into the darkness. Before she could regain her footing, the thrashing tree severed her rope and she sailed off the boom faster than she could blink.
In quiet contemplation, Minerva watched the Skyraker twist away from her, as she went one way and it went another. However, before it separated entirely, the tumbling ship crashed into another tree and spun around. Minerva fell perfectly onto the aft deck as a result, directly behind the helm. The railing at the back of the deck kindly halted her roll, bestowing a broken nose upon her at the same time.
Captain Glass dangled from the helm, doing his best to retain control while the wheels whirled back and forth. Minerva ran to assist him, horrified by the state of the instruments. The traveling contents dipped up and down in the column, offering no assistance whatsoever regarding the current altitude of the ship.
A sudden violent lurch vaulted Captain Glass over the controls and tossed Minerva into his former place. Without hesitating, Minerva grabbed the main wheel, but she couldn't restrain the force of the flapping rudder, and promptly bounced off the wheel beside her as she flew sideways. Minerva rallied fast, stomping her feet down flat and snatching the spinning wheel with two hands. An explosion of clarity struck her vision, overtaking her thoughts with a powerful emotion of fear and hatred. She clenched her teeth and struggled against the motion of the controls.
Everything creaked and groaned under Minerva's command, as she fought with all her strength to prevent the ship from descending unhindered to the forest floor. Another tree clipped their starboard side, flinging her to the side like a rag on a stick.
Not far away, Captain Glass cl
ung to a shroud on the port side, striving to return to the helm, but the extreme slant of the deck made a better ladder than a floor. He called out to Minerva in concern as she fell, and when their eyes met through the whirring spokes, he directed her attention to the knobs and extra controls. He pointed frantically at the row, but she couldn't hear him over the noise, and so she didn't understand his message.
Minerva pulled herself up in a daze, gazing in confusion at the unknown mechanisms. One of these must do something, she thought. Running with the assumption that she couldn't make the situation any worse, she pulled every lever she could see. Each of them let out of a satisfying pop, before she yanked the next one. Metal clanked, wood creaked, and the panels and planks shook beneath her feet.
The sound of a winch unwinding trumpeted the release of an anchor that immediately ensnared itself in the branches of a passing tree. Deck, railing, and siding, all along the starboard of the Skyraker, shattered like glass as the anchor found the end of its tether and pulled upward, sawing its way through the wood.
The Skyraker bucked like a stallion, sending Minerva sprawling as she slid towards the prow of the ship. Entangling the flying tree didn't halt the falling ship, but it did resist the plummet of the vessel, slowing its descent.
Near the sterncastle stairs, Minerva saw Olbus climbing his way towards her. He practically jumped from the stairs to the helm, passing Captain Glass without a glance. Once there, he gripped the main wheel so firmly that one of the pegs snapped off. Under the powerful might of the boatswain, the Skyraker levelled off, but still descended recklessly, dragging half a forest with it.
"All hands to cover!" Olbus bellowed at the crew.
Minerva scrambled for the railing, sat flat on her backside, and entwined her limbs through the spindles. In front of the Skyraker, she saw the docks of the city that she had seen from afar. The settlement crowded around the base of an incomparably massive tree. Hundreds of colorful cloth tents scattered around the huge growth, connected by seemingly endless paths, bridges, and wooden walkways.
If spiders could build cities, this is what they'd look like, she thought.
"Brace!" Olbus ordered, in the final moments of their approach.
Still moving at a tremendous speed, the Skyraker clipped the furthest piling of the protruding dock and smashed the post to pieces as the bulk of the vessel rumbled onward. From there it fell to the roots of the great tree, landing with an ear-splitting crack. Minerva bounced over the railing of the sterncastle and down onto the main deck. She felt the rumbling of the Skyraker beneath her as it shuddered to a stop between two immense roots.
The ship rocked gently for a moment, swaying between two points of support along its keel. When it finally came to a standstill, leaves, seeds, and splinters rained down upon the deck, falling like confetti on a parade.
Chapter 56
Reshampur
The climb from the crash site to the broken pier of Reshampur required hours of effort from Minerva and the crew of the Skyraker. They salvaged what they could, and carried it piecemeal up to the docks. All the while, almost every eye of the crew lingered on Minerva, leaving no doubt in her mind that they blamed her for their predicament, completely disregarding the fact that she saved them from total disaster by releasing an anchor into a tree.
"Women are a bad omen."
"I heard she's a witch."
"We're lucky that Olbus broke her spell."
The sailors weren't whispering the things they said. They wanted her to hear them.
"Nice work – with the anchor," Luff and Leech offered, as they helped her up onto the dock.
"Thanks," she said, still feeling ashamed.
Spit spat on Minerva as she brushed some debris out of her hair, and the twins made a quick motion to strike, but the swabbie didn't retreat. "You two clowns going to throw your lot in with the witch?" he asked, in a menacing tone.
Many of the former crew stood behind Spit in solidarity.
To Minerva's amazement, the twins did not back down. Instead, they traded a quiet look and subtly adjusted their posture. In a flash, something undetectable about the twins had wholly changed, and Minerva felt her arm hairs stiffen as her guts went cold. At any moment, they could have grabbed Spit by either arm and hurled him off the dock to his death. However, whatever it was that she felt, Spit felt it too. He diminished his boastful stance and shirked away, but not without spitting at Minerva again, catching her bare foot. Then he walked off with his kit under his arm.
"Where are we?" Minerva asked, once again surprised by Spit's accuracy, but wanting to change the subject.
"Reshampur. The City of Silk."
"Is this where Lord Arach lives?"
"That's him – over there."
The twins pointed at an olive-skinned man with mottled patches covering his body. He was old, bald, missing several of his teeth, and generally quite ugly. In exception to his appearance, he wore robes of fine silk, all in brilliant hues of varying colors that made him look like a prince. He also wore soft shoes of elegant design, and carried a dark cane with a jeweled pommel. Four huge men in swaths of clothing, armed with sabers and pistols, guarded him as his retinue.
Lord Arach was currently shaking his cane viciously at Captain Glass, and shouting obscenities. Captain Glass said nothing in defense. He merely sat on a sack of flour he had carried from the ship, holding the side of his head.
Minerva joined the crowd that gathered around the conflict.
"Look at the damage!" Lord Arach shouted, motioning towards the trees above him, many of which now drifted at odd angles or bore heavy scars across their bark. Whole branches sometimes fell from above, acting as a loud yet gentle reminder of the events that transpired. "You've caused more harm in the past ten minutes than a year of hurricanes! I'll be lucky if my spiders produce silk within a week! It could be months! Tell me how you plan to fix this! Tell me, Captain, how you plan to repay me?"
Captain Glass glanced around solemnly. His only real asset, the Skyraker, lay in tatters, and right now, it hung dangerously close to a cataclysmic fall that would surely end it.
Lord Arach whacked Glass on the head with his cane when the captain did not respond, and the sound made Minerva jump in her skin.
"We can work," Captain Glass offered shamefully.
"You damn well better," Arach snapped back. "Or I'll send you flying from this dock without a ship!"
From there, the crew of the Skyraker joined the people of Reshampur, sentenced without a trial to live among them. Over the next few days, Minerva learned that the citizens of Reshampur essentially lived as slaves. All the people, in each their own way, owed Lord Arach a debt, and he collected by way of employment. Surprisingly, most of the citizens seemed comfortable with the arrangement. Lord Arach covered all their expenses, from food to housing, and expected only that they work as instructed. They did not appear in want of anything, excluding their own freedom.
Minerva and Big Jim went to work in the bakeries, and the rest of the crew accepted suitable assignments. Gunner to the armory. Olbus to the docks. Luff and Leech to the warehouses. Lord Arach also ordered his private fleet to recover the Skyraker for repairs, but also claimed it as his own, and many of its former crew spearheaded the task.
Only Captain Glass received a truly harsh treatment. During the day, he was tasked with the worst jobs in the city. Not once did he pass by Minerva without a heavy burden on his shoulders or a whip at his back. In the evenings, while the others gathered in public spaces to hear music or tell stories, Glass left the city to gather firewood or perform other menial tasks designed only to rob him of relaxation. At night, his guards chained him to a wooden post in a space that served as the town square. He slept outside the tents, while everyone else enjoyed warm beds under soft covers.
The sight of the captain's suffering wore on Minerva's heart each time she saw him. She felt that he was a good man, and that he didn't deserve such a fate.
Chapter 57
T
he Commodore
A solid crunch blasted out across the deck of the Arbalest as an arrow split an apple with a whack, sending two halves tumbling off the crown of Captain Fletch's head.
"My turn," said the man beneath the applesauce, clearly not worried by the high-speed projectile that nearly struck his forehead.
"I hope ye've been practicing," scolded Captain Apples.
"Of course."
"Good. I don't want to lose the other eye."
Apples picked up an apple from a bucket and balanced it on his head.
Unable to progress into the Loftwood, because of the spawning spider swarms that downed the Skyraker, the Arbalest and the Ballistae moored on the outskirts of the forest.
"How's the wind?" asked Fletch.
"Lightly abeam, blowing port."
Fletch pulled back on the string and let the arrow fly straight and true, sundering the apple cleanly in two.
"Is this what you two do for entertainment? Narrowly avoid killing each other?"
A tall man, of middle age dressed in stately white and black attire, observed the actions of the two captains with dismay.
"Captain Barracks?" asked Captain Apples, eyeing the man as he stepped off the gangplank. "Black said you'd come. I'm Captain Apples. This is Captain Fletch."
Captain Apples held out his hand, ready for a handshake, but stood waiting for nothing.
"Commodore Barracks," the newcomer replied stiffly, obviously offended. A massive ship-of-the-line drifted quietly in the distance behind him, ominously overlooking the exchange. "Captain Black says that you're hunting a fugitive."
"Aye. Captain Glass of the Skyraker. Black says he entered Linora without treatise," said Apples.
"Yes, he did," Barracks replied. "I am forced to wonder, however, are your two ships insufficient in the task of bringing down even a single frigate?"
"They entered the Loftwood," Fletch explained, "and by the luck of their stars, have landed in Reshampur. Unfortunately, it's spawning season, and we don't trust our luck to be so generous."
The Maiden in the Mirror Page 22