Romulus possessed a long, muscular body with a silken coat that ranged from a soft silver to a deep charcoal. One of Alia’s hands was buried in its shaggy mane that draped its neck and chest, giving Romulus a shawa-like appearance. Its two tails, bushy and thick, like two great plus, stood erect as they monitored the aetherfield. Romulus wed again, his ears—tall and tufted—flicked back and forth in response to stimulus. The peeka’s eyes shone a brilliant copper, standing out against his striking coat.
“A fine peeka you’ve found, my anisa,” nes said, folding his arms and looking down at Alia half buried in Romulus’ endless coat. “Did you know they first ca from the South, tad by my Ashendi ancestors? Now there are many different kinds in many different places. This one is Northern, I can tell by its fur.”
“It’s not, it’s not, hey—” Alia wiggled her head, trying to see past Romulus who seed determined to rub his neck on her chin. “It’s not too hot for him down here? He won’t suffer in Ishaq, will he?”
“They are adjustable creatures, my anisa,” nes explained. “They shed their fur to cool down. He would be even bigger if you put him in so cold place.” nes looked proud at his own explanation before frowning and turning to Serena.
“Adjustable?” he queried with a raised eyebrow.
“Adaptable,” Serena corrected.
“Ah.” nes turned to Alia and clarified, “They are adaptable creatures, my anisa.”
“Would you like to say hello?” Alia said, twisting her body a little so Romulus was facing the Arakian captain.
nes looked confused for a few seconds before slowly raising a hand and touching his horns.“...Hello,” he grumbled.
Alia giggled. “I an, do you want to stroke him?”
“Ha…” nes took a half step back, holding his hands out with his palms forward. “No need, my anisa. They make sneeze. I have a… condition? No, that’s not right… I have an illness?”
“You’re allergic?” Serena suggested.
“Yes!” nes laughed as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Imperial is such a trouble language, you know? Hakian is much more simple. We do not have ten words to describe the sa thing.”
“That’s a sha…” Alia murmured, trailing off as she cuddled Romulus. Her eyes were bright, full of thought in the manner Serena knew could only an one thing.
No doubt, at so point in the future, nes the Ishaqian Lord would find himself cured of his peeka allergy.
“Romulus here would spend his ti with the injured,” Alaric said, “and give company to those that weren’t unconscious.” The Acting Captain reached out, giving Romulus so scritches. “It can be dreadfully boring when you have nothing to do but recover. Captain Halen, I would like to request that you allow Romulus permission to stay in your dical bay. One of ours will look after him.”
“Don’t worry yourself, Acting Captain Voss,” Serena said slowly, not missing the tremor present in the demon’s hands as he stroked the peeka, nor missing the strained tension layered behind his voice, like a piece of string under too much pressure. “I’ll permit it. I know soone who can ensure Romulus’ needs are t.” Serena watched Finella’s group passing by, returning to the shipwreck to retrieve the last of the injured.
Seonmi was already working under Hillbrand in dical and was an ideal candidate to be Romulus’ caretaker. Although she might have trouble pulling the peeka and Alia apart for any length of ti.
Tsk!
Serena refused to compete with a peeka for Alia’s attention.
Even one as majestic and fine as Romulus.
“Officer Bright!” Serena called. “Need assistance?”
“Not enough space!” Finella shouted back. “We’ve got it, Captain!”
With that, Finella and her squad worked their way back into the shipwreck.
“If I may ask, Captain Halen,” Alaric began slowly, turning his head to look at Serena and flicking his gaze towards her horns. “Has the Eastern Admiralty taken up hornweaving once more as a ans to distinguish rank?”
“Not quite, Acting Captain,” Serena said, trying to sound casual and dismissive. In the corner of her eye she could see Alia’s lips curling in amusent. “We discovered you at an inopportune ti. I was caught off guard.”
“Inopportune for you maybe…” Alaric murmured. “Thank the Moons you ca when you did, Captain…” The demon swallowed and Serena watched as he wrung his hands together, unable to keep them from shaking.
She knew from her ti on the battlefield that there were injuries that stressed more than just the body. How much had the Acting Captain been forced to endure on this grey rock? Terrified that no one would co? Terrified that they were dood to be pulled into the Shattered Isles?
She might have to ask Alia to discreetly step in.
“Thank the Moons, indeed!” Alia suddenly chirped, brightening the gloomy atmosphere. She ruffled Romulus’ coat, continuing, “We think the Captain’s hornweaving looks wonderful, don’t we, Romulus? Yes, we do, don’t we? Hehe…” Alia trailed off, snuggling with the peeka that seed determined to repay every bit of attention with further licks.
“Miss Liona,” Serena intoned, doing her best to glare. “Until we can figure out the logistics of our new resident rat-catcher, why don’t you deliver Romulus to the quartermaster? I’m sure he’ll be able to look after it while we continue with the rescue.”
“Okay…” Alia said slowly, turning away before quickly whipping back. With an awkward adjustnt of Romulus’ position, she managed to give Serena an enthusiastic salute and chirp, “Aye, Captain!” before finally leaving.
“You’re quite casual with your subordinates, Captain Halen,” Alaric said. “I heard the Captain of the Vengeance ran a straight ship with straight horns. Are the rumours misleading?”
“My ship is straight, Acting Captain,” Serena replied. “Miss Liona is an icemage under the Head Chef. You know as well as I that annoying the kitchen staff is a recipe for disaster.”
“Aye…” Alaric responded in a manner that made him seem as if he wasn’t convinced.
“Regarding the Indefatigable,” Serena said, changing the subject. “What—”
A shout from the bridge interrupted her words.
“Ship signature!” Dagon shouted, poking his head out from the bridge. “Fifteen klicks! Ten degrees, at our altitude! Bow-on aspect! Thirty knots!” As he gave further description, Alia appeared again, running onto the deck and passing Serena towards the railing. Serena followed her, peering out towards the dark murkiness of the Shattered Isles
Bow-on aspect ant the ship Dagon was talking about was pointing its bow at the Vengeance, revealing the smallest possible profile and smallest possible target. Was it another ship that had seen the signal fire? What kind of mad captain would be even closer than they were to Rhaknam’s ho?
Alia peered over the railing, pointing excitedly. “I see it! Wait a minute”—Alia frowned, squinting her eyes—“It doesn’t look like a ship… it’s too round…”
“Captain!” Dagon’s shout sounded again, a note of panic simring in his tone, “It’s an arcwhale! A big one!”
“I-it’s…” Alaric appeared next to Serena, his hands shaking so much he gripped the railing in an attempt to steady himself. “It’s the mother. She’s returned.” The demon turned to Serena with a desperate expression. “Captain, we must leave!”
“Hey, I think that’s the sa one from before…” Alia mumbled.
“Steel your mind and harden your horns, Acting Captain,” Serena said, giving the uneasy demon a glare. “Dagon!” she shouted down the deck. “General quarters! Load explosives and”—Serena flicked her head at the open, grey expanse and the fuzzy dot that stood out slightly against the background, growing larger by the second—“load penetrators!”
“My sayyidah!” nes protested, “Surely you don’t an to—”
“I an to ensure our survival, nes,” Serena spat. “I an to ensure we make it through this moon-forsaken passage where even the light of the Empress struggles to reach.” She glared at him for only a mont before snapping her head to Alaric. “Acting Captain, at what range did the arcwhale attack you from?”
“I…”
“Acting Captain!”
“...One, one and a half klicks, Captain Halen.” Alaric seed to be having difficulty keeping his legs rigid. “It circled the island and bore down upon us a bombardnt like I’ve never seen or felt before!” Alaric shakily laughed. “You can’t an to try and fight it? That’s madness!”
“Dagon! Serena called. “Fire explosives at four klicks, penetrators at two!”
“Aye, Captain!” her First Officer responded.
“Sayyidah!” nes exclaid.
Serena ignored him. “Acting Captain,” she said, looking Alaric up and down. “I suggest you make your way inside. Let my dical Officer look over you… and give you a sedative if needed.” She tried to speak softly, but the urgency of the matter ant she couldn’t wait for Alaric. She placed a hand behind his back and gave him a shove. The Acting Captain stumbled before finding his feet and stopping.
He turned and looked at Serena, his face ashen.
“We… we must hide, Captain Halen! It’ll ram us! We cannot fight, we cannot run!” Alaric suddenly started to giggle and began spluttering nonsense. It was then that Serena saw for the first ti in a long ti, the sight of a man breaking. The Acting Captain, consud by his fear and panic, turned and ran down the gangway and onto the island. He ran past Finella and the squad, who were bringing out the last of the crew.
“What’s that about?!” Finella shouted, her eyes widening as the Vengeance’s turrets hissed and creaked into life, rotating their mighty barrels ten degrees to starboard. Inside the turret pods, Thorne’s gunnery crews would be working hard to make sure the guns were ready to join the upcoming conversation with their incoming guest.
“Arcwhale!” Serena shouted. “Probably hostile! Get the injured and your squad on board!”
“A-aye, Captain!” Finella replied, hurrying the squad carrying the injured demons in stretchers. As she crossed the gangway, she asked Serena, “What about Acting Captain Voss? What’s twisted his horns?”
“His mind has failed him,” Serena said.
“Oh…” Finella swallowed before asking, “Want to get him?”
Serena shook her head. According to the information Intelligence had provided her on the Myrmidon, Alaric Voss was capable of red aura. While Finella or even l could overpower him and bring him in, a man in his condition could make the process difficult and dangerous. He could throw himself off the island, possibly dragging others with him.
“If he survives, we’ll fetch him after and have strong words about his conduct,” Serena said, chewing her words. “Go on, Officer, get inside.” She jerked her head towards the bridge, and Finella and her squad quickly obeyed.
Serena closed her eyes and gave herself one long exhalation of breath to calculate the upcoming battlespace. There was no way the Vengeance, as slippery and agile as it was, could outmanoeuvre an arcwhale in the sky. If they had ti, the best position would be for them to burn towards upper-sky where the arcwhale’s lift organ would struggle to match the Vengeance’s lift engine.
But it was ti that they didn’t have. Serena had already calculated that the arcwhale would intercept them before they made it. She clicked her tongue. Thirty knots! What an outrageous speed for such a massive beast! It could ram them out of the sky!
The Myrmidon had crashed after entering an uncontrollable spin. Serena had no intention of sharing that fate.
They would stand off against the beast at their current location, partially shielded by the island. It did an that, unfortunately, the island would likely bear the brunt of the arcwhale’s magic, ripping what remained to shreds and—
Serena felt her eyes widen as her mind rembered an important detail.
Damn it.
Where was that hole that the Myrmidon’s earth mage had been digging? Was it deep enough to withstand an arcwhale's assault? That was, Serena presud, where the broken Acting Captain Voss had run off to hide. The very sa Acting Captain Voss who was currently in possession of a sketch of the ship that attacked them with aetheric warfare!
Damn it!
Serena bit her lip, coming to a decision. Alaric Voss and whatever information he held within his breast pocket was not her first duty. Her first duty was here on the ship, it was—
“Alia!” Serena shouted, knocked out of her thoughts by the sight of her girlfriend running down the gangway, the dark brown hair of her disguise flapping in the wind.
Alia half-turned, shouting back, “It’s the sa one as before! I can stop it!”
“What!?”
“The sa arcwhale from before! I’m sure of it! It feels the sa!” Alia was making full use of her cloaked wards to sprint at an inhuman speed over the island and towards its peak. “I’ll get away from the ship! Trust !” she yelled.
“Empress, save !” Serena yelled, feeling her legs move before her mind ca to the inevitable decision to follow her girlfriend.
Alia was, after all, her first duty.
“My sayyidah!” ca nes’ panicked yell.
“Get inside, nes!” Serena yelled, running down the gangway. “Anathor! Tell Dagon he’s in command! Explosive at four, tungsten at two!”
“Aye, Captain!” ca the hurried, coarse reply from the direction of the ship.
Serena sprinted onto the island, across the grey rock and past the ruined wreckage of the Myrmidon. She passed the jury-rigged aetherscope, following the short path to the island’s peak where she found Alia standing next to the burning signal fire, her full attention on the approaching arcwhale.
“It’s the sa one,” Alia said, her voice quiet but fully audible to Serena’s aura-enhanced ears. “The one I t that day, rember? When you gave my first ever swordsmanship lesson?”
“How… how do you know?” Serena asked.
“I just know,” Alia replied, lightly shaking her head. “Look! It has the sa markings as before! You’re going to shoot it when it gets close, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I’m going to shoot it,” Serena answered flatly. “We have a right to defend ourselves against them. What… what are you going to do?”
“I’ll make it go back,” Alia answered, nodding in a manner that was oddly reassuring. “I’m away from the ship, right? I should be okay to put so effort in?” Alia turned, blinking her shining eyes at Serena. Eyes full of hope, determination, and sheer will.
“I trust you,” Serena said, glancing at the approaching arcwhale. It was approximately eight klicks away, close enough that Serena could make out the purple and blue markings on its body. She had to admit, it did bear a resemblance to the arcwhale they t on their way to Kenhoro. Its markings were the sa, and while it was difficult to guess its size at this distance, it seed about the sa size.
An incredible three hundred tres, more than three tis the size of the Vengeance.
Alia raised a hand towards the arcwhale. “You have to go back…” she murmured. “I’m sorry your child was hurt… but you have to go back…”
Serena sensed Alia’s aether roar with delight as a montous amount poured out of her, snaking its way through the expanse towards the arcwhale. For a mont, Alia’s disguise slipped, and there was a flash of gold in her hair before her Kanaxai spellwork readjusted and covered it up.
A barrier ford in the distant sky. An enormous shimring ward of translucent red stood firm, directly in the arcwhale’s path. Serena could see Alia had angled the barrier so it would deliver a glancing blow, redirecting the arcwhale off course and hopefully allowing it to change its mind about attacking.
She held her breath as the arcwhale continued towards Alia’s barrier, making no effort to avoid it. Then, as the knot in her stomach returned in full force, the arcwhale collided with Alia’s barrier, barely slowing down as the spell bent and then shattered entirely.
Next to Serena, Alia shuddered.
“Oh…” Alia mumbled. “You’re a strong one, aren’t you?” Alia raised her hand again, saying, “It’s furious. I could sense it when it hit my barrier… It’s stronger than Katalin was when we fought her.”
“Katalin was holding back,” Serena answered. “Can you stop it?”
“Yes, I just… don’t want to hurt it.”
“Do you need to Speak?”
“I… maybe. Let try sothing stronger. It feels strange moving so much aether after spending so long being discreet.”
Alia cycled her aether, pulling in so much from the atmosphere that the rocks around them began to float, caught in the aetheric field her girlfriend was producing. Although Serena didn’t plan to stop her if the ship was facing any trouble, she couldn’t help herself from glancing back at the Vengeance to make sure nothing untoward was occurring.
The ship seed to be fine.
For now.
Alia activated her magic. Her aether shot forward once more. Serena caught streaks of silvery blue and even a few specks of the magical colour of ochure before a massive ward manifested itself at the six-kilotre mark. It was a titanic, beautiful ward that Serena was sure the Vengeance’s tungsten penetrators would struggle to pierce. While Alia had cast higher circle spells after Speaking, this was by far the largest ward she’d ever seen her girlfriend produce.
“You have to go back!” Alia exclaid, her voice painted with hope and desperation.
As the arcwhale approached, Serena couldn’t help but ask, “Is that a ward of Marzanna?”
Marzanna, the demonic god of winter.
“Yes,” Alia nodded, her face full of focus as she continued to pour out aether, further strengthening the distant bulwark. “I thought it would be fitting, considering Lia Liona’s profession. Ah, please work… here it cos!”
The arcwhale hit Alia’s ward. Unlike the first attempt, it didn’t smash its way through. Instead, the Marzanna ward buckled, but held. The arcwhale, having hit the angled surface with its massive body, found itself forcefully twisted. Its mouth opened in a silent roar as its torso rolled awkwardly. The montum carried its two tails into a collision with the ward, wrapping them around in a snapping montum that reminded Serena of a whip.
A whip made from two hundred tres of arcwhale tail.
The beast rolled in the air, righting itself. Its markings took on a hue of red as it lashed out at Alia’s barrier, shattering it with a magically-enhanced strike that would obliterate any small ship in the sky. Angered, injured, but undeterred, the arcwhale continued to ho in on their location with a new vengeance.
“No!” Alia yelled. “You have to go back!”
“Sothing’s wrong,” Serena said. “It’s gone mad, sohow. It shouldn’t be this aggressive.” Feeling herself swallow, she turned to Alia. “The Vengeance will start firing soon. You… you might need to Speak.”
“But…” Serena saw Alia clench her fists. “But the ship?”
“I’ll take responsibility,” Serena said. “Whatever happens.”
“If only it would just listen!” Alia cried in frustration. “I don’t want to hurt it….” Her girlfriend's eyes widened suddenly as she turned to Serena and said, “If I Speak Aseco, I could heal it, right?”
“If it’s rampaging because its child is injured… that’s not a pain that can be healed away, not unless you can find and heal the child. I—” Serena was cut off as the sky around them was briefly illuminated with two red flashes.
And then, a fraction of a second later, the roar of the Vengeance’s turrets reached her ears. A pair of explosive shells whistled as they tore through the sky, seeking their arcwhale target.
“Arcwhales are vulnerable to lightning,” Serena explained quickly. “Like aetherscopes, the electricity damages them. If you invoke Taranis, then you might be able to shock so sense into it.”
Two explosions erupted on the arcwhale’s front, briefly engulfing it with fire and smoke. The arcwhale opened its mouth with a frustrated roar that, for a mont, seed to almost be mocking them.
“T… Taranis, right?” Alia said.
“Follow your instincts, Alia,” Serena said. “I’ll back you up, whatever happens. But, uh…” Serena took a deep breath, watching the arcwhale draw ever closer. “Follow your instincts quickly. Dagon won’t wait for you.”
Dagon would have seen Alia’s attempts at trying to ward off the rampaging arcwhale, but he wouldn’t deviate from Serena’s orders. Her First Officer would faithfully act in the best interest of the crew’s safety, and while Serena had enough faith and trust in Alia to be here with her right now, Dagon had yet to fully understand the sheer scale of Alia’s powers.
“Okay!” Alia exclaid as she began expelling aether and forming the Word.
Turret Two spoke again, launching another cheerful greeting while its brother, Turret Three, sat in silence, pointing its barrels in line with whatever ballistic trajectory the Ambler Firing Table had automatically calculated. Serena knew within those barrels two penetrator rounds lay waiting, ready to smoothly end the threat they faced.
nes had said the sky belonged to the arcwhales.
He might be right.
They might be the Greatlords of the sky.
But tungsten was the great leveller above all.
Serena had no doubt the penetrators would pierce through the arcwhale’s defenses.
“Alia…” Serena said, trying not to rush her girlfriend.
“Don’t rush ! I’m going to”—Alia’s eyes widened with realisation—“to do that. One mont!” Alia’s then stopped expelling aether, and instead began drawing it in again. More and more.
“What are you doing!?” Serena hissed. “Are you planning on blowing the island up!?”
“Sothing different! Stop talking! I’ll lose the feeling!”
“Alia…” Serena glanced at the Vengeance just as the penetrators were fired. With her enhanced senses, ti slowed down as she spotted the pointed projectiles slipping through the battlespace, whispering of assured death and destruction.
“Alia!”
“Bloody… bloody overgrown fish!” Alia yelled, raising her hands in frustration as her aether flared, lifting not just the surrounding rocks, but Serena herself. She felt herself beco weightless and, for a brief mont, she thought she could glimpse a layer of reality normally hidden from her.
A world of sepia.
And then her girlfriend’s aether changed.
“You… you just listen!”... Alia puffed her cheeks out, taking a big breath.
And then Alia Spoke.
“You have to go back!” Alia shouted, her voice echoing and rippling through the aetherfield and whatever realities lay beyond. Serena felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise as her entire body shuddered at the alien power manifesting from Alia. Her girlfriend’s hair floated, as if in water. The Kanaxai disguise failed to hold, and Alia’s golden hair returned in its full brilliance.
It was the sa ability she’d demonstrated during the fight in Korvus, where she saved Serena from Narean’s grasp.
It was the sa ability she used to expel Taruna from the paladin who tried to kill them in Kenhoro.
It was similar to how Alia spoke after she’d forced the Asclepius embodint. Only this ti it wasn’t forced and rough, but elegant, aethereal and transcendent. It was an ability that was more. It was…
Godly.
As if Alia was producing her own divine aether.
The ripple of Alia’s command hit the arcwhale with imdiate effect. The beast’s eyes changed from ones consud with rage to ones of clarity. The markings on its massive body dimd from a glowing red to calming blue and shimring purple. Its body twisted, its mighty fins moving to catch the air as the arcwhale began its enormous turn. Its mouth opened as it released a mournful cry, full of surprise and loss.
And as it did, the two penetrators whistled past its torso, slipping in between the creature's two tails and into the void beyond. The pieces of tungsten fell, dipping lower and lower until they vanished into the lumina.
Hopefully, the fabled under-sky wouldn’t mind the sudden disruption.
“Ha… Ha…” Alia panted, the surrounding rocks slowly lowering as the atmospheric aether dissipated. Serena stopped floating as her feet made contact with the ground. “That… that felt good. I won’t lie.” Alia twisted around, her golden hair flowing. “Did I look cool? I bet I looked really—” Alia paused suddenly, her eyes locked to sothing just behind Serena. “Ah, shit,” Alia mumbled.
Serena turned to see they weren’t alone.
“My sayyidah,” nes said, his face wearing a troubled frown.
“That’s an interesting kitchen mage you’ve found, yes?”
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