Prologue
“Tell everyone to head to the escape boats and leave as soon as each one is filled to capacity! This ship is going down! Get going without me!” The princess grabbed control of the air ship’s steering wheel, stopping it from its rapid spin out of control.
“But Your Highness, you need to get on one of the boats too! We must keep you and her safe!”
“I said get going Captain! I’m going to pilot this ship away from the civilian islands, and then make our escape! Now go!”
The captain sighed and ran onto the main deck. “Load and launch the escape boats! The princess commands it! Load and launch the escape boats as soon as they’re full!”
A united “Aye Captain! Long live Princess Atana!” answered over the blare of the emergency alarms. In a rushed panic the crew started working on launching the escape boats, doing what they could as they were fired upon.
Atana watched as one by one the escape boats launched and attempted to speed away, each one shot at by the attacking pirates as tried to turn the ship around and away from the civilian islands of Pneuport. Soon the last boat launched and Atana cleared the last of the civilian islands, finally ditching the steering wheel.
Running to the captain’s quarters she picked up a basket carefully covered by a blanket, briefly checking on what lay inside before replacing the blanket. Opening the wide window of the captain’s quarters, Atana looked out into the vast sea of clouds that started to glow sunset orange with a shiver, clutching the basket to her chest. A loud thunderous thud of feet landing on the deck above told her of the pirates boarding the air ship.
The door to the captain’s quarter’s burst open; Atana looked behind her to see several of the pirates.
“Captain! The Princess is in here! And she has the Sky Child!” One of the tall lanky pirates sneered.
Atana growled. “Not for long! Bon voyage!”
Without a second hesitation, Atana jumped out into the sea of clouds, falling.
A man approached the open window and watched Atana’s fall.
“Captain? What should be done? Jump after her?”
“No. Have the search ships send out the Hummingbirds. Capture the princess and the Sky Child alive.”
“Aye, Captain!”
