Cinnamon Bun - Chapter Five Hundred and Fifty-Four

Chapter Five Hundred and Fifty-Four

I woke up with a start from a name that wasn’t very satisfying. For one, I’d slept in my full armour and with my shoes on, which wasn’t nice. And for two, there was a burning kernel of stress in my tummy that made me feel a little cramped up and icky. That didn’t lead to good sleep.

But I had slept, at least a little bit. 

Stress could keep me awake, but the battle had taken a lot of energy, and it had been late at night, after a long, full day, and I really needed the nap.

Blinking, I reached up and wiped some eye crud away, then let it turn to ash with a bit of Cleaning magic. That was a good sign that I’d slept a bit. It was still dark out, though, at least through the porthole in my room.

I’d slept enough, I figured, so I might as well get up on the main deck and see how things had turned out.

I was still tired, but I could push through. This was important, after all.

Leaving my room, I checked in on the other bedrooms around mine. Amaryllis wasn’t in hers, nor was Caprica, but Awen was cuddled up into a small ball, hugging a pillow, and Calamity was in the kitchen, sitting cross-legged and staring at a magical hot-plate which had a kettle on it. “Hey,” I said.

“Hi,” he replied. “Up already?”

“Can’t sleep,” I said.

“Hmm,” he replied. Then he moved, slowly pouring warm water into two tin mugs before adding in a tin tea-ball. 

I moved over and filled up my own, then I took a sip, the warmth pushing down my throat and banishing a lot of the weariness. “Thank you,” I said.

“No problem, captain,” Calamity said with a grin. “They’re still after us. Or they were, last I checked.”

“You didn’t take a nap?” I asked.

I had told as much of the crew as I could to rest a little. The fight had been exciting and loud and my heart had beat fast for twenty minutes afterwards as we made our escape out of ballista range. But then there wasn’t as much to do.

“I’ll take one later,” he said, but I felt like that was maybe a bit of a lie. Maybe he just didn’t need it as much? I could believe that, what with being a hunter and all. That had probably called for a few long nights.

“Okay,” I said. “Make sure you take care of yourself though, alright?”

“Mhm,” he replied. “I’ll be on deck in a few. Just wanted to warm up a little first.”

I nodded, then moved over to give him a hug. Calamity froze a little at the contact, but I think he needed it. When I let go, I smiled, then took the mug up with me, sipping from it every so often as the Beaver swayed gently underfoot.

I made it to the main deck, then squinted into the night. We’d left most of our running lights off, though there were a few shuttered magical lanterns here and there, where people needed them.

Glancing over the side of the ship, I tried to spot the pirates, and eventually spotted up and above. The ship had a bunch of lights on, including searchlights aimed our way. They were far enough back that the light was diffused, though. I supposed that it was still enough to stop another tricky maneuver like what we’d done earlier from working.

“Captain,” Bastion said as he came over. Caprica was with him, walking with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders like a shawl and a faint blush on her cheeks. 

“Heya,” I said. “Any changes?”

“Not particularly. It seems like they've spent the night running repairs. They did lose a fair bit of height, however. I’m no expert on airship combat, but I suspect that they’re burning a lot of fuel to stay afloat.”

I nodded along. That was good, right? That meant that we’d done some real damage to them. The fact that they could repair it was... not as cool, but there wasn’t much we could do about that. 

I sipped my tea, then looked at Caprica, who was being a little quiet. “Want some? It’ll warm you up?”

“No, I’m well. Bastion wrapped me in this to keep me warm,” she said. She tucked her head into the blankets a little more, looking very snug. 

“We don’t need you catching a cold,” Bastion said.

I giggled, then looked out to the convoy ahead. We were keeping pace with them, and were a bit off to one side of the single-file formation. It looked like things were pretty quiet on that side of things too.

“Under normal circumstances,” Bastion started. “I suspect that the convoy would have waited until morning only to surrender some of their goods.”

“Really?” I asked.

“It’s cheaper than fighting and losing one or more ships. That pirate vessel is larger, better armed, and better crewed. It would win in a straight fight against those three. Their best bet is to surrender some of their cargo to the pirates. I think some do it by dropping lower, then tossing the goods overboard. Others are boarded outright.”

“I imagine,” Caprica began. “That a ship that tossed junk overboard will not be given a second chance by the same pirate crew if they’re encountered again.”

“Just so,” Bastion said. “There’s a strange sort of... barbaric civility in all this piracy.”

So weird, but I guess it made sense. “And what about us? Do you think the convoy might pay their way free now?”

“No,” Bastion said. “We gave them a black eye and a bloody nose. The pirates aren’t going to take kindly to that. They’ll want revenge now.”

Darn.

“Is there a way we could convince them not to?” I asked.

Bastion considered it, but then shook his head. “Nothing comes to mind. Though by the time the sun rises and they’re ready for another battle, we will be closer to our destination. Pirates rarely operate over civilized airspace.”

We continued to chat, even as the sun finally rose over the horizon and painted the sky in pale pinks. With more light, it was easier to see the pirate ship, even if it was some ways back. 

The engine we’d hit pretty hard was still smoking, and its props were entirely immobile. The ‘skin’ of the airship was marked by dozens of patches that hadn’t been there before, and yet a lot of holes hadn’t been covered up yet.

It looked like we’d really done a number on the ship, especially on its port side. 

There were still tiny figures crawling over the ship’s rigging, patching over the holes with cuts of tarp. 

I couldn’t guess at the mood of the pirates, but I imagined that they were a lot more tired than we were. Working on a ship like that through the night must have been exhausting, and as much as I didn’t like thinking about it too much, we had probably injured a few of them.

There had been a lot of spells and bolts flung at the pirates. Some must have struck at or near the crew.

The ship was in a rougher state than they’d probably expected, but it was still a fully armed and operational pirate vessel. That wasn’t something to ignore.

So the convoy picked up the pace. I read the semaphore signal from the ship ahead. We were increasing our speed by a few knots. 

I picked up my own flags, sent an affirmative back, then ran over to the helm--currently manned by a sleepy Oda, and pushed the throttle up a bit.

It took the pirates a solid half hour to notice that were were building more space between us and them. At that point, they picked up the pace a lot. 

They were going to catch up. The merchant ships of the convoy were just not as fast as the pirates, even with their ship partially damaged. 

I was growing increasingly anxious that it would be a problem.

And then Bastion chuckled. I looked at him, then followed his gaze. Out ahead of us, in the distance, were more ships. Several of them, and as we approached, it became clearer that they were hovering over and around a city. 

We’d made it to civilization, or close enough to it that things might get a little dicey for the pirates.

A yawning Calamity came up onto the deck, squinted around, figured out why I was in a better mood, then shrugged. “Want me to plant a last couple of arrows in them? It’s one long shot... but I bet I can do it one time in five.”

“That might anger them,” I said.

“If they even notice a random arrow striking their ship,” Bastion said.

“Yeah, but it’ll remind them that we can fight back, and that we’re probably a bit tougher than their used to,” Calamity said.

“Hmm...” I thought about it, then shook my head. “Best not! Let’s see about making it to Southerfell. I’m sure the city doesn’t appreciate pirates and someone will be willing to help!”

***