The next morning, five of us left the camp under the tower. We gathered up some supplies from the tower’s backups and left before the sun came up. Zlenka and one of the survivors, her name was Sandelle, led the three of us through the woods toward the small village we saw from the tower the afternoon before.

The forest broke away suddenly and we stepped warily out into the large clearing. The grass looked recently manicured with only a few shoots of weeds here and there. This world is silent compared with our own but there was something eerie about that field, it felt like the forest around us was watching us, waiting for us. I’m positive that McKeller and Samuels felt it too. Zlenka and Sandelle forged ahead, up the hill, not noticing anything peculiar and we grudgingly followed, unwilling to be left behind. I forgot the feeling soon enough, I could see the pointed roof of one of the buildings from the village appearing over the hill.

The village turned out to be much smaller than I had imagined. There was a central building that looked something like a small church. It’s walls were spotted with round windows that circled the building. It’s possible that they once held stained glass windows of some description but now they were just holes in the wall. There were five smaller buildings place evenly around the church, facing it, that looked something like large yurts. Everything was still, as though the whole village was frozen in time. The grass broke away, the ground was hard as rock. I feet crunched against the dirt.

“Spooky,” McKeller commented.

Zlenka turned to him, “What do you mean?”

McKeller shrugged. “Dunno, it’s just spooky. It’s like a real live ghost town.”

Samuels sighed.

We walked to the center of the village. The building that looked like a small church had an open arch for an entrance. Signs of old rusted hinges hung from the sides, there were no other signs it once had a door. The inside was dark but I could make out several pews lined up on an angle, facing toward the left hand corner. I could see something feint hanging from the wall but couldn’t quiet make it out through the shadows.

“Hello?” McKeller yelled into the church. His voice echoed through the empty space.

Samuels ventured inside. He took a few steps in, toward the center of the large room, while we watched from the doorway. He circled on the spot, staring at the walls, following something with his eyes. His mouth hung open, his eyes wide with awe.

“What is it?” McKeller called.

Samuels looked at him. His wide eyes crossed all our faces. Suddenly, without warning, his knees buckled and his feet fell out from beneath him. He dropped to the ground, his head landed on the dusty ground. In his place stood a hooded figure I couldn’t quiet make out in the shadows of the room.

It lunged at us.

Sweat was pouring quickly under the desert suns but the Rock Monsters, or the Rantains, as they seemed to be called, moved incredibly fast across the sand. Even with us as their cargo. I assume that these are wild creatures but could imagine other parts of the world where they’d be used much in the way that elephants or horses were many years ago on our own earth.

Zlenka was crouched over the creatures neck shouting commands at it into the strong wind. Behind us the creature sent up a cloud of dust like a vehicle spinning its wheels in the dirt. It wasn’t long before I could spot our destination - a tower much like our original take off point.

It seemed like so long ago now.I counted the days in my head. Only two days ago… or was it three? I was losing track of the days already. I watched the waves of the desert dunes roll past me, I lost myself in them for a moment. All my concerns for the group slowly slipped away and I was alone, the wind blowing on my face. I was flying.

Before I knew it the raintains were slowing to a gallop and a minute later they pulled up to a stop in the shadow of the tower. It stood in the middle of a small oasis, a little island of grass and trees surrounded by desert on every side.

We climbed down and stretched the soreness out of our limbs. Zlenka fed the beasts some of our rations, and shewed them off. He walked up to us a moment later, rubbing his arms and hands.

“So,” I said. “How long till the next airship comes?”

“We’ll have to signal them, then it could be anywhere up to a couple of days.”

“And you’re feeding our…” Mckeller began. I stopped him. “I just mean, we don’t have much left.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “If it wasn’t for them, we’d still be miles away from here.”

Zlenka turned and headed up to the tower. This one didn’t have the convenient elevator, it was a long climb to the top. I followed up the stairs while everyone waited around the bottom, each finding a bit of shade under the sparce trees.

I noticed Samuels keeping close to McKeller, he seemed to be watching him closely. I remembered what he had said, Esh’s advice - Kill McKeller. I leaned over the rail and called out to Samuels.

“I’ll see you both when I get back, okay?” I yelled pointedly.

Samuels nodded. McKeller waved.

Zlenka was already at the top of the station fiddling with some equipment when I got there. It’s obvious that people of this world have more strength and stamina than we do. I have yet to figure out the cause, possibly just their almost medieval way of life.

“The power is low,” Zlenka said. “Which means it’s been a while since anybody has been here.”

“What does that mean for us?”

Zlenka flipped some switches. “It means either we won’t have a very strong signal, and chance that they’ll come close enough to hear us. Or we will have a strong signal but not for very long. Either way we’re taking a big chance.”

“Wait,” I said.

I remembered I had a solar charger in my bag, I dug through and found it.

“Can you attach this?” I said, holding it out.

He stared at it blankly.

“It’s a solar charger.”

“What?” He laughed.

“It gets power from the sun.”

“Kogarr-moss!” He took it and looked it over. “How is that possible?”

“It converts the heat the sun gives off into electricty.”

He shrugged and looked it over. He knelt down by the equipment again and worked there. I saw him pull the back off the charger and look it over some more. He pulled the connector off the wire and wrapped them around something I assumed was a battery.

While he worked I walked around the top of the tower, looking out across great distances. I thought I could almost see another tower, possibly the one we had come from, on the horizen to the west, but I couldn’t make it out clearly enough to be sure. To the south and the east was nothing but desert, for as far as I could see.

To the north, though, was more forest, with only a few miles of desert seperating us from it. There was a clearing further north. I guessed about a half a days walk through the forest. I thought I could see a rooftop of a large building.

Zlenka, suddenly, stood up and took a few steps back.

“It works,” He said. He turned to me. “We have strong signal and the power is actually gaining!”

“Is that a small town?” I asked, pointing to the clearing.

It took a few moments to point it out to Zlenka.

“It looks like it,” he said. “But I’ve never seen it before. I didn’t even know there was a town out this way.”

It was midday. The forest thinned quickly and the dirt, grass and bush quickly gave way to sand and dead trees. Before I knew it I was standing on the edge of a vast desert. To either side of me the line of trees stretched straight as an arrow into the distance. In front of me was nothing but sand littered with large round rocks. In the distance I could see a couple of mountains trying to hide behind the horizon.

“Shit.” I thought it was the appropriate expression.

McKeller passed me a cup with his one good hand and poured water into it from the jug hung over his shoulder. McKeller had been rationing the water out as we rested but I saw when he poured it how low we were getting. We were running very low and now I wasn’t sure we’d survive at all. I saw us falling in the sand dying of dehydration. That was until Zlenka trodded up beside me, smiling.

“I know where we are.” He said.

He pointed into the distance somewhere towards the north of where the mountains stood.

“That way.”

“That’s where the city is?” McKeller asked. “In the desert?”

“No,” Zlenka smiled. He grabbed the jug and took a swig of water. We reached to stop him but he just took a mouthful and handed it back. “It would be another couple of days to the city, the way we’re going, but that is where the next Airship Station is.”

“Alright then,” I said. I drank from my cup and handed it back to Fedricks, who had just joined us. “We’ll take a break and head off when it gets dark.”

Zlenka bent down and picked up a small rock.

“You see that group of rocks there?” He pointed out a large boulder about the size of a small house, it was surrounded by a couple of smaller boulders.

He weighed the small rock in his hands for a moment and bounced it around in his palm. He pulled his arm back and threw the stone high into the sky with obvious skill. We watched in awe as the stone flew higher and higher into the sky until finally it curved down toward the ground again. It fell quickly and landed right on target, on one of the smaller boulders and rested ther for a moment before rolling off.

The boulder suddenly lifted up into the sky. I almost fell back in surprise as I realise what it was, the head of a massive beast camouflaged in the desert. It opened it’s eyes and took a look around before falling back into the sand with a loud thud.

“I think I peed a little.” McKeller muttered.

While we stood in awe of the huge animal laying in front of us like a mountainous dog made of rock, people around us gathered their things together and headed straight out into the desert.

“One day,” Zlenka said as he slung a bag over his shoulder, “You’ll have to tell me where you’re really from.”

We took up our things and followed.

“They’re bigger than elephants,” McKeller exclaimed as we got closer.

Our group slowly diverged into two, then three smaller groups. Each heading toward a rock beast. I speculated on what was going on, but refused to believe it. Were these people planning on riding these things? Or were we in store for a much larger feast tonight. I waited and watched.

Zlenka broke from the group, he ran toward the rock thing. Each step sunk into the soft sand but still he sped up. Finally, when he was only a few feet from the monster, he flung himself into the air. For a moment it seemed like he could fly, hovering high in the sky, then he fell. He landed on his feet, perched atop the giant boulder that was the things back.

It was surprisingly quick and agile for it’s lumbering appearance. It leapt to it’s feet and reared up, letting out a huge high pitched scream. Zlenka held on with his bare hands, apparently finding handholds like a mountain climber.

It reared and bucked like a bull fighting off it’s rider.

Suddenly, another rock beast barrelled into it. Zlenka flew into the air, for a moment he was holding onto it by nothing more than a few fingers. I realised then that the other beast had a rider aswell. There was another running in circles off to my left. They were capturing the beasts, wild horses for us to ride.

I don’t know how long it took but it seemed to be over soon enough, Zlenka rode the lumbering thing over to us and, with a short command, the beast knelt down before us.

“Hop on.” He said.

“Oh, and grab my bag too, will you?”

I don’t know how long we had been asleep but it was pitch black when I woke up. I looked over at the fire wondering how it’d gone out when I realised nobody got around to lighting it. We had collapsed after the last day and a half’s troubles and every one of us refused to move.

My muscles screamed when I tried to move them but I forced them along. It was freezing cold, we didn’t need a dozen cases of pneumonia as well as everything else. It took a bit of feeling around but I found my torch and twisted on. Something moved in bushes around us.

I grabbed my crutch and stood up, putting my weight against the stick. I can’t tell you how fast my heart was beating. I scanned the bushes over and over again until I was sure, or at least I had convinced myself, that it was just some small form of local wildlife and not a mayree stalking us.

I began my search for some fire wood, keeping very close to the clearing. I was not venturing further into the bush than was completely necessary.  It wasn’t easy going with the crutch and my broken leg but I gathered up small handfuls and delivered them to the centre of the clearing. It took a few trips until I had the beginnings of a fire going.

However, close to the clearing all I could find was smaller sticks and dry leaves. I would need to go further into the bush if I was going to keep the fire going for any length of time. With the small fire lit the darkness around the camp seemed a little less daunting and so I stepped further into the brush than I probably should have.

I heard a sound like laughing, something like a cockatoo. I looked up in the trees but could see nothing. Everything went silent for a few moments and then I heard it again, it was coming from another direction. I spun around but could still see nothing. I scratched my arm on a tree branch.

The laughing was getting louder and more constant. It was coming from all around me now. It felt like it was echoing through my head. The began moving, circling around me. The cackle getting louder and louder drowning everything else out.

It was driving me crazy. I started lashing out with my crutch, I hit tree after tree but nothing else. I started thinking it was all in my mind. Then something brushed past my foot. I turned my torch to the ground but it disappeared into the bushes.

Another brushed my leg. Then another.

Then I saw it perched in front of me. The thing froze for a moment when I turned my torch on it. It was very small, about the size of a large chicken. It’s skin was blood red and misshapen as though it didn’t fit the frame properly. It stood on two legs and had two small flaps for arms. It snapped its beak at me and cackled again, as if it knew my fear, knew how crazy I found this world, as though it knew how crazy this world was making me.

Then it attacked. The little creature launched itself at me, landing on my chest. I felt the weight of another one landing on my back. The red thing on my chest snapped at my face and I fell back. I was quickly losing the fight as the snapped and grabbed at me.

It was only a short fight. Zlenka appeared seemingly from nowhere and fired his gun at the little things. He hit one and it fell dead beside me. The other cackled loudly and darted into the darkness.

“Great,” Zlenka said. “Now we have something to eat.”

“Your going to eat that thing?” I asked.

He looked at me for a moment. I couldn’t decipher his expression in the dark but I felt I had missed something. “Yes.” He said.

With Zlenka’s help we made a great fire that lasted all night. In the morning we had the first feed since the crash. It was only small portions between the group but the little red creature fed us well, it tasted like a dark venison.

But our troubles weren’t over We had no food and we were running out of water, we would have to get to the city soon.

We were taking turns keeping watch but I don’t think any of us got any sleep. Fedricks was up every few minutes keeping an eye on some of the more wounded passengers. We went through all of our first aid supplies quickly and soon there was nothing more he could do, but he kept trying anyway.

A few of them passed away before morning.

The darkness slowly gave way to a pale light, the strange sounds of unknown nocturnal animals faded away and the true destruction of the night revealed itself.

There were fourteen survivors in all that made it till morning. We woke them up and took the more able over to the crash site for scavenging duties.

The front of the airship had been completely crushed and was nothing more than a pile of splinters and ash, toward the back of the ship was more intact but still badly burnt. But there was some salvageable equipment and supplies.

I decided to try and find the luggage section and with some help from Zlenka and another of the survivors, I found it in the rear of the ship in a somewhat in tact section. It was in one of the lower parts of the ship and although it wasn’t destroyed by the crash, a lot of it had been burned through. The three of us pulled it all out onto the ground and started dividing it up into burned and unburned. The burned luggage (which included our own bags) we opened up and took out anything undamaged.

While we were working, Fedricks and McKeller pulled some planks from the wreckage and construced some makeshift stretchers. We loaded the luggage unto one and used the others for a couple of the unluckier passengers. I recognised one of them to be Danvle, even though his face had been severely burned.

We had to leave as soon as we could.

Through the night I had feared that at any moment something would come out of the forest to rip us to shreds. Every noise made me jump, every shadow that moved spun me round and had me searching for a source. Every minute, every hour that passed I sighed with relief.

In the early hours of the morning, though, I began to feel like our luck was up. I had to rushed everyone, keeping them moving. There would be no breaks until we were well out of the forest and on our way to someplace safe. I wanted to get to the city as quickly as we could.

With Zlenka and very little help from McKeller, we worked out the best direction to take. One that would lead us toward the city, but also through thinner parts of the forest. It wasn’t an easy task with the limited knowledge we had of the area.

The sun had been up for an hour or more, when it looked like we had everything together. We gathered together and headed off. I swear I could hear the screams of some mayree in the distance behind us. All the more reason to get a move on.

It was slow-going through the thick forest. We had McKeller and Zlenka up front, cutting out a path and leading us through. Fedricks and I, plus two others - A man named Fdunk and a woman named Urchu, Pulled the stretchers at the rear of the group.

Toward the afternoon the man who had been comatose in Fedricks stretcher woke up. And after a quick check over he continued the journey on foot. After deciding we may still need it in the near future, we decided not to leave it behind. We split the luggage between Fdunk and the newly empty stretcher.

Soon after though, McKeller and Zlenka stopped. McKeller came back through the group to where we were.

“We think we’ve found a place to set up camp tonight.” he said.

It was a small clearing between a circle of large trees. It looked like a safe place to camp, but I was against stopping for the night, or atleast just yet. But with one look at the group I could see I would be quickly out voted. I conceded and we set up camp.

It was less than an hour later that everyone was asleep.

McKeller had somehow survived the crash and the fire without any serious injuries. He had some light burns down his right hand side but he mostly complained that his broken arm had begun hurting again, worse than before.

The moon was all but hidden by the trees of the forest. McKeller and I pulled out our torches and built a small fire in a clearing not far away from the crash site. Zlenka and Fedricks went back and forth from the crash bringing back the injured and unconcious few that had survived the attack and the crash.

Fedricks and Zlenka pulled another unconcious body up to the fire and laid it by the others.

“That’s the last of them.” he said.

They were covered in soot and scratches. They both patted down there clothes, letting loose some dust and slumped down next to the fire.

“What did you do with the dead mayree?” I asked.

“There wasn’t any.” Fedricks said.

He pulled something out of his shoe and threw it into the fire.

“There wasn’t?” I asked. “But we heard one, just before we found…”

We both looked over at McKeller. He was staring into fire, lost in his own thoughts. Between his broken arm, the cut across his face that still hadn’t healed properly, the cuts and bruises from the crash, he wasn’t in good shape.

He’d taken the worst of what this world had shown us so far and we’d barely stepped in the doorway.

Fedricks started cleaning some of the cuts on his arms.

“This world is too dangerous Doug,” He said. “We have to find a way home.”

“I know, but how? You checked the equipment yourself, It was all destroyed.”

“I don’t know.” He said. “I’ve been thinking. Maybe it could be fixed.”

“So, you want to go all the way back? Just to double check?”

He looked at me for a moment.

“I brought it with me…” He said. “Well, most of it anyway. What wasn’t completely gone. I had to leave the power source too. It was too big. We have to find a way to fix it and we have to get home Doug… before we all get killed.”

“We aren’t going to die,” I said trying to reassure myslef as much as Fedricks. “We’ve survived two encounters with these things already.”

“Survived?” Fedricks said, an indignant tone rising in his voice. “Survived? Three of us were killed in the first night! or have you forgotten them already?”

“I just mean…”

He was getting angry now. “Let me remind you! Samuels! Naylor!” he shouted their names, “Kingston!”

“Kington isn’t dead” McKeller said.

Fedricks stopped, stumbling over his words. We both turned to McKeller who was still staring at the fire. I felt my jaw hit the ground. McKeller had spent the whole night injured on the bridge, we had thought him dead while we hid underneath. What had he seen?

He threw a stone into the fire. “He’s not dead.” He repeated. “They only took him. They didn’t kill him.”

I sighed. McKeller and Kingston had been friends since childhood. He didn’t see anything that we didn’t. IT was simply just denial. I could see from Fedricks face he was thinking the same thing. I didn’t think it right to say anything to McKeller though, He’ll have to work through it in his own time.

There was a moment of silence that threatened to become awkward until Zlenka spoke up.

“It’s possible.” He said.

“What’s possible?” Fedricks snapped, still aggrevated.

“Nothing!” Zlenka flinched. “I just meant that it is possible your friend is still alive. A small chance, that’s all.”

“How?” I asked.

Zlenka seemed pleased that Fedricks wasn’t doing the questioning now.

“The mayree; sometimes they keep people. Most of them live in caves pocked across the Penumbra Mountains. They take people there and keep them for food.”

McKeller was staring at him. His jaw hanging open.

“Or they enslave them.” Zlenka added as an afterthought.

“Those beasts enslave people?” Fedricks said.

“It’s a theory.” Zlenka said. “No one really gets close enough to them for long-term study though. There are many legends about mayree slaves, my mother used to tell me to be good or a mayree slave would steal me away and feed me to the mayree.”

“Which way?” McKeller said.

McKeller had a look in his eye. I knew exactly what he was thinking. I was thinking the same thing.

“Which way are these Penumbra Mountains?”

“To the light,” Zlenka said. “Past war and over… You aren’t thinking of going there?”

“If there is a chance that our friend is alive we have to try and save him.” I said. “How far is it?”

“I would guess about five or six days.” Zlenka said. “If you can find an airship to take you directly there.”

“Ah,” Fedricks sighed. “and how far to this Goruen City?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t even know where we are”

We looked at McKeller. He had been helping to navigate the Airship.

He shrugged and held up his finger and thumb two inches apart.

“We went about this far.”

I heard gun shots. Then nothing for a few moments.

I was struck across the face. I opened my eyes but saw only blurred shapes. One of them slapped me.

“Doug!” It said as my hearing cleared, “Doug, wake up!”

I tried to push them away. I needed a minute to get my bearings. I needed work out what was happening and where I was. And why it’s so hot.

It came back rather quickly, the past few days replaying themselves for me… When we had arrived on this danger filled world and our night perched above the water. Esh and Gruff. The airship, the mayree, the screeching, the falling through the trees.

We had made a split-second decision between jumping and being crushed. Amongst the other passengers and random objects sliding towards us was the large form of a mayree. I could have guessed how it would have reacted to running into us, luckily I didn’t have to find out.

The blur above me slowly took the form of Fedricks. A strange glow flickering across his face.

I tried to get to my feet. Everything hurt and there was a ringing in my ears. I groaned as Fedricks and another man, who I recognised soon after as the other passenger that had slipped into us back on the airship, pulled me to my feet. I got my first look at the destruction.

The airship had crashed only a hundred yards or so away from us. The wreck was ablaze, lighting up the dark and catching to the trees circling around the crash site.

“McKeller?” I asked Fedricks.

He just frowned.

I watched the flames flicker for a moment before I realised I could see the shillouettes of people moving around the inferno. I tried to run toward them but my feet were still unsteady, I fell to the ground. A face full of dirt on top of everything else. Fedricks and the other man grabbed my under the arms and we stumbled toward the crash as fast as we could move.

“You know,” Fedricks said. “I bet McKeller’s one of them. He’ll be just fine, look what he’s lived through so far. He’s stronger than we give him credit for.”

I looked at him. He shrugged.

A screech cut through all the sounds of the night. It sounded like a mayree but…

“Burn you bastard.” Fedricks said.

It took us almost ten minutes to make the short distance and by the time we got there the blaze was down to a dull burn. The shillouettes were still dashing around, they each had a large branch and were hitting at the flames. A fountain of water was shooting up from the middle of the fire. Some sort of fire emergency system, I suppose.

“I’m going to go help,” Fedricks said. “You two wait here.”

He dropped my arm and jogged toward the fire. About half way he picked up a large branch, struggled with it for a moment and dropped it in favour of a smaller branch. He ran over to wreck and began beating the branch against the flames.

“Hi,” I said to the stranger still holding me up. “I’m Doug.”

“Zlenka.” He said.

“Anything broken?”

“My arm hurts.” He said. “But, actually, I landed on your friend… again.”

He nodded toward the fire where Fedricks was helping to smother the last of the flames.

“I’m surprised he’s still going. He’s a warrior, yes?”

“Something like that.”

I tried to stand on my own again. I was feeling strong enough but it was obvious now, I had broken my leg. I checked my pockets and found some painkillers but with all of our packs somewhere in the burned out wreck of the airship, i would need to find some other way of splinting it.

There was a falling tree close by, Zlenka helped me over to it. I found a couple of thick sticks that would make a good make-shift splint but I couldn’t reach down to fix my leg up myself. Zlenka was all too ready to help, though, and seemed happy to do so.

I couldn’t help myself feeling a little suspicious of him. It seemed strange that so far everyone had seemed all too helpful. Esh readily gave us a lift, Lucas Blu let us ride his airship with nothing more in exchange than some easy work. With a world as dangerous as this one seemed to be, I would’ve expected the people to have more of an every-man-for-himself attitude. Was there something behind their seemingly helpful nature?

“There!” Zlenka announced.

“Thanks.”

I tried to stand up, to see if I could walk on it but Zlenka stopped me. He searched around the branches on that littered the forest floor for a moment before coming back with a thick one. He cleaned it off a little and brought it over to me. It had a fork at one end and was a little curved in places but it looked like it could work as a crutch.

He helped me to my feet and I put my weight on it. It worked fine enough, so we headed over to the wreckage. It was dark now. The fire was out but I could make out some figures moving through the dark, they seemed to be trying to salvage whatever they could from the wreckage.

“Fedricks!” I called out.

A figure came towards us. It was Fedricks. “I think I’ve found McKeller,” He said. “He’s alive, but I need help.”

The end of the ship near us had only been lightly damaged, It was possible our packs had survived if the rooms had’nt been burned out, but as we rounded the wreckage to the bow I could see the front had been crushed. It wasn’t much more than a pile of wood.

“McKeller!” I shouted.

Zlenka and Fedricks began pulling pieces from the rubble and tossing them aside.

“McKeller!” I shouted again.

From somewhere in the rubble a mayree screeched. The sound was painful, I almost fell backward, I steadied myself on the crutch. Some of the rubble moved and fell aside, the logs tumbled down the pile. The screech broke off and all that was left was a man’s voice, calling for help.

McKeller looked out from the rubble.

The sun was setting fast. We collected the bowls from the dinner meals and made one final round for drink orders before darkness set in. Denvle was in the back room when we arrived. He gave us each a long taper already lit at the end. We walked down the aisle once more lighting the lantern at either side of each bench.

At each bench I noticed that all the passengers had their weapons in hand or sitting across their lap. All eyes were toward the windows. The fading light off the landscape was beautiful sight of mountains and open unpopulated countryside that seemed to be heralding some sort of danger.

Myself, I was more worried about lighting fires underneath a balloon that was most probably filled with extremely flammable gasses. An attempt at bringing up my concerns with Danvle were met with laughter and a pat on the shoulder.

“You don’t worry about such things.” He said. He had a strange accent that couldn’t be placed. “You worry about the dark, and the beasts who come.”

I thought of the mayree.

Were these beasts nocturnal, only feared at night time? Did they attack anything and everything in the sky, their natural territory? Had we, again, walked unknowingly into their target range?

Or were there other dangers in the night sky?

My question was soon answered.

By the time Fedricks and I had finished lighting all the lanterns the airship was surrounded by a blanket of darkness I had never seen before. On our earth, our dimension, the cities are so big and reach so far that the light can be seen from the deepest reaches of the country. Even the middle of the ocean wasn’t safe from the glow of the cities. I have never been without my nightlight of civilisation.

Nothing lit up the darkness surrounding the airship but the moon and the stars overhead. I could see the shadows of clouds pass us slowly, creeping through the sky. In the distance I spotted some lights here and there, possibly fire. They too must be worried about the bumps in the night.

A loud screech brought me out of my thoughts.

“I know that sound.” Fedricks said.

I did too. The airship was knocked and we both fell to the deck. We held tight as the ship rocked hard enough to throw us from wall to wall. I managed to get to my feet and helped Fedricks to his. We exited the small room.

Some passengers were still rising to their feet, but the rest had gathered along the port side. They had their weapons aimed over the side of the ship, up into the sky. I watched some of them fire. I had thought them to be projectile weapons but they fired light, much like our own weapons except with some sort of raw kick

Another screech, and this time I saw it. The beast that will remain in my nightmares for the rest of my life. The mayree. It swept past the ship, knocking it off balance.

“Starboard!” Someone yelled.

The group stampeded to the other side of the airship. They jumped over people fallen to the ground and knocked others aside. It seemed everyone wanted to bag a mayree. They had almost reached the opposite side when they fell back. They began to retreat.

A pair of massive claws gripped onto the side of the deck.

I reached for my gun.

Fedricks moved in close to me, his own gun raised.

It raised it’s face, showing it’s fangs to the retreating passengers. It screeched loudly. Several of the passengers covered their ears. I wanted to do the same but instead I fired.

I hit the beast in the eye. It fell off the side of the ship, disappearing into the night sky.

The screeching didn’t stop.

“We’re surrounded,” Fedricks said. “I can’t tell how many…”

The passengers were gathering themselves and heading back to the starboard side. They had moved too soon, they were knocked down against by a sudden burst of wind as a mayree flew right onto the deck. The passengers scrambled to their feet and began running from them, firing as they went.

Another mayree joined the first. The beasts screeched and began their attack.

The deck trembled as they galloped through the passengers. In mere moments two passengers lay crushed to death on the deck, another between the fangs of one of the mayree. I fired at them and managed to knock one to the ground.

within seconds another two had taken it’s place.

One of the mayree was barreling toward me and fedricks, It’s jaw opened wide showing us it’s bloody fangs. It screeched. It’s massive paws beat like a drum against the deck of the airship. It launched itself into the air toward us, screeching loudly.

Fedricks tackled me to the ground. The beast missed us by a mere foot.

We slid along the deck toward the bow. The ship was descending fast. Tree branches began brushing against the side of the ship. We crashed against the bow of the ship.

Fedricks got to his feet first.

“Doug!” He yelled.

I looked up. The ship was on a steep angle now and everything on deck that wasn’t bolted down was heading right for us. A passenger slid into the bow next to us, half his body was missing, he was one of the dead. Another passenger slid into us, bringing a shower of glasses and cutlery with him. and knocked Fedricks onto his back.

I gave him my hand and pulled him back up, the passenger climbing with him. I heard that screech again and looked up the deck to see the huge form of a mayree sliding toward us.

“Jump!” Fedricks yelled.

He grabbed me by the shoulder and we dove over the side of the airship.

Apparently Esh and Fedricks had talked about many things on the ride to the refueling station. He had also weaved a small tale about where we had come from, what we were doing at Stronghold Castle and why we had no money or knowledge of the area. He told him a vague story about being lost travellers from a small secluded town and seeing the castle in the distance from our camp site.

Esh had told Fedricks a few basic things, enough to get us by including where to go once we had arrived at the Goruen City, as I found that it was called. He also told Fedricks about their currency aswell, It seems they work on some sort of trade crediting system.

Esh then went on to ask about McKeller’s injuries, his broken arm and the cut across his cheek, and if they were in fact caused by the Mayree and not just sustained from the fall. He was being very thorough, Fedricks told me, wanting every detail and then Esh gave him a warning.

“Kill McKeller.” Esh told him.

I almost tripped when Fedricks told me that. McKeller had a habit of getting on people’s nerves but, as far as I knew, no one wanted to kill him. I picked up the odd artifacts that had fallen out of my tray and headed to the stock rooms at the back of the airship.

After an hour or so in the sky I was getting used to the slight swaying and seeing the ground pass quite slowly outside the windows, Even the passengers where more pleasent than I had expected. It’s strange how different the same world could be.

The back room was a small closet, the walls lined with stacks with mugs with a large handle and what looked to be a small loop for the thumb on the opposite side, utensils that looked like a fork with two prongs that had a small button attached to a levering device and stacks of deep bowls. At the other end there were several small taps which produced a liquid which was red and smelled slightly alcoholic, like a whiskey. I couldn’t see where they kept the food and, so far, no one had asked for any.

“Kill? He told you to kill McKeller?” I hissed, I was stunned. “What on earth for?”

“It’s the Mayree scratch,” he said. He rubbed his cheek. “McKeller is possibly infected, He may have even been poisoned, from what I gathered. I’m a little unclear on the symptoms, all Esh would say is that he would change and it would be painful.”

“I guess medical treatment isn’t the same here.”

“Do we have any medical gear left?”

We only had a couple of first aid kits between us, the rest of the medical equipment was in the level 3 bags detroyed by the Mayree, but I was certain I could fix McKeller’s cut. If it was just an infection it would be fine, If it was poison, well that would be another story.

We had lost two friends to the Mayree already, one slaughtered before our very eyes, and another was taken to god only knows where, I doubt he had even lived through the flight. I would be damned if I’d lose another.

An alarm brought me back from my thoughts. An announcement followed.

“Passengers, This is an alert,” it was McKeller’s voice. “Hold on to your peanut’s ladies and gentlemen, Sunset is approaching, Dark is to our left. That is all.”

There was a pause.

“That was fun.” McKeller said. The speakers clicked off audibly.

There were only a few people milling around on the ground when we arrived. Apart from Esh, they were the first people of this world we had seen. The thing I noticed first, apart from the fact they weren’t covered in the large cloak as Esh was which I had assumed to be common style, they were all armed with either gun or sword, some with both.

We passed a couple of men dressed in what looked almost like a suit. The brown coats hung long and had no lapels, underneath they had on vests that tied together with large strips of leather. They wore large boots which reached halfway up the calf. A woman stood close by wearing a corset made from some sort of suede and pants of leather. It seemed to be a common enough style, most of the other’s around seemed to wear some variation or another.

The Air ship hovered directly above us now. It was a lot larger than it seemed at first. The gondola alone stretched at least thirty metres long. Large sails off both sides flapped in the strong wind, there were several propellers toward the rear of the ship. A small tunnel attached it to a platform that stood propped high above us on massive columns. A buttress leaned against one of the massive columns from the centre of the clearing.

“This is a refueling station,” Esh said. “We’re lucky to have caught an airship here though, they pass this way very rarely. The next station is another day from here.”

Gruff stopped just in the entrance of the clearing, Esh pulled his hood up over his head and climbed off the wagon. He lead us through the people milling around up a set of stairs onto a deck, there was a man leaning against a fence by some machinery, he gave us a curious look as we arrived. He was wearing baggy brown cover-alls with grease streaked down one side. He had some large green goggles pulled up onto his forehead.

“Esh?” He said as we got close. “Esh, you spawn of a Kogarr, what are you doing here?”

Esh grabbed the man by the elbow. “Lucas Blu,” He said. “how’s the family? still squatting and flying?”

The man laughed.

McKeller leaned over to me. “That’s Lucas Blu?” He said.

“Just a big coincidence,” Fedricks said. “A really big coincidence.”

McKeller was visibly disappointed, It would’ve been strange but also somewhat comforting to see a familiar face, even if it was on a stranger.

“Maybe it’s a sign” McKeller said.

Fedricks looked at him and snarled. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Esh’s return.

“He’s willing to take you onboard.” He said. I looked over at Lucas Blu but he was disappearing up the stairway. “But you’ll have to work for your fair.”

“Work?” McKeller blurted out.

“Yes,” Fedricks said pointedly. “Seeing as we have no money.”

McKeller nodded. It took me a moment as well, I must admit, My first thoughts were of the large fold of money in my top pocket, in several denominations. But I realised Fedricks must have questioned Esh on the matter while McKeller and I were checking the equipment.

“So what will we be doing?” I asked.

“Two will be seeing to the needs of the travellers, one will be navigating.”

“Bags Navigating.” McKeller said.

“Okay, You come now.” Lucas Blu said, he had returned with a couple of jackets. He handed one each to me and Fedricks. “You two, head to the back and speak to Denvle. He’ll tell you what to do.”

Esh stepped up to Lucas Blu. “You’ll send Serene down to get their luggage?” he asked.

“They have luggage?” Lucas Blu whispered, he was still loud enough that we could hear. “Why did they not just trade?”

“Nothing of any value at all.” Esh said. “I checked.”

I knew for a fact Esh hadn’t checked through our packs. I have a feeling it was trying to save us from something we didn’t expect. Esh was suspicious of someone who seemed to be an old friend of his. I had to make sure to stay on guard, be suspicious of everyone and everything.

A loud sound broke my train of thought and I turned to see something of an elevator had appeared there. A woman with green eyes and long brown hair that reached passed her waist stood there, she pulled a level and the engine calmed to a dull hum.

“Esh?” she said. “Esh, is that you?”

She ran out of the elevator and threw her arms around Esh.

“That must be Serene.” Fedricks said.

McKeller and Lucas Blu passed us and stepped onto the elevator. I watched as they rose up slowly.

A few minutes later it returned empty. We loaded up our packs onto the elevator while Esh and Serene talked out of range of my hearing.

“There’s something that Esh told me,” Fedricks said as we finished loading our gear. “It’s got to do with McKeller, and it’s not good.”