*The delphinus*
Everyone except Gilder was gathered in the banquet hall. An aura of silence was present, the only noise coming from the people who were casting spells or making adjustments to keep the ship going.
After the ship had been still for a while, Clara looked up and said, "It seems like the worst of it is over. I'll go to the bridge to confirm it." The blue rogue stood up and ascended the stairs, and was soon in the darkened hallway.
--The lack of light makes sense. We want to keep as much fuel around as possible.--
She climbed up another set of stairs and opened the door opposite her, emerging onto the bridge. Two more windows had broken since she'd left, shards of glass littering the floor. Two reddish pieces lay at Gilder's feet, and he had a long, shallow gash on his right arm that he was in the process of healing.
"How's it going?"
The air pirate sighed, and said, "We're out of range of the cannons, though as you can see, they nailed us pretty badly."
"Is there anything that I could do to help?"
"Bring all of the gunners onto the bridge. I can see that ship from here, and while we can't send it into deep sky, we can prevent it from flying for quite a while."
Clara nodded and fetched her crew (Belle, Nara and Lilly) and Marco (who was a good shot, even though he wasn't a gunner). The four of them promptly started firing, and the remains of the monstrosity were soon scattered around the floor of the cavern. The delphinus docked where the phoenix had previously, and everyone disembarked. Ilchymis groaned when he saw the door that faced him.
"Oh, no... It's got a combination lock..."
Hans said nothing, getting to work on the system right away. Soon, the door opened and he stood up, grinning widely. Everyone else looked at him in surprise, and he shrugged and responded, "I'm not an engineer for nothing."
Gilder gave one of his trademark smiles, and said, "Well put, Hans. Now, we'd better get in there. We have some friends to rescue!" Everyone nodded, and they went into the base.
It was dimly lit, with dark corridors stretching off in all directions. Marco started complaining again, saying, "Aw, Man! We get here, and now it's gonna take us a century to find them!"
Several other people shared the snot-nosed brat's opinion, but Clara was more worried about something else. "Where's Urala? I thought that she entered with us."
Hans' expression immediately changed to one of deep concern. "She did, but I didn't see her leave or anything."
Marco grumbled again, this time managing to lighten everyone's spirits. "Hans can go look for his girlfriend, and the rest of us can go look for the other five." Hans' face turned a deep enough shade of red to be visible even in the dim light.
Gilder frowned sadly, and said, "We'll have to look for her later. With luck, she'll meet up with us farther on. Without luck..."
Clara completed Gilder's sentence. "We'll have to come back later, because we can't afford to stay on this place very long."
Hans looked like he was about to object, but he shut his mouth, and followed the others into one of the many corridors, becoming more concerned with each step that he took.
*Kangan's quarters*
The older man looked up as Muraji and Vigoro entered his quarters. "Well? What did you do to them?"
Vigoro sat down and looked at him with a smile. "We teased them, but nothing physical happened, as we had promised. What'd we miss?"
"The destruction of the Delphinus. It entered the Maw, but there's no way that it could have made it past all of my spike cannons."
"Hee hee hee! Now you can carry out your plan to take over Arcadia!"
"Patience, Muraji. I need to gain the trust of the people first, so that they will look to me as their leader."
"A perfect plan. Anything else that you need us to do?"
Kangan nodded, and the three talked about his plans for the rest of the night.
------------
This is going to be the last update for a while. I'm going on vacation (same with my brother Kevin C) and I won't be back until the 16th. I'll update soon after I get back, I promise!
Everyone except Gilder was gathered in the banquet hall. An aura of silence was present, the only noise coming from the people who were casting spells or making adjustments to keep the ship going.
After the ship had been still for a while, Clara looked up and said, "It seems like the worst of it is over. I'll go to the bridge to confirm it." The blue rogue stood up and ascended the stairs, and was soon in the darkened hallway.
--The lack of light makes sense. We want to keep as much fuel around as possible.--
She climbed up another set of stairs and opened the door opposite her, emerging onto the bridge. Two more windows had broken since she'd left, shards of glass littering the floor. Two reddish pieces lay at Gilder's feet, and he had a long, shallow gash on his right arm that he was in the process of healing.
"How's it going?"
The air pirate sighed, and said, "We're out of range of the cannons, though as you can see, they nailed us pretty badly."
"Is there anything that I could do to help?"
"Bring all of the gunners onto the bridge. I can see that ship from here, and while we can't send it into deep sky, we can prevent it from flying for quite a while."
Clara nodded and fetched her crew (Belle, Nara and Lilly) and Marco (who was a good shot, even though he wasn't a gunner). The four of them promptly started firing, and the remains of the monstrosity were soon scattered around the floor of the cavern. The delphinus docked where the phoenix had previously, and everyone disembarked. Ilchymis groaned when he saw the door that faced him.
"Oh, no... It's got a combination lock..."
Hans said nothing, getting to work on the system right away. Soon, the door opened and he stood up, grinning widely. Everyone else looked at him in surprise, and he shrugged and responded, "I'm not an engineer for nothing."
Gilder gave one of his trademark smiles, and said, "Well put, Hans. Now, we'd better get in there. We have some friends to rescue!" Everyone nodded, and they went into the base.
It was dimly lit, with dark corridors stretching off in all directions. Marco started complaining again, saying, "Aw, Man! We get here, and now it's gonna take us a century to find them!"
Several other people shared the snot-nosed brat's opinion, but Clara was more worried about something else. "Where's Urala? I thought that she entered with us."
Hans' expression immediately changed to one of deep concern. "She did, but I didn't see her leave or anything."
Marco grumbled again, this time managing to lighten everyone's spirits. "Hans can go look for his girlfriend, and the rest of us can go look for the other five." Hans' face turned a deep enough shade of red to be visible even in the dim light.
Gilder frowned sadly, and said, "We'll have to look for her later. With luck, she'll meet up with us farther on. Without luck..."
Clara completed Gilder's sentence. "We'll have to come back later, because we can't afford to stay on this place very long."
Hans looked like he was about to object, but he shut his mouth, and followed the others into one of the many corridors, becoming more concerned with each step that he took.
*Kangan's quarters*
The older man looked up as Muraji and Vigoro entered his quarters. "Well? What did you do to them?"
Vigoro sat down and looked at him with a smile. "We teased them, but nothing physical happened, as we had promised. What'd we miss?"
"The destruction of the Delphinus. It entered the Maw, but there's no way that it could have made it past all of my spike cannons."
"Hee hee hee! Now you can carry out your plan to take over Arcadia!"
"Patience, Muraji. I need to gain the trust of the people first, so that they will look to me as their leader."
"A perfect plan. Anything else that you need us to do?"
Kangan nodded, and the three talked about his plans for the rest of the night.
------------
This is going to be the last update for a while. I'm going on vacation (same with my brother Kevin C) and I won't be back until the 16th. I'll update soon after I get back, I promise!