Sight Seeing

"Captain, when I came on for first shift this morning, second shift reported that we were one hundred miles off course to the south of the Muliwai. I put us on a tacking course back to the northeast, but we still haven't sighted the Muliwai." Nate Butler explained pointing at their only map of the area. "Once daylight arrived our spotters put their best guess that we are here."

Captain Gibbs took a drink of his coffee, "We are going to have a hard time getting back to the factory, we may find ourselves having to fly over the Windsor Kingdom and circling back through Fursia at this rate."

Nate nodded in agreement, "That rotten chief of ours got boiler one lit again, that will help. If we can get over the Muliwai, we can send the buckets down to top off the water as well. I'm not going to sugar coat it Captain, we are dangerously low on our water right now. Coal is also getting low, in three days we'll be on sail power only if we can't get to the factory or a place where we can take on supplies."

The Captain tapped a place on the map, "I am going to aim for here the City just east of the Westernmost city of the Empire. Diamondtown."

*****

The Inquisition fell on the City of Waihalu like a plague of locusts. The women were taken, the food was eaten, the men slaughtered. Every building was in flames or burned to the ground. It was as if this once teeming with life area had been destroyed pillars of fire. The Men of the Inquisition forces felt their morale at an all-time high. Thanks to the women and the spoils of war they earned in the battle against a mere handful of city guards they had the strength to march double-time to the next city, Diamondtown. Said to be the second most beautiful in the Holy Chadtom Empire.

Archbishop Josciox sat on top of his mighty warhorse keeping pace with his men had a great smile on his face as he turned to his trusted second in command, "How many men did we lose on that fast march through the desert?"

His second in command was a ghoulish looking man with deep scars crossing his face He spoke out with a gravelly voice, "We lost some of the footmen, but not enough to be considered a loss. We should have lost that many or more in the sack of the last city had it been any other time. At our current pace, we can be to Diamondtown tomorrow morning. I have heard that it was the previous emperor's favorite. He had his second palace there. A perfect place to gain spoils of war."

The Archbishop grinned cruelly, " The perfect place to leave a most horrifying message to heretics that has ever been left. Our men will have the finest women and the best food. Let's slow our march. I want them in top shape for this one. You mentioned there was a town between these two cities, we will stay there for the night and allow the men to use the women they grabbed."

His second in command asked, "And you, Your Grace? Shall I bring one to you?"

The big red-haired man laughed, "No, I will have one of the Emperor's women. This second palace should have one of his hair-rums, shouldn't it?"

*****

Prince Iopolo lounged in a pile of furs and listened to his father's men explain the things that his father was in control of as the Emperor and what his duties would be when he formally accepted his throne. A messenger arrived and handed a note to one of the ministers who coughed and said, "Your Highness, news from Diamondtown, your two wives arrived by a magical sky mount and are currently staying in the second palace."

"My two wives? Jaopa, you know I am not married."

"No, the messenger said it was your two wives, Princess Teslaimia and..." He started to read the letter.

"Nonsense! That woman, I already told her that the marriage has been canceled. Did she dare bring a second woman into her schemes as well? I told this woman that I will have no other wife than Emmy Lee!" He smashed his hand down in anger.

Jaopa shook his head and then finished reading, "The other woman is Lady Connaissance."

Prince Iopolo stood up with a complicated expression, "This Teslaimia, what is her game?"

A few moments later a dirty soldier with an open wound burst into the room nearly fainting. He struggled up to his knees and gasped out, "The Western Wall has been breached, the city of Sacred Fire destroyed. The Church of the zombie man is coming next to Diamondtown."

One of the ministers grabbed the man, "He's... Dead. He must have run himself to death to deliver this message."

Prince Iopolo ran out of the door screaming at top volume, "Send my forces west, all of them. Ready my ship, we sail at once for Diamondtown!"

*****

Emily and Teslaimia were wandering through the city looking at the many interesting things for sale. Emily smiled brightly looking at a pair of earrings, "What do you think? Would these look nice on me?"

The Princess made a 'Tsch' noise and then picked out a small pair of diamond earrings, "Those large ones do not like your face. These, have a nice shine that will allow your face to shine through." Teslaimia removed her current earrings and put the diamonds in her ears." She turned to the shop keeper and asked, "How much for these?"

The shop keeper looked at both women over and then held up eight of her fingers. The Princess suddenly acted like she had been stabbed in the heart crying out, "My soul, this woman is trying to steal from me!"

The shop keeper looked around as if she was worried the guards would come, "Lady lady, please, I meant five, five Sprite!"

The Princess gave her a look like she thought something funny was going to happen, "If it was that woman over there, how many fingers would you hold up?"

The shop keeper sighed and then said, "Two. Two fingers."

The Princess grinned and then gave the woman three Sprite, "In my country, a set of these earrings would cost three Sprite, so I will give you what I pay there. Thank you."

The shop keeper smiled and bowed to the Princess. Emily just shook her head and giggled, "How did you get so good at that Teslaimia?"

"In my country, any time you buy anything, you must haggle for it. The merchants always charge you twice as much as they think you will pay at first, and then expect you to compromise with them at half their asking price." She said offhand.

"I have always had others make purchases for me, I have rarely bought things on my own. I just always pay what I am asked to pay. Why argue for a few Sprite when I have millions." Emily mentioned.

The Princess laughed, "I have been wondering, how do you have such a fortune when you were exiled from your Kingdom?"

Emily had a sad look on her face, "My father knew that the Church would make a move on him and take our lives. You see, he was amongst the most wealthy merchants on the continent. My father was a grandmaster blacksmith. His swords are passed down as treasures by all the Royalty on the eastern half of the continent. He made several accounts at different banks one of which was at the City of Connaissance itself. My uncle freely gave me access to the account at his bank, together with the account at my city, I have as much personal wealth as the Windsor Kingdom. I also have an account here with Iopolo's bank and with your father's bank."

The Princess made a horrified face, "The Church killed your family for his money?"

Emily nodded, "They use the excuse of saying that he is a heretic because he learned from master blacksmiths in Hoa Xia and Yapon, but the truth is that he had millions of Sprite in every bank on the Eastern side of the continent. If he had pulled all of that money out of those banks he could have ruined the economy the Church lives on."

The Princess looked as if everything she knew was wrong with the world. Emily smiled and then pointed at a stall, "Those look delicious, we should try them."

*****

The Prince jumped on to his ship and angrily yelled out, "Once my knights are onboard sail for Diamondtown at your fastest speed. If we aren't there by morning I will have the head of the man who delayed us!"

A few moments later a group of twenty heavily armored men arrived and boarded the ship. One of the men took a knee in front of the Prince, "Your Highness, our troops are traveling by horse, switching to fresh horses at each city they will be to Diamondtown by noon. That is as fast as we can get them there. I am sorry. Once we get to Diamond town we will get your wives to this ship at our best speed and then meet up with our soldiers to fight these zombie worshippers."

The Prince put his hand on the man's shoulder, "I have sent the other ship filled with archers ahead of us, they will arrive just before us to secure the second palace." The Prince gave the man's shoulder a squeeze and then said loudly, "You men have made me proud of you. Saving this woman, to me, is the same as saving my life." He thumped on his chest with a fist loudly, "Understand that there can be no failure here. If she is dead when we get there, we will slaughter their army first and then bring our army to their Church and kill every last one of them until there is no more Church left in this world!"

The Prince's boat pulled away from the shore and a group of oarsmen began to pull the long oars at a furious pace sending the Prince's ship flying down the Muliwai.

*****

"Nate, come take a look at this..." Captain Gibbs pointed at their course and compared it against the map they had.

"What the... Did we drop them off at the Capital or at Diamondtown?" Nate Butler scratched the back of his head.

Captain Gibbs nodded, " Our spotter called it the Capital because they had eyeballs on the palace. What if there is the second palace in Diamondtown?"

"At worst they can just send the ladies upriver in one of those barges they use, right?" Nate asked as he rubbed his chin.

Captain Gibbs shook his head, "True, but where do we pick them up at? We need better charts!" He slammed his fist down on the navigation table."

Nate nodded and said, "The guys down in the spotter's room thought so too so they have been mapping as we go. Their new charts are much better." Nate pulled out one of the charts showing the area around Diamondtown. "If we can stick to the Muliwai we should be able to get a great map made during the daylight hours. At night we are stuck using the sailor's star map still."

Captain Gibbs smiled and gave Nate a friendly pat on the shoulder, "Looks great. Have Smitty make sure the word is passed down to the spotter room to keep up the good work once the first shift comes on tomorrow morning. I don't want to miss any chance at getting these better maps."

"Ok Captain, I have the watch until Smitty gets on, go grab the rack and rest up. We'll be pushing hard the next two days to get back to the factory for coal and water." Nate grinned.

"Are you the first officer or my wife?" Captain Gibbs groaned, "Alright, you have the bridge, wake me up if anything goes wrong."