Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Nine - The Great Escape

We all watched as the pirate ship drew closer and closer without ever slowing down. It was higher than the top of the tower, so we couldn’t see the pirates aboard it, but I imagined a raging, raving group of very angry pirates eager to drop down onto us.

A big part of our plan relied on the pirates slowing down to approach their base at a reasonable speed, but it looked as if the captain of at least one of those ships had no intention of slowing down.

I wanted to stand and watch, but there was so much to do. I found myself helping some of the hostages from the first floor up the stairs. I could carry someone light, and a lot of harpies were lighter than I was, so I bounced up the steps while hugging the weakest of them close.

Every time I reached the top floor, winded and a bit woozy from the climb, I took a minute to see how things were going. After three trips up--each one shorter, since the entire group was slowly making its way up the tower and every time I went down they were a few floors higher--I found Caprica writing furiously on a scrap of paper atop a desk that Baron Vonowl had probably stolen.

“How are things going?” I asked.

“We have a minute before everything starts going in a very complicated direction. There’s no hiding the fleet now. I’ve set the two frigates on an intercept course. The Lunch Box, Featherfall and Beaver Cleaver will all wait a moment before approaching the rooftop. We’ll be cutting all of this very close, Broccoli.”

I patted her on the back. “We’ll do our best,” I said. That was all we could do. And I didn’t want to see Caprica stressed out like this. It wasn’t good for her health, and besides, with the growing number of people in the room her tension might get to the others.

‘The Beaver is slated to be the last to come and load people on,” Caprica said. “That’ll put it in a somewhat precarious position. The second pirate ship has slowed down, I don’t know why.”

I shrugged. There could be a heap of reasons. Maybe its captain was more cautious, maybe they wanted to save on fuel, maybe they had some sort of clever plan. Worrying about it wouldn’t help, not when there was so little we could do.

“It’s here!” someone screamed.

I stood up, then ran to one of the windows.

The pirate ship was, in fact, at the tower. It was a long, sleek thing. Maybe a Snowlander ship, but if it was, then it was an older model than any I’d seen so far. Still, it was a big, intimidating ship, with a large turreted balistea platform on either side of its hull and thin platting covering the top half of its balloon and its sides. It was, without a doubt, a ship designed for fighting.

It was also dropping out of the sky at a rather disturbing speed.

“What?” I asked no one in particular.

Then the airship fired at the tower. I gasped, but the tower was huge and strong, there was no way a few ballista bolts would really damage it.

The ballista bolts slammed into the stonework, latching themselves in place like grappling hooks, and now I saw that each bolt had a line leading back to the ship itself. The ship dropped past my vision, close enough that I spied men sprinting up and down the deck, belting on swords and shouting orders at one another.

Then the lines went taut.

Stonework around the window shuddered as the ship lurched through the air, swinging violently toward the tower like a ball on a tetherball pole. Men reached out with poles to try to lessen the impact, and screams and curses echoed up as the ship collided with the tower. The balloon wobbled like a waterbed, some of the armor plating coming loose and plummeting to the ground below.

I stared in confusion as the pirates brought their ship under control. Why? Why risk so much by coming in at full steam, even going so far as to damage their own ship to stop in time? Compared to the other pirate ship approaching a t a more practical rate, they really only managed to save perhaps fifteen minutes.

Now it was a sitting duck for the two sylph frigates rushing over.

So why ...?

I put that out of my mind as the first pirate rappelled along the line toward the tower, leaping off toward the balconies below.

“We’re being boarded!” I shouted. That got me a few confused looks, so I hastened to explain. “The pirates are landing on one of the balconies below! They’ll be running up here soon!”

“I’ll contact Bastion, we need to secure the stairwell,” Caprica said.

“I’ll go help!” I shouted before rushing to the stairs. A few of the sylph soldiers loitering around formed up behind me.

Fortunately, we’d already brought the weakest of the hostaged back up. Those that were still climbing were in better shape, though they would be winded by the climb and still had a few floors to go. I barrelled down the stairs, and only stopped when I practically crashed into Awen. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“Pirates!” I said.

“Yes, and?” she asked.

I shook my head. We were blocking the way and slowing people down, which was the opposite of what I wanted. “No, the pirates, they hooked onto the tower and are using ropes to land on a balcony. We need to move!”

The hostages and soldiers behind them heard me, and the stairwell filled with murmurs.

“Quick, quick, leave no bird or sylph behind,” I said. “I know it’s hard and I know you must be tired, but we need to move!”

The hostages picked up the pace, and following behind them were a heap of sylph soldiers who all seemed eager to help. I pushed myself to the side, determined to wait until everyone else had gone past so that I could take up the rear and help any stranglers. That’s how I met Bastion who was near the rear himself.

“Captain Bunch,” he said. “I received the princess’ message, but I imagine you might know more than I do.”

I nodded. “The pirates hit the tower with harpoons. Then they used those to zipline onto one of the balconies. I think they’re only a few floors below us.”

Bastion glanced back over his shoulder.

“Sir, should we put up some defences?” one of the soldiers asked.

“No. Let’s keep moving. Get squad B to set up defences of the penultimate floor. We’ll stall them if they reach that far. Captain Bunch, do we still have roof-evac coming?”

I nodded. “I think so, yeah. The frigates are attacking the pirate ship. It was still stuck to the side of the tower when I saw it last.”

“An easy target then. What are they thinking?” he asked. “Unless... their priority is less about winning any battles in the air and more about getting revenge on those in the tower. Something’s bizarre about this.”

“Yeah, but we can figure that out later, I think,” I said.

We raced back up the steps, quickly catching up to the hostages who were really trying their best. Only a handful of them were in passable shape; the rest were still dealing with the aftereffects of mana depletion, malnourishment, beatings, sores, and sundry other injuries. The man who lost his wing was stumbling along with the help of the sylph medic.

Still, we were making good speed as we continued to climb. We were almost at the very top when I heard roaring screams echoing up from below.

I looked to Bastion, and he didn’t look pleased. “Go to Caprica, make sure she’s on the first ship to go,” he said.

“I’ll try, but I don’t think she’s going to agree to do that,” I said.

He smiled. “I know. But I’d be remiss in my duties if I didn’t at least try.”

He spun around just before the landing onto the top floor and whipped his sword out. A few of the more experienced soldiers fanned out around him, effectively blocking off the entire stairwell.

“Good luck, and... I want a good hug later, so don’t lose an arm or anything, okay?” I bolted up the last few steps and into a room filled with arguing.

I paused, taking in the scene. A few harpy were talking in almost-shouts at Caprica and Amaryllis who both looked entirely unamused by everything.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

I don’t think anyone heard me over the shouting, so I filled my lungs up as best I could, placed my index and thumb in my mouth, then whistled as loud as I could.

That had everyone shushing up for a moment. “What is happening?” I asked.

“These fools want us to load up their furniture into the airship before we load up anyone. They’re ordering the other hostages to do as they say,” Caprica said.

I looked to the nobles, then the hostages around the room. A few of those who’d come from all the way down on the first floor looked cowed. A lot more of them looked like they were ready to toss the nobles out of a window whether they fit through the arrowslit or not.

“That’s a great idea,” I said. The nobles (though really, it looked like it was just one or two of them that were really making a fuss) straightened up. “Everyone, grab a chair or a table! The pirate ship is still below! If we throw things down we might damage them!”

“Now, wait a moment!” a noble said.

He was drowned out by the scrape of furniture as everyone with any strength left grabbed whatever was closest and surged towards the roof access.

“Nice work,” Amaryllis said as she came closer.

“I, ah, don’t know if a chair will do too much to an armoured airship,” Awen said. “Unless it hits the prop, or some of the wing joints, I guess.”

“It’ll distract them, at least,” I said. “Have the ships arrived already?”

“Just one,” Amaryllis said. “The Featherfall is connected on the side opposite the pirate’s ship. We don’t want to give them easy line of sight on us.”

“And the sylph frigates?” I asked.

“Did a pass already, traded a few bolts with the pirates. They’re flying to bleed off speed. I think they intend to park themselves above the ship and fire down at it.”

The room cleared of easy-to-grab furniture surprisingly quickly, a few of the rescued harpy worked together to grab end tables and such, while others just grabbed a cushion or two or maybe a tray that had been left behind.

The sylph didn’t grab anything themselves, but I suspect they were very much amused by the hostage’s enthusiasm. Or maybe it was the way the nobles spluttered and protested without anyone actually paying them any heed.

“Once everyone’s on the roof, we need help loading them onto the Featherfall,” Caprica said next to the stairs.

“Oh, right, Bastion said that you should go on the first ship.”

She just barked a very unprincesslike laugh. “No. Squad C, get onboard the ship as well. Guard the harpy.”

“That’s a lot of people onboard one vessel,” Amaryllis said.

“We can rebalance things later,” Caprica shot back.

Everyone filed out of the room and onto the roof, myself included. While the room felt claustrophobic, the roof felt... something else. I didn’t know what word to use to describe the strange feeling of there being too many people standing next to an edge with too big of a drop.

The hostages had found a couple of stronger harpy to do the furniture tossing, and they seemed to be enjoying it immensely, though I did wish they’d hurry up.

The Featherfall sat heavy next to the lip of the tower, with a long gangplank extended out onto the tower itself. I don’t think the plank would have passed even the most rudimentary of safety standards, but it worked to get people onboard, even if it meant they were crossing in single-file.

Behind the Featherfall was the Lunchbox which was working to counter a bit of a crosswind.

Everything was going... okay, actually. I tapped my foot with nervous energy. Half the hostages were loaded. The other half were getting there, and Squad C had simply opted to fly themselves onto the airship to help those who’d already crossed.

Yup, things were going well. Now we just needed to wait for all the pirates to hit our defensive line, for the other pirate ships to descend upon us, and for a few surprises to pop out of nowhere to mess things up for us.

Maybe being a captain was a bit more stressful than I’d expected it to be.

***