It was the following morning in which both boys awoke with rough hangovers to the sounds of bells ringing shrilly across the Carrion Maker. Warning bells that signalled hands to be on deck, that the ship would be entering a fight.

  The young officers rolled out of their beds and rush to their divisions on the ship.

  Julius said not much to Dandelion as Dandelion said not much back to him on their ways to their stations. And it was not as if they had time to talk about it.

  They both knew what they remembered of what was said the previous night.

  Julius’ mind swam with the ramifications of this revelation. His life was fever altered by this person and within the deepest recess of his soul, Julius began to harbour hatred.

  What right did Dandelion have to take away his parents from him? What right did he have to demand gratitude from him for apparently freeing Julius from his responsibilities? And how did Julius allow himself to be led along for so long and so far into the deceit and foolishness of his once best friend?

  Julius looked around himself and realised with startling, horrified clarity: he was serving on a pirate ship. How did he allow himself to do that? He was a god damn fool. He had to get away.

  But not now.

  The bells were sounded because the ship’s scout had sighted a merchant ship that had was rushing at double speed towards a town. The shipping manifest that Dandelion has stolen from a delivery office in the last town they had berthed noted it as the Robin, loaded with top grade Peso coins set to be delivered to a bank to be accrued into several accounts in the capital. It was a prized opportunity for pirates seeking to build their own coffers.

  The Captain gave the order for the ship to engage and the twelve starboard cannons were run out. Julius felt the thrust of the ship’s propulsion, sending the ship into a deep decline down after the merchant ship.

  Julius used his personal spyglass to see the merchant vessel swung around. And several flashes of fire popped from its port side.

  The Captain screamed for the crew to cover as the cannonballs, iron wrought and heavy, slammed into the bow of the ship.

  The vessel, like most typical airships in the skies, was made primarily of wood. But the outer and inner layers of the ship were laden with four to five inch walls of alloyed iron. This was only reason the cannonballs did not slice the ship and her crew in slice.

  The collision of ammunition and ship rang out with heavy, long dongs of dented metal. The ship groaned from the punishment.

  One ball did however only clipped the top edge of the iron shell and was sent into a frightening spin around and down through the main deck. And into the pirates.

  Julius saw a man standing before him one second. Then the next, his head and shoulders were smashed from his torso by the errant iron ball in a burst of blood, gore and bone.

  Julius lurched back, as his face was covered in the man’s viscera.

  He heard the Captain scream out for the guns to fire. Julius yelled the command and the cacophony and stench of exploding gunpowder downed out his senses. The ship rocked with the force of the broadside. Men screamed and ran, carrying bags of black powder, cannonballs and weapons.

  Julius rushed to the port hole as the cannon was commanded to be reloaded. He peered out to see what was happening. The Robin has about-faced and was aiming its next broadside of cannons at them.

  Julius leapt back and order his division to hurry and fire at will. His people only managed to load up the cannon and yank the rope pulleys to get the great gun in position when Julius heard a distant salute of cannon fire. And then the whistle of cannonballs.

  He threw himself down as the the balls made direct contact with the starboard side. Dents formed on the inner layering of the wall. And one other ball made yet another impact. It had struck a perfect aim, going through the opening port hole for Julius’ cannon. Julius curled in as the ball slammed into the cannon with such force that the gun was lurched back with a bucking jump.

  Two pirates were directly behind the cannon and were summarily crushed by its wheels and holding base. Julius scrabbled away as the barrel of the cannon dropped down and nearly crushed his legs.

  While his men screamed and cursed, he heard the Captain shout out to load the hooks.

  They were boarding.

  Julius ordered the men to gather upon the wounded and dead, close up the portholes and meet him up on the main deck.

  He ran up, grabbing at his cutlass to make sure it was still there. He leapt to the main deck where it was chaos. Dead men lay strewn around, either obliterated by cannon fire or made onto wooden porcupines by the shrapnel left in the cannons’ wake. Dandelion was sprint up and down the starboard side, shutting orders at the cannoneers. They were busying pulling away the cannons and allowing the ballista to be moved into place.

  They were gas powered weapons with iron sights aimed down their barrels. When they were in place, the order to fire was given instantly and Julius watched the barbed hooks leapt from the guns trailing thick black chains in their wake.

  Their aim was true as the iron bolts slammed into the sides of the Robin.

  As the merchant ship pulled back, the chains became taut instantly. And with that, Dandelion shouted to begin the winches.

  The cannoneers simultaneously twisted a black lever on each ballista and within the machines, Julius heard the whirring of gears. The chains soon began to retract back into the barrels on the weapons.

  The Carrion Maker swung itself around, forcing itself closer and closer to the Robin. With each metre gained, the chains whipped back with more ferocious intensity. Julius drew his cutlass whilst a few metres down along the deck, Dandelion drew out his boarding axes.

  The pair shared a look. It was as if time stood still in that moment. As their ship rushed down to collide with the Robin, they looked at eachother with a silent agreement. Now matter what happened now, their friendship was over.

  The order to brace was issued and the pirates, armed to the literal teeth with dagger, cutlass, knives, guns and axes, roared in unison as the two ships slammed into one another with a screeching sheer of steel against steel.

  The force of the blow sent the pirates staggering forwards, but they used that momentum to rush their charges leaping up and over the ledge and into the waiting enemy.

  The merchant ship’s guards, a battalion of fifty men and women, opened fire with a volley of pneumatic rifles. Bodies fell and blood splattered, but the pirates - incensed by the bloodletting - pushed on until they fell upon the guards.

  The fight was vicious and bloody between the fifty guards against the now sixty-five pirates.

  Limbs were hacked down to bone. Faces carved in by axe, sword or knife. Screams rose and fell in pitch and volume depending on the rate of the dying. Revolvers and rifles flashed, bullets puncturing skin and popping skulls. Punches, kicks, bites and throws were all enthusiastically exchanged.

  Julius leapt over the dead and slashed with his cutlass. He cut down one guard who had aimed his rifle at his head. Julius swiped down, causing the rifle and one of the guard’s hands to fall to the deck.

  Julius knocked down a woman was swung a two handed ax for his body, but only slicing a thin red cut across his chest. He punched her hard in the face and then ran away from the thickest of the fighting.

  Rifles cracked above.Julius looked up to see Carrion Makers leading across the rigging of their sails into the sails of the Robin, engaging in frenzied combat with the snipers who were picking off pirates as fast as they could.

  He heard the Captain yell. He turned to see him fighting with two rapiers against a group of guards. He turned away, feeling his lack of loyalty driving him away from that man. He held no ill will to the Captain. But after Dandelion’s confession… it changed his view on everything that Dandelion interacted with. It poisoned everything.

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  Thinking of him, Julius looked around for him. He was nowhere to be found.

  Julius felt worry, even a little, for Dandelion. What if he fell? What if he died? Yes, Julius hated him. But not to such an extreme that would want him dead. Right?

  Julius resolved to look for him, feeling his residual care for Dandelion overrule his anger.

  The bodies sodden the deck in rich red, layering the wooden planks with the flesh of the dead. Julius screamed for Dandelion amidst the smoke and fire. He reached the stern of the ship. The area was half-blown to hell from a volley of cannons that sliced off the roof and the rigging for the rear sails.

  He looked up the stairs that led towards the ship’s captain’s quarters. And saw Dandelion. He was covered in blood and soot, grinning wildly like all the rest of the Carrion Makers.

  He was finishing killing a guard - severing his head from his shoulders with a crisscross slash of his axes before turning around - and then grabbed at something on the floor. As Julius neared, he realised that it was not some thing.

  It was a young woman. She was injured, with a cut across her forehead and blood spilling down her face. She was a guard, judging by her uniform. He grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her to her feet.

  She screamed and cursed and slapped him.

  He laughed and punched her in the stomach before grabbing her by the hair and dragging her through the destroyed door of the quarters.

  Julius felt a stone of horror in his gut.

  He sprinted up the stairs, then stumbled back down. The Carrion Maker had opened fire with yet another volley, causing the Robin to spun violently. Julius felt the tearing of metal and the gentle flume of fire. The ship was going down.

  A woman’s scream came from the quarters.

  Julius cleared the last of the steps and rushed into the quarters.

  It was definitely a captain’s room. A side of the wall held a great paper chart of the world with the names of the skies which all ships flew threw.

  An oak table was overturned with its chairs strewn in broken pieces across the tilting floor. Cabinets were open, allowing their silvered and ceramic contents to spill out.

  There was also a lounge chair that covered a part of the quarters. And a bed. Which was where Julius, with mounting horror, saw Dandelion and the woman.

  Dandelion had the woman pinned face down on the bed. She was struggling and screaming, but one of his arms was pressed on her shoulder blades and his body’s weight held her in place. His positioned his legs between hers and was forcing them apart. He was also using his other free hand to grab at her trousers and was in the process of tearing them down her legs.

  He was hissing something into her ear. She began to beg him to stop.

  Julius screamed at Dandelion to get off her.

  Dandelion glanced quickly over this shoulder at his friend and grinned savagely. Spoils of war, he had said. Then he asked Julius to wait his turn until after he was finished, then he could have his fun too. He turned his attention back on the woman as he began to paw at her exposed skin.

  Julius felt his body move before his mind could catch up. He leapt across the room, grabbing Dandelion by his neck and hurled him off the woman and across the quarters.

  Dandelion crashed onto his back. Julius whirled around, cutlass drawn. He planted himself between Dandelion and the woman who was quivering and shaking from the assault.

  Dandelion jumped up and grabbed at his loosened trousers, pulling them back on. He stared with incredulous rage at Julius, who stared back with stunned horror.

  Julius ordered him to leave.

  Dandelion took one second to decide otherwise. He leapt at Julius, whipping out a dagger from his belt.

  Julius slashed back.

  Blades clashed.

  The pair danced around eachother, lashing out and jabbing and stabbing. Dandelion hissed that Julius was always weak and stupid and Dandelion had always looked down on him. Julius accused him of being insane.

  They fought hard. The room listed to one side, sending the two combatants skidding across the room and slamming against the dining table. Dandelion attempted to stab Julius, but he blocked the attack with his arm. Feeling the hot pain in his wrist, swung the hilt of his cutlass and cracked it across Dandelion’s face. Dandelion spun away in a snarl.

  The room rolled back to its proper position and the two regains their footing and fought again. Soon, Julius suffered another laceration across his arm and a puncture wound into his thigh while Dandelion earned a slash on his stomach and one in his shoulder. Blood dripped and soddened their clothes. Julius cursed the day he met Dandelion. Dandelion wished the same and leapt at him.

  Julius, who had usually backed from the charges instead stepped into it and swept his cutlass up.

  Unguarded by the sudden attack, Dandelion was unable to stop the blade from reaching his face.

  A screech of pain and Dandelion rolled away to his knees, dropping his bloody dagger and holding his face that gushed red liquid between his fingers.

  Julius stood there panting, staring at the sight. The woman stood up shakily, struggling to breathe. Julius looked to her, but she was in a daze. Staring down at the screaming Dandelion. Julius raised his blade into the air over Dandelion’s head.

  He should kill him. Right now. Right here. He should die. He should.

  He gritted his teeth and was going to, but-

  Dandelion looked up at him. And Julius paused.

  Dandelion’s face was carved into two. The blood-spattered slice of the blade had cut through the skin and bone. From the left side of his lower jaw, up diagonally through the bridge of his nose and then cutting into and decimating his right eye, leaving a vicious red socket. It was a monstrous sight.

  Dandelion’s tears flowed from his left eye and for that brutal moment, Julius saw the young boy in the orphanage again.

  The angry and lonely boy who connected with him and became his friend.

  The hurt is evident in Dandelion’s remaining eye and the ruined face he now wore.

  Julius’ whole body shook.

  The woman rushed past them and out of the room.

  Julius apologised weakly, shaken by the sight of his ruined friend, and walked away with his cutlass down.

  Dandelion’s expression changed from pain and hurt… to betrayal and rage.

  He screamed at Julius. Demanding he return and fight him.

  Julius reached the door when a throwing dagger embedded itself in the door’s frame by his head. Dandelion screamed his name.

  But Julius ran.

  Julius saw now that the Carrion Makers were being pushed back by the merchant guards and that they were no longer alone.

  On one side of the Robin was the Carrion Maker and her crew. They were fighting a retreat against the guards and uniformed soldiers who were firing riles, revolvers and even newly developed Flame-Swords. The Flame-Swords were wielded by soldiers in armour, fireproof and insulated with toughened leather. The swords were connected by small pipes that ran oil thorough the suits of armoury and under it for protection, leading to a small pressurised oil tank at the small of the suit’s back.

  The sword cut swathes through crowds, used for terrifying the enemy and burning them for a show of powerful force. This worked, sending the Carrion Maker’s crew scurrying.

  Julius shook his head and turned to see the other side of the Robin.

  There was another ship docked there with soldiers pouring out and rubbing along the steel gangplanks that were cranked out with pulleys to form the bridges between the two ships with damaging either. It was a warship, a frigate in the Millenia Navy.

  And in the small gap between ships, Julius could see the name of the frigate: Falcon.

  The Falcon must have been the merchant ship’s escort. It was hiding for the pirates to attack. This was a trap! And now the Falcon’s crew were springing it.

  The Captain of the Carrion Maker was knocked up and shot through the back of his head by a soldier. That was it. The day was lost. Julius could see that clearly.

  He sprinted down the steps, which collapsed under his feet as he ran and made for the bow of the Robin. He recalled seeing the-

  A blow from behind knocked him down.

  He tumbled and rolled down the deck. He grabbed the back of his head and felt blood.

  He looked up and saw Dandelion, holding a broken piece of wood. His eye blazed with hatred as he stalked towards his old friend.

  He was muttering and gibbering, gnashing teeth and hissing.

  A gunshot cracked out and Dandelion spun away, with a bullet in his shoulder.

  Julius looked the other way and saw the woman he saved. She was standing at the bow, revolver smoking and pointing frantically… At a Tesla bike. There were a few tied down with ropes and left under a tarpaulin that had been blow away by the wind and the fighting.

  Julius grinned with hope renewed.

  He had seen the bikes as they boarded the Robin.

  He leapt up and grabbed a hold of the tarp and yanked it fully away. Without much discussion, both he and the woman began to furiously untie one of the Tesla Bikes. There were the Mk. III types, so they were smilier by its successors.

  Julius righted the bike on its landline gears and turned on the systems with the ignition key that was - thankfully - still left in the ignition.

  The bike thrummed to life and the jet system underneath exploded to vigorous function. Julius clambered on and the young woman leapt on his back, holding him.

  Together they took off from the deck and soared up into the air.

  Julius heard his name being screeched across the wind and gunfire.

  He looked down and saw Dandelion. He was standing in the edge off the Robin, hand on the rigging and staring with a boiling single-eyed glare of absolute rage and madness.

  Dandelion screamed. He swore that he would do whatever it took to hunt down Julius. No matter where he would go, he would find him.

  A few Falcon soldiers rushed upon at him and Julius watched he battled the soldiers until the smoke obscured them completely.

  With that Julius twisted the bike and flew both he and the young woman away from the battle.

  Much later, they arrived at the Reykjavik Trading Town in the Northern Atlantic. The young woman, who was called Alva, said that she once lived there with her father and friends. She would be safe here.

  Julius landed her and wished her the best and apologised for his part in what happened.

  Alva told him to save his apology as he had nothing to do with it and thanked him for his bravery. She hugged him tightly and bid him good luck.

  Julius took back to the sky and never looked back…