The Great Magical Mishap

Chapter 2 - Monkey business

"I'll accept this for now," he said to the monkey, acting as if he had a choice in the matter.

The duo drew surprisingly few looks as they made their way to the ship. A monkey would be a strange sight on its own and so would a wizard around these parts. The combination of these equally rare and strange sights seemed to cancel each other out, turning the illogical into the perfectly normal. Somehow the monkey was still going in the right direction.

Maybe this little guy is the local guide.

Harrold considered the thought for a moment, before realizing he would've likely heard about the existence of monkey guides. He had also never actually told the monkey where he needed to go.

Good, at least it won't be expecting pay in that case. The service wouldn't deserve it anyway.

Without any input from Harrold's side, they soon made it to the right dock. Much to Harrold's surprise, the ship turned out to actually be an airship. Even Harrold with his, admittedly, limited knowledge on airships could see this was not a particularly impressive one, but even an older somewhat battered airship was still an airship. Reserved for the rich, famous and foolish. They are notorious for being the fastest non-magical form of transportation. The big downside being that one could never be quite sure if it would take you to your actual destination or your final destination. On the plus side, regardless of where you ended up, at least it would get you there quickly. That's the common perception anyway. Airships had a habit of disappearing suddenly and permanently, so no one really knew if accidents were quick and painless or horribly slow and excruciatingly painful. Harrold, knowing his luck, figured he'd soon find out.

For the most part airships looked the same as normal seafaring boats. Airships still required the capability to cross the violent seas after all. This one too followed the age-old standards. A large wooden hull, with probably two levels below deck Harrold guessed based on its size, and three masts holding up a collection of large sails. The hull had multiple closed shutters on the side. Harrold hoped they were not just to threaten, but also had some actual cannons hidden behind them. The biggest difference between this particular airship and the average dull boat would be the placement of the largest mast, which was more towards the back of the ship, and the fact that it had huge wing-like sails on the side. They were quite large, starting slightly before the center of the ship and sticking out at the end. The wings resembled those of an insect, small and thin at the base and broadening considerably towards the end. With the wings pulled in towards the hull, as they were currently, the back of the ship was mostly obscured from view. The wings actually covered off several of the shutters on both the upper and lower row, suggesting the vassal once started life as an ordinary boat and was modified later on.

As if the custom built ones aren't dangerous enough already.

The monkey violently pointed towards the boarding ramp and made some more angry monkey noises towards Harrold. Before today Harrold wouldn't have been sure what 'violently pointing' would entail, but it really was the only way to describe the monkey's motions. 

"Alright, alright! I'm going!" Harrold said as he started walking up the ramp.
"Such an angry little guy," he muttered, which resulted in the monkey giving him a mean sideways glance, quickly followed by even more violent motions and angry noises. Harrold picked up his pace in response, hoping to avoid any potential conflict. He was not in the mood to deal with an angry scimitar wielding monkey today. Had it been yesterday, or tomorrow for that matter, the little fiend would've been in great trouble.

Harrold made his way up the ramp. Both the captain and Pat were waiting for him. 

"Ah, just in time Master Wizard! Welcome aboard the 'Bon Voyage'", the Captain said enthusiastically as Harrold approached.