Incline 14: War-Witch Noalla

"How long now do you think, Ainael?" I ask my friend as I move my piece across the board. Looking out of the window after I had done so, so I could look at the world around us. It seemed to just be bobbing along. But within the castle on a mobile fortress, each little bump was further than even your greatest throws.

"The request you put in was to have this big thing head near an airship, no?"

"Yes, it was, you were even there." I remind her as I exploit the mistake she made in moving her game piece. Knowing her, it couldn't have been because of some later tactic.

"Was I?" she remarks before pushing another piece forward.

"Yes, now answer." I tell her as I snatch up a piece preemptively. Moving in my victorious piece right after.

"Couldn't tell you, nor do I want to waste time thinking about it."

"Just give me your best guess, then." I huff in amusement as my friend starts to move her head about.

"Now?" she answers as the landscape around us stops moving.

"Could be any reason." I say even though I knew that she was right.

"Oh, of course, we're waiting for the old lady to cross the road." she laughs with a shake of her head as she stops playing the game.

"Don't like losing?"

"I don't like being near you when you get chastised." she corrects as she gestures and pulls me to my feet.

"Right, right. I'm the one in charge of all of this." I resent while making no point of taking her hands and arm off of my torso.

"I must admit, however, I have no objections to coming with you aboard this airship." she chirps as she keeps her place by my side.

"It's only an airship." I point out. Though, I was not able to literally do so as it must've been around the other side of the castle. It was not an issue for long, though, as it was a pretty clean path to the landing platform.

"You look at that feat of engineering and say that again!" Ainael exclaims as we fly away from the castle. Her arms flying outwards in a grand arc as she motions my gaze towards the flying wall.

"It's just an airship, though, one with a name!" I say sarcastically at first before I become impressed by the glowing words etched into the steel.

"Thunderous Brawler..." my friend reads out loud as we cross the distance to it.

"The magic they use to name these things is so fascinating." I remark just before we land on the top deck of it. However, due to the fact we weren't technically apart of the Grand Army of the Seven-Peaks Union. The guards raised their weapons against us.

"Shoot her first." Ainael teases as she slinks behind me.

"Rifles down." a Brave orders as he steps forward. His sabre in its sheath, curling up around his shoulder. The colour of his armour even spoke of how he wasn't from the capital. This airship was from the more southern territories.

"Are you knowledgeable as to why we are here?" I ask to which he shakes his head.

"War-witch, no, I am not."

I sigh knowing what this meant, "Then may you take us to your Captain-Engineer so we may explain?"

"Of course." he answers without further need or proof. And we quickly join him on a lengthy stroll to the nearest door. Which, at the very least, he was kind enough to leave open for us.

"A ryphurgok?" Ainael asks under her breath as we watch one get ridden by.

"I have heard of strange tactics involving them. Having them leap right off the airship!" I try to answer. Somewhat bemused by the absurdity of it. But, clearly, it worked as I have seen many battlefields with signs of a stampede.

Just not on the grass of the valley floors or the plains that break them apart... Mountain faces chipped and shattered by the charge of great lancers. If solid stone did not fare well. I shuddered to think how thin steel, flesh and bone would handled it.

"I don't think such tactics are really needed..." Ainael breathes out in wonder as we find ourselves suddenly in an open area. Though, rather than halolight, we found ourselves beholden to a great drop. One broken apart by thousands of metal tubes covered in advanced pneumatics.

"Though not exclusive, I can see how she got her name..." I comment with the same kind of wonder my friend had.

"You would be right in that regard. Our airship, the Thunderous Brawler earned her name carving a path through the Seventh Line. Our guns matched theirs and their roars proved to be a sign of dull teeth." the Brave explains before he stops by a door to hold it open for us.

"I sense a lot of magic down here." I say just about as I got used to the fuzzy feeling of being inside such a vast, magic-devouring machine. A true bottomless gullet for the arcane.

"The bridge is that way, you'll find the Captain-Engineer that way." he explains with a nod before he calls over some guards to watch our backs. Though, it seemed more like they were there to press bayonets into ours.

"Warm reception."

"If only." I tell my friend as we stepped out into the vast brain of the machine. A busy, flowing space filled with busy men speaking in whispering winds and loud calls. All kinds of knowledge was being passed about and I grasped none of it. It all just slipped on by me, meaningless to me for the moment.

"War-witches of the Order of the Outreaching Wind?" what I presumed to be the Captain-Engineer asked as he showed his partially mechanical left hand.

"Yes, we are here to speak to you about the use of your airship."

"I have heard nothing from His Royal Highness, the Prince Jhrartur." he comments with a voice full of respect as he ended his sentence.

"That's because it is an Order-exclusive operation."

"So I retain the right to decline?" he asks as he seems to start considering it.

"Y-Yes, bu-"

"Then find another airship to take part in your galavanting."

"A mobile fortress on the move is hardly galavanting." I remark with a snort as I turn my head to my friend. I wasn't exactly sure what to do right now. I hadn't come prepared to handle such an unexpected outcome. I guess it must've meant he revered the elder prince too much.

"And why should we turn ourselves to the arms of another captain-engineer and his likely nameless vessel?" Ainael questions as she steps forward after letting down her hair. Her fingers then ran themselves quickly across a plaque on the grand table at the centre of the room. Though, if I could call it a table I did not know.

"Because we have our orders."

"Which are?"

"To ensure the land we have freed stays untainted." he answers as he straightens out and puts his hands behind his back. A sentence which evoked some cheering from the few men with faces up here. They must've won a victory recently and were clearly proud of it.

"And what better way to do that then to come with us towards the very infestation you protect these towns and villages from?"

"The armies advance unimpeded, we are not needed."

"But you are..." Ainael starts as she glances back at me with a knowing smile. One which she hides from the airship officer as she turns to him.

"How so?" he asks as he glances out to the largely peaceful landscape.

"The Valkinvar interrupt these armies. Holding them at the Batterywatch Plains."

"That path is clear."

"No, your absence has ensured it isn't. The Valkinvar have rallied to the fortress there and have filled it with their army. Scum of the earth."

"Then it will fall."

"Captain-Engineer..." Ainael tuts, "Did the Seventh Line fall from us? Or did it fall when men of the Royal Seven-Peaks Union Air-Navy faced them, broadside for battery?"

"The crucible for which you were named." I added on, grasping a little better what she was trying to do. And, clearly, it worked, because many of the men turned to face her.

"Your incompetence matters little."

"The Seven-Peaks Union is a joint nation of all Jhermonikra. Strength through the unity of all the great peaks. If you cast aside one of them, are you really Jhermonikra?" she accuses as she moves closer to him.

"Every man and woman aboard my airship is Jhermonikra." he spits angrily. His wounded pride increasingly drove him.

"Yet rather than live up to the expectation of it, you leave your fellow man alone out there to face the mightiest of the foul?"

"Is the Thunderous Brawler backing down from a challenge from a greater fighter?" I ask them all. Referring to the great scale of which the Long Battery Fort found itself the benefitter of.

"Our broadsides will match them once and surpass them every time after." the Captain-Engineer hisses as he suddenly moves towards the steering of his airship.

"Well done." I tell my friend, impressed by what she had done as she dressed herself up again.

"What are friends for?" she asks me before we turn to the airship's head.

"We will sail to the Long Battery Fort. We will take on her guns and we shall save our nation!" the Captain-Engineer cheers. His men following suit right after.

"Good boy." Ainael mocks before we start to leave.

"You keep your mobile fortress away, the power that broke the Theocracy will be what leads the way to victory." he tells us to which I shrugged once I was out of his eyesight.

"All the easier for us."

"Noella, backing down from a challenge?" she teases, but, having just seen her ability to pluck at pride. I ignored her.

"We will save many of our sister's lives with this."

"It's not like many would be lost anyway, we are the owners of a great mobile fortress! Only the grandest Orders have the honour of even being able to confront one. Those who are greater ride them. The mightiest steed in the world."

"The Chapter-Mistress was the one insisting we let the Valkinvar assemble so we could wipe them out in a great battle. Our tapestry would lengthen but the halls of our castle will be all the quieter for it."

"Don't scare me now, you know I don't like being scared." she jokes sincerely as she gently knocks one of my bracers with her bracelet.

"There is a great battle ahead for us." I tell her anyway.

"You lack faith in the Thunderous Brawler?"

"Valkinvar have defeated airships, Ainael."

"Rarely."

"You assail a soldier with the unknown and you will likely kill him. Keep him alive, and he'll overcome it."

"We're hardly keeping them alive."

"Their insistence on fighting for every blade of bloodied grass means we will not see an end to this war any time soon."

"I disagree, with how long the war has gone on for, a few years will be but an afternoon in the grand scale of it all."

"How I wish I could feel the same as you do."

"Stick around and maybe it'll blow off onto you." she tells me with a smile before she suddenly drops over the railing.

"You'll get in trouble." I tell her as I watch her go on to explore the vast gap the guns covered. Between the outer hull and the core of the airship.

"I'd like to see them try when our friend knocks in the hull!" she laughs as she weaves around the man gun barrels.

"What will I ever do with you?" I ask her as I stop by the railing. Smiling at her before she tried to bring me out there with her. Squealing a little as she did so.