While the test was short, the inaugural flight of the airship went off without a hitch. Well, maybe that was an exaggeration. There were a few adjustments to be made, some changes in the flight controls as well as the cockpit configuration, but overall the test flight was a success. Fortune’s Favored now had the capability to fly. A massive step forward in Jadis’ plans for quick travel and resupply for her budding mercenary company.
The airship was, in a word, ponderous. It turned like a drunken sailor on a three-day bender, the elevation controls were fiddly at best, and landing the thing was a jarring experience. Still, once in the air, the ship could reach a speed of around forty miles an hour, which was an extraordinary feat. Not just because it was faster than a standard horse or wagon, but because that was forty miles an hour with no terrain to get in the way. Anywhere Jadis wanted to take the airship was a straight shot. No curving trails, no hills and valleys, and no roadblocks to get in the way. The possibilities opened up by the new method of travel were seemingly endless.
Jadis wasn’t the only one who saw the potential in the new transportation method, either.
Prince Kestil had been interested in the possibility Sabina’s enchantments presented from the start. Now that he had seen proof of concept, he wanted the power of airships for himself. Jadis had more than enough forethought to realize that as soon as she and Sabina had made the first magic dirigible, then the rest of the world would want their own as well. Even if she tried to keep the designs secret, others would see what Sabina had accomplished and would start their own experiments to replicate the magic-enhanced technology. It might take them a few months or years, maybe even decades, to figure out how she did it, but ultimately someone would figure out the right enchantments and the right design and would have flight. So, keeping that in mind, Jadis didn’t try to keep a monopoly on the airship design for herself, but instead bargained with the prince for the best deal she could get.
There was no concept of copyrighting in the empire. Sabina couldn’t patent the enchantments or the airship design. But the idea of an individual having the foremost expertise on a magical product was definitely a thing. Replicating the enchantments that another person had created wasn’t easy or something that all enchanters could do. In fact, most enchanters wouldn’t be able to craft the new flight runes since they didn’t have the freeform creation skill that Sabina had. That meant Sabina possessed a highly valuable skill, one that deserved a high payment for her services.
With a little help from Aila and Eir, Jadis was able to negotiate a deal with Prince Kestil for one thousand silver eagles per set of flight enchantments crafted. Considering the price of a bone thief matriarch bounty was one hundred silver eagles, she felt that she had gotten a good price. Sure, Jadis knew that Kestil’s people would figure out how to make the runes themselves eventually, but until then, they would be getting a massive sum of money for each set Sabina took the time to craft.
For the airship design, Jadis bargained for enough eleria to craft two more airships for herself. After all, if Jadis wanted to set up a rapid resupply system for her mercenary company, she was going to need more than one airship. She probably could have made a deal to be the one who made the airships for the prince, but she didn’t want to focus on that level of production. Kestil could handle the bigger construction projects himself. Besides, the version of the airship Jadis had sold him was just the basic version Sabina had come up with. With Jadis’ help, Sabina was already working on improved models. If Kestil wanted those better versions, he would have to pay even more.
While the construction of additional airships was going to take some time, Jadis didn’t plan on waiting around for them to be completed. She had spent the whole winter in Eldingholt. Well, a month had been spent comatose while travelling to the capital, but still. After so long in a relatively safe and confined place, she was starting to get the itch for action. Jadis wanted to get back out into the field, and with the coming of spring she felt like it was the perfect time to do so. The Behemoth Airship wasn’t perfect, but it was more than capable of getting her out into the wider world. Upgrades could be made later. The time for adventure had come.
The question was, where should they go?
“I don’t think we should go too far,” Aila argued as Jadis and her lovers prepared for bed. “As exciting as this ‘airship’ is, we’ve barely tested it. A relatively short trip would be prudent, at least until we better understand its capabilities.”
“I don’t disagree,” Jay nodded along as she diligently cleaned pieces of her armor. “But there are some longer-ranging goals I have that weren’t practical before. Now that we can fly, I want to go for them.”
“Such as?”
“Well for one,” Jay said as she paused her cleaning and held up a finger, “I want to visit Vetregin. I promised Villthyrial that I would tell his dragon ‘Hello’ so I don’t want to keep putting that off. Plus, I have that token Vetregin gave me. Not much point in having a promissory note from a dragon if I never use it.”
As she spoke, Jay motioned towards the large blue stone covered in claw marks she had been given back at the Dryad’s grove. She had been told by the Dryads that she could exchange the stone with Vetregin for either a service or an item from his hoard. The idea of getting to pick a treasure from the hoard of a dragon as old and powerful as The Lord of Winter was intensely appealing to Jadis.
“I also want to visit the Naga,” Dys added as she held up a second finger. “Supposedly, they’re the result of Merrow and Nephilim interbreeding. I know they probably won’t welcome the intrusion, but I still want to try and talk to them. If they really are descendants of the Nephilim, maybe they can tell me more about them.”
Dys held up a map she had pulled from a cabinet drawer in their bedroom. Tapping the area on the map that indicated the Siren Sea, she continued her thoughts.
“The Naga are also led by a demi-god. I’ve got a lot of questions for this Nagaji. I’d like to see if I can speak with her, if possible.”
“And then there’s the warfront in Volto,” Syd held up a third finger. “I know it’s really bad over there from everything I’ve heard. It would be a good place for us to gain some levels while also doing some good for the people there. I mean, if I can kill two birds with one stone, why not?”
“Volto is such a long way from here,” Eir frowned as she brushed Syd’s hair, standing on the bed behind her. “It would take two months to travel there under normal circumstances. Perhaps less, depending on the speed of travel.”
“It won’t take nearly so long with the airship!” Sabina chirped happily as she carved a small piece of wood with a new rune configuration she had thought of. “It’ll be like sailing on a ship! We’ll probably get there in days instead of weeks, so it’s not that far out of range for us anymore at all. Also, if we do go to Volto, we should stop in Glanum. That’s where my father and brothers are. It’s right on the imperial border so a lot of the army activity is based out of there, which is really keeping my dad busy with all the orders for weapons and armor. I know he’d love to meet everyone, plus he’d want to see the airship in person!”
“Speaking of Demons and the military,” Kerr said as she rubbed an oil of some kind into her horns, “I’m just going to point out that the Naga island, whatever it’s called, is off the coast of the Rubaline Dominion.”
“Hinansho,” Bridget helpfully supplied the name of the island nation.
“Yeah, Hinansho,” Kerr tilted her head towards the orc. “That place. The Rubaline Dominion is almost completely overrun with Demons. It’s where most of the Demons are attacking from, and it is basically a giant zone of death right now. For all we know, the Naga might have already been destroyed by the Demons.”
“All the more reason to go check,” Dys retorted.
“Hey, I’m not arguing against it,” Kerr grinned at Dys. “I’m just making sure we’re walking into the deathtrap with our eyes wide open. It won’t be all roses and tits over there. We better be ready for a fight if we go anywhere near Rubaline.”
“And on the note of deathtraps,” Sorcha called out from the doorway to the bathroom where she had been brushing her teeth, “are you seriously considering flying into the Kalters Wall Mountain Range looking for a dragon? I’m just going to point out that more dragons than Vetregin call that place their territory. And not just dragons, either. Wyverns, drakes, hydra, salamanders, and who knows what else. Those are just some of the multiple huge reasons why no one goes into those mountains if they can help it.”
“Sounds exciting though, doesn’t it?” Syd grinned at the goblin.
“I really should just run screaming from this madhouse…”
Aila cleared her throat as she cocked her hips to one side while crossing her arms. It was an oddly erotic stance, one that Jadis was sure was unintentional. The fact that Aila wasn’t wearing anything but a long shirt really made the pose work, though, and she found she had to consciously will her libido into submission so she could focus on what her arcanist lover was saying.
“Those goals are all reasonable, as are the concerns everyone has voiced. That said, I think my original point stands. We should pick a smaller, less lofty ambition for our first foray into air travel. I can’t imagine we won’t encounter issues with our new mode of transportation as we go, so it would probably be best if we weren’t somewhere over Kalters Wall or the Siren Sea when we inevitably run into those problems. What can we do that is a little closer to our home base?”
There was a short moment of silence in the room as the various occupants thought about Aila’s question. Jadis couldn’t immediately think of what else she wanted to do since her main goals were all on the bigger, more ambitious side of things. Fortunately, one of their number had a talent for noticing the smaller details.
“P—perhaps we should visit my, ah, v—village.”
Jay turned her attention onto Thea. As usual, her quiet lover had spent most of the conversation silently watching and listening, happy to simply fade into the background as others took the lead. The former soldier was sitting on the bed, her back propped up against the wall where she had been quietly reading a book. Alex sat next to her, companionably reading the book over her shoulder.
“Why your village?” Jay asked curiously. “Do you want to visit your mother?”
“No,” Thea said, then paused and shook her head. “W—well, yes, actually. I d—do want to visit my mother. B—but, ah, that’s not the main reason. T—Teg said that he was looking for a D—Dryad outside of his, ah, grove he could, well, marry.”
That was right. Jadis had forgotten about that goal Tegwyn had told her about when he had first joined her group. Tegwyn had a bit of wanderlust and wanted to get out and explore, but he was also keeping an eye out for any Dryads that he might be able to connect with so he could start his own grove. Ideally, a nice lady Dryad he could have some little saplings with.
“You said there was a Dryad near your village, didn’t you?” Jay asked Thea, who nodded in confirmation.
“What, are you saying you want to make our first trip out on the new airship into some kind of… love cruise for Tegwyn?” Kerr asked with a laugh.
“That’s… actually not a bad idea,” Aila said as she thought about the proposition. “Your village is to the east, isn’t it?”
“Cold Brook,” Thea said with a small smile. “Past the Bern.”
“That’s a river that feeds into the Brandrvald,” Kerr explained to Jadis when she looked confused. “You know, the big ass river running through the capital?”
“That would be about a week away, I believe,” Eir mused as she finished combing Syd’s hair and sat down in Syd’s lap. “A far closer destination. I am also certain that Tegwyn would appreciate our consideration towards his personal ambitions.”
“Yeah, I agree,” Jay sent a pleased smile Thea’s way, causing the smaller woman to blush. “Great idea, Thea! Let’s take a trip out to see your mother and see if we can find Teg a girlfriend at the same time.”
Sorcha laughed as she climbed up onto the bed and flopped down on her back next to where Eir and Syd sat.
“Sounds like a normal plan to me. I mean, the group of us, which includes a trio of Nephilim giants, an Oracle, Kerr, and a pregnant Greater Demon, are going to show up in a flying wagon to visit a quiet little village in the heartland of the empire. What could go wrong?”
“Many things…”
“Rhetorical question, Alex. Rhetorical question.”
288