Ansell was singing opera. Guffin was yelling about overhangs and rocks and the walls coming too damn close. But all Hink could feel was the sting of rain against his skin, the brace and heat of steam pushing him forward, and the intoxicating rush of flight lifting him higher and higher heavenward.
He didn’t need Guffin telling him where the walls were. He could see them, he could feel them, leaning in, rushing by, sharp and cold and deadly. He shot the gap, calling for Ansell to angle the verticals and spinning to skin the air off the walls.
The sky finally, finally fanned open above him, that crack of wide wet grayness spreading out to welcome him as if he were diving upward into a stormy sea.
Through the darkness he flew, through the dragging, clawing rain, with nothing but the hope of light, of air on the other side of the sky if he could just break through.
And then she punched up, out of the clouds, into the cold blue of the sky, sunlight pounding down in flat white light. Higher, higher. She strained for the glim fields that wavered with tantalizing ribbons of soft green light above them.
Hink longed to hit that field, to bathe in the soft whips of glim that shimmered in long, glowing rivers just beyond their reach. He knew that without the trawl set to net, they’d just break through the glim and turn it to a mist that disappeared on the wind.
They didn’t have time to harvest, didn’t have the gear ready if they did.
And it was too cold up here, too hard to breathe for long.
Hink dragged his breathing gear over his face, and hoped Mr. Seldom had equipped their passengers with masks.
“Look for company, Mr. Seldom,” Hink called out. “Give us glide, Mr. Ansell.” The sails released and the Swift steadied her climb, Hink easing the throttle and hitting the bell to tell Molly to ease the draft.
The Swift leveled out. If any other airship was flying right now, they’d be above the clouds. Flight with no visibility among the craggy and treacherous peaks of the mountain range was plain suicide.
And Hink was on the shiny side of positive that none of the rock rats who skiffed these mountains would be fool enough to risk their life flying blind.
Still, Mr. Seldom walked the interior of the ship, breathing tube clattering against the overhead beams as he gripped the bars and took a long, hard look out each window.
He pulled down his breathing mask. “Clear sky,” he announced.
“Good,” Hink said, glancing at the compass set in the console before him. “We’re going down through again in short order. I’m going to hot-flume it over to Turnback Junction, then duck under the clouds at a crawl.”
“You want lanterns?” Ansell asked.
“No. I’ll bring her in blind.”
“Crazy,” Guffin muttered, placing his mask securely over his nose and mouth.
“What’s that, Mr. Guffin?” Hink asked.
Guffin pulled the mask down. “I said you’re crazy.” He placed his mask back over his mouth, then pulled it down and added, “Captain.”
“And yet you signed on with my crew,” Hink said. “Not sure that speaks against your reasoning or mine, Mr. Guffin. Let’s take her down easy. Keep your eyes peeled for shadows.”
Hink knew his crew hated flying blind, but Hink had always been good at it. He knew this range and could fly it on compass alone.
But he was surprised to discover that even though his eyes showed him flat gray clouds with more gray wisping through it, he knew the shift of wind, and could feel the space around the ship. If there was another steamer nearby, he’d feel it like a hot exhale on the back of his neck.
More witchery. Or maybe the same. Right now, he wasn’t going to argue its usefulness.
Guffin had taken to swearing again. Alphabetical, in French. Ansell was humming a slow song.
Mr. Seldom walked up behind Hink and glanced at the compass, then swung back to take a heading on the maps. They were low enough that they were surrounded by clouds. But not quite low enough to be battered against the peaks.
Old Jack’s wasn’t too far off. All they had to do was pray for a south wind to guide them true.
“Do we need to remain buckled, Captain Hink?” Cedar Hunt asked after a while of drifting level.
“We’re on an even keel,” Hink said, “but I’d rather you hold tight. Hard winds make threading these cliffs a tricky proposition. Might find ourselves knocked askew with no notice.”
Mr. Hunt seemed to take that suggestion with more than a lick of salt. He unlatched and started rummaging through some of the shifted contents near him and the womenfolk.
“Something one of my men can provide you with, Mr. Hunt?” Captain Hink asked, perturbed that he hadn’t listened to his advice.