Risingfisherman

You’ve probably been on a skyship before when the railing is clenching on to the ships deck. The thought of overlooking the mysteries that seek to be solved, to feel the sharp fresh of air strangle your lungs.

I know you’ve dreamed of the adventures to come, the heart racing moments just pending to happen, the brief hesitation to be concerned by the smallest of things.

But you must certainly try a trip to where each breath is amusement. When the clouds rap around you like a blanket in the cold. When the rain spills off the side of the ship. That’s when a skyship trip doesn’t turn out so good.

And some say, they’ve seen goblins lurching around their ship, scavenging for the most meaningless things. You’re most likely not to believe me but some say there are other ships with sails the size of a tree, and cannons at every corner waiting for your presence.

*****

Stuart braced himself, piercing the deck with his stubbed four toes. He hollowed his guilt filled throat as the skyship sank into the depths of gust and gale. He glanced at his sister Willow, who stood scrutinising the mist overlapping the ships front. They had only just left behind what seemed to be there home a week or two ago and should have, supposably, been passing the edge of the Delta Tree Forest. But trees were nowhere to be seen.

At that moment, Captain Robertson clasped the wheel sending the rudder swaying in the hail. Stuart glimpsed every corner of the Risingfisherman, then came goblins falling one by one from what seemed to be a skyship. Captain Robertson hauled on the sails and of they went carving though the mist.

Briefly, the goblins disappeared as he approached the storms edge. The hail shattered on the decks, battering across their faces. Stuart gazed at Willow, who looked as if she was eyeing something, but couldn’t quite see it because of the cloaking mist. ’’Hold on! We’re landing early!’’ hollered Captain Robertson.

In a split second, the Risingfisherman plunged beneath the mist as the creature overseeing them collapsed in the air. They wafted down, pommelled through the air going anywhere but upwards. Stuart and Willow ogled up, searching for any movement of the goblins. Had they outwitted them?