Sailing the sky
Disclaimer:The edge chronicles belong to Paul Steward.Sorry I didn't make the connection between the two Stopes.
Cloud Wolf stood ontop of the Stormchaser feeling the wind on his face.He was flying above the mire looking for a leauge ship. He had rushed into things and knew nothing of the leauges. Not their trade routes or which ships carry what.Thankfully Slyvo knew that this area offen had sky traffic.
Cloud Wolf was standing on his deck , wondering if any ships still used this route when he suddenly heard a cry. "Ship to starboard!" Spiker cried pointing into the distance. "Draw your swords!" he cried readieng his own short and heavy blade, perfect for battle on a cramped ship. Tem and Stope came up with their own swords. Tem's sword was impressive. Slyvo had curiously dissappeared. Spiker however had drawn a old crossbow. What Cloud Wolf hadn't noticed was that Maris had come aboard and had a long rapier in hand. It was an odd rapier tradiosionally used by the Sancataphrax academics. The ship they were sailing towards was small and agile but it's speed wasn't a match for the stormchaser. Stope raised the ballitsa like contraption the sky pirates used to grapple onto sky ships. Holding his sword in one hand he fired it.
Quint was the first one aboard the ship. The ship was known as the Cloud doger. Probably because of it's speed. The ship had only three guards. Three very big hammerheads. They also had two other crewmembers who were cowering slightly. Cloud Wolf jumped onto the ship and brought his sword down hard at the hammerhead. He blocked it easily and pushed back. Tem and Stope were hurrying towards their Captain but the nervous looking crewman was at his back already. He was distracted when Marris stuck her rapier through him. He turned and attempted to strike her down when he found an arrow in his throat. Spiker could aim very well. Tem and Stope engeaged the other two hammerheads. Quint had already finished off the first one and was dueling the other crewmember. The crewmember started running and when Cloud Wolf followed him he ran into the captian.
The captian turned out to be a swarvy cloddertrog with a long doubleheaded axe. All combat stopped. The two captains would duel and the winner gets everything. The Cloddertrog twireled the axe and brought it down and suddenly swung a low blow. Quint deftly stepped back and slashed forward. The tip of his sword touched the cloddertrog before he could swipe it away. The cloddertrog laughed. He picked up a barrel with ease and threw it at Quint. "Still think you can win?" He like most cloddertrogs were very sure of that being stronger means your the winner in any fight. Quint stepped forward. He swung his sword vertically at the cloddertrog. The cloddertrog swung down and his eyes widened as he realised the blade had changed direction. It broke his ax in half. Quint then neatly pressed the sword against his neck. "Yes"
They let the crewmembers and captain live and left them enough food and water to last them until they could reach Undertown. Their booty however was a large amount of chains, manacles and woodgrog. Slyvo inspected the goods. "Only place you can sell this is at a slavemarket.They probably supply slavers." Cloud Wolf grimaced. He disliked slavery. "Very well, we'll go to a slave market."
Two days of uneventful sailing later Cloud Wolf and Slyvo were walking through a small slave market in the deepwoods. Slyvo noticed his captains look of unease. "Don't worry captain, this slave market will be destroyed soon enough. Either by sky pirates or the Shrykes. The hate competion. These manacles won't chain many new slaves." Slyvo made his speech not because he cared about the captain's feelings but because he didn't want to lose out on the money they could make with this deal. Cloud Wolf finally agreed to sell the chains and manacles to the slaver whose slaves looked the best cared for. Slyvo could've pointed out that it was like that because these were the most expenssive slaves but he didn't.
Their cargo delivered Cloud Wolf decided to treat his crew to a nice meal. He and Stope were talking when they noticed a slaver beating a little girl with his whip. They both stared at the girl. She had red hair and pale skin. Stope looked worried. He had only once before seen Quint with such an expression on his face. The girl looked dirty,hurt and had a painfull thinness. Cloud Wolf grabbed the slavers whip and hit him with it several times the slaver was bleeding on a heap crying for help when Stope grabbed Quint. "The gaurds will be on us now!" he cried. Before running to the stormchaser , Quint grabbed the small girls hand and said "Come little one, Marris will fix you up." Together the three ran back to the stormchaser.