Devils Own ( A Steam Punk and Mystic Tale ) 2.10

2.10

The “Attila” was a hideous design for a dirigible, but it was unparallel in speed and firepower. The ship was floated by a single oblong balloon, and propelled by the triple propellers with the center one measuring a radius of ten feet and the two smaller ones extended out at fifteen feet like a set of tail wings, with a radius of six feet. The hull of the dirigible that made is hideous in design was that it resemble a soap crate with four sides. That was to camouflage for its double deck with the ten twelve pounder cannons hidden on each side of the hull. It fore deck was lined with six twin mounted machine guns that roared like the dragon fire when fired. It duo firepower of the twelve pounders will tear a large hole in the frigate. The other unique design of the dirigible was it had twenty four large wheels attached to it bottom hull for hard ground cruising. Unlike other dirigibles, it does not need a port tower to dock on.

“Aye, Kassius. You are a colorful sight to one who is color blind.” Captain Amos Cohen was the captain of the Attila. He had her build to his specifications, and had sailed her for over a decade outfighting the Islands Kingdom naval dirigibles including the heavy dreadnaughts to the speedier frigates. The dreadnaughts are held up by four larger balloons with a length of five hundred feet and hundred feet across, and a cannon complement of twenty on each side of the hull.

None of them had matched his ‘Attila’ for what he had named the ship in resilience and survival rate. He had once limbed back to the plains for repair while cruising on the hard ground with only a single propeller working. Two months later, the Attila with a newly reinstated eight crew members was sailing the skies and within that week, sunk the two dreadnaughts that had violated her hull.

“Good day to you, Captain Amos. I made it back.” Kassius held out his arms to the dirigible captain. Captain Amos was every inch a sky faring adventurer, with his stubby five footer body frame that was marred with more wounds than a person that was flogged. He once said that every wound on my body tells a tale that would cost you a barrel of rum or a violation of the flesh if the listener was a lady. He had seen his battles with over four decades of sailing, with his receding hairline that was then braided to form a pony tail. He was dressed like all dirigible captain in his finest white uniform and the fine braided aiguillette of golden threads lined across his left shoulder to his breast pocket. Unlike other naval captain, he had on the flying helmet instead of a cap.

“Never was one like this.” Captain Amos looked to the ragged figures that were descending to the lower deck. “I heard the Guild had it badly mauled by those damn troopers. I heard more that the mercenaries were upset when they were made cannon fodder. But they got paid well. Life wasted for gold. ”

Captain Amos shook his head before he continued on.

“Master Galeb told me before hand not to get involved. He said if such an invasion I was to take all of you to safer grounds.” The air flyer spoke up. “But had the pigeons picked your brains. You are asking me to fly all of them to the Islands Kingdom. That is like diving into the pits of Hell from the Devil’s clutches.”

Captain Amos looked at Kassius and then corrected himself.

“Didn’t meant to assed up your Guild name’s with the references but I am certainly worried for your choice of destination.”

“It’s what Master Galeb had asked. He felt that Guild need to rebuild in a new territory, and what’s more convenient than in the Princes’ backyard.” Kassius replied.

“But tell me, Captain Amos. How did you turn up here?” Irina asked. She and the rest had joined the Captain on his ship. They were then afloat outside the city boundary towards the open sea.

“Aye, I was turned up by your good friend here. Kassius located me in the docks. He said he was in need of a ship and there was none better than mine. Everyone knew that.” The captain laughed out loud. “He had another good reason to seek me. The troopers were on his tail then.”

Irina smiled at the Captain. She knew that Kassius was never short of attention, and being chased was not new. Kassius smiled back at the earlier adventure. He was in the dockyard with Lucas. They heard of the attack and rushed to the one ship they knew would assist them. They wore cloaks over their uniform while asking the sailors. They were keen to find one ship known to them as the Attila. It was manned by one named Captain Amos, who was the good friend of the Guild.

No one will tell them of the ship or its’ Captain. They stopped at a tavern and cleared their thirst when a sailor walked up.

“Leave now. The troopers had seen you.” The sailor spoke up and then walked towards the tables in the darker corner. Lucas was slower to react and saw the dark figures stepped out. They were five mercenaries, and with them was a trooper. The alarm went off, and the mercenaries rushed to the duo. It was then the other patrons got into the act. A drunkard pushed the stool into their way, while another patron rolled the cask of wine in their path. The mercenaries went down and another patron threw the meals he was having onto their back. One of the mercenaries stood up and threw a punch at the one who threw the food. From then on, it was all out brawl, with the five mercenaries the focus of the patrons. The trooper was held back by the other patrons with dagger at his throat.

By then Kassius and Lucas had made it out and into the street. They took down the street towards the docks, but they had to chance on a check point for the Guild members. It was too late to backtrack when the troopers there challenged them. It was Lucas who ran first, and caused the chase towards the docks.

“Follow me!” Kassius shouted out and led the way into the warehouse. They made it in pass the sliding door, and among the crates of goods. There were some workers unloading then but they were not interested at the runners. They had seen many of these runners; from the authorities for smuggling or other offences. One of them whistled to Kassius and directed him to the side. The other workers then moved their crates of goods over the path taken by the duo before the troopers came in. The troopers found their way blocked and were given the wrong direction to pursue. Meanwhile Kassius and Lucas made it to the clear and resumed their search at the docks. Just when they thought they were really cleared, they were met by the same troopers on the re-check of the path.

It was how Captain Amos found them. He had a ladder rope lowered down for them to climb up. He had sailed the ship across the docks looking for the two when he heard of the commotion. His greeting to them was ‘welcome home, assassin’. He also told them of the warehouse.