Snippet #2340066

Her mouth was full of food, the table set with utensils and the food that she'd cooked up. Upon hearing footsteps across her deck, Runa leapt up from her small dining table and took the stairs two at a time. She reached her deck in no time and set her eyes upon the group. Swallowing the bread that she'd been munching on she grinned at them and looked them over. Runa began making preparations as they waited for the rest of the group to reach her ship.

One of which was terribly late, the tall man mumbled something about a man having to have his rest as he boarded. Runa heard his call for food and she smiled at him, "Down below if you're hungry!" She hollered as she was making sure her sails were tied down. She didn't look to see if he went to eat, figuring that he was smart enough to figure out where the food was. The pirate was moving about the deck as she finished securing items when Dr. Serabel spoke up.

"Thank you all for bringing this to my attention. You were of course right to do so. Let me bring you all up to speed. I have no association with this Cortland, although I don't doubt that he is an Applicator. As I told you all yesterday evening, there are those in my guild who would gladly see this mission fail, or better yet take control of the artifice prototype for their own calibrations. Please, any of you who were approached by this Cortland, produce the locator. Keep the marks for yourselves if you took any."

Turning, she eyed the woman carefully. So, she hadn't known this 'Cortland'... how interesting. Runa figured that she would give Serabel the locator device later as she was busy at that moment.

"No, I never saw this Cortland. Wouldn't have minded an extra 500 marks though," Grim replied to Serabel as she turned to him. Runa raised an eyebrow as she watched the exchange. How strange for Grim to have not been approached when it seemed that most of them had already been. Well, whatever, maybe this Cortland man didn't get to all of them. It would make sense, it was only one man anyway. A person can't be in more than one place at any given time.

"I got one too, the man seemed mighty keen on figuring out my ships location. I'll give it to you once we get airborne, doc. However, this is my ship and I won't tolerate anyone giving out her position," Runa said loudly as Serabel turned to her. Runa made sure that everyone could hear her. She was dead serious about the locator thing, she didn't want anyone knowing where they were. That would be invading her privacy! No one wants to be a moving target, least of all Runa and her ship.

"Now what do we do?"

"We get airborne!! That's what we do!" Runa answered. Her voice was loud and energetic as she bounced around her deck making sure everything was locked down. Then she moved from one end of the ship to the other, tossing off the docking ropes that were hooked into the sides of her ship to keep it upright upon landing. The sky pirate leapt over a crate with ease and rushed up the stairs to the upper deck where her stern was. Pulling down her hat tighter on her head, she grinned wildly as her hands grasped the wheel. Her fingers brushed the levers of her controls and she began powering the crystals along the hull of the ship.

At first she siphoned the power slowly, warming the crystals. The moment the ship started to lift off the ground, she pushed the levers forward all the way and the airship lurched upwards at a fast speed. Adjusting a couple of the levers, the bow of the ship tilted upwards and they were shooting over the wall of the city of guilds in a matter of seconds. The wind whipped past her face as she maneuvered the vessel.

She got the ship up towards the clouds, the mast just barely skimming the low blowing mist of white. Locking her wheel with a clamp, she leapt down to the deck and began unfurling the sails. Pulling the rope that tied them up, they each fell down, unraveling neatly. The wind immediately caught them and the ship shook, lurching forward from the air current that caught them. With her sails taking them, Runa went back to her helm and turned down the crystals at the back of the ship, the ones that were propelling them forward. It saved on energy and also preserved the crystals.

Unhooking her wheel, she guided the ship easily through the wind, heading north to their destination. Her body was relaxed as she stood there. Her heart was light and her smile didn't fade away. Runa's eyes were glittering with their usual mischief, excitement at the journey ahead. She was determined to prove herself to this powerful guild.

---

Raruna had been steering her ship smoothly through the air, her mind wandering in fantasy of how she was going to handle certain situations, her reputation rising with each problem that she cooked up in her own mind. She imagined herself winning the fancy of the top guild that she was escorting and then her dream of joining the Free Lancers coming true. All of her fantasy dreams were shattered at the sound of a high pitched cry above them. Runa's head shot upwards as her eyes searched the billowing white cloud above them.

The moment she spotted a flash of wings her heart leapt into a frenzy, adrenaline pumping through her. Her hand released the wheel, the other tying it down, locking it securely in place. She turned then and drew her sword. The first of several birds descended down upon her ship and screamed their defiance against them. Runa sidestepped the swipe of an enormously large claw as one of the birds targeted her. Her blade came down as she moved, cutting into the things foot. With a screech, it took off, just barely scratching her deck where she stood.

However, that wasn't the end of it. It circled then came back down at her. Raruna raised her sword a second time and slashed at it as it came closer. The tip of her blade just barely cut into its chest, causing the bird to become infuriated. The creatures face shot forward as it pecked at her with its razor sharp beak. Runa ducked, barely missing the attack. A burn coursed along her shoulder and shoulder blade.

"Damn," she cursed as she came back up, turning around and slashing her sword across its extended wing. Another cut from her blade had the creature hopping towards the edge of the ship, its wing hanging limply from the damage she'd done to it. Drawing her long curved knife from her sheath, she threw the weapon at the bird. It shot through the air, covering the distance between her and the creature and buried itself into the back of the birds neck. It didn't make a noise as it crumpled, hanging half over the edge of her ship.

A second one dove down at her from behind, barely giving the pirate a chance to prepare. She felt claws dig into her shoulders as it gripped her and began lifting her from the ship. Runa twisted and turned in it's grip, struggling to free herself. Slamming her sword into the wood of the deck, she managed to lodge the blade just enough to keep from being pulled away from her vessel. Quickly, she reached with her other hand and drew out yet another knife. Her hand shot upwards and stabbed furiously into the beasts foot, hot blood streamed down and covered her jacket and shirt as she did so.

The bird released her with an angry cry and Runa dropped to the deck flat on her back. Standing up, she quickly unhooked the wheel and began pulling some of the levers down. They were too high and at that rate, they were going to be continually attacked by the arrowhawks. So, the ship descended quickly, loosing the attacking birds within a few minutes. Whatever stragglers remained were taken care of by the group, which Raruna was thankful for. That meant less damage to her ship, though it was a cover-up for her worry to her passengers.

Sheathing her sword, Runa guided her ship onwards, pushing the levers back up to gain more power. She had them back up in the air and away from the arrowhawks, but a bit lower than before just in case the bastards decided to descend upon them a second time. Runa ignored the scratch along her shoulder and back, it was small enough to not bother with, so she stayed at the helm and continued to keep an eye out for any more troublesome creatures.