Wind Runner

The harbor was amuck with the sounds of the people who had come to see her off as well. They were of course accompanied by street vendors selling questionable “meat” items and street performers who were eating fire, dancing on poles, and others performing some impressive sleight of hand feats of which none of the public seemed to notice despite the heavy protector presence.

The Wind Runner’s decks were a chaotic crawl of crew preparing for take-off. She towered above the docks and the harbor plaza with her new cotton sails and her wooden sides freshly painted. All of her brass portholes were glinting in the sun. The crew had done an excellent job during dry dock.

At the helm of the Wind Runner stood her captain, proud and strong, kindhearted, but stern and able Leora had been the commander of this ship since her father had become unable to captain the ship himself. She had brown wavy hair and skin that had been colored by her time under the sun. She wore the same garb the crew did apart from her captain’s hat. It had been bestowed upon her with the ship. She didn’t even quite fit in it yet when her father first set it upon her head.

She had been raised on the ship for most of her life. It had been very hard for her father to disembark for the very last time but he had been stern that it must be. He had brushed her hair back from her eyes, patted her on the head, and removed his hat, crowning her with it, “Tugs will guide you when you need it, he is a loyal man and a true first mate to the Wind Runner.” His first mate, Jack McGonal, or Tugs for short (long story) had been rescued by Leora’s father in the Carribean, he was found floating in the water protecting what was left of his last ship’s cargo from air pirates. The Wind Runner had been passing over when they saw the barrage from the pirate’s airship, and the return volley of one musket fire. Tugs had always been like an uncle to Leora and since she had been captain, he was her most trusted and able advisor.

“Tugs! Are the men aboard and ready?” she called over the rail of the upper deck. “Aye Cap’n! Ey’ve checked all th’ holds, and th’ hatches arr securred. The men arr aboard an’ ready!” he shouted back at her. He towered over most land dwellers and many crew members as well. His voice had been roughened by the sea and his skin by the air. He climbed the stairs buttoning his aircoat and pulling his goggles into place. Leora reached beside the ship’s wheel and pulled one of the brass levers reaching out from the deck. A steam whistle blew and a cloud or steam erupted from the Wind Runner’s exhaust pipes , some still under the water producing an impressive display of bubbles and towers of steam.

The harbor erupted into a cacophony of cheers and excited chatter. A few balloons escaped from children’s hands, forgotten momentarily as the whistle echoed from the plaza walls. The band began to play, the drums shook the pavestones and rumbled in the chests of all the well-wishers. “All hands on deck!” called Tugs. Leora pulled her own goggles into place and buckled her gloves around her wrists. She slipped her boots into the straps at the helm and stood, her hand ready on the steam pressure valve.

“Alright Tugs. Let’s hit the sky.”

The men were already manning their stations and buckled into their take off positions. Crow’s voice came through a brass pipe fitted just beside the wheel. Crow manned the look out.

“Balloon ship 10 leagues off ta the west-north-west 10 degrees Capt’n, three hot air balloons over the plaza, you’re clear to the seaward side.”

Leora turned the dial for the steam pressure line up. The men below would begin feeding the fire furiously while steam began to bellow from every pipe. The water around the ship roiled and the ship began to rock.

“Lock the fins in place!” ordered Tugs.

The men on deck worked together to push a large wheel in the center of the ship chanting as they went.

“Heave, ho, heave, ho”

The creak of the Wind Runner’s main and mizzen wing masts swinging out just over the roiling steamy water and the satisfying thud as they slammed into place riled the crowd again. With the banners waving over the plaza and the music lofting over their cheers Leora mused briefly about how she used to love manning the stern waving the final goodbye to the crowd. Now she stood at the helm, her brown hair blowing around her as she reached for the pressure valve again.

“Unfurl the wing main sail, open the mizzen wings boys!”

The crew members who manned the wings were buckled into a track which allowed them to move along the length of the ship’s rail in order to man the ropes needed to unfurl the wings. They now began to pull the rigging. The wing sails answered by spreading out the sails fashioned much like fins on a fish. The wind buffeted the newly opened sails just a bit.

By now the whole Wind Runner was jumping and shifting from side to side. A ship meant for the air was not steady on the sea during take-off. Leora turned the pressure dial one final time and the furnace roared below. The ship was cloaked behind a column of steam and the sound of whirring wings filled the air.

The ship lurched and paused for a moment, then broke the waves. Once out of the water the ship lifted quickly. The plaza erupted into cheers.

“Fire at will men” Tugs shouted over the impossible din.

Somehow the men manning the guns heard him and fired over the plaza, a cloud of confetti rained down on the people below.

Leora smiled to herself as she watched the plaza become small beneath the Wind Runner. Dialing down the pressure as the ship reached altitude, she pointed the bow to the seaward horizon. Blue seas below, blue skies above, the Wind Runner was skimming the clouds again.