Harry Potter and the Crystal Empire — Intermission

by Damaged

Airships and Freedom

"We can take another of those, but they can't! Give them another!"

Aileek heard the shout from the deck and worked fast. Her paws were far better suited to loading the cannon than most of the others—besides, they had magic. She finished tamping the ball into the gun and heaved on the ropes to pull its muzzle out the gunport.

Wiping the soot from her brow, Aileek sighted down the gun and saw her prize. The other ship's rudder. Timing things just right, she set match to fuse and quickly covered her ears.

The roar of the cannon wasn't a sharp crack, like she'd always heard them. Not this close. This close to a cannon firing, she could hear the moment the fuse lit the first narrow section of charge. She could hear the rumble as it progressed its burning up into the main bowl, and then the scream from the cannonball as it was shot down the barrel.

As soon as the ball left the muzzle the familiar crack sounded—the rush of the fast-expanding gasses hurling it free. When the gun had stopped moving, Aileek leaned over it and sighted down the barrel again. What she saw made her let out a whoop of excitement.

The steering mechanism of the other airship was now a hail of splinters raining down into the sea.

"Get up here, Aileek! We've got them!" Blastback steered the airship over, approaching the Storm King vessel with a burning excitement. "All hands! Ready to board! Kill their engine and secure the crew!"

"Aye!" The shout went up from his team, all of them a mix of human and pony.

Magic, Blastback Davies had discovered, was different here. It worked mostly the same, but the more you used it, the more you changed. He had stopped changing with hands still, which made him one of the best suited for steering. He looked over his crew.

Jack Crowley, the wizard who had been trying to keep the portal secure, could stand upright but had lost his hands. He'd also been the first to learn the trick of holding things with a hoof.

Liz Harrington, like Blastback, stood upright and crystalline, her wand aimed before her and a spell already arcing from it toward the other ship.

Firelight McOwens, his pyro specialist, was much like himself, but the team's medic, Defthands Flowers, had lost his namesake.

Junebug Banning (their summoner) and Rentari Dean (the fastest caster and best with a sword) were both lacking hands, but unlike the rest of them they were a unicorn and a pegasus respectively.

The last was Daku. He was an elementalist who specialized in sand, and he was also now a quadrupedal pony. "Boss, want me to bring it down?"

"No! We need more fuel and powder. Check the hold for food and water, too. If you find any prisoners, bring them back." Blastback's eyes scanned the lines of Storm King shocktroops standing on the deck and growled. "Get in there!"

The fighting was swift and violent. The Storm King's troops were like brick walls when it came to magic and like shredding machines if they got close, but the wizards had grown used to the threat. Summoned monsters did battle with the ship's defenders while Firelight shouldered her rifle and took careful aim.

Breathing slowly, accounting for the shift of both ships, Firelight squeezed the trigger. The crack of the rifle hit her ears a moment before the butt of the weapon shoved into her shoulder. On the deck of the Storm King's ship, one of the big, armored figures staggered, wobbled, then fell.

With their collection of bullets limited, it was important they spend every single one carefully. Firelight turned the rifle to her next target. The ship wasn't going anywhere, so the captain wasn't important, but there was a creature at the back barking orders and shouting at the troops to hold their line.

Junebug waited for the second crack to sound before she went to work. She didn't question why her horn glowed when she used magic, but she was thankful it seemed to make spells far more effective. "A few water dragons should do. Come, little brothers, show these bastards your teeth!"

Barrels of water on the deck of the Storm King's ship started to shake and tremble before exploding to reveal that the water inside had become giant lizards. Crawling up to the shocktroops, they ignored the spears and started beating on the armored hulks.

As Aileek reached the deck, she looked around to get an idea of what was happening. Blastback and his crew were swinging grapples toward the other ship and pulling it closer with each one they attached. Something else, coming from high in the sky where the sun lingered, caught her eye. "Pirates! Uh, ten o'clock and coming down fast!"

Due to the angle they were coming down at, Celaeno couldn't see what was going on with the two Storm King ships, but she knew sitting ducks when she saw them. "Get ready, ya scallywags! I want the captains of those two ships tossed overboard quick-smart, and any of them big lads too! Rig for a broadside tackle and get ready with the grapplers!"

The crew of the Kestrel rushed about on the deck, grabbing swords and grapples, then lining up on the deck nearest the ship they were about to board. Squabble rushed across the swaying deck with his heavy load to slot it into the heavy bracket on the railing.

Pulling out his powder horn, he dumped in what he knew to be a good load, stuffed a handful of shot and marbles into the barrel of the small cannon, and titled it just as the other ship's deck came into view.

Lining the deck gun up with the other ship's wheelhouse, he drew a match across the life-preserver around his neck and let out a loud squawk before lighting the four-second-fuse.

The shot wasn't to kill anyone—though the helmsman of the target ship did make the decision to stand by the wheel—the controls of the ship shattered and exploded into so much splinters and warped metal.

"Lix! Bring us in tight!" Launching herself to the railing, Celaeno had her flintlock in one hand and her cutlass in the other as the deck came fully into sight. "What's this?" She watched as the Storm King's marines were being cut down by what looked like a pony dancing around with a pair of glowing swords clutched in each of its wings. "Ho there! What crew are you with?!"

After seeing the remains of the helm (and helmsman) of the Storm King's ship scatter to the winds, Blastback knew that he didn't want to deal with the pirates if he could help it. He could bluff or tell them the truth. "No crew! We just like beating the snot out of these guys!" A bit of both, he decided, would be best.

"Calm yer blood, lads, but don't stand down. We have something interestin' here." Celaeno waited until the grapples were secure before jumping across to the ship. She slid her flintlock into its holster at her back and slid her cutlass back in its sheath—she didn't think any of the strange ponies would be fast enough to get to her before she could get either back out and ready. "While I'm not normally one to cut in, you understand we thought this was a two-fer party."

Blastback was acutely aware that the bird-person who'd fired the deck gun had just finished reloading it. He didn't have to think far to know that Firelight would have her gun ready should anything go south. "We only wanted supplies and a chance to rough up another Storm King crew. If you let us take what we're after, you can have the rest—just scuttle this thing when you're done."

Unable to stop it, Celaeno's crest jerked upright in surprise and excitement at the offer. "Well"—she turned to her crew, all of which were waiting for the command to attack—"hear that, me hearties? We get a cut of the loot for no work!"

The cheer was a relief for Blastback. He turned to his own squadmates and nodded to Junebug. "Clear out any more of them from below, then have your pets dump themselves into the water barrels." From the corner of his eye he watched Celaeno walk closer. Turning, he reached up to his slouch hat and brought it down while he bowed. "Commander Blastback Davies, at your service."

"Captain Celaeno and her crew, at yours. Don't see many ponies out this way, even less in the business, and less still looking quite that—unique." Celaeno could only recognize two of Blastback's crew exactly, a dark colored earth pony and an Abyssinian. "She crew or cargo?"

"Bit of both. We're not from around here. Started using magic and turned into what you see here. She"—Blastback wondered how far he should go—"she needed a ride and is handy with a cannon. Took this heap of junk's tail off with one shot."

"Why're you still running Storm King colors?"

"Makes it easier to sneak up on them. By the time they know it's us, Aileek has the cannon lined up on their rudder, and they're easy pickings."

Reaching down to the deck and crouching, Celaeno raked a claw over the wood to gauge how long it had been since being polished. "Why are you taking them on, if not for loot?" She looked at the curled wood under her claws and saw very little polish and very new polish.

"Would you believe we just don't like them? We're still in the skies of—"

Standing up, Celaeno walked around Blastback and toward Aileek. Keeping her claws away from her weapons, she walked right up to Aileek and got in her personal space. "Hrmm…" Reaching to Aileek's chin, Celaeno pressed a claw under it and forced Aileek to look up at her. "Ha! Royal family! I knew I recognized that face!"

Aileek hissed a little and took a step back. "I'm not close to the throne, so don't—"

"Oh, I don't doubt that. Your father did so much begatting that I'm surprised I don't have a few half-breeds in my crew. No, it's just a surprise to find such a happy-go-lucky group as ponies teaming up with a royal brat and chasing down Storm Guard." Celaeno felt a tickle to her pride at having Aileek step away from her. "But you said you aren't ponies?" she asked, turning back to Blastback.

"We're not, but we play them on the telly." When neither Celaeno nor Aileek even grinned at his joke, Blastback rolled his eyes. "We came from another world. Using our magic made us change into what you see here. We met Aileek while she was having an argument with some of the Storm King's goons. They seemed to want to put spears through her and she tried to convince them it was a bad idea. We backed up her argument."

"And now you're cruising around taking out their airships? You know they'll wake up eventually and send a fleet after you." Celaeno's eyes caught two of Blastback's squad return from belowdeck with Storm King ship fuel rods. "There's better ways to fly than those things."

Blastback nodded to Liz and Jack as they brought up more of the fuel rods. "How many ships does he have?"

"If it was just guts, I'd call it about 50/50 as to if you'll bring down every one, but this guy has generals—some of them are smart bastards too. Eventually they'll consolidate and send a whole fleet after you. Fifty ships or so and it doesn't matter how hard your crew is—not in that heap of junk."

The truly annoying thing for Blastback was that she was right. "This is where you make an offer, right?"

"Yeah, this is where I make an offer and you think about it hard and say yes." Celaeno watched Blastback's crew working to roll barrels of powder and water out now. "These ships are ugly and slow things, but they have good equipment on them. Ten of these sows will get you a clipper that can keep ahead of anything the Storm King has. If you want our help, we'll take an extra five and run interference with any fleets that come."

"What do you think?" Blastback asked, looking over to Aileek.

"We were going to be hunting them anyway. How do we get them to wherever you can sell them?" Circling around Celaeno, Aileek stood beside Blastback.

"This one isn't going anywhere on her own. We work together. You take on ships how you do—taking out their rudder—and we'll keep the steering intact with any we take. I'll put a prize crew on it and send it back to our home port." Narrowing her eyes, Celaeno waited for the penny to drop.

"And you take everything we capture?" Aileek asked.

"Not exactly." As he said it, Blastback heard a whistle from Firelight. "We'd still get all the provisions we want from the ships we take, it's just we'd be giving them to the nice pirate lady."

"So, for you, business as usual—except you don't scuttle the ships. We take them away. Once we have fourteen, you get yourselves a better ship and we make a profit." Tapping her peg leg on the deck, Celaeno chuckled. "And, it looks like we have one down already."

Blastback laughed at the enthusiasm. "How would one of these ships signal for help?"

For a moment Celaeno was dumbfounded before she started squawking a loud laugh. "Now that's an attitude I like. Right, so they have a magic flare they can launch that will bring their boys in from miles around. Let's leave this junk sitting here, empty, and we'll both hide and wait to see what shows up."

"Is that alright with you, princess?" Blastback asked, looking at Aileek.

Aileek hated involving others into their dealings, but it made sense. The pirates wanted their own cut, which they were getting, and it meant she got the second step on her way to building a navy for her nation. "Sounds like fun, captain. I'll go stow those powder barrels and get the cannons ready."

Watching Aileek walk away, Celaeno chuckled. "She's like a chick on her first raid. Yer a good man."

"Yeah, wish we didn't get stuck here, but now we are I can't leave her. Not now. She's fighting for her country, and that's something we know. So, let's work out what we're going to do here, because I want to make that girl smile more."

It shouldn't have come as a surprise how fast Celaeno's ship was compared to the other Storm King ships. By the time he'd reached the fight with their wallowing vessel, Blastback was grappling onto the opposite side of an already defeated Storm King ship from Celaeno's.

"Yer a bit slow there." Celaeno was already cleaning up the deck—which consisted mostly of shoving the Storm King's troops overboard. "Maybe if we used you for the bait, we'd both be able to hit them at the same time?"

Landing on the deck with hooves he was finding surprisingly sturdy, Blastback looked around as Celaeno's sailors were making the airship ready for travel. "Any good—" He didn't get any further. Just as a sailor started to head down below, a huge Storm King armored brute launched itself from belowdecks with a pair of axes in its hands. "Firelight!"

Raising her rifle, Firelight lined up her shot as the hulk started marching toward the parrot. A moment before she squeezed her trigger a blood-red, dragon-winged pony figure rushed up from where the brute had come from, turned, and lashed out with its back hooves so hard that it launched the monster off the deck and over the side. "Commander?!"

"Hold your fire but be at the ready!" Turning only slightly so he could keep his eye on the newcomer, Blastback asked, "Captain, do you know them?"

"No clue." Celaeno too wasn't taking any chances. "You! What're you doing on this ship?"

Turning to face Celaeno and Blastback, the creature shook itself and ruffled its leathery wings. "We were kidnapped by the Storm King." Instead of walking toward the two, however, they started going back belowdecks. "There's others. Please help us."

When the strange pony walked back down the stairs, Blastback looked to Celaeno again, who shrugged. "What do you normally do in these situations?"

"If they don't want to join our crew, we let 'em off on land."

Walking over to the stairs, Blastback looked down. "Ah fuck." There was the familiar sight of a Storm King ship, but now there was five of the creatures coming back up. Closer, he could recognize iron collars around their necks and legs. "Here, do you need a hand getting up here?"

"We can all walk, just haven't been able to get the fetters off everypony yet."

"Is it magic resistant metal?" Blastback hated the situation, but he could recognize slaves when he could see them. They didn't look broken, though, for which he was thankful. He started walking down into the hold of the ship.

"Once I learn how to use magic, I'll tell you. Are you with the pirates?"

Reaching the first with chains on their legs, Blastback drew his wand and crouched. "Hold still and I'll test it." Creating the smallest flame he could, Blastback aimed his wand at a link of chain and then stopped it. Touching the link revealed it was hot. "Okay, I can get these off."

Waving his hand into a complicated pattern, Blastback cast an Unlocking charm that was followed by four clicks as the cuffs of the fetters let go. "Next."

When she reached the top of the stairs, Celaeno looked down and felt her bile rise at what she saw. "I could almost respect that bastard if he didn't trade slaves. You can get their fetters off?"

"Yeah." Zapping another of the strange ponies free, Blastback noticed what had been so strange about them—under the light coat of hair they had scales. "By the way, my name's Blastback."

"I'm Breeze Cutter. That's Storm Spear. When we saw the Storm King's ships coming, our village hid while we led them away. It worked, I guess, but…" Breeze looked at Blastback with a knowing expression. "It's hard to lead someone away and outrun them, if you catch my drift."

"Are you looking for a job?" Nodding to another of the ponies to come forward, Blastback prepared another spell.

"We'd rather just go home, but that's not going to be easy. We've been in this damn ship for two months." Breeze watched again in fascination at Blastback's magic popping the locks. "And I can only guess that we're in more populated skies now?"

The sentiment was one Blastback could appreciate. "Yeah, you're over the nation of Abyssinia—cat people. We're currently trying to take out as many of their airships as we can and then want to hook up with any defenders left."

"They're under attack by the Storm King?" It caused Breeze almost physical pain to hear that. Knowing what the Storm King did had unsettled him, but now that he knew they were doing it to others made him angry. "Let me talk to my people."

Freeing the last of the strange, scaled and dragon-winged ponies, Blastback stood up again and nodded. The hold of the ship was much like all the others they'd raided, but in this case he couldn't pilfer it for water, food, and fuel. When Breeze nodded to him, he walked over.

Breeze Cutter looked among his group. "Do you need any help? Fighting the Storm King, that is."

"It'd be appreciated. We're stuck here too, this world I mean. Some kind of portal dumped us here and we turned into horse-like people. I take it you were born like that?" Blastback nodded toward them.

"Well, you look more like ponies made of crystal, but I won't argue since you saved our butts here. We're longma." Breeze gestured around his group. "You know Storm Spear. This is Gale Stomp, Gust Diver, and Updraft Charge."

Now that he was able to get a better look at them, he could see that they all had the odd scales and dragon wings, but while Breeze had red scales and hair, Storm had blue, Gale had green, Gust had yellow, and Updraft was a smokey gray. "Well, if you don't mind beating the snot out of Storm King troops and stealing their ships, I think we can get along pretty good."

"What are you going to do with this ship?" Storm asked.

"We're working with the pirates to trade in a bunch of Storm King ships to get something a little faster. If you see their ship move compared to one of these, you'll probably have an idea why that's a good plan." Walking up the stairs, Blastback nodded to Celaeno. "Looks like I've got some more crew to round out our numbers."

"Ha! Good going. You might want to try to find yourself a flintlock or two if you can. Nasty pieces of work, but handy if you have a tight situation." Celaeno watched the strange ponies walk past. "Maybe a deck gun too, though you'll want to find someone who knows how to operate the things."

Blastback was about to tell her they didn't need one when it hit him that they did. Flintlocks too. Their guns were far more effective, but they had limited ammunition. "Any idea where we could get them?"

"Yeah, that's the hard part. There're some around, but since they cost so much it's not these scum"—Celaeno stomped the deck with her peg-leg—"that have them. You'll need to find rich folk or the Storm King's higher-ups." Raising her hand, she gestured to the stairs and whistled. "Come on, ya dogs, get this hunk o' junk ready for sailin'. First prize crew, yer up!"

"Commander?" Firelight asked as Blastback approached. "What's the sitrep?"

"We've got five more crew members. They're a long way from home too. See if any of you can remove the collars without hurting them." Vaulting between the ships, Blastback noticed the newcomers used their wings to give a flap and gain some lift to get over the gap. "Aileek! We need some ideas on guns. Flintlocks and a deck gun or two would be good."

"Captain!" The shout came from the deck of Celaeno's ship. "Another two Storm King whales off the port bow!"

"Cast off lines! Get the wings out! Come on, lads, we've got more to hunt!" Taking off at a dead run, Celaeno looked across the deck at Blastback's crew, seeing them springing to action too. "Do what you have to to get yours, Blastback, we'll pick the crew off the other one's deck!"

"I can help. You want them cleared off the deck of their ship, right, but you want the ship?" Storm Spear looked up at Blastback, her wings itching with excitement. "I can do that."

With his own crew (Blastback made a mental note to call them crew now, since it wasn't just his squad) already following Celaeno's commands, Blastback looked down at the blue-scaled pony. "Just don't set it on fire or put yourself in danger and you can try whatever you want. They're not gonna be trying to get away."

Running belowdecks, Aileek rushed to the gundeck and her waiting artillery. "He might not want them damaged, but that doesn't mean I can't use my new trick." She started to load a primer, powder, and a wad of cloth into the gun, then she pulled over a keg of sand.

On deck, Storm Spear and Breeze Cutter marched up to the front of the forecastle and stood with the wind in their face. Breeze turned to his love and told her, "You don't have to do this. I know you don't like—"

"I said I would. These creatures are fighting our enemy. I don't like killing, but it will be for the best." Steeling herself, Storm Spear leaned over the railing so her neck and head were exposed.

"Stand back! Let her have some room." Breeze felt sadness that his wife would have to use her power, but he was also charged with pride that she would do it anyway. Looking from their target ship to the one the pirates had engaged, he was surprised to see that the pirate ship had swung behind the Storm King ship and had grappled onto it already.

Storm knew her range. She also knew that she only had to hit the first target to get her ability to affect the whole ship. Despite how dangerous this was, she felt alive all the more for being about to use it. As the other ship drew closer, she opened her mouth and took a deep breath.

The sky lit with a white-blue flash that stung Blastback's eyes. Rubbing his face to try to rid it of the afterimage of lightning shooting between their ships, he saw exactly what Storm Spear had done. "Fuck…"

There was a burning smell of ozone washing over the wizards' ship as it followed the path of the lightning bolt to the now stalled ship. As they drew alongside the Storm King's ship, they saw that every creature that'd been on deck was slumped. The few shock troops in armor were still fizzling and arcing.

"Don't touch any metal yet! Let me short them out!" This was the hardest part for Storm. She flapped her way over to the other ship and landed on the deck with a thud of all four hooves. Still able to feel the potential of her breath scattered around, she walked from one smoking, armored body to the next, tapping them with her hoof to discharge the still-deadly jolts.

Walking up to the side of the ship, Blastback stared at the corpses on the other ship. The brief but intense arcs as Storm shorted out the metal still stung his eyes a little. "Next time you do this, how about a little warning just before you do it?" When he saw Storm turn and look back at him, he knew there might not be a next time. There was agony written large on her face.

They lashed up against the ship and started the grisly task of pitching the corpses overboard. As he hauled one of the brutes over, Blastback was acutely aware of the smell that came from them—they'd been cooked. "Can the rest of you do this?" he asked the other longma.

"It depends on our coloring," Breeze said. "Red, like me, make fire. I figured you didn't want me to burn this whole thing. Blue is lightning, green is poison, yellow is rot."

Gust Diver said, "Our breaths wouldn't have been any better than fire. My rot breath works just as well on wood and metal as the living, and Gale's poison would soak into the timber and rope." She shrugged her shoulders.

"What about you?" Blastback asked, looking at Updraft Charge.

Lifting her head and looking up at Blastback, Updraft grinned at the wizard. "My breath is your worst nightmare. It destroys magic."

"How in blazes did they even catch you with these kinds of magic powers?" Working opposite Liz Harrington, Blastback strained to haul another body over the railing.

"That's the thing." Gust helped Updraft pull another of the brutes to the side of the railing for Liz and Blastback to haul over the side. "It's not magic. Not magic like others have, anyway. We were so tired and worn out by the time they got to us, we couldn't even so much as spit out any of our breaths."

"Also," Updraft said, "in case you didn't notice, Storm really doesn't like using her breath. She has to snuff the energy out of each body after she's done, and there's no just hurt 'em a bit setting."

"Well, all of ours don't have a hurt them a bit setting." Breeze had piled-in as well and was hauling bodies with his wing-claws. "And Updraft doesn't have a way to actually hurt critters—unless they're magical themselves."

"So you bided your time in their ship? Planning an escape?" Liz asked.

"That was the plan. They chained us up too close, though. If any of us had used our breath, it would have hit each other before hitting any Storm King thugs. They also kept our rations short so we wouldn't be able to use them." Breeze worked too, but paused when Storm walked over and pressed her face into the ruff of hair at his neck. Stretching a wing around Storm's back, he hugged her close. "It's why we gave you a share of our rations. Your breath ins amazing."

"Ma'am, thank you for what you did." Blastback made a point of looking at Storm. "I know it's not easy, but I need to ask if you'd be willing to do that again in the future."

Turning her head, Storm looked up at Blastback with tear-stained eyes. "You're a solider?" When he nodded, albeit with reluctance, she continued. "Do you ever get used to killing?"

"No. It still hurts to see someone die. It's what makes us hu—It's what makes us who we are. If you got used to killing, you'd become a monster. I only kill when I know it is required to protect others."

Letting out a sob that had been fighting to get free, Storm nodded. "You saved us. You didn't have to, but you did. I want to help, but I don't want to get used to it."

Turning his head, Blastback shouted, "Aileek! Get your butt over here!"

Covered in grime from preparing the cannons for a fight that didn't happen, Aileek made her way across to the other ship and over to Blastback. "Yeah?"

"Storm, this is Aileek. This is who I'm fighting for. She's a princess of the land below us, and what we're doing is trying to clear the skies of Storm King ships so that her people can be safe and not be enslaved." The words were as much from the heart as Blastback could make them. Aileek's course was nothing if not a just one. "Maybe she can be why you fight, too?"

Looking up at Aileek, Storm reached forward with her wing and rubbed at her eyes to dry them. "Y-You're a princess?"

"My father has a lot of daughters, but I am one of them. I can't say how thankful I am for you helping with this ship. If you don't want to—" Aileek cut her little speech short as Storm bent her forelegs and kneeled before her. Almost hypnotized, she drew the long sword she'd stolen from her cousin and raised it with the blade flat, and rested it on Storm's shoulder. "By my word, you are a knight of Abyssinia. Our honor is your honor and your blood is our blood." She'd made it all up on the spot, but it sounded like it fit well enough.

Once the blade had tapped both her shoulders, Storm stood up. It was easier to breathe and think now. Easier to reason that her breath came at the command of the brave woman before her. "I fight at your command, Your Highness."

The soldiers from Earth had been one thing—they didn't exactly follow her orders but her wishes—but this was something else. Aileek shivered a little. "Right now we have to liberate as many ships as we can to secure something faster. You can—Your job is to assist in that. First, we need to find a way to ground your lightning without you needing to do it for each target."

Storm found herself smiling—really smiling—to find that these strange creatures cared for her. She nodded to Aileek and looked over to her husband. He was dragging the last of the Storm King's people over the side. When he was done, she walked over to him and hugged him.

"I heard what you said and saw all that. I'll stay by your side always, Stormy." Breeze returned the hug and looked over Storm's shoulder at Aileek. "I guess we just became your artillery squad."

They'd been a two ship wolfpack. The wizards playing the part of stranded ship while the pirates would swoop in and assist when multiple ships fell for the bait. They were in the middle of such a two-ship tackle when the lookout on Celaeno's ship called out a warning.

"Five ships to the south—closing fast!"

Storm Spear heard the cry and looked to her husband. "Breezie, I think they're going to need your help."

Flashing his fangs at his wife, Breeze Cutter rolled his shoulders and looked to Aileek. "Ma'am, where do you want me?" Like his wife, he preferred being told to use his breath and place the burden of choosing on Aileek's shoulders.

Aileek nodded and looked around until she could spot the ships on the horizon. "Stern. We'll be needing to outrun—"

"Five more to the north! West and east too! We're in a trap!"

The shout froze everyone on both ships, but none more than Celaeno. She'd grown to like the wizards and longma—she'd spent more than a few nights drinking with both groups—which was why she was trying to think how to fight their way out rather than run. Running would mean leaving ships behind, and she was pirate enough that she didn't ever leave a treasure.

As her plan came together, Celaeno opened her beak. "Breeze, Storm, on my ship! Gale and Gust, I want you both painting the sky with your breath! Blastback, ditch these ships and run like a spanked monkey to the south with the clouds of rot and poison covering your ass! Crews! Let's haul out of here!"

"Prize crews?" Pinwheel asked, reaching up to slick back her crest.

"If you can get someone belowdecks on the guns as fast as you can, sure." Celaeno turned to her ship. "Prize crews! Both of ya get together under Pinwheel and get one of these hunks of shit moving! Load yer guns and make 'em howl!"

Squawking in excitement, Pinwheel started shouting to get her prize crew on board and get all ships cast off. She might not be a captain for all that long, but it was a step up in the world. In her mind, she was already working out how to position the ship to deliver the most cannon rounds into the Storm King's vessels.

Blastback could have had his ship move a bit faster than Pinwheel's captured vessel, mostly because he had extra fuel to burn, but that would leave the other vessel alone. Keeping side-by-side with them, he watched as Celaeno's ship rushed past—moving like the wind itself. "Gale! Dust! Cover our ass with clouds!"

Celaeno spared a glance behind them at the expanding green/yellow clouds that made her feathers itch just to think about. "Lix! Take us into a hard dive into that formation ahead." With a spring in her step, Celaeno marched down from the aftcastle toward Storm and Breeze. "I don't rightly care what you do to them, but how many of those ships can you demolish?"

Looking at the ships they were aimed at, Breeze smirked. "I could take them all down. It will—"

"I can get some too." Storm stuck her tongue out at her husband. "Just get us closer and I can see about lighting them up like candles."

"Both of us can." Breeze kissed Storm on the cheek. "Are you sure you're up to this?"

"Then give it all you've got and let's see how many we can take out for yer princess." Walking to the bow of her ship, Celaeno looked up to see the two huge wings at the front of her balloon were out—not that she needed to see them to know how fast the air was rushing past her. "Prepare all the cannons, Squabble! Both sides! Give 'em everything we've got as soon as you see targets!"

Getting closer and closer to the south-end of the blockade, Blastback watched as the other ships of the Storm King swept in toward their flanks. One made the mistake of plowing toward a yellow cloud. "Gale! Gust! Up here!" He was relieved that the two turned toward him before the ship met the yellow cloud.

In the distance an entire ship rotted, crew and all, and over the cries of the living was the scream of metal, wood, and rope as they were eaten away. The balloon was pierced by a large plank of the deck straining under a twisting force, and as if it were a signal the whole ship broke in half and plummeted to the ground below.

"Captain?" Gust asked, her voice betraying her thanks for the distraction.

"Both of you get belowdecks and help Aileek with the guns." As he spoke, Blastback saw another ship veer away from the yellow cloud only to get swallowed by a green one. Two out of twenty was a good start, and it was two of the closest ships on their flank, but Blastback knew they weren't out of the weeds yet. "Bring us as close to the other ship as we can get, Liz!"

Watching as Celaeno's ship plowed down into the Storm King's ships' position sent a shiver up Blastback's spine. From the prow of the ship lightning and flame erupted just as they threaded the proverbial needle.

There was different rules at play here. Normally Celaeno would be trying to liberate her targets of their cargo, so she'd normally never target a ship's balloon—but this was one of the times she didn't just want to, she'd ordered it. "FIRE!"

White-hot grapeshot sprayed out from the cannons on both sides of the ship. Of the five ships, one was on fire, one had its entire crew killed by lightning, one was plummeting with a completely popped balloon, while the other two were circling out of Celaeno's line of fire and drawing up to broadside the oncoming blockade runners.

"Up! Pitch us up to go between their balloons!" Blastback raised his voice enough that the other ship heard as well, and he heard Pinwheel mirror his shout. "Lay on the speed! We'll take the brunt of it and broadside their balloons!"

But they were a little slow at gaining altitude. The two Storm King ships—pitching their cannons up to sight Blastback's ship—cut loose with a deafening raport of guns. The underside of the ship bore the brunt of the blasts, but one ball connected with a weak spot in the underside and then broke joyfully through each successive deck until it shot free.

Taking with it Blastback Davies left leg.

Shattering bone and ruined muscles screamed in Blastback's head. The world spun around him, and a moment before he fell over a strong body was under his left hand.

"Sir, you lost your fuckin' leg!" Daku was staring at the shattered white bone that hung from Blastback's stump. There was blood pouring out onto the deck as their own guns shouted a reply. Lacking hands, Daku reached to the saddlebag on his left and shoved his snout into it.

The wavering edges of darkness and fire threatened to close in around Blastback. He was shouting something—something about laying on the speed now that they were out of the blockade. Then a cold rush of ice shoved back at the fire and a tight squeeze on his leg pushed back the darkness. "What in the fucking hell was that?!"

"Hey, boss, look at my eyes." Daku tried to keep Blastback's attention away from his shattered leg. "That was a cannonball, mate. You know what I mean?" He waited for Blastback to nod before shouting, "Defthands! Get your fuzzy ass over here!"

Firelight heard the shouting and noticed Blastback's condition. She slung her rifle around to her back just as she saw a volley of cannonballs rip through the ship that Pinwheel was flying. "Daku! Help!"

Levitation was an easy spell, but it was less effective on larger objects. As fast as Firelight could cast them, the ship's mass was countering them—ripping the spell apart in the process. When Daku arrived at her side and started using his magic to lift it, she instead adjusted her pattern so that she was channeling magic into him.

"The other ship!" Gale shouted. "Gust! Updraft! We need to help get them off it!"

Relief flooded Daku when he saw the three longma launch themselves to the other ship. It might have been more of a relief if they didn't add to the weight of it when they landed. "It's pulling at my magic constantly to do this. You keeping up, Fire?"

"I got your back, Dak. Does it feel like your magic is getting ripped out inch by inch?" Firelight wasn't using hyperbole. "June! Give us a fuckin' hand!"

Turning to look at Firelight, Junebug rushed over—only peripherally seeing that Aileek was on the helm. "Channeling?" Seeing an emphatic nod, Junebug dropped to all fours—her hoof-hands taking her weight easily—and lowered her horn at Daku. "Take anything you need."

Daku had thought to take only the normal amount of magic he knew Junebug capable of channeling, what he got instead was a hurricane of magic that almost knocked him senseless. Junebug's horn was glowing bright orange—and she looked as surprised as he felt.

Grabbing up one of the parrots each, the longma flew them back to their own ship and quickly wheeled about to return for more. During their next return flight, Updraft stole a look at the three partially-pony creatures that seemed to be holding an entire ship aloft. "We have two more after this trip!"

"You two grab them. I'll try to deal with the last two ships." When it came to the last run, Gust Diver flew with Gale and Updraft and made sure they grabbed and headed back with the last of the parrots. When she lined up on one of the Storm King ships, she was shocked to find the ship they'd just evacuated fly past him toward it. "By the wind!"

Banking to the side as the ship with the damaged balloon crashed into and through the Storm King's ship, Gust aimed herself at the second one and breathed out—summoning as much of her rot as she could.

When the ribbing over the ship's balloon started to rust into a deep brown and yellow, they began to creak and fail. Each one that rusted away put more load on the remaining ones, and with a series of pinging snaps the last cables let go. The balloon shot up into the air while the ship dropped like a stone.

Blastback knew nothing of what his squad and crew were doing. Defthands had started using healing magic on his leg, and as he well knew—healing magic was not painless magic. He had no compunctions about screaming in pain, particularly when it felt like Defthands was squeezing on his broken leg.

Walking past Blastback and Defthands, Pinwheel walked up to the tiller. "I can take that, lass. Get back below and ready the guns—we might have more shooting ahead of us." Narrowing her eyes, she looked about the sky. "Ace! Get up the rigging! I need eyes on targets! Brutus, triage this flying wreck and let's find a way out of here!"

By the time Aileek got belowdecks and found her cannons, she also found the hole that let her see the ground below them.

"Need a hand with them guns?" Marco was only a second-mate gunner, but he knew his way around Storm King weapons. "What you got loaded?"

Bracing her feet as the ship tilted and banked hard, Aileek pointed to the two fore guns (one on each side). "Grapeshot in those, solid balls in the rear." She caught Marco's nod. "I'm Aileek."

"Marco. Okay, princess, let's work out which side we're going to—"

"Port guns! We have a target to port!" a shout came from on deck.

"… there's a better plan. Okay, I'll take the grape, you take the direct shot. Forget rudder, aim for aftcastle on 'em or, failin' that, hit the balloon." Marco walked up to the forward port gun and started checking it. He was just turning to see if Aileek was ready when she fired her cannon.

Sighting down the smoking gun, Aileek watched as the aftcastle of the target exploded into a mess of timber. "Another target, captain!" she shouted.

Freed of their need to keep an entire second ship in the air, Junebug, Daku, and Firelight made their way to check on Blastback. Defthands had just drawn back from his patient and reached a hoof up to rub his forehead.

"How is he?" Firelight asked.

"Wherever his leg is, it's fucked. The bone is shattered all the way just past his kneecap. I got all the bone shards out, got him a bone-mending tonic, and he'll live. It's sealed over now. Nice bit of emergency work there, Daku—saved his life." Finishing up his spells, Defthands straightened up and stood upright. "The main artery was gushing. Freezing it was perfect."

"Yeah, mate. I actually paid attention in that first aid class, eh?" Daku breathed a sigh of relief. Healing of any kind was well outside his specialty, but knowing what he'd done had saved his commander's (a man he considered a friend) life made him appreciate what little he did know. "Can you, uh, regrow his leg?"

"Not a hope in hell. I know healing magic, not rebuild lost limbs and put a man back together magic. Best we can do is get him a good prosthetic and bide our time until we get home. Until then," Defthands said, "we probably want to get him down below and help our current captain get us somewhere safe."

The raport of guns got the attention of everyone on deck (except Blastback). From above them came the cry, "Cap'n Celaeno to the west and up! Look at her fly!"

Blastback woke slowly. He was laying in a hammock and swinging slowly with the natural sway of the ship. This wasn't normal. He usually slept in the captain's quarters in an actual bed. Then his memory started filling in the blanks for him.

Fighting beside Celaeono. Finding the longma. Almost getting done with the contract.

Getting ambushed by a fleet of warships.

Losing his leg to a cannonball.

He managed to laugh for several minutes at how insane it was that he'd lose his leg to a cannonball while working as a privateer in another world. When the laughter stopped, however, Blastback had to contend with the reality that he'd lost most of one leg.

Sitting up a little and lifting his legs, he swung sideways out of the hammock and landed his one good leg on the deck with a clop of his hoof. Just one clop. Holding onto one of the posts his hammock was hanging from, Blastback reached down his leg and felt where it ended.

It didn't hurt. There was nothing tender there, but he could feel the flesh was folded over and melded together to form a stump. It took him a few seconds to realize the humor again. He was laughing so much that a head poked into the sleeping quarters to see what the noise was. "Hey, Junebug!"

"Hey, boss, how're you feeling?" Regretting asking it right away, Junebug was nonetheless surprised to find Blastback grinning like a fool. "You okay?"

"No, you fuckwit, I had some big hairy yeti shoot my leg off with a cannon. Now—now—I need to find myself a good bit of wood to use as a pegleg." Blastback reached out and put his arm over Junebug's back. "I'll be a proper pirate. Guess I need to get a bird to sit on me shoulder too, yarr!"

"Keep working on it, boss. Let's get you topside. Pinwheel took over when the shit hit the fan. When we started hauling ass to get out of there, Celaeno was pulling off some crazy shit in her ship—flying it sideways and shooting down at ships." Guiding the way to the door, Junebug shouldered Blastback's weight on every second step.

"What are we doing, June? Here, I mean. It started off like actual work, guarding a VIP, but now we're—"

"Still guarding her. Taking her word that the people of this land need our help. There's no way home, I feel that in my bones. I'm not one of those tea-leaf-watchers, but I know what I feel."

"So Aileek is our key to salvation?" Blastback tried not to lean on Junebug too much, but it wasn't like he had two legs to stand on.

"Nah. She's our key to not being caught and hung by the people we're trying to help. The question is do we stay helping them after we kick this Storm King's butt out of here?" Reaching the door, Junebug guided Blastback out and to the stairs leading to the deck.

"We need to discuss that. I don't think I can make that kinda decision for all of us." At the top of the stairs, Blastback squinted against the morning light that threatened to blind him. "Where are we? How long was I out?"

Spotting Blastback awake, Pinwheel felt both relief and a sense of loss, but the latter didn't stop her from shouting, "Look lively! Captain on deck!" She marched over to him and ignored the staring. "Sir! Hope you don't mind, but I took care of this mess while you were taking a nap."

Laughing, Blastback looked around the deck to find the crews of both ships seemed to be getting along fine. Firelight was at the helm, the rest of his crew seemed to be practicing sword-fighting, and the longma sat up on the forecastle together talking about something. That's when he realized all five of them were there. "Celaeno made it out too?"

"Ha! Cap'n Celaeno took out nearly half their fleet. The only reason she left 'em be was she'd run out of shot and Breeze Cutter'd fallen over from burning ships. We're about half a day out from Lorikalia." Pinwheel always felt a chill of excitement when it came to her home port. "You'll want to talk to the cap'n—cap'n Celaeno that is—about what our plans are now."

"She's made plans?" Bracing against the aftcastle wall, Blastback let Junebug have a break.

Pinwheel eyed Blastback up and down, and for a moment she considered her chances with him. "Cap'n's always making plans, sir. Sorry about callin' the cap'n cap'n, force of habit. Anyway, she'll get some ideas that'll be amazing, you'll see."

With no reason to think otherwise, Blastback accepted that Celaeno would have at least interesting plans. He stood on deck as their ship followed Celaeno's into the dock that hung down from the tree-city of Lorikalia.

Stumbling down the gangplank, Blastback spotted Celaeno on the dock. He saw her eyes widen a little at his condition. "I hear we have you to thank for getting away?"

"I was born to fly free. What the feathers happened to you?" Struggling a little to walk straight on the rigid decking of the dock, Celaeno crouched down and took at look at Blastback's leg. "You know, if you wanted to emulate the best captain in the skies, you didn't need to get things this accurate."

"If I didn't, you'd never keep up with me." Hooking his arm around Celaeno's shoulders and leaned on her for support. "So, what now?"

"We go to the Leaky Tap and get ourselves a drink and sit down until this damn land stops swaying on me." Celaeno supported Blastback and led the way to the dock's tavern. While a few members of crew remained aboard their ships, the majority came with them and invaded the tavern.

Seated, with a mug of something that hurt going down, Blastback finally found a moment to relax. "Do we have enough ships for a deal or do we have to go out hunting again?"

"I've been thinking on that, and I have an idea. Another clipper like my Pandemonium would be great, but they take a lot of work to build." Picking up her mug, Celaeno tipped it back and let the horrible, burning rum pour down her gullet. "But I've got a better idea. Yeah, fast ships can do some amazing stuff, but what if we had a frigate."

"Frigates and clippers are a bit different where we come from." It was an effort to have things explained to him. Blastback trusted Celaeno a bit better after her heroic covering of his ass as he got out of the trap, but he wanted to go into every situation knowing the basics.

"Clipper, single balloon, using speed instead of armor. The Storm King's ships are like a clipper, but then they go and use a crappy design that's slower, and build an oversize cargo hold. What I'm thinking is a frigate—cut two of the Storm King's ships in half, add a midsection that's about as long as one of them entirely, and wrap the hull in that metal they love so much. Toss in about ten cannons per side and you'd have yourself quite the ship."

"A warship, then. Will the armor be enough to deflect cannonballs? You said single balloon, it would have two?" Blastback winced at another mouthful of the alcohol. "Do they serve ale here?"

"They do, but you don't want to drink it. The stuff will have things swimming in it. At least with this you know anything in it is dead." Tapping her mug, she looked into the depths and shuddered at actually seeing the things that were dead. "It should—"

"Why don't we forget their metal and use our own steel? We can bespell it then—maybe even build some self-repairing charms into it." At seeing Celaeno's look of surprise, Blastback shrugged. "You want some of that for your ship, huh?"

"How's it work? Magic is—With the Storm King's ships, it's not as useful as it used to be. Defensively, though, I could get some use from it."

Screwing up his face a moment, Blastback picked up his mug (still half full) and drained it completely. "There's two ways to cast it. You can sink it into something and have it trigger, or you can cast it after the fact. The first is better because you don't have to worry about it when things are hairy." Drawing his wand, he aimed it at the mug and warped the Mending charm so that it would keep working so long as there was magic it could use and the item was damaged.

Lifting the mug up, Blastback brought it down on the table and smashed it into all the pieces of wood that made it up—its barrel-like construction meant there were a lot. Before they could even stop moving, a blue glow wrapped around the wood and metal of the mug and started pulling it all back together until it was again whole.

"You can cast that on a whole ship, then?" Celaeno asked.

"Not all at once. I mean, we could if we were just casting it after the damage, but casting it on a ship to trigger later would have it trigger whenever you work a rope tighter on the balloon. That's why we cast it on individual parts. The hull doesn't change, so we could make it work on all that. Then there's the rudder—having that self-repair would be nice. But if we're going to be wearing armor, that armor should be its own casting." The rum, Blastback realized, was strong enough that gulping it all down made him relax despite his focus on the conversation.

"Right. So we'd have a frigate than can stand toe-to-toe with the best the Storm King can throw at it and come out without a scratch. My ship can run scout and tackle. I'll have to lend you crew to run such a monster, but I think we're both comfortable enough with each other to do that." Not to be outdone, Celaeno drained her mug and thumped it on the table to get a waitress' attention.

"Aileek!" Blastback looked toward the bulk of the room and watched as she came over to their table. "What would you say is the strongest, most defensible location in Abyssinia?"

"Royal palace. Without a doubt. It will still be standing, but who knows how long with all these fucking Storm King ships." Her time spent with a group of Australians was starting to rub off on her speech more than Aileek had realized.

"So, we get this new ship, we sail on in and smash through whatever they can put in front of us, and ask your…" Looking up at Aileek, Blastback raised an eyebrow.

"Father—the King."

Smiling and nodding, Blastback continued. "We ask your father if he's willing to sign off on us being privateers."

It was a reminder that, despite her position and power, Aileek wasn't the ruler. She sighed aloud and nodded. "You have a problem, though."

"Yeah we do," Celaeno said. "I'm not exactly a welcome friend in Abyssinia, if you know what I mean? Pirates and merchants are not usually on good terms."

"They don't have the choice to pick their allies. We fly in there under a peace flag and make the offer. They'll be able to see how effective we are by the hole we rip on the way in." Reaching for the replacement mug, Blastback brought it to his lips and sipped at more of the horrible rum. "This tastes better on the second round."

"I'm fairly sure it holds your tastebuds hostage and won't surrender until you're sober again. Okay, let's take this plan on and see how it flies." Celaeno held up her mug to Blastback. "To allies, to fighting, and to bringing home enough treasure to live like a queen!"

It was a toast Blastback could salute to only because the person he wanted to live like a queen was Aileek.

Light was the enemy. Blastback tried to lever himself from the bed and reach the curtains to close them, but an arm wrapped around him and dragged him back. His mind spun as he tried to work out who it was before looking.

Celaeno didn't open her eyes. Opening eyes with the kind of hangover she had would be bad. Open eyes led to rooms spinning and rooms spinning led to her finding the jacks very fast or making a fool of herself. "Get back here."

It might not have been smart, but he wasn't exactly keeping chaste for anyone, so Blastback slumped back on the bed and let Celaeno pull his back against her chest. He didn't move and she didn't seem inclined to either, which meant Blastback could try to remember a bit about the previous night.

More drinking, more cheering, and even some dancing (despite having one leg). Then the dancing had turned horizontal. Keeping his eyes closed, he tried to imagine the dragon screaming in his head was slowly getting quieter.

Not having been counting, Celaeno figured a few hours had passed. "We're goin' down the shipyards to talk about building this frigate, then we're going to see someone about yer leg."

"I'm guessing there's no one here who could grow a new one for me?" As he spoke, Blastback ran a hand down to Celaeno's leg, rubbing the feathers around her thigh.

Celaeno laughed. "Yeah, I'd have my own back if we could do that. Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

"Yeah. I've been getting used to a lot since coming here."

"Well, sounds like an adventure. Why don't you tell me about it since we're not going anywhere fast."

Blastback took a deep breath and let it out. The way Celaeno was hugged to his back felt nice—spooning, he knew it was called, but he'd never been in this position before. "If you can believe it, I've been a police officer for nearly 40 years…"

Liz Harrington was sitting in the bar, having drawn short straw to wait on Blastback to come out. Beside her was Jack Crowley—they were both sipping water from glasses they'd brought with them. The bartender didn't look apologetic in the least. "Almost 10. Do I even want to know what he's up to?"

"They're up to. And, no." Pulling out his precious pack of cigarettes, Jack tapped the top which triggered the spell wrapped around them. The 29 cigarettes inside became 30, and Jack pulled one out to set it between his lips. "You leave any family behind, Liz?"

"Just my dog. I hope my brother found him." That's when it clicked for Liz. "Yeah, right. Brother and Dad. No one else." They'd been stuck a little over a month, but had never had the chance to just talk. Talking, when you were sailing, always seemed to get interrupted—whether by another ship or a crewmate.

Snapping his fingers, Jack produced a little flame and used it to light his cigarette. "I'm never going to see my wife again. I don't know it-know it—but I know it. She'd be kicking me arse if she knew I was smoking again."

Liz reached a hand out and put her hand on Jack's free hoof. "I'm sorry, Jack."

"You know, she always told me how—how proud she was of me. Fuck." Jack wanted to cry. He wanted to bawl his eyes out, but that wasn't how he'd been raised. Bringing the cigarette back to his lips, he inhaled and relaxed with the coffin nail hanging from one corner of his mouth.

The sound of one foot, a hoof, and a peg-leg coming down the stairs pulled Liz's attention away from Jack. She looked and saw Blastback leaning on Celaeno's shoulder, but it was the comfortable way they moved together that told her the rumors were true—even if just seeing them both come down together wasn't already enough. "Morning, captains."

For a moment Blastback wondered if there would be any stink kicked up among his crew from this. He had been shifting his viewpoint a lot lately—just being the fish-out-of-water tactical wizarding police wasn't good enough anymore—and he felt that actually being a ship crew might be the best way forward. "Morning. How're the ships? Crews?"

Doing his best to shove aside his pain, Jack gulped down the water in his glass and slid off his stool to turn to Blastback. He knew the man was roughly the same age as him, but that didn't matter. He'd seen how competently Blastback had handled himself and his team. "From what I remember, you weren't the only two to wind up in the same bunk. Moral's high because we all lived. Orders?"

"Relax. We're going to talk to a bird about a boat. Try to get the hole fixed and see about having everyone awake by midday at the latest."

Leaving the tavern, Blastback noticed that there was a group of well-armed people at the end of the dock (where it merged into the tree city). "Welcoming party?"

"They're here officially. I need to vouch for you." Celaeno, after a night spent off her ship, was walking far easier—even with someone leaning on her every second step. As they approached the welcoming committee, she raised a hand at them. "Yeah, yeah. I vouch for 'im."

"Just bein' careful, ma'am."

"That's why Lorikalia is still free an' all. We're just going to see the shipwrights." Not even slowing, Celaeno led Blastback past the three parrots. "Probably get him a leg while we're down that way. You seen Storm King's ships buzzing around?"

"Seen. Destroyed," one of the parrots said. "That where ya lost ya leg? Fightin' Storm King?"

"Yeah," Blastback said.

"Hope ya nailed a few, then. His kind don't deserve the sky." The parrot spat on the ground gave Blastback a nod.

When they were well past the parrot guards, Blastback looked to Celaeno. "Who were they?"

"The guards of Lorikalia. It's a free city, but kinda careful about who it lets in. Ya need someone to vouch for you, and once you understand what the rules are—and can prove you can keep your beak clean—you are considered a citizen."

"Sounds smart. Citizenry based on deeds and honor." Blastback had to stop his hobbling as Celaeno froze in place and started laughing. "What?"

"Honor. I've never heard it called that, and I doubt anyone outside of Lorikalia would think this place is honorable, but I guess it could be considered that. Down this way is the shipyards. We might be able to salvage some of the hulls of the ships we captured, but any ship we have built is going to need a single, solid keel." Moving again, Celaeno moved in the direction of the shipyards.

It took some haggling, but Blastback and Celaeno had finally made a deal with the old parrot who ran the shipyards. Of the eleven Storm King ships they'd brought in (excluding the one Blastback had originally stolen), the shipyards would take ten of them—the last would be Blastback and his crew's buy-in on Lorikalia citizenship.

"There're six parrots of Lorikalia who are charged with making deals for citizenship. Master Squab is one. She'll happily take that ship as your buy-in. If you ever break the law, however, you'll be out on your ass minus that ship." Celaeno shrugged her shoulders. "To be honest, if you manage to break them, you deserve it."

Standing propped up against a wall, Blastback nodded and couldn't keep back a smirk. "Okay, now we need to get a rotation organized to be down here to cast the spells as they build the ship. Oh, what are the rules for Lorikalia?"

"No killing, no stealin', no buying or selling, no slaves, no assaulting whores or children, obey the rule of the council, and if you get called up to serve on the council—ya have to serve. Natural-born get three strikes once they come of age, those who buy-in get one."

"There's a new one, Celaeno," Squab said as she walked back into the room. "No 'elping the Storm King."

"No chance of that," Blastback said, "nor any of the others. My crew"—the moment he said it, Blastback realized it was the first time he truly thought of his squad, Aileek, and the longma as his crew—"have been stirring things up for the Storm King, as you can see."

"Part of why I'm stickin' my neck out for ya." Gesturing at the quick sketch she'd made, Squab curled her beak up into a grin. "And this'll have ya taking out a lot more. Ten cannon down each side? Ya gonna need more crew—though you'll have the room to carry 'em."

"There's another thing. We're going to need to have some of my crew helping." When Blastback saw Squab glare at him, he held out a hand trying to placate her. "Not doing any of your work, making it better."

"You should see it, Squab, they got magic that can make a ship repair itself from splinters and shattered steel. This"—Celaeno gestured at the design too—"will be impossible for them to take out with cannons."

Squinting at Blastback, Squab grabbed herself a thick plank from a pile of off-cuts she used to teach apprentices their craft. "Do this, then. I want to see it."

Feeling as charged with magic as ever, Blastback drew his wand and tapped the wood. It took more magic to enchant than the mug had, but he wanted to leave a good impression on the shipbuilder. "There."

"No light? Not wispy flames? No songs?" Glaring at the wood, Squab set one end against the edge of her worktable, held the other with one hand, and drove her fist through the thick spar. As soon as she pulled her fist back, the splinters jumped toward the off-cut and the two broken pieces joined back together. "Well, fuck me."

"I'd like to do that for every part of the ship," Blastback said.

"Tell ya what, ya do it for another ship I'm workin' on, and I'll marry ya."

"Back off you old witch," Celaeno laughed as she poked Squab in the chest.

Squab tilted her head to the side a little. "Ya married 'em?"

"No, she hasn't, and I'm not in the market—but with how much you've helped, I'll see about getting that other ship enchanted." It was an easy promise to make. Such a ship would be easy for him and his crew to disenchant if they ever faced it, but would be practically impossible to take down for any other ship.

"If whatever war you're getting yourselves into ends up with you still standing, haul ass back here and I'll have work for you and your crew." It wasn't her own desire to build wealth that made Squab so predatorial, it was securing Lorikalia an invincible navy that had her ready to offer the strange pony and his crew damn near anything.

Blastback instantly thought of Liz and Jack. "I'll remember that, particularly if any of them want out at some point."

"You know, Squab, that's a pretty big favor for not a lot of return promise. He's gonna make your ship almost invincible." Tapping her hip where her flintlock sat, Celaeno smirked at the old parrot. "I know you have a cache of guns. He needs one."

"Fuck you, Celaeno. He was happy to do it for nothin'." As she said it, however, Squab reached under her table and then to a sling built against the underside. "Though it's a fair deal for what ya doing."

As the parrot drew the old-style pistol, Blastback noticed that it was cocked and ready to fire, and had a little strip of leather covering the mechanism. It didn't take a genius to know it was worse than his pistol and wouldn't hold a candle to his rifle, but it also didn't need fancy ammo to fire. "When the ship's done"—he nodded to the flintlock—"and not a second sooner, ma'am."

Squinting, Squab smirked. "You sure about not being open to marriage?"

Laughing, Blastback had to admit to himself that the parrots were each a different flavor of humorous, but all of them were intense. "I gotta live through this first, but you're second on the list."

Celaeno's eyes widened a moment and she felt a rush of excitement. She'd met few men who were as commanding and forward as Blastback, and now he'd just cooked up a possible contest—even if it was half a joke. "Come on. Gotta get your leg fixed before you promise to marry every damn parrot in Lorikalia."

Hopping over to Celaeno, Blastback leaned on her shoulder again and they started off with an almost comfortable return to their earlier gait.

"Were you serious at all back there?" Celaeno asked.

"The marriage thing? Not exactly. I'm not as young as I might look, and while I won't say I haven't had my fair share of loves, none have gone that far." None had been with any woman who could match him mentally and physically—possibly even best him—though Celaeno couldn't hold a torch to his magic. "Why? Not going soft on the first stallion you've seen, are you?"

"You are hardly the first stallion I've seen, though you're the most handsome." The words surprised Celaeno. She certainly hadn't intended the compliment. "And you'll look a bit better when you're no longer hanging off my shoulder. Can't you just whip up that repair spell on your leg?"

"Doesn't work like that. Some things work on living things, but most of the time it needs completely different magic, or the pain from it working would kill ya." He noticed now they were headed for a specific building that had a white cross nailed to the door. "That the doc?"

"Yes and no. He does some doctorin', but he's a better carpenter than he is a doctor."

Looking down a moment, and spotting Celaeno's pegleg, Blastback asked, "Did he make yours?"

"Yeah, he did. You can probably pay him the same way you're paying for that pistol."

"Right. Well, in we go." With a door jam and wall to hold onto, Blastback followed Celaeno into the small building.

There was a surprising amount of light within, which meant Blastback could see the dark-feathered bird sitting on a stool measuring a rod of steel. Not a parrot, but a crow. Only when the rod was measured to the crow's satisfaction did he look up.

"Celaeno, captain, you have a new customer for me? What did you do, start trying to kick flying cannonballs?" Setting his tools down, the crow's eyes narrowed on Blastback. "Hook Beak." He thrust out his left arm to Blastback.

"Blastback Davies. We're here about a leg, yeah." The firm handshake seemed reassuring.

Hook smiled all down his long beak. "What you got in trade?"

"Magic. You want something to keep repairing itself even if you break it in half?" Blastback tried out his best smile.

"It's a nice start. What do you want out of a leg?" It was a strain to hide his excitement. Hook knew that Celaeno flew straight when it came to dealings in Lorikalia, so he had to believe that she thought the strange pony could do what he claimed.

Blastback shrugged. "To hold me up and not slip."

Laughing, Celaeno stepped forward. "Come on, Hook. He's like some kind of pony magician. Just fix him up with a leg and he'll do damn near anything magic you can imagine."

"You sure?" Hook asked.

"Yeah I'm sure."

"Hrmm, well, I just finished fixing this arm. Why don't you go ahead and use your magic on that? If it's as good as you say, it'll never break again, right?" Hook looked past Celaeno to Blastback.

Not having noticed the crow's left arm was mechanical until he pulled up the sleeve on his shirt, Blastback hopped closer and leaned on Celaeno to look at it. "It can still break, but it'll pull itself back together again."

"Huh. Okay, give it a shot. I just replaced the fingers and it's just how I like it now." Thrusting his arm out, Hook looked up at Celaeno with a curious, raised eyebrow.

Drawing out his wand with his right hand, Blastback worked the now very familiar spell into the metal limb. Unlike all the other times he'd cast it, however, the metal just soaked up more and more magic by the second until—when it finally accepted the enchantment—he was almost shaking. "What the fucking hell is that?"

Hook let out a caw of laughter. "It's not hollow. I have a gemstone in there that's bound with several enchantments. I take it your little trick will work even on that?"

"Apparently. Holy shit it took it out of me." Shaking his head, Blastback resheathed his wand, only to watch the crow put his hand on the anvil beside him and bring down a hammer on the smallest finger.

Staring at his broken finger, Hook watched the metal warp and twist, parts pulling themselves back toward the stump it'd smashed off of, and when it was all reassembled he let out more caws of laughter. "You got yourself a deal! How long does this last?"

"As long as there's magic to sustain it. Last time I looked, this world is kinda full of magic." Blastback had felt all the tension leave the room when Hook laughed. The way the crow just seemed to dominate the building was intense.

"Okay then! Let me take some measurements. I have a new enchantment gem, so we could see about getting this leg to do some tricks." Crouching down, Hook offered Blastback his stool.

Aileek rolled the dice and breathed out a sigh of relief. "Hold on that five. Eleven more has me at thirty-five." She scooped the dice up and passed it back to Mullet.

"You know how to play this, eh?" Rolling the dice twice, Mullet got a one on the second roll and swore aloud. "Too damn good, if ya ask me." Though his voice was gruff, he had a grin. "It'd be worrying if we were betting for money."

"Cap'ns are coming back. Yours has a new leg. You think they're sharing bunks thing is gonna be ongoin'?" Lix Spittle elbowed Aileek. "If'n she don't keep hittin' that, I might try meself."

"Ugh, I don't want to know, you know? He's the captain, he can make up his own mind about who he fucks." Aileek rolled the dice again and got a six. "And there we go. Forty."

"Bah. Too good by half. Damn cats are too lucky." Mullet fished the bottle—only flask size—out of his pocket and set it before Aileek. "There ya are."

Holding up the bottle, Aileek opened the top and took a smell. Purring aloud, she closed the top before she would weaken and take a sip. "Real kumis. It's been way too long since I've had a proper drink."

As he walked up the gangplank with a rolling gait, Blastback looked at the crew sitting aboard his ship, along with the various pirates from Celaeno's that were there. "We're not getting a clipper. With some deals, we're getting a frigate. More guns than you can count, armored, redundant balloons, and we're going to take shifts up at the dockyards enchanting the thing to within an inch of its life. The price is enchanting another ship. Plus, Celaeno arranged for us all to be citizens here."

"Huh?" Aileek stood up slowly, palming the fermented milk drink into a pocket. "Me too?"

"All my crew. The laws here are a bit strange, but I can see why it holds together as well as it does. Once we're done fighting your war, well, I'm starting to think beyond that." Blastback gestured to the city beyond the wharf. "The folk here aren't so bad."

"Crew, boss?" Daku was first to speak up. Having become a full pony had left him most limited of all his squad, but at the same time it meant he was relied on to be the magic caster in any situation. "We're buying into this?"

Nodding, Blastback crouched down a little so Daku didn't have to look up so far. "I am, mate. That's the point. By getting citizenship here, you can work and live in Lorikalia or even seek out a ship going somewhere you want to be. Or you can stay on my crew and—"

"So if we're a crew, what's the rules there? It's not like being a squad, eh?" Junebug asked.

"That's where things'll change the most. Talked with Celaeno about it and we need to write a charter. Rules of the ship. First, it'll be a democracy—not the little bits, the big ones. Every port we come to, we all vote to see who is captain and first mate.

"There's a bunch more about shares of any loot, but I think we can sort that out after we're done with Aileek's job. No bunk-warming—that's what they call shagging. No killing another member of the crew.

"No gambling for money or rations. If you bet, you bet your own stuff. Cabins are quiet after 8. Your weapons are your responsibility." As he finished rambling off the list Celaeno had told him, Blastback walked over to where Aileek had been sitting and parked his rear down. "I'll write it all up. Right now, though, you can agree to go with me or stay ashore."

Firelight looked around at her squadmates and caught a nod from each of them. She turned her attention to Jack and Liz, and saw something else there. "Ja—"

"Sorry, mate, I can't do it. Liz and me, we're not—not cut for this. This isn't upholding the peace." Pulling Liz a little closer, Jack felt a small thrill as she actively leaned against him.

"That's why I'm doing it this way. Once I have all the citizenship confirmed, you could probably both get good work here with your magic or in your old line of work." Standing back up, Blastback walked over to the pair and thrust his hand out to Liz. "You're together, then?"

"Yes," Jack said.

"No," Liz said.

The two looked at each other and sighed.

"It's complicated." Jack squeezed Liz's shoulder. "I don't know if I can try to get back what I had back—back on Earth. I need time to work that out."

"I'll give him that time. We've known each other long enough that it feels right to be together," Liz said, "but this whole situation is so messed up."

"Sorry, Blastback, but I just can't. Not like this. Back home I could keep up with street thugs and put down the odd situation the normies were having trouble with, but this is war," Jack said.

"Look, we'll get you settled here while we work on the new ship. You can spend some time establishing yourselves and—if you still want to stay—we'll sail without you." Blastback hated having to say goodbye, he still needed to recruit more crew, and here he was losing a combat wizard. "But this'll be our home port."

Jack sighed and broke his grim expression with a small smile. "Thanks, mate."

"Not a problem. You take care of him, Liz." Blastback waited until he got a nod from both of them before he turned back to his squad, Aileek, and the longma. "What about the rest of you?"

Breeze Cutter looked at his mate, then the rest of the longma. He was pleased to get a nod from each of them. "A month ago, if you'd asked me if I was willing to sail to war with a bunch of strange pony-creatures, I would have given your hooves a lick of fire to send you on your way." He took a deep breath and let out a small, blue flame. "But now I want to make that Storm King and his thugs pay for what they did to us and what they're doing to Abyssinia."

"And if you think you can get rid of any of us, captain, you have another thing coming." Firelight nodded to the rest of her squad and got nods back from everyone. "Okay, so we need people who are the best at enchanting, or what?"

"It's just a simple triggered Mending charm. With the amount of magic here, any of us could do it. The problem is the scale of what needs to be enchanted. We could enchant every plank and nail separately, but it would be better to do the hull in one piece so it all repairs together." Trying not to make a big deal of them all agreeing to stay on, Blastback was glad to change topics.

"We could work together. Junebug has a wild amount of kick from that horn of hers. Have her juice others up to work the big enchantments," Daku said.

Junebug snorted. "How many ship hulls do we need to enchant?"

Quickly adding things up in his head, Blastback counted them off on his hands. "There's our ship, which is about three times longer than this thing, there will be the balloons for it, and then the same again for Squab's ship and balloon. So one huge enchantment, then six big ones, and tons of things like rope, rudders, armor plating…"

"So, captain, write up a roster and let's do this. Let's build us an unkillable warship and go kick some ass." Firelight felt her element of choice boiling in her blood.

"And we need more gunners. A lot more gunners," Blastback said.

It took a month to lay the huge keel, strip the old ships and use the timber to build the new one. While that was happening, the guns were being melted down and recast with thicker walls and much longer barrels.

Blastback went to the dockyard every morning to watch the ship take shape, then spent some time with his new pistol to learn its operation and how it fired, and finally rejoined Celaeno as they worked through interviews for gunners.

"I hate the waiting," Blastback said. "I want to get out there and hammer more of their ships."

Celaeno looked at the list and sighed. "You know I feel the same way. I don't want to take any of the hands from my ship, though, because when things get hairy, I like having a big crew that're all willing to pick up a sword."

"If even half this lot will pick up a sword, we'll have our own army. Three per gun, ten guns per side—This is madness."

"No, madness would have been making two rows of them. Let's hope we can get you the sixty crew you need."

"So it's done? No more building?" Aileek looked at the monster airship. "I don't think I've ever seen something this big before. It can really fly?"

"Of course it'll fly. You think I've been building ships my whole life and haven't learned any lessons?" Squab asked. "Now, let's see it fly, eh?" It was, in her own mind, an amazing skyship. More guns than sense, the ability to repair itself, and enough self-repairing balloons that even scattershot wouldn't be overly concerning.

"There any traditions here we need to maintain?" Blastback ran his hand along the side of the hull, feeling the magic bound to it humming and waiting to work. Once the charms had been anchored, it had surprised all the wizards and witches how readily magic poured into them.

Hearing him ask of tradition made Squab smile. "Well, the first person on deck needs to be the ship's captain. Another one is that you need a woman to break a bottle of something over the prow. The rest is mostly jetsam, and can be treated like it."

The little ceremony was carried out with a bottle of beer delivered to the prow by Junebug, and with the balloons filled, Blastback stepped onto his new ship. The planks of the deck didn't so much as twitch at his weight, and the whole vessel felt solid to him. On one hip he had a sword and the other he had a flintlock pistol—both of which he'd been practicing with over the ship's construction. "Stiff Wind."

Turning and walking over to the rails, Blastback tried to ignore how odd his gait felt still. "Stiff Wind! It'll blow the storm away!"

Most of the crew standing on the dock watching weren't the squad he'd come with, the longma he'd freed, or Aileek. They were the new crews who'd signed on to shoot the guns of his ship. New and old, everyone cheered.

"Get onboard now. Let's take her for a fly!"

The scale of the new ship surprised even Celaeno. She worked with Mullet to provision Stiff Wind with powder, ammunition, food, and more. Neither had dealt with a ship so big before.

"It's almost like we need to just buy ten of everything we'd normally equip Pandemonium. I'm not sure if I love the idea, or hate it." What she hated was how much she had to barter for those supplies. What she didn't hate was the idea of having such a heavy hitter sail at her side. "Do you think we can get a discount of this for buying so much?"

"We can try. Here, we should probably get swords for all of 'em too. They might not all need them, but better to have a few too many than not enough."

"Actually, Blastback has that sorted. Each new crewmember is getting a sword and a dagger. With that many hands onboard, it'd be a waste not to equip them all. Aileek wanted all this shot, too. Sand? Do I even want to know what a cat wants with a ton of sand?"

"I want the sand," Aileek said, having walked into the tavern's taproom where the two parrots were working, "because nothing is worse than getting covered in hot sand when you're wearing armor." She made her way over to where they were going through her requests and tapped the stove she'd requested. "This is to heat the sand without having an open flame in the gun deck."

Celaeno lifted her head and looked up at Aileek with a raised eyebrow. "That's a nasty thing to do to someone. I like it." Using her quill she added a tick to sand and stove. "Everything else here looks normal."

"How long is it going to take to get all this ordered, loaded, and be ready to sail?" Aileek asked.

Tapping at the list with one claw, Celaeno had to admit she liked Aileek's enthusiasm. "We've already got stuff being delivered later today. With the crews already gathered, we can haul it onboard and stow it fast. It's the gun crews we're hunting for now. We need five more experienced gunner's mates. If you know of anyone—cat, pony, parrot, whatever—you find 'em and send 'em down here."

When Aileek stomped back out of the tavern, grumbling about finding fools, Mullet turned to Celaeno. "Speakin' of that upright pony—you've got a thing for 'im, cap'n?"

"Ha! We fit well together—and not just in the way yer thinking, Mullet. His mind is sharp as a dagger." Celaeno let out a low whistle. "He's already planned out dozens of encounters for various counts and configurations of ships. It's a struggle to keep up sometimes—"

"But ya do keep up, right?"

"Yeah, Mullet. Yeah I do."

"Then we'll be flyin' together fer a while." It wasn't a question. Mullet wasn't the sort to get jealous of a woman he'd never been with before, but his captain was his captain, and if she was going to get hard done by, he'd be there with his fists and sword to defend her.

"He's also great in bed."

Mullet groaned and swung a lazy fist at Celaeno—missing when she dodged expertly. "Dammit, cap'n, didn't need to know that."

Laughing, Celaeno leaned forward again after avoiding the blow. "But now you do, Mullet. Keep off me case about 'im unless you want to know all the fuckin' details, got it?"

"I'm the bloody first mate o' the ship. I need t' know if I gotta pitch an idiot parrot overboard because she's got too hungry for 'er own good." He pulled over another sheaf of paper with names on it and scowled. "I don't know any of these feather-brains."

"Then we load on ten percent more and have 'em trained on the way. Mullet"—Celaeno glared at her ship's first mate's left eye and let out a small snarl—"if you ruin this fuckin' thing because of some bullshit you got in yer head, I'll draw and quarter you meself. Just because I've ended a dry patch doesn't mean I'm fixin' to do something stupid. 'e's a good captain and a good fuck. Keep your nose out of the latter."

A shiver ran down Mullet's spine at the metal in Celaeno's voice. He gulped, remembering that she was the ship's captain in part because she was ruthless. "Yes, cap'n."

"As fer my decisions as captain, you know what the Storm King is about, right?" When Mullet shook his head, Celaeno went on. "He's taking over. Tartarus—he's taken over enough places already. Where do you think all his bloody ships're coming from?"

Being first mate of the ship meant that Mullet's focus was always on the ship, its crew, and getting both to do what Celaeno wanted. Hearing her talk about what amounted to a world-wide war made his empty eye socket itch. "Ya know my head's always on the ship, cap'n."

"I know, Mullet, and that's why I can think about this stuff. If we give this bastard more nations and more ground, he'll blanket the sky with airships. Eventually they'll come for Lorikalia.

"Swore an oath to this place—we all did—that we wouldn't lead scum here. If we let this Storm King keep going as he is, it'll wash up all on its own." Looking through the names, Celaeno noticed one she recognized. "Black-Powder Pete! That ol' bastard taught Squabble how to fire a gun!"

"Cap'n?"

"Wait here, Mullet, I gotta go talk an old, salty bastard to train some idiots for me. Hire the next 4 smart-looking lads and fill the crews out with muscle." Jumping to her feet, Celaeno walked toward the door.

Standing at the wheel, one hand holding it for support, Blastback heard the shout from the old, balding parrot come again just a moment for the whole ship shook. Raport after raport sounded as the guns along the port side shouted their fury at the world one by one.

"Captain!" Firelight climbed up onto the aftcastle. "How many more days until we're done with this, you think?"

Looking to starboard and slightly fore of the ship, he spotted Celaeno's Pandemonium slicing through the sky with its feathers half-spread to catch their tailwind. "She might be a pirate, Firelight, but she's fighting the good fight."

"And when she doesn't?" Firelight asked.

"That's when we're done with this." Turning to his ship's first mate, Blastback smirked. "The question is, Firelight, are we still the good guys?"

"When our enemy is a bunch of slavers and oppressors, Blast, I like to think the answer to that is pretty clear." She stepped around him and put her hand on the wheel. "I got this. Take some time off that damn leg."

"It doesn't hurt."

"Don't care, cap'n."

"Thanks, Firelight." Letting go of the wheel, Blastback made his way to the captain's quarters of the ship, nodding to his crew as he went. It had only been a few scant months, but the big fight was just over the horizon now, and he wanted to be ready for it.