Her Maiden Voyage

Even though the ship had yet to move, Gantz's stomach lurched in dread anticipation.

Still, as he watched Robin disappear below decks again, he suddenly came up with a following question to those of Valor and Sana. "Wait, old man, so Robin says she can cast the whole five days without worry, and the three of us can take turns at the levers… but what about you? Can you sail your fine wooden lady here for five days in a row without rest?"

That question set the crazy old coot off cackling again to the point that Gantz thought he might have lost his wits for good.

Pulling off his goggles to let the tears drain from them, the old man squinted his flinty eyes at the thief and gave a big toothy grin. "Of course I can, though five days is a bit of a stretch. I've only flown three at most without rest. However, if you bloody whelps can do your part I sure as shite ain't gonna let you show me up on me own ship. I mean, what would the Bell think if I let a bunch of snot-nosed brats outlast me. Why her luscious bulkheads would weep."

Gantz just cocked his head. "You've been alone for quite awhile, huh?"

The heavyset old man just slapped his gut. "Aye, but I don't see what bloody bearing that has on anything. Anyway, we've wasted enough time. You lot get to your stations and I'll tell the fire-starter to start firing. Then you'll see the real power of my sweet, sweet lady." He cackled again and turned to stride off astern toward the helm.

Gantz's stomach took another rumbling dive in anticipation for being aloft, though Sana-Lynn suddenly brought the old man up short.

"Wait, Master Rumsley. How do you stay awake for so many days without rest?"

He suddenly turned. "Why, my tonic, of course, lass. My alchemist friend knows how to make it sweet as can be and I mix it with my hooch to make the most delicious brew you can imagine. The bloody sweet tincture will keep me energized for days."

Gantz just laughed at that, but Valor went up in a predictable huff. "Wait, Lord Rumsley, you cannot mean to pilot this vessel while intoxicated can you?"

Cid threw up his beefy hands, "Oh for pity's sake, boy, I don't get piss drunk off the old sweetie, just kiss her enough to take the edge off. Besides, I fly better when I'm a wee tipsy."

Gantz grinned at the raucous old goat. "Oh yeah, how about when completely tanked?"

"Total ace, cuss, total ace. Now you all shut your bloody traps and get ready. The Brazen Bell may be a bit moody when she first wakes so keep your eyes stuck to those dials."

Gantz had to admit that he liked the old bastard of an engineer, but his levity suddenly twisted with another turn of his guts, just as Cid called down through the rear hatch to Robin Magus waiting below. "All right, fire-starter, let's see what your bloody blazes can do!"

Robin shouted something back at the old man, but Gantz couldn't make it out before the vessel suddenly lurched, and he quickly paled. "Oh no, its worse as I remember."

He looked to Sana and Valor, each of them manning one of the dials on opposite sides near the base of the main propeller shaft. Sana actually looked excited and wasn't paying him much mind, her focus keenly on the face of her dial. Valor, on the other hand, was grinning slightly, his blue eyes shining with amusement and locked on Gantz.

Bloody rich prig was enjoying Gantz's discomfort.

The Brazen Bell lurched again as the working of machinery below began to increase. The main prop shaft started to spin and the ship bucked and swayed, listing a bit to the left. Gantz's sun dark skin paled considerably while clammy sweat beaded on his forehead. His black handkerchief absorbed some of it, but would be drenched soon if he kept on like this. In anticipation for that, the thief pulled it off with quick desperation and folded it into a headband before sliding it back over his clammy forehead.

Several hard knocking sounds came from below and Sana suddenly pulled back her release lever. A great hissing sounded from the starboard side amidships, as pure white steam billowed up to waft over the starboard railing before the whole Brazen Bell was suddenly buoyed upward.

Unable to stand it anymore, Gantz swayed uneasily, before he dashed to the side of the railing just as the contents of his stomach came up in burning extrication. He heaved several times, spewing bile before wiping his mouth with a clammy hand and heard the crazed laughter of the ship's inventor astern at the helm, even over the noise of the ship.

Whether that laughter was at his expense or just the crazy old man's exuberance at getting his lady love going for the first time, the thief couldn't say, nor did he give a damn. His stomach was doing cartwheels while walking a tight rope and he didn't think he had anything left to spew.

He was wrong, however.

IIIIIIIIIII

Valor Loftlan tried not to enjoy the Chosen of Wind's misery.

He kept chiding himself that to do such a thing was immature and beneath him. He had lectured Gantz not long ago that the four of them needed to work together if they were to ever succeed at the monumental task set before them.

That was most certainly true… and yet…

The Chosen of Earth could not manage to suppress a grin as he saw the thief dash for the side railing just as the ship lurched upward.

Still, with all the noise of the working Bell, he couldn't hear any of Gantz pained groans. That provided some disappointment though Valor forced it away before concentrating on the task at hand.

The base of the giant propeller was sheathed in metal that did not spin like the working shaft of the thing. It was to this that the dials on each side were affixed to. Valor could not see Sana working on the other side of the prop, but he had heard her wrench her lever back just before Gantz had ran to the starboard railing. Now, however, he kept his eyes focused on the twitching needle of his own dial. It was steady in the green for now, but Valor knew that could change quickly if this machine was as finicky as Lord Rumsley had warned.

The narrow deck of the small vessel was missing a lot of what Valor had seen on larger airships and he had been surprised at first that only the five of them would be able to get the skiff to its destination. Despite his amazement at this great mechanical contraption, he could admit that his meeting with Count Cidolphus Rumsley had been much less than he had hoped for. The old fellow had a tongue more vile than Gantz's and seemed to lack any noble attributes at all. He was a vulgar drink-sodden lout, and the fact that he would most likely be half drunk during this whole voyage did not sit right with Valor at all.

Still, there was little choice in the matter. The four Light Warriors had to get to the fortress town of Truce as fast as possible in order to assess the situation and find a way to deal with the goblin army that must assuredly be winding its way south through the Painstaking Pass even now. There were many villages nestled among the Warren Hills and Valor knew that not all of them were off the main pass enough to escape predation by the goblin horde.

Innocent people were dying and the grim set of Valor's jaw saw him focus wholeheartedly on the dial before him, its twitching needle suddenly shooting into the red. Quickly, he wrenched the lever back and the hissing of steam suddenly sounded to him from the port side amidships.

When the needle subsided, twitching back into the green, he pushed the lever slowly forward, careful not to use his full blessed strength lest he break it. A sense of urgency battered at him, but he managed to cut through it with a steady focus. Still, he silently tried to urge the Brazen Bell on faster as he knit his brow, keeping his entire being focused on the dial before him.

He knew it would be a rough five days for them all.

IIIIIIIIIII

A sudden giddiness filled Sana-Lynn, completely replacing the melancholy that had infected her the last several days.

She had never flown on an airship before and excitement surged through her, even as she kept her light hazel eyes focused on her starboard side dial. She knew Valor guarded his own, on the port side of the propeller's base opposite her, and that this voyage brought with it a terrible urgency.

And yet, it was as little purchase now. Her white hood down, the white mage looked across the narrow deck, making sure to keep the dial in her peripheral vision. She had noticed Gantz's sudden wobbly sprint to the side of the railing. Once the vessel was properly on its way, she silently promised to see if a Cure spell might aid the thief in relieving some of his apparent airsickness. She was certain it would. If it could knit wounds back together and alleviate fatigue, white magic could assuredly dose a case of the rumbly tummy.

Presently she felt the wind through her honey-colored hair, as it whipped across the narrow deck of the airskiff. The sky swept out above her, bright sapphire with only the hints of clouds on the horizon. The sun shone bright, though it had begun sinking to the west. Evening would likely be on them in only a handful of hours.

With the noise of the working engine below them and the propeller beating above as its blades became a blur, Sana wondered at how the old engineer's crazy cackling could still be heard from his place atop the low-rise cabin astern. As with the forecastle of the small ship, the cabin was barely elevated above the main deck, and she could see the barrel of a man behind the helm wheel, grinning toothily and laughing. Beside him, metal tubes grew up from the wooden deck, apparently filled with the redundant dials he had mentioned before. On the helm's opposite side was small table, nailed to the deck, which looked like it had several charts and a number of books and navigational implements scattered across its surface. All in all, it seemed the burly old fellow was quite cramped on that tiny command deck, though with the low railing along its sides, he must have a grand view of the slowly receding world below.

Regardless, Sana let a grin overtake her as she focused back entirely on her starboard side dial, its needle twitching fitfully but managing to remain in the green for now.

The blond girl let hope surge through her as the vessel tilted slightly forward, the giant propeller's rhythmic beat increasing even more as the skiff started gaining forward momentum.

The Chosen of Water gave an exuberant laugh as the winds buffeted her.

IIIIIIIIIII

Robin Magus lay asleep in the ship's hold below decks. Her wide-brim black hat lay beside her, her masked face serene in sleep, her hands still gripping her charred magic rod.

Subduing her rage only an hour earlier had exhausted her greatly, but had also given her some new insight into using her power.

That is why she was free to sleep now, for in the hearth of the boiler floated a roundish creature with a wicked grin, cackling like roaring flames and exuding incredible heat. It kept the ship powered up, its essence that of living flame, volatile and intense. Yet still, the monster was chained to the will of its creator even in sleep, and so it stayed put, looking this way and that with its blazing eyes, bouncing about like a barely contained explosion waiting to happen.

IIIIIIIIIII

The Brazen Bell rose into the air, still merely a hundred feet from the earth below. She had a low ceiling and wouldn't be able to fly over any great rise in terrain. Still, the path to Truce was north and west, and the low rolling plains at the heart of Highland would provide no impediment to her maiden voyage.

So she moved. It went slowly at first, her aft props pushing her forward gradually until she sped up to cruising speed, whipping over the patchwork fields and farms below until she left them for a sea of uncultivated grasses swaying in the winds of a beautiful spring day. The occasional village came and went; the denizens below looking up at the oddly noisy airship passing above, steam occasionally billowing from her sides.

The four Light Warriors had become airborne.