Skyworld Book I

Chapter Six - The Skymarshal Of Grandar

A huge ship flying three prominent purple sails appeared to aft, rising out of the black layers of thick smoke. Atop the center and highest mast, it flew a blue pennant with crossed lightning bolts.

"The Purpleheart!" Althea cried out, identifying their welcomed savior.

Dent was again awed as the frigate class airboat flung two more firebombs with deadly accuracy. The pirate ship shuttered with multiple explosions as the missiles hit her bow and added to the conflagration. With her twin masts crumbled and most of her top deck aflame, the raider's threat was partly checked.

Realizing the doomed ship was still on a collision course with the Wind-Runner, Gideon grabbed Althea's elbow.

"She's going to ram right into us!"

The princess looked from his eyes to the hurtling mass of destruction rushing at them. "Tells the others to brace for the impact!"

With that, she sheathed her sword and once again took hold of the heavy rudder wheel. Gritting her teeth, the princess clamped both hands on a single pin to pull the helm.

"Grab something and hold on!" Dent shouted across the ruined topside to his crewmates, now busy avoiding the fires erupting all over the bow. Professor Romaine heard him above the fire and waved back his acknowledgement before rushing over to convey the message to Parnoh.

So much for them, Gideon thought, turning his attention back to Althea and her struggle with the steering mechanism. The blazing pirate hulk was falling on them like a red-hot hammer. Not even the magnificent frigate could save them now. It was simply a matter of getting out of the damn way in time.

Dent grabbed the pin above Althea's and pulled with all his might. Without their sail, all they could do was turn the rudder and hope it would cant the hull enough to make a difference. It was a big if.

The Wind-Runner seemed to groan as if in pain and her hull started buckling. Please, Gideon prayed to the tough little ship, just one more time. Come through for us this last time.

The wind around him was suddenly super heated and he felt the skin on the back of his neck burning. Then the Wind-Runner shimmied, her aft section whipping about to port just as the massive falling pyre slammed into her starboard side.

Dent and the princess screamed as they were thrown down amidst the roaring of splintering beams and the buckling of scorched plates.

"Princess!" Gideon saw her laying face down a few feet next to him. Pulling up on his elbows, he crawled to her and saw that she was unconscious. Getting to his knees as the deck continued to break apart, he took hold of her inert shape and draped it over his right shoulder. Managing to get some footing, he climbed to his feet and staggered to what was left of the control station.

"Gideon!" Professor Romaine, his robe missing, came stumbling up the forecastle stairs nearly naked, except for his sandals and loincloth. His small, bony frame was covered in bruises where visible beneath the black soot.

"Professor! Thank God. Where's Parnoh?"

The little man staggered to Dent's side, taking his offered arm for support. He was gasping, trying to catch his breath. His face was smeared with grime and sadness.

"He didn't make it. Deck caved out beneath him when we collided."

Gideon looked over the hell that was the Wind-Runner's main deck and hoped Parnoh's end had been a quick one. There was a good chance they wouldn't be as lucky. The Wind-Runner was breaking up as her wooden frame was quickly eaten away by the encroaching flames.

"YO THE WIND-RUNNER!" The voice echoed above them and for a second Dent thought God was speaking to him as his life neared its finale.

It was no deity moving over them but the majestic battleship. Dent looked up and saw figures standing at the bow waving to them. One held what appeared to be a round megaphone like device while the men to either side of the caller were handling ropes. Ropes they were dropping over the side.

"GRAB HOLD!" the voice bellowed as the two lines fell almost at their feet.

"I can't possibly climb up that far," Romaine muttered looking from the end of the rope up to the railing high above them. The frigate could not come any closer without exposing her own fragile sails to the Wind-Runner's fires.

Desperate to grab the only chance they had, Gideon couldn't believe Romaine's hesitancy. Taking hold of the two dangling lifelines, he shoved one at his former teacher.

"You haven't got a choice!" he barked. "Just tie it around the your middle and hold on!"

Romaine realized Dent was in no mood for any further idiocy on his part and quickly began to do wrap the rope around his stomach. The ship shook and then a huge portion of the forecastle itself collapsed under their feet. The professor, just finishing his knot, screamed and grabbed the chord over his head as his footing vanished.

With the weight of the comatose woman on his shoulder, Gideon wasn't as fortunate. Feeling the floor giving way, he grabbed the rope with his left hand and twisted it around his forearm several times. He dropped suddenly and when the rope jerked his left arm, the princess's body bounced off his right shoulder. Frantically he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back onto his shoulder just as he was roughly yanked aloft.

A quick glance back and he saw the bulk of the demolished Wind-Runner sink into the roiling ebony sea of smoke. Then he was being smoothly hauled skyward. A few feet to his side, Romaine was also being lifted aloft with speed and ease.

Deftly the sailors aboard the giant ship hauled their human prizes up through the tight gaps between the steel shutters that skirted the hull like fish scales. Dent observed that the ship's elornium band was three times the size of the strip on the Wind-Runner.

At the carved railing, the sky-sailors, clothed in purple and white pantaloons and sleeve-less vests, gently took hold of the three survivors and lowered them to the polished deck.

Looking at the clump of strange faces surrounding them, Gideon's only concern was the unmoving woman in his arms.

"The princess has been hurt! Can somebody help?"

A tall, powerfully built man, wearing an elaborate uniform with full tunic and short cape, materialized before them. His shirt was festooned with various colored emblems, chief of which were the same twin lightning bolts of the ship's flag sewn on his breast pocket. He had long, reddish hair and a thick, neatly trimmed mustache to match. His clear, observing eyes manifested strength of character that seemed to radiate from his ever gesture. Dent had dealt with lots of military men in his time. This one's entire persona proclaimed him a natural leader of men.

"Ensign Troge!" the big man called out.

Instantly a young man wearing a similar uniform, but without the cape, was at his side and slamming a hard fist to his chest.

"Captain!"

"Get Princess Althea to the infirmary at once! Tell the doctor to look after her. I want a report after he has done so."

"Aye, aye, captain!" Troge pointed to two sailors. "Eirse and Marno, take the princess from this man and follow me. And be careful with her!"

As the two men delicately took the princess from Dent, he nodded his thanks. They disappeared down a flight of stairs followed by the overseeing Ensign Troge. Dent sank back against the railing, suddenly dizzy from the adrenalin rush he had been maintaining since the start of the pirate attack.

"Whoa..dizzy."

"Gideon!" Prof.Romaine shoved past the assembled sailors. "Are you alright, my boy?"

"Yeah. Just a little beat is all."

Romaine started waving the sailors off. "Please, my friend needs some room."

The redheaded captain once again asserted his command. "You heard the gentlemen. All of you get back to your stations!" As the crew started to break up, he singled out another junior officer. "Ensign Aryn, fetch us some water for these men."

"We owe you our lives, Captain Cloud," Romaine addressed the tall skipper.

"My pleasure, sir," the robust voice replied. "Although we've never formally met, I do recall you from my last visit to the courts of House Corveir."

"I am the princesses' chief advisor, the Wizard Romaine and this is my friend and protégé, Gideon Dent."

The captain brought his heels together and bowed. "And I am Captain Dan'yal Cloud, Skymarshal of Grandar. Welcome aboard my ship, the Purpleheart."

Dent extended his right hand and Cloud looked at it curiously. "It's how we greet each other where I am from."

Cloud, clearly intrigued by Dent's brown coloring, looked from his hand to his face. Recognizing something akin to his own heartiness in the stranger's weary smile, the skymarshal put out his own hand. Gideon clasped it and shook it firmly.

"Greetings, Gideon Dent."

"Thank you, Captain Cloud. It's a real pleasure to meet you."

Cloud cocked an eyebrow and both men laughed.

---

From that point on things began to slow down for Dent and Prof.Romaine. Ensign Aryn, after bringing them water, was ordered to escort them to the officers quarters and see to their needs. An enthusiastic young man, with a toothy grin and a small, button size nose, Aryn was only to eager to act as a guide to the captain's guests.

As they were led across the enormous top deck, Dent casually took in the immensity of the craft. He counted two catapults at both the aft and bow sections, plus four more at midsection, two aimed at starboard and two to port. The gigantic purple sails above them stood like the mighty trees from which they were hewn. Each of the three masts supported two cross-spars and dozens of lines all holding the volumes of canvas that propelled them.

Below deck was divided into three sections. Crew quarters were to aft and large enough to comfortably accommodate sixty skysailors. The forward area itself was split in two sections, the largest for the officers, to include an executive Lieutenant and four ensigns. Across the narrow hall from this was the infirmary operated by the doctor, assisted by a medic. At mid-ship was the cavern like cargo hold where ship's stores and other equipment were housed.

As Ensign Aryn showed the two men where they would be living in the officers section, he explained that the Captain's quarters were located in the forecastle above deck and most likely would be offered to Princess Althea once she was up and about.

At the mention of her name, Dent, who was stripping out of his dirty and torn outfit, asked if Aryn would go and inquire as to her condition. As it turned out, the words had no sooner left Gideon's mouth, when Ensign Troge appeared and told them the princess was doing fine. Doctor Ranin said she received a nasty knock on the head, but nothing serious. Troge went on to inform them that they would see her again in the captain's lounge, as they had all been formally invited to join him for dinner when they were properly rested.

"Now that's what I call hospitality," Dent said, rolling up his filthy tunic and tossing it aside. Both ensigns openly admired his powerful physique, the muscles rippling across his chest and biceps. Seeing the looks on their faces, he realized there was a problem.

"What? Is something wrong?"

Aryn looked at Troge and they both smiled. "Maybe a small one, sir," the ensign indicated, pointing at the still half naked Prof.Romaine. "Dressing the wizard should be easy enough, but you, sir, are a bit ..ah, larger than most of our crew."

It was the same problem Gideon had faced on the Wind-Runner, but there the uniforms were so loose, it had been easily remedied. Here, looking at the pants and tunics of the two junior officers, he understood their concern.

"Still," Troge offered, "there may be somebody who can provide you with the proper fit."

End Of Chapter Six