Chapter 10 - Radeph's Roundup

Shosoth's usual chaotic kobald shouting from the shacks below was muted. Heard more today was the sound of grinding and scraping, reciprocating waterwheel-driven power hammers, and the hiss of air from the larger ships.

Alanea was sensitive to this shift. The air that normally carried the acrid and sterile stench of garbage piles was now smelling a little more spiced and metallic. The entire town was trying to cover something up. Her gut tightened, a warning she had learned to trust as of late. The serenity of the people below and their waiting in silence was out of character. These kobalds she had gotten to know well over the better part of a week.

There came the blare of a distant horn that often played near the end of each day at nightset. However, the source became alight not long ago, and the day had just begun. The horn was sharp and insistent. Cutting through the rest of Shosoth, a few more sounded, and a further few more from ships around the settlement.

On the horizon approaching quickly outways over the skyland of Missy was a Radephian fleet of about twenty warships. They would need to have either passed a windwall or skirted the same skylands the crew of the Murky Prospector did to come from that direction. The Radephian fleet, about forty redknots away, would take a beat or two to get there. The whole of Shosoth watched their approach, and it wasn't long before their ships would be over everyone else. Clan ships in the path of the Radephian fleet cleared way, and didn't test the military's patience.

As they got closer, they played out the Radephian military lockdown signal. This klaxon let a high-pitched scream out across the atmosphere. This sound was no good for anyone who could hear its cry. This was a declaration that the small kobald port village was now a cage. The warships took to the skies over the pirate clan and flew high to keep everyone in view.

"They've sealed the port. We should have left overnight." Kuthe's baritone warble was urgent, as he cursed kobald words through the galley porthole. Calculating his head a way out, he scanned over the flight patterns of the military aeroships above. "Their ships are faster than I anticipated, and their intelligence is better than I gave them credit for. I knew the cult would show up, because they always do... this, however..." He pointed up and out of the window, smaller than his head. "...I didn't expect so soon."

Cowel and Alanea were sprinting across the ship, making all of the preparations necessary for takeoff. They got the main sails down, and sidesails set before the fleet got in range to see them. "Sealed? What does that mean for us? We can't just sit here and wait for them to drop a gangplank!" Cowel yelled, tying off a loose rope to the mast.

"It means..." Alanea tried to interject, but she was out of breath and exhausted from a lack of sleep. She jumped up the stairs that led up to the cabin deck and placed her hands on the ship's helm. The captain took in a panoramic view of the now-stagnant port. "...that every exit is now a choke point. Every aeroship trying to leave will be boarded and scrutinized. They will assume all of us pirates, all of our goods, products of piracy, and then hang us for it." She wrapped he hands around the polished wood of the brand new helm wheel.

Edven, who had been checking over every part of the engine pipework, was in the galley looking at the steel propellers that were installed with the engine refit. A smudge of grease on his low cheek accentuated his jawline as if it were makeup. He came out of the galley doorway onto the deck and talked up at the captain just overhead.

"You really think they'll hang us, huh? I guess we gotta fight our way out! These new engines are strong, captain. I think we could outrun 'em." He peered through the doorway toward his new companion, who was also inspecting the ship's propellers. The stone golem stared up at the ceiling of the galley and outlined the Radephian ships above with his eye beams.

Kuthe turned away from the viewport. "Fighting is a last resort, a fool's gambit." His face was detached from amusement, and was concentrating on the flight paths of the ships above. "Small aeroships, even ones as well-equipped as ours, are not built for combat. The Radephian military has sophisticated aerocraft. Their hulls are thicker, and their weapons are numerous. They fly faster and have lift assistance provided by wing and aerofoil. The engines on our own ship are derived from their designs."

His claw sifted through a stack of charts Alanea left on the galley table. "Our advantage lies in discretion and speed. We know of paths they will not expect. We are lucky they did not bring a carrier or battleship with them. Shosoth is an old port, built layer upon layer of old buildings over centuries. It has large passages that can be carefully navigated, which lead to openings underneath the skyland."

Alanea climbed down the ladder from the cabin deck down into the galley. She raised an eyebrow and remained skeptical of the suggestion. "Underneath? Like a cave?" She looked out toward the masts and the ten-pace-long flight deck. "Caves are barely wide enough to fit a clip... let alone a fully rigged ship like the Prospector."

She knew about the areas underneath the Shosoth port, which were used to smuggle in pirated goods. It was where the clan's leadership took refuge and held their valuable finds. Smugglers, rival pirates, and fugitives would be disappeared within those tunnels, in the kobald way. This she'd heard about from drunken sailors at delves. Places she had learned not to visit due to their often handsy patrons.

"That's why it'll work." Kuthe had found the particular chart he was looking for. A faded, intricate document with many folds, looking more like origami than a map. Its edges were frayed from age, but would still endure much longer. "The Radephian military operates with a certain... rigidity. Their intelligence likely knows what type of ship they are looking for, but probably would not expect a vessel of our size to attempt a subterranean departure."

He unrolled the chart, revealing a map of Shosoth's lower levels. It seemed to reveal that Shosoth lay within the divot created by the growth of some ancient, massive, and long-dead tree. Only caves remained in the place where its roots once were.

Cowel took a breather after finishing the tying off of ropes. He walked into the galley and leaned closer to the complex map, curious about the plan. The map was a jumble of lines and symbols revealing locations with hazardous construction to prevent cave-ins and collapse. Many of the areas had been neglected for decades.

"How? Even if we fit, it'll be dark. Air rushing through passages could knock us into the side. We smash the wrong place and lose a nacelle, and we will become a new permanent part of this map. Labelled..." He pointed to one of the many designated hazards on the map. "...shipwreck 227, apparently."

Kuthe smiled toothily. "Oh, even worse. The core of this skyland is a black gemin. So our white gemin lights will go dark in there... but that is where your new companion will come into play." Kuthe gestured toward the metal man as if he were a belitboard piece. The machine was still inspecting the ships above through the ceiling of the galley. "His eyes create light from yellow gemin. Based on his performance yesterday, I determined he was entirely unaffected by the cult's black gemin." He tapped his metal cigar case against the table next to the map. "I'm sure he would be able to illuminate the darkest of its passages, and perhaps even reveal unseen paths."

Alanea studied the map and noticed the marked widths of passages. Many of them were as wide as the ship was tall, going straight through the entire skyland. Kuth's knowledge of Shosouth was indeed intimate, as he had lived here most of his life. That knowledge was far beyond what any navigational chart would be able to provide. The routes were viable but treacherous pathways.

"It is a massive risk. If we make a wrong turn... or we trigger some structural weakness? We may become trapped... or bring an entire section of stone down on top of us." The captain turned to talk to the room but looked at no person in particular.

"The alternative is to be captured and have Prism taken from us." Kuthe was not considering other options. "At the very worst, we make the stone difficult to recover if we die down there."

The Umbral Cult's fanaticism didn't do any good to the state of their minds since the night before. Losing Prism was no longer an option since it revealed itself capable of defending the ship in combat. The weight of responsibility on them was a shared burden. Yielding Prism to any power might threaten countless lives. Any risk was a risk worth taking given that knowledge.

Alanea finalized her decision. "I know I am going to regret this, Eliprast, but I need to know what path we are going to take. Give me the bearing, we'll make it work."

The kobald's smile widened with satisfaction. "Excellent... Edven, your keygemin will be put to great use almost the entire day. So you'll need to remain alert." Kuthe looked dead into Edven's eyes. "We have no wind underground except for gusts through the passageways. The engines will be doing all of the propulsion down there... You will have to trust implicitly that the engines do not need your help."

This fact wouldn't settle well with Edven, but he had no choice but to trust the kobald craftsmanship. His constant tinkering would have to be avoided, as he would be ordering a mechanoid to keep sight. "I understand." He affirmed that he would not interfere.

"Cowel, I need you and Prism to pay attention to the fluctuations in energy around our ship. We need to avoid resonances and unstable currents. Prism and the golem can identify obstructions far sooner than any of us can." Kuthe put a scaly hand on Cowel's arm.

"Are you saying I am some kind of oracle?" Cowel was confused by the request.

"Someone has to be if I'm helping the captain navigate." The kobald held his needle-toothed mouth open as if to laugh, but did not.

He used thin paper to trace a path over the ancient map, penning with ease over and around the snaking lines and symbols. "We will enter through this old cargo intake shaft, as that was hollowed out to accommodate ships like ours. That area is rarely used anymore, overgrown, and unmonitored." Kuthe looked toward Cowel. "In addition to monitoring these fluctuations, your keygemin can move the roots that remain in this overgrown area." These roots were the only portion left of the old tree, and other than the tunnels, they were the only evidence that a tree was there at all.

"From there, we will descend these wells. That will be the most difficult stretch through the thoroughfare. It will be very tight and vertical, but navigable." Kuthe's outline of the map was an intricate escape route, and he further detailed specific turns they would need to swing the ship about.

The Radephian patrol was stopping every ship in the sky, so the crew began to execute their preparations quickly. Edven and his keygemin stood at the ship's bow. He quickly cleaned some of the blood that still remained there, just in case. Edven found himself starting to talk to the automaton. Instead of giving it commands, he offered some words of encouragement. The stone man did not respond, though Edven was starting to understand why these creatures meant so much to people. They were an extension of his own disposition and capabilities. It was no coincidence his keygemin was a machine.

Cowel kneeled by the helm with Alanea and his serval keygemin laying beside him. The fibers of her fur were a little rough, but Cowel didn't mind the bristly texture. He closed his eyes and could feel Prism's energy around the ship. As well, the oppressive energy being radiated by the hundreds of gemin on the Radephian ships above.

He gasped at the realization that he could feel them, every single one of them. "This must be how Kuthe feels all the time. I get it." Cowel whispered under his breath.

"When you enter the passage, keep to the right, as there is a rise of air dockside. After about half a redknot, we can blow past the left-hand passage and not have to worry about that." Kuthe warned the captain as they started a very slow descent. Slow enough as not to be caught in the eye as motion by the ships above them. Alanea was glad not to have to manually close the nacelle shutters anymore. The Radephian fleet was looking for ships flying away from their blockade. The crew were instead getting closer to the inspection boarding parties.

The Murky Prospector slowly and cautiously dipped below the edgeline of the terrain around them. Once between the rows of stacked shacks, they flew within them up to an overhang in the landscape. These cliffside edges blocked the sourcelight above, fading them into a dimly lit area.

"Tight fit." Alanea grunted as the front cloudside nacelle scratched against a rock pointing out from the cliff edge. "I almost said 'any closer and we'd be scraping paint' but..."

"Edven's doing well." Kuthe observed the keygemin at the front of the ship that had not yet activated its eyes. "Cowel, have your cat clear just enough space ahead for us to pass."

Cowel, sitting on the floor next to Alanea, instructed the serval to do so. A web of green light surrounded the roots within the tunnel, forcing them to recede. As they passed, the keygemin grew them back into place and accelerated that growth to a higher degree, obscuring their behind with a wall of leaves.

"Very good!" Alanea reached down to put the cat, who was sitting proudly beside the helm wheel. She did this until she realized her hands were needed back in control of the ship.

Edven's mechanoid let up his eyes and flashed the tunnel a ship's length in front of them in yellow light. Even here, there were a few shacks. The kobalds outside were blinded by the golden beam and yelled kobald expletives toward the shining ship's bow.

They moved deeper, and the air grew cold. Silently, they floated through the tunnels, and it seemed as though the Radephians were completely oblivious. They continued to scour the entire port, making arrests for piracy as they ran through the cloud of ships like a virus. All the while, the Prospector and its crew kept within the arteries created by an ancient tree.

After what felt like an eternity, but was likely only half a beat, Kuthe broke their silence. "We're approaching the main thoroughfare now. We will be rapidly descending and going dark."

Alanea braced herself against the wheel and tightened her grip on it. "Cowel, make sure the path is clear."

The Murky Prospector's engines were shut off, and the sound of its cooling compartment echoed in the confined space. They descended until the passage cleared and the Prospector floated from the ground level below the skyland into the open air. The area beneath the skyland was frigid and black. A vast ceiling plate of dark-holed soil and stone had nobody in sight. They were out of the immediate trap, but not entirely free.

Alanea enabled the thrust of the engines, and the propellers spun. She kicked it to full speed. This jolted the entire craft forward by the change in momentum and started to put distance between them and the Radephian patrol. Even if that patrol knew they were below the skyland, it would take a day's travel just to get down there, going around the landmass above them.