The Pit, Port Pelagie, Fleet Territory

  Mid-Dry Season, Year 17

  “Duck!” I yelled, dropping low. The air shook like thunder, the sail on our raft fluttering violently in the torn air behind the cannon shot.

  “Quick reflexes,” Byron yelled, walking forward and putting one leg up on the railing at the edge of the ship. He grinned, looking down at us from their warship. “But a waste of energy. You should know your entire ship isn’t real!”

  “Stop giving us advice,” I muttered, climbing to my feet. His ship was a sizable vessel, big enough for maybe a dozen people, with a large single mast and a pair of cannons on the side facing us. It was a vague, blobby ship, but huge and imposing and bristling with enough energy it was like staring into a storm about to hit land.

  We were standing on a raft, with a single rattling post for a raft and a rudder stuck to the back end.

  I risked a glance at Seiwuai. “I’m fine,” she said, looking a little dazed. “Um.”

  “We need to move!” I yelled, bracing a leg on the mast, and yanking the rope keeping the sail in place. The damn thing wouldn't- a final yank and the sail cut loose! It billowed like it was caught in a strong breeze despite the stillness in the pit, and I wasn’t sure why- right, the Pit. The same energy that I had been stewing in was enough for the ship, why wouldn’t it be? It was made from the same energy, only we were funnelling it into place first like fences for stolen demigod power.

  We also weren’t moving. “Seiwuai!” She was standing on the far side of the raft, one hand on the rudder, staring blindly at nothing.

  “Why are you sitting still?” Byron asked, brushing his hair out of his face. The second flap fell open, both cannons coming to bear on us.

  “Steer, woman, steer!” I yelled.

  Depths, she was gone. That was a thing that happened to some people, they get into a scrap for the first time and their mind locks up like a safe around poor people. I held onto the mast with one hand, feeling for the- the reins for this thing, the harness connected to my energy that would let me steer it-!

  The cannons erupted and we surged upwards, the raft riding an invisible wave a second before the shots hit the ground. The explosion washed over us from below, throwing us to the side! Our Warship vanished as we fell off the raft, leaving us hanging in the air.

  Stupid goddamn cannons shooting at us broke my focus, and now we were hanging in the air- now we were falling because the ground suddenly remembered it had responsibilities! I slammed into a broken table and tumbled, rolling through a couple dozen trees of shitty driftwood furniture, blowing it to the sides before I finally slowed down enough to stop myself.

  A few spectators who’d gotten a little closer to the action than they’d paid for scrambled to the sides as I climbed to my feet, holding my ribs and looking at the trench I’d carved in the sand. “Doesn’t hurt as bad as I thought it would,” I said, mostly to myself.

  “That’s nice,” a girl’s voice said, muffled and peaking in pitch. “Because this is a lot worse for me!” A broken bench shifted to the side as Seiwuai shoved it from off her, climbing out from under the debris that had landed on her.

  “How the hell’d you get buried under all that?” She gave me a look. “What?”

  “Nothing,” she said with an aggressive sigh, pushing herself to her feet and gritting her teeth. “I hope you have a plan?”

  “Yeah. Don’t get shot by the cannons,” I said, staring at the opposing ship. Byron was yawning into his elbow, scratching his chest without any sign of concern or interest for what we were doing. His three goons were on the ship behind him, not in a hurry but tending the sail and working the wheel, the entire thing banking around towards us. “Also, get over there and punch him in the jaw. Probably more than once”

  “That’s- that’s not the exactly the greatest plan when we're outnumbered and facing a bigger vessel!” Seiwuai said, looking up at me.

  “Well, sorry, princess but I forgot my cannons in my other jumpsuit! So unless you know how to make one, maybe we should do something useful instead of arguing about it!”

  “I…might?” Seiwuai chewed on her lip, furrowing her eyebrows.

  “You might? Might what?”

  I'd already lost her to her mumbling, her eyes dropping to the ground. “At least if it’s smoothbore, the manufacturing is fairly straightforward. The hardest part is having a good exhaust vent while still keeping barrel pressure-”

  Seiwuai jumped as I grabbed her by the shoulder, letting my energy unravel towards her. “Break’s done.” I stared seriously across the Pit at the ship, the man riding the thing stirring into motion.

  “Alright, kids, I’d like to go back to sleep,” Byron yelled. “Let’s wrap this up.”

  Our Warship burst back into existence beneath us, this time bobbing up out of the ground like it was water. I…didn't know it could do that. “The sail!” Seiwuai yelled, kneeling and grabbing the edge of the raft.

  No time to think about that. “On it!” I twisted the rope around my hands, unfurling the sail. Winds of energy gusted into it, the raft lurching forward into the air as another cannon blast hit the ground behind us, blasting the already shattered tents into shrapnel.

  “I hope nobody was down there,” Seiwuai said, looking down.

  “Watch the ship, watch the ship!” We dipped dangerously to the side before she got her head back in the game, Seiwuai barely righting us before our mast hit the wall! “Is this really the time?”

  “We wouldn’t even be in this situation if you didn’t get us here!” Seiwuai said, kneeling and slamming her hands down on empty air. There was a dull echoey sound like an old bell from between her hands, the outline of a long tube growing out from the surface of the raft. It filled in within a seconds, a vague rod-shape that she grabbed with both hands and pointed towards Byron.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Wait, you meant you might make a-” I didn’t get anything else before the cannon roared, blasting smoke back into my face! I coughed, fanning it away but it was already disappearing into wisps of blue mist and shadow.

  “Whoops,” Seiwuai said, clutching the cannon and mysteriously smoke-free.

  “You bitch,” I chuckled, looking into the distance. The last of a shower of sand rained down on the deck of the other ship, all four of its riders out of sight. “Did you get him?”

  A shot came back towards us, exploding just off to the side. “Uh…I think I missed.” She grabbed the edge of the raft, sending us coasting forward. The rudder clacked noisily as the raft banked in the air, slowly bringing us around.

  “Then shoot him again!”

  “I don’t have a cannonball!” Seiwuai frowned. “...wait, this didn’t shoot a cannonball…”

  “No shit, the whole ship is made from our energy!” I said. I paused with the rope twisted around my hands, frowning as I thought of something.

  “I have an idea,” Seiwuai said, bracing the cannon against herself.

  “So do I,” I said, motioning down to the raft. “Switch with me?”

  She gave me a quick look and nodded, trading hands on the control of the Warship. It was weird because at first, it didn't feel like anything - and then there it was, a weight settling around my neck like somebody yoked me to a plough. My whole body felt heavy and slow and I reflexively looked at my hands for the issue-

  “Whoa! Jo!” The entire raft rocked to the side, as my head moved.

  I snapped my head straight and we levelled out, my fists curling tightly around the ropes. Seiwuai fiddled with the cannon in the corner of my vision, suddenly moving like she’d been handling the thing her entire life.

  Seas, this was…way harder than when we practiced it on land. This was what she was dealing with the whole time? Seeoh’s balls, I just felt so damn heavy. It wasn’t even…my body. It was like I suddenly had a second body, massive and ungainly, and just trying to separate the movements of the two while also keeping us level in the air had me gritting my teeth. But I couldn’t see what the hell was happening, damn it, the whole thing rocked whenever I moved my head!

  “Johannes, up!” Seiwuai yelled. “Go up!” She let out a scream and I hauled us up, the ground exploding below us. The force from the blast washed over me, making my underside bristle as debris flew against it. I cast a glance to the side to make sure she was still aboard, and grinned as the raft stayed on its course.

  “Keep shooting!” I yelled, managing to crank my head further to the side without tipping us over. “Get him to shoot back!”

  “How would that be a good thing?!”

  I lowered the raft slightly towards the ground, baiting a response - and Byron obliged. So far, he hadn't aimed at us directly so- depths, okay, need to adjust the plan! The shot clipped the edge of the raft, twisting us sharply! The entire thing vanished for a split second as the structure was violently disrupted, our energy escaping into the air.

  There was a panicked moment before we reflexively threw our energy at each other and the raft sprung back out in mid air.

  Seiwuai looked back at me between shots, eyes wide. “Can we try not to cut it so close, please?”

  “Can’t,” I said, not having enough attention to elaborate. “Plan’s almost working though.”

  Seiwuai returned fire even as another shot erupted near us, the force washing over my right side- the raft's side. I relaxed and took as deep a breath as I could with both bodies, twisting us to the side. The sail surged and the raft shot forward on the energy from the missed cannonfire, the escaping energy filling the sail bringing us close enough to look them in the eyes.

  “Um. We might be too close.” Seiwuai sounded concerned.

  “How’d you pull that trick off?” Byron asked, sounding interested. He grinned and we were close enough to count his teeth, his confidence really starting to piss me off. “Think you can do it again?”

  “Try me!” I yelled.

  “Please don’t,” Seiwuai groaned. She levelled the cannon at the deck of their ship as Byron pointed the cannons up at us.

  “Then!” Byron yelled, laughing loudly. “Let’s! Go!”

  The three cannons fired at almost the same time. Our shot blasted through the deck of Byron’s ship, the whole thing vanishing and the four of them dropping down to the sand on slightly unsteady legs.

  Byron looked up at us as I caught the shot on the underside of the raft, inhaling the energy from the shot into the sails, using it to coast upwards! The blasts weren't strong enough to break us but our whole Warship rattled from the blast, flying upwards instead of shattering into pieces. I glanced down at Byron with a grin-

  He was waving up at us, his other hand shading his eyes.

  …what?

  “Jo!” Our formation fell apart as my attention split a third way, the two of us flying violently upwards on our own instead of a controlled ride. We burst out into open sunlight, shooting up another few fathoms and then plummeting towards the ground at a seriously fast pace! Where the hell was- “I’m here!”

  I looked over and grabbed her outstretched hand, our Warship popping into existence beneath us. The sail snapped in the wind, catching the breeze, the raft a sudden firm presence for us to lie on - and then jt hit the ground, exploding into nothing and leaving us lying face down in the sand.

  “Ow,” Seiwuai groaned. She coughed out a mouthful of sand, turning to spit more out. “Are we- Are we alive?”

  “I should say so,” a woman’s voice said. “A fine example of a Warship, too, for two recruits. I knew the Pit would bear fruit some day.”

  I glanced up at the shorn head of a woman staring down at us with faint amusement, the short blonde hair reflecting a halo around her with the sun overhead.

  “Ensign?” Seiwuai asked, pushing herself to her feet.

  “At ease, Seamen,” Otilia said, “You’ve likely banged yourself up good after that fall. A much flashier exit to the Pit than I planned for, but I am pleased to see you’ve finally gotten over your fear of leadership, Miss Yuai. You were the one directing that Warship, weren’t you?”

  Seiwuai nodded, then fell back against the ground, breathing wordlessly. I pushed myself up, rising to my feet and staring back in the direction of the pit. “I’m going back,” I muttered.

  “I beg your pardon?” Otilia asked.

  “The Pit. I’m going back.”

  “Hardly. Getting out was your graduation from basic training,” Ensign Otilia said. I glanced back at her. “New Flotilla posting requests came in this morning, and as of right now, I’ve officially assigned you to one.”

  “Didn’t get out. I lost. Got forced out,” I said.

  “Immaterial,” she replied. “The array formulae on the pit only deactivate once a formation of a certain quality is produced. If you hadn’t managed it, you’d have been rendered unconscious and fallen back inside.”

  I grit my teeth, looking back out towards it. ‘...I got played.’ I almost hated to acknowledge it, but I had to recognize his game. ‘You win this one, boss.’ I dropped to the ground, crossing my legs, and sighed.

  “When do we leave for our Flotilla, Ensign?” Seiwuai asked.

  “Once you’ve recovered from your flight,” she said, amused. “So, I'll give you just enough time to eat lunch in other words. And it’s one Flotilla, in this case. You’ll be deploying together.”

  I glanced over, meeting Seiwuai’s eyes as she propped her head up. I looked away and heard her head hit the ground. “Great.”