We're way more than halfway done (yay! Or boo! whichever you are feeling…) and I have to say that its kinda sad how far I've gotten with this.

If Goliath would just come out sooner I wouldn't be so sad though. =/ Goshdangit! Scott Westerfeld so owns this!

"Can you imagine how much gold they'll bring Floyd?" a man asked

Deryn sat silently under a broken window, expertly eavesdropping and readying the air gun for the next moments to come. She hadn't been sure of the address at first; the little cabin was practically out in the middle of nowhere and the note that the men had left hadn't been too specific on the area. Now, although the blinds were shut, and Deryn couldn't see into the house, she was positive that this was where they were keeping the prince.

"He's a Hapsburg." Another man, Floyd, said. "We'll get plenty."

Deryn held her breath for a second, trying to get her heart rate back to a normal. She didn't know how dangerous these men could be, but she knew that Alek was in there, and she needed to get him out. Bovril, sitting against the house beside her, began to make sounds similar to snoring. Deryn held a finger to her lips frantically shushing the Loris, he giggled.

"Did you hear something?" Floyd asked.

"Just the wind." The other man guessed. Deryn tried to peer through the broken window again, but it proved to be difficult with the blinds covering her view. She quickly turned away from the window and grabbed a small log she had picked up earlier from their firewood pile. "No," said Floyd. "I believe that we have a…" Deryn didn't wait to hear what he said, she had known that the door had been locked when she'd come, and she didn't plan on spending very much time in the creepy woods. Breaking in through the window would be much easier than knocking on the door and having to act like she had something to give them. She only wished that she had had a better weapon on hand, like those spices she'd thrown in Istanbol.

Deryn jumped through the window and landed gracefully on her feet. There were two men waiting for her. She recognized the one who had kidnapped Alek right away, his eyes were wide as he smiled and pointed at her. "I told you they'd send the Middie!" he said "Connected at the hip, these two are."

Deryn looked at the two men and held up the air gun. Alek was tied to a chair beside the little couch, asleep. It looked as if he had been knocked a good one on the head. She scowled, "Don't do anything daft or you'll regret it!" she threatened, pointing the gun from one man to the other. They both placed their hands into the air. Then the man who had his hair tied slowly pulled a gun of his own out, he pointed it inches from Alek.

"Give us the gold and your friend here may be spared." He retorted. Deryn held her breath but didn't move. "There is no gold." She said cautiously, "Aleksander Ferdinand is barking broke!" she pointed the gun at him instead.

"What a pity, eh Mr. Woods?" the man said, sounding amused.

"Quite." Said the man Deryn had recognized. She didn't pay much attention to him though, clearly this other man was the brains behind this plan. "Seems that we'll just have to get rid of the midshipman and then give the prince to Churchill." Mr. Woods continued.

Deryn faked a laugh. "A lot of good that'll do! Captain Hobbes has already told him that we've got the young Archduke of Austria Este. If you two give him the prince, instead of the crew on the Leviathan, imagine what the man would do to you!" she could tell that her statement struck some fear in Mr. Woods, but the other man, Mr. Floyd, didn't seem to be fazed.

"I think he would appreciate the gift no matter who the bearer was." He said thoughtfully.

"He's not an object to trade!" Deryn burst. Mr. Floyd raised an eyebrow. Her grip on the weapon tightened. "You have three seconds to back away from the prince and leave the premises or I'll shoot!" she readied her finger at the trigger. "Three, two…One!" The man began to move quickly towards her "Give me that bloody gun boy!" he yelled, closing in on her. She didn't want to hurt anyone, but it seemed to be the only way to save herself and Alek…

A loud bang escaped from the air gun as Deryn pulled the trigger. As this happened, Mr. Woods, who had left her notice, came from behind her and tackled her to the ground. "Aghhh!" Floyd yelled. Deryn quickly glanced at the man holding a spot near his shoulder. He had dropped his own gun and was backing away in pain. A moan came from Alek's mouth as Bovril ran into the small room, big eyes looking frantically for Deryn.

"Beastie!" she yelled as she tried to fight the man off of her. "Chew through the ropes on Alek!" she hoped that Bovril could understand her urgency, he seemed to always understand other less vital arrangements.

She couldn't see if the Loris understood or not because Mr. Woods was still fighting with Deryn. She threw a punch at the man and hit him square in the nose, and then she brought her knees to his chest as hard as he could. Woods sat back, momentarily breathless by the blow, he regained his composure quickly though and started at Deryn again.

Mr. Floyd seemed to have also gained back his composure and was feet away from Alek. He still held his shoulder but had found the gun once again. "No!" she screamed. She took the butt of the gun and used it as a club against Mr. Woods's head. She hadn't realized how hard she had hit him until the man fell over in front of her.

Bovril had just finished gnawing through the ropes at Alek's hands and had then attacked Mr. Floyd. Deryn stumbled to her feet as Bovril bit at the man's ankles and legs. "Bloody monster!" he yelled trying to flick the Perspicacious Loris off of his lower limbs. Deryn moved in between the man and the prince and then knocked the gun out of his hands. He looked up at her in shock as she once again pointed the air gun at him. "One move, and you are dead!" she said. Bovril climbed onto her shoulder and growled. Mr. Floyd held up his hands in defeat, "Easy, easy. I only wanted some money. No need be…"

Deryn couldn't listen to him, but she couldn't find it in her to shoot either. If she had ever killed someone she didn't think she'd be able to live with herself. Instead she took a step toward him and quickly knocked him on the head as she had for Mr. Woods. "If you ever mess with this Middie's best friend again, I will show no mercy you bum rag!" she said, then she turned to Alek and began to cut the rope with her riggers knife.

She was just about to cut the rope around his chest when Alek seemed to become fully conscious. She smiled up at him but couldn't hide the worry in her eyes. "About time you ninny." She said quietly, so not to wake the two lifeless men. It seemed to take some time for Alek to process anything. His sad green eyes stared back at her blankly. At last he reached out to examine her hair. "It's…it's the same color." He muttered.

Deryn wasn't sure what to think. Of course a tingle was going through her from the proximity of the two, and she was more than happy that he was okay, but her hair was the same color it'd always been! It wouldn't change in one day! She decided to smile and just go along with it. "Aye, it is." She said, then she noticed a big knot at the top of his head and bit her lip worried. "Alek! That bump must have messed you up in the attic!" she cut the rest of the rope away and then pulled him to his feet. He seemed wobbly at first but quickly gained his balance. "Come on." She said, "We have to get away from here."

She then led him out of the tiny house in the woods towards the area that she had tied the Huxley to. Hopefully the beastie would still be there, or she wouldn't know how to get anywhere near the Leviathan, or Japan for that matter.


Deryn made Alek run until she was positive that they were too far away from the little house to be tracked, at least not until they were up in the sky. Both were quiet as they ran through the forest. Thankfully, Deryn had examined the path when she had been going through the first time, and knew exactly where she was going. When they approached the Huxley they came to stop, Alek panting heavily, he bent down, hands on his knees gasping for breath.

"Blisters, Your Princeliness!" Deryn tried to joke "You would think that your tutors would have made you do more physical activity rather than have you stand in a pose for an hour to eradicate bad posture."

Alek didn't laugh as he continued to try to catch his breath. Deryn looked back at the Huxley, wishing that she had thought through exactly how the both of them would ride on it. She took a step closer and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right?" she asked.

Alek's eyes met hers and after a quick moment he nodded. "Yes." He took his hands away from his knees and stood up straight.

"Good!" Deryn said crossing her arms over her chest. "You daft dummkopf! Why didn't you tell me what those signs meant? You were safe on the Leviathan and you threw it all away just because of idiotic curiosity?" she smacked him on the shoulder as he watched in shock. "You bum rag! You could have gotten hurt!" she began to untie the Huxley from a tree she had tethered it to. "What would they have done when they found out that you lost all of the bloody gold? It would take too long to get to Churchill, they would get annoyed and…"

"Uhh… Not meaning to interrupt your intriguing lecture, but is this safe?" Alek asked, pointing at the Huxley which was all set and ready to go. Deryn looked at Alek, and then to the pilots rig and then raised an eyebrow. She chuckled. "No, not really. In fact, it's downright mad." She smiled over to him, her anger disappearing. "Now get in, you're Highness."

Alek stood still, looking very uncomfortable in front of the air beast. "Uhm…" he started.

"What?" Deryn began, and then it suddenly dawned on her. The Clanker was scared of the Huxley! She tried to suppress her smile, sometimes she forgot that Alek was raised differently even when they acted worlds apart. "Oh no need to worry Alek," she smirked. "I'm the best airman aboard the Leviathan, you'll be perfectly safe."

"You are very arrogant." Alek said as Deryn motioned for him to sit at the pilots rig, he smiled.

She averted her eyes away from his and started to cut the last remains of the rope with her knife. Alek touched her arm and she stopped. "Deryn?"

She turned to face him and gasped when she saw that he hadn't sat down, as she had ordered, and was only inches away from her. "Yes?" she squeaked.

"I'm glad it was you who came to find me…" he smiled.

"Aye, well, you know, no one else could have…"Deryn couldn't finish her sentence because at that very moment the young Archduke had pulled her to him and had pressed his lips to hers. It was the very thing that she had been wishing would happen ever since that day he'd briefly put his arm around her. Her heart melted as Alek ran his fingers through her hair, she'd never felt anything like it, and then…

Haha, Authors note at the end! (that's new) Anyways, I realized that I didn't completely explain Aleks dream in this chapter, so I'll just say that it was when he was still asleep but waking up, so the things people around him were saying was definitely leaking into his subconcious. Alek was dreaming about Volger being disappointed in him because no one likes when you let someone down, and I guess he feels that way. =[
Thanks to everyone who comments, it just brightens my day up so much! Even if you're critiquing my writing... I actually like to learn what I'm doing wrong so no harm done if you tell me that my grammar sucks or whatever. You guys are awesome!