Adventuresome

Chapter 18

Perrin frowned at the stars above her, and looked at the ground below. The city was indeed passing below without a problem. That was good. Dominick was a powerful enough spirit that he could lift the ship by himself. That was good. And impressive, she had to admit privately. But from what little she had gleaned of Lilliana's plan, they were trying to go to the desert region, and they were heading directly South--the opposite direction from the desert.

She was all for misleading the soldiers, that bastard, and whoever else would be chasing them, but going South forced them to cross directly over the city for a significantly longer time than if they headed any other direction.

Her gut was telling her this was a bad idea, and she had lived through a wild life of adventure to date by trusting her gut. She also held no trust for Captain Rill. Senator Yula had seemed strict and severe, but genuinely willing to help them. Perrin felt no such reassurance from Captain Rill.

Captain Rill, almost as short as she was, sat at the rudder of the ship. Belowdeck were four rowers, each manning one of the sailing oars. At first glance, the airship was incredible. Everything was designed to look elegant and sleek, and the wood was painted with dark, swirling colors mixed with what appeared to be actual gold plating. The fabric for the sails was new and perfectly white.

It was just so old.

Everything looked new, everything looked freshly painted, everything looked quite beautiful. But the design of the airship, the mechanics behind how it stayed in the air, the fact that it needed four oars at all. The desert region had surpassed that technology decades ago.

Dominick alone could keep the airship aloft, without even the aid of his mage, but he was a powerful spirit. If Perrin had to guess, this exact ship would normally need at least three mages and their spirits. While that proved Dominick to be the most powerful spirit Perrin had ever heard of, it also proved the ship's design to be cumbersome and quite frankly irrelevant.

The desert region had stopped needing the power of spirits to lift airships entirely two years ago. Desert airships had access to new materials that made their ships lighter and faster. Thanks to their airship engineers, they had found a way to create the necessary lift without using spirits at all.

Perrin had known the merchant ships of the empire were old and slow, but she had expected more from the "fancy" personal crafts of the empire's elite. No wonder the last battle between the desert region and the empire had left the emperor's fleet smoldering on the ground.

"You should get some rest." Captain Rill called out, drawing Perrin's focus away from the ship and the direction.

She made a face to the open air before turning to look at the captain with composure, although a little suspicion.

I don't trust him.

But she did need sleep. Her night in prison had not been restful, and since then she had been on the run from house to house to house to airship.

But I can't just let him steer this ship, alone, without asking.

"Don't you think we should be sailing eastward?"

"Eastward? Missing your dry home, rat?"

She bristled and let her words drip with sarcasm. "And yet it is this dry home of mine Lilliana is so intent on going to, captain."

Rill simply tweaked the rudder and looked at the sky with a sardonic smile.

Perrin set her hand on the hilt of her small dagger, hoping to draw his attention. His eyes followed the movement lazily, but he quickly discounted it. She knew the tone of voice he was using, as well as the body language. "Settle down," it said. "Listen to your elders," it said. "Listen to those who know more than you," it said. "You naive child, you small thing," it said.

"Eastward." She repeated. "If we go eastward we can lose anyone who follows us is the deep forests that lie there. From there, if Lilliana says we have to go to the desert region it is a far simpler journey."

"If Lady Lilliana says?"

A flicker of confusion passed over his expression. It was gone in a flash, but Perrin knew it meant she had been mistaken to tell Rill that Lilliana was in charge. For some reason, Rill had thought she, Perrin, had been in charge of their group. Now, however, she had lost whatever advantage that may have given her.

"Yeah," she snapped, "And do you have a problem with that?"

"No problem at all. However, any course changes will have to go through me, and me alone. This escape plan was devised originally by Lady Lilliana's father. I will follow the best route." He raised an eyebrow. "Unless you would rather wake Lady Lilliana and ask her if she trusts the plan her family made?"

Perrin wanted to respond, wanted to make a cutting retort, wanted to make some kind of argument that would make Captain Rill change the course of the ship. But though she was angry, she was also exhausted. While glaring at him, she stalked towards the cabin Lilliana had entered not long before. There would be time to argue with him later.

Besides, she thought, I'm not even sure I want to follow Lilliana to the desert region.

Inside, the room was dark. Two cots had been set up and Lilliana was already asleep in one of them. Sitting on the empty cot, Perrin unstrapped Galandat's harness. She lay the sword on the floor and slid it under the bed. Releasing the belt that held her dagger, she put the blade under the pillow. Unlacing her boots she pulled them off as well.

Outside, the sound of the wind swirled constantly around the tiny cabin, a reminder that while they slept Dominick was working to keep the airship afloat. It was a sound Perrin had gotten used to in her travels, but this was the first time the sound was alone. On other empire airships, the soft murmurs of mages were laced through the wind.

Perrin shifted restlessly on the hard cot. Usually she paid for her passage by working on the airship and slept belowdeck in the hammocks with the crew. Everything about this shift was strange. She wanted to believe that this was a safe way out of the city but her gut told her something was wrong. She held no trust for Captain Rill. She disliked that they were sailing South over the city. Rill seemed to think they were staying away from the desert region while Lilliana and Dominick had been quite clear that was where they meant to go.

But though she was uncertain, exhaustion closed her eyes.

She had only gotten a few hours of sleep when the airship rocked and then banked so hard she was thrown out of the cot.