The low-hanging clouds billowed against their faces. Through the gaps in the spirit boat's skeletal frame, blood arrows clawed towards their sails.
Serious Grey panted hard as Radeon swung the ship, lining him up to deflect the arrows.
"Hold fast, old fellow! I've not dropped a man yet," Radeon yelled.
Serious Grey wanted to curse him for flying the boat so recklessly, but the set jaw and cold focus on Radeon's face made him swallow it.
Arrow Eye at the back lacked proper bow arts. His qi-infused arrows hit their marks, yet their power was not even half that of the blood arrows that howled toward them.
Radeon spotted a man in the distance, his vision tightening on the figure. The weapon in the man's hands was different.
"Oi! Brace and lean hard left when I call it. If you've no bench under your arse, clench both fists on a rail. You don't move till my shout."
Small bolts started to rain down, snapping through the air as a crossbow chattered at them without pause.
It was not the heavy blood arrows people bragged about. It was worse in its own way.
Cheap. Fast. Picked for the simple truth that linen did not stop metal.
As everyone scrambled for their seats, Radeon first steered to the right, drawing momentum.
He tugged the rope that held Serious Grey, swinging him up and letting him land back aboard.
"Easy, lads. Easy. Let her have her swing." Radeon held, eyes on the incoming volley of bolts.
He counted the rhythm of the shots in his head, fingers tapping on the ship's wheel and the array.
The six men's foreheads were matted with sweat despite the wind, their eyes bulging as the bolts rushed in toward them.
"Now! Hard left!"
The crew threw their weight left and the flying sailboat lurched with them.
Radeon refused to let it spin. He let the mast lean and rolled the hull onto its side.
Then he killed the hoverstones. The drop hit at once.
Radeon channeled all the power into the windstones. They screamed into overdrive.
Air tore past the rigging. They knifed downward fast, and the faster they fell the faster they went.
A hard dive that traded lift for speed without giving the sky a chance to toss them.
"Number Two, to me. Throw a barrier at my back."
Jolly Lad hurried up to Radeon. The qi barrier did not shatter, but the sheer number of bolts made the air thrum.
Radeon did all he could to slip through the worst of it. Jolly Lad's barrier behind him flickered thin.
The man Radeon had called number two already pale from the strain.
"Three, your turn. The rest of you, back to your marks. Next we lean right, ready on signal."
Blabby Stick pressed in at Radeon's back. He was the most frightened of the bunch.
His mouth would not stop yapping as qi bolts streaked past them.
"The wood by the array hit! It's hit! Ah never mind."
"Five shots incoming. Left. No! Right. No! Left."
"Arrow coming! Do I block with my sword or throw a barrier? What do I do?"
Radeon did not bother answering the man's babble. He listened only for something useful.
A threat that mattered. This run would be a neat way to show his skill to the higher-ups when he asked for parts later.
Parts that would not be easy to pry from stingy hands. As if Giovanni's memory sat behind his eyes, he finally saw what he wanted.
A patch of darkness too deep for this hour. A place where cages slid in and out of a hidden opening.
These were unmapped grounds. Even Giovanni only knew of them, and had never been here. That much Radeon knew.
All the more reason to charge fast. The words he would use to present this discovery to his peers already stirred in his mind.
"Still breathing, you lot?" Radeon asked.
Nods of both fear and excitement met Radeon's eyes.
As they pulled farther away, the qi bolts lost force and dropped short.
Their range was limited and the danger faded to a prickle at his neck.
"You lot see that? Look dead ahead," Radeon told the six men.
The men turned quickly, eyes burning with qi. Their visions better than any mortal sight.
"I see it. Clear as day. Looks like a cave. Some sort of entrance, maybe?" Serious Grey stated.
"Get that map we're meant to be scratching at. Tell me if anything like this is marked near here," Radeon said, passing the map.
The men scrambled toward the map board, too excited to remember the swaying deck.
The boat lurched from side to side, Radeon's hands fighting the pull.
He fed more power into the spirit stones and forced the boat higher.
"You lot got a death wish? One at a time, you bastards. Whose eyes are sharpest?"
He knew it was the archer, but the man stood at the far end of the boat.
Radeon let the closest sailor grab the board and pass it along.
As the men inched away from him, Radeon's gut tightened. The enemy below would be on full alert by now.
He needed to drew and scribe what they came for and retreat fast.
"Since when could you lot read and scratch at letters, eh?" Radeon asked, seeing them eye the map like it was a hot pan.
"Uh. I can read a bit. Shapes are easy. I can do shapes," Serious Grey said, puffing up what little he knew to save face.
"All that matters now is what you see. There are the men. There are the cages. That slit in the rock. You're seeing it, aye?" Radeon said, making them fix every detail in their minds.
Radeon pointed out each detail while they nodded, heads bobbing like headless flies.
He burned every angle into their minds, making sure they remembered the lay of the land before they went back to camp.
After a few minutes of circling, he saw their wits still held, so he probed.
"Got anything down yet, lads? My arms are near dropping with all this flying."
"Helmsman, we memorized it by sight, but the truth is, we've no notion how to set the shape to paper."
"Bloody hells take me. What am I meant to do with you sorry lot?"
Radeon pretended to be furious and pulled his hand away from the visible array controls.
The boat glided in a tilted line through the air while he snatched the brush and began to draw.
Then he felt it. A warning in the prickle of his skin. His hand sped up over the wheel and array.
With a hard tilt, the back of the ship took the hit. The rear plating blew apart.
Splinters and shards of wood exploded between the men in midair.
"Archer, keep the volley steady. The rest of you, shields up!" Radeon barked the orders.
He could not afford to look too relaxed. That would only invite suspicion later.
"That's it then. We're out," Radeon said, looking pale with relief.
The men wore easy smiles, already certain the mission was a success.
Radeon watched them, their trust a warm weight on his back.
Now he only needed one final touch. A small nudge that took no qi and no divine ability.
"So then, how many cages did you count?" Radeon asked.
The six men started counting on their fingers, lips moving.
Radeon did not have to wait long before the squad leader spoke.
"From what I saw, there were about fifty," Serious Grey said.
"Serious Grey's right. I… I counted fifty too," Whack Head chimed.
Radeon pressed them for every detail.
The number of men. The rough count of arrows fired at them. The rhythm of each volley.
He took their scattered impressions and steered their answers until they lined up.
By the time he was done, every detail matched. The story they wove felt solid, even for those who had barely looked.
A quiet suggestion, buried in shared memory. Radeon was already training their tongues to speak of their heroics with precision.