Amelia Thornheart

Chapter Nine: Arcwhale

“Dismissed!”

The officers on the bridge returned to their stations. There was a feeling of relief among the soldiers, seeing Serena fully functional and barking orders, as usual, did wonders for their morale. A crew with a captain who was unconscious for an unknown length of time was a tenuous situation, especially post-mutiny.

The demons in the bridge chatted amicably amongst themselves, whilst the air and ground tacticians did what they usually did and debated hypothetical scenarios. Although their ground forces had been disbanded by the Dragon, the ground tactician was technically part of the navy and not the army and had thus remained. His acumen of human defensive strategies would be invaluable in planning future missions of all kinds.

They were well into imperial space, and their aetherscopes were picking up frequent transport ships of both military and civilian origin. The atmosphere was casual, the pre-battle tensions long gone. Now with days of free time behind and in front of them, her sailors would be occupying themselves, whether relaxing in the mess hall, napping in their quarters, or - as she could see through the bridge windows - doing washing.

Now the hole from the torpedo had been patched up, the deck was open for the sailors to get some fresh air and hang their clothes and uniforms to dry. Washing lines went from the gun barrels to the deck railing and from there to the long beams of the port and starboard sails, which were fully deployed.

The propulsion engine was inactive, and the ship was sailing on just the trade winds that would take them to the imperial airdocks in Kenhoro. A dozen sails, six port side, and six starboard side caught the midsky winds and kept them at a modest fourteen knots, all without a gram of crystal fuel being burned.

“Thorne, Allston, with me,” she said, and her gunnery officer and chief engineer fell in behind her as she approached the repair job on the deck. As the sailors saw her emerge on deck a ripple of cheers erupted.

“Cap’n!”

“Welcome back!”

“That human earned her keep, eh?”

She accepted the comments with a raised hand, “Thought about dying,” she exclaimed, “But then I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving your old horns under Dagon’s command!” That earned a bit of laughter - morale wasn’t at rock bottom then.

Serena came to a stop at the former location of turret three. Steel plates had been welded by the fire mages, forming a relatively thin covering of half-inch thick metal.

“How long for a full repair, Allston?” She asked.

“Three weeks, maybe four at Kenhoro, where we have access to their steel and cranes,” grumbled the chief engineer. “The main deck girders and heavy plates need replacing, but the wooden flooring and walls can be finished on the move. Decks one, two, and three need most of the work. Minor work on deck five. As for deck four… guess it’s true what you told us, that it’ll take more than a battleship shell to get in there.”

“In this case, more than that new torpedo they have.” Dagon had informed her that he had given the fleet a full report of what they encountered, unfortunately, the only documents they had regarding the new weapon were stored in the pocket of her uniform and didn’t survive the battle with Korvus.

“We’re damn lucky Anathor and the ship closed the bulkheads before the secondaries detonated. Saved the turrets from chain reacting. Could have lost the ship.”

“Damage to turrets one and two?”

“Nothing other but some light maintenance we finished a few days ago,” Allston said.

“Did some test firings while you were recovering, captain,” said Thorne, the weapons officer. “All green. Need to come to a decision about what we’re going to replace turret three with.”

Serena nodded, the twin-barrel four-inch batteries had served them well but were nearly seven years old now. There had been numerous advances in ship warfare, as both demon and humankind had sought to find every edge they could over the other.

“Any recommendations?”

“Been talking with the tacticians about it. Given how light craft is getting more numerous these days, and especially considering they’re now carrying torpedoes, we should consider a heavy flak battery instead of an artillery piece.”

“Any come to mind?” The standardization of weapon sizes and fittings had become more and more simple over the last decade, as the Imperial Navy had sought to modularize its equipment. The turret pods they had were compatible with a growing range of standardized cruiser-class weapons.

“We’ll only be able to choose from what’s stored in the armory in Kenhoro, unless we can delay long enough to order something from Tanhae, or eastern Centralis. Ideally, they’ll have a six-barrelled two-inch system, if not we’ll definitely be able to find a quad-barrelled piece. Heard the latest flak can output three shells per second, per barrel.”

That would be twelve heavy flak shells a second for a quad-barrel, or eighteen per second from a six-barrel system. A two-inch flak shell had an effective fragmentation range of ten to twenty meters, depending on the characteristics of the shell itself. If they could fire eighteen a second, they would barely need to aim to paint the sky in metal.

“Alternatively,” mused Thorne, “Torpedos are pretty accurate these days. Could see if we could put a launcher in, if they have any… Rumour is the brains in the Centralis workshops are close to figuring out how to get the torpedoes to track the aetheric combustion signature of the enemy ship automatically.”

Now that would be a game-changer. Didn’t her sister mention she was working on something torpedo-related? Serena made a mental note to ask her the next time they were face-to-face.

“We’ll see. I’ll find time tomorrow to go over the strategies with you and the tacticians. Since we don’t have ground forces anymore I don’t think they intend to use us as a hammer in the future. Suspect we might be getting something different.”

If I’m not dishonorably discharged. She thought.

“At ease, officers.” She said, leaving after they saluted her.

She made her way to the captain's quarters, greeting numerous demons along the way who were all pleased to see her up and about. Arriving at the door to her office, she hesitated for a moment before going in.

It was just as she remembered it, although thoroughly empty of one Amelia Thornheart.

“In here!” came the now familiar cheerful voice.

She found Amelia in the only other room connected to her office, her personal bedroom. The human was lying on a hammock she had set up, waving at her with a smile on her face.

“Did you… need to set up your hammock right next to mine?” She asked, casting a suspicious eye towards the grinning woman.

“I had no choice! Can’t tie it to that beam, as I’ll bump against the furniture, and can’t use that one as it would block the door to the washroom!”

The explanation seemed plausible, so Serena let the matter drop. She lay down in her own hammock, and they both rocked gently in silence for a minute.

“Thank you again, for what you did,” she said softly, “You saved my life”.

“Mmm…” mumbled Amelia, but was no more forthcoming than that.

“Although, if asked about it, don’t mention you slept in the same bed as me for three days.”

“Why?”

“I’m a noble, and rumors about me affect the standing of my family, my father, and my sisters. It would cause problems if such things became common knowledge. The fact you’re a human just complicates things further. The gossip would be unbearable.”

“Even if it was because I needed to be close, to keep healing you?”

Was that really why? That was what she wanted to ask, but stopped herself. Doubts quickly formed in her mind - why did she want to ask that question? Was she hoping for a different answer? Why was it so relaxing for her mind to lay here… talking to Amelia?

“Yes… my family has enemies that would love the opportunity to harm us in any way.”

“Wow, what a bunch of losers. Hey,” Amelia said, and the rustle of cloth let Serena know she had turned to face her. Should she keep looking up at the ceiling, or turn to face her? Why was she debating this!? Why was it suddenly so awkward!? “... so you must be super important, right?”

“... Yeah,” Serena answered to the ceiling. She was the daughter of her father, a talented speaker and captain of the infamous Vengeance. It wasn’t her ego talking to say she was important in some circles.

“And your family? Are they all… like you?”

“Like me?”

“You know, hot-headed, sword-waving, order-giving grumpy demons?”

“Pfft!” She couldn’t stop herself snorting at that, and then flushing with embarrassment as she made such an impolite sound. Strangely, she felt no urge to chastise Amelia. Why was she this comfortable around her? It was like… she was…

A friend.

“A little, although my sisters don’t wave swords, but my father taught me everything I know, including how to be… a grumpy captain, as you put it.”

“Mmm! I’d like to meet them!”

“About that…”

“Mmm?”

“After we repair the ship, we’re sailing south to Shimashina, where my father is working. He wants to meet me… and you.” She finally turned her head to face Amelia, whose eyes had gone wide in surprise, and her mouth had fallen open.

“I can’t wait!” Exclaimed Amelia, a grin reappearing on her face. “I’m going to complain about you throwing me in a cell! Then you’ll be in trouble!”

“Ha! Idiot. He’s more likely than me to throw you into a cell. He might throw me in there as well, while he’s at it.”

“But you’re a Speaker.”

“So’s he.”

“Ah,” Amelia wrinkled her nose, scratching it, “Well then, guess I’ll have to make an excellent impression! Soon all your family will want their own human maid too!”

“Seven hells! I hope not. One of you in the family is enough.”

“Me, in the family?”

“Tsk! You know what I mean!”

“Just kidding!” Amelia rolled onto her back, scratching her belly. “I’m hungry! You want to get some food?”

“What have you been eating?”

“Hillbrand started bringing me soups and omelets… they were alright I guess. Your bread sucks though. So hard!”

“... Let’s head to the kitchens, and see what the chefs can do for us. I could eat some meat. Dagon better have got some from the fleet.”

They climbed out of their hammocks and left the room. As they did, Anathor piped up.

“Captain, Dagon incoming! Looks like good news…”

A moment later a frantic knocking sounded. “Come in.” She said. The door burst open and a somewhat excited and out of breath Dagon appeared.

“Captain! Schools of Sardis sighted!”

“Where!?”

“Two klicks bearing eighty degrees! About a kilometer below us! Got eyes on them!”

“Anathor! Tell the helmsman to fix to a bearing of eighty degrees! Don’t let the observers lose track of them!”

“Aye, Captain.” The moose responded.

“Dagon! We have nets?”

“Got enough for two of the fighters! I, uh, gave permission for them to start setting up already. Figured you would go for them!”

“Good work. Head back to the bridge. Make sure the ship doesn’t get closer than a klick, don’t want to scare them off.”

“Aye, Captain!” Dagon saluted and disappeared. Serena glanced at Amelia to see her looking at her with a confused expression.

“What’s that about?”

“You said you’re hungry?” Amelia nodded. “Well instead of hardtack and boiled vegetables, why not go fishing? Come now, quickly.” Serena set off, striding as fast as possible without running, Amelia struggling to catch up.

“Sardis,” she explained, “are a delicacy. They are fish that are rarely seen due to them being mostly transparent. They are also fast, which makes them hard to catch. The biggest problem is they have an organ that can detect the aetheric combustion of vessels, meaning you can’t get much closer than a klick before they scatter.”

“How do you catch them?”

“Normally you would use a dedicated fishing ship, but we’ll make do with fighters and nets. We’ll launch the fighters at a distance, far above the Sardis, and they’ll dive down with their engines off, catch them in the nets.”

“Are they… tasty?”

“Seven hells! They are delicious, to both demons and humans. It’s rumored that their flesh is dense in aether, and can help promote growth for mages and warriors alike, although I suspect that’s a marketing tactic the fishing companies invented.”

They reached the first deck and instead of heading to the bridge Serena decided to go outside. She wanted to see them with her own eyes. The ship hummed as it began the almost full right turn.

“I’ve only had them a few times. The flesh goes bad quickly, and if you smoke and salt it, it ruins the taste. A good catch of Sardis can pay for an entire fishing vessel by itself if you can get it to market fast enough.” She kept her voice low, “If we can catch some, it’ll be the perfect thing to help with the ship's morale after the whole Korvus incident.”

“Understood! I’m excited!”

On deck, the dozens of demons that had been relaxing, washing, and chatting were all pressed against the railings at the bow of the ship, pointing and gesturing. They made way for Serena and Amelia, one of the sailors passing her a spyglass.

“They’re flying above the cloud layer, just where it sticks up and out, near the cloud wall, captain!” Said the demon. Serena peered through the spyglass, identifying the spot described to her. It took her a while, but then she saw them. Subtle shimmers against the backdrop of cloud and sky, gliding along in groups of a few dozen or more.

“That’s more than I hoped! Anathor!” She called out. The ship's guardian would hear her. “Tell Dagon to launch the fighters as soon as they’re ready! Make sure they know what they’re doing!”

“I think… I see them! How are they so transparent!?” Amelia exclaimed, pointing down at the schools of Sardis. The woman had far better eyesight than normal.

“It’s magical. They’re not intelligent, so it’s assumed they evolved the ability as a natural defense against birds of prey and other fish.”

“That’s amazing!”

A minute passed and a loud hum filled the air as two fighters detached from the ship and took to the skies, to the cheers of the demons. The fighters had attached triangular nets to their wings. Hopefully, it would be enough to catch even a few. The light craft rose high up, and Serena could see the pilots communicating with hand signals, coordinating their upcoming dive.

“They’ll cut the engines in a moment, and then dive.” She explained to Amelia.

“Hmm…” mumbled the human. “Do you want me… to help?” Her voice was quiet, only for her to hear.

“Help?” She whispered. “What do you mean, help?”

“I can feel them, I think. If I focus. I could try and dull their senses… with your permission?”

“You can do that?” Amelia nodded, her face a picture of serious confidence. “Can you do it… quietly?” She asked. Another nod.

“Do it then.” The fighters had begun their dive, the steel hunters streaming down like arrows toward the Sardis. Amelia raised an arm, palm facing toward the fish, and closed her eyes. There was no burst of light, but Serena sensed a stream of aether erupting from the open palm and snaking out into the skies, beyond her perception.

She frantically looked through the spyglass, taking painful seconds to find the Sardis again, and when she did her mouth opened in shock. They had somehow become opaque! Instead of being transparent, they were painted in hues of blue and green!

“Here they come!” A voice rang out and the fighters, like birds of prey hunting in the night, flew in and through the groups of Sardis, before pulling up and closing their nets using their jury-rigged pulley system of ropes and weights. A tremendous noise of triumph and celebration erupted on deck, as it became obvious even from this distance that they had caught far more than a few. 

It was excellent flying from her pilots, she would be sure to give them a bonus for that and… she glanced to her side, at the blond woman, who slowly opened her eyes and returned the look, with a smug grin on her face.

“I did good, didn’t I?” She asked, a mischievous twinkle in her blue eyes.

“You did good,” Serena said, and before a part of her mind could stop her, she reached out and ruffled the blond hair. It was like running her hands through fluffy silk. “Well done.” Before the moment became awkward she turned back to the Sardis, seeing the remainder had scattered into the clouds. The fighters began their turn back to the ship, their pilots throwing out fists of celebration.

“We’re going to be eating good tonight!” She called out, the demons around her hollering. An idea sprung to mind. “You,” she said to Amelia, loud enough for those around the pair to hear. “What spell did you cast, to keep the Sardis from escaping?” Amelia paused momentarily, looking confused before widening her eyes slightly, as she then understood what Serena was doing.

“Just a minor sleep spell! Just enough to make them drowsy! I didn’t want them falling out of the sky!” The many demons around them still chatted amongst themselves but were clearly eavesdropping on the conversation.

“Excellent job. There are dozens of sailors on this ship who have never tasted Sardis before - and now will - thanks to you.” She noticed a number of demons nodding to themselves in her peripheral vision. Best not to let the opportunity go to waste.

“We have any of the cooks here!?” She called out.

“Aye, captain!” One of the demons answered, wearing a white cap.

“Any of you know how to prepare Sardis?”

“Haven’t done it before, but can’t be much different from Arkis.”

“Reckon you can take this one with you?” She reached a hand behind Amelia, pushing her forward.

“Me!?” Exclaimed the human.

“You are my maid, and you did say you wanted to learn how to cook, didn’t you? That alright with you, and your boys?” She asked the latter question to the cook, who rubbed his chin.

“Aye, that’ll be alright with us. Come on then, Miss Thornheart.”

“... Okay!” Amelia bounced up. “I’ll make sure to prepare your dish, Lady Halen!”

“Captain.” Intoned the cook, and led Amelia down the deck, as the fighters made the last maneuvers before docking back up with the ship.

“Wait…” a voice sounded out. Amelia had stopped, her attention to the skies off starboard. Slowly, she raised a finger, pointing at something. “There’s something there. In that cloud.”

Serena followed the finger to see it pointing to a huge wall of the cumulonimbus cloud wall, reaching from upper-sky all the way down to low-sky. She walked up alongside Amelia, eyes trying to spot something within the mountain of white. She strained her senses, but a warrior's sensitivity was always less than a mage's.

“What is it? What can you sense?”

“It’s like… a heartbeat. It’s big… I think it’s coming closer!”

Serena was just about to give the command for battle stations, when another voice beat her to it. It was Dagon, shouting from one of the bridge doors.

“Captain! Arcwhale! Starboard!”

With that, a deep bellow sounded in the sky. A noise somewhere between the echoing roar of distant thunder and the drone of a wind-blown organ. It was a majestic and ethereal sound that resonated through the clouds. A dark shadow appeared on the surface of the cloud wall, and then the archwhale breached through with another mournful cry.

It was enormous. Larger than a battleship. It was nearly three hundred meters long, and a hulking body, painted with stripes of purple and blue, took up most of its mass while two tails - extruding from the rear - took up the other two-thirds of its length.

It was flying in parallel with the Vengeance, one of its huge fins still embedded in the cloud wall, splitting it like a knife through paper.

“Don’t point any weapons at it!” She shouted down to Dagon. “It’s just curious! Prepare to dive if we need to!” The arcwhale was pulling up alongside the ship, its enormous eye staring at them.

“Don’t cast any magic.” She said to Amelia. “It might think it’s an attack.”

“That’s… a big fish.” Said Amelia, slowly raising a hand and waving at the enormous creature. “Hello,” she whispered. “Nice to meet you…”

“It’s Rhaknam!” A panicked voice cried out.

“No!” Shouted Serena. “Rhaknam lives in the Shattered Isles! Rhaknam is darker!”

And much bigger. She thought to herself.

“It’s just curious about the ship!” She yelled, reassuring herself as much as the crew. “Don’t do anything stupid! Don’t run! Let it satisfy its curiosity! It might have thought our lift engine was one of its brethren!”

She placed a hand on Amelia’s shoulder, who was still staring wide-eyed at the arcwhale, which seemed - if she wasn’t mistaken - to be looking right back at her. “You okay?” she asked.

“Who… who’s Rhaknam?” Amelia questioned, not taking her eyes away from the titanic animal.

“Rhaknam is their god, the god of arcwhales. They follow him and Speak his name when attacked. Of course, if you try and hunt one and succeed, Rhaknam himself would come up from the Shattered Isles and… cause problems.” She gritted her teeth. She had heard stories. Tales from centuries ago. Nations wiped from the map.

“Wait, they can Speak!?” Amelia exclaimed.

“Yes, at least, big ones like this one here can. Rhaknam being their First Word.”

“I didn’t know there were animal gods! I only thought there were demon and human ones!”

“Rhaknam isn’t the only animal god in the sky. There are others - some are known - others are just myths. I’ll go over this with you, or have Tomes do it. There’s a lot you don’t know.”

“How does it stay up!?”

“Remember the heartbeat you felt? It has organs that do something similar to our lift engine, only it does it with flesh rather than steel.”

“That’s incredible! Hello, Mr Arcwhale!” She waved again.

“Stop waving. It’ll go away soon.”

“It won’t attack us, will it?”

“No, not unless we attack it first. A deal was struck - a long time ago - between Rhaknam and the Empress. We share the skies, ignoring each other as best we can but…” she gestured at the gigantic animal, “Sometimes one of them gets curious, or mistakes a ship for another of its kind”.

Another bellow sounded out from the arcwhale, a melody that lingered long in the ears of everyone who heard it. Then, rolling slowly like a great ship, it moved away from the Vengeance until it was swallowed back up in the clouds. They watched the shadow of its presence fade until only the white wall of cloud remained.

“Maybe it was after the same Sardis as we were, and got annoyed?” Amelia questioned.

“Maybe. Let’s go. You, head to the kitchens. I have a report I need to write. Every sighting needs to be added to the records, and besides…” she eyed Amelia, “Who knows what else is going to appear if you stay outside.”