A little town, Gearbarrow, was an unexpected marvel. It was built on high flat hilltops which, to Celia's surprise, still peeked above the water. The place was surrounded by high walls of dams keeping the raging sea away from little rocky streets and huddled little houses. A few machines were whirling and hissing with steam while pumping excess water from the roads back to the sea. The town stood firmly on solid ground, but it would not last much longer, considering the high waves sloshing mercilessly over the dams.

Celia stood in the crow's nest, watching through her spyglass as the black dots of following ships were getting bigger. She cursed and collapsed the telescope putting it back in the belt's pocket. She leaned over the railing to look down.

The crew was running around, moving the supplies from the dock and carrying them to the ship's hold. But they were going far too slow, even with a couple of heavy lifters like Zed and Uriah.

"Move it!" Celia shouted. "We have less than an hour before we'll be in the range of those pursuing ships!"

"Move it! Move it!" Sir Prancer flew over the working crew's heads, screaming his lungs out.

Celia frowned. Even with sending the parrot ahead with the message about what supplies they needed, it was still taking too long. She wanted to supply enough food and coal to take them further over the mountain before they needed to stop again. But even though they gained distance over their pursuers, the ships still didn't give up their hunt. That meant they would have to pack up what they could and make a run for it. Again.

She sighed and looked up at the metal-reinforced balloons floating slightly above her. At least Percy was in top-notch condition. So far, they didn't have any problem with the ship itself. She was flying like a dream, just as Celia knew she would. Hopefully, Percy was strong enough to face whatever awaited them around Thundering Massive.

When Celia looked to the west, she could already see enormous dark shapes framing the horizon, like silent guards keeping the new world away from her. Even the sky, which was currently clear and without any clouds, seemed darker over there, as if the region had its own weather patterns.

Celia pursed her lips and picked up her spyglass again to check on the Chief's lackeys. The ships weren't much closer, but another movement caught her attention. She spotted three smaller shapes that were approaching at a much faster pace.

"Rust and starvation!" she cursed. Celia exchanged her spyglass for her hook gun. She didn't have time for a slow climb down the rope ladder, so she fired the weapon to anchor herself and jumped over the railing. Flying was over her favourite thing. Even if such a dire and dangerous situation, she still enjoyed her little glide down the mast. The thrill of air rushing at her, the knowledge that she had to release the rope at just the right moment to land where she wanted. The hook gun was her most cherished possession right after Percy herself.

She didn't even lose a stride when her leather boots touched the deck, and the hook whizzed back to the gun. "We need to leave. Now!"

The crew froze mid-motion, halted by her sudden command.

"What do you mean now?" Abner called from the dock below the ship. "We haven't even loaded half of what we paid for!"

Celia leaned over the railing, and Abner motioned on piles of coal and crates lining the dock, his face a mask of utter disbelief. If there was one thing thieves hate the most after actually paying for what they need, it was wasting money. But there were some instances where money was not the most critical factor, and it was one of them.

"Chief sent Sinkers. They will be here in a couple of minutes."

Abner cursed, and the people around him winced at the foul language. "All right, we are done here then."

Sinkers were a special unit in Plunderers, always dispatched to halt the ships in the harbour. They travelled in small steamboats that were incredibly fast with excellent manoeuvrability but could hold only a couple of people. But that was usually enough. When a large ship had bad luck spotting them too late, they usually found themselves with shredded hulls and taking water fast.

And that was the only thing Chief needed─to keep Percy sea-bound for long enough for the large ships to arrive and finish the job of destroying her.

The word 'sinkers' went through the deck like a jolt of electricity. Once people heard it, they hastily rushed to finish what they were doing and ran back to their stations to get the ship to move as soon as possible.

"Zed!" Celia shouted while dashing towards the helm. "Get those canons on starboard ready to fire!"

"Aye aye, Captain!"

"Rhody, run to the engine room and help Theo and Eugene to start Percy up swiftly."

"On it, Captain!"

"Uriah, get all the long-distance rifles on the starboard and keep those bastards away from my ship!"

"Already on it, boss!"

Celia grabbed the voicepipe giving it a long sharp whistle, and then shouted, "We are leaving now! Get Percy up to speed. The sooner, the better!"

Unfortunately, starting up all the ship's engines was not instant. The deck started vibrating when the machines were slowly coming back to life, but the propellers' rotation seemed painfully slow, while Celia could already hear the roar of incoming Sinkers.

The people gathered on the jetty to stare at Percy were now gasping and pointing their fingers at fast incoming steamboats. They probably should have run for safety, as it was evident that a firefight would start in a few moments, but they just stood there and stared as if it was some fascinating show.

Celia gritted her teeth with annoyance. "Abner, scare those onlookers away!"

The man saluted quickly, pulled out his gun, and fired three shots in the air, startling townsfolk. "Get out of here, you gawkers! It's going to get hot in here soon, and believe me, you don't want to be here when those thugs come! Take some cover, at least!"

The onlookers finally realised that their peaceful little town was going to host a pirate skirmish, so they started to disperse, looking nervously over their shoulders, and hastening back to the safety of their homes. But a few still lingered, peeking out from behind some crates or the warehouses closest to the docks.

Percy started slowly ascending, with the keel almost out of the water, but the Sinkers were so close now that Celia could see the crews, mostly huge men holding big guns that looked a bit like crossbows. She knew what it was, as she saw it in action in the past, though she never fired one herself. They were heavy and slow weapons, so they were not exactly her favourite type.

But they were awfully effective for shredding ships' hulls.

"Cannons! Fire at will!" she shrieked to another voicepipe leading to gundeck.

The moment the words left her mouth, the whole ship trembled when all the heavy cannons fired simultaneously. As Percy was slightly pushed towards the town, Celia had to adjust the helm when heavy artillery rolled back from the firing impact. But the small steamboats were far too fast to get caught by the cannon's round. Celia knew that but hoped it would keep them away long enough.

It didn't.

After slaloming in evasive manoeuvres to avoid cannonballs, they approached even faster. Uriah and the others crew members started to fire at them, and a few even had some luck, but there was not enough of them to cover all three boats. Celia watched as Sinkers divided and approached Percy from different angles, the thugs raising their weapons, ready to fire.

The keel was already out of the sea, rising the waves as if the deep was not ready to let them go.

"Theo! We need to ascend faster!"

"It's as fast as we can!" came the reply, and Celia cursed profoundly. At this point, there was nothing they could do except try to keep Sinkers away and distract them from taking the shots and hoping for the best.

But Lady Luck did not favour Celia that day.

Two of the boats' crew managed to get a clean shot at Percy, sending a vicious iron disc with razor-sharp edges soaring at the ship so fast they were barely a blur. One of them skidded off the metal-protected hull with a horrible sound of shredding steel that made one's teeth hurt. But the other went right through unprotected starboard just below gundeck. Percy lurched to the side as if doubling with pain.

Celia screamed with frustration, let go of the helm and pulled out her revolvers. The boat that made a lucky shot passed near Percy, trying to position themselves for another shot, but it made them sail just into Celia's shooting range.

With a guttural battle cry, she shot a series at the thugs on the boat and was rewarded with the one with the disc thrower doubling over and falling overboard, sending the dangerous weapon into the sea depths. But before she could celebrate, another lurch and scream of shredded wood made Percy tilt to the side, and Celia had to hold on to the railing not to fall.

"Come on!" she roared. "Keep them away, or they will take us down!"

"On it, boss!" Zed appeared from under the deck, holding a huge metal launcher on his shoulder. He trotted to the starboard, took a moment to aim and shot at the spot slightly away from the boat. The launcher fired three bombs just in front of the fleeing ship. The explosion was big enough to swallow the vessel despite an attempt to evade it.

But the cheers of Percy's crew were cut short when one of the discs whizzed over the deck, and not everyone managed to dodge in time.

Abner fell to the deck with ear piercing scream of pain, pressing a hand to his face and trying to stop the flood of dark red blood.

"Zed, the last boat!" Celia shouted, getting back to the helm and trying to stabilise Percy's crooked course. They were already a few yards over the sea and finally gaining momentum, but it would take a couple of minutes to get out of Sinkers' range.

But Zed was fast and efficient. He crossed the deck, stopping at the railing closest to Celia and aimed his launcher at the last boat that had already turned back towards them and tried to get one last lucky shot at Percy.

"Greedy," Zed murmured and pulled the trigger. When the thugs spotted him, it was already too late. The bombs hit the steamboat square on the deck, and the vessel erupted in a massive ball of flames.

Celia sighed with relief and turned her eyes to the commotion on the deck.

"Hold it for me for a moment, will you?" She handed the ship wheel to Zed and dashed to check on Abner. She had to elbow her way through the gathered pale-faced crew that watched the moaning and crying man.

"I told you to stay still!" Lyra hissed, trying to get Abner to stop touching his covered face with blood. It was a lot of blood─the deck was already slick with it.

"How can I be still when I'm about to die?!" he cried in the most pathetic voice Celia had ever heard from him.

"Man down! Man down!" Sir Prancer screeched from the mast above their head.

"See? Even that damned bird knows I'm a goner!"

"You are not going to die, you idiot!" Lyra growled and pressed the gaze just a bit too hard to the side of his head, making him moan even louder.

"How is he really?" Celia asked, kneeling next to them and looking intently at the red-haired woman.

"He's a rusting sissy. That's what he is! It's just a graze, you idiot!"

"Then why so much blood?" Abner cried. "I'm bleeding out here, you cruel, cruel woman!"

"It is a lot of blood," Celia admitted, gently squeezing the man's shoulder.

"Yeah, because he lost his ear," Lyra said matter-of-factly. "And had his cheek sliced."

"What?!" Abner shrieked.

"Man down!" Sir Prancer confirmed.

"Not my ear! And my beautiful face!"

"Oh, zip it, pretty boy." Lyra huffed. "That disc could cut your head off. You should thank Lady Luck for the rest of your life that it's just an ear you lost."

"And hey, you have a real pirate scar now," Celia added with a grin. "Yarrrrr."

***

After ensuring Percy was back on course and all wounded were patched up, Celia ventured underdeck to get the dreaded damage report. The stable buzz of engines and the otherworldly hum of crystals made the strangest harmony, but it was a balm to Celia's nerves. As long as Percy sang, she was alive and ready to take over the skies.

Theo and Rhody were sweaty, covered with soot and swaying on their feet from exhaustion.

"Go on, hit me. How bad is it?"

The engineers exchanged a knowing glance, and the woman started, "Well, the good news is, the disc did not shred anything vital inside the ship. Percy is still stable and can fly."

"Thanks Lady Luck for that."

"The bad news is," Theo interjected, "that we have three big holes in the hull that we need to patch up quickly."

"Can you do it?"

"Yes, but with what we've got, it will be a temporary solution. Those Sinkers hit us hard, and Percy would need a good overall service in the dry dock."

"Well, we don't have that luxury now, so patching up will have to do for now."

"Celia." Theo put a hand on her shoulder. "I need you to understand that we sustained serious damage. It will have to be taken care of sooner rather than later."

"I know, Theo." Celia shrugged his hand off. "But we are not exactly in a position to dock somewhere and wait months for all repairs to be done. Chief's ships are still hot on our tail. We won't be safe until we cross that rusted mountains!"

"That will be a demanding flight," Rhody noticed. "And we don't know what we'll find on the other side. The supplies we managed to load will last for about a week of flight at this pace. What if there is nothing behind those mountains?"

"If I have to choose between being shot at and nothing, I'll take my chances with nothing, thanks." Celia crossed her arms.

"Are you sure about this?" Theo asked quietly.

"If you guys have any other brilliant ideas, I'm all ears," Celia snapped. She was exhausted too, and her patience ran thin. When none of them spoke, she sighed and rubbed her temples. "Look, I know it's not perfect. We all imagined ourselves crossing those mountains, all prepared and ready to take on whatever challenge, not as chased refugees. But it is what it is, and we must work with what we have. Patch Percy up, and make sure it will last at least a few storms. At the current pace, we'll be crossing Thundering Massive tomorrow. Please, ensure we are as ready as we can be in current circumstances."