Disclaimer's on the top of the first chapter.
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AN: This chapter has taken forever just to get started. I've got plenty of ideas for it, though, so maybe it will be good. I guess I'll just have to start writing and see what happens.
Italics means thought
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Valua Bound
Vyse couldn't sleep. He lay there in his bunk for what seemed like forever, but still he remained conscious. He tried counting huskras. No luck. This kind of thing had happened to him countless times before. The one thing that always worked was a nice walk in the fresh air. He rolled quietly out of his bunk, not wanting to disturb his companions' rest.
He tiptoed over to the door, and then opened it. He grimaced as it creaked, but the only thing that happened was that Aika mumbled something about 'not stealing the gold' into her pillow. Her pillow was thoroughly convinced. Once outside the door, Vyse shut it as quietly as possible. He made his way up to the bridge, just to make sure everything was still working.
They had been traveling for three days, and they had made excellent time. They were already past Nasrad, and they were anchored on the far side of the South Dannel Strait, right near the stone reef. Vyse went through each of the stations on the bridge, first checking the engine, then the helm, the altitude controls, and so on. Everything seemed fine, so he went out to check the anchor.
When he first opened the door to the deck, he was greeted by a blast of cool night air. This time of year, it would usually be freezing outside in any other part of the world. But since they were still in Nasr, the red moon warmed up the air to a more pleasant temperature. He strolled out onto the deck, and over towards the bow.
Vyse leaned over one side of the ship and looked down, his line of sight following the anchor's chain. While it looked pretty secure from where he was standing, he couldn't really tell. He was in his pajamas, and he was lacking his eyepatch, so he couldn't zoom in to tell. Oh, well. If we drift into the stone reef, we drift into the stone reef thought Vyse. He wasn't about to wake up Aika and Fina just so that he could reset the anchor to a more secure position.
He looked up to the crow's nest, and decided to climb up. He went over to the rigging and began his ascent. Once at the top, he clambered over the nest's railing and surveyed the area around him. From where he was, Vyse could see three moons. A bit to the north of straight up was where the red moon resided. Off on the southeast horizon, the silver moon was watching silently over Mid Ocean. In the west, and a little north, the yellow moon stood like a sentinel guarding Valua, Enrique's domain. So many memories brought on from just looking around this one spot.
Just as Vyse was about to climb down to try and get some rest, he heard a noise from the deck. He looked down to see Fina gently shutting the door behind her, then walking to the bow, Cupil in tow. Vyse watched as she, too, looked towards the heavens. She stood there for a while, then she sighed and walked back inside. Vyse stood silent during this time, not wanting to disturb her. He waited for a few minutes after she had gone in before climbing down and making his way back to his own bed.
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The next day was as bright and sunny as Vyse had ever remembered. The only clouds he could see were off in the west, the direction they were planning on going. They were the clouds caused by the yellow moon, the ones that kept Valua in perpetual night. Vyse wasn't worried about that, though. Ever since Enrique became Valua's emperor, the clouds seemed less violent than they were before.
The three rogues were at their usual positions on the bridge. Vyse was at the helm, Aika was standing by the communications console, and Fina was watching various dials that indicated the state of the engine. Cupil was playing with Pow behind them, chasing him around the table with several maps spread out on it. Even before they lifted anchor, they saw it coming.
It started out as a black smudge on the horizon. As it drew closer to them, they saw that it was a ship. A very, very big ship. There had to have been at least twenty sails (all black), and as many cannons sticking out the sides and back. It seemed that Baltor intended to make good on his word to defeat Vyse.
"Aika, Fina, you guys go down on deck and get the cannons ready. I want to make this quick, we need to get going if we want to make Valua by nightfall." The two girls gave little nods before leaving the bridge and going down on deck. Vyse could see them put powder and cannonballs in each of the eight cannons while he was powering up the engine. There wasn't enough time to get the sails unfurled, so they would be fighting at a disadvantage. All right, Baltor, let's see what you've got.
Vyse waited until just before Baltor turned broadside and fired his first volley before he jammed one lever forward, another backwards, and spun the helm to the left. The result was instatnaneous. The Cloudpiercer went into a deep swoop, and then turned her cannons upward as five cannonballs passes within inches of her flag. As the cannons turned up, Fina and Aika each fired off two of them into Baltor's lower hull.
With a satisfied grin at the distant crunch that he heard, Vyse shouted, "Hold on to something, this is gonna get bumpy!" into the talking tube next to him. He saw Aika and Fina secure themselves to the mast with some rope as he dove even more to avoid another volley. This time he wasn't as lucky, though. Baltor had anticipated another dive, and he had aimed his cannons low.
Vyse's grin was replaced with a look of anger, then horror, as he saw part of the deck explode into pieces, then Fina tumbling over the railing, a severed piece of rope tied around her waist. Aika had apparently not seen. She fired off two more rounds, which tore into Baltor's main mast and engine, respectively. Baltor's ship hovered, crippled, and retracted its cannons. Vyse slowed the ship, then screamed, "Aika, what happened to Fina?! Can you see her?" down the talking tube. They were over a small island, but even with Vyse's swooping, they were at least 20 feet off the sand at their lowest.
Aika looked over the railing, then gave a hesitant chuckle. "Vyse, you're never gonna believe this."
"What? What happened?"
"Do you remember the wandering lake? Well, I think Fina found it again." At this point she actually started laughing, and all Vyse could do was sit there with his mouth hanging open. There's no way. It's impossible. But there she was, pulling herself up onto a beach on a floating bowl of rock.
"Moons," he whispered to himself.
"Hey! Vyse!" yelled a gruff voice from the communications station, "I've got to admit, that was some great flying. Hell, you might be as good as me one day! But I'm still going to get you some day, and I won't take it easy on you, either!"
Vyse didn't even bother to respond to Baltor. He just lowered his altitude and positioned the Cloudpiercer to land by the floating lake. He shut down the engine, then walked out on deck, where Aika was still laughing like a maniac. When he looked out onto the beach, he saw Fina standing there in her Blue Rogues outfit, soaked. Well, I guess I was right way back when. There's no such thing as impossible.
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Within the hour, they were sailing. There was a strong wind coming from the east, so they barely had to use their engine for the rest of the day. Fina had gotten changed, and was standing once again at the engineering station. Aika was out repairing the spot where the deck had been hit, and Vyse was, as always, at the helm.
Just before the sun set, the remains of the Valuan Grand Fortress came into view. As they drew nearer, Vyse could make out construction crews still hard at work dissassembling some of the larger pieces of debris before clearing them away. So far they had managed to make a relatively straight path towards what was once the most feared city in the world.
Immediately recognizing the flag, the construction crews cheered as the Cloudpiercer made its way through. Upon entering the bay that once separated the two classes of Valua, Vyse could see several ships on patrol. Not that they were really needed. Most people feared to attack Valua nowadays, lest they invoke the wrath of Vyse, the 'fire-spitting demon' as Enrique once claimed that Vyse was known as.
"Hey guys, look!" said Aika through the talking tube, pointing off to the left. Vyse and Fina looked over, and there it was. The ship of legends, the crowned jewel of the armada, flagship of the Emperor himself. The Delphinus was floating near the area of Old Upper City, looking as majestic as ever. It still had Vyse's flag engraved and painted onto it in various places. Just seeing it again made Vyse's blood run thick with adrenaline. All the adventures had in that ship were enough for twenty lifetimes.
The voice of a young man came crackling through the communication console, "This is the VAS Delphinus. We have informed the Emperor of your arrival, and have been instructed to escort you to the docks. Welcome to Valua, Captain Vyse."
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AN: OK, time for you guys to review. Tell me how I screwed up, tell me what I did well, and generally help me write better. If you've got any suggestions as to where I should go from here, tell me. I basically know how the big plot's going to unfold, but I'm always open to suggestion.