534 Long Distance Flying (1/2)
Commander Ford stood next to Captain Nimo as they stared out of the armoured windows of the bridge to the port side of the ship. The Task Force was currently travelling through the middle of the channel between the island and the mainland which the locals called Exile's Passage, en route to Fort Hensink.
Ford could see the sandy beaches piled with dozens of wooden ships that had what appeared to be paddle wheels constructs on their sides bearing Imperial flags and colours. He put down his binos with a frown and said, ”I am surprised the Imperials' tech is improving this fast...”
”They have black powder cannons, albeit very crude designs and now paddle powered ships...” Ford said. ”I wonder how did they get their hands on such ideas...”
”Could it be the Isles?” Captain Nimo suggested. ”We do know they started playing with black powder a few months ago.”
”Well, I will not be surprised if Megan sold the technology to the Imperials,” Ford shook his head. ”But the thing is, why will she do that?”
”Money? Resources?” Captain Nimo guessed. ”The Empire might have been beaten back, but still they control plenty of resources...”
Ford could only nod grudgingly in agreement. ”Well, at this point in time, nothing out of that woman will surprise me anymore... Still, selling black powder weapons and paddle ships to the Empire will not bore well for any of us in the long run.”
”We really need to have a good chat with that woman soon...”
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The New World, The Old Kingdom of Foral, 237 km North of the Old Capital
”Six O clock low!” Dek manning the 'tail' gun yelled and he squeezed off a burst of .338 downrange at the winged shadow tailing them. White wiggly tracers darted off towards the dragon but Dek was unable to see if he has hit his target due to the erratic movement of Blue Thunder. ”They are still at our six!”
Stamford leaned back from his bucket seat and tried to spot their pursuers which had attempted to ambush them earlier. Luckily, Blue Thunder did not disappoint as he reacted almost instantly, dodging the half dozen bolts of magic missiles that targeted his weaker belly.
Blue Thunder broke away from the ambush with the black dragon called Saphia following closely. She had been so far quite obedient in tagging after Blue Thunder despite the communication barrier and his weird translations which Stamford totally did not believe was correct.
It has been a day since they departed from the Old Capital and just barely an hour after they left their campsite for the night, they were set upon by a group of unknown assailants. Stamford had hoped to travel as far and as fast as possible, but Saphia was not in the best condition nor did it appeared she was experienced in long distance flight.
Hence, they had to take a short break every hour or so, and Blue Thunder used a variety of gestures and draconic, common, and english to try to teach and guide the tired black dragon on the proper methods for long distance flying. Finally, with night having fallen, they landed near a river and rested, the crew preparing a large cook pot and Blue Thunder leading Saphia into the river water to cool their bodies down.
Once their muscles had cooled down, Blue Thunder and Saphia returned back to the campsite and feasted on the pot of high calories stew. Stamford had crew including Blue Thunder draw lots for guard duty except for Saphia who he wanted her to rest and also she was not trained for this.
The next morning, the crew cooked up another two large pots of stew for the two hungry dragons. Stamford did not want Blue Thunder to go hunting as he wanted them to keep moving to put as much distance as possible away from the Old Capital.
But to his dismay, the attack came much quicker than expected. Blue Thunder had dodged the magical ambush but what followed was a dozen medium weight dragons rising up from forest around Blue Thunder and Saphia to surround them.
Blue Thunder gave out a mighty roar of challenge and spat a ball of flames at the direction Stamford indicated. The medium weight Razorwing gave a squawk of surprise as the flames exploded and super heated air warping around it.
”Breakthrough it!” Stamford yelled as he pointed to the distracted enemy dragon. Blue Thunder gave a loud roar and charged straight at the Razorwing. Stamford turned and saw, surprisingly, Saphia was following closely behind them. He gave a wave of acknowledgement to the black dragon before he turned his attention forward.