The sun had set, and Ethan was huddled at the bottom of the Western wall, obsessively going over his supplies for the upcoming mission. Right now the Arinae royals should be exiting their ship, and heading into the palace. He’d been warned that he might not have much time–there was little ceremony in determining the rules for the duel, and it would be hard for Princess Ellevaro to make it stretch longer than an hour or so.

  Currently one of the Deevees was watching from a hiding place near the palace, straining the limits of how far a Bond would allow the Familiar to stray without being pulled back violently. The hydra would inform him when it was time to begin, and the anxiety was making Ethan a little crazy.

  He’d already checked his equipment a dozen times before leaving, but was somewhat comforted by doing it again. The repetition made him feel like he was doing something other than waiting. He opened his inventory interface, and carefully examined each slot. The system displayed it like a grid, though Ethan wondered if that was at all reflective of the reality.

  First was the most important objects, the Rune Stones that would allow him to temporarily breach the defenses on the Dunebreaker. He was waiting to use them until he was ready to act, not knowing how long they’d last. Next were the stones that Selina had made for him, which would allow him to easily copy any documents or Knowledge Stones that he might find.

  Ethan had already gained the two permanent tattoos that would hide his Astral presence, and allow him to plant listening runes. He’d also absorbed the Knowledge Stone that gave him all the intelligence that Viridus had managed to gather on the Dunebreaker. It gave him the insights he needed to get in and out, but much of the information on the inside of the ship was speculative.

  After double checking those essentials, he looked at the last few objects Selina had prepared, shaking his head. “I hate Plan C,” he said, and Tomo appeared next to him.

  “I am not convinced of Plans A or B,” he said.

  Ethan sighed. “I know, but if Ellevaro is right–and unfortunately that seems to be a trend–then we need to know what the royals have in store for us.”

  “And your intentions to avoid participating in the duel yourself?” Tomo asked.

  “Never a guarantee. I think there’s a good chance I can convince Calevaro to be the one to fight, but even if that works, he still needs to live through it. Otherwise we’re at Plan ‘I am F’d’.”

  “That is where you escape the city, then hide somewhere in Viridus accumulating strength while the King has you hunted down?”

  “Yes. Slightly less than ideal, as I’m sure you’d agree. Originally I had meant to go to the border, but Valanor and Savilar have talked enough about it now to convince me that would be like marching past two armies.”

  “Then you will do this. You will follow Princess Ellevaro’s plan as best as you are able, and use any means available to escape if something goes wrong,” Tomo said.

  “Plans A and B,” Ethan agreed, closing his inventory. “Let’s just take it one moment at a time, I’m letting myself feel defeated before I’ve even begun.” He got up jogging in place a bit and stretching. He was in a sheltered area, the forest abutting the wall in this spot and giving him plenty of cover. Beyond that, he was dressed all in his black, and had even purchased a mask that covered his face entirely.

  It was several more minutes before he sensed the signal from Deevee, and he moved without hesitation. Ethan scrambled up the wall, a shadow among shadows as he crested the top, and looked out over the side to where Dunebreaker was moored against the side of the palace. A long, narrow bridge stretched out from the deck of the ship, resting against a section of the outer palace wall.

  The ship was even more remarkable from up close. Its many sails were lowered, with the enormous masts disappearing into the darkness above. Its long, sleek metal hull made it look like a steamship from the early 1900s, but it was entirely sealed, almost like a submarine. Ethan couldn’t see the main deck, but many torches were lit up above, hopefully ruining the night vision of any guards.

  Ethan leaned out over the side of the wall, seeing the swirling, rolling waves of sand supporting the ship, but not quite touching the mobile city. “Here we go,” he whispered, leaping over the side, and sliding down to where the stone of the wall met the fractured earth that was the base of the city.

  The massive crab-like legs were now below him, just barely visible in the faint moonlight. The waves of sand were just above him, and he could feel the powerful magic of both constructs pulling at him. He was still somewhat disturbed by the conversation he’d had with Selina, when she explained just some of the magical defenses the city possessed.

  He’d been harboring some vague emergency plans, where he’d simply use his skill and [Rift] abilities to slowly make his way to the ground. It was hundreds of feet, and moving, but if it was his only way to escape the city, he’d been willing to risk it. That fell apart when he spoke to Selina about this mission, and she remarked off-handedly not to get too close to the legs, lest his Dawn rank magic be disrupted, leaving him to plummet to his inevitable death.

  Now he watched them warily as he crouched on a small ledge of stone, taking out the Rune Stones he needed for the ship’s defenses. He absorbed them greedily, watching the ink spill into him for only a moment before continuing the mission. He climbed just above the sand waves, then sent Deevee forward.

  The hydra stopped at about half the distance, unable to move closer, and Ethan groaned. They’d already agreed not to try hurling daggers at the ship, for fear of either alerting someone within, or setting off magical alarms. That meant his other method of making up distance.

  He double checked that there was no one looking, then pushed off the side of the wall. He fell directly toward the stone legs that would apparently make his magic fizzle out and die, trying to gauge his speed against the distance he needed to travel. Fortunately it was twenty feet at most, and Ethan didn’t need to build too much momentum before summoning a rift.

  Instantly his perspective shifted, and instead of the ground rushing toward him, it was the side of the ship. Belatedly he realized that he might slide off the side if the new runes didn’t work, and he made the mistake of looking down at the deadly waves of rolling sand beneath him. A second later he connected feet first with the side of the ship, his boots dulling the sound as planned, though his palms slapped into the rough steel harder than he’d have liked.

  For a panicked moment Ethan waited to slide down, but thankfully his climbing skill activated normally. Moving felt strange, however, and he realized his hands and feet were pushing through some kind of unseen covering over the ship’s hull. It felt a bit like moving through water, and he assumed he was penetrating some kind of protective layer of magic.

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  He took a moment to lift his dark shirt, spotting a softly glowing new tattoo where he’d felt the ink gathering minutes earlier. Ethan couldn’t tell how long the temporary protection would last, and his mind rushed back to the feeling of his climbing rune giving out on the side of that mountain, months earlier. He started to move.

  Not upward though, as his implanted knowledge said that was the wrong move. The deck contained the only normal entrances into the ship, and regardless of how many guards might have left with the royals, it wouldn’t be undefended. Not to mention being brightly lit–Ethan wanted to avoid burning through his Mystic mana before getting inside, understanding that he was likely going to rely on [Trick of the Light] quite a bit.

  He crawled downward, Tomo keeping watch from the Astral, and ensuring that Ethan’s presence was undetectable thanks to his new rune. It didn’t take long to find what he needed: a massive grate built into the bottom of the ship. Apparently the enchanted sand would be drawn inward when not in use, and deployed through this same shaft when needed once again.

  Ethan didn’t hesitate, scrambling between the metal bars, feeling the protective magics squeezing against him as he did so. He had another flashback of that day on the mountain as he crawled through the shaft, remembering how it felt to be trapped within that stone cavern. Fortunately this one was more than large enough, meant to allow many tons of sand to flow in and out quickly, and he had no trouble following it into the ship’s hold.

  Evidently the entire belly of the ship was designed for no other purpose than holding the magical sand, and Ethan’s night vision kicked in to reveal the enormous, empty compartment. It stretched onward, far enough that even his enhanced vision saw only darkness ahead

  Conscious of his limited time, he continued his crawl along the ceiling of the hold, searching for a way up. It took some time, but he eventually found some kind of hatch that he assumed was used for maintenance. Unsurprisingly it was sealed, but not so tightly as to prevent his entry.

  No light came through, so he assumed whatever was above him was unoccupied, but the piece of Loyal Origami he slid through was still covered in a listening rune, just in case. Holding just the corner, he willed the paper to fold into the form of a small spider. He sent a charge of dimensional energy, then allowed the little creature to wander around for a minute or so as he listened.

  There was a dull sound like machinery and nothing else, but Ethan still drew a dagger before calling a rift. His ability worked slowly, as if it were being resisted, and he felt the second mysterious rune he’d been given glow in response. Still, it did work, and he appeared in the room. It was empty, as hoped, and he quickly scanned the area around him. The room appeared to hold nothing but a ladder, presumably for climbing down below.

  He moved to the nearby door, which thankfully had a small window, showing a dimly lit hallway on the other side. He slipped through when he saw no one, but used [Trick of the Light] just in case. Ethan closed the door quietly behind him, but not before charging the spider once again, hopefully securing his exit.

  The hall was lined with pipes, which surprised Ethan, and they were hot to the touch. His intelligence of the ship was severely lacking from this point, and so he followed the hallway toward its end, hoping to find some clue. The hall seemed to wrap almost the entire way around the vessel, and terminated at a metal door at the stern.

  The mechanical noise was undoubtedly coming from the other side of the door, and Ethan peered through, still camouflaged. He saw two people that he assumed were engineers, judging by the tools they wore on belts. They were wearing the red of Arinae, and seemed engrossed in monitoring a huge, complex machine that dominated the large room.

  It looked like steamworks, with pistons pumping, gauges, and pipes going in all directions. There were also more clearly magical elements, with enormous gems of various colors secured in different places, pumping out glowing energy which disappeared into the brass pipes. The information he was given suggested this was the engine that powered the magical waves of sand.

  Ethan hadn’t found any other ways up into the ship, but spotted ladders inside the engine room. Rather than risk the blue-white light of a rift, he waited for the engineers to move as far from the door as possible, then quietly slipped through. The hinges creaked slightly, but were utterly lost in the cacophony of sounds from the engine.

  Ethan remained camouflage as he immediately began climbing upward. Steam was blasting outward at set intervals, which helped keep him hidden, but also had him sweating inside his dark mask. The ‘ceiling’ was just another platform secured at a higher section of the engine, which appeared to continue all the way to the top of the ship. Ethan only needed to use the ladder at the last moments of the climb, quickly popping up onto the unoccupied platform.

  There were two more doors here as well, one of each side of the ship. Ethan quickly ducked through as soon as he saw it was clear, worried about how much time he’d already burned with no results. This section of the ship was built quite differently, with the inner hull rising up for two floors, with only the center of the ship being used for rooms.

  The halls were lined with magical glow stones, and Ethan quickly climbed up the outer wall, disappearing into the shadows where it met the ceiling. This gave him a much needed break from [Trick of the Light] and he took a moment to survey the area.

  The level was fairly open, though the ship was likely a few hundred feet long, and he couldn’t see it all. The pipes from the engine rose up from where he’d come from, venting out holes in the ceiling, and the rooms he could see had the dirty, well-worn appearance that suggested it was used by the crew. Assuming that anything truly valuable would be where the royals stayed, he began the crawl toward the prow of the ship.

  He passed two guards and several crewmen as he went, but none looked up. Frankly they didn’t seem to consider it a possibility that they could have an intruder, which Ethan was grateful for. As he moved he passed a number of rooms on the two decks he could see. Some were open, others he only saw when someone would enter or leave, but he was impressed by what the ship held. There was a mess, letting out the sweet aroma of food, an armory, and even some entertainment, as music drifted out.

  As he reached the front of the ship, though, he finally felt like he was on the right track. The royal quarters stood out immediately, as their doors were open and he could see expensive furniture inside. There was also some kind of meeting room, and a closed door Ethan suspected led to Princess Olivia’s office, given its proximity to her room.

  He figured he’d finish scouting then return, the mysterious device–if it existed–was obviously the higher priority. He kept moving forward, eyes searching until he came to a section of the ship closed off in a similar way to the engine room, and heard voices. Keeping to the shadows he moved forward, and a group of knights slowly came into view.

  “...desert maybe?” one said.

  “Nah, they’ll likely throw away basic desert or forest areas. Too advantageous to either prince,” a second said.

  “Could be a mix though,” said a voice with a higher pitch. “Sometimes they’ll take desert if it's a city too, or a forest by a lake, that sort of thing.”

  “I don’t care,” a deep voice intoned. “As long as I’m the one that gets to put Calevaro down.”

  Ethan’s eyes widened at the sentiment, then continued forward, until he could see all the way to the front of the ship. There were four knights gathered around a table, playing cards, and drinking. Their helmets were off, but they wore the red armor of Arinae easily. They continued to banter as Ethan used [Trick of the Light] to get close enough to see what they were guarding.

  A wall rose up, again similar to that of the engine, though with gaps at the sides for steam pipes to go through. Ethan followed the pipes, squeezing quietly into the room. “Shit,” he whispered, taking in the sight.

  Built into the front of the ship was something Ethan could only describe as a steampunk satellite. It was made of bronze, and larger than a car. It was just one piece of a device that must have taken up the whole nose of the ship. Pipes ran everywhere, with similar crystals, pistons, and gauges to the engine, though they all seemed to connect between three key points.

  There was the satellite, something that looked like a control panel, and six cylindrical objects that looked like pods. They were just the right size for a person, and even had small walkways leading to them. There was no doubt in Ethan’s mind that he was looking at the device that would allow the Arinaens to interfere with the arena, and that the tiny little spy rune he’d brought would be woefully inefficient.

  As he was considering what he saw, Ethan heard a familiar voice echoing through the ship. It was Princess Olivia, arguing loudly with her brother.

  “Perfect,” Ethan said with a sigh. “I knew it would be Plan C.”