The Fell War - Chapter 5 (Patreon)

Two weeks later, Alfre found herself staring at the massive, manmade marvel of steel and copper and whatever other metals Maldrom and his worker bees had scrounged up and welded together. It looked like someone had frankenstiened the thing together from a dozen or more other ships, but it was floating. And really, that was all that mattered.

“It’s brilliant,” June whispered, clasping her hands like she was praying.

“It’s ugly,” Hunter grumbled. “You expect us to sail on that thing?”

“Who says you’re going anywhere?” Alfre challenged. “You’re staying right here, Mr. Fight Me. We can’t have your short temper and experience thirst ruining this mission.”

Hunter looked like he was going to argue, but stopped when he realized that would only prove her point. Alessio, prince of the neighboring Wonderlander kingdom of Saphir and good friend of Alfre’s, whistled appreciatively at the ship.

“I’m still unsure what it is you expect me to do, though,” he admitted, turning his attention from the ship to Alfre.

“You’re the face of the operation,” Ludovico explained before Alfre had the chance to speak. “Should any agent of the Granato empire ask what it is you’re doing, you tell them you’re on a trade mission to Berdea and have simply stopped to allow your crew time to ‘stretch their legs.’ Or whatever other excuse you want to come up with, it really doesn’t matter.”

“I see,” Alessio murmured. “And should they not believe me?”

“Then I step in to make sure they don’t stick around,” Alfre said plainly, her expression stony.

Alessio swallowed thickly. “Indeed. Well, when do we set off?”

“Now.”

‘Now’ had been a bit of an exaggeration on Alfre’s part. The party did not set off on their voyage until the next day, after the ship had been stocked with food and those going along had equipped themselves with their best items. Alfre, Spica, and Elias were all going along, much to Wally’s nervousness. Lance from the Knights of the Burning Oak was along for the ride as well, along with both June and Doremi from Sweet Summer Children. Basil came as a representative of Wall Street Spade, since Maldrom had to stay behind to continue building more ships. Ludovico expressed interest in coming along as well, but he too had to stay behind to help with the ships. Hunter sent along a trio of players from the Fell of Duty guild as well, though Alfre did not know their names. Canus was with them as well, though he did not look forward to crossing the water. And finally, Ran and Izo came along.

Alfre had not seen Ran or Izo in a long time – Ran not since they’d all started on this mission and Izo not since she left the Crystal Moon Kingdom a few months before that. She’d missed him dearly. Izo had been one of her constant companions early on, the two of them both being newbies when the game had become real. They’d grown together, from newbies who could barely kill boars to stone-cold badasses. She’d been sad to leave him behind in the Crystal Moon Kingdom, but he’d fallen in love with Ran and Alfre couldn’t bear to force him to choose.

“Ready to kick some ass?” she asked him, unable to hide her grin.

Izo laughed, and in that moment Alfre realized how much she missed the sound. “Let’s hope we won’t have to.”

Ran, a new rifle that reminded Alfre of one another former companion of hers used to carry strapped to his back, wrapped an arm around Izo’s waist. “Even if we do, I won’t let anyone lay a hand on you.”

Alfre rolled her eyes. “You two are so saccharine, stop it.”

Ran grinned wickedly at her. “Never.”

Alfre walked away as Ran proceeded to kiss Izo’s face with far more enthusiasm than was necessary.

Basil sat in the captain’s wheelhouse, steering wheel in hand as she gently guided the massive ship out of the sound and into Open Ocean. Alessio stood beside her, compass in hand as he mapped out their route. Neither turned when Alfre stepped into the room, her eyes on the water that lay before her.

“How long, do you think, before we reach Ahmar?” Alfre asked, her own eyes on the seemingly endless expanse of ocean.

“A few days,” Basil guessed. “No longer than two weeks, I should think. We’re heading out at a fairly good pace. If we keep this up we won’t have a problem.”

“I see,” Alfre murmured.

“I don’t predict we’ll run into much trouble,” Alessio assured her. “The seas have always been pretty calm this time of year. It’s when autumn comes that you have to worry.”

“Is the…cargo hold ready?” Alfre asked.

Alessio nodded. “We made sure to have plenty of blankets and beds and hammocks prepared. We’re equipped for three thousand when it comes to beds, but we have many more blankets, just in case. And we have food to last us a year at least, hopefully that will be enough to last everyone else until we get back to Siniy.”

“The voyage back should be quicker than the voyage there,” Basil said, her eyes darting down to the map before she returned her gaze to the sea. “We’re against current right now. When we return, we’ll have the current on our side. Plus, we’ve received word that Berdea has already finished their first ship, and is going to launch her tomorrow. We have more help that you realize.”

Alfre gave a small sigh of relief. “Good, we might need it.”