Rhys turned from the hatch to find the man he’d just rescued standing with his hands in the air, a nervous smile on his face. Standing at the base of the stairs was a grim-faced Tom, his pistol levelled at the stranger’s head.

‘Everything okay here, Captain?’ Tom asked, not taking his eyes off the other man. ‘I heard gunfire and came back to see what was happening.’

‘Some dynak were trying to get in, but they’ve been dealt with,’ Rhys said, turning to the worried-looking stranger. ‘Who are you, and what are you doing here?’

‘Goer told me to come. He said you’d agreed to take me with you when you left. My name is Fyodor, but just call me Fy.’ The man said, licking his lips nervously as he spoke.

‘Where’s Goer?’ Rhys asked, noting that Fy seemed to be wearing the same outfit as Goer, and with his hands up, Rhys could see the edge of the holster for the small pistol that Goer had been carrying. He might not have liked Goer that much, but the odd man had saved them, so Rhys felt obliged to make sure he was okay.

‘He was making sure the dynak were well and truly swarming. He’s not coming with us, though, so we should leave as soon as possible.’

‘Okay, give me your weapons, and we’ll get moving,’ Rhys said, holding a hand out expectantly. That did match what Goer had said earlier, and while Rhys thought it was stupid, he had no time to waste; they needed to move quickly.

‘Of course, whatever you want,’ Fy said, bobbing his head in a quick nod as he passed over both the pistol he’d been shooting with and the smaller one from the hidden holster.

‘Good, both of you come with me,’ Rhys said, taking both pistols and heading for the stairs. The pistol he’d thrown away had been absorbed by Zaxx, which he was hoping Tom hadn’t seen.

Racing up the stairs and onto the Endeavour’s deck, Rhys saw that Lucy and Oliver were waiting for him at the helm. As soon as Rhys stepped off the stairs, Lucy activated the engines, sending power thrumming through the Endeavour.

‘I’ll take the helm, you three crew the cannons, we need to try and damage these other ships on the way out, or they’ll be straight after us,’ Rhys ordered as he moved to the helm.

‘Aye, aye, Captain,’ Oliver and Lucy chorused with matching nasty grins. They paused at the sight of Fy, but Tom gave them a short confirmation that he was a passenger.

Rhys wasted no time in activating their ventral thrusters, lifting the Endeavour off the ground as he rotated them to be facing the rear of the closest ship. There were four pirate ships present, two of them with the oversized aft thrusters that had let them run down the Endeavour. Fortunately, the nearest ship was one of these hawks, making it an easy target to choose. The swivel cannons on the Endeavour would do little against the treated ironwood armour on the ship’s flanks, but the thrusters lacked that armour.

Tom and Oliver had taken the front two cannons and opened fire on the nearest ship, coordinating their shots to hit the same thruster for the most impact. At the same time, Lucy was firing from the aft cannon. With the thrusters at the rear, the aft gun wouldn’t be able to fire at close-in targets, but she would still be able to engage things further away, and the cavern was likely packed with enemies.

Rhys couldn’t hear any shouting from the pirates over the background noise of the sprawling battle that Kolis had become, but he imagined that the actions of the Endeavour were causing a lot of confusion.

A cheer from Oliver and Tom echoed the steady thump of the Endeavour’s cannons as they managed to do some severe damage to the ship they’d targeted. Bringing the Endeavour over to the next hawk, Rhys realised that they were now lined up with Giannis’s ship.

Rhys was sure that the pirates were scrambling to crew their ships, but the dynak swarm and the general chaos would be slowing them down. Once this ship was disabled, though, they would leave. Rhys had no idea how much of a headstart they would get, and he needed as much as possible. Still, taking these two pirate ships out of the equation would be a huge advantage for them.

The emission detectors that the pirates were using were substantial pieces of equipment with a limited range. Exactly what that limit was, Rhys didn’t know, but fewer ships chasing them meant more chance of the Endeavour escaping.

A few bursts of energy flew past the Endeavour as some pirates returned fire with their personal weapons. They wouldn’t be able to damage the ship with them, but a lucky shot might catch one of the crew.

Rhys’s internal debate on when to leave was cut short by a shout of success from Oliver as they crippled the aft thrusters on the second pirate ship. Now was the time to go.

Pushing the thrusters to full, Rhys guided the Endeavour up and out of the cavern, the grey fog of the misting sweeping over them as they rose out of Kolis.

‘I kept the pirates suppressed as best I could, and the confusion of the attack helped, but I could see the pirates starting to organise themselves as we pulled away,’ Lucy told him as the Endeavour continued to rise. ‘They won’t be far behind us; we need to move.’

‘Right, got it,’ Rhys said, pushing the aft thrusters to full power as they came into the familiar white clouds of the sea. The visibility of their surroundings was steadily increasing as they rose, to the point that Rhys was confident in not hitting anything by using the aft thrusters. The last thing he wanted right now was to start their escape off by ramming a shrouded section of spire.

The Endeavour began to build speed as Rhys set their course due south. Rhys was unsure exactly where they were, but sticking to a cardinal direction would help them get their bearings. Then again, that wasn’t necessarily true. Rhys had been unable to track their movement while locked in his cabin, but thankfully, Rhys knew who would have tracked it.

‘Zaxx, can you tell me where we are and which way to go for us to get back on course?’ Rhys muttered under his breath, mentally projecting the question across the pact.

‘We are currently slightly north of the spire forest that Mr Morgan was directing us to initially. Would you like me to set the course for Arn Gol?’

Rhys considered the offer for a moment before giving Zaxx permission. The helm began to immediately spin without his input, bringing them around to a slightly different course. Rhys somewhat belatedly mimed the action of turning the wheel to conceal that it was moving on its own, but it was a poor effort at best.

Looking around to see who might have noticed, Rhys saw Fy giving him an odd look, but the others were more concerned with potential pursuit than anything he was doing. That had been a stupid thing to just agree to, but at this point, it didn't matter. Rhys already knew he'd need to give an explanation once all this was over. A small price to pay if they managed to survive all this.

Satisfied that they were on course, Rhys lowered the Endeavour to be just above the surface of the cloud sea. The moment he saw another ship, he would take the Endeavour below and change direction.

Minutes dragged by as they slowly began to relax, the adrenaline from the initial escape fading away and being replaced by weariness and exhaustion.

‘Okay, one of us needs to be on watch here at all times. Tom, are you okay with taking the first shift?’ Rhys said, calling out to get everyone’s attention.

‘Yes, Captain,’ Tom said, straightening in place and giving Rhys a firm nod.

‘Good, thank you. Everyone else, let’s get down to the galley. I don’t know about you, but I need a cup of tea,’ Rhys said, rubbing his face and sighing wearily.

A chorus of weary assents came from the others, and they started for the stairs down into the Endeavour.

‘So, Fy, Goer didn’t tell us much about you,’ Rhys said once they were down in the galley. Oliver had taken on the responsibility of making drinks for them all, which was good as Rhys was almost ready to fall over. The last half a day had been trying, to say the least.

‘There’s not much to tell; I was a prisoner like you. Goer broke me out and sent me your way,’ Fy said with a shrug, his gaze darting from Rhys to Lucy to Oliver and back to Rhys once more.

‘Why were you a prisoner?’ Lucy asked, her tone making Rhys wonder if some of her suspicion of Goer had transferred over to their passenger.

‘They were sending me out to gather plants in the tunnels,’ Fy said, pulling his arms tight across himself as he shivered at some unknown memory.

‘Plants?’ Rhys queried, a little surprised with the answer.

‘Yes, apparently, they were harvesting something from the tunnels. That was what they were going to use us for from what our jailors said,’ Lucy explained with a grimace. ‘Knowing now what was in those tunnels, that feels like just a fancy way to kill people.’

‘How did you survive going into those tunnels?’ Oliver asked from where he was leaning against the wall.

‘I stayed quiet and still as much as I could, using as little light as I dared. Anything more than that was what got people killed,’ Fy said, shivering once more.

‘Don’t worry, you’re with us now, we’ll drop you off at Arn Gol, and you’ll be free to make your way from there,’ Rhys said, trying to give Fy a reassuring smile.

‘Thank you, Captain,’ Fy said, bobbing his head as he spoke.

‘Here, these are for you. I’m going to take Tom’s up to him,’ Oliver said, sliding mugs in front of the three of them and taking a fourth out the door with him.

‘Just what I needed,’ Rhys muttered as he sipped the too-hot liquid and ignored the scalding heat. He was too wound up to really relax, but just the act of drinking the hot tea was revitalising him.

‘Actually, Captain, while we have a moment, can you get the valuables back out for us?’ Lucy asked, somewhat hesitantly. ‘I’ll feel much better when I have my pistol in hand.’

‘Oh, of course, I’ll go do it now,’ Rhys said, rising to his feet as he took another sip of his drink.

Heading back to his cabin, Rhys made sure the door was firmly shut before retrieving the stored items and taking Lucy’s pistol back to her.

-**-

Despite the high tension in the ship, they managed to find small amounts of rest as the Endeavour continued toward Arn Gol at their best speed.

None of them had seen any sign of pirates while on watch, which became more of a relief with each passing hour. The longer they went without seeing the inevitable pursuit, the better their situation.

Rhys harboured a slight hope that the two undamaged pirate ships weren’t faster than the Endeavour, which meant that the lead they had was only going to grow. It would take time to repair the two hawk pirate ships, the time they would spend moving at full burn toward Arn Gol.

The crew fell into an odd rhythm as they drew closer to safety. One of them, not including Fy, would always be on watch, keeping a careful eye on the sky around them. The rest of them would spend their time resting and working as normal.

Oliver took stock of their cargo, letting Rhys know that everything but the crystals had been taken. All of the goods they’d invested in at Arn Allinor were sat in some warehouse at Kolis now, which was enough to make Rhys feel ill.

By tacit agreement, none of them mentioned the strange things that Rhys had been able to do. He was sure that a conversation was coming, but none of them wanted to deal with that right now.

Caught in a tense limo, they whiled away time as best they could, each worried that their next watch would be when they finally caught sight of the pirates chasing them.

Eventually, the end came. Rhys brought the Endeavour up to a more appropriate cruising height, and they saw the towering spire of Arn Gol rise up before them.

A large and intimidating ship was floating off to one side of the spire, the rows of cannons that lined its flanks gleaming in the bright sun. It was a military ship, but not one that Rhys recognised. Still, any military ship would do. No pirates would try anything when there was a ship like that nearby.

Bringing the Endeavour in to land at the lower docks, Rhys told everyone to stay on the ship. He’d go report everything to the Guild; they’d know what to do. Hopefully.