Chương 66: Chapter Sixty-Three - The Shady Lady

When I woke up it was to find that Amaryllis was already up and about. She must have taken a shower because her feathers were still drippy and she had a towel wrapped around her head.

"Oh, you finally decided to wake up," she said. The words were biting, but the tone didn't match at all. She sounded... softer than she would have yesterday. I smiled a little, then hid myself in the warm pile of blankets until only the top of my head stuck out.

"I'm not coming out until someone brings breakfast," I said.

"You moron," Amaryllis said.

"I didn't take you for the lazy sort."

"I'm not lazy. I'm merely highly unmotivated to leave my warm snuggle cocoon," I said. Orange, who had slipped under the blankets, poked her head out and gave us both a glare that seemed to say 'really, at this hour?'

"Come on, we should grab something to eat on the road. There are vendors out all over this city. Or do you want to miss the opportunity Lord Bristlecone is giving us?" Somewhat reluctantly (I wasn't lazy, but it was really comfy under there) I pushed the pile of blankets until they smothered Orange and I hopped off the bed. I was only in my blouse and underthings, and all of the rest of my clothes were near my bed. It took a disproportionate amount of effort to trudge over and start getting dressed though.

"Is Abraham really a Lord?" I asked.

"He is, technically," Amaryllis said.

"How can someone technically be a Lord?" I wondered. She sighed.

"He has something of a reputation. He earned the title through some, shall we call them, exploits. He's not one of the founders of the Exploration Guild, but he was one of their big names for a long while. There are towns named after him, and landmarks that he discovered cover most maps. He's quite famous in some circles."

"So going with him is a big deal?" I asked. Amaryllis huffed. It was a new huff that I hadn't heard before.

"He's a bit of a washout. No, that's not the correct term. He merely grew old, and instead of retiring in grace he still leads the occasional daring mission into the frontier or goes on some harebrained adventure. There are characters in children's books that bear a striking resemblance to him. He's a fossil."

"I think he was nice, and maybe a little lonely," I said.

"No one wanted to hear his stories."

"I can't imagine why," Amaryllis deadpanned. Shaking my head, I slid on my shoes, then tied them up. I was still keeping a set of boots in my bags. My Earth shoes were just a whole lot more comfortable, though they were starting to show some wear.

"And I'm ready!" I said as I bounced to my feet.

"Finally," Amaryllis said. We went downstairs after I picked up my backpack and cradled Orange in the crook of my arm where she would at least be snug and warm, or as warm as a spirit cat could be, I guess. Julien wasn't behind the bar, instead it was manned... grenoiled, by a young lady who waved us goodbye as we went out the front. It was still early enough in the morning that the streets were mostly bare, the sun hadn't even fully risen over the distant mountain range to the East.

The few people around looked like workers rushing to get to their jobs, or people who had just finished a night shift and looked more than ready for bed. Amaryllis was right about the vendors though. As soon as we were off the main street and heading towards the docks we ran into a few carts that were still preparing to take off, their owners adding oils and arranging things before their first clients arrived.

We both agreed, with no prior discussion, to avoid all of the stands that sold bugs in any shape or form and aimed for the ones that had colourful signs that displayed drawings of local favourites. We ended up with two bowls made of some round loaves of bread with the middle scooped out. The bread was still soft, perhaps owing to the strange sort of fridge they'd been stored in. Hot minced meat, beef if I had to guess, mixed with some beans and a savoury sauce was placed in the middle.

We didn't get spoons, but a peek at a grenoil using his tongue to eat out of the bowl showed me how to eat the snack. I shrugged.

"When in Rome," I muttered before slurping out the stew. It tasted pretty good. Nothing like the food at the inn, but still hearty and filling, and then I got to eat the bowl too, which was nice.

"Your face is a mess," Amaryllis said. I looked at her shirt which had a few stains on it that hadn't been there before.

"You're one to talk," I said before firing a bit of cleaning magic at myself. Then, because I was nice, I cleaned off her shirt too. She huffed, but it was her 'I'm too good to say thank-you huff,' which was almost as good as if she had said thank-you. We aimed for the docks, Amaryllis sometimes taking the lead when we got to intersections that weren't yet familiar to me, but otherwise we just aimed for the big, noisy part of town with all of the flying ships around it. It was hard to miss, really.

"So, do you know what his ship looks like?" I asked.

"Not a clue," Amaryllis said.

"The Shady Lady is supposed to be quite popular. It was one of the first airships ever built in Mattergrove, some five or ten years after the Nesting Kingdom started producing their own."

"Ah, Mattergrove is a human place, right?" I had seen it on the map yesterday, it was to the West of Deepmarsh, but that was about all I could remember without looking at the map again.

"It is. It's a large enough nation, but rather impoverished. Their lands don't lend themselves well to cultivating any useful crops and the Seven Peaks, that is, the mountains around which the kingdom is built, don't have anything worth mining in them. They're not as advanced as the Nesting Kingdom or Deepmarsh, so they're behind there was well." If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"What do they sell?" I asked.

"Wine, mostly. They have good vineyards. That and plenty of fish, though other than a few rare species that Harpy nobility enjoy there's not much of a market for it. Endless Swells, another human-centric kingdom to the North, sell more fish for less."

"Ah," I said.

"That kind of sucks for them," I said. I would have asked a few more questions, but we arrived on the topmost deck of the docks. Piers stretched out before us to reach out to various ships that hung over empty air. Seagulls were flocking around in big groups, eyeing passersby in case they dropped anything tasty and men and women in overalls and working clothes moved about with a sense of urgency.

I could have spent hours at the docks just gazing at the airships taking off and smelling the weird sizzly tang from the magical engines they used, but time wasn't on my side. I spotted a grenoil who looked important, with a tag over one breast that read 'Dockmasters Association.'

"Excuse me, sir. We're looking for a particular ship," I said.

"Zen I suggest ze registry," he said a bit dismissively. I walked up alongside him and matched his pace.

"She's called the Shady Lady. She belongs to one Abraham Bristlecone." The grenoil stopped in his tracks.

"Is she leaving?" he asked.

"Um. I think so? As soon as we get to her, I mean."

"Zank ze stars. Ze Shady Lady is over at dock fifty-one." At my confused look he pointed off to one side.

"Two levels down. Look for ze plaque at ze base of ze pier." He then pointed to a nearby dock where a plaque was stamped onto the ground that read 'Twelve' in big letters.

"Thank you sir!" I said before I jogged back to Amaryllis.

"Follow me!"

"I have a bad feeling about this," Amaryllis said.

"Oh, don't be a worrywort," I said.

"We're about to go on another adventure! Just imagine how much fun we'll have. The moment we arrived at pier fifty-one I started to have the same bad feeling that Amaryllis had mentioned. I wondered if it was contagious, or if she just knew something I didn't. The Shady Lady was hard to miss. Mostly because the ship at the end of the pier had her name emblazoned on its side in foot-high letters. The fact that the words ran half-way across the length of the ship said much about its size. The airship was small.

Tiny even. With a long hull made of wood and a bunch of triangular sails mounted on poles that stuck out every which way from the ship. There was a little cabin at the back, with exhaust pipes sticking out of it, and a small area above that cabin with a large wheel that probably served to direct the ship. The very back of the ship ended abruptly with a huge propeller stuck to a shaft. And above it all an oblong balloon whose original colour I could only guess at.

It was covered in so many patches and nets and bits of tarp that it was impossible to tell what it was supposed to look like. One thing was immediately obvious: the Shady Lady deserved her name. Too many of her planks were mismatched to be original, and there were some nasty scrapes along the bottom. There was even a pole sticking out of the bow that I was pretty sure was a spear that had stayed lodged in the front of her.

"I can glide," Amaryllis said.

"So when she goes down, ditch that bag of yours and do try to hang on."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," I tried to assure her. And myself. The door to the ship's cabin burst open and a spotless Abraham stepped out of it. On his heels was Raynald, who looked just as spiffy now as he did at the guild.

"Broccoli! And you brought your feathery friend!" Abraham said as he raised both arms in an enthusiastic greeting.

"Welcome, come aboard, come aboard. We're all ready to set sail, to maraude across the clouds and maybe get into a bit of a scrap with some wild drakes or a griffon or two." I felt a grin tugging at my lips.

"Hello, Abraham," I said.

"Mister Raynald. It's a good morning to meet you two!"

"Ahaha! A good morning indeed. Come on, the Shady Lady doesn't bite, not when I'm around at least. Hoh-oh!" Laughing, I hopped over from the pier to the ship, and took a few steps to steady myself once aboard. A few steps was all I could take since the entire vessel was only five meters or so wide at its middle. The entire deck had things on it. Poles for ropes, pulleys, a few seats with fishing rods next to them.

There were even small cannons tucked next to the rails where they couldn't be seen from outside of the ship. It looked like the Shady Lady had had parts added and removed and changed all throughout her life as a little airship, and despite my reservations I was growing to like her a whole lot. She had personality.

"C'mon birdy," Abraham said.

"If we want to make it to Greenshade sometime this week we ought to head out sooner rather than later!" Amaryllis hopped over to the ship, then jumped down the rails to land next to me.

"If I die on this death-trap, I'm returning as a ghost to haunt you," she said.

"And my name is Amaryllis, not birdy."

"Very well then, Lady Amaryllis," Abraham said.

"Welcome aboard the Shady Lady. Let me show you girls around right quick. We're short handed, so we'll all have to do our part else we'll drop out of the sky like a sack full of lead bricks. Why, that reminds me of the time I encountered the dread air-pirate Golden Rogers..."