Chapter 40: On the Move

“Best get yourself strapped in,” Danae warned as she grabbed Mira Jayne’s arm and pulled her to a spare seat on the Raven’s bridge. The curious adventurer had snuck up for a peek, despite Danae’s warnings to stay below. The ship’s engines roared as Harrisson banked the Raven hard to port in his attempt to dramatically change course and get them all to safety. Mira uttered something akin to a squeak as the force nearly thew her over the chair. Before she fell on her face, Danae grabbed her by her trousers, pulled her into the chair, and strapped her in. “We don’t need passengers being tossed about the bridge like rag dolls, doin’ more damage.”

Mira tugged on her straps and then looked up at Danae through a mess of blonde hair. “To ourselves?”

“Sure, kid.” Danae turned and worked against the incline toward her captain’s chair as the Raven continued to bank away from Wayward Climb. She managed to grab the arm rest as the Raven hit a pocket of air, causing the vessel to lose altitude briefly. She lost her footing and fell, hitting her knee against the metal floor. She bit back a curse and plopped herself into her captain’s chair.

The old charr let out a frustrated growl. “Sorry, cap’n.” He then shot a glare at Mending Heart, who had taken the seat next to him at the helm. “And you—stop puttin’ scratches in my ship!”

The kodan removed his paws from the console’s edge, where his fear-induced death-grip had left a series of scratches made from his claws. “I apologize. I am not familiar to such active motion while not on the ground.” His white ears twitched as he carefully gripped his chair’s armrests. “It is your ship? I thought this was the captain’s ship? That is how it works, is it not?”

The old charr grunted and held the shaking steering yoke steady as he continued to pull the Raven through the sharp turn. “Aye, that’s true, but the Raven is home to all her crew, so don’t put scratches in my home.”

“Easy, Harrisson. I seem to remember a green charr years ago who had some trouble finding his own footing his first time aboard the Raven. A few scratches are the least of our worries right now,” Danae replied as she rubbed her aching knee. She secured her harness and then flipped a switch on the side of her armrest. A red grid illuminated on the armrest’s surface, and a series of yellow dots representing the bodies down below blinked repeatedly, slowly moving amongst themselves on the right side of the grid. The illumination suddenly blinked before growing dark. Danae grumbled and smacked the console hard until the grid returned. “Can we confirm the mercenaries are in the Climb?”

Markus nodded. “Saw ‘em with my own eyes through the scope, cap’n,” he replied. The Raven’s engineer held onto a bar welded to the ship’s wall near the outer door. His riffle’s barrel stuck up over his head and clanged against the metal wall as he rocked back and forth with the vessel’s movements. “Looks like they made the Climb their new gathering spot.”

The airship suddenly dipped sharply as it lost altitude again. The bridge filled with startled cries from the young girl and her kodan friend. Danae paid them no mind as she nervously watched the yellow dots on her arm console grow further away from their green got in the center. She held her breath, waiting to see if the yellow dots would follow, but they remained where they were for the time being. Relieved, she let out her held breath and thought about what their next steps should be. Just because the mercenaries weren’t moving now, didn’t mean they would stay put indefinitely. They needed to stay at least one step ahead of the Byrnes and their mercenaries if they were going to make it out of this.

“Get those mountains between us and them if you can, and find a patch of sturdy ground to land.” Danae unbuckled her harness and rose from her chair.

“We don’t want to keep moving?” Harrisson asked.

“I think we should make use of the cover while we can,” Danae replied and then left the bridge. She had another concern she wanted to tend to: a particular danger that was soon to come out of unconsciousness.

***

“Sorry about the turbulence,” Danae said as she entered the med bay. “The northern conditions can make a quick get-away a little rough. How is she doing?”

“Vitals are low, and uh, well,” Alena stammered. “There’s this.” She stepped aside so Danae could get a better view of Nienna’s crystalized skin.

The captain grimaced as she stepped closer to get a better look. As her eyes scanned the crystalline layer covering Nienna’s body, she could feel her own skin start to itch. She knew the feeling was all in her own mind, but she couldn’t resist scratching at her left forearm. “What the hell is going on with her?”

“We’re still trying to figure that out,” Dee replied, “but we have some theories thanks to Alena and Nienna’s parents.”

Danae looked up at the frozen pair who stood silently watching over their daughter. “That book tell you anything?”

Viktor sighed and looked aside to Rhyra who had closed her eyes and started murmuring quiet prayers to Grenth. They both looked worn, as if they hadn’t slept in some time. Glancing down at the Valar family tome laying on the edge of the table next to Nienna’s body, Viktor closed it and traced the fading ‘V’ on the cover with a pale finger. “All we have are these stories and the information the asura scientist has gathered. Nothing is certain.”

“And some of the stories weren’t even recorded. They’ve been handed down verbally over generations, so we can’t verify their validity.” Alena paused and flashed an apologetic glance at Viktor and Rhrya. “No offence to your heritage and history. We need data and facts to solve this problem, not conjecture.”

“None taken,” Rhyra replied with a weary smile. “It was just a story, after all.”

Danae raised an eyebrow. “What story?”

“One of our ancestors used the blade to save a camp in the Shiverpeaks from a group of Stone Summit dwarves. He passed it to their son shortly after that and then disappeared. That part was recorded, but what comes after is hearsay,” Viktor explained. “It was said he was eventually found, dead, but his skin all—unnatural.”

“Unnatural, how?” Alena asked.

Viktor shook his head. “We don’t know.”

“How confident are you in that story’s details?” Danae asked.

Viktor and Rhrya looked at each other before Rhyra finally answered, “not much.”

“All right, well, can she at least be moved?” Danae asked.

“Moved?” Alena’s ears perked up. “What do you mean, moved? You’re not kicking us off this ship, are you?”

Dee took one step, putting her imposing frame between Danae and Nienna, and narrowed her eyes at the ship’s captain. “She’s not.”

“Yeah, she is,” Danae replied, placing her hands firmly on her hips, “but it’s not for the reasons you think. We spotted your darkly-clad friends holed up in Wayward Climb, and the chance of them seeing us and recognizing the ship before we ducked behind some mountains is higher than I’d like. So, you’re getting off, and we’re going to take another spin around the mountains to see if we can lure any possible followers away. Goin’ off of our general heading, I’d say we’re fairly close to Deep and Troubled Waters. I believe that’s where some of you wanted to go anyway. Seems like a win-win to me.” Her eyes fell upon Nienna’s crystalized body and frowned. “Well, for most of us anyway.”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Dee uttered under her breath, but Danae’s keen ears heard the norn’s disgruntled words through the constant hum of the Raven’s engine.

“Hey, I’m giving you a fighting chance. Take it or leave it, but I’d rather you take it. All they would have seen was an airship, and while we have the mountains between us and them, it’s perfect cover to get you to scurry away and hide. But you have to move quickly. We can’t be sure how much time we have.”

Dee glared at Danae, clenching and her jaw until finally she made her way over to the work table covered in tomes and parchment. She picked up a large, empty pack laying on the floor, and with her arm, swept all the materials into the bag and pulled the cords to seal it shut.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Alena squealed as she nearly pounced on the norn. “I had all of that organized where I wanted it! I was making real progress!”

“You can reorganize everything once we find a safe place to hide.” She handed the full pack to the annoyed asura, who promptly opened the bag to make sure everything was in there. “Can she be moved, Alena?”

The asura’s ears drooped as she looked up at Dee and shrugged.

“Alena!” Dee barked.

She nearly jumped out of her robes. “Her vitals are low but stable for now. Moving her might be okay if we’re careful.”

“All right. Then careful we’ll be.”

Danae nodded. “Good. Gather everyone on the bridge. The young, talkative one is up there already, as is her kodan companion. I’ll look for the others on my way back to the bridge. We’ll then touch down somewhere safe and get you on your way.”

“Right. We’ll need to find the others, and we’ll need to gather the other frozen.” It felt strange to Dee to take charge like this. Suddenly, she was painfully aware of every word she said and every move she made, as if she had been thrust into some spotlight for all to see. “Don’t forget that dolyak too. Tuborg will kill me if we forget him.”

“Clarkus is probably curled up with the bundle on his cot. He can sleep through almost anything once he’s out. I’ll go wake him,” Alena offered and then left to go find her charr companion.

As Dee watched Alena leave the med bay, she felt a pang of regret from snapping at her so harshly. She wanted to apologize, but the asura was already gone. “I’m not sure where Salara is, but I’ll probably have to peel Tuborg off of some wall somewhere. I can’t imagine he’s been enjoying the recent ride. I’ll start in his quarters and keep an eye out for Quint. He’s probably skulking about in the shadows as usual.”

“I’ll see you all up there then.” Turning on her heels, Danae started to exit the room, but looked over her shoulder at Nienna on the table one last time. Her eyes fell upon the strange crystalline structure covering her body, but she tore her eyes away from the horror. The image of her laying there, covered in gods knew what, remained to haunt her thoughts. She stopped in the middle of the walkway to the bridge, clenching and unclenching her fists as her thoughts circled. Worrying about Nienna wasn’t going to help the situation, but getting them all somewhere safe would. She just hoped that this little plan of hers would give them the head start they needed.