After working through the night refueling, Marcus sat on one of the toes of the Firestorm and stared out at the road, unable to sleep. He stared at the tree line near the road with a musket leaned against his thigh.

  The thoughts of the golden dragon in the forest raced through his mind. The blonde rider at the forefront. And how she showed up again at the airship wreckage, almost on cue. He couldn't help but wonder if the horsemen that passed by earlier were looking for her and the girl she saved.

  Throughout the night, the road was calm. No other travelers passed by. After what seemed like an eternity, the sun rose and the impromptu camp quickly awakened.

  Arminius was the first on his feet, emerging from the wagon train already wearing his armor. "Took second watch, eh?"

  Marcus shook his head as he slid down to his feet. "No, I let Caeso sleep."

  Arminius pursed his lips and looked back toward his companion tuning the Hastatus for a moment, before turning his attention back to Marcus. "We're going to be on the road all day. I don't think stopping while the sun is up would be wise."

  With a nod, Marcus surrendered the gun to the Myrmidon. "I'll be fine. Couldn't sleep."

  Arminius lowered the readied lock with his thumb and looked over the weapon. "You could have just told him to take your place for the whole night, you know."

  Marcus grunted and put a foot and a hand on the rung of the leg-mounted ladder. "I couldn't sleep." He insisted before beginning his climb.

  "You're the one with the onboard navigation so you're on point today." Arminius called out.

  "Got it." Marcus yelled at the upright’s leg as he ascended.

  Arminius leaned the gun barrel against his shoulder and shook his head with a smirk before turning and walking toward the Hastatus.

  In the cockpit, Marcus prepared the startup sequence, flicking switches and pulling Fenicks from hibernation. A lone screen in front of the pilot's seat turned on, illuminating the rear of the interior with a bluish-white light.

  "Good morning." Fenicks said. "During hibernation, I've taken the liberty of estimating a few routes to Kourion City."

  "I thought hibernation meant you didn't do anything." Marcus spoke flatly as he continued to flick switches around and above him.

  "That is usually true." Fenicks replied. "But considering the circumstances, a total hibernation would have been a waste of time spent otherwise ensuring a successful journey."

  Marcus stopped going through the startup process and stared at the screen with a subtle suspicion that there was more to Fenicks than what it seemed. After hesitating, he continued preparing, not wanting to waste too much time thinking about it at that moment. "Good idea."

  After lighting the interior ambient lights, Layne poked his head through the open hatch. "We're ready to start."

  Marcus took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "Alright, let's get on the move." With everything that had already gone wrong, if something bad was going to happen, he just wanted to get it over with already.

  Layne nodded and then disappeared down the ladder for a moment, hollering something incoherent before climbing up and into the gunner's seat.

  "Ready." Ekkehard called from the ladder outside a few moments later.

  "Fuel reserves at 97%." Fenicks stated. "Median estimated travel time will put us at 31% remaining after arriving at Korion City."

  "We should see what's in the box before we leave." Layne turned and motioned toward the giant crate sitting at the Firestorm's feet.

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  The roar of the jump box outside flooded in from the hatch.

  "Go for start." Ekkehard shouted over the noise and shoved a thumbs up through the hatch.

  "Contact." Layne shouted back and turned the starter.

  With a thump and a shudder, the engine turned over. It began to chug for a moment before the whole cockpit eased into a constant vibration. Marcus reached up and adjusted a few levers. After a moment, the shaking subsided. As Marcus eased the rough idle, the forward wall of the cockpit revealed the landscape, becoming transparent once more.

  "See you on the road." Ekkehard shouted as he closed the hatch and descended the leg ladder.

  Marcus flipped the intercom switch on, then motioned with his chin. "Rip that thing open."

  Layne smiled and gripped the gunner’s joysticks. With extended index fingers, the Firestorm still in a parking squat reached forward and flipped the clasps open. Inside the box was an object comprised of a series of long metal segments linked together by hard edges. With one hand, the Firestorm reached in and picked it up.

  "What is this?" Layne leaned back in his seat, almost slouching as he pulled the object closer to get a better look.

  "The unknown object is a weapon mount." Fenicks said from the intercom.

  "What kind of weapon does it hold?" Marcus leaned forward, resting an elbow on the display surface to his side.

  "This weapon mount is an arrestor for kinetic delivery systems." Fenicks said.

  Both Marcus and Layne blinked in confusion at the response.

  Then Marcus's eyebrows shot up. "That's a sword sheath."

  "A more colloquial term would have been better, I see. Correct." Fenicks said.

  "Great, a sheath without a sword. What are we going to do, throw it at the enemy?" Layne groaned.

  "Can we use it?" Marcus sat up straight and tilted his head.

  "A procedure can be developed to mount this item, yes." Fenicks said.

  "Do it." Marcus nodded. "If this thing was onboard that airship, we might find the sword for it nearby too."

  Layne shrugged and nodded.

  "Procedure developed. Given the weapon size classification, current equipment loadout, and existing travel considerations, recommend an oblong low side torso mount for optimal usage." Fenicks said.

  On both the pilot and gunner center displays, a list of steps printed out line-by-line, on a blue background with white text. Both sides of the center displays rendered a wireframe of the Firestorm in green lines accompanied by a solid white rhombic shape representing the sheath at its mount point on the side of the machine.

  Marcus hummed as he read through the procedure. "Impressive, this sheath can just attach. We don't need to do anything special. It's almost like it was made for the Firestorm." He looked to Layne. "Let's get started, it should be pretty quick."

  After the Firestorm rose from a parking squat, Layne carefully positioned the sheath in line with what the diagram showed. As it neared the attach point, an outline appeared on the forward viewport HUD to assist in placing the object. A series of three arrows blinked in succession, in four cardinal directions as a hint of which way to position the object. With quick and nimble movements, Layne attached the sheath, though having to make a few reattempts after missing. It locked into place with a snap that echoed throughout the hull.

  "We're ready to go." Arminius radioed.

  "Good here as well. We're going to get moving." Marcus said.

  As he spoke, the wagon train huddled at the far corner of the clearing, to make way for the walking uprights.

  "The rest of the trip is in your hands now. Lead us to Kourion." Arminius said over the radio.

  Marcus exhaled sharply and navigated the Firestorm back toward the road. When he started this endeavor, he had it in his mind that after getting the Firestorm, things would be simple. But every leg of this adventure increased the stakes and became evermore perilous. He wondered if things would ever get back to normal. As he exited onto the road, Marcus realized he didn’t even know what normal even meant anymore.

  They traveled with the rising sun at their backs, their goal toward where the light filled the night sky to the south. The road they started on ran perpendicular to their destination for a great distance. Not only that, but the path Fenicks laid out as optimal was winding, an indirect route to the city proper.

  Traveling to where they had to turn was uneventful. The hardest thing about it was staying awake. Coming up, the next waypoint had them turning north on a T-intersection.

  But just before they turned, Layne sat up and pointed at the viewport. "What is that?"

  On the verge of dozing off, Marcus's eyes burst open and he hammered the clutch and stomped to stop. "What? Where?"

  A small subsection of the viewport partitioned and magnified a golden blob on the road. Marcus squinted. It was the dragon whelpling, bleeding on the side of the road. The dragonling uncoiled, looked up at the Firestorm, and let out a chirping cry.

  A strange buzzing sensation washed over Marcus. The doldrum of the road was washed away in an instant and his over-tiredness disappeared.

  The whelpling started waddling down the left path of the T-intersection, the opposite direction in which the route took them.

  Layne turned and looked at Marcus. "What do we do?"

  Marcus looked at the route on the console in front of him. The blinking waypoint north called to him; each ignition indicated the potential for freedom and safety. He looked at the injured golden dragon whelpling hobbling down the road, leaving droplets of blood with each step. It stopped and turned, waiting.

  "Let's follow it." Marcus said.

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