Sapphire had gone to the lord and lady’s room to discuss their dear artificer, picking up Tom along the way.

She had denied Edita the right to get back to work yesterday, feeling that smoking devil weed to counter the effects of whatever the sugar had done to her was not the best solution. She had asked Nunuk if the combination could be a problem and the healer had not been sure. It wasn’t exactly a common combination of afflictions to find on the frontier. 

“One more day shouldn’t hurt, I don’t think,” Sapphire explained, hoping they would share her point of view.

What had surprised her most was Edita’s calm reception of the news. No crying, no loud protestations. Just a sigh and a nod. Maybe the smoke still had a hold of her. Either way she was certainly not her old self.

“It won’t hurt us too bad. There isn’t much design work left to do, no new projects. Just finishing what we already have started. The only exception is the new grenades. I will need her for that. But I will keep an eye on her,” Tom agreed, to Sapphire’s great relief.

“Please do, and don’t let Tink be in charge of that one either. Gods know what might happen.”

“I ain’t letting anyone handle explosives high. Nor Tink unsupervised. He is working on rifle components, and soon I shall have him casting bullets. It’ll be fine.”

“Right then. I guess I should ask, do you need anything of me? Translating a book is nice and all, but it is hardly the most pertinent thing to be doing right now.”

“You could help the guards train, build barricades, or I suppose practice bow and arrow. Won’t be long till the first hunts, right?”

“More like the first scouting missions, I believe. We should ensure we know what is to be found on our island. Who knows what might have blown in over the winter?”

Nunuk nodded her assent to this. Dakota led the huntresses and so the first hunt would be her domain, though Nunuk and Apuma would lead them in ceremony. The first day of a new year, and a year where they would desperately need the aid of the greater powers. They could not afford to neglect such an important ritual.

“I do not believe they may already have set foot on our island. This winter has been harsh, and a darkling fares no better in the cold than we. Though it is hard to say if the same should be true for their terrors.”

“They are hot blooded at least,” Tom interjected. “Won’t matter if the passengers freeze to death en route, and I doubt they have enough winter travel clothes for much of a force. Would they?”

“Unlikely, they travel great distances from one conquest to the next. They must travel light for such a campaign. But a scouting force, perhaps yes… We would do well to see the first hunt held soon. We shall need fresh food to keep us from wearing down our preserved stocks. Should it come to a siege we may need them.”

“Especially with two dragons to feed. It won’t be long till Yldril wakes up,” Sapphire noted, Nunuk nodding along.

“Yes, Jarix alone eats as much as the whole keep. Yldril more than twice that again. We have never been so well stocked for winter, but neither has the demand been so great. From the moment we can, Jarix shall fly with you on patrol and the hunt. I am sure Dakota has given great thought to how best to act already.”

“I’m sure she has,” Sapphire agreed, Tom scratching the back of his head for now. “Once Yldril wakes we best keep one dragon home at all times, right?”

“Rachuck would have a fit if you don’t,” Tom added with a chuckle. “Jarix is the better flier, but he struggles to haul that much really. Yldril could bring home so much food in one go.”

“Though most of the stock will be meagre and lean following winter. It will take time for them to plump up once more. Even some stringy deer beats gnawing on wood in a siege,” Nunuk said.

“Well that’s all settled then, right? Sapphire, you train and practice for the first hunt day. Then it’s a matter of patrols combined with hunts to see if anything nasty has made landfall. If we find it, we destroy it. We really don’t want them telling whatever is coming what we are up to. The less they know the better.”

“A simple enough plan, yes. And Tom?”

“Yup, what?”

“Try not to work anyone else into sickness. There shall be plenty of hard times to come as well. Thought should be given to facing the year well rested.”

“Noted,” he replied half-heartedly. Though he did look a little guilty to Sapphire’s eyes. “At least we know help is coming, too… Though the darklings might be able to guess that too.”

“If nothing else they may expect Baron and his wing to return soon. Do we know what aid may be coming?” Nunuk questioned, giving Tom a knowing glance.

“No, not really. Only that Joelina is the one dispatching it. At least that’s what she made it sound like.”

“Perhaps we may be lucky enough to see those reds again from last year, they looked fit for more than a brawl.”

“One can hope. If not, Baron, Tiguan, and Grevi would do quite nicely.”

---

It had been another full day and much as it pained him, Tom did need Edita. She knew too much about the materials they had access to. So he had elected that a slow return to work might be okay, though he was far from certain. Back home she would have been sent away for weeks at a minimum. 

“And you are quite sure it’s fine?”

“I am very sure, yes. The program has been very effective.”

“The program?”

“I combined your recommendations with recent personal experience to develop an optimised relaxation schedule. I believe I shall make use of it moving forwards.”

“Huh?”

“I… was that not what I was supposed to do?”

“No, no, that’s good. I… Well it’s certainly the first time I’ve heard it phrased like that. What have you been up to? I’ve been a bit too busy to keep track, you know?”

“I understand. In the mornings I have volunteered for kitchen duty. I tend fires and clean plates. Though this morning Ray was quite insistent cleaning was her duty. So I tended the fires while smoking Herron’s pipe. He let me borrow it for a bit, you see.”

“Right, you’ve taken a liking for that stuff then I take it?”

“It makes the flames so very vivid, one can almost envision the flow of air over a wing if you simply insert a flattened stick. It is very cathartic.”

‘Oh no.’ “Right and after that?”

“Esmeralda had visited me the day before and recommended the application of music to help soothe my frazzled mind. I thus retired to my room and lit some incense sticks to give prayer to Oleg and apologize for my lack of productivity, while listening to a hymn named for when the rain stops and the skies clear. It was Esmeralda’s suggestion. I much enjoy it, though I know not the lyrics.”

“That’s good, that’s good. So that’s a half hour’s worth?”

“Three, then I commence with cleaning, oiling, and re-organization of my tools and equipment. That which may be found in my quarters. I have finished twice already.”

Thinking back to just how packed her quarters were, Tom found that scarcely believable to be sure. She slept on a crate after all, even if he was quite sure there was a bed in there.

“Then once we go for dinner I imbibe as prescribed, though I must admit to sketching out a… possible proposal for harness and release mechanism for Jarix, should we wish to deploy the weapon dreamt up by Tink and Twitch last fall. I do believe the idea to be serviceable,” she finished with a nod.

“Right I see… We’ll need to have a look at that at some point. Who knows? We might even have it ready in time to drop on those bastards heading this way. Or whatever it is.”

“It was my understanding it was to be an anti-ship weapon, in the spirit of the acoustic torpedoes so employed in the past?”

“Well yeah, but drop one on a big red dragon and it’ll work just fine. Tell you what, why don’t we try just a bit of a slow start today? I would like some help, but not in the workshops. Rather with this.”

Tom pushed a sheet of design parchment towards her. Only a rough sketch so far, but it got the point across.

“What is it?”

Or maybe not.

“It is a hand grenade.”

“It seems complicated for such a device,” Edita remarked, taking the page and starting to study it.

“The fuze is. The rest is a simple cast iron… ball I suppose is the word. The groovings are to encourage shrapnel. We call it a pineapple grenade.”

“A… dine ada… do you mean a pinecone? It looks a bit like a pinecone.”

“I… sure, good enough. Either way it’s cheaper and faster than the sleeve we made for the old improvised grenades. The tricky part is the fuze.”

“And all these fine mechanical components. This will be expensive, Tom.”

“I know, but it will also be reliable. I suppose we can get rid of the striker, but then you need some source of fire to light it.”

“And the fuze burning down this tube is the timer I take it, yes?” she questioned, pointing to the central core of the grenade. “Do we have such a reliable fuze?”

“We have something quite close. But I was hoping you may have an idea for that.”

“Rip cord.”

I’m sorry, what?”

“Use a rip cord,” she repeated, looking up at him, drawing still in hand. “A string soaked in well aged blitzgel placed in a narrow binding with a bit of sand. Upon ripping the cord the gel explodes. I have seen it employed in ancient designs for simple traps. I believe it may still be in use outside our sanctums.”

“I see. And if we don’t want it to blow up but just light a fuze?”

“We could make a mixture containing flash as well or water it down to reduce the yield.”

“Water evaporates.”

“So does the water already in the gel. It must be sealed tight… perhaps the metal tube in the center may be parted in two, one contains the cord the other the time delay fuze. A pressure release cap at the top to eject excess fire and prevent cracking of the central tube.”

“And this is why I wanted to ask you first. Right. I guess we need to get testing then.”

---

Dakota had agreed that it was high time they started getting some practice in. It wasn’t time for the first hunt yetthe time of the first hunt, or anything like that, but despite the cold and the wind they could start practicing. If a battle came early in spring they couldn’t expect much better weather anyway, so they had best get used to it.

Everyone had been informed of the intention at breakfast. Once they had gotten their gear on, they met up at Jarix in the greeting hall. The dragon would possibly join them later for some formation flying, but for today it would be tag, archery, speed and endurance that were on the menu.

“Right then girls, listen up. We take it nice and slow. Raulf thinks the weather will be turning soon, and not for the better. We are hoping it will just be rain and not more frost, but you never know. Either way we will not be flying, so by Sapphire’s suggestion we are gonna get a little practice in. Knock some rust off and prepare for the new year. Especially you two.” The gilded huntress spoke in a raised voice, attention turning to their two greenhorns. “I hope you have not already forgotten what you were taught last year.”

“No ma’am, we’re ready to fly.”

“First exercise, some simple tail tag. Everyone knows the game well enough. Let’s get warmed up. You two, Bo and Pho, you’re it… And Jacky.”

“What?” the large woman let out, surprised at being called out. 

“Try not to put anyone in the infirmary.”

“Awwww, but it’s gonna be storming anyway,” she replied mockingly, Dakota remaining stern.

‘Just like old days,’ Saph chuckled to herself, looking to Bo and Pho. Bo looked quite skeptical as she tried to work out if she had to worry about Jacky knocking her out of the sky, and Pho was staring at Sapphire like a wolf at a baby rabbit. ‘Oh you want some girl?’ 

Sapphire squared up and crossed her arms, raising her chin. “Whatcha staring at?”

“Old worn out target,” the greenhorn replied cockily.  

Sapphire just chuckled. ‘Sure thing kiddo, sure thing.’

“Uhm, are we waiting for permission or something? I don’t think we have a flight leader,” Fengi interjected impatiently. 

“No, let us be off. Herron, would you be so kind?”

“Sure thing man… ma’am,” the guard responded, releasing the brakes on the counterweight and lazily starting to crank the door open.

‘Gotta give the guy his dues, he doesn’t stress about anything at all. Maybe he’s the cure to Tom being Tom as well. You never know.’ Sapphire sighed to herself as she waited for the door to open enough to slip under.

“Chasers give 10 seconds. Get ready… go!” Dakota called out and they all ran for the door, ducking to slip under, out into the frigid air. The cold hit her like a wall, wings already spreading as she sprinted. The icy feeling sent shivers from tallon tips all the way down Sapphire’s spine.

They would not be out for very long at a time, but something was better than nothing. Wings beating hard they all started to climb up and away, spreading out in all directions. Sapphire knew full well she would have a chaser from the word go. 

As soon as they had cleared she glanced back, seeing Bo and Pho already scrambling under the door.

‘That was not 10 seconds, I actually know how long one of those are now,’ she cursed to herself as she made for altitude. Pho was smaller and lighter than Sapphire; she would catch her on the climb, so best to get some altitude to work with before she closed in. 

Sapphire could probably outrun her in a straight line, but where was the fun in that? Leveling out, another check confirmed her suspicions. The greenhorn was closing rather quickly, wings hammering away.

‘Do I tire her out or just show her up a little?… Oh come now don’t get cocky Saph, let’s start her off tired.’ She put on a burst of speed, but not enough to pull ahead as she waited for Pho to catch up.

A few checks later they had put a good distance behind them to the keep, and Sapphire decided to show what the advantage in having a fair bit more wing to work with was.

She rolled onto her back and pulled up nice and gently, darting towards the ground. Pho followed with a rapid spiraling dive, closing the distance even further as she gained speed rapidly, all but throwing herself at the ground. 

Sapphire sharpened the turn and her wings bit the air well, the icy cold carrying her round as Pho pulled up hard to match the turn. Sapphire carved the air as a raptor while the greenhorn pummeled it like an oxen, burning speed to match Sapphire and still overshooting a fair ways.

Back on the level Sapphire put some more speed back on as Pho struggled to regain what she had lost with her violent maneuvers. 

‘It’s all well and good flying like that if you wanted to shoot me, not if you wanna touch me.’ Sapphire chuckled. It had been a fairly good shooting position, if not exactly the best. Maybe a good 20 meters between them. 

Maintaining a brisk pace she waited once more before maneuvering again, now heading back towards the others and the keep itself. 

Ahead she saw Bo trying to close on Esmeralda, the wisest choice to go after, she was their oldest member and had never been the finest flier at the keep. Though she was no slouch, and was currently giving Bo much the same treatment Sapphire had just managed. With age came experience, but Bo was a wiser flier than Phospheno. It wouldn’t be long until she caught the aging huntress. Saph, on the other hand, had no intention of being caught until she decided it was the time.

Checking on Pho’s progress, she was impressed. Pho had already gained a fair bit of ground, her determination was to be commended. 

Sapphire stilled her wings and let herself glide for a moment before she folded them up and turned skyward, sliding chest first into the airstream . A quick flared her wings for but a moment, and only half opened, bleed nearly half her speed in an instant. Spreading her wings fully she struck for a climb before rolling into a dive, her lesser speed letting her twist and turn with far greater ease. Heading for the deck, a cursing Pho came rushing by above her, having fallen for the fake climb. 

Had it been an archery drill it would have been Sapphire’s turn to loose an arrow at the greenhorn, who was currently trying to bleed as much speed as she could in a sharp turn to follow, which soon had her in a vertical dive for the ground. 

Now it was time to outrun the youngling. Putting on every ounce of speed she could, Sapphire rolled once more and pulled up just enough to still slide by under the greenhorn as she attempted to come down on Sapphire’s back. With a great advantage in speed and position, Sapphire went for another climb as Pho for a third time had to wheel about to resume the chase, scrubbing speed in every sharpened turn. 

“Too easy!” Sapphire shouted with glee as she powered on upwards. She could only imagine the curses Pho would have in store later as she looked back to check, once more finding the fiery young woman on the chase and gaining in the climb. ‘Still not tired, impressive.’

Sapphire leveled off and made right for the keep which was all but in reach now. She had the straightline speed to keep up with anyone save for Jacky, and she was light for her wingspan. It was time for an endurance test. Banking 90 degrees right, she settled into a turn around the keep, making sure to check that Pho was actually following and not attempting to cut her off.

Pho was indeed following her in, likely content that no fancy maneuver would save Sapphire here, only lift and muscle power. She was right of course, she just wasn’t winning anyway.

Sapphire settled in, one beat per second, swift and shallow without folding up in between, giving her wings time to carry her around. Why work when the wind could do it for you? It was far better at it, after all. A classic racing trick. One Pho probably knew.

Looking over her shoulder she did indeed, and she was almost keeping pace.

‘Almost isn’t good enough,’ Sapphire chuckled as she stretched out, making sure everything was as flush as she could make it and keeping the rhythm, focusing on her breathing as they went round and round and round. 

She almost got lost in her routine. She hadn’t flown for a whole season, yet here she was pushing hard and outflying the youngsters. The cold bit at her face, the tip of her tail, her digits. Yet her chest and wingshoulders burned. It was a good pain, a familiar pain. The pain of finally being back to work. Doing what she was supposed to. Fly!

She didn’t snap out of it until she saw a familiar young dragonette peeling away from the keep on slow beating wings. ‘Hah! She’s given up.’ Sapphire rolled away from the keep into a left turn to give chase. She hardly had to beat her wings to catch up. Pho was all but gliding, likely trying to regain her strength before settling for an easier target. 

Sliding up close beside the greenhorn, wings all but touching she called out. “SO WHAT WAS THAT?!”

“You-… bastard…”

“NO NOO, NOT BASTARD: SAPHIRE FUCKING RAYLAND! WUUUU YEAAAH! DON’T YOU FORGET IT! NOW HERE!”

With a quick right then left roll, she smacked her wingtip against Pho’s. “BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME!”

Then she pulled up and started a conservative climb as she took time to orient herself. There were still targets up. Panning around, she saw Fengi flying for her life, Esmeralda and Bolinda both on her tail. The small, light flier was doing her best to turn inside of them at every chance. 

Sapphire left them to it. She knew there had to be others still in play. Ideally she wanted Jacky, but as she looked around Dakota was the first to catch her attention, flying high and slow above the keep, keeping tabs on them all as she usually did. 

‘Working those magic eyes, are we? Well I can still see you,’ she grumbled as she carried on her steady climb. Dakota would never be so dastardly as to make Sapphire chase too much following what she had just done to Pho. Their leader valued the acrobatic practice above all, but she was no slouch.

Sapphire regained her breath slowly on the climb. And just as she was reaching the level of their supposedly fearless leader, the damn woman rolled into a dive and headed for the deck.

“Oh muther fu-” Sapphire rolled after her and darted for the ground, wings folded. ‘Should have known, I should have known.’

It wasn’t even Dakota’s first time using that trick, but it wasn’t gonna work. As they both hurtled downwards, Sapphire was keeping up. She had no intention of trying to catch Dakota in a dive, since they were all but even here. Although had Dakota been in her mother’s armor it would have been a different story. 

‘You have to pull up at some point.’

Sapphire cursed as the wind bit her face. She was feeling the freeze to be certain. Some fifty meters above the ground Dakota made her move. A sweeping pull up much like Sapphire had done to Pho that left her all but skirting the grass and incredible speed. Unlike Pho, Sapphire had the good sense to lead her target rather than follow the maneuver in kind, staying right on the older huntress’s trail. 

Glancing at the grass and bushes hurtling by, she wondered for a moment how fast this truly was. Normally it was a fool’s errand to find out, but perhaps Tom could manage. 

Dakota led her on a merry chase across the ground, Sapphire opting for slightly more height, giving her a commanding view of both Dakota and the terrain to come. 

‘Should have gone for endurance.’ Sapphire wondered for a moment if maybe she could use her magic to upset the woman. A slight push to a wingtip was all it would take. At this speed, the crash would be gruesome. She would never do that to her friends and family… but a darkling… a dark knight? It might very well work.

Her thoughts cost her dearly as Dakota made it to her destination: the smaller of the two lakes, where they tended to get their drinking water from. Banking left she turned inside of the trees lining the edge, forcing Sapphire to go above them yet again. 

No matter, Sapphire’s altitude gave her a commanding view, she would soon be able to dive on Dackota’s back and secure a kill. She turned left once she had cleared the trees, she scanned the area for the gilded huntress. She expected to find her speeding along the lake’s edge, but saw nothing. 

“What the?!” Her head darted side to side as she went into a glide, doubling back around, but there was no sign of Dakota. 

“Did she go to ground? Oh she better not have fucking crashed. Not at that speed.” Sapphire dove down and slowly flew back along the path she thought Dakota would have taken, heart starting to pound in her chest. How could Dakota mess something like this up? She had decades in the air. Pho maybe, but not Dakota. Could cold have done it? She had been flying high and slow, and then that dive. Had she been too cold and sluggish maybe? The early sprint had Sapphire nice and warm, even if that didn’t include her fingers and tail tip.

Gliding along she saw no evidence of a crash. At that speed it should have been violent. Once she was sure she had flown the treeline, she doubled back around again for another pass. Still no sign. Then her eyes narrowed. The grass looked disturbed right along the flight path. It was still wet, and there were footsteps leading towards the water. Her mood lightened but she was equally confused.

‘That sneaky bastard, but water? Dakota hates water.’ Sapphire set down next to the path of the gilded huntress, trying to work out what the plan might be. “You know, if we touch, I win. This is tag!” she shouted out, feeling quite confident Dakota could hear her.

She couldn’t see how she was losing this, so she played along, walking the path so clearly laid out in the soft grass. One could see the muddy dirt at the bottom of each step, and she soon welcomed the unpleasant feeling of cold mud between her toes as she got closer to the lake. 

‘Oh I am gonna have to retaliate for this at some point,’ she cursed as she tracked into the line of trees. The path snaked between them, and looking around there really wasn’t much cover save for the bushes. And Dakota was bright white and blue in white, silver and gold armor. She should not be hard to spot.

‘Where the fuck is she?’ Sapphire cursed to herself as she walked along, glancing to the sky. This path wasn’t well hidden at all, she should have been more than able to see Dakota here from the air. 

Then she heard a twig snap behind her and she turned in a flash, coming face to face with a sword point and Dakota’s grinning face, draped in a familiar looking cloak. One which had taken on the shimmer of the grass, sticks, and dead leaves which made up the ground around them. The blade was quickly withdrawn to its scabbard. “I concede I may have been a little underhanded.”

“You stole Tom’s cloak.” Sapphire grinned, more impressed than anything.

“Now, now, I borrowed it with permission, Sapphire. And yes, I do believe I have been caught.”

“Quite right, tag,” Sapphire snarked as she whipped her tail at Dakota, a streak of mud landing across her face. Her surprised expression had Sapphire laughing, like a kid when there was a loud noise behind them.

“Careful of the cloak.” Dakota grinned as they both shook their heads. “But next time, be careful. We are not alone in having things like this,” Dakota said, billowing the cloak. “And it folds up into a satchel quite well.”

“I can see that. You’re so fucking lucky I didn’t see you land.”

“Skill young one, it is called skill.”

‘Yeah right, sure.’ 

“Either way, you got me. We both know I cannot out fly you for long. Who is left?”

“Jacky and possibly Fengi, though I doubt it. She was having a hard time last I saw.”

“Let us go get them. Then I believe it is time to warm by the fires.”

“Agreed.”

---

“Greetings below. How are you all getting on?” Tom questioned, coming down the stairs into the kitchen, finding Edita stoking fires and Ray rolling a whole barrel across the floor from the pantry. Both stopped to look at him with confusion.

“I don’t think we are below much right now, Tom?” Edita spoke up, as Ray resumed rolling.

“I suppose so, but you are below the grand hall. Jarix wanted to know what he’s having for dinner today.”

“Same as yesterday, salted venison. Do you think he would prefer smoked?” Edita questioned as she stood to stir the soup bubbling on the stove.

“Eeeeeh, I mean I can ask. A little variety would be good, right?”

“We do not have much else to feed him. He eats a quarter barrel of this every day,” Ray replied as she hefted the barrel upright. Tom was too late to lend her a hand; she soon had the lid off too using a small prybar. 

“He is a big lad, and looking a bit thin after his nap.”

“He was thin last year too. He is a blue. That is quite normal.” Ray stuck her head down into the barrel to have a sniff. She seemed satisfied that the contents were in good enough condition. “I believe we have a single barrel of real pork. Maybe we should open that one before Yldril wakes up.”

“Sounds good to me,” Tom echoed. He knew nothing of salted meats, but she made it sound like pork was an upgrade at least. 

“Very well. If you would like to help we need to wash this. It is much too salty as it is, even for a dragon. Try not to wash away any more salt than you have to.” 

“I see uhm… I think I have to get down to the shop sadly. I have plenty of things I need to get done,” Tom replied, giving the really rather large barrel a glance. That looked like it would take a long time to get through. 

“Oh, of course. I am sorry. If you see Unkai, would you let him know we started a while ago? We haven’t been able to find him,” Ray apologized, picking the first pieces up into a bowl to be rinsed off. 

“Oh sure, I haven’t seen him either, but I’ll be sure to let him know if I do.” Tom did feel a little bit like an arse avoiding the work he really didn’t want to do. But he wasn’t lying, there was plenty to do. And they had best get on with it.