The following two weeks were filled with scouting runs along the Thundering Massive and tweaking Percy's upgrades to repel the dragons and protect the ship and her crew from deadly lightning strikes. Even though the process had already become routine, Celia relished the thrill of ascending into the air every time. But today, her moment of blissful solitude at the helm was disturbed by an inquisitive voice.

"What's the plan for today, boss?" Abner asked, rolling his moustache.

"Same as yesterday. We fly along the mountains, scare away any dragons that dare to stand in our way and note any significant patterns of their behaviour."

"So, no action. Again." The note of disappointment in his voice made Celia turn to face him.

"We are on a flying ship facing the dragons. Is that not enough excitement for you?"

Abner raised his hands. "Don't get all worked up, boss. I'm just saying that lately, all we do is run meaningless reconnaissance missions."

Celia cocked her head. "Abner, we are facing opponents we know nothing about. The last time we rushed headlong into danger, we almost died and lost Percy. What we do now may seem trivial and boring for you, but in the long term, it will help us cross the mountains." She shook her head, looking back towards the thick clouds getting closer. "Gabriel and his team are working very hard analysing all the information we bring them."

"Right, your boyfriend and the eggheads." Abner put his hands into his pockets, trying to look nonchalant. "But we are not one of them."

Celia turned back to him, frowning. His tone made her mildly irritated, as he was trying to tell her something, but at the same time, he did a terrible job of clarifying his point. The first dragons could appear any minute now, and she didn't have time for this sort of nonsense right now.

"We made a deal," she noticed. "In exchange for a governmental pardon and fixing Percy, we will assist Gabriel in his work."

"Well, yes. But we are pirates, are we not? It wouldn't be the first time we broke a contract."

"Why would we do that? We still get loads out of this arrangement. All the new weapons and upgrades for Percy, medical assistance... Why would we throw it all away?"

"I don't know. Maybe to cross those damn mountains finally?" Abner's voice raised a pitch, but then he cursed and started pulling on his moustache nervously. "Look, Celia, I'm talking to you as a friend. All we're up to lately is doing government lackeys' bidding. The crew is getting restless. You promised us freedom and great riches in the new world."

Celia had to hold herself back to not snap at him. It was so typical of Abner to be so shortsighted. He was always keen on quick gratification and instant rewards, choosing the fastest and riskiest ways to do the job. But if not for her and her long-term planning, he'd died long ago. They both knew that, so his lack of trust in her leadership abilities stung.

She shook her head. "We are not ready."

"And when will we be? Percy is as strong as ever, and we have the newest high-technology weapons prototypes. What's stopping you from taking that last step? The new world is right there!" Abner waved his hand towards the rocky peaks of mountains.

"There are still too many things we don't know. We need more time," Celia said dismissively, turning her attention to watch the shadows moving in the clouds in front of them.

"And is it you or the lordling talking?"

That stung even more. Celia knew she needed to have a serious talk with her crew but now was not the time.

"Dragon incoming from the port!" Lyra called from the crow's nest.

Celia turned the helm adjusting their course. "Get back to your station, Abner. We'll discuss this later when we won't have dragons trying to electrocute us."

Clearly unhappy with her dismissal, Abner saluted mockingly and rushed to the portside to pick up his harpoon thrower.

"Turn on the noise generators!" Celia shouted and fished earplugs out of her pocket, shoving them to her ears with one hand. It did not draw out the cacophony entirely but made it more bearable. They were testing different things that could help the crew minimise the discomfort caused by the hellish devices, but so far, good old earplugs were the most efficient. The downside was that they needed to lean heavily on hand gestures instead of shouted orders, which was not an ideal solution in the heat of battle.

That's why they needed more time before they could cross those bloody mountains.

A magnificent green-scaled dragon appeared on the port side and sent a lightning bolt at them, but the electricity harmlessly sailed down Percy's lightning conductors system. The creature did not seem irritated, though. With a graceful arc, it flew over Percy and disappeared in the clouds above them.

The hair on Celia's neck stood on the ends. Something was wrong. With all their terrifying glory, Sky Guardians were acting like wild animals most of the time, attacking on sight, getting irritated if they could not reach their prey and fleeing if the noise and weapons got too close. On the other hand, this one acted as if it was expecting that its lightning breath would not harm them.

Celia narrowed her eyes and watched the thick clouds around them. Plenty of massive, coiling shadows were moving fast, barely beyond their sight, but she noticed something else when she focused all her attention on following their movements.

Different kinds of shadows, smaller and moving slightly slower than the dragons.

Celia blocked the helm and waved her hands wildly, trying to get the attention of her crew, but it was already too late. Two more dragons appeared on both sides of the ship, but this time the creatures were accompanied by several smaller, winged figures wielding ancient weapons like bows and spears.

„Rust and starvation!" Celia cursed and wrenched earplugs from her ears. "Enemy approaching! Ready your weapons!"

But her crew was too stunned to react in time. Most were wielding harpoon shooters, and other heavy weapons meant to harm massive, scaled beasts, not agile, winged humans. As the attackers dived at Percy with raised weapons, surprised gasps quickly turned into painful screams. Even though arrows couldn't do much harm to Percy, they could certainly hurt the crew.

Celia left the helm and pulled out her revolvers. "Take down those bloody birdmen!" she cried, taking two shots at the closest flying man. He turned gracefully in the air dodging her bullets with ease, not unlike his dragon companions.

But even though the initial assault had surprised the pirates, they were an experienced bunch, and fighting for survival and adapting to fast-changing circumstances was their strong suit. As dragons withdrew due to the high noise level, more gunshots pierced the air, forcing winged invaders to retreat in haste.

One of the assailants with dark brown-feathered wings made another dive and threw a javelin at a noise generator close to the helm. The machine shrieked, and a small explosion shook the deck. But even though the winged man succeeded in his attack, the precise throw required him to balance in the air for a moment.

And that moment was all Celia needed.

"You're going down, bastard!"

One bullet went straight through his shoulder and wing, while the other grazed his ribs. A painful cry pierced the air, and the man beat his wings, trying to withdraw, but the bullet must have injured his wing because he had lost his altitude rapidly.

"Zed!" Celia called.

With a loud bang, a net was shot into the air and hit the struggling man directly in the chest, long lines coiled around his arms and wings, immobilising him immediately. With another painful cry, he plummeted to Percy's deck.

"Seize him! Keep him down, but don't kill him!" Celia shouted, running towards the commotion.

It took Zed and two other men to keep the winged man down and wrenched a deadly-looking dagger off his hands. But when Celia reached them, a tight rope bound his hands and wings, and his broken lower lip was bleeding. Zed grabbed the assailant and pulled him to standing so Celia could see him.

She saw the sketches and pictures from the books Gabriel showed her, but the sight was still utterly foreign to her. The man was tall, with broad shoulders and strong legs. He wore some animal hides, but the ruggedly-looking garments barely covered half of his chest and legs. His wings, even while bound, looked enormous, with beautiful brown feathers that were now ruffled and bloody. He wore his dark hair loosely falling to his shoulders and into his face, but she could see a strong line of jaw and dark eyes that seemed narrower than hers with corners slightly upturned. With golden brown skin and colourful tattoos covering muscled arms and chest, he looked as if he came from a completely different world.

The new world.

He growled like a wild animal and tried to rush at Celia, but Zed's fist hit his stomach, forcing him to deflate, and utter another painful gasp.

"Who is this guy?" Lyra was the first one to break the silence on the deck.

"I have no idea. But I bet he has a lot of things he would like to share with us," Celia said.

The man looked around him, his eyes wild. He grunted some words that sounded like nothing Celia had heard before, but it was clear from the hate in his eyes that those were not nice things.

"What do you want us to do with him?" Zed asked.

"Throw him to the brig and make sure he's bound. I don't want any accidents."

Zed nodded and dragged growling men towards the lower decks.

"We're heading back down now," Celia ordered. "Let's get this guy talking as fast as we can."