Chapter 31: Masirean

“I still feel like there was something we forgot.” Nayleen mused from the back of the wagon, which occasionally bumped or jerked, causing Sairek to have to use his left hand to steady himself on the seat. The bumping around was so much, his bottom was starting to get sore. He didn’t know how well Cyial or Nayleen in the back were holding up but if he had to wager a guess, it was 'probably not well'.

“We’re fine...!” Sairek called to her back. “We have topped up on food again, bought a bunch of gear, some stuff we probably won't even need. We even made sure to get extra warm clothing, too. If we bought anymore, I don’t think my gem could even contain it all." He tried to reassure her, looking forwards again. "...Seriously, that merchant's stuff was way overpriced. She's lucky we're in such a hurry." He grumbled. Even Sairek knew the price of things were far above the usual costs. But they had met her on the road on the way back to the town. It saved them from having to go back to town all the way, saving a few hours of the trip.

“Yeah, yeah…” Nayleen huffed out in a breath.

Sairek wasn’t in the mood to argue about this again, so he just let her stew. He wasn’t so concerned about her being unable to handle herself in this; she was far more experienced than he was after all. He was concerned about himself a little bit, though. Fuyiki had allowed him to learn more about magic and his own body in the past several days. He had probably learned more from him than he had in the castle for the past couple of years. Now he was caught up knowledge wise, but in the end, he was still just a mere apprentice. An inexperienced one, at that. This wasn’t going to be easy. Not by a long shot.

His main concern was Cyial. Cyial realistically had better potential than he did both physically and magically, but… that was really it. Potential. Cyial knew a couple of magic spells, sure, and the ones he did know were incredibly impressive for his age. Those spells had just come naturally to him. He could conjure… but it wasn’t really stuff meant for combat. Since demons like him and humans cast spells in a whole different manner, the spell book Fuyiki had given him was of no help in increasing Cyial's repertoire.

Still, Cyial’s senses were probably the best out of the three of them and despite being an obvious bookworm with his more meek appearance, he knew Cyial, and Cyial was no longer the shy, cowering boy who he had worked to protect back in Lamen. His full self-confidence hadn't fully bloomed yet, but Sairek believed it would continue to grow in time.
Besides... As much as Cyial may have resented being a demon, it would probably prove to be very useful to help them in the very near future. Plus he wouldn’t have his hunger causing as much of an issue for now either.

“This is the spot.” Jimmy spoke up and Sairek was relieved that the wagon began to slow down to a more reasonable speed to give his sore butt a break. It had taken the better part of the entire day to get to where Jimmy had stowed away his ship, only stopping when they met a merchant on the road to buy things from. Aside from that, the wagon and its horses have been traveling at full speed. It was almost night time once more. Jimmy had been careful to keep his boat far out of sight it seemed. They were still several hours away from town had they been walking. The man had steered the wagon to be coasting around the shore of the ocean.

He soon saw why the man had been so careful though when they traveled around a large rocky spire. Jimmy had said he had a ‘boat or "vessel’ but either of those two words didn't do what soon appeared in front of them justice. This was a full on ship and Jimmy had anchored it very carefully as well with how hidden from view it was until they were practically in front of the thing from this direction. It was quite a decent ship, nearly the size of a merchant ship, however a bit smaller than one still, and the design was nothing at all like such a vessel for the mass transportation of goods over water.
The ship, rather than being larger to maximize the amount of cargo to hold like a merchant’s vessel, was instead built in such a way that seemed to maximize the speed of travel instead as well as having a moderate amount of weapons mounted on the side, probably to ward off any pirates. Sairek could see on the side the Masirean kingdom logo painted on the hull, which had looked like the top half of a sun as if it had been rising up over a horizon. It also had these wing-like things on the side which, when the waves allowed it, would come into view over the water's surface.

“That is your boat?!” Nayleen demanded, also seeing it come into view.

“Yes, it is. You guys will be able to sleep on board. It does have a few cabins inside of it to hold a dozen people comfortably, myself included.” Jimmy explained as the wagon slowed to a stop and he moved to get out. Sairek and the rest of them soon followed suit. Sairek watched as Jimmy freed the, by now, exhausted horses one by one and let them go.

“Weren’t those guys rented out?” Sairek wondered out loud as he watched them dispersing, freely. They looked to be a bit confused, mostly wandering around, but having been exhausted from their marathon of a run, they were soon going off on their own to rest and recover in a place a bit more suitable for them.

“Yes. Unfortunately it cannot be helped. I can’t very well just leave them tied up with that wagon alone. We won’t be coming back here to retrieve them; they'd be stuck with the wagon on them otherwise.” Jimmy explained, walking along the beach. Sairek frowned, but nodded his understanding. Horses were quite rare in Ceareste, even in the northern bits where it was far less mountainous. It made just renting them expensive and capturing and breeding them quite the commodity. It probably wouldn't be too long before they're spotted and someone rounds them up again.

“This thing looks like it needs a crew to pilot it. You can control this thing all on your own? Neither of us have any experience.” Nayleen cautioned, looking up at Jimmy's method of transportation

“I can control it solo. Most of it works all on its own, though having extra hands does help. A few switches or levers control most of the main functions, though they can be done manually as well just like your regular sailing ship in the case of mechanical failure. I need to get around a lot by myself and usually with a good amount of haste, so I had it designed to be able to work solo.”

“Just how rich are you?” Nayleen asked.

Jimmy seemingly ignored her question. “We’ll get back to the ship using a lifeboat I stashed away. Give me just a moment to retrieve it.”

The trio watched him walk away. When he was out of ear shot, they all turned back to look at the ship again. “I wasn’t expecting this. I thought we would just have a regular sailboat or something.” Cyial admitted.

“I guess it’s a good thing you taught Sairek how to swim, then.” Nayleen added.

“Oh, ha, ha.” Sairek rolled his eyes. Admittedly however, she was probably right. He doubted he would be able to stay afloat for very long in the ocean, though...

The sound of something being dragged along the sand caused them to turn back around. Cyial moved to help Jimmy out with dragging the lifeboat towards the water. The man muttered his thanks to him after they finished.

The lifeboat was pretty small and basic, but could easily fit all four of them in. There were some oars inside of it as well. “Hop in and I will push it into the water. We may get a bit wet with trying to get on the boat though, so be warned.”

The three of them did as they were told and Jimmy with a bit of effort pushed the boat and them more and more into the water. Sairek watched as the man’s boots, then up to his knees, became submerged from the water. He still kept pushing a little bit further, making sure the boat they were in was clear of the ground before he moved to the side, his lower half submerged. It was Cyial again who moved to help pull him back into the boat, heaving with a grunt of effort to pull him up as best he could. Sairek winced when a bit of water got splashed onto him as the man climbed in.

“Thank you,” Jimmy said to Cyial again, who nodded. When they returned to each of their seats, Jimmy grabbed both oars and began to paddle the boat towards the ship. Sairek couldn’t help but look around him at both sides. The waves of the water got a bit more aggressive pretty quickly, and the water with it being late into the evening was fairly dark and hard to see, if not for the white foam that inked the outlines of the waves as they came, the ocean would be almost invisible.

“I’ve never been on a boat before. I hope getting sea sick won’t be an issue.” Cyial mumbled in concern.

“I have, but only in lakes, not the ocean like this.” Nayleen admitted. “Also definitely not on a ship.”

“It can be a bit rough at first, but it should not be too noticeable on this one, especially once we get moving at full speed." Jimmy assured them. "Also the cabins are in the center area inside of the ship. That should further reduce the swaying motion from the ship rocking back and forth around in the water; I would be surprised if you will even notice any motion like that. That said though, it will be pretty noisy because of the machines running on the engines.”

“Machines? ...I know you hinted that it was designed in Kior, but just how advanced is it...?” Sairek said.

“This is the best you can get besides the classified engines reserved for Kior's military." Jimmy answered him. "Best of the best and custom built. Before becoming a mercenary squad leader, I was a bit of a mechanic back in the day, so I worked on the blue prints itself working with what I know Kior technology I had available."

"O-Oh." Sairek let out meekly.

"Kior was where I met Varhi the first time there as well, remember. I found Varhi during my same stay at finishing getting this thing built.” Jimmy replied as he continued to paddle with the oars.

“So you didn’t just buy it and had it custom built. This thing really must cost a fortune...” Nayleen mumbled.

“Quite, and I haven’t made all the money back yet either after a year. Doing this will probably set me back further of course, but Varhi’s life is priceless as far as I am concerned.”

“Did you adopt him or something, or is he just that good?” Cyial asked. "I know you mentioned he wanted to go off on his own, but..."

Jimmy laughed at this. “I probably shouldn't consider him like that... Varhi can be pretentious and even too confident for his own good at times or even difficult to approach, but he is very loyal to what he believes in and has bailed me out of trouble more than once already. This will be the first time I’ve had to help save him from trouble ever since my visit to Kior aside from monetary issues… but alas, I can’t even do it personally myself. I truly am a terrible ally...”

“You’re doing what you can. Nobody can blame you for that. I doubt he would, either.” Nayleen chimed in, which surprised Sairek, considering how adamant she had been against going and even seemed to outright hate the man at times for convincing him to go.

“You are too kind.” Jimmy replied and then pulled the oars out of the water as they drifted towards the boat. Sairek looked up at the side. The ship seemed so much bigger now when it was this close than it did when they were on the shoreline. He could spy a rope ladder up the side that they were approaching which had been thrown down. Its end drifted in the water, moving around by the waves.

Jimmy dipped one of the oars into the water to gently push them as close to the ladder as possible and then kept splashing it in the water gently to steady it against the current of the waves and to angle the boat to the best of his ability. “Alright; get on, I’ll try to keep it steady as best as I can to make sure the lifeboat doesn’t drift off course.”

The trio each looked at each other, as if deciding who would be the first one to volunteer. Nayleen broke their momentary silence first. “Sairek should go first. If he falls in or drops the staff, then we can all help him.”

Sairek gulped. “V-Very well then…” He said and looked up at the ladder and began to sweat a little in his apprehension. That was a good point… How was he going to climb this with his staff in hand?

His nervousness wasn’t lost to any of them as he clutched his staff with both hands tightly with an obvious look of indecision on his face. “Here, I have an idea.” Nayleen said, standing up and moving over to Sairek. “Gimmie.” She demanded, holding out an open hand.

Sairek glanced at her hand and slowly handed her his staff, which she then proceeded to force Sairek up off his seat by pulling back on his mantle, which caused him to cry out in surprise at her sudden forcefulness. Then he felt her stuff the staff through the back collar of his shirt. He cried out in surprise again when she also pulled on his belt and pants from behind, as she pushed the staff down, until a little bit of the bottom of the staff was hooked uncomfortably on the inside of his pants.

With the staff… “secured”, she let go, and Sairek nearly stumbled off the boat into the water, waving his arms to balance right himself. “D-Dammit, Nayleen!? What the Blazes do you think you're doing!?”

“Well, it’s secured now and you got both hands free, right?” She asked.

“This is most uncomfortable–!”

“Well you and the staff have to get up there somehow! She argued.

“Ugh...! I swear, you are irredeemable…!” He whined. "Couldn't you have at least warned me!?"

"Well you would have protested against the idea. It'll be fine! Just go with it."

"Uuurrgghhh..." He groaned. "If I DO fall in the water, how do you expect me to even swim!?"

"We'll just drag you out before you sink down. C'mon, get going~! It's only going to get more difficult the darker it gets!" She urged him.

Cyial buried his face into his right gloved hand, shaking his head slowly at them as they continued to argue. “Does… Does this happen often between them…?” He heard Jimmy whisper into his ear. Without removing his hand from his face, he slowly nodded.

Sairek 'shuffled' awkwardly to the edge of the boat. With a deep breath and casting one last glare towards Nayleen who gave him a thumbs up, he pushed his feet off the boat and dove towards the rope ladder.
"Oomph...!" He grunted as he slammed into the hull of the ship, his hands grasping the rope ladder. He felt his feet and shins get wet with water and he inhaled sharply. “Agh! C-Cold!” He hissed. His hands were holding all of his weight while his feet flailed, trying to find grip with the rope ladder within the water itself. His left foot made contact and he used that to pull himself up out of the water while his feet were sloshing with cold water that had gotten into his boots.

“O-Oww!” He winced as he felt his staff scraping painfully against his back. He gasped as he did the same with his right foot, which brought equally as much pain to his back. “Dammit, ow!” He cursed feeling it scrape into him again. He used his left foot again to climb up a little more. “Ouch–! AHH!! Nayleeeennnn–!!”

Jimmy and Cyial both slowly turned to look at Nayleen with accusatory looks. She looked back and forth between them, then at Sairek and shrugged. “What? It’s a bit too late now. At least it’s working—”

“Ahhg–! Son of a bitch!” Sairek cursed from the side of the ship.

“...kind of...?” Nayleen finished, dropping her hands to her sides in surrender.

Cyial let out an exasperated sigh while Sairek yelped, yelled, cried and swore the entire way up the ladder, finally falling silent for a moment when he finally managed to haul himself up there onto the deck. “I... I don’t think I’ve heard Sairek swear and curse as many times in the entirety that I’ve known him, than I have just now in those last two minutes, Nayleen.” He grumbled.

“I… I can’t get it out–!” Sairek wailed from up above on the deck of the ship. “N-Nayleeeeeennn–!!”

“Oh dear…” Nayleen sighed, scratching the side of her head. “M...Maybe you should go next, Cyial? To uh... calm him down for me before he has me walking the plank, y’know?”

“Yggdrasil, give me strength…” Cyial groaned in response. "I was going to suggest that I just hold the staff with my tail, but I suppose what's done is done..."

"...You can do that?" Nayleen blinked.

"Of course. I have full movement of my tail." Cyial replied, flicking said tail in reaction. He moved to stand himself to the side of the boat just as Sairek had and he looked down into the water underneath. “...I do hope I don’t get the book wet as well, though…”

Nayleen stared at Cyial appraisingly for a few seconds. Feeling her eyes on him, Cyial glanced back around to give her a questioning look before she offered: “...Do you want me to—”

“No.” He cut in sternly.

Nayleen held her hands up in surrender.

Cyial turned back around and stepped himself right on the edge of the lifeboat, holding his arms out to help balancing himself even against the bobbing of the lifeboat. Bending his knees slightly, he pushed himself up jumped off, clearing the water completely unlike Sairek with exception to his own tail, but he did end up slamming into the side of the boat even harder than Sairek had and it took all the wind from him. After taking a brief pause to recover from the impact, he began steadily climbing up the ladder, until he reached the top, where he saw a Sairek on his hands and knees, trying to reach back behind himself desperately to get his staff.

“I’m here, hold on...” Cyial sighed.

“Please… before I lose any more of my pride…” Sairek pleaded with a groan.

"Hmm... And here I thought you had lost all of it on your birthday." Cyial chided.

"Oh, that's real funny, Cyial..." Sairek grumbled sarcastically without heat.

"Heh. Hold still, I'll get it out for you."

“G-Gah!” Sairek yelped out as Cyial basically repeated what Nayleen did, though in reverse and with a bit more gentler grace to it. When the staff was out of his shirt—and pants, he let out a relieved sigh. “That had seriously hurt, though…” He grumbled. “And now my pants and boots are soaking wet…”

Cyial didn’t say anything, instead he just stepped behind Sairek, pushing his cape out of the way and he pulled up the back of Sairek’s shirt and tabard up to examine his back. “It looks a bit red, but you’ll be fine I think. No cuts anywhere. It was just uncomfortable for you.”

“Oh? And just what is this now?” Nayleen’s voice piped in from behind them..

“G-Gah!” Sairek yelped, moving abruptly away from Cyial and pulling his clothes back down in place, lest Nayleen spot anymore of his skin than she needed to.

“If you don’t stop yelling all the time, we’ll never be able to sneak into Masirean like this.” Nayleen chastised him.

“O-Oi! It’s your fault!” Sairek glared at her, removing his boots and picking them up, then he turned them upside down to get the water out of them.

“Uh-huh..." Nayleen droned, unconvinced. "Well anyway, let’s wait for Jerry here to get up, then we can explore this thing.”

“...It’s Jimmy.” Cyial corrected her as he held Sairek's staff close to himself.

“Ah, right. Anyway, while Cyial was climbing up, I asked him more about the ship. He said we should arrive north of Osha by noon tomorrow latest. Super fast!”

“That fast…?” Sairek wondered out loud, shaking his boots in his hands to get as much water out as possible. “B-But how…? I know he said it was custom Kior built but... do they really go that fast?”

“Beats me, but Timmy seemed very confident and pretty proud of this thing.” Nayleen replied.

“...It’s Jimmy.” Cyial corrected her again.

“It... uses...” Jimmy began down below as he was climbing on board of the ship, his voice a bit winded as he climbed the ladder “...a specialized engine designed by Kior… so no wind is needed to make it move.”

“But even an engine wouldn’t make it there in that amount of time.” Sairek argued, sitting down on the deck to put his boots back on. He winced as they were still damp, but there was no helping it. Cyial reached out to hand his staff back to him, which he took.

Jimmy smirked at him. “A standard engine, sure. This is far from a standard engine. Like I said, it's custom built.”

“What makes this one so different, then?” Sairek pressed curiously.

"It is very different. Over half of this ship internally is all parts which exist just to support the engine. It has an engine sure, but I guess you could say it’s super sized by the way of a bunch of engines working together for a much bigger output.”

“Isn’t that super inefficient for the fuel?” Cyial asked. “Even if you had five engines, you would eat five times more fuel, but not necessarily go five times as fast.”

“Well, yes that is correct," Jimmy agreed with Cyial's assessment, "however, it uses more than just coal. It also uses ethereal itself to power it. It draws ethereal from multiple pipes that are both in the air as well as pipes under the water to draw in energy from both sources."

“...From the water and the air...?” Sairek repeated quizzically.

“With the combination of coal which supplies earth, air from this giant tube thing which also doubles as the mast," Jimmy explained pointing at the ship's mast, "...fire which is fueled also by the coal as it is burned, and water from the ocean itself, it can automatically condense down ethereal into a liquid all by itself, which is used as the fuel which helps power the main engine. Multiple of these work at once, and the ship stores up the condensed ethereal in a tank over time, even when the ship isn’t moving.”

“Th-That… That’s—” Sairek stammered.

“That’s amazing…!” Cyial finished for him. “Other than the coal, it’s practically a self-sustaining ship as far as fuel… and despite that, this thing is still powerful enough that it can get us to Osha in about fourteen or fifteen hours?”

“If the weather stays fair, then yes. Admittedly, it does have problems with storms, though moving through storms at such a speed would generally be unwise anyway. The ship should have been refueling while it was anchored, so it should have about two-thirds of a tank worth of fuel by now. That’ll be just enough to get you there. Getting back around the continent to Cyvolta like normal however will not be so quick for me. It will nearly be out of fuel by the time we reach Osha. I will have to switch the engine to standard and make good use of the sails to make it the rest of the way.” His gaze returned to both boys who were listening to his explanations intently. "Like I said, this thing truly is state of the art. The engine is the latest in Kiorian technology. And that's with the speed being neutered for civilian use on purpose to make it not as good as it could be."

“What are we waiting for then? Start it up!” Nayleen insisted. “I want to see how fast this thing goes!”

Jimmy wordlessly beckoned them to follow and he led them through a door inside of the ship. The hallway was pretty narrow, wide enough to more or less let only one person through without squeezing by. There were three doors on each side of the hall, and then an additional fourth one on the left side at the very end.
He led them straight to the end of the hall, where a tightly spiraling set of metal stairs led them further down. Sairek was acute to notice that the stairs were designed in such a way that one could grab a pole in the middle with ample space to just slide down it to get to the bottom quickly, though the stairs themselves did not take too long to traverse down. He supposed if something happened that caused an emergency though with something as fragile as a ship that was designed to be a “gigantic engine”, that every second counted to fix a problem in the engine room.

Open gears and cogs from machinery were present within the upper half construction of the walls themselves. Jimmy led them to a series of buttons, levers and switches of varying colors, a dozen of them in total. Jimmy first flipped a switch, where there was a humming sound that started low and became higher in pitch. The machinery around them began to awaken with clunking noises of many gears powering up and beginning to shift as they gradually increased in both pace and noise. A short hissing sound, like steam being expelled could be heard. Jimmy cranked up some levers as another deeper hum was heard, overlapping the first, a loud metallic clunk, like something being inserted into place and then gears and machines unseen by the surface level of machinery seemed to rev up to life as well. Everything was moving slowly, but steadily. A couple more switches and levers were flipped and pulled, though they created no additional noise.

“There, the engine is turned on and active. Now we go back up to the deck to get it moving.” Jimmy explained, moving past the trio to make it back up the stairs. “I probably don’t have to say this to you, but please, do not come down here and mess with these controls.”

"Aye, aye, captain." Nayleen saluted while Jimmy led on ahead and the three followed behind him a short distance.

“Lands…” Sairek whispered to just where the other three could hear them over the sounds of the machinery as Jimmy led them back up to the stairs. “I knew Kior was mechanically advanced, but I didn’t imagine anything at all like this. I thought things like plumbing not needing to be fueled by magic was impressive... This ship is on a whole different level!”

“Even by Kior standards, this is fairly impressive.” Nayleen agreed as she looked at more of the exposed machinery. “I can’t even imagine how much he spent on this. It has to be tens of thousands of seru at least, for sure... Maybe even over a hundred thousand. This ship is a good example of what can be achieved when technology and magic are used together though, isn’t it?”

Sairek nodded in agreement. “If this is just a small piece of culture in Kior, then I can’t wait to see what other technical achievements lie in wait inside the city itself. I really do want to visit some time. This is just a ship that can move fast on water, but in the city they have ones that can actually fly in the air…!”

When they reached back up onto the deck again, the sound of the machines working, although subdued, could still be heard present outside, though the crashing of the waves were still louder. At least until Jimmy moved towards the steering wheel which was stationed at the front of the deck, along with four levers. One left had already been pulled back and he pushed it forward and the ship shook and trembled briefly as large parts underneath them began to stir into motion.

“What did that do?” Cyial asked.

“It pulls up the anchor." The man answered. "It wouldn't matter how good the engine is if we’re still weighted in place."
After another brief pause, there was yet another brief tremor and the additional movements ceased completely. “Done. Now we need to reverse and turn the ship around.” Jimmy continued, pulling down another lever part way.

There were two clunks that could be heard and felt beneath them. The trio jogged up towards the front of the deck against the railings to observe. Sure enough, although it was slow, the ship was in fact moving away from the shore backwards by itself. They could see the wagon they had left behind and soon, the lifeboat which was still just floating on the water that Jimmy had apparently left behind came into view as well, drifting away within the water back towards the shoreline.

As they reversed, Jimmy rolled the steering wheel and the ship slowly began to turn. There were two more clunks as he had them halfway turned around where Jimmy put the lever back into a neutral position again, but the momentum they had from reversing kept them still steering slowly for a little bit more. Sairek looked towards the side and saw that those wings he noticed on the undersides of the ship in the water were in fact what was being used to steer the ship as they moved when Jimmy began turning the wheel in the opposite direction. Thinking back to how Jimmy rowed the lifeboat, Sairek noticed that the mechanical movements of these metallic wings were quite similar.
The man pushed the lever forward, and two more clunks followed yet again as the ship was pushed out of being neutral. Slowly, the ship as it continued to turn towards the open ocean began to pick up speed. When Jimmy got the ship oriented in the direction he wanted to go in, he pushed the lever up higher and higher and the ship began picking up more and more speed.

“Time to drop the sails as well. Every bit of speed helps and it can help steer the ship. The winds tonight are going in a cooperative direction.” Jimmy exclaimed over the rising noise of the machinery and wind picking up. He pushed another lever up and the trio turned back around to watch as bundles of cloth were pulled up by themselves into the air, soon expanding to open up sails in just a few seconds. “Full speed ahead. Hang on!”

Sairek moved himself towards the side of the ship and looked over the railing to look backwards towards the shore that was now behind them while the ship picked up more and more speed. The wind was now beginning to blow his hair and cape around in increasingly powerful gusts. The mainland they had been on was starting to become more and more distant behind them and only doing so more rapidly the more speed they picked up. The sounds of the engine was drumming and humming in Sairek’s ears as the deck softly vibrated underneath his feet.
Finally, there was a loud and long hissing sound. The engine, while still loud, slowed down to be much more quiet while the ship cruised and maintained its speed. Sairek looked down to see waves from the ocean that they were just rushing past, giving him a perspective that they were indeed going places at quite the impressive amount of speed.. “Just how fast are we going?! This is faster than even a horse can run! And we’re on water!”

“Hey! Is this speed seriously okay?” Nayleen yelled over the sound of wind and machines as she turned back to Jimmy, one hand shielding her face from her own hair as it was whipped around in the wind, especially her ponytail. “What happens if something pops up in the way and we head right into it?!”

“She can come to a full stop in a few seconds and I can also steer her! She’ll be fine!” Jimmy yelled back. “At this speed, we’re going about forty knots! She can go up to forty-five but it pushes the engine really hard and makes it a bit harder to stop it!”

“This isn’t even the fastest it can actually go–?!” Sairek exclaimed in disbelief as he stared at the man.

“It looks like it will be a clear moon tonight, so I’m comfortable with pushing it at this speed. I’ll stay up to steer the ship all night so we can get there by tomorrow. The night will be good to cover us from any potential border patrol too!” Jimmy said over the noise.

Sairek turned back around and tried to spot the mainland, but it was already more or less gone because of the darkness of the evening, he couldn't see its silhouette along the horizon. “This thing is insane...!” He said to himself out loud. Yet nobody could hear him speaking at a normal tone of voice. He could barely hear himself.

“We better get back inside and put my book and your staff away Sairek…! If we accidentally let go of them at this speed, we might actually lose them!” Cyial yelled to him.

“Good idea!”

Sairek and Cyial both walked back inside. It was quieter in here for sure, but the sounds of cogs and gears turning and clanking together as the ship worked to propel itself forward as fast as it was did not make it even close to silent. At least they didn’t have to yell now, though.

“He was not kidding about the noise. We really have to sleep through this?” Sairek groaned.

“I guess that’s the price we pay for getting there in under a day.” Cyial commented. “All of these doors except for the last one seem to be little cabins, at least from what I saw through the little circular windows on the doors. Except the last two.”

“What’s the last two, then?”

“One was the captain's room I think, the other one I don’t know. I couldn’t get a good look. Toilet, probably? We can probably pick any of the normal ones we like, so let’s try this one.”

Sairek watched as Cyial grabbed at a door. Rather than a knob or handle, it was a valve on a metallic door, which Cyial struggled to get it turning at first. Then he switched the direction he wanted to try and pulled it with a grunt of effort. He began to slowly turn it around, after the first couple, it began to turn more easily, creaking a high pitched whine with every turn until finally the door swung open with a gentle push.

“It’s too dark for me to see.” Sairek said as he looked inside the room.

“One second. I see a lamp, there’s probably a light switch… is this it?”

With a flick of said switch, the room illuminated with an amber glow. The light wasn’t too powerful, but enough to see everything at least, which was not a high demand to meet. There wasn’t much in this room at all. A bunk bed in the center of the room against the wall opposite to that in the room and a crate in the corner to their right near the door. That was all there was.

“...These rooms we get have seriously gotten worse and worse over time.” Sairek realized. “This one is so bad it leaves little to be desired.”

“Well, when the ship was built for speed, I guess he truly meant it. Better than having nothing, I suppose. We can still hear the machinery just through the walls, though. Also no windows…”

“There’s no way I’m sleeping through this, is there.” Sairek sighed. “The beds look too small for us to even attempt to sleep side by side too. I guess they're bunk beds still, but it won't be the same...” Sairek pouted.

Cyial chuckled. “Well, I don’t exactly need to sleep tonight, but I guess I should try given the situation. For now, let’s put our stuff in this box. I’m guessing it’s here for the mercenaries or knights to dump their equipment into.”

Sairek nodded and they both did just that. Sairek also began removing his boots, all of his upper garments, then his shirt and even his pants which were still fairly damp on the bottom, depositing those into the crate as well.

“You're going to bed already?” Cyial asked with a tilt of his head at seeing him undressing down to his undergarments.

“I may as well. I’m excited about how fast this ship is going too, but if I don’t get any sleep for tomorrow then that’s going to be really bad and it may take me a while to actually get that. Go and explore it if you want, I might be awake still when you get back.”

“If you insist. Don’t just wait for me to come back, though. Do attempt to actually get some sleep.”

“Well, I’ll do my best.” Sairek muttered as he picked up his boots together put those beside the bed, leaning them against the wall upside down, hoping they’d dry and drain out of the water completely by the morning.

Cyial chuckled at him and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him with the turning of the valve. Sairek sighed as he fiddled with his pants to lean the leggings outside of the crate, so the wet portion of them were angled downwards to better facilitate them drying out. After that, he sat on the bottom bed before positioning himself to lay on his back under the covers. It was pure white. The mat, the sheets, the pillow, the blanket… it was so bland. Nothing in the room to look at.

“...Oh, the bed actually feels quite nice, actually...” He mumbled to himself aloud softly as he settled into the bed. The mattress and blankets were so soft, he sunk in a little and it helped minimize the rocking of the ship and the machinery through the walls a little bit.

He moved his arms, with the back of his left forearm moving to drape down to rest on top of his forehead, his eyes peering out from underneath it as he just lay on his back with his right hand resting on top of his stomach, atop the quilt that was halfway up, covering his stomach but leaving his chest exposed. The nervousness of what tomorrow was going to possibly bring was getting to him a little.

“Stop it… just stick to the plan and it will be fine… you—and them, will be fine…” He scolded himself as he closed his eyes. “Remember the basics… remember Fuyiki’s lessons… and follow common sense… keep calm at all times… if you panic, you won’t be able to concentrate...” He muttered to himself. He sniffed, then scrunched up his face slightly, opening his eyes again as he frowned, looking down the length of his torso to examine himself. He really needed to take a proper bath soon. There was the usual smell of sweat and dirt from a day's travel, but now there was a subtle hint of body odor.

"...Maybe I'm growing up faster than I thought after all now." Sairek grumbled to himself as he lay his head back down and closed his eyes.

When Sairek opened his eyes again, the room was dark once more, and the state of his bladder told him that he really needed to go. He guessed that made sense. The last time he went was... a while ago. He should have went before he plopped down to sleep here first.

He could not believe he actually managed to pass out through all of this noise and so quickly. Maybe there was a bit more to what Cyial said about listening to the ambience of noises to lull you in after all. Or maybe he had just been tired from the lack of sleep from the night before thanks to that storm.

With a small groan and the urgency within his bladder quickly growing desperate, he pushed himself up from the bed and stumbled in the darkness looking for the light. After smacking into the wall the first time and releasing a swear under his breath, he fumbled his hands against the wall near the door until his hand brushed something and he groped it under he found a little switch and pushed it up, causing the lights to flicker on.

He looked around the room to see that Cyial had indeed climbed onto the top bunk and was asleep on top of the covers, still in his robe with his back facing the room. Sairek made his way over to the box and put on all of his clothes. He looked for his boots and found them not against the wall anymore, but neatly in the box. He wondered if Cyial did that or something. He felt them and they felt perfectly dry.

When he was done, he pulled the valve to open the door and pushed it back closed again after he passed through, then repeated it again for that last room in the hallway to open it. Cyial’s guess had been correct. It was indeed the ‘toilet’ room.

After finishing his business and washing his face, hands and hair as best as he could with the tiny sink that was provided in there, he made his way back towards the deck.

Jimmy was still there at the steering wheel, occasionally adjusting movements on it as Sairek approached him. The Prince looked around him as the wind blew, giving him a bit of a chill. It was still dark out, but early dawn. The sky was a dark blue and would only be getting more bright as time passed. He had woken up probably within 15 minutes of sunrise.

“You got up just in time.” Jimmy spoke to him as he had his back turned to the man.

“...Just in time for what?” Sairek asked him, swiveling back towards him. "Have we arrived already?"

“Ah, no. I meant for the sunrise. It’ll be soon. See the light over there?” Jimmy said, pointing towards the east.

Sairek moved over to that side of the ship and looked once again, but with more scrutiny this time. He could see land very far off into the distance silhouetted against light beginning to form over the horizon. He assumed that must have been Masirean. Beyond the land cast in the shadows, the sky’s dark blue had brightened to a green and then to a dim yellow the closer towards the horizon it became.

“...Is that Masirean over there?” Sairek asked for clarification.

“It is. Like I explained last night, we’re only this far off to avoid detection from the border patrol. I’m probably being too cautious, but it’s better safe than sorry and it will only cost us a little extra time. Oh, by the way, if you climb up the mast onto the perch, you’ll get a much better view.” Jimmy told him, pointing towards a thick wooden pole, one of which was holding up the sail.

Sairek walked his way over and around the other side of it to see a sturdy ladder that went all the way up. He gulped, but his curiosity won him over and gripping the handles tightly he slowly hoisted himself up step by step.
Unlike last night on a rope ladder that was dangling around because of the wind and water and having his staff stuffed into the back of his shirt, this ladder was stationary and he currently did not have his staff stuffed within his clothing behind him, so he had far less trouble climbing it, although the wind did make him nervous, even though realistically it held no threat of pushing him off. It was strong, but not that strong. He noticed that even behind him as he climbed, there was safety netting and rope he could latch onto in the chance he did fall, he could still catch himself, which reassured him further.

It was a good fifty feet or so climbing the mast and he felt nervous as he climbed the top to a little round platform which was the perch, a little bit winded as the jewel had weighed him down during his ascent. There was a wooden safety barrier that went up to just past his shoulders around this platform which ensured that it would be difficult for him to fall by accident. He walked around the mast to look towards the east again and stood on his toes to raise himself up higher to get a better look over the barrier as his gloved fingers gripped over the rim.
Jimmy was right, the view here was much better. He was away from the sounds of the machinery mostly too, although he supposed the harsher wind blowing in his ears was a bit of a trade-off.

He continued to watch until he had to squint his eyes closer together when a few minutes later, the sky began to brighten much more considerably until the sun itself began to crack itself just gently over the horizon of Masirean, which was pretty flat all things considered except to the left side of what he assumed was the mountains they were ultimately aiming towards were, so it didn’t do much to block the view. The warm colors began to spread among the dark blue sky, brightening it up to a more brighter pink except on the west side. The light also dotted by small distant clouds that glowed warm colors underneath made the sight even more beautiful.

He couldn’t help but laugh out loud to himself a little. Ever since he had been stuck inside the castle, he had always wanted to see a view like this from more than just being trapped behind the windows of the castle. He had just gotten to fulfill that little wish of his and he felt proud because of it—standing up high, the wind blowing and drying his damp hair while his cape flapped blissfully in the air. He stared at the sun rising triumphantly into the sky which was the signal the start of yet another day, but for him, a new beginning.

He vowed in that moment that this would not be the last time he would get to see a view like this. He would make sure to do everything he could so everyone and himself got back safely. Varhi included, if he was still alive.

As much as he enjoyed looking at the view though, it got more and more bright and he had to stop and look away, lest he start hurting his eyes. He turned to look the other way and held onto the railing as he closed his eyes shut, letting the light that danced on his pupils even when he had closed them to return back to normal. When that was done and blinking a few times to reorientate his vision, he set himself to climb back down the ladder again, where he returned to Jimmy.

“Astounding, isn’t it.” The man asked him, though it was more in statement than a question.

Sairek nodded. “I’m kind of envious. It’s not the same at all when being stuck inside a room at the castle. The openness of it all and the wind just makes it feel so much more liberating.”

“I showed Varhi the exact same view... nearly a year ago by now, I guess. It’s kind of funny. He had been lucid but not really fully 'there' for the past couple of months after I had taken him. It was almost like he wasn’t aware of himself; like he was just sleep walking the entire time. When I showed him that view though, it was like something just woke up inside of him. He just seemed a lot more… alive. It’s like he had woken up from whatever sleep he was in. He finally started to talk, and before I knew it, he had a sassy and sarcastic attitude.”

"Oh dear. That doesn't sound pleasant at all." Sairek chuckled.

Jimmy laughed. "Sometimes it isn't, but what he has most of all now is spirit and determination. He's never given up anything since then. When he puts his mind to do something, he won't stop until it's done. That's why I believe he's still alive."

Sairek blinked, but then smiled reassuringly as he turned to face forward. “Well, I guess I can understand how he felt. I kind of feel like seeing that made something wake up inside of me, too.” He paused for a moment before resuming. “...Is a view like that what Masirean’s kingdom logo based on?”

“That would be correct. 'Broad Horizons' is the name of the design. It fits. Out in the ocean, you see a view like that almost all the time around Masirean.”

“It fits very well indeed, then...” Sairek nodded and he looked down at his tabard and the design that was decorated on it. "All Ceareste's is based off of is the royal jewel. It kinda seems a bit selfish in contrast, but I guess in a way for better or for worse, it's still fitting. Ceareste has always been very much about keeping the royal bloodline alive and going at all costs, all while sticking to old traditions..."

* * *

Sairek watched as the boat edged towards the shoreline, north of the mountains. Those clunks when the ship began to move or stop were heard, and soon the ship began to tremble twice hard like before they departed when Jimmy pulled another lever to anchor the ship in place.

“Well it’s a good thing we grabbed some of that gear for the cold because it’s damn cold up here.” Nayleen shivered.

“How do you think I feel right now…?” Sairek muttered, standing in only just his underwear and shivering madly. “Can we hurry up with this whole 'disguising me' thing, please? I’m so cold out here I can’t even feel embarrassed…!”

“Sorry.” Cyial apologized as he dug into a bag that Jimmy had provided him and pulled out some leather pants which had a bit of fur on around the belt line. It looked so… basic and bland, but Sairek supposed that was the entire point. “Here.” Cyial said, tossing them to Sairek, who failed to catch them and had to bend down to begin to slip them on.

“Ugh… these really do feel odd.” Sairek sighed.

“Sorry, but it is necessary.” Jimmy apologized. “Nayleen already switched to that coat and Cyial’s clothes is bland enough to be discreet, he just needs something to hide that distinct hair and to keep his tail hidden under his robe, but since you are a foreign Prince, we need to make extra sure you can’t be recognized so easily.”

In response, Cyial moved to pull up the hood of his robe, making sure the hood was pulled down low over the top of his head. His hair was still there, but would be quite hard to make distinctly out in the distance.

“Yeah, I know…” Sairek groaned as Cyial returned to the bag and tossed him a basic tan tunic, which he began to slip on. Then a leather coat to go on top of it.

“I’m glad I kept this coat that Bryn gave me. I didn’t think I’d be needing it again, though.” Nayleen said, looking down at herself. “Why is it so cold up here anyways, but fine just a little further back down south?”

“It’s not always like this, but the weather can shift very dramatically on the north side. Sometimes it’s covered in snow and ice, and other times it’s not. As the day goes on, it will begin to heat up considerably and you probably won’t need those coats anymore, especially as you work your way further south. You should arrive into the forest Karvadean is in by early afternoon. It’s not too far from Osha. It will definitely be like regular summer within Karvadean.
After you are in the mountainous territory, it should be about a three hour walk, possibly less if you hurry and don’t have trouble climbing. From there it should be about... another five or six hours to reach Karvadean if you stick to the path and keep a leisurely pace. I think they may have made a small shortcut at some point, but I unfortunately don't remember.”

Sairek slipped some basic gray shoes onto his feet and a leather cap on to his head when Cyial tossed those over to him as well. He sure felt different at least. He wasn’t exactly convinced he looked like a ‘regular young traveler’ though, just due to his age and general size. When he had the last of the items on, he looked over at the other two. “Uh… so, how do I look…? Is it convincing, you think?”

“Looking great, Sam!” Nayleen replied.

Sairek stared at her owlishly. “...Sam?”

Nayleen shrugged. “Well, we can’t go around calling you ‘Sairek’ near the other people over there, right?”

“I don’t think we need to go that far but I guess it doesn’t hurt for him to have a different alias just in case. Good idea.” Jimmy replied with a nod. “Sam it is.”

“What the–? Don’t I get a say in what I get to be called?” Sairek refuted.

“Would you like to be called ‘Eugine’ or something?” Nayleen asked him with a tilt of her head. “Or do you just hate the name ‘Sam’ for some reason?”

“That’s not what I… I... J-Just nevermind…!” He huffed. "...Also there's nothing wrong with a name like 'Eugine', that's rude."

“Sure. Whatever you say, Sammy.”

Sairek's left eye twitched and he groaned. She was enjoying this way too much. “This—This is the Pits…” he sobbed.

“Okay, remember you three; do not forget this place. I will come back here in… three or four days. If for whatever reason you’re not back by then I’ll wait of course… for as long as I need to.” Jimmy said.

“And if we don’t come back after that?” Nayleen asked.

“I’d… I'd rather not think about that circumstance, if you don’t mind...” He replied.

“Come on, let’s not stress each other out. Let’s go and get it over with…” Cyial sighed. He packed up Sairek’s royal clothes into the bag that was also used to hold the Prince’s disguise as well as put the staff in there. He closed and snapped it shut, then handed it to Sairek, who took it and hooked the straps around both of his shoulders.

Then Cyial as well as Nayleen picked up their own packs. Most of the stuff in there was just fluff and made to look like it was filled with important things. However, most of it was just sheets, or whatever else needed to make the pack look full without weighing them down too much. Everything they really needed was in that small gem in Sairek’s pack which was on his clothes.

Jimmy moved towards the steering wheel and pulled down a lever. To the right side of the ship, a long plank of wood began to extend and then lower itself towards the ground, making a platform for them to walk off from the deck. Jimmy pushed the lever inwards. The railing leading to the plank lowered down, letting them walk off freely.

“Please watch your step and best of luck to you... I will be praying for your success.” Jimmy said.

“Don’t keep us waiting long.” Nayleen waved as she boarded off first. Sairek and Cyial followed after her.

When they were on the ground, they turned around and watched as the plank of wood extended back towards the ship and Jimmy from the deck of the ship peered over it to look down at the trio of children below.

“Any last minute regrets?” Nayleen asked her companions, glancing back at them.

“Sort of scared, but no…” Sairek sighed with a shake of his head.

“Many regrets... but I suppose I’m ready as I’ll ever be.” Cyial answered.

Nayleen raised her hand into the air and gave the man a thumbs up from down where they stood. Jimmy watched for a moment more before giving a curt nod. Nayleen lowered her thumb back down as he disappeared beyond the ship. They saw the railing of the ship extend back up again, before the noises of the machines began to work from the ship and Sairek saw from the side the anchor being pulled up.

Sairek felt his stomach beginning to drop and churn as the ship began moving to reverse and turn, saw the sails rise up... and they watched together as it slowly began to move away, before too long, disappearing around little mountains of ocean rock, until it dipped behind a mountain entirely...


There was no turning back for them now...


“Did…" Nayleen began, pausing briefly. "...Did anyone else just feel their gut drop with a sudden feeling of dread only after he began to leave…?” She asked quietly.

“Yes…” Sairek whispered out.

“I did too…” Cyial agreed.

Sairek shook his head back and forth in an attempt to clear his head from the impending dread. “Oh well… We have all rights to be paranoid. Just stick to the plan. We’ll make it through this… and… and I’m… I’m very sorry for this, you two...” Sairek struggled to say as he sniffled. "I, ah... Um..."

“Oh Lands, don’t start crying…!” Nayleen soothed him and moved to hold him firmly in a hug. “We haven’t even taken our first step yet…!”

Sairek let out a strained chuckle at her humor. “I, I can’t help it…” He sniffled again with a weak smile as he moved his arms to hold her as well. “The, The both of you... You two are both so amazing and crazy for going here with me… I just feel so lucky to have met both of you… You’re both here just because of me… it... it makes me feel so happy, but I feel so guilty at the same time for d...dragging you both here... Especially you Nayleen..."
Sairek sniffled again, bowing his head. "I know how much you have been against coming here and only because of my sake... You both don't know what that means to me...!”

Cyial moved to join in on the hug and Sairek and Nayleen both moved their arms wordlessly so he too could hug both he and Nayleen at once. Sairek pressed his face softly into Nayleen's shoulder as he cried silently.

They just stayed like that for a while, somewhere between five and ten minutes; helping calm each other down, without using any words, but just being there for each other in silence.
Eventually, Sairek moved to pull himself away softly, wiping and dabbing at his eyes with the sleeve of his coat. “Th-Thank you guys... I feel better now... Thanks...”

“Me too...” Cyial chortled gently. “I think that maybe we all needed that... right?”

“Yeah, me as well.” Nayleen admitted with a nod. “Look, we’ve got each other. We’ll be okay! So come on, let’s get going. We've got a mercenary that needs help and we’re the only ones who know that can!"