Valkyria (8 page)

“
Alright, Captain, open the
hangar doors-”

Before he could finish the last
syllable the ship rocked aggressively, the Captain and his crew
almost falling onto their rears. The sound of gunfire filled the
atmosphere and crashes and thuds echoed through the
ship.

“
What is going on?” The
Captain was shouting through the communication pipe to the
bridge.

“
We’re under attack,” the
reply said. “There’s a battleship in the sky shooting at us. It’s
flying the Alexandria Empire flags!”

“
The Alexandria Empire?
That’s impossible,” exclaimed the Captain. “There’s no chance they
could know what we are doing here.”

Another shell connected with the boat,
shaking it once again. This time the Captain did fall to the floor.
As his stood himself upright again, brushing off his clothes, he
clenched his fist and half closed his eyes.

“
Men! Prepare for battle!”
He looked over and Nate and Charles with a determined fire in his
eyes. “If the Seadawn is going to be tested, I think it should have
a full combat test. We are certainly going to need it.”

“
But I’m no combat pilot,”
shouted Nate.

“
You’re going to have to
be,” replied the Captain as he signalled his men to open the hangar
doors. “Just remember not to let them hit you. They only have the
battleship, something the Seadawn is designed to destroy, am I
right?”

Nate could feel his throat closing
tight, refusing to answer that question, but he knew it was
correct. Their airship had been designed for exactly this sort of
situation. It would be a great test flight, albeit a dangerous one.
He nodded, and glanced back at Charles.

“
Can you man the weapons?
I’m going to have enough trouble flying this thing.”

Charles gave the okay signal and
smiled. If only Nate could have appeared so calm perhaps he would
have believed it himself. The hangar door finally opened the sound
of the rolling sea deafened by the sound of battle.

“
Get going,” said the
Captain, “and good luck!”

The Seadawn rolled forward as Nate
pushed the break lock level to his side as far down as it could go.
The propellers, although small, were making quite the din. It
rolled faster and faster, heading for the bright blue ocean, yet it
didn’t seem to be going fast enough.

“
We need more speed,”
exclaimed Charles. Nate knew that much but there was little he
could about it. They had only created a system to start and stop
the engine, not control the speed. The end of the boat approached
quickly. Nate pulled the steering stick backward toward himself as
hard as he could. He didn’t dare look back but he was sure Charles
had either closed his eyes or made a mess of his
pantaloons.

The sea arrived far too soon for Nate’s
liking, but he felt his stomach being pulled down by an invisible
force as the Seadawn slowly managed to climb into the
air.

“
It’s flying,” he shouted
as they moved away from the boat and into the sky He looked back in
the hopes that someone on the boat may be cheering. Instead he
caught a glimpse of a bombardment shell striking the bridge and a
spray of different colours, although most red, shoot from the
impact area. The dust settled quickly only to reveal that the shell
had ripped through the whole ship. It was sinking.

A second shell shot passed them, close
enough for Nate to touch.

“
Watch where you’re flying
boy,” said Charles. Nate grasped the steering stick once again,
returning his gaze to the front of the Seadawn. More and more
shells flew past them as Nate moved the airship up and down and up
again.

“
What do we do?”

“
Getting in closer,” said
Charles. “I’ll try to shoot back.”

As the boat Nate had lived on for the
past five years was consumed by the wild water, he moved the
Seadawn in close on the port side of the battleship that cut
through the clouds. Charles opened fire with the Gatling gun,
spinning the handle as fast as he possible could. It worked, to
some extent.

Small pin prick holes filled the side
of the battleship, but no serious damage was shown. More and more
shells came toward them, as if aimed for them.

“
They knew,” shouted
Charles. “They’re after us! They’re after Seadawn!”

Yet another shell flew past, the breeze
that followed it pulling at Nate’s hair. The clouds broke behind
the battleship, and a block of black and white appeared.

“
What is that!?”

“
No idea, boy. But it’s
coming this way.”

The new airship moved ever closer to
the Alexandria Empire battleship before opening fire. Holes tore
themselves into the side of the battleship, but the battleship shot
at Nate again. This time they hit their target, breaking off the
rear end of the Seadawn. It began to spin.

The black and white airship fired
again, its size was double that of the Alexandria Empire’s
battleship with a strong frame on the outside giving extra
protection. Steam fled through chimneys on the top deck whilst
cannons came out of at least twenty different places. They all
fired, and they all hit.

Holes burst out all over the battleship
as the Seadawn continued to spin and fall. Nate could feel his
stomach being wrenched from his body as the world seemed to become
a mixture of coloured lines.

“
Nate, can you hear me? Try
to get enough control so we can land in their hangar
bay!”

Nate didn’t like the idea of landing
their new prized possession on an unknown ship, but he hated the
idea of dying far more. He twisted and pulled the steering stick
until finally he could fly the Seadawn relatively straight although
most certainly not in a direct line.

The black and white ship had a large
opening on the starboard side which Nate aimed for. The airship
fired yet again, this time hitting the centre of the battleship and
tearing it in half. The front side fell first, the lack of
propellers making it far less flight friendly than the rear half.
That fell as well.

The Seadawn slammed into the metal
floor of the hangar bay, scrapping itself way along until it
finally came to a halt surrounded by sparks. Over the sound of
metal tearing metal Nate could only just head the Alexandria
Empire’s battleship crash into the water below. The battleship was
sunk, but so were Nate’s home and all his friends except
Charles.

Nevertheless they stood up and
clambered out of the Seadawn, only to be greeted by an amassing
crowd of armed men wearing black and white long cloaks from their
neck down. Their uniform was black with white pinstripes along the
edges and the insignia of a woman in blue and white armour on their
breast pocket.

The group made way as a young woman in
cream clothing with silvery hair and a man with a single leg, a
black uniform with buttoned shirt and equally silver hair
approached the two friends. They could have been twins from the
similarity in their facial shape. The woman glared at Nate like a
dog looking at its food, but the man stretched out an
arm.

“
My name is Irving and this
is my sister, Anastasia. Welcome aboard the Valkyria, young
man.”

*~*~*

11

SERAN

The sun rose over grey clouds above
Karayol. Seran’s horse had slowed to a trundle, its legs shaking
slightly with every step. The brown mane of the majestic animal was
full of dirt and the eyes were glazed at best.

Karayol came into view far too late for
the Dragoon. It had been a most boring ride as he travelled across
the Alexandria Empire as it was farmland and flatlands. The
southern regions were by far the most desolate and void regions,
with the farms stretching far and wide but not a mountain to speak
of.

When he finally did catch glimpse of
the fishing town he could not believe his eyes. It was dilapidated
and rotten with no outer wall for protection and barely a single
house without a hole in the roof.

The houses themselves reminded him of
what he had seen in the history books about the Ringlands when he
was a child. His father had paid good money for those books so that
his son would be able to read. Yet it was the pictures that had
stayed with Seran. It was the pictures that Karayol reminded him
of.

“
This cannot be real,” he
said to no one. “How could such a horrifyingly disgusting place
exist in the Alexandria Empire?”

As he entered what he assumed was the
city boundaries, marked by sticks placed deep in the ground like
the sides of the gate, yet missing the most important aspect; the
actual gate. Pigs ran amuck through the wet soil and mud, splashing
the brown liquid onto the face of young children who followed them
as if playing some sort of archaic game of ‘chase and
catch’.

How could anyone who lived like such
animals be a part of the Empire? He continued through the
marsh-like village, passing one rotting and broken hut after
another. The dirty children moved out his way with great energy,
Seran trying not to get hit by the flying water. If this were a
battlefield or some such environment then such dirt would be normal
for him, but since it was a village filled with pigs and dogs and
who knows what else, there could have been anything in the mud that
was being flung at him.

Finally he arrived at the pier, a long
wooden structure that stretched out of the mud and into the sea. It
was surprisingly clean considering the state of affairs in the
village. The sun beamed down onto polished oak and glistening blue
and white blankets of waves.

Three fishing boats of miniscule size
floated in the water, tied at the bow to large logs the stuck out
higher than the rest of the pier. At the end, however, was a
slightly larger one big enough for ten people and with its own
engine. It was a double floor vessel with the engine room below and
the cabin on the deck.

The engine was already roaring by the
time Seran walked over to it. It could not have been hard to guess
who he was compared to the people of village.

Steam and smoke poured out of two
exhaust holes in the side of the boat whilst an ungodly roar of an
aging engine made Seran’s heart beat far too fast for his own good.
There was an elderly man with a rather large grey beard and brown
tunic and pantaloons combination awaiting him.

“
My lord,” said the sailor,
“we are ready to leave immediately.”

“
Very well,” replied Seran,
boarding the old ship.

*~*~*

12

AEON

“
Let me out! I tell you,
let me out!”

The screaming and shouting hadn’t
stopped since the young girl had woken up. It was not as if she had
a bad place to stay. It was warm with a large bed and a desk to
right at. The window would allow her fresh air and a view of the
sky.

Aeon doubted she had even been on an
airship before so why make such a fuss about staying in a room for
a few hours? He placed one hand on the door, feeling a warmth
coming from the room that had never existed before she was there.
He shook her head, brushing off the idea and returning to the real
world.

“
I have already explained
to you, dear Alexia; that we cannot allow you to roam freely aboard
this vessel.”

“
I do not want to ‘roam
freely’. I want to go home!”

Aeon sighed heavily. He looked at the
ground with open eyes before returning his gaze to the door.
Opening the sliding panel that stood at eye level, he saw the young
girl sitting on her bed with her head in her hands. She had changed
into the white sleeping garments they had provided, with the
pleated ends and designs around the neck and breast. Alexia looked
beautiful, fit for a night with a king.

“
I am sorry my dear,” he
said through the hole. “But you know that we cannot allow that. The
fate of the Ringlands depends on you being here.”

“
But I do not understand
that! Why does it depend on me!?”

“
Because, young Alexia, you
are the one who will bring her to us.”

“
Bring who-”

Before she could finish her sentence
Aeon closed the slat shut and began to walk away. He had said too
much to the young girl. If she could somehow get a message to the
wrong people they may understand what it is that the Inquisitors
seek.

He walked along the red carpet that
lined the floor, through a hallway decorated with wooden panelling
and archways to hide the dull metal of the airship’s body. The
Titan I was the most luxurious airship known to the Ringlands, and
yet she was still complaining about it. The sound of flute and
violin bounced through the hallways from the mess hall whilst men
and women strolled through the corridors going about their
business.

The airship itself had six floors,
making it one of the largest airships ever created. The lowest
floor contained the armoury and maintenance sections where the
engineers slept and worked. The next floor up was the engine room
and above that was the mess hall and sleeping quarters. The
following floor was the hangar bay, used for personnel transports
and other such smaller craft, including Aeon’s personal
shuttle.