Chapter Fifty-two

Sailing the Skies


"Allura," I asked, "is there anything Brotoras may have said that we should be aware of as we head to Fenraas?" We were eating breakfast, and tales were being swapped of things my friends had done while on the Elven continent.

"Ah." She sighed. "Master Brotoras is an interesting character."

Her use of his title was like a ruler to the hand. He was a member of the council, I should show him some respect for that, even if he was exceedingly rude to me.

Allura continued. "He very much has a 'holier than thou' attitude, and always has since he was made a member of the council. As a member of the council in his job as Master of Defense, he is always leery of those who are different..."

"That would be me," I said with a laugh.

"...especially in your case. He, let's just say he did not have the nicest words to say about your, um, shall we say, 'mixed' blood, from your lineage? There was a bit of discussion afterwards even as to where you and your parents came from initially. I believe he may be sending messages forward to the High Elven Council, and the High Elven king, about the information that was shared.

"So, just be aware. He just wanted, well, initially his reaction was we shouldn't believe a word you say because of your lineage. I fought for it otherwise, and knew that you were of sound mind, and just because of your lineage didn't mean you didn't know what you were talking about."

"I appreciate it," I said. I was both sad and angry about how Master Brotoras reacted. I couldn't believe that someone could be judged so harshly just because of who their parents were.

Allura gave me a sad smile. "He's a bit of an idiot. Full of himself and, yeah... Granted, he may out-age me by several hundred years, but he's still an idiot."

I laughed at her brutally honest opinion of the haughty elf. "But as far as that, it was mostly him complaining about the state they are currently at, and complaining that a group of 'adventure mercenaries,' as he called it, would be able to solve this problem. He did not believe that you could do it, he didn't believe that anything you could do would have an impact of any kind, but I tried to convince him otherwise."

"I appreciate your friendship, Allura." I wasn't sure what I had done to deserve it, but I was grateful for how much she defended my friends and I in the council meeting. Especially her defense of me.

"It is good to have friends. I just hope we can find someone to help both of us, to get our friends back."

I talked to Melima shortly after breakfast. "How much influence does Tofor Brotoras have with your father?"

"He's just a councilman of a region. They definitely know each other, but it's not like my father is swayed by his opinion to any extreme. He sees him as a very arrogant man and spends as little amount of time as possible with him. But that's the case with quite a few people. I'm sure with what we're finding out about my father, with his more colorful past, he would be more inclined to support you than he would not."

"That's what I was wondering," I said. The fact that Melima thought the same was comforting.

"Considering, I have a sister! Among many other things I'm discovering about my family. I don't know, like I said, but I'm finding out things about my father I never knew before, and I could very well find out he doesn't appreciate your mixed situation, but if he values me as his daughter, he will."

There wasn't much to do on the ship as we traveled. We watched the sea, but I could only do that for so long. I offered to help with any woodworking needs on the ship. There wasn't much to be done, but I was able to help carve bolts for the ballista used to defend the ship and repair one of the spares.

We often played cards below deck as well. I didn't know how to play at first, but by watching the others I was able to pick up on it. Not that I was very good. Ari'yasa was really good though, and won more often than not.

Naidaroe stomped down the steps from the top deck while I was watching on the second day. She wouldn't say what the matter was, but she wouldn't talk to Keothi at all for the next couple of days either.

During our evening meal that second day I told my friends about what I'd experienced in the Platinum Sanctuary. I'd had enough time to think it over enough to share. "I had another vision with Bahamut before we left, and he told me that there is too much division in the world that we need to unify, which with the elves is a bit obvious, but that we are the key to doing that."

"I'm not surprised, Miss Tawariell," Melima said. "With you being the link between the two races of elves."

I laughed. "Yeah, something like that."

"Is it just the elves that you speak of?" Keothi asked.

"He indicated division in general. He even mentioned division between the dragons."

"Wait, I want to kill a dragon. That would not help."

"He didn't say that killing dragons is bad, he just said that I shouldn't fear all dragons."

"Yeah, girl," Melima said, her voice dripping with sass. " You don't need to fear all dragons. I'm literally part dragon, so, can you not?"

We all started laughing. I wasn't going to tell her that at one point I had feared her because of her dragonesque features, but it was really funny. I responded with almost as much sass. "I have a bit of a history with dragons, okay? I'm working on it.

"He did tell me to continue to study and then return to him, I'm not quite sure what he meant by that, but I have some ideas, and hopefully I can get some more guidance as to what we are supposed to do."

. . .

I was watching the starry sky on deck after dinner. Keothi came and stood next to me. "So, Tawariell, you say we are supposed to help unify, but I am currently seeing disunity within our own party."

"He did tell me that even within myself, that I need to unify parts of myself. And I can definitely see that there might be some need for unity within our party."

"I am troubled by this."

"I can respect that. I definitely feel at odds within myself right now. I don't fully understand what you might be feeling, but I can understand parts of it."

"I do not like doubting in people that are in my party, but I am. And I do not know if it is because there is reason, or because there are flaws within myself."

He paused. "How much do you trust Bahamut?"

I felt like a rug had just been pulled from under me. How much did I trust him? He told me not to fear dragons, yet was a dragon himself. As much as I hated to admit it then, my biggest fear had been that dragons would take over and rule over everyone with tyranny. Was I helping lead towards that?

And yet, I didn't think so. "Right now, he's the only thing I have to go off of. And everything I've seen from him, I've had no reason to have distrust in him."

"I am glad that you have something. If it helps, you are the person I have the most respect for."

"Thank you. That helps me feel like we can do this." I nearly started crying, remembering what Bahamut had said about those that lead not feeling worthy. Maybe I was more worthy than I had thought.

. . .

Black clouds began to roll in on the evening of the fifth day. The captain let us know as soon as the watch in the crow's nest at the top of the mast alerted him. "We may have a bit of trouble with the weather, but we will try to make it out as smoothly as we can. We'll just batten down the hatches a bit, and hopefully get through this."

Most of us went below deck, not wanting to get more wet and cold than we had to, and not wanting to risk getting flung off. I was surprised that Naidaroe came below deck, given her many stories of sailing in storms and worshiping the Storm Lord, but I also noticed that Keothi had chosen to stay above deck.

The ship started to pitch and rock, though Naidaroe told us it wasn't nearly as bad as a ship on the water. I was glad to have a game of cards to concentrate on. Ari'yasa had stayed on deck, Allura was in her room, like she usually was, and Jörgen was already asleep with a raven on his chest, but the rest of us were playing cards with a couple crew members.

One of the crew members stood up. "I think I hear something. Hold on, I'll be right back."

He walked up to the deck. I hadn't heard anything, but I'd also been focused on the cards. I was starting to understand the game, but it still took some focus.

There was a high pitched whistle. The other crew member nearly turned over the table as he rushed up the stairs. "Ah, crap."

I followed up the stairs towards the center of the ship. The rain soaked through my clothing within moments. I glanced around to see what was going on.

There were creatures surrounding the ship that looked like dragons, but not full dragons. Wyverns. There looked to be four of them. They only had two legs, and claws at the ends of their wings. While I didn't think they had any breath weapons, I knew they had stingers at the ends of their tails.

Each of them had a saddle with a rider in it. The riders wore cloaks that covered their faces, and each was leveling a crossbow towards people on our ship.

I cast my spell to splinter my arrows. I knew I could hurt both a wyvern and its rider. I fired at one that was at our port stern, or the back left of the ship. My first arrow splintered and struck both the beast and its rider, and my second one went through the wing as it dove beneath the ship.

I turned to see where it would come up. Jörgen's raven landed on Melima's shoulder on the starboard fore, or front right. Bolts started to fly from the riders' crossbows, hitting at least one of the crew.

Allura came out from her room at the stern, casting a spell that made one of the wyverns disappear. The rider started screaming as he plummeted to his death.

The ship started moving to port. We were moving against the wind, but somehow the ship was still moving. The crew were firing the ballistas that were on the side of the ship.

Naidaroe came on deck, casting a spell. Lightning from the sky struck one of the wyverns and its rider. "I love storms!" she said.

She turned to Melima. "Let's get these wyverns!"

Melima threw a bolt of fire at a wyvern far to our starboard stern. The raven had flown off her shoulder and was distracting the flying beast from Melima's attack.

I cast my splintering spell and struck the wyvern Naidaroe had hit with lightning. It dodged some of the splinters, but pushed the rider right into the array. Another of my arrows planted in the wyvern's shoulder.

Jörgen ran to the side of the ship, throwing something at the wyvern at the starboard stern. It pulled back ever so slightly.

The wyvern I'd just hit landed on the ship, trying to bite Melima. She dodged out of the way, but the stinger struck her in the side. I could see another one, the one I'd first fired at, climb up the ship next to Keothi on the starboard stern.

Ari'yasa cast something at that wyvern, and it seemed to shrivel up and turn black. It still clung to the ship, but I could tell even from where I was that it was bleeding.

Allura threw seven magic missiles at the wyvern attacking Melima. I'd never seen so many at the same time. The crew came at the same one with drawn swords. It was moving its head around erratically with all the people attacking it.

Lightning struck a wyvern that had just flown around the bow to our starboard fore. Keothi crushed the head of the one next to him on the stern, then struck it in the chest. It let go of the ship and fell off, the rider jumping and barely grabbing hold of the railing.

Melima jumped over the wyvern attacking her, grabbed the saddle, flung herself around it, and landed on her back on the steps next to it. She launched lightning from her hand, hitting the wyvern and its rider, as well as the wyvern and rider flying off the starboard stern. The accuracy was remarkable.

A streak of lightning moved out at the caw of a bird, hitting the wyvern off the starboard stern. I didn't want to hit that one with my splintering arrow and kill Jörgen's raven. Instead, I cast my mark on the wyvern on the ship and let off two more arrows. One of them bounced off the armor it was wearing, but the other one pierced its wing.

A huge flash lit up behind me. I looked back to see a giant ball of fire enveloping a wyvern and its rider off the port stern. The rider slumped over and fell off. Jörgen threw acid at the wyvern and it shrieked at him in reply.

The rider on the armored wyvern spoke to his mount in Draconic. "Let's get rid of her."

I looked back to see what was going on, that was an alarming comment. The wyvern started flapping its wings and grabbed Melima with its feet. Melima grabbed the post of the railing, barely hanging on.

"Get that thing off my ship!" the captain ordered. I suddenly regretted not having my broom with me. I'd left it below deck with the rest of my things, I hadn't needed any of it in days. If someone was thrown off the deck, I wasn't sure if I could make it to them in time.

The wyvern flying off the starboard side came and grabbed the rider hanging onto the edge of our stern and started a dive. The one off the port side tried to pick up Jörgen, but the wizard ducked behind the railing to avoid it.

"Let's get rid of these!" Allura shouted. She leaned over the railing and hurled lightning below the ship.

"Good riddance! I hate wyverns!" She looked towards the center of the ship. "The other one is going to be coming back in a moment, but we can take care of that."

Naidaroe whipped out her rapier, swinging wide at the wyvern on deck as Keothi got there, and scored a blow to the shoulder and the head of the wyvern. It went limp and Keothi grabbed the rider and kicked the wyvern off the ship. It seemed we had captured their leader.

I smirked and shouted at him in Draconic, "you messed with the wrong ship." He looked at me with bewilderment in his eyes. He wasn't expecting one of us to use that language.

Melima got up and created a ball of lightning. "Hold him still!" She threw the ball at the rider and it landed on his crotch.

I fired at the last wyvern so it wouldn't get away. After my second arrow, it started to dive. Jörgen threw a fireball at it, and its wings started to look singed.

The rider leader was struggling in Keothi's hand. "Just let me go. Let me go!"

He fell to the deck, then dodged a swing of Keothi's hammer, a grab from Melima, and jumped off the ship. A shrill whistle pierced the air as he fell towards the sea.

Ari'yasa leaned over the side, firing her crossbow at the leader diving through the sky. "I got him, but he's still alive."

"Captain, are you okay? Is everything okay?" Allura asked. The captain nodded as he concentrated on steering the ship. I ran to the starboard side to get a better angle on our remaining enemies.

Naidaroe called lightning from the sky, hitting the man diving from the ship, but he was still hanging on. Melima pulled out her wand. "You're going to die today!"

Three magic missiles came from her wand, all three hitting the man at once. He went limp and turned over as he plummeted out of sight.

I turned my attention to the last wyvern again. I waited for its head to come up between the beats of its wings. Getting the rhythm down, I fired and landed my arrow right into the back of its skull. It stopped moving and started to fall out of the sky.

I looked to Allura, I knew the wyvern she made disappear would be back soon. "Give it just a moment," she said. "I'm not sure whether this is going to work or not."

A few moments later, she relaxed and looked back behind the ship. The wyvern reappeared, looked around, and went into a quick dive. That one was going to get away, but at least it couldn't talk. I could still hear the faint screams of the rider that had fallen off when it had disappeared, we were a long way up.

"Is everyone okay? Is everyone accounted for?" the captain asked.

The crew all affirmed they were accounted for. "We have all of ours," I said.

"Thank you, Madam Allura." He turned to me. "Thank you so much."

He turned to the crew member that had been working the ballista behind him. "I need a good, stiff drink. Take the helm for just a moment."

"Who were they? What do they want? Do you get that often?" Melima asked.

Naidaroe came to the helm. "Those were the Sea Raven pirates. They mostly raid airships. I was afraid we might run into them, but thought with the storm it might keep them at bay. Apparently not."

"Do we know how many there are? We killed a lot," Melima said.

"They usually go out in small groups like this. I'm guessing if none of them come back they won't know what's happened and may not send any more, at least for a while. They usually raid a ship, take everyone off, dropping them off the side, and take their ship."

"Well, they messed with the wrong ship, huh, Tawariell?" Melima gave me a knowing smile. I didn't think I'd known that she knew Draconic, but I did now. That could come in handy at some point.

I smiled back and replied in Draconic. "Yes."

Naidaroe also gave a pleased smile and touched her rapier. "Yes, they did."

Allura and Captain Halloran went down to the captain's quarters. I glanced over at Naidaroe, her hands were still crackling with lightning. Something else caught my eye though, her hair was no longer blue, it was black. Maybe it was just a trick of the light on her wet hair, but it looked like all the color was out of it.

"It is very fortunate that this adventure keeps bringing enemies to the doorstep," Keothi said.

One of the crew members looked at him with wide eyes. "Fortunate? How is this fortunate?"

"How else does one get mightier without challenges?"

"You are strong, but we're not. I mean, we have our ballistas, but..."

"And the reason why is because you do not have enemies at your doorstep all the time."

"We're just...sailors." The terror in his eyes receded ever so slightly. "Let's get back to the game."