Chương 557: Chapter Five Hundred and Forty-Two - Come Here Alive

"Broccoli!" I jumped, jolting so hard from the surprise that I almost bonked my head against the ceiling.

"Yes?" I squeaked. I was in my room, repacking some things since I had a few minutes to spare and the sailing had been pretty quiet for most of the day. I was mostly trying to figure out how to dress to deal with the upcoming desert heat. The clothes I normally wore were pretty warm, but I had some things that were a bit lighter.

"Ah, um, sorry," Awen said from the doorway.

"Were... were you changing?"

"No no," I said with a little wave.

"I'm dressed! Come in?" Awen just stuck her head in and glanced me up and down. I was in a more flowy skirt that I'd picked up... somewhere, and a loose blouse. I'd really rather be wearing my armour and normal stuff, but it was warm. Even so high up in the air it felt like the temperature was edging into the upper thirties. Or... hmm, what did they use to measure temperatures on Dirt? It probably wasn't celsius. I really hoped it wasn't fahrenheit.

"Just wanted to let you know that we can see the city," Awen said.

"It's just on the horizon, but we're getting closer. Clive has changed our heading a little as well, to better aim for it."

"Oh! That's great news," I said.

"What's it look like?"

"Right now? Just a bit of metal on the horizon," Awen said.

"Want to see?"

"Of course!" I swept up my captain's hat, then rushed out onto the main deck with Awen in tow. Come Here and Die was, for the moment, just a lot of glimmering points in the distance, but as we approached midday and slowly drew closer, the points turned into the rooftops of large, fat towers, and then the rest of the city came poking out of the desert mirage that wavered over the sandy grounds. Come Here and Die was a massive, sprawling city.

It might even have been the biggest city I'd seen yet, though a lot of that was just how much space they had. The outer edges were filled with gardens and vineyards, rows and rows of trees climbing up and over soft hillsides, lending a bit of green to the brown and sandy yellow of the desert. At first, I trained a spyglass on the city, but it was hardly better than squinting at it with my bare eyes. I rarely used it and couldn't keep the image steady.

Awen made a better one on the spot by shaping Glass Magic into a bunch of giant floating lenses. They bent the light into an image so clear that I couldn't help but think they were using more than just regular physics. It let us see the homes of the city. Most were squat, round-walled buildings, made of some sort of brownish yellow brick, but a few, I noticed, had large exterior walls that showed off impressively large interior spaces that were definitely dug into the earth.

They had built their homes into the ground! It made sense, it was probably much cooler a few feet below the sand, and having larger homes meant better ventilation, probably. A few of those neat little spells that moved the air around like we saw in Deepmarsh could probably keep a modest-sized home feeling relatively cool. I squinted as I saw something slowly moving above one of the stranger buildings along the middle... I supposed it was a 'ring' of the city, though it didn't seem like it was that organized.

"Does that look like a huge cannon to you?" I asked Awen.

"Um," she said.

"Um..." It did look a lot like a really big gun. In fact, now that I was looking, there seemed to be a few of those, at least seven of them, positioned here and there around the city, and I imagined that there might be more that we couldn't see yet on account of being too far away. Three of those seven looked like they were turning our way.

"Should we... do evasive manoeuvres yet?" I asked.

"I don't think cannons can reach this far," Awen said.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"I haven't seen a lot of them, to be fair, but they could be magical somehow." We decided to get a second opinion, specifically from Amaryllis who squinted at the distant guns, then scoffed.

"Those are ground artillery pieces. They can't hit us up here. I'd be more worried about those flyers over there." With that, she pointed to the side. I snapped my attention that way, then gasped. There were three forms taking to the sky and slowly gaining altitude as they spun in ever-increasing circles. Airplanes! Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

We'd seen some way, way out west--rocket powered gliders that were able to fly for quite a while, but these looked a bit more like the kind of aircraft I was used to back on Earth... somewhat. They were biplanes, with wings that were shaped a bit like a V. A tiny engine sat in the crook of the V spinning up a large propeller at the rear of the plane. There was no real cockpit, or fuselage.

Instead, the pilot, a tall ostri in tight clothes, was sitting in what looked like a wicker chair, and opposite him were two more hanging off the wires and lines between the upper and lower wing.

"Clive, turn us forty-five degrees port!" I called back. We weren't going to aim straight for the city while people were flying over.

"Should I deploy my turret?" Awen asked.

"I hope we won't need it," I said.

"That really doesn't answer her question, does it?" Amaryllis asked.

"Uh, maybe just be ready to deploy it? I'm sure this is just a welcoming committee?" I said. The three biplanes actually took forever to gain any altitude and reach our height. I could see why people on Dirt still preferred airships. Eventually, though, they were at about our level and raced our way, outpacing any airship as they shot forwards with a noise not unlike a trio of angry wasps, trailing thin vapours behind them.

The crew was mostly on deck by the time they arrived and started to circle the Beaver Cleaver. I had picked up the semaphore flags by then, and waved through a quick greeting, but I didn't get a response. Then someone jumped off one of the biplanes. I gasped, but the tall osti spun over themselves in the air, then kicked off nothing and shot towards the Beaver. They landed on the main deck in a roll, then easily bounced up and onto their feet, as if this was the most normal thing in the world for them.

As they stood, I found that I had to strain my neck to see their eyes. The ostri were humanoids, with long limbs and long torsos, but their arms and legs always seemed a big gangly to me, and very bony. It didn't help that a lot of ostri liked to wear these tight wraps over all of their limbs that made them look even skinnier. This one was maybe on the shorter side, for an ostri, which meant that their eye level was even with the middle of my ears.

They had a pair of belts around their lower waist, long, curved knives hanging from them.

"Uh, hello!" I said. The ostri glanced around, then looked at me more properly.

"You speak our tongue?" he asked.

"I guess so," I replied. I paid a bit more attention to my own words, the sound of them as opposed to the meaning alone. The ostri language sounded very smooth and sibilant, lots of whispery shushy noises with few hard consonants. It was a softer language. I liked it!

"My name is Broccoli Bunch, and these are my friends."

"Are you the leader of this group?" the ostri asked. I couldn't tell their gender at a glance, I could tell that they were scanning us over. Their gaze lingered on Bastion for some time.

"Some of you are strong, but most of you seem a little fair-weathered for life here. What are you coming to the city for?"

"We're just passing through," I said.

"We're heading to a place called Southerfell. Actually, an island near Southerfell. We're on the lookout for this group called the Black Avatars. Have you heard of them?" The ostri paused, then stared at me.

"We've heard of them, yes. If you bear no ill intent, and are willing to abide by our customs, then you may come."

"Are there any, ah, laws and such we should be aware of?" I asked. The ostri paused, then laughed.

"You know our tongue, but not our customs? You are interesting, tall-eared captain. Come Here and Die has no laws. No police, no army, no governors, kings, queens, or rulers. We have no taxes, and care little for money." Huh... I wasn't expecting that. Actually, did that mean that the whole place was anarchic? How did that even work?

"Wha... that's gonna make doing things there a little weird," I said.

"We have no need for liars and cheats, and our word is our law. You will find no people more honest than those of the city, and no people more willing to draw steel either."