Scenic Route

Muld's team prepares for their mission aboard the airship 'Autumn Maid'.

48.

Scenic Route

 

“Isn’t it delightful?”   Muld asked all of them as he peered out of the glass windows of the bridge at the sky rushing by them.

“Haven’t you ever been aboard an airship?”   Allea asked the young man, amused at his excitement.

“No… at least not one in motion.   The speed is exhilarating.”

 

Beside him, looking more sick than exhilarated, stood Syndi, holding onto the railing so tightly that her knuckles were white.

“What do you think, Syndi?”   Muld asked the girl with a grin, but she just nodded, too upset to answer.   She too had never been in an airship and was silently vowing never to set foot on one again.

“I never get used to it.”   Mutt commented with a smile, “It’s always a thrill for me.    The Autumn Maid is the best, too.   Oh, it’s old and not as fast as some of the others, but it certainly is the most luxurious!    You’d have to be out on the deck in the rushing wind to get this view from the other airships.”

Syndi suddenly grabbed at her mouth, turned and ran across the room.    One of the crew members knew exactly what was wrong with her and handed her a deep metal bowl.   She grabbed it out of his hands and threw up violently. 

The others in the cabin all wrinkled their noses as the Elven girl, now greatly embarrassed, tried to regain her composure.  

“Are you alright, child?”   The Inion Sidhe lady, Elina, asked, coming over to her.

“I’m fine.”   She replied weakly, “We’re just moving… so fast.”

“It is unsettling.    I can help you with a spell.   Close your eyes, child.”   Before seeing if Syndi would comply, Elina softly chanted a quick spell and touched Syndi’s belly with her hand.   To the Losasidhe Princess’ delight, the nausea went away at once.

“What was that?”   She asked Elina with a smile.

“A simple spell to remove nausea.”

“It is a great spell to me!”

“It will keep you comfortable, Princess.”

Syndi blinked in alarm, “What?”

Elina smiled slyly and leaned closer to whisper, “I know who you are, child.    You are the youngest daughter of the King and Queen of the Losasidhe Elves.”

“How did you find that out?”  

“My sisters and I read thoughts, Syndi.   Do not worry, I won’t tell your secret.”

“Please, Lady Elina!   I know what I did is insane, but I just had to escape from my parents!”

“Peace, child, your secret is safe with me!”

“Thank you, Lady Elina.”

“Just Elina, child.    Consider me a friend.    Are you fascinated with magic, or just Practical Magic?”

“I don’t know… both, I guess.”

“Perhaps if you are interested, I could teach you some of the spells that I know - they are mostly practical as well!    Simple things such as easing nausea or pain, or speaking to animals.”

“That does sound wonderful.”

“All magic should actually be practical.   But Practical Magic is a fine use of magic for the betterment of people.”

Muld came up to them right then, turning to Syndi, “Are you alright?”

“I am now, yes.”   She smiled at Elina, who just nodded and left the two of them to talk.

“Good!    You are missing a spectacular view of Northmarch.”  He led the girl back to the windows, but thankfully her uneasy stomach was stable and so she let him point out all the sights, non-stop, for several hours.

***

They were taking a longer, circular route, to avoid being seen by any of Redburr’s men or any Imperial scouts.    The Autumn Maid was traveling lower in the sky than usual and at a slower speed (though it seemed extremely fast to Syndi), and the captain told them that they would be traveling all day and into the night in order to arrive at their destination unseen.

As the day wore on, Muld seemed to possess unending excitement and knowledge on the landscape.   He happily told everyone of the various practical magic engineering feats that his master or his master’s peers had achieved when something from the passing scenery jogged a memory of it.

By early evening, only Mutt, Syndi and Tadd stood and listened to him.

“Can ye cast a sleep spell on him?”   Darv asked Mage Keith, who sat glaring at the Practical Magician.

“I’d rather try a fireball.”   The elderly wizard joked grumpily, “I can’t believe how energetic he is.”

“He’s young.”   Beyon snorted, twirling a strand of his beard, “He’ll calm down once he has a brush with danger.   That might be soon, too.”

“So what do you think we’ll be coming into?”   Jevon asked Mage Keith, “Do you think they’ll have the pass heavily guarded?”

“I don’t know.    They hold Southgate and so they may not see a need.   But we’ll have to find a way to get past the guard stations at both ends of the pass.    I’ll bet he’ll want us for that.”   Keith looked over at Allea and Elina, who were the only other spell casters in the team.

“We’ll figure something out, I’m sure.”  Allea replied, trying to sooth the old wizard’s opinion of Muld.

“Well, we’ve got quality spell casters, but our team is not very well protected by swordsmen.”   Rick commented with a smile that indicated that he was including himself in that group, “Jevon, Tadd and I can hold our own against bandits - we had to do that several times when we were riding the coach- but against Orcs or Imperial Legionnaires, I’m not so sure.”

“We need Amala with us.”   Jevon mumbled, and most at the table agreed, recalling her heroics from two years ago.

“She seems smitten with that Bugbear  -- what was your big hairy buddy’s name, Mutt?”   Darv called over to the Goblin.

“Carn.” He called back, and used that as an excuse to get away from Muld.   He joined them, rubbing his forehead, which caused a slight murmur of sympathy.  

“You and Carn rode on the coach for a while, didn’t you?”  Darv asked him.

“Yes, after Amala quit, but not for long.    I wasn’t too fond of the long rides and Carn was just too big to sit comfortably on the coach seat.”

“So why ain’t ye in his group?”   The Dwarf asked him.

“He’s changed - he doesn’t seem like the ol’ Carn that I knew.   I always just thought he was a rather smart Bugbear, but now he seems completely different and I just don’t feel as comfortable around him.   He’s taken up the role of Bard and is training Amala, so I figured I’d just join this group of misfits.”

They snorted at his jest, and Darv patted him on the shoulder, “Ye need to find yourself a she-Goblin, lad.”

Mutt laughed, “Have you seen most of them, Darv?   They’d probably stab me and eat me for dinner!    They’re not as civilized as I am!    Now if you could locate one with good hygiene and proper manners…”

“There are probably some like that with the refugees, back in Westmark.”  Allea suggested.

“Maybe… I hope to have time to find out, if and when we get back.”

 The talk turned to the conflict with Redburr, the threat of the Southern Empire and the danger of the Faesidhe uprising.    It grew dark and still the Autumn Maid sailed through the night sky.

 

Finally, Muld came over to the table where the others were sitting, “We just passed the Four Lakes District, and the Elotrush Mountains are upon us.    The Captain is steering us around into the more rugged area to the northeast of the pass.   The Orcs don’t live in this section as it is just jagged peaks, so we should be able to hover here for tonight.”

“And then what?”   Mage Keith asked.

“Tomorrow, we conduct a reconnaissance mission to examine the rock structure of the pass so we’ll know what spells we need.”

“So when do we cause the avalanche?”  Beyon asked.

“Tomorrow night - after we know for certain what combination of spells will work best.   For now though, I’d suggest we all get a good night’s sleep, because tomorrow we’ll have to work quickly and accurately.”

They all ate some dinner and then dispersed to their sleeping quarters, mostly in the lower deck. 

Muld just stayed on the bridge with the nighttime skeleton crew and scribbled notes in a big heavy tome, while he reclined on one of the bridge’s couches.   

Reviews

[Elina]

"He happily told every one..." This ought to be "everyone."
"...what combination of spells that will work best." You can probably leave out "that."