Chapter Two Hundred and Forty-Five - Buniver's Travels

Granite Springs was, according to Bastion, a small and secluded town in Sylphfree. It was along the southern end of the country, next to the ocean, and as airships had become more common, shipping over water had declined.

I couldn’t really tell if it was becoming less prosperous as we hovered over the town, the Beaver being guided over to a waiting berth in the airship docks at the rear of the town.

The sylph airships peeled off as soon as we tossed ropes over the sides and the sylphs working at the docks tied us in place.

“I need to give my assessment to the port authority,” the officer sylph said as he tucked his clipboard under an arm.

“It was a pleasure having you aboard,” I said as I leaned down to shake his hand. It was easy to forget how small most sylphs were. Bastion was a pretty tall one, and he barely reached my shoulder. The officer and the two guards with him were a bit shorter. I think I’d met children who were taller.

That only meant baby sylphs had to be absolutely teeny tiny!

The officer exchanged some pleasantries with Bastion, then bowed before fluttering off the side of the Beaver and over to the docks.

“Alright!” I said once the deck was cleared of strangers. I clapped my hands together for attention. “We need a plan.”

“That shouldn’t be too complicated,” Amaryllis said. “We find someone who can repair the Beaver’s balloon. I imagine a proper port like this has at least one company that does repairs. The port authority should know.”

“That means that we won’t be able to use the Beaver to head deeper into Sylphfree until it’s repaired though,” I said.

Bastion shook his head. “That might not be an issue.” He pointed off the side of the ship and to a flagpole standing proud above a building in the centre of the town. It was a big, square struicture, very utilitarian, and made entirely of pale grey stone. There were three flags on display: I kinda recognized the flag of Sylphfree, but the other two didn’t tell me much. One had a grey square in the middle of a two-toned background, pale blue above and white below. The other was a checkered grey-orange flag.

“I don’t get it,” I said.

“The bottommost flag, under the town flag, is a warning. The area is on a middling alert level. That means more guards will be posted in cities and towns, some soldiers will be pulled from reserves, and travel will be restricted.”

Amaryllis huffed. It was a very unimpressed sort of huff that basically said “well, we’d do that better where I’m from.” “Of course the sylphs have flags to tell them how they’ll be oppressed today.”

“So,” I said as I decided to ignore that comment. It was best not to start an argument. “We can’t fly the Beaver to the capital.”

“Not without the sort of permissions I wouldn’t be able to obtain,” Bastion said. “There should be some vessels heading to and from Goldenalden. Food and materials still need to be moved, and people as well. Besides, the mountains are treacherous for inexperienced pilots.”

I glanced to the north, where the mountains rose up and up above us. They weren’t the biggest mountains I’d ever seen. That definitely went to the Harpy mountains. But they were dense. Just a lot of peaks rising up every which way.

I imagined the wind between all of those peaks would be tricky, and unless ships could move over the mountaintops, they would have to twist and turn around the peaks. That wouldn’t be easy. The Beaver was a fairly light ship, and he could only go so high. It got really cold, and the air grew thin past a certain height.

“So we’re going to have to leave the Beaver behind?” I asked.

“It’s not that bad,” Amaryllis said. “It will limit our options, but not overly, and we can leave most of the crew here to guard the Beaver while repairs are being made.”

“I guess,” I said.

It would be a bit strange to leave the Beaver behind. Sure, we hardly stayed on the ship while out exploring, but it was always nearby, our home that we carried with us. Or rather, that carried us.

But if we didn’t have a choice, then that was that. And it wasn’t like we’d be gone for a long time. “So who do we bring with us?” I asked.

“The usual away team.” Amaryllis said. “Myself, you, Awen, and Bastion, of course.”

“Let’s ask around, make sure that everyone is okay with staying. And then we need to pack our things.”

“I doubt we’ll find a ship leaving this evening,” Bastion said. “Most shipping happens in the morning and early afternoon. You can reach most other places in Sylphfree with half a day’s flying from the capital. Flying at night is dangerous.”

“I can imagine,” I said. All those mountains would serve as obstacles to anyone flying with the sun down. “We do need to go out and find a ride for tomorrow though.”

“We hardly need the whole crew for that,” Amaryllis said. “I’ll head over to the port authority, sign off on our berth.”

“Bring a human with you,” Bastion said. “I... don’t wish to doubt my fellow sylph, but you might find that there’s some animosity towards harpies here.”

Amaryllis harrumphed. “Typical. Though... I suppose we’re no better. I’ll bring Awen then. She’s reasonable, at least.”

I nodded. “So, that’s the plan?”

“We also need food. Not for those of us leaving, but for the rest of the crew. Though I suppose I could leave some gold aboard for them to purchase things once we’re gone,” Amaryllis said.

“That sounds fine,” I said. “Bastion, did you want to come exploring with me? I don’t think we’ve been on that many adventures, just the two of us!”

“Certainly,” Bastion said.

Grinning, I ran off to gather a few things. Last time I’d gone wandering in a new city, I was ambushed by giant laser-firing crystals. Let it never be said that Broccoli Bunch doesn’t sometimes learn her lesson. Once I had my turtle shell hat on, a small pack with a few essentials, and a pouch with some coins, I picked up my warspade and ran back onto the deck to find Bastion waiting on the dock in his full paladin regalia.

“I’m ready!” I cheered as I hopped over the rail and landed next to him.

“I can see that,” he said. “I’m not certain if people would appreciate seeing someone armed on the streets.”

“Armed? You mean my spade? I guess I can leave it behind,” I said. I only took a hop to return to the Beaver and tuck my spade away. “Better?” I asked as I returned.

“Quite,” Bastion said.

“So, where are we going first?”

“I thought we only had one destination?”

I pouted. “Well, yeah, but you know how much I love detours. We could make new friends, meet new people. Maybe grab a bite to eat?”

“I suppose. In either case, we should get moving.”

I nodded, and soon enough both of us were walking along the docks towards a tower off to one side. The port was made up of a dozen berths for airships, with what looked like docks that could be moved from side to side to accommodate ships of different sizes. There were towers on either end, with exits at their bases leading onto an empty field.

It looked as if the sylphs were clever enough not to build anything under the space ships would occupy, which only made sense. A tool could fall and bonk someone on the head.

My head was on a swivel as we moved, taking in the other ships and the people aboard them. They were all boxy, metal-clad vessels (ironclads?), smaller than the Beaver and with a few more balloons. At least, those that were nearest. On the other side of the port were a pair of larger ships, with the flag of Sylphfree on their bows and bigger ballistae on their decks.

Every ship was manned by sylphs, and no matter how much I looked, I couldn’t see anyone who wasn’t a little person with big wings.

“Aren’t we going to visit the other ships?” I asked.

“No, that’s not how things work here. Most of these ships look like merchant vessels, the cheap, faster sorts. The crew on board won’t have any authority to take on passengers.”

“Oh. That’s weird. Don’t they have captains?”

“Yes, but only in the sense that each ship has a person who leads its crew. The captains of most ships aren’t the owners of those ships.” He pointed to the hull of a nearby ship where a logo sat, a big flower I vaguely recognized as a snapdragon. “That one and the ship next to it are owned by the same company. You’ll notice most transport ships are similarly owned by one company or another.”

“Instead of having them owned by their captain who then picks up stuff,” I said. “That’s not as cool.”

“I suppose it isn’t, but it might be more efficient. Sylphfree policy is big on efficiency.”

We reached the tower, and I was surprised to find a basket elevator within. We clambered aboard, and Bastion lowered a lever that had us dropping down.

“So, if we can’t just ask the captains nicely, where are we going?” I asked as I enjoyed the sensation of falling.

“I took note of which company owned which ship,” Bastion said. “Their headquarters in town should have something in place to offer transportation to civilians.”

The elevator thumped onto a cloth pad at the bottom, and Bastion raised the lever he’d pulled down, which locked the basket in place so we could climb out.

Once we were out of the tower and back under the sun, Bastion took a moment to look around before gesturing ahead. “This way, I believe.”

“Have you been here before?” I asked.

“In Granite Springs? Only a couple of quick stops. Did some training with the army by the coast. Learning how to swim is part of our training.”

Made sense to me. “So you know your way around?”

“The stops were hardly comprehensive,” Bastion said. Soon we’re walking down what I guessed was one of the town’s main roads. It was very strange to be the tallest person around. I was used to Bastion being shorter than me—I hardly even noticed it anymore—but to be taller than everyone down an entire street...

Worse were all the stares. Little sylph kids, who really were tiny, looked up to me with mouths opened wide in big Os and the more adult sylphs were quick to scamper away.

I was probably very intimidating. With my ears straight, I was nearly twice as tall as some of the sylphs we were walking past.

At least no one seemed really afraid, and Bastion got some looks too. People pointed at him, some turning to friends before they whispered things.

“Do people stare at you like this a lot?” I asked.

“It happens often enough,” Bastion said. “I’m a paladin. We’re not exactly rare, but it's uncommon for us to be seen in such a small town, and unfortunately, we're usually chasing trouble. I wouldn’t call Granite Springs a frontier town, but it’s certainly not the most prosperous place within the kingdom.”

“It seems nice,” I said. The homes were all neat and clean, pale stone--granite, I guessed--and tall, with balconies on the topmost floors.

They also had really, really small doors. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to squeeze into them without bending over double to avoid bonking my ears against the doorframes.

“This is the place,” Bastion said as he stopped before a larger building.

I glanced up at it, taking in the same flower logo I’d seen on some of the ships at port. “Neat! Lead the way, Sir Paladin Bastion.”

Bastion chuckled, but he did step ahead.