The Sky Pirates Part One (special preview)

Cyrus looked at me and my mother Semnai put her hands on my shoulders as comfort and to hold me back. Cyrus sighed, a cold resolve coming over his face.

“Very well, Captain,” he said with a bow. “It was an honor to serve under you all these years. I am grateful for everything.” He and the others turned and walked away.

I was heartbroken and longing for my friend. In the weeks that followed I had no interest in my birthday party nor for the fact I was to be named captain. My mothers dragged me from my room, promising me a wonderful time.

“Once you’re named captain all those things won’t matter,” Sicyon told me. “You’ll have your role and your crew and everything will be as it should.”

Semnai smiled at me. “Have you decided on a first mate?”

“I did,” I grumble.

As we walked out on deck one of the horns was sounded. Sicyon turned with a glare. “How dare they approach us on our child’s birthday?”

Semnai took out her viewing glass and stretched it. “Isn’t the Apollo?”

I perked up then, watching as the Apollo came to rest beside us. A line was cast out from the Apollo then and Cyrus came swinging from it, landing beside me. 

He grinned. “You didn’t think I’d miss your birthday did you?” He winked.

After that day, Cyrus and I kept in touch as often as possible. Our commerce was lengthy and often and whenever we were in the same skies we made sure to meet. Recently, it had been a few months since I had last seen Cyrus but our letters never stopped.

His last letter informed me he had been traveling over the Golem territory and he was heading for the Cobra Strait.

“I have to touch down,” the letter says. “Gather supplies and a few new crew members. When was the last time you touched down Theai? Can you even remember? I know your birthday is coming up again, I promise I’ll try to make it again. Yours always, Cyrus.”

The Cobra Strait was one of the few easy places to land a Brigadoon. The port was wide enough the ships could touch down and not worry about the balloons coming into contact with any trees or mountainsides. It was in Obresh that we had first found Cyrus, so in a way, it was his home.