A World With/Out Home

Chapter 29: A step in motion. (Part 3)

Valandus had always considered himself an adaptable guy. Although he wasn't particularly talented in one thing, he had a wide range of skills that could be put to use almost anywhere. His adaptability however was being tested in a way he had never thought before. Soaring through the sky, he had a view of the city he could only have dreamed of prior, directly above it and looking down as the sun set in the distance. He could make out the spiralling streets and the places he frequented. The problem however was his mode of transport. Cradled beneath the arm of a man and feeling the wind blast past his entire body. It was only made more queer by the young girl that clung to the man's back intensely enjoying the experience.

Finally the odd few minutes ended and Riften let Valandus down. They stood on a platform attached to the bottom of the sky fortress, close by them a door leading into the hunk of rock that made its base.

"I... I don't know if I ever want to do that again," Valandus tittered against the railing.

"It's quite fun when you get used to it," Riften smirked.

"Yeah that's because you're the one flying. If you dropped me I'd just die."

"I can't fly but I think it's fun," Mica replied as well.

Valandus paused, he was actually quite used to seeing young girls on life threatening missions but the clear casual smile she had threw him for a loop. "Let's just get inside and get this over with."

"Valandus, one moment," Riften looked out to the underside of the sky fortress. "Are all those what I think they are?"

"Yep, fully functioning artillery." Valandus gazed at the dozens of angled canons. "If they chose to, they could wipe the city off the map within the hour."

"You built some scary things since I've been gone."

"Maybe, but it was meant for an equally frightening enemy." He turned his back and moved to the door. Like Valandus had thought, the sky fortress hadn't yet completed their security system and with a simple click, the metal frame opened. Of course how could the enemy expect them to sneak aboard? Very few people could fly, and none to a height as high as they were.

They entered a circular corridor. The architecture was very similar to the internal of the Hero's Guard, using much of the same material. It wasn't that however that gave Valandus the confidence to navigate, but the fact he had memorised the fortress' layout. The idea to do so wasn't his own but the Captain's and for a period of a month it was his only duty. The task had almost driven him mad.

Riften suddenly grabbed him and pulled him against the wall, "Footsteps." He paused concentrating on the sound Valandus couldn't hear. "Mica hide us."

The girl on top his back nodded, her eyes twisting black. Several seconds later two Lavise knights walked past, not even batting an eye at where they stood in seemingly plain sight.

Once they were gone Riften gestured for Valandus to continue leading the way, "You're lucky we have Mica. Though I am a professional at hiding myself, hiding others, not so much."

"No kidding," Valandus smiled wryly. He wasn't sure when exactly it happened, but the people surrounding him had been slowly replaced by superhuman beings.

Together they made their way up into the Sky Fortress, climbing several staircases and avoiding more than just a few guards and knights. Within several minutes they had reached the midpoint of the complex and from it could see the vast platform that made up most of the fortress. The ground, made from a complex mixture of concrete, spread far from the rock at its centre, on top of which were dozens of buildings including warehouses, bunkers and offices. Even from their viewpoint only a few stories high, it was easy to see the scale of the operations as close to one hundred figures could spotted milling the platform.