“Riley, get below decks!”

The shout was barely audible to the young man while he gawked at the Chaos Streams flowing above the Ebon Horizon’s barrier.

“Riley!”

“Yes, yes, I’m coming!” Riley muttered after his aunt yelled at him for the fifteenth time.

The trouble with getting assigned to the same ship as his family members was that they were unnecessarily bossy. He was a merchant marine and Aunt Layla wasn’t even technically his superior nor was his older brother, Aidan, but both of them ordered him around like he was a rank recruit.

The outer deck of the Ebon Horizon was narrow, though it was quite long, about ten paces by a hundred. The sloop was a seasoned Chaos ship and had been making runs between drifting planes for decades. The hull was made of Venere wood that was incredibly resistant to Chaos, and it had elaborate runescript carved all over it. Not the walking surfaces, of course, but the outer hull, the inner walls, the doors, and the windows were riddled with the arcane script.

The engines were Animatech, of course. Nothing would propel a ship in the Chaos Sea unless it was empowered by a person’s Will and Intent. Or Animatech, which made use of the very same, except it didn’t require constant attention by the more often than not, error-prone humans.

Riley noticed a few of the deckhands smirking at him. He gave them an obscene gesture only to hear his aunt screaming at him. Their smirks followed him below the deck.

“What’ve you to say for yourself, young man?” Aunt Layla’s voice was cold and she had her arms crossed underneath her bosom. “Such foul words. You kiss your mother with those lips?”

“No, Aunt Layla…” he said in a monotone, completely ready to dodge the fist that flew at his head.

“How many times must I tell you, Riley. Don’t. Call. Me. Aunt! I’m barely ten years older than you!’

Riley rolled his eyes. “Yes, big sis!”

“Much better. Now get to your station. We’re about to enter Bella’s Chaos channel.”

“Yes, I know. Ancestors, Layla, this is my fourth landing already.”

“And yet you were agog on the decks. You should know better than to get in the way.”

“Uh, well…”

“What's li’l bro done now?” Aidan, who looked much like Riley did with his brown hair, and hazel eyes, and the lanky frame, walked up to them from deeper within the corridor, “Ah, don’t tell me, he was staring at Chaos again when he’s supposed to be in the holding room?”

“What else?” Layla groused. “And instead of staying in the engine room where every good Runeer should be, I’m up here looking for my erstwhile nephew. And what are you doing here, Aidan, you should be in the holding room too.”

“I’m looking for my li’l bro, of course,” Aidan said smoothly. “And like you, my dear little aunt, I found him here.”

“Huh.”

Twipp!

Like Riley, Aidan ducked under Layla’s half-hearted swing.

“Hie hie!”

“Off to the holding room with both of you!” she yelled before spinning on her heels and stalking off.

Layla was a bit more petite than the brothers who towered over everyone else by at least a head. The two brothers exchanged a grin and headed to where the rest of the merchant marines were supposed to stay during this delicate operation.

The truth was, aside from them, there were only a couple more marines stationed in the Ebon Horizon. And they were more than enough as both were already Knights. The way the strength of their lineage developed, most adults reached that level at around twenty years old. Riley did it just as he turned seventeen.

Yes, he was quite the prodigy.

Not that he was a match for other, more developed Knights. A freshly advanced youngster still had more groundwork to lay before he could truly be called a Knight of the Empire. Ah, since he chose to be a mercenary, he didn’t receive the Empire’s stipend but he preferred the freedom of the open Chaos Sea to the restrictive planes.

Riley followed behind his brother as they made their way through the bowels of the Chaos ship. The holding room fit all four marines comfortably, with enough room for either brother to stretch their legs all the way. It also provided a shortcut to exit the ship through a side door should it be necessary.

Riley strapped into his seat after nodding amiably to the other two, who grunted at him. Jonir and Zoey were nearly in their forties, but that was still young for a pair of Knights. Ah, no, they weren’t Knights from the Empire, though their Anima strength was on the same level. They were from a plane aligned with the Coalition of Independent Planes. They didn’t reveal what they called their power levels, but Riley thought their approximate strength was similar enough for it not to matter. Then again, the Indies used tools and foci to channel their Animus rather than constructing Facets and inlays.

Where the brothers wore simple forceweave clothing, they always wore a bandolier with nearly a dozen implements stuck on it.

Almost as soon as Riley finished strapping, the Ebon Horizon started to shake and shudder. They were entering the Chaos channel!

He leaned against the backrest, tilted his head up and closed his eyes, nauseated. The shuddering grew worse as it always did when they came into a drifter plane. The lack of connecting towers and guiding lines meant that the plane itself drifted in the Chaos Sea, and if not for the constant trading runs from independent merchants, the drifter would be lost. Of course, it would help if the plane anchored itself to another, but aside from the Empire, the Coalition, and the Xylarchy, nobody else had the Animatech or power to do it. And, of course, it meant that the aboriginals of the plane would have to align themselves with one of those giant powers.

“Oh, Ancestors!” he gasped as the shuddering grew even worse. This was the shakiest he’d even felt when entering a plane, and from the greenish tinge on everyone else’s faces, it was bad for them too.

Oh, Ancestors, let them arrive in Bella in one piece!

_______

Fang Leader Akko decided that they would march to Lardel Keep even though it was almost twilight. Yuriko didn’t mind as she and Rhox had been cooling their heels in the village the entire day. She was somewhat worried that the cats would attack them on the road though.

“We didn’t see anyone,” Akko said gravely, “not a single whisker or ear.”

“That’s worrisome,” Rhox frowned. “There were at least two cohorts.”

“Plenty of signs, yes, but nothing of the actual marauders.”

“Then I suppose we’ll have to take a chance.” Yuriko looked at each of them. “I’m worried that they might hit some of the other farming villages.”

“Other than Silvershear, there’s also Penrith, and Tanril,” Akko counted on his fingers, “between here and Lardel. Penrith is in another valley while Tanrill is more of a fisherman's village. Along the Fair Beck river. I think it would be best to pay them a visit.”

“You think they’ve been attacked?”

“Maybe, Elder. The patrol route would have us go through them anyway. But it would add an extra day of travel.”

“By all means,” Yuriko said, “let’s make sure they’re safe.”

“We might have to evacuate them, too,” Rhox added.

“We don’t have the manpower for it,” Akko admitted, gesturing to her Fang--nineteen strong sans the runner they sent to the Keep. “Your aid would be more than welcome.”

Yuriko nodded gravely. “Let’s hurry.”

After retrieving their gear, Yuriko and Rhox joined the Fang on the road. They marched at a steady pace, with a scout nearly twenty paces ahead, and a rear guard twenty behind. The Half Moon gave ample light, though the Chaos Streams gave just as much, if not more. It was the Season of Air, and Yuriko wondered if they would experience Chaos Storms soon. Still, they were far enough from the Veil that it wouldn’t matter much.

They marched for about a couple of hours before Akko decided that they needed to camp. The wind had picked up and there was a light rain. The patrol group stopped at a well-used campsite just off the road. There was a clearing, along with a stack of firewood.

“It’s too damp,” one of the warriors complained as he poked at the stack. “Maybe there’s some drier ones in the middle.”

“Oh, I can write a campfire runescript,” Yuriko offered.

“Huh, what’s that?” Rhox asked.

“You don’t know runescript?” Yuriko asked curiously.

“It’s not a common skill here,” Rhox shrugged. “Certainly not for something as mundane as a campfire.”

“Well, those are the basics,” Yuriko chuckled. “It’s what I’ve been using to cook while in the Labyrinth.”

“Oh.” Rhox gestured at the firepit. “By all means, Elder.”

“Alright,” Yuriko said. The entire Fang practically gathered around her. “Er, give me some space please.”

They shuffled back a step.

Shrugging to herself, Yuriko started to lay out the pattern for the runescript. The soil was hard-packed and actually required her to emit an Animus blade to carve instead of just her fingers. Appreciative murmurs came from the others when they saw the blade but Yuriko ignored them.

For some reason, she felt a bit self-conscious with the audience. She caught a few errors in her scribing that she had to redo, but in short order, she completed the runescript circle. All that was needed was for her to inject it with her Animus to jumpstart the process. The campfire pattern would then draw out the necessary fuel from the ambient Chaos.

She placed her palms against the terminus points on opposite sides of the circle and channelled Animus laden with fiery Intent into it. The runescript glowed gold, tracing around the circle before it converged into the centre and created a flickering flame.

“Huh?” Yuriko frowned.

The circle ate into the starter Animus she put in it too quickly. At the rate it was going, it would go through that reserve in less than twenty minutes.

“Wonderful!” Akko exclaimed as she grabbed one of the firewood logs, still damp, and placed it next to the flame. Then she added wood shavings into it which eventually caught fire. Thick greyish white smoke came from the fire, making Yuriko cough. She removed her hands from the circle and stepped back while the reptilians started making dinner.

“Nice work, though is it really worth all that effort?” Rhox whispered next to Yuriko. “I suppose it works better and faster than a firestarter and you wouldn’t need to carry around a kit.”

Yuriko shook her head. “No, that was a failure. The campfire runescript shouldn’t need fuel to burn.”

“Eh? It’s that miraculous? But…”

“Yes, there’s something wrong with my formula.” Yuriko scowled. “It worked perfectly in the Labyrinth and Kogasi!”

“Ah, well, who knows?” Rhox shrugged and turned away, clearly disinterested.

Yuriko, on the other hand, mulled over her failure. It annoyed and irritated her so much she practically ignored the cooking smell coming from the boiling stew. She absently accepted the bowl that was presented to her and ate without really tasting it. She went for seconds though and washed everything down with water from her condenser canteen.

“I’ll take the first watch,” Yuriko said to Rhox and Akko after she was done eating.

“Uh, you don’t have to take the rotation, Elder,” Akko said.

“No. I feel a bit restless.” Yuriko said. “Uh, we’ll reach Penrith tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“Very well.”

She faced away from the campfire and took a comfortable spot. She’d been through a torrent of strong emotions over the past couple days and this was her chance to sort them out. While she had felt anger at the slaughter and willfully fought and killed the aggressors, a part of her wondered if she really needed to fight. After all, this wasn’t her nation, it wasn’t her home. And she was choosing to involve herself in a war that had nothing to do with her at all.

But could she really abandon the helpless children? She worried over her thoughts for hours and honestly, she hadn’t been quite an effective night watch. Thankfully, Akko had still allocated a normal watch rotation amongst her men.

It was close to midnight when Yuriko turned in for the night, and her sleep was filled with troubling dreams that she didn’t remember come dawn.