Isaac could taste vomit in his mouth.

Gosh. Not again.

He ran haphazardly towards the rear of the ship, bending over and retching into the murky waters.

For a moment, he almost missed London—the dark smog of the streets and the heady, burning scent of the factory where he worked tirelessly. The only ocean he had ever known was the River Thames, glimpsed as he trudged to work. But this kind of ocean—vast, rolling waves with no land in sight—engulfed him in a deep and listless fear.

It certainly didn't help that he woke up feeling sick constantly, his pale skin taking on an unflattering greenish pallor. Nobody else on the ship seemed to care; it was staffed by a handful of stone-faced naval guards who worked for Aetherwing.

"When are we getting to Alaska?" Isaac remembered asking on one horribly homesick morning. The guard stationed outside his room seemed more interested in getting the gunk out of his fingernails. "Soon."

"It's been well over a week, I was told it didn't take more than twelve nights."

"We had to take a detour."

"A detour to where!" The sense of impending fear rose in Isaac once more, he tempered it down by biting into his lip hard.

"Nigeria."

"Nigeria? What the bloody 'ell are you talking about?"

The guard had said nothing, only pointed a bored finger onto the horizon. Isaac watched with feverish eyes as their ship slowly docked on what looked like an island.

They remained docked on the pier for well over three days. Isaac tried to petition the guards to let him get off the ship and go for a little wander, maybe even a tryst with a Lagosian mermaid, but they dismissed his demands with nothing more than an eye roll, stating that it wasn't "wise" and they were instructed to ensure that the "elven boy remain on the ship".

It seemed he had spent his entire time on the ocean doubled over and gasping, retching his poor excuse for a breakfast overboard like clockwork. He hoped the fish liked scrambled eggs.

Bored of vomiting, Isaac returned to his room. It was no bigger than a cupboard, with a long bed with scratchy linens and a little window where he could look out into the ocean and wonder when on earth he was going to arrive in Alaska. He opened his suitcase and pored through his elvish contrivance. Isaac liked building gadgets, underwater sea goggles, a pipe that never ran out of tobacco, and his favourite invention thus far - a gyro stabilised pocket telescope. It was small enough to fit into his waistcoat pocket but can also be extended fully into a functional telescope. He had fitted it with gyroscopic gears to stabilise the view.

Isaac thought of that strange man, Rupert something or other, who was waiting for Isaac outside of the factory. He was dressed as a soldier, arms shoved deep into his pockets. Isaac could feel the thick burn of smoke setting deep into his lungs. His factory job would soon kill him if he continued. But it wasn't like he had much choice. His mother was one of those 'organic, true to nature elves' she hated the fast growing technologies invading London, the new steam trains and those "blasted airships". She had escaped into the forest with her latest conquest, a woodland sprite (who may or may not be around Isaac's age) and left Isaac alone with his volatile father. As soon as Isaac turned eleven his father employed him into numerous workhouses. Sometimes he climbed up chimneys and incinerated dead rats and possums with his inventions. Other times he was employed at the factories, spinning silk or brewing beer at the distilleries. The boiling processes were powered by coal fired steam engines. Isaac could never quite get the smell of beer and ale out of his clothes.

His father relished using him as a cash cow, and without Isaac's philanderer of a mother to confront him, he could exploit Isaac as much as he wanted. Isaac felt like a hamster stuck in a wheel; rent prices were atrociously high, so try as he might, if he wanted a warm bed to sleep in and a meal in his belly, he had to live with his father, who burned through money on alcohol and gambling. The last time Isaac tried to withhold money from him, he was beaten so badly that he could taste his own blood whenever he tried to speak.

So yes, life was terribly miserable. But Isaac was used to that misery, he revelled in it. In fact after his father had beaten him up he had taken a placard, wrote 'Please help. Need money.' And sat outside of Paddington for almost three hours, collected dimes and pennies into a straw hat and used the money to see a physician. So not only was Isaac miserable he was resourceful.

"Isaac Thorne?"

"Yes." Isaac stared at the soldier with a bored look.

"I'm Rupert Lowe. I believe I have something of yours." From his pocket emerged Isaac's gyro stabilised pocket telescope. Rupert held it in his hands as if it were gold. "This is remarkable."

"Thank you, but I'm not selling." Isaac knew that his inventions—well, some of them—were ingenious. He had even had a stint selling them and pursuing other business endeavors, but he had been ripped off and swindled more times than he could count. Because of that, he accepted that his gadgetry was for himself alone.

"I have a better proposition for you. How do you feel about joining the Aetherwing Brigade?"

"Are you taking the piss?"

"I'm very serious."

And serious he was, so incredibly serious even that Isaac had somehow found his way on a massive sea faring ship, en route to Alaska of all places. He had said not a word to his Father, stealing away in the early morning with a hastily packed suitcase and a smattering of resolve.

Isaac left his room with the telescope, he leaned over the edge of the ship, placing the lens carefully to his eye, and watched as the naval guards who had left the ship earlier walk back steadily, holding two heavy suitcases underneath their arms. Isaac looked frantically around them. Was somebody else coming on this ship?

Could it perhaps be one of those pretty Lagosian mermaids he had spotted earlier? He almost blushed himself into a frenzy when a girl with a gold shimmering tail and thick heavy braids winked at him from beneath the still waters.

Instead clambering onto the ship was a talk hulk of a man. He was dressed in a muddied threadbare shirt, fabric bracelets tied to his wrists. His hair was wild and curly, his skin as dark and as smooth as the glaring sun, he looked over at Isaac with an inquisitive expression, his eyes, gosh, a searing amber.

A guard passed them both, face impassive as ever. "New recruits, we should be arriving in Alaska in approximately twenty four days, if there are any changes we will let you know."

"Are there going to be anymore detours?" Isaac asked with a curl of his lip.

"No." The guard strode away briskly; joining his other combatants to whisper inconspicuously to themselves.

"Well, welcome aboard to the ship that may or may not be going to Alaska." Isaac shot out a hand to the man in front of him. "I'm Isaac. If you couldn't tell I'm an elf." Isaac pointed off handedly to his pointed ears.

The man grasped his hands. Isaac almost shook with how warm they were. Yes, Isaac had some rudimentary knowledge that Africa was hot, he wasn't an idiot, but this man's warmth travelled all the way through his fingertips to the bottom of his toes, he could almost feel it dissipating the thick heady smoke that lived in his lungs.

"Kai. I'm a dragonborn." His voice was deep and rugged.

"Oh that explains why you're so warm."

"Yes, we tend to run hot." Kai smiled then. Isaac was blinded by how shiny and white his teeth were. He subconsciously run a tongue over his teeth and quickly regretted it because he could still taste the vomit lingering in the back of his throat.

"Have the guards shown you your room?"

"No they're quite cryptic."

Isaac scoffed at that. "Bloody useless they are, almost drove myself mad on this ship." Isaac directed Kai down the steps into the heart of the ship, and pointed towards his room and the one opposite. "That should be yours." Isaac had a nosey around the ship the first few days he arrived, when he was still high on the fact that he - a no-name elf - was going to be conscripted to the Aetherwing Brigade of all places. Kai's room was identical to his, apart from the fact that the window didn't look out into the ocean but instead to some hastily constructed wood. (Finders, keepers and all that).

The guards had already deposited his suitcase on his bed. Kai shoved it to the floor and sat on the bed, sighing heavily. Isaac watched him in the doorway for a moment. He was so large. His muscles almost burst out of his shirt, and those eyes. He had never seen anything like it. Dragonborn he said. He had never met a creature like that before. Was that who Isaac was competing with? He was an elf, he tinkered, he created gadgets, could he really make a name for himself at Aetherwing? What would he be doing anyway?

Kai was digging around in his suitcase, then he pulled out what looked like parcels of food wrapped up in newspaper.

"Would you like some? My mother packed a lot of meat pies."

"Sure." Isaac joined Kai on the bed, biting into the meat pie with gusto. It was spicy and tasty and perhaps the best thing he had eaten since he stepped foot on this blasted ship.

"So, are you excited?" Isaac bundled the newspapers into his hands. He had finished eating that way too quickly.

"Yes. This is a life changing opportunity for me." Isaac caught a faraway look seep into Kai's expression. "My family are counting on me."

"What did you do before?"

"I'm a farmer. Well was." That explained all the muscles. "You?"

"Worked in a factory." Isaac didn't elaborate, he wasn't sure how much of his sordid history he could share. "Wanna go spot mermaids?" Isaac dusted off his trousers and stood up. "I can hear the ship moving, if we're quick we can probably watch them do those funny little arc jumps."

Kai followed Isaac wordlessly. They watched the horizon for a long time, the ship edging further away from Lagos. Isaac watched the waters for mermaids, really he was looking through the corner of his eye at Kai. He couldn't help it really, everyone in the underbelly of London sort of looked like him, pale, sickly, coughing up heady smoke. Kai looked strong, capable. As if he could fell armies with a flick of his hand, arrest an enemy with the arch of an eyebrow and the glint of his amber gaze.

"You keep looking at me." Kai said it quietly. The sky had turned dark and inkless. It was the night that scared Isaac the most. The ship out at sea, the horrible empty silence. A few of the guards stood at different ends of the ship watching the waters with an eagle eye.

"Sorry I've never seen anyone that looks like you before."

"Neither have I. I like how bright your hair is." Isaac tugged at one of his ginger curls delicately. "Thank you, my mother used to call me a carrot." She actually called Isaac her carrot baby, but Isaac wasn't about to tell him that.

Suddenly at the quell of the ship the guards started shouting at each other. "HALT, TELL CAPTAIN TO HALT."

"What's going on?" Isaac shuffled closer to Kai.

Then the water underneath them bubbled. The ship started to rock harshly from side to side. Isaac swore underneath his breath, skidding to the floor, his knees scraping against the hard wood. The guards started shucking out arrows and swords, brandishing them about as if they were in a play.

Isaac stood up carefully, peering over at the water, the bubbling had stopped, then it started again, giant angry black bubbles started popping riotously. Then what looked like a gigantic hand arose from the water. It dove down and encased Isaac. He felt the water wrap around him covering him in a thick murky liquid. He couldn't breath, he could feel his feet rising from the floor of the ship and the murky liquid shrouding him back into the ocean.

So this was it then. Forget the Aetherwing Brigade. Forget glory, riches, fame, acclaim. Isaac's life would end here, encased in some scary black sea water monster, an elf forgotten forever. Then he felt something miraculous, hot scorching heat swirled around him, it burned even. Seeping into his fingers and toes and the ends of his ginger locks. The monster kept barreling further and further into the sky, where Isaac could just about make out the dark storm clouds and the glow of the moon. The heat continued to barrage through, scorching the black liquid until it dissipated and Isaac was falling, falling -

"Caught you." Kai held Issac in his arms. He was so cold. Another black hand emerged from the water, and Isaac watched enraptured as Kai roared, a dazzling red flame shot out of his mouth and incinerated the monster into nothing but dripping hot blobs of black liquid. Isaac could hear the guards shouting to each other, flinging pointless arrows into the water and pedaling the ship faster towards the moon.

Isaac wrapped his hands around Kai's neck shivering. He could still feel the heat from Kai's lips. It burned around him and he held on tighter.

"Are you alright?" Kai asked again.

Isaac shook his head, for once in his life he was speechless.

A guard wandered over to them. "Are you both okay?"

"Yes, we are. What was that?" Kat responded for the both of them.

"We suspect some magic has been at play, we can't say for certain if they were targeting the Aetherwing Brigade or not, but we've had some guards get off the ship and survey the waters. They're clear so fingers crossed, there should be no more interceptions." The guard looked at Kai with a sharp and clean eye. "Thank you for destroying the monster. We will be informing Aetherwing of your valiant efforts."

Kai nodded briskly. Isaac clung tightly to Kai's neck, still shivering. He let go slowly, watching Kai's worried expression draw over his face. Isaac didn't know much about the Aetherwing Brigade if he was being honest, only that they earned a lot of money and obnoxiously flew around those "blasted airships" his mother hated so much. He didn't know if he had signed himself up for some sort of suicide mission. Or if this was all some elaborate scam to kill him that his Father had set up. (Although Isaac didn't think his Father was all that smart). He did know however that he would trust Kai with his life. He looked into that amber gaze, felt his warmth creep up around him and fought the urge to bow or do something utterly embarrassing. Instead he grabbed onto Kai's shirt, and dipped his trembling face into Kai's shoulder.

Isaac searched his mind for the right words to say to Kai. Thank you maybe, or, I'm indebted to you, or I will do anything for you.

"Please don't leave me." Gosh, could he be anymore awkward?

Isaac lifted his head from Kai's shoulder, trembling, backing away from him in slight mortification. Kai only stepped closer. He brought a steady hand to Isaac's chin and lifted it up to meet his eyes.

"Never Isaac. We're going to take on Aetherwing together."

"Promise?"

Then Kai smiled, that bright blinding smile he did earlier in the morning, when Isaac hadn't almost gotten engulfed by a sea monster.

"Promise."