Maledictus Aether Read Online Free PDF Page B

the
hard part, but once it was out of the way it was smooth sailing
from cover to cover.”
    “ I’m not
going to lie, then. I’m impressed,” he muses, taking a swig of rum.
“Read something in the journal that changed your hesitant
mind?”
    “ Something like that,” I agree, deciding then that that is as much as I will say
on the matter. He seems to realise this, or maybe he can somehow
sense the burning fury I am keeping in check, but regardless of
that he chooses to press the matter no further.
    “ So, you want
a ship and crew,” he concludes, and I nod.
    “ I k now where his
riches lie, and I have a rough estimation of where Tier is as
well,” I inform him, but again I withhold further information. This
is my quest, and mine alone – my father’s legacy, now my burden to
carry.
    He laughs idly, taking another
drink, and I follow suit a moment later.
    “ Well, first
we need to get you away from the Fleet before they notice you’re
gone, and you’ve got to be far away by the time they notice,”
Captain Davis states, shrugging a shoulder. “I don’t know if you’re
up for that monumental task.”
    I take a gulp of my drink, and
face him.
    “ When do we
begin?”
     
    I do no t feel as bad
as I should sneaking off in the middle of the night a day later,
leaving the hotel and making my way through the city to the docks,
where the Calypso is docked. The only thing with me is
my duffel and the clothes on my back, and I would not want it any
other way.
    When I reach the ship I a m hoisted up by a member of the crew, who graciously
welcomes me aboard and informs me that the Captain is waiting for
me at the helm. I thank the pirate, weaving my way through the
bodies of the able-bodied men and women working the rigging,
preparing to set sail in the hush of night.
    Keeping the guardrail to my
right so that I can remain well out of the way, I find the
staircase that brings me up to the helm, ducking underneath a beam
swinging into place as they prepare the galleon-styled airship for
flight, unfurling the sails and tightening the rigging, all without
a sound so as to remain inconspicuous.
    I find the Captain standing by
the helm, silently ordering his crew with hand gestures and
gesticulations. When the man catches sight of me he breaks into a
broad grin, walking over to me and throwing a strong arm around my
shoulder.
    “ Once we’re in the skies, lad, we’ll get you settled in and
we’ll begin come sunup,” he tells me, and I nod. My stomach is tying itself into knots
and stopping me from spewing the first thing that comes to mind –
whether from fear or excitement, I do not know. “Don’t worry –
you’re the second man I’ve had to smuggle away from the Forces’
clutches, and I am the only pirate sailing the skies to have done
so and lived to tell the tale.”
    Oh, great. That really makes me feel
better.
    “ I’ve a
better idea – let’s get you out of the way so you can settle
comfortably and get some shut-eye. Things might get rough as we
take off, and I’ll be more at ease knowing you’re out of sight.” I
nod again, and the man laughs lightly. “Come this way, then – I’ll
give you your father’s quarters when he was my apprentice, much
like you’ll be as we fly for Aeon.”
    My eyebrows skyrocket at the name of the floating city, but
regardless of that I follow the man in the darkness of the night as
we descend below deck. The stars are our only light as we walk, but
as we enter the hull of the galleon, brass lights line the wall,
giving the interior the
entire atmosphere it needs among the barrels, crates, hammocks and
wooden beams that help support the deck. He leads me through this
part, where I can hear a few pirates conversing out of the reaches
of the gloom, and into the next where the sleeping quarters clearly
lie.
    Open doorways spill light into
these rooms filled with half a dozen hammocks, cots and crates
where they stash their belongings. We pass those without