“I SEE IT,” Ollie excitedly calls. “I SEE IT! LOOK THERE!”

  None of the harpies have called anything out, though we’re all watching. According to the maps, we should nearly be upon Deltablue. I close my eyes and activate Psionic Sense to look through Ollie’s instead.

  A flutter of excitement goes through me. “You’re right! Great eyes, Ollie.”

  At the edge of the horizon is a smudge of white against the green and blue coastline. An inlet where some of the forest has been cleared and the distant hints of civilization can just barely be made out.

  Of all the species in our kingdom, harpies are thought to have the keenest vision, though it seems dragon eyes are sharper still.

  “Where?” Mirzayael and Dizzi ask at the same time.

  “Right where we thought it would be,” I say, switching off Psionic Sense and moving back to my own vision. I can’t make it out this way, either. “We’re perhaps eighty kilometers out. We will nearly be on top of it this time tomorrow.”

  “So far?” Mirzayael asks, surprised.

  “The horizon gets much further away the higher you climb,” I say. I can only imagine what it’s like for Mirzayael and the others who spent their entire lives underground. They were just getting used to being able to see a mile or two across the arctic planes—and now look where we are.

  Everything is changing so fast. I hope I can keep up.

  I turn back to Mirzayael. “Ready for round two?”

  “I hope it goes as smoothly as the first time,” she says, “though I will not be counting on it.”

  I press my lips together in an attempt to hide my smile and hold in my laugh. Mirzayael senses my mental amusement anyway.

  She scowls at me. “It is better to be cautious than surprised.”

  “I know,” I say, my smile finally breaking through. “I can always count on you to prepare for the worst.” This was not intended as a slight, and she doesn’t take it that way.

  “Want to try your new harness?” I ask Ollie.

  He flips around from where he’s circling in the nearby clouds and glides back to us.

  “ONLY IF IT DOESN’T ITCH THIS TIME,” he says, landing on a nearby platform atop the city wall built specifically for him.

  “I’ve been assured they’re working hard to not make it itch.” I catch Nek’s eye and beckon him over. “Where are we at with the cargo carrier?”

  “The team is still working on it,” he says. “But it should be done this evening.”

  “And trade items?” Mirzayael asks.

  Dizzi perks up. “I could throw together some of those spell circles Fyre asked for.”

  When I’d initially told her my plan for mobile spell circle designs, she’d bent over sideways from laughing so hard. Then she’d grabbed a slate, drawn a spell circle with a piece of chalk, and flourished her hand beneath it.

  “You’re not the first to think of alternatives to carving them,” she teased.

  I did feel rather silly once she pointed it out.

  She ran her hand over the chalk, wiping half the spell circle away. “But a mobile version that can be packaged small, is lightweight, and resistant to damage would be very useful. We’ve got enough vellum to make a couple now. If you can get me more parchment, then we’ll be talking.”

  It’s one of many items on the trade list Nek is compiling. We have one for exports and one for imports—the latter of which is more of a wish list than anything. Food and craftwork materials are both high in the ranking.

  The city buzzes with activity as the day advances, everyone preparing for another trade attempt, in some form or another. Supplies are gathered near Ollie’s platform, and Sora, Nek’s wife, works on fitting the harness on Ollie, along with the rest of her team. They make continuous small adjustments as he complains about something pinching, or tickling, or itching. I suspect their efforts to eliminate all complaints are in vain.

  Dizzi chats with the other harpies that will be heading down, and once again I desperately wish I could go with them. But in this case, my Role Requirement is merely restricting me to what most of the city’s inhabitants are restricted to, anyway. Until we have a reliable and safe method to come up and down, we’ll all be stuck up here for a while.

  Once the saddle is in place, Ollie’s friend Meritis jumps up to try it out. Though we don’t know who or what we might face on the ground, no one objects to the young boy acting as a test subject for the harness. We need a harpy to try it out, in case anything fails or comes loose, and Ollie is most comfortable around Meritis. I covertly spoke with his parents when he first volunteered, but they didn’t seem worried. I guess a two-thousand-ton dragon on his side helps to alleviate some fears.

  “This is weird.” Meritis laughs as Sora tightens some of the leather straps about his legs and adjusts a few spider silk ropes that are wrapped around Ollie’s neck and shoulders. “Now you really won’t be able to shake me off!”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Ollie emits a low grumble that resonates in my sternum, which I’ve come to learn is the dragon equivalent of a giggle.

  “WE’LL SEE ABOUT THAT,” he says.

  “No we won’t!” I object, alarmed. “The goal is not to try to shake him off. You’ll have cargo on your back, remember?”

  Ollie rolls his eyes and lets out a heavy sigh. “FIIIIINE.”

  I squint at the boys suspiciously. “Have you been playing a game where you try to shake Meritis off?”

  Both harpy and dragon suddenly seem to find something in the opposite direction very interesting.

  I sigh. Far be it from me to put a damper on their friendship. And Meritis is older and a capable flier; I should trust him. “Just be careful,” I tell them.

  Gradually, the city on the horizon grows closer and bigger; we still haven’t closed half the distance, but now it’s within line of sight for even species with poorer eyesight. Holding my hand out at arm’s length, it’s almost the size of my talon.

  Finally, a scout descends from the sky, sending up a gust of wind as they flap to slow their landing.

  “Captain.” Salvia bows her head to Mirzayael, and then to me. “There’s been a sighting. At least one vessel is headed our way.”

  “Great. I’ll tell Ollie.” I turn to Mirzayael with nervous excitement. “Ready?”

  “Yes,” she says. “We have prepared as well as we could, and I’ve drilled the team on all possible scenarios and contingencies.”

  “Alright,” I say. “Then let’s—”

  Salvia clears their throat. “Sorry, my lords. But I wasn’t finished with the report. The vessel that’s heading our way appears to be flying.”

  “What?” Mirzayael says.

  It takes a moment for her words to sink in, then I let out a disbelieving laugh. “Every possible scenario and contingency, you said?”

  Mirzayael scowls. “Where is it? How do you know?”

  Salvia nods toward the city. “Come see for yourselves. We thought it was a boat at first; the perspective tricked our eyes. But it’s getting bigger.”

  “Show us,” Mirzayael says.

  Salvia takes off, and I join them in the air while Mirzayael races atop the city wall. They take us part way around the city before landing. Two other harpy scouts are already here, keeping tabs on the approaching vessel.

  It’s easy to pick out. A dot of red against the blue ocean. But I’m not entirely sure what I’m seeing. I can’t make out masts or other ship-like features. It’s just an oval-shaped red smudge.

  We all stare at it in silence, equally puzzled. Salvia is right: it does seem to be getting bigger. It’s rising to meet us.

  Because it’s a hot air balloon.

  “Oh!” I say at the realization. No wonder I couldn’t see any structures; they’re obscured by the balloon. Or maybe it’s more of a zeppelin, given its shape. Whatever it is, it’s definitely rising to meet us.

  “Change of plans,” I say. “I’m going down with the greeting team. Ollie will stay here—there’s nowhere for him to land and I don’t want him blowing the ship away.”

  I can feel Mirzayael’s instinctive objection to this, but a moment later, she nods. “I understand. Please be careful.”

  “I will.” Mentally, I add, “I’ll stay in contact with you.”

  This eases some of her concern, but not all of it.

  Word of the airship spreads quickly, and the city soon dissolves into chaos. People eagerly hurry to the walls to look, even as Torim and Mirzayael try to direct them away. Nek is scrambling to figure out what goods are small enough we can carry with us, since we won’t be using Ollie, and Ollie himself won’t stop pestering me.

  “PLEAAAAASE,” he begs again. “I WANT TO GO SEE!”

  “No,” I say, managing to keep my mounting irritation out of my voice. “As I said before, you might pose a threat to their ship. If they land on the shore or at sea, and I give the go-ahead, then you can join us. But until then you will need to stay here.”

  “WHAT IF YOU’RE IN DANGER?” he asks, still not ready to give it up.

  “If your Role Requirement triggers, then of course you may come to my aid,” I say. All the main leaders know about my and Ollie’s Role Requirements, and they know to be on alert if Ollie ever springs into action. Both he and I would be able to tell Mirzayael if something was wrong, and she could relay the message to everyone else.

  Hopefully, it will never come to that.

  “OKAY,” he huffs, dragging the word out.

  “There will be more trades than just today.” Though I can tell that more than anything he’s just disappointed he didn’t get to try the harness out with Meritis.

  He was definitely planning to try to shake him from his back.

  I’ll deal with that inevitable problem later.

  “We’re ready,” Dizzi tells me. The other harpies are clustered at the edge of the wall, looking down. The ship is the size of a coin now. It’s below the city, but doesn’t appear to be getting any closer. They’re waiting for us.

  I grab one of the bags Nek put together and cinch it over my shoulders and around my torso. I pull the clasps tight, ensuring the bag doesn’t hang low enough to interfere with my wings, which protrude from my lower back. Not that my wings are particularly necessary for the way I fly, but they’re excellent stabilizers.

  “Okay,” I say, joining the others. “Everyone excited?”

  I get a smattering of nervous smiles in return. Good enough. “Alright then. Let’s fly.”

  “Good luck,” Mirzayael privately says as the harpies dive off the wall and I activate my Jets.

  My stomach fills with butterflies the moment I move out into the open air, with nothing but ocean far, far beneath me. The harpies are flying ahead of me, since they can’t risk getting too close to my open flames, but they’re flying slow, almost gliding down toward the ship. We don’t want our arrival to be misconstrued as an act of aggression.

  As we approach the airship, details resolve across the structure, all of which fascinate me.

  Some aspects are very similar to technology from Earth; it has a rudder, elevator flaps, and even two stubby little wings equipped with ailerons. They clearly have some knowledge of aerodynamics. But the familiar control surfaces are about where the similarities end.

  A large deck, almost like a nautical ship, is suspended beneath the oblong balloon. There are several holes in the bottom of the balloon where open flames are heating the contained air, much like a hot air balloon. But the ratios are all off; there’s no way a balloon that small could suspend such a huge wooden ship. I suspect the runes glowing along its hull have something to do with it.

  The ship is slowly yawing so the long-side faces us. I hope that means they want to talk and aren’t lining up to fire off cannon balls of some sort. The harpies hang back a respectful distance, so I move to the front of the group.

  I glance toward Dizzi, and she gives me an encouraging thumbs up. Mirzayael says nothing, but I can feel her tension as she watches our interactions play out over the distance. Ollie is watching, too, though he feels more grumpy than worried. And the Dungeon Core…

  The Core is blissfully unaware of all of this, its mind wandering around the kingdom and through the stone to happily gawk at any new pebble it finds.

  Ah, to be a timeless inhuman entity without a care in the world.

  I’m delaying.

  Talking to a bunch of potentially hostile strangers while everyone watches me isn’t going to start getting any less intimidating. Taming my nerves, I pitch forward and approach the airship.

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