"So, you should be back at the end of day tomorrow, right?" Fortitude asked.
"Correct," Fathom nodded. "The ship makes a trail of smoke behind it, so we will co from the east. That will make it harder for others to see it coming."
"I see…does the ship have room for my valuable things?" Fortitude asked.
"You're…okay with putting those inside of the ship?" Pryce asked, rather surprised by this amount of trust.
"Well, no one is stupid enough to steal my things, but I want to be safe," Fortitude explained. "Also, I am already trusting you to fix my wing, so it does not make sense to not trust you with things less than that."
Pryce took a mont to unravel those double negatives, but eventually he nodded. "Of course, the ship has plenty of space. Not enough for all of your things, of course, but enough for a good amount of them."
"Good. I will be waiting," Fortitude said, and bobbed her head with a faintly dejected air, evidently displeased at not being able to co along.
Pryce gave her a thoughtful look, and ntally decided to make it up to her later.
Soon the three of them took off, with Fortitude waving her unbroken wing in farewell. The dragons flew perhaps thirty ters apart in a wedge formation, with Fathom in the lead as they cut through the cloudy skies.
"Is it okay to leave her behind?" Pryce asked, using the privacy afforded by the distance between the dragons. "What if another dragon cos and tries to challenge her?"
"You don't have to accept a challenge," Fathom snorted. "But you don't need to worry about her either way. She's strong, and she's killed idiots before."
Pryce was getting used to the casual violence in draconic culture, but still he had so difficulty in reconciling these rciless actions with the rather easygoing Fortitude.
"The last one challenged her because she was jealous that her art wasn't as good as Fortitude's," Fathom continued. "Everyone knows Jooral-ǂ is extrely good at ground fights, but that idiot still decided to duel her anyway."
"I see," Pryce murmured. "So, who's the better fighter between Devotion and Fortitude?"
"How would I know?" Fathom asked, and probably would have shrugged if he weren't flying at the mont. "You would have to ask one of them."
"Okay…then do you think you could beat Devotion in a fight?"
"I told you that it's rude to ask embarrassing questions, didn't I?" Fathom grumbled.
"Oh, right, sorry."
Fathom snorted. "I am a great fighter, but Ghorrah-ǂ is one of the best. There are no other dragons alive who could easily defeat her. If we fought in the sky then I might only be able to beat her once in a hundred tries."
«Confident, aren't you?» Devotion rumbled, causing Fathom to jolt mid-air. «Why don't we try that assumption of yours when we get to the ship?»
«We need to preserve our strength for the Solstice,» Fathom snorted, pointedly ignoring her suggestion.
«How fortunate for you,» Devotion drawled. «And as for your earlier question, Jooral is usually the winner between the two of us.»
«Oh, really?» Fathom asked, blinking interestedly. «I've always heard that you're the better fighter, so that's surprising to hear.»
«And of course Jooral is the better fighter,» Devotion chuffed. «That was sothing I made sure of long ago.»
«I see,» Fathom rumbled. «Well, let's save the talking for later. We have a long flight ahead of us.»
«There it is,» Fathom said, gesturing to the Horizon in the distance.
«Oh!» Celeste exclaid as they approached the ship, its true size becoming apparent. «It really is enormous – so much larger than the photograph made it seem…»
Devotion was less vocal, though she stared wide-eyed for several monts. «I know you said it was large, but this…»
"It took a lot of people a long ti to make," Pryce said, smiling as Fathom descended. The Horizon was still his ho despite the terrible circumstances that brought him to this point, and he was glad that it seed to have been left untouched in his absence.
Celeste dove down ahead of her father to be the first to land upon deck. Devotion was less enthusiastic, though she wasn't far behind Fathom either. Pryce unbuckled himself and landed on the deck of the ship, cringing as the blood rushed back into his numbed legs.
Low pinging noises echoed through the ship as Celeste tapped a talon against the hull. Devotion approached it more cautiously, as if it was a behemoth that might suddenly awaken.
«I have never seen anything so smooth and flat. It is very strange,» Celeste noted in a fascinated tone as she continued her inspection of the ship.
"I don't think I've seen anyone use a ship as an instrunt before," Pryce chuckled as she tapped out an impromptu rhythm, though they all cringed when she drew a talon along the edge of the bulwark, producing a dreadful tallic screeching noise.
"What are these? And these?" Celeste asked, pointing at various parts of the ship.
"I'll try to explain everything later," Pryce promised. "Right now I'll need a few hours to check and prepare the ship, so you three might as well go get sothing to eat before we leave."
"Hironh, you want to check on your ho, right?" Devotion asked. "Why don't you bring back so food for the two of us, it'll save us the trip."
"It's easier to cook on land than it is on the ship," Fathom pointed out as he shrugged off his chain harness. "And we can't go inside the ship either, so Pryce would have to do all the cooking for us when he already has work to do."
«Oh, alright,» Devotion huffed as she rolled the shoulders of her wings. «Let's get this over with then.»
Pryce sat himself down at the dining room table before digging into his al – more canned stew that the ship had in abundance. It had been about an hour since the dragons went hunting, and he was almost halfway done with safety checks. Everything seed to be in a good state of repair so far, which was encouraging.
The port windows abruptly flickered, in a way that could only have been caused by a dragon flying overheard.
Pryce frowned, feeling sothing amiss. The ship was about a hundred kiloters from land, so it was impossible for Fathom and the others to have flown there and back yet, even if they decided not to spare any ti for hunting and cooking. Could sothing have caused them to turn around and return to the ship? That seed highly unlikely, but the only other possible explanation was if-
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A singular thud sounded from the deck, bringing Pryce's train of thought to a grinding halt. He froze and waited, hoping for soone to call out his na, but whoever was upon the deck remained perfectly silent.
Then he heard a quiet thud. And then another.
His mind raced as the sound of slow, cautious footsteps creaked along the deck – footsteps of a dragon who wasn't familiar with the ship.
Pryce swallowed as his heart began to race. Several plans ca to mind, all of which he imdiately rejected. A dragon could hear the heartbeat in his chest with the aid of their wings, and he had no doubt that any movent he made within the ship would be imdiately noticed by this trespasser, who was surely on high alert.
The timing was too convenient; the trespasser must have followed them to the ship under the cover of the clouds, then waited until they were well out of sight to land upon the deck. There was no way for Pryce to know if he had been seen, but the dragon on the deck made no attempt to communicate. From this Pryce could only conclude that this newcor had never seen the ship before, and they had taken advantage of the others' departure to explore.
Pryce briefly recalled the rifle strapped to his backpack, which he had fortunately taken with him into the kitchen to restock.
If he did nothing then the trespasser would likely leave before the others could return, spreading news of the ship across the land. That could complicate things, but there were too many unknowns for him to know if that would necessarily be a bad thing.
On the other hand, he could try speaking with the dragon, but was that worth the risk? Pryce felt that his Draconic has improved over the last two weeks, but he wasn't sure if it was understandable to a dragon who wasn't familiar with his 'accent'. He didn't think the dragon outside would be mindlessly hostile – they were too pragmatic for that, but there was always a chance that this individual might have reason to attack or kidnap him. Even the rifle's usefulness would be limited in such a scenario, as the trespasser would have no way of recognizing the weapon. In such a scenario he would have to shoot to wound, which could easily result in a fatal injury.
Even if he ignored the political fallout of such an action, the re thought of killing a dragon evoked a visceral feeling of disgust in the pit of his stomach. No, that was sothing he would not risk, but he could try and gain information.
Pryce waited for the footsteps to wander towards the further end of the ship, then silently retrieved his backpack to load the flare gun. Ard with this far less deadly weapon he made his way towards the staircase, his heart hamring in his chest as he ascended step by silent step, until one creaked a little more loudly than the others.
Suddenly a series of thuds sounded across the deck, and Pryce raced outside just in ti to see an erald green dragon flapping away, shining chains wrapped around their foreclaws. The trespasser whipped their head around as they fled, and Pryce caught a glimr of golden eyes before the dragon turned around and fled.
"What?!" Fathom roared, and whipped his head around as if he might see the fleeing trespasser, despite the fact that he'd escaped hours ago. "Did you see what he looked like?"
"Do you think you can recognize him if you see him again?" Celeste asked severely.
"I don't know, he was just a green dragon with yellow eyes and straight horns," Pryce groused. "I didn't see any scars or anything unusual."
"Green is the most common color, and yellow eyes are not rare either," Devotion frowned, and lowered her head to sniff at the surrounding area. «He used aromatic grass to cover his scent. It will be difficult to find and identify him.»
«He stole my chains,» Fathom growled indignantly. «When I find that father of a bastard I swear-»
«Those chains will be impossible to safely trade,» Devotion said, rumbling in thought. «Either he's an idiot…or he grabbed them to use as proof. Judging by his preparation, I would assu the latter.»
«Great, now everyone's going to know about the ship,» Celeste sighed. «We need to get going now, before he cos back with others.»
"Agreed," Pryce nodded as he stepped back into the wheelhouse. "It's going to make so noise, so don't be scared."
It didn't take long to raise the anchors, and the engines rumbled to life a few short minutes later, causing Celeste and Fortitude to shift nervously despite his warning. Exhaust began to pour out of the smokestacks as Pryce ramped the engines up to nominal speeds.
"I know you explained how the ship works before, but it is hard to believe how strong it is," Celeste murmured to Pryce.
«Is this the fastest the ship can go?» Devotion asked, looking uncharacteristically unnerved. The dragons all sat near the nose of the vessel, ahead of the exhaust that trailed behind them.
«No, but this is the easiest speed for it to maintain,» Fathom replied, looking southward. «I am a little worried about the trail of smoke, but it doesn't last very long, so it won't be too hard to make sure we're not being followed, especially since it's not cloudy anymore.»
Devotion only nodded in silent agreent as she stared at the imnse wake of the Horizon.
[JOURNAL ENTRY EXCERPTS]
Day 94,
This 'Trespasser' is concerning, but there were far fewer clouds than before, and Fathom kept watch for several hours to make sure that we weren't followed, so I'm confident that we're safe for now. Trespasser has no way of knowing where we're going, which ans the only thing we have to worry about will be the general population's reaction to learning about the presence of the Horizon.
I don't see any way of predicting the consequences of this, but it doesn't really change anything. We'll continue to gather allies and intercept the Daybreak as planned on Day 100.
Approximately three hundred kiloters away, a green dragon descended near a small, unkempt cave.
«There you are,» Sharnha grunted, his pupils dilated to see deeper into the dark grotto. «Your directions are terrible, by the way.»
A dark red dragon crept out of his shallow cave, warily eyeing his acquaintance. «You seem excited,» Ighen said, ignoring the jab and asking his own implicit question.
«Yes, well I did find sothing quite sky-shattering,» Sharnha off-handedly replied as he scanned Ighen. «But first, I believe we have the matter of paynt to discuss…if you're well enough for that.»
Ighen resisted the urge to growl, knowing he was in a rather sorry state. He had only recently regained the ability to fly, and much of his coloring had faded along with his musculature. «I am well enough,» he grunted as he turned to retrieve his hidden belongings. Sharnha's excitent was quite possibly an act, but the sly dragon's zeal did seem genuine, judging by the light lashing of his tail.
«Here,» Ighen grunted, handing Sharnha large chunk of quartz.
«Not enough.» Sharnha said, turning his muzzle up at the significant paynt. «I want two.»
Ighen's spines flared at the sheer audacity of this dragon. «This was the agreed upon price, was it not?» he growled.
«I had to sneak around three dragons to gather this information, one of them being an elder,» Sharnha hissed back. «I'd rather not sell you this information at all, regardless of what you could possibly pay . The only reason I'm here is because we made a deal, and I honor my agreents – even to soone like you.»
The insult barely registered to Ighen, as he'd heard it so many tis before. No, he was far more surprised at the ntion of an elder, and Sharnha's apparent reluctance to complete the trade at all. After a mont's hesitation another crystal was reluctantly added to the first.
Sharnha peered at the crystals with an appraising eye, then nodded his acceptance.
Ighen's spines flared in surprise as the green dragon raised a foreclaw, revealing a mass of shining iron wrapped tightly around his wrist. The otherworldly construct stunned him into silence, and it took him a mont to realize that the curio actually consisted of many individual loops, each one entwined with its neighbors to create a length of tal that could bend like a vine.
«Is that…sothing made by the crafters?» Ighen gasped, gearing his gaze away to stare at Sharnha in disbelief. «Where did you get this? What does this have to do with Hironh?»
Sharnha flashed him a predatory grin. «Allow to explain…»
It took the Horizon almost a full day to get back to Fortitude and Devotion's territory, resulting in their arrival in the evening following their departure.
"Oh, I see smoke," Celeste reported, pointing to a spot on the beach.
«Jooral-ǂ must have cooked us so food so we wouldn't have to go hunting,» Devotion rumbled as she stood up with a stretch. «The smoke would help hide the ship's approach as well.»
«Well, that's prudent of her,» Fathom said, and passed this information off to Pryce.
Soon afterwards the ship pulled onto the shore, where an amazed Fortitude stared in awe. The elder slowly backed away, then sprinted forth to leap onto the ship. Her impaired wings gave her just enough height to hook her foreclaws onto the bulwark, but she wasn't quite able to pull herself up, and her hind legs scrabbled against the smooth hull with a screech that made Pryce wince.
Celeste rushed over to help, giving Pryce the unusual sight of a dragon pulling up another by the hand.
«So this is what the ship really looks like…» the elder murmured, looking rather overwheld. «I can't even begin to wonder how this could have possibly been made.»
«You're not as excited as I thought you'd be,» Celeste said, tilting her head. «Is sothing wrong?»
"Well…I received so news from a neighbor," Fortitude said, turning to Pryce. "It is going to make things more complicated."
"The news spread this far already?" Pryce asked, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but at this rate it won't be long until every dragon knows about the ship." Dragons flew about twice as fast as the Horizon could go, so it wasn't surprising that-
"What? That is not what I am talking about. Why would everyone know about the ship?" Fortitude asked, tilting her head in bemusent.
"There…was a dragon who snuck onto the ship while we were hunting for food," Fathom warily explained. "He fled before we returned, so we assu he's been spreading the news all over the land. Isn't…that the news that you were talking about?"
Fortitude drew her head back in surprise at his explanation, which was enough of an answer in itself. "A dragon nad Qnaro found a living crafter – a female nad Jane Callan."
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